Traditionnnnnn Tradition

Last night we went over to my parents for a family tradition of carving pumpkins. My brother also came with his girl-friend and room mate. The boys had a great time. Dan helped N. with his and A. and I collaborated on one.

Here's N. with the pumkin he picked.

Then he drew the face he wanted and Dan helped him cut it out. This is N. laughing at the "pumpkin boogers" coming out of his jack-o-lantern's nose.

This is the one that A. and I made. He told me what he wanted and I tried to ablige. A. liked the eyes I suggested and he also wanted a big nose and a wide happy mouth with two teeth on the bottom.
N. and Dan's masterpiece. Of course once we were all done and the candles were lit we had to sing the Jack-o-lantern song....."Jack-o-lantern, Jack-o-lantern, you are such a pretty site, as you sit there in the window looking out at the night. You were once a yellow pumpkin growing on a sturdy vine. Now you are a Jack-o-lantern, let your candle light shine."
Here's A. and I with our pumpkin. A. is a little less than enthusiastice because he had just been scared by Uncle Noah with a floating Jack-o-lantern.

My dad had also raked up a pile of leaves for the boys to enjoy which they did. Who can pass up a big pile of leaves?

Thanksgiving

I'm so excited I'm about to bust. Dan and I are going to Belize to visit my friend Cassie over Thanksgiving. My mom has offered to keep the boys, our passports are here and current and our airline tickets are bought. I haven't seen Cassie in almost three years, when we went to her wedding. Now she has a little boy of her own. I'm excited to see me friend again. I'm excited to spend a week with my husband. I'm excited to be going to a new country. What makes it even more wonderful is that I don't have to worry about my boys. They can't wait to spend a week at Gramma's and get to sleep there and not have to say "good bye". Belize here we come!!

Dan's day of fun

Dan rented a little mini excavator Friday night to Saturday. We're trying to re-vamp our driveway, making it come around the garage with parking behind. This way we can park closer to the house thus not having to walk as far, get rid of the trecherouse brick walk way we currently have, and have something that is much easier to remove the snow from in the winter, thus it will be safer.

Dan had a blast on the excavator. He was up at 7:30 Saturday morning to work with it. He got a lot of work done and we're very pleased with the progress we're making. Hopefully we will finally get this project done. It's been in the "planning stage" for to long.

Fish

A week ago, we went down to Geneva for homecoming. As we were walking back to the car, A. noticed a booth set up by the career center that had free "toss the ping pong ball in to the fish bowl" games. The prize being a gold fish. Of course he wanted a fish, but he also wanted to play the game. A couple of thoughtful boys who were walking by heard his plea for a fish and handed him theirs. "His name is Enoch" they said. A. Still wanted to play the game and since it was free we thought, "what's the harm" While showing the boys how to play the game, Dan acidentally won another fish. N. named him Bob. Well as is the case with many "prize" goldfish, Enoch lived for about a day and Bob lived for two or three. The boys took the deaths well, but had been so excited about fish that it gave me an idea. Last week we went to the library and got some books about fish and then made a trip to Walmart and picked up four tiger barbs. (I don't like goldfish that much) So far they're still living. The boys have a great time feeding them every day. I figured I could always call it our science lesson. Now we just have to start reading those books.

A Wedding through the eyes of a five year old... Part2

Hear are a few more pictures from my brother's wedding. My brothers can always be counted on for good times, funny faces and great pictures.




N. needed someone to stand between the trees for a picture. So I took the opportunity to have my picture taken with the handsomest man there. I wish that it hadn't turned out so dark.




I took this picture of A. There were all sorts of snacks in the kitchen for those of us who were there early and A. found them and disposed of a few grades and cookies.

My Aunt Myrtle.








A beautiful picture of the lake





The Bride's family. I think was have at least ten pictures of this group shot. N. had a great time taking the picture and found great joy in beating the photographer to the shot at times.

They distributed birdseed to everyone to throw at the happy couple on their way down to the dock to board the boat. Here is N. saying, "birdseed"

The wedding party boarding the boat. We had some fun.

Me talking to my youngest. I didn't see them for a good part of the day, so we had a little catching up to do. I love my boys.

The four brothers and my dad singing "I can't help falling in love with your" or "Fools rush in" On the dance floor. I finally coaxed N. to dance with me. However, there is no need to coax A. He was having fun learning new moves from his cool Uncle Sam

The Bride and Groom, cutting the cake.

A Wedding through the eyes of a five year old... Part 1

My brother and sisiter-in-law got married at a state park. The bride's mother said that they picked it because it reminded my brother of Pennsylvania. As soon as we drove up I agreed. It was a beautiful spot. There were oak trees (even if they were young and small) and the land had a few more hills. It really did feel alot like Pennsylvania woods. they got married in the park's lodge which was right next to the lake. There were picture windows in the lodge looking right out onto the water. It really was beautiful. The wedding party went up in the morning so that we could have a rehearsal. It was an hour and a half away from where we were all staying so we had not had a genuine rehersal the day before. Then we spent the rest of the day hanging out and getting the bride ready for pictures. After the ceremony and receiving line, the wedding party got to go out on the lake in a motor boat where we had snacks and champane and took some fun pictures. Then we came back to the lodge which had been been re-arranged for the reception. A good time was had by all. I was so honored to be a part of it. Like I said before, N. was the one taking almost all the pictures, so that's what we have. Through the eyes of a five year old.

Our Trip Out to Iowa

Dan's Grandmother went with us for the ride out to Iowa. A. had a blast getting to sit in the "way back" with N. and of course there was silliness throughout the trip.

Dan insisted I get a picture of the Mississippi river.

Stay tuned for the next instalment.... "A wedding through the eyes of a five year old"

The continuing saga of our marriage license...

Chapter One
For those of you who don't know, on the day of our wedding, only an hour or so before the ceremony, Dan happened to look at the marriage license and notice that they had documented that we had both been previously married and divorced. Dan showed pastor Elenbaum, and Pastor assured Dan that he would get it fixed. So everything went on as planned, and I only found out about it afterwards. We've been laughing about it for the past six years.
Chapter Two
Dan and I are hoping to go to Belize this year sometime around Thanksgiving to visit a good friend of mine that we haven't seen in three years. Because of this, Dan applied for his passport and I got all the documentation together in order to renew mine, which was set to expire next year, and change my name. A few days ago I received a letter in the mail stating that I needed to send them a certified copy of our marriage certificate. That same day I went to the court house to get it done still hoping that I would get my passport in time to make plans for Thanksgiving. I arrived with the boys in tow, paid my five dollars, and received a print out of our certificate which they signed and sealed to make it certified.
I took my certificate, receipt, and boys and headed back to the car. After the boys were buckled, before I drove away, I looked over the certificate to see what made it so special. That's when I noticed the errors. They had our names correct and Pastor Elenbaum's and the date we were married. That was it. Dan was apparently born in Elwood City on November 21, 1954; I was born in Ohio on August 5, 1969. I didn't even know any of our parents names'. That's when I started to panic. I unbuckled the boys and marched them right back into the office. I said something like this.... "Um... I was just in here and had a copy of my marriage certificate printed out and almost all of the information is wrong."
The lady at the desk couldn't believe it. Especially when I started pointing out ALL the errors. Fortunately she was able to pull up our application and IT had the correct information. I walked out of the court house FINALLY with a correct certified marriage certificate. It's been put in the mail, and hopefully I will be receiving my new passport very soon.
Dan and I find all of this slightly amusing since one of the questions they ask you when you apply is "Are you now under the influence of any intoxicating liquor or narcotic drug?" Perhaps we were not the ones that should have been asked that question.