Happy 40th Stephanie!

This is the BIG year for me and my friends - the BIG 40. My college friend Stephanie was one of the first to hit the big milestone. She has taken it in stride! Mark surprised Stephanie with a party for her birthday. She was definitely surprised, but very mellow about it - in true Steph fashion. It was hard to really get a reaction from her since the back room we were in was visible from the entrance to the restaurant - but we did our best! Lots of friends came to wish Stephanie well, and Stephs sister made it too.Everyone had a good time, and Stephanie and Mark had a good night without the kids!! I am disappointed to report that Stephanie did not get a game of quarters started!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH!

Go Upward!

Sarah and Abby had their first games with Upward. Upward, for those of you that may not know, is a Christian based program that teaches sports to the kids along with devotionals. It was a long morning as Abby's game was at 9am and Sarah's game was at 12 noon, but it was well worth it. This week they both have games at 10am - you gotta love that!

This is Abby's first time cheering and she loves it. She especially loves getting to show off how loud her voice can be! The girls will all take turns being 'head cheerleader' and this week was Abby's turn. She did a great job!

At half time the girls got to do a cheer in the middle of the gym for everyone to see! Very cool! (Abby is in the back row, far left)

This is Sarah's first time playing basketball - and she loves it. She had a great steal, and a couple of attempts to score. She will tell you that her team did not win, but she had a great time!




And Drew is not yet old enough to play, but he is okay with that for now. He enjoyed watching, but he enjoys the practices more when he gets to practice his dribbling skills while we watch and wait.

Weekend in Winchester

After celebrating New Year's at home with Steve, the kids and I headed to Winchester to see all the cousins. What fun we had. I think it gets even more fun as the kids get older. It is fun to watch them all interact and have such fun together. It was a great weekend!

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Time with Good Friends

Since the kids had 2 weeks off from school, and Steve had to work long hours, the kids and I decided to take some road trips after Christmas. We seem to do well with last minute plans! Our first destination was back to PA to see some friends. We surprised Auntie E by calling her from the car as we were headed to her house! We were at their house by early afternoon and had lots of fun seeing them. Then we headed to our dear friends house to stay for a few nights (since we will see E and family again in a few days in Winchester). Drew's best buddy Nathaniel and his family kindly agreed to house us - it was a giant slumber party! We had a wonderful time and Drew is already asking when we can go back!

The girls all had fun playing with the American Girl Dolls.

Sarah and Abby also had fun playing with Baby Samuel.

The boys had fun playing Star Wars and Indiana Jones Wii.

We also got to see our good friends the Hinchliffes. We all went to Ringing Rock park where you get to climb all over the rocks and bang them with a hammer. The different sounds are amazing, and the exploring is adventerous. Sarah had a sleepover at their house the second night - very fun!

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We also enjoyed getting to see our neighbors and friends the Smiths. While we were at their house we got to see some snow flurries! Thankfully for us it did not stick too much (as we were heading back home that day) - just enough for the kids to enjoy seeing snow.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Jesus Birthday! The kids were surprised to find a Nintendo DS for each of them and a few games to get started. Here are some of the other highlights...

Fuzzy, footed pajamas for all. We love these - wish they had them in adult sizes!

Drew was so excited to get a BIG BOY fishing pole. He loves to go fishing and canoeing with his Dad!

Sarah and Abby got new Aprons decorated by themselves. Their new school has a great fundraiser where the art teachers select one artwork for each child and work with a company to have this art put on just about anything you would want it on. Makes for great Christmas gifts!

And, of course no Christmas is complete in our house without something Star Wars!

Christmas Eve

We had the honor of having Steve's Uncle Furman with us on Christmas Eve. Furman came to Christmas Eve service with us, and then back to our house for a meal. The service was a family service and it was very nice how they incorporated all the children into the service. I was a bit concerned when hearing the first song - as it was all done by the youth praise band and the first song was somewhat of a jam session. They must have gotten it out of their system with the first one though as the rest of the songs not such a jam session. Whew! They did a great job and we enjoyed the service.

We all enjoyed getting to spend time with Furman, and the children enjoyed entertaining him. They sang songs for him and acted out the Christmas story for him - all unprompted by their parents. At one point Drew went up to Furman and said 'smell my breath' and then proceeded to breathe in his face. Of course, sometimes we do this after brushing our teeth, but not usually after eating a cheeseball or to somebody without asking them first! Oops!

Furman has been keeping busy lately writing books, I think he is now working on the 4th book? Impressive! I have read the first 2 and have thoroughly enjoyed them. We enjoy being closer to him and Evelyn and getting to see them more often.