Morford's Musings

IHC Trip

2009-05-11T15:12:00.009-04:00

I was able to go to IHC this year, along with D.J., Brandon, my Grandma, Grandpa, Dad, Mom, sister Laura, sister Tanya, her husband Dan, their 3 kids and Dan's parents. We rode Cooley coach and had a really enjoyable time. Jeremy had work and school, so he was unable to go with us. :(

Our Motel

Waiting for our food at Steak and Shake the one night.

Entertainment on the bus-

playing with finger puppets

reading

coloring

playing with leapster

even the "big kids" had fun with the leapsters :)

Felicia, Hannah, & D.J. in the children's service.

Sleeping on the Bus

Hershey's Chocolate World

2009-05-11T14:57:00.005-04:00

D.J. has been wanting to visit Hershey's Chocolate World, so during Jeremy's spring break we decided to go.

There is a train type thing that you ride around the building for your tour. Here are D.J., Brandon, and Jeremy on the tour.

The various processes that chocolate has to go through, starting with cocoa beans and milk, and ending with chocolate bars.

A sign at the end that was constantly being updated with that days production.

The boys all tuckered out on the way home.

Dad's 50th Birthday Party

2009-05-11T14:45:00.006-04:00

Dad!

Some of the Guests

The cake signifying the first and second half of dad's life, using his love of cars. :)

D.J.'s Birthday

2009-03-24T15:00:00.006-04:00

D.J. opening some of his presents.

The card that we gave D.J. talked about his "birthday eyes", and then had these glasses for him to make. So, here is D.J. with his "birthday eyes."

D.J. and his cake

One of the highlights of D.J.'s day. He waited patiently (?) for his daddy to get home from work and go outside and play football with him.

For Mom, Tanya, and Sheri!

2009-03-24T14:00:00.003-04:00

Giant had triple coupons last week, so I went and got some deals! (would triple up to .99 coupons, limit of six triple coupons ) Here are my deals:

1 lb. box of domino white sugar

2 lb. bag of domino brown sugar

2 boxes superpretzels pretzelfils

4 pack of breyers yocrunch

Box of BananaNut Cheerios

Variety pack of HealthyOnes lunch meat

2 Johnson Buddies Bars

2 loaves of bread

Total before coupons- 19.40

Total of coupons after tripling- 16.60

Total after coupons and tax- 2.85

So, all of this, for 2.85 oop!

Happy Birthday Josiah!

2009-03-23T10:28:00.002-04:00

We want to wish my nephew Josiah a happy birthday. We hope that you have a nice day!

D.J. at five

2009-03-18T08:53:00.002-04:00

D.J. likes

to play any kind of ball
to be a helper- whether it be vacuuming, dusting, loading/unloading the dishwasher, etc.- if you ask him, he is willing
to wrestle with his daddy and brother
children's church
to learn
to be able to do things on his own
books
to read and to be read to
cars
to color
hugs and kisses
babies
lasagna
to go to the park

Happy Birthday D.J.!

2009-03-18T08:48:00.002-04:00

D.J., we want to wish you a happy birthday. We are so glad that Jesus gave you to us 5 years ago. You are such a joy! We love you and hope that you have a good birthday and many more years to come!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Birthday Larry!

2009-03-16T08:39:00.006-04:00

We want to wish my brother a happy birthday. Hope that you have a nice day.

Happy Birthday Dad!

2009-03-11T16:14:00.002-04:00

We wanted to say happy birthday to my dad. We hope that you have a wonderful day and many more years to come.

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-03-10T12:48:00.003-04:00

We want to say happy birthday to my mom. We hope that you have a very nice day! :)

Happy Birthday!

2009-03-07T21:27:00.001-05:00

I wanted to wish my sister Sheri a happy birthday. Hope that you have a wonderful day!

Giveaway

2009-02-26T09:44:00.002-05:00

Go here for a chance to win a snuggly mat. It is a cute, soft sleeping bag with a built in pillow for children. It looks to be very nice. If you don't have any children, it would make a great gift!

