Scenes from VIP Day 2007

For the VIP Day dinner, the theme was a 50's diner. It was
predominately black and white, with bold colors splashed in
here and there.

My absolute favorite, was the neat placemats, featuring the president
and also the menu for the evening. Very creative!

A view of the colors across the dining hall. They also had
plenty of candy lying around on
all the tables...our kids were thrilled!

Personally, I don't think I need a caption for this!

Hector and Ednita....two friendly waiters. Waiters wore
50-ish clothing, with shirt collars up! All the waiters were
extremely nice and did an awesome job!

The meal was capped off with root beer floats...Lauren enjoyed
hers to the last drop!

The evening in the chapel, was ended with a lovely, moving drama
about Lottie Moon, a missionary who spent her life in china.

A choir was made up of the usual choir, plus those from VIP
Day who had earlier gotten in on a real choir rehearsal. I thought this
was a neat idea to get the VIP s more involved.

Of shoes...and other news

Getting his foot measured
For Caleb's birthday, Chris and I decided that a good present
would be a pair of shoes for summer. With two older siblings,
he is currently drowning in toys. (And from other posts, you
can tell he doesn't play with them anyway!) Chris had in mind
tennis shoes, Mommy had in mind sandals. Since Mommy did the shopping,
sandals won out! LOL!

Trying on the new shoes.

Thrilled with his new sandals!

The sales lady did something that scared him...not sure what!

Ready to go home in his new sandals....mission accomplished!

Happy 30th Birthday Chris! I love you!

Happy First Birthday, Caleb

Happy Birthday, Caleb! You have brought us so much
laughter and fun! We love you more than you
could ever imagine!

Lauren and Michael love you too!

As of 5:30 this morning, Caleb is officially 1 year old!
He is almost always happy and full of smiles. Lately, he's
started calling me "Mom!" Whenever he wants something, he
just says "mom" over and over till he gets what he
wants.So far he can say, dog, ball, daddy, baby, thankyou, Lauren,
Michael, shoes and bye-bye. He loves to play peek-a-boo, and
his favorite toy is a ball. He loves music and starts bouncing
up and down when it comes on. If
it's a song he likes, he'll clap or sing along. Singing
is just "aaaaaa" . But he was "singing" along so loud
in the van yesterday, that we had to turn the music up! I love
this stage where everyday he learns something new.
We just can't imagine our lives without Caleb!

He's always got a kiss if you ask for one!

Lauren and Michael are thrilled with him, but the
feeling isn't reciprocated!!

Just had his first bath...about 1hr. 30 min old!





Waiting for his bath...1 hr. old!

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What Caleb Has Been Up To....

Caleb has been busy lately.....getting into things. The problem
is, when I discover his latest mischief, this is the smile I'm
greeted with, so.....there goes all my scolding....down the drain!
Yesterday morning while I was straightening up our room,
Lauren called out from the bathroom, "he's into the powder". Well, I didn't
think I had any powder so I couldn't imagine what she
was talking about. Here I found him...dumping Comet
scouring powder all over himself and the floor. Thankfully,
I hadn't dressed him for the day yet. Can't imagine what the
stuff must have tasted like. aaaagh!

I guess we don't feed him enough...lately one of his favorite mischiefs is digging in the trash;
any trash, in anybody's room. He finds the most in the kitchen trashcan though!! aaaagh!

Into our home school stuff again. I sure can't wait till this school year
is over so I can put the "temptations" away. Next
year I'm vowing to have a homeschool room...
This time it was the kids foamy craft letters. About 200 of them in the bucket
I think. aaaagh!

Last night I heard him in the kitchen exclaiming "ball!" over
and over. When I found him, with this big grin, he was throwing "ball!"
all around the kitchen. Like I said....I'm always greeted by these big smiles...
he thinks it's all fun! aaaagh! Really and truly, he's
loads of fun and very easy-going in nature. I wouldn't
trade him for a million dollars.....we love him just the way he is....full of mischief!

Friday's final thoughts....

As April 20th draws nearer, I'm finding myself feeling more and more melancholy. On the 20th, my baby is turning one. He's our IHC baby...the reason we missed IHC 2006 completely. On April 19th, we were planning on attending Wed. of IHC...the day that GBs people have off work to attend. That morning I felt a little "different" as we were rushing around getting ready. On the way to Dayton, I stopped by the ob/gyn and had a routine appointment.(all of us dressed up for IHC, mind you!) While there, I had time-able contractions and it was determined that Caleb was determined that we would not get to go to IHC after all. He was born at 5:30 the following morning. So, needless to say, as I look forward to being at IHC this year, it's also bittersweet because it means a whole year has QUICKLY flown by.
Today, while thumbing through a book I borrowed from my mom, I found the following article by one of my favorite authors, and got that "lump in my throat"....and wanted to share it with the rest of you.





A young mother writes: "I know you've written before about the empty-nest syndrome, that lonely period after the children are grown and gone. Right now I'm up to my eyeballs in laundry and muddy boots. The baby is teething; the boys are fighting. My husband just called and said to eat without him, and I fell off my diet. Lay it on me again, will you?"

Okay. One of these days, you'll shout, "Why don't you kids grow up and act your age!" And they will. Or, "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do....and don't slam the door!" And they won't.

You'll straighten up the boys' bedroom neat and tidy: bumper stickers discarded, bedspreads tucked and smooth, toys displayed on their shelves. Hangers in the closet. Animals caged. And you'll say out loud, "Now I want it to stay this way." And it will.

