Visitors

Nothing beats the hours of imagination that can come from a big box.  I love these moments.

Tommy got a swing for his birthday and Kate says, "Hurray our backyard isn't boring anymore!"

Waiting her turn

My sister and brother-in-law, Brittany and Ben, decided to utilize their time in between jobs to come out and visit us.  They bought tickets and two weeks later they were here!!  It was so great spending quality time with them and enjoying their adorable girls Avery and McKenna.

It rained a lot while they were here.  So we spent one day up at the Crayola Factory.

I love this cross walk

Rachel had her end of the year orchestra performance.  It isn't quite the program of our last district.  But still a good experience.

Girls day out!  We got some pizza and ice cream.  I wish she could come visit more often!

The boys took the little ones to the farm where they picked asparagus

This albino peacock was really cool

A visit to this farm is not complete without the apple cider donuts.  Only moments after this picture was taken a dog came and snatched the donut out of Lily's hand.  Pretty funny.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo with enchiladas, guacamole, and lime slushies

Piñata time!

And homemade "fried" ice cream

Like I said, it rained a lot!  And I thought this was cute.  They were good sports about going to school while we were having lots of fun.

Princeton Cotsen's (treehouse) Library story time

They made topiaries out of cardboard and tissue paper

Over the weekend Jake had a bike race.  Not quite the "race" we were expecting, but we were there to congratulate him finishing.

And since we headed in that direction we hit up Hershey's Chocolate World and Lancaster

Mother's Day.  I cherish all the homemade gifts and coupons.

The boys did a great job making dinner, using their asparagus they picked at the farm.

This girl is adorable.  She allowed me to hold her sometimes.  I loved the way she said Lily "Loly" and how she would ask for songs in the car "unbeam...unbeam...unbeam...unbeam...unbeam..."

I am very blessed to call them mine

Our one sunny day we used to go into New York City.  We did Central Park, including the zoo

Bike ride on the canal.  This was a lot of fun!

Up to where Washington crossed the Delaware.

Last night, we had to celebrate.

They flew in and out of Philadelphia so before their flight I took them to see the famous spots.  Liberty Bell, the Mint, Betsy Ross house, Independence Hall.

Lots of great memories.  Thanks Ben and Brittany!

8 is Great!

"I like to look for rainbows, whenever there is rain. And ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again.  I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.  I want to be the best I can, and live with God again."  This rainbow came at a perfect time, the week of Tommy's baptism.  I love how happy he is!

It was one crazy insane week!  The kids had half days of school every day, there was parent teacher conferences, kindergarten registration, doctor appointments, Tommy's birthday, the Blue and Gold banquet, and his baptism.

 When I told him no birthday party this year he was very very sad.  I said he could have a play date with a few friends from school.  Not sure how there ended up being five!  But I gave them a football and let them entertain themselves.  It was still very draining.  They were really loud and really energetic, but they had a really good time.  Tommy loved it!  Oh and they all call him Tom, because there was already a Tommy in his class when he came.  I probably should have made it 2 hours, instead of 3.  But some football highlight videos and some jackpot filled the rest of the time.

 He really wanted something signed by Cam Newton, but a t-shirt was the best I could do.  He was still thrilled!

He has become very obsessed with football lately, he's even got a large collection of football (and baseball) cards.  If anyone around here has met Tommy, he's asked them who their favorite team is.  We are signing him up for Flag Football in the fall.  Although he really wants to do tackle.  I told him he ought to learn the rules of the game first before trying to maneuver with helmet and pads.

 After his playdate we went to the church to set up for the Blue and Gold banquet that night.  Jake, as the new cub master, was in charge.  We came back home to sing him Happy Birthday.  He blew his candles out and then we had to run and get changed.

 My new scout!  I seriously can't believe he is old enough to do this now.  He is very excited and has already memorized the Scout Oath.

 Really fun that this night got to be his first time going to Scouts and that Jake is right there with him. He really loves that!

 Jake did the party planning, and I just helped order balloons and decorated the gym with streamers.

 We all sang Happy Birthday to him.

Baptism day

 We were really happy that Grandpa was able to make it out for his special day!

I asked Rachel a week before the baptism if she would be willing to play a song for the program.  Within no time and no music she picked out the notes to "When I am Baptized"  She did a beautiful job and I was very proud of her.