Check it out!

2009-02-26T09:23:00.003-05:00

If you have not yet joined Swagbucks, you will want to check it out. All you do is sign up and then use them for your search engine. They use google and ask.com, so it gives you the results that you normally would be getting anyhow. The only difference is, they reward you for searching! They give you points (swagbucks) that you can save up and redeem for various gift cards or prizes. They are legit. They do follow through with your prize, and you do not get spammed in your e-mail. They never send you anything unless you ask for it! Go check it out. If you decide to join, sign up through this link, or the one on my sidebar that says search & win. You won't be sorry! :)

Happy Birthday!

2009-02-24T12:20:00.001-05:00

I want to say happy first birthday to my niece Victoria. I hope you have a wonderful day, and many more years. :)

Happy Birthday to Jeremy!

2009-02-18T07:11:00.003-05:00

Jeremy, you make a wonderful husband, provider, and daddy. Thank you for all that you do. We hope that you have a wonderful day

Here is a special song for your birthday. Hope that you enjoy. :)

Wal-Mart gift card giveaway

2009-02-16T09:44:00.001-05:00

Want a chance to win a $25 Wal-Mart gift card? Go here to find out how!

CVS gift card giveaway!

2009-02-12T09:26:00.002-05:00

Go here for an opportunity to win a $14.00 gift card for CVS. If you use this with the ECB system, this gift card can go a long ways! The contest ends on Friday at midnight.

For Bethany!

2009-02-11T09:51:00.000-05:00

I want to wish my sister-in-law a happy birthday. Hope that you have a good day!

D.J. reading

2009-02-06T08:35:00.005-05:00

D.J. has been trying to learn how to read. The other day he read his first book. He was very proud of himself. Here is a clip of him reading the book. As you will be able to tell, he thinks that the ending is quite funny!

Coupon Giveaway!

2009-02-05T18:42:00.003-05:00

Are you looking for some coupons? If you are, then you will want to go here to see how you can win some. You will have to hurry! The contest ends tomorrow night.

What's yours?

2009-02-02T15:52:00.001-05:00

Movie Reviews

For Laura!

2009-01-26T09:51:00.000-05:00

Fun in the Snow!

2009-01-21T11:24:00.004-05:00

On Monday we finally got enough snow to go out and play in. Before this, it had always been a dusting. So, the boys got all dressed up, went out and made snow angels and had a snowball fight. They had a lot of fun, and didn't want to come back inside! :)

New Year's Eve Celebration

2009-01-13T13:06:00.005-05:00

My parents and Laura were able to come celebrate New Year's Eve with us. We had Christmas with them when they came. Here are the boys opening some of their gifts.

Here are the boys opening their gifts from Great Grandma & Papa.

After opening gifts, we went shopping to get some snacks for that evening. Here are the boys in the store. As you can see, D.J. enjoyed it, but Brandon got a little bored. :)

We had a lot of fun eating, playing games and waiting for midnight!

As per request :)

2009-01-05T15:35:00.002-05:00

Here is the chicken recipe that I was requested to post.

Crock pot Chicken

2/3 c. flout

1 t. basil

1 t. seasoned salt

chicken

1/4 c butter (or margarine)

2 c. chicken broth (sometimes I use the canned, sometimes I make my own with bullion cubes)

In a bowl, combine flour, basil and seasoned salt. Coat chicken with flour mixture. Reserve remaining flour mixture. Melt butter in a frying pan, and use to brown chicken on all sides. Transfer chicken to slow cooker. Add 1/4 c. flour mixture to skillet. (Although it does not call for it, I usually have to add more butter at this point also.) Stir until smooth. When it begins to bubble, stir in chicken broth and bring to boil. Boil 1 min., then pour over chicken. Cook on high 2-2 1/2 hrs.

Shopping list printer

2009-01-05T09:39:00.002-05:00

Want a shopping list printer? It looks like a really neat and useful idea. Go here for your chance to win one and to find out more about what it is. However, you will have to hurry- the contest ends today at 12!