You'll want a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in the icing, and you'll say, "Now, there's a meal for company." And you'll eat it alone.

You'll say, "I want complete privacy on the phone. No dancing around. No demolition crews. Silence! Do you hear?" And you'll have it.

No more gates to stumble over at the top of the stairs. No more playpens to arrange a room around. No more sand in the sheets; no more rubber bands for ponytails, tight boots, or wet, knotted shoe strings.

Imagine. No more babysitters. Washing only once a week. Seeing a steak that isn't ground. Having your teeth cleaned without a baby on your lap.

No PTA meetings. No car pools. No blaring radios. Think about it. No more Christmas presents out of toothpicks and library paste. No more sloppy oatmeal kisses. No more tooth fairy. No giggles in the dark. No knees to heal, no responsibility.

Only a voice crying,"Why don't you grow up?" and the silence echoing, "I did."


....Erma Bombeck




Told you I was melancholy! I doubt I need to convince you any further.....lol!

Something fun for Thursday!

I loved an ipod because I can see the future. What???? Check this out....I thought it was fun so I "stole" it from another blog. heeheehee :)

This one made me laugh outloud. It originally came from this blog. Pick the month you were born. Pick the day (number) you were born. Pick the color of shirt you are wearing. Now type out the sentence you made using the answers below:Pick the month you were born:

January----------I kicked
February--------I loved
March------------I punched
April---------------I swam with
May---------------I choked on
June---------------I murdered
July---------------- I did the Macarena with
August-----------I had lunch with
September------I danced with
October----------I sang to
November-------I yelled at
December-------I ran over

Pick the day ( number) you were born on:
1----- --a birdbath
2-------a monster
3-------a phone
4-------a fork
5-------a Mexican
6-------a flamingo
7-------my cell phone
8-------my dog
9-------my best friends' boyfriend
10------my neighbor
11------my science teacher
12------a banana
13------a fireman
14------a stuffed animal
15------a goat
16------a pickle
17------a squirrel
18------a spoon
19------myself
20------a baseball bat
21------a ninja
22------a snowman
23------a noodle
24-- ----your mom
25------a football player
26------my sister
27------my brother
28------an ipod
29------a permanent marker
30------a llama
31------a zombie

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:

White----------because I'm very pretty.
Black----------because that's how I play.
Pink------------because I'm cool like that.
Red-------------because the voices told me to.
Blue------------because I can see the future.
Green----------because I love to boogie.
Purple----------because your mom's cool.
Gray------------because the voices in my head told me to.
Yellow---------because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange---------because I tripped over my house.
Brown----------because I love my pillow.
Other-----------because I'm a ninja.
None-----------because I cant control myself.

I kindly demand that you all play along!! :) And then let me know if you did!

Easter Weekend

Hey! I'm back in blogland! We were visiting my parents in Northeast Ohio for a few days. It was a nice, relaxing time. However, it was easy to get confused on just what holiday we were supposed to be celebrating! If you looked outside, you would've thought it was Christmas for sure. There were big snowflakes drifting down lazily most of the time we were there. We didn't even try to wear our Easter outfits...it was just too cold.

After church on Sunday morning

This is Clyde, the parrot, that belongs to my Aunt Ida Lee. This parrot is about 40 years old.
He talks exactly like my aunt...same voice tone and inflections. He's hanging
upside down because he's mad. ...he was not too thrilled to have us all
there invading his space. The kids had lots of fun getting him all worked up...
he would shriek at them, say his name, and even when Caleb cried a couple
times, he tried to imitate him as well.

On Friday, we visited an Amish community just 30 min. from where
my parents live. It's always so intriguing to see the Amish houses and people.
Lauren calls them "back time" people...people that lived way back
in time! Anyway, we had to snap a picture of the buggy
parking at the big Walmart Supercenter
there....covered parking even! lol!

The driver-less carriage...when the lady driving this
buggy realized we were trying to gt a picture of her, she
ducked out of sight...Amish don't like being photographed.

At the Middlefiel Cheese house.

Middlefield is in the snowbelt, so there was even more snow there.
The factory was closed for tours, but we were thankful
that the cheese store was open. Their
cheese is SO delicious...much better than you can get
at the store.

This is a neat old General Store that's about 100 years old, I think.
They have penny candy, so the kids really enjoyed
spending a quarter and getting a nice
bag of candy. It's full of different Amish
treats, bulk foods and cheese.

Dressed up in blue........

Dressed up for church.
This is the first time the boys have been in
matching shirts. It's fun to dress them alike once
in a while!

Red's Opening Day Parade

Waiting for the parade....it was warm, but windy.

Their 88th parade....our third!

Most of all, we enjoy the patriotic aspect of the parade. It always
makes you feel SO PROUD to be an AMERICAN!!!

One of Michael's favorites!

Anthony Munoz and a real soldier...notice the leg. Aren't we grateful?

Just for Martha...I know you love the Clysdale horses!

The Pops float...with a large"Eric Kuntzel" on top!

How do they do this????

Maybe some of the zoo visitors will recognize the guy
that always does the bird show. The parrot he's holding can sing the
first line of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame"

One of my favorites...these guys are always so silly
with their lawnmowers!

This was new and very cute.....reminds you of Marion the Librarian!

Caleb enjoying the parade...nearly an hour and a half into the parade.

Just for Chris