Christmas

2008-12-30T10:02:00.007-05:00

Christmas morning with the presents under the tree before the boys came down.

First glimpse of the presents!

Opening their stockings.

Opening their presents.

"Santa" :)

In the afternoon we had Christmas with Jeremy's family. Here is "Papa Santa" handing out gifts.

Brandon opening more gifts.

D.J. coming out to the kitchen to see what was hidden there.

D.J. trying out what was hidden in the kitchen.

Christmas cookies!

2008-12-19T07:32:00.005-05:00

We did our yearly tradition that the boys look forward to - decorating cookies.

Ready to start.

You can't really tell in the picture, but Brandon's mouth was full of cookie. He kept eating the cookies while he was supposed to be decorating them.

The boys decorating. We finally convinced Brandon that he was supposed to decorate them and not eat them. :)

Some of Brandon's cookies. He told me that he was done, I took the picture, then he decided that he wanted to decorate more. At the end, his cookie sheet was totally full, however I forgot to take a picture of it.

D.J.'s end result

Brandon & Elmo

2008-12-15T10:52:00.004-05:00

The other day Brandon was playing with Elmo & I was able to capture some of it. I thought you might like to see it. (especially Grandma & Papa) The second one is the right way up on my computer, but I can't get it to be the right way when I upload it. So, you can either watch it sideways, or ignore it! :)

Decorating for Christmas

2008-12-09T14:53:00.003-05:00

We have been decorated for almost a week now, but I have just now gotten around to posting our pictures. The boys were very interested in helping this year.

Sorting the pieces

Putting the tree together

Adding the ornaments

Brandon inspecting the job!

D.J. got tired of hanging the ornaments, but didn't want to quit until they were all hung, so he started hanging them together. He would hang them either with more than one on the same branch so that he didn't have to go hunting for a bare one, or he would take one and hook another one or two onto it, and then hang the first one on the branch. Here are two examples of his work!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-09T07:39:00.006-05:00

This is a little late, but I guess better late than never, right? For Thanksgiving, we were able to go to my parents house. All of my siblings and their families and my Grandma H were there also. On the way there we ran into snow. It was coming down pretty hard, there were cars in the ditch everywhere, and the plows had not been through. There was about 3 inches of snow on the roads, so we were having to take it pretty slow. The plows eventually did come through, so then it was a little bit easier going. We ended up getting in to my parent's house about 4:30 Thursday morning. Needless to say, we were happy to get there and get to bed.

On Thursday, we had our Thanksgiving meal. We had lots of food, and lots of people. With all of us being home, there were 21 for Thanksgiving. It was interesting figuring out where everyone was going to be sitting! :) We had a lot of fun, and played games until way too late, then got up at 4:00 in the morning to join the madness. ;) My parents, my siblings, one brother-in-law, one niece, and my brother's girlfriend all went to brave the cold and the crowds. My wonderful husband was willing to stay home with our boys. This made it much easier on me! We shopped for a while, then stopped for breakfast, then went at it again. We had fun and were able to get some good deals.

Friday evening we celebrated Christmas as we will not all be together then. Then my siblings began to leave: the first one Friday evening, then Saturday, then Sunday. We were the last to leave, on Monday.

I neglected to take any pictures of Thanksgiving. :( However, on Friday Jeremy bought me a new camera (an early Christmas present so that I could go ahead and start using it), so I figured that I should try it out! So here are some pictures from Friday evening.

Opening gifts

Enjoying the Snacks

Elves in the house?

2008-12-02T09:48:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Christmas Cards (and other things)

2008-11-15T21:54:00.004-05:00

If you don't have your Christmas cards yet, and are planning on getting picture ones done, check out my link for Vistaprint. We just ordered our cards through them. They are reasonably priced, you can put up to six pictures on your card, and you get black and white print on the back for free. However, you will probably want to do it soon because their cheapest shipping takes 3 weeks. So, the longer you wait, the more you will have to pay for shipping in order to get them in time for Christmas. They also have many other things, such as address labels, rubber stamps, business cards, notepads, mugs and many others. If you do decide to order through them, go through the link. Your order gets Jeremy $5 towards his school books. However, in order for him to be credited, you must use our link!

Doubting Thomas?

2008-11-12T17:47:00.005-05:00

Last night for devotions we were reading about how Thomas didn't believe the other disciples that they had seen Jesus after He had died. We started reading, and when we said "Thomas", D.J. started laughing and said "Thomas?" Jeremy caught on first to what was happening. When D.J. had heard Thomas, he automatically thought of Thomas the Tank Engine and thought it was funny that Thomas was in his devotions. Jeremy quickly had to explain to D.J. that contrary to our boys' opinions, there are other Thomases in the world than Thomas the Tank Engine, and the one in our devotions was Thomas the Disciple, not the Tank Engine!

Fish Names

2008-11-12T09:51:00.003-05:00

Thank you to all who gave suggestions for fish names. D.J. has decided on a name for his fish. He has gone with Gina's "Blue Angel". However, Brandon has not decided and is still open to suggestions. The best name that he has come up with is "Brandon's fishy." :)

Respect for the office

2008-11-12T09:40:00.005-05:00

No, I did not vote for Barack Obama. Many things that he stands for I do not agree with. However, I believe that we are to give him the respect that the office of the Presidency requires. It is a Biblical command, and therefore our Christian duty. I believe that Mike Huckabee says it very well.

To alleviate some of the fears circulating about Obama, see: http://jeffjr3.blogspot.com/2008/11/president-barack-obama.html

Cute

2008-11-06T10:33:00.001-05:00

I thought that this was kinda cute. Some of you mothers may be able to relate. I know that sometimes I feel like the librarian! :)

Fish Pictures

2008-11-04T08:14:00.002-05:00

Here are pictures of the betta that we got. I took the divider out between them so that they would flare out some for the pictures.

We took the boys to the store, and let them pick out their own. The first one, red with a little purple, is Brandon's. The second one, blue with some red, is D.J.'s. They still have not come up with names for them. Does anyone have some suggestions?

An Update!

2008-11-04T07:47:00.003-05:00

For those of you concerned because I have not updated, I will update. The same stuff as usual has been going on. There have been two new things.

The first new thing is that we have aquired two fish. We had fish for about a year, but they died about a year ago. D.J. has been bugging for new ones that whole year. So we went and got new ones. I will try to post pictures of them if I can get the pictures to turn out.

The other new thing is that Jeremy has been pretty sick with a cold. D.J. picked the cold up from him, and as it does so often, his cold turned into croup. We spent quite a bit of last night battling it. So, pray that D.J. and Jeremy get better, and that Brandon and I do not get it!

A child's view of God!

2008-10-23T10:45:00.002-04:00

Today D.J. and I were talking about creation. When I told him that God took some dirt and made Adam, he was pretty impressed. He told me that he didn't think that he could go outside, pick up some dirt, and make a man. He then informed me, "God's a pretty cool guy." :)

Fall Frolic!

2008-10-13T13:27:00.007-04:00

Saturday our church had fall frolic. There was a skit, hayride, games, cookie decorating, and food. It was a lot of fun. It was a western theme this year, and if possible, you were supposed to dress to go along with the theme. So, here are our two cowboys, ready to go!

During the skit, D.J. got scared. To keep him from crying, I let him take a picture of the skit. Here is his picture. A cowboy is stealing some "cows."

Here are pictures of the boys playing some of the games. Brandon is making "soup" and D.J. is playing feed the cowboy. He had to see how much "food" he could throw into the hats.

Here are pictures of the boys having fun in the jumphouse in kiddie corral.

Here are pictures of us on the hayride. The boys really enjoyed the hayride. Jeremy was helping out on one of the teams, so he wasn't with us most of the day. However, it worked out that we went on the hayride at the same time. D.J. was very happy about this and said that he was thankful that God worked it out that Daddy got to go on the hayride with us.

Here is D.J. enjoying his popcorn on the hayride!

Saturday evening, after everything was done, D.J. told me that he is not going to forget that until he is 68! :)

Ice cream in a bag 2

2008-10-09T09:06:00.004-04:00

For those inquiring minds, ice cream in a bag is very simple to make. You take milk, sugar and flavoring (vanilla, chocolate or strawberry syrup, etc.) and mix them in a small ziplock bag. You can double bag it for extra security if you want. We just poured some in. We didn't measure. However, if you want to measure, I did read somewhere that it is 1/2 cup milk to 1 tablespoon sugar.

Take a big ziplock bag and put ice, salt, and your small bag. Shake it until it thickens. This should take about 5 mins. If you don't put enough salt, it won't freeze. The salt lowers the temp. You will probably want to use a towel or gloves as it gets very cold. Before opening your bag of ice cream, you will want to wipe it off to make sure that no salt gets into the ice cream.

You can also do it in a bowl if you want to. Make the small bag the same way. Then take a big bowl, put ice, salt, and a little water. Then move the small bag around in the ice.

We haven't tried it yet, but I think next time we are going to put m&m's or chocolate chips or some such thing in with the milk also.

Have fun and use your imagination!

Ice cream in a bag

2008-10-07T15:04:00.003-04:00

Today we decided to make ice cream in a bag. The boys were given a bag and a towel and told to start shaking.

They thought that the result was well worth the effort!

Interior Decorators in the Making?

2008-10-07T14:48:00.003-04:00

For my fall table decoration, I have a table runner, two fall bears, a candle and some leaves. Here is what it normally looks like.

However, my boys have decided that they are interior decorators. About every time I go to the dining room the decoration arrangement has been changed. I have caught both of the boys in the act of changing it. When asked what they were doing, they informed me that they were decorating. D.J. said that he thought that it was good decorating. Here are two of their arrangements. The first one is D.J.'s and the second one is Brandon's.

Homemade Bread!

2008-10-03T08:45:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I made some homemade bread. Mom, you would be proud of me, I kneaded it until it was squeaking! Of course, my mother also taught me that you can't make homemade bread without also making some sticky buns. So I made a pan of those also! :) While the bread was still warm, I cut a loaf and let everyone have a slice. As D.J. bit into his piece he started singing "It's good to live in Canaan." I don't know if this was coincidence, but I thought that it was cute. Brandon is not usually a big bread eater, but he ate his and said "more bread, please." Here are some pictures of the results. Anyone coming to visit? :)

Sing to Me!

2008-10-02T11:01:00.002-04:00

Brandon has started asking for music to be turned on, whether it be in the van or at home. He must think that he is pretty important. When he wants music turned on, he says "sing to me." :)

Boys and Bugs

2008-09-30T19:14:00.003-04:00

The other day, the boys were out on our patio blowing bubbles. It just so happened that there was a praying mantis on the patio also. Brandon was very interested in it, and had to go check it out. Then he decided to pick it up. After he picked it up, he quickly decided that he didn't like it and dropped it. Then he made it get off of the patio because "it bugga me." :)

Recipe

2008-09-30T13:15:00.003-04:00

I have been going through my cooking magazines recently. I am trying to clip out just the ones that I use. Then I am putting them in a notebook. This will be much easier for storing and using in the future. Anyhow, as I was going through them, I came across a recipe that looked like my family might like it. I tried it, and we really liked it. So, I decided to share it. If you are looking for a new recipe to try, try this one!

Bean 'n' Beef Crescent Pie

1-1/4 pounds ground beef

1 envelope taco seasoning

1/3 cup salsa

1 tube (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent rolls

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup refried beans

1 cup (4 oz.) shredded Mexican cheese blend or cheddar cheese

In a large skillet, cook the beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Add taco seasoning and salsa; simmer, uncovered, until thickened. Meanwhile, unroll crescent roll dough. press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish; seal preforations. Spread cream cheese over the dough.

Stir the refried beans into beef mixture. Spoon over cream cheese layer. Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 20-25 min. or until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle with cheese; bake 5 min. longer or until the cheese is melted.

The recipe did not call for it, but I served it with additional salsa. We put some on top, and liked it that way.

Brandon's Birthday Gift

2008-09-30T13:08:00.002-04:00

Brandon finally got his birthday gift from Grandma and Papa Major. This was no fault of their's. They had the money to him, we just decided to wait until after we moved to go and get it -one less thing to move. :) Anyhow, D.J. had a bike helmet, and Brandon liked to wear it. However, this caused fighting because then D.J. would want it. So, we went to the store and let Brandon pick one out with his birthday money. It also came with elbow and knee pads. So, here is Brandon modeling his new present!

Flowers

2008-09-30T12:30:00.002-04:00

Thanks Dad and Mom for the beautiful flowers. Here are pictures of them.

When the boys saw me taking pictures of the flowers, they decided that they wanted their pictures taken with them. I know you can't see their faces too well, but they didn't want to cooperate.

House pictures

2008-09-30T11:43:00.005-04:00

I'm back!! We are moved, settled in, and have internet once again, so hopefully you will hear from me more often. :) Here are some of the house pictures.

Here is the outside of the house.

These are the kitchen taken from the dining room.

This is the dining room taken from the kitchen.

These are the dining room taken from the living room.

These are the living room taken from different angles.

The downstairs rooms are built where they circle around, with a half bath in the center. The wall that has the Morford home sign on it is where the 1/2 bath is located. The other side that you can't see is a short hallway that circles back to the kitchen. It also has the door for the bathroom and basement, and a closet.

Hopefully this gives you some idea without confusing you too much. :) We also have an upstairs with 3 bedrooms, and the full bath.

Stalling!

2008-07-27T15:51:00.003-04:00

Brandon has been potty-training and has realized that this is a good excuse to get out of bed. The other night, he was sitting on the potty when he was supposed to be in bed. He looked at me and said, "I stallin', I stallin'. I funny, I funny." I did think that this was funny, but of course couldn't let him know! :)

Philadelphia

2008-07-14T13:27:00.009-04:00

As part of Brandon's birthday celebration, on Saturday we got together with Jason and Bethany and went to see the Liberty Bell and the zoo. Yes Dad, the Liberty Bell does exist. We actually found where they had it hidden! Here are a few pictures of us at the Liberty Bell.

Here are some pictures at the zoo. We have already posted most of the animals, so I didn't take too many pictures of them. One thing that we saw was this turtle on wheels. We wondered if it was injured or just too big to move. (It was one big turtle!)

Then we saw an elephant drinking. We thought that this was pretty neat. D.J. especially liked it, but thought that it was gross, and decided that he preferred to use a cup or straw to drink rather than his nose. :)

Laura these ones are for you - one of yours and D.J.'s favorites!

After walking around for a while, we all had to sit down and take a break!

D.J. with his water - a necessity for a warm day outside in the sun.

D.J. wanted his picture taken behind the cheese, so here it is.

I let Brandon go into the petting zoo for the first time. He absolutely loved it! After a little while I asked him if he was ready to go, and he said "No, brush" and went off in search of another goat. Every time I asked him the response was the same. The only way that I could get him to leave the petting zoo was to tell him he could go wash his hands. Since he loves to wash his hands, he figured that this was a fair trade. :)

Brandon at Two

2008-07-14T13:03:00.005-04:00

He loves:

to tease people

to get a laugh out of anyone - if you laugh, he will do it all the more

books - reading them, and being read to

any kind of ball - basketball, baseball, football, etc.

his laptop

to talk on the telephone

to go down the slide, but is scared of swings

to climb

any animals, but especially doggies

to draw

to color

to count

to sing

to listen to music

to play church. At church before service, he gets a songbook and leads the singing, then a Bible and preaches. If I start playing the piano, he takes advantage of it as his offertory, grabs the offering plate and hands it to D.J. He must think that D.J. is his usher. :)

to wrestle with his daddy and brother

hugs and kisses

being praised

helping

Happy Birthday Brandon!

2008-07-11T14:16:00.008-04:00

Brandon celebrated his 2cnd birthday on the 11th. I asked him what he wanted for supper and he quickly told me pizza! Here are a couple pictures of him enjoying his pizza and juice.

Here is Brandon opening his gifts. After just a couple, he would hand D.J. the new present, tell him to open it and play with his last present while D.J. opened the new one. He would glance over every once in a while to see how it was going. Once D.J. had opened the present, Brandon would take it so that he could play with it while D.J. opened the next one for him. He thought that he had his own personal servant!

I asked Brandon what he wanted on his birthday cake and started to give him a list of ideas. He informed me that he wanted a "doggy cake." So, I attempted to give him what he wanted. The results are not professional, but he was quite happy with it!

Fourth of July

2008-07-11T14:14:00.004-04:00

D.J. had really been looking forward to fireworks. We all had colds and did not feel like going, but did not want to disappoint him so we went. It was sprinkling, and the wind was not blowing, so there was a big smoke cloud. They kept setting the fireworks off, but it was behind the smoke cloud so you couldn't really see them. After a little while, the smoke cloud began to go away and you could see them better. However, then it started raining a little harder. We like fireworks, but with the rain and our colds, we weren't too sad to see them end. Here are two pictures that I took of the boys.

Future Grass-Cutter!

2008-06-23T22:09:00.010-04:00

The other day Jeremy was mowing the grass and I looked out to see D.J. sitting on the tractor. I didn't know if his father knew that he was on the tractor, but after assessing the situation, decided that he was not going to hurt the tractor or be hurt. So, instead of telling him to get off, I ran for my camera and snapped a couple shots! :)

After he saw me, he started putting on a show. He started singing Hallelujah and Praise ye the Lord. He was even standing and sitting on the alternate words like you are supposed to! (although he was the only one singing, and thus singing all the words) :)

50th Anniversary Party!

2008-06-16T12:11:00.018-04:00

On Saturday, my grandparents celebrated their 50th Anniversary. Here are some pictures of the day.

Some shots of some of the guests.

Some of the cousins playing with bubbles that Grandma and Grandpa had gotten for them.

Cutting the cake and feeding each other.

When we were children, we asked Grandma how she had kissed Grandpa at their wedding because she was so much shorter than he was. She told us that she had stood on the altar. She was joking of course, but we believed her. So, as their 50th approached, she told us that at their party, they were going to show us how it was "really done." So, here is the proof, no altar was stood on! :)

The whole clan does not get together very often, so when we do, we like to get a picture. Here is Grandma, Grandpa, their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren! (33 total) It made for a difficult time of getting everyone in!

Bike Ride!

2008-06-16T12:04:00.003-04:00

Uncle Larry was riding on a dirt bike, so some of his nephews and nieces decided that they needed rides. Being the loving uncle, he dutifully complied! :)

Cousins!

2008-06-16T12:03:00.000-04:00

Here are some of the cousins playing together at Grandma's house before the party. The times of them all being together are few and far between, so they really enjoyed themselves.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T20:19:00.002-04:00

We want to say Happy Father's Day to my Father, my step-father-in-law, and my husband. We love you and hope that you enjoy your day!

Youth Convention

2008-06-09T13:00:00.007-04:00

We had youth convention this past weekend. We had service at our church on Friday evening. Then on Saturday afternoon, we had games, followed by pizza, and ending with service at the Allentown church. Sunday morning, everyone had service at their own churches, and we ended out the weekend with service at the Northampton church on Sunday evening. We really enjoyed the weekend.

Here are some pictures of Saturday afternoon. Here are some of the kids playing basketball.

Here are some playing volleyball.

Here is D.J. playing soccer.

D.J. playing basketball.

Brandon playing basketball.

D.J. "fishing"

Brandon playing with his laptop.

Then there was D.J. and Brandon's highlight- sharks and minnows! They played with the big kids, and although there were some close calls, they did not get run over. :)

After all of his hard running in sharks and minnows, Brandon had to stop for a drink break!

Happy Anniversary to Mom and Dad

2008-06-09T12:54:00.003-04:00

I want to wish my parents a happy anniversary. We love you guys and hope that you have a wonderful day!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-06-08T12:53:00.000-04:00

I want to wish my husband a happy anniversary. We have had six wonderful years together, and hope to have many more! I love you Jeremy!

Graduation Time!

2008-06-06T01:36:00.005-04:00

D.J. and Brandon have graduated! Brandon to a big-boy bed, and D.J. to the top bunk. Tonight we put the rails up and they moved into their new beds. They were both quite excited over it. However, Brandon kept getting up every two seconds. He liked his newfound freedom and decided to take advantage of it.

Here are pictures of them in their new beds.

Time with the Greats!

2008-06-04T17:56:00.004-04:00

This past weekend we were able to spend some time with my Grandma and Grandpa. We enjoyed our time, but I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures. :-(

Post from D.J.

2008-05-30T19:47:00.005-04:00

This is D.J.'s post. He is wanting to see how many comments he can get. His goal is 17!

New Afghan

2008-05-30T19:35:00.003-04:00

This is a picture of the afghan that Mom and Dad gave to Jeremy and me for our anniversary. Mom crocheted it. I don't know if the picture does it justice. It is beautiful. It has a very delicate stitch with a cute, lacy edge on it. We really like it!

Mom, Dad, Laura, and the Philadelphia Zoo!

2008-05-29T11:30:00.006-04:00

My parents and my sister were able to come visit for a few days this week. On Tuesday we went to the Philadelphia zoo.

Here is Mom, Dad, and D.J. at the zoo.

The one building that we went in had information about some of the wild cats. They had the lights down very low, and Brandon (who is scared of the dark) started crying. I took him outside. I took this picture of him while we were waiting for the others to finish in the building.

Here is Mom and Brandon under the waterfall.

Dad and D.J. under the waterfall.

In the children's zoo, they have a petting zoo. Dad took D.J. in and D.J. showed Dad how to brush the goats.

After Dad and D.J. were done combing the goats, Mom bought some food, and helped D.J. feed the goats. D.J. tried it, but was a little nervous to try again after the goat licked his hand.

Laura and D.J. sitting in front of a tiger.

The tiger that they were sitting in front of. I zoomed in so that I could get a good picture of it. However, you didn't need to zoom in there. It really was quite close!

Laura running from the camera. All day we teased her about running from the lions. We got quite a few laughs out of this picture. :)

Dad, Mom, Laura and D.J. fascinated by the King Cobra.

D.J. and Brandon in front of the elephants.

On the way home, we hit quite a bit of traffic. It took us about an hour to get out of Philly.

All of the walking around the zoo tuckered everyone out. Here D.J. was sleeping, Laura was sleeping on the other side, and Brandon had just woken up.

2008-05-29T10:25:00.004-04:00

On Monday(Memorial Day), we went outside and played with bubbles. The boys had a lot of fun. They each had their own method of doing the bubbles, so I thought I would share them with you. :-)

First, D.J.'s

Pour

Dip

Twirl

Chase

Next, we have Brandon's

Dip

Taste

Wave

Beat

A Great Preacher in the Making?

2008-05-25T19:57:00.005-04:00

Today D.J. rode the church van with Jeremy to take people home. On the way, D.J. kept telling the same story over and over. D.J has been saying that he wants to be a preacher when he grows up, so Jeremy told him that preachers weren't supposed to repeat themselves, and that he couldn't keep telling the same story if he wanted to be a preacher like daddy. D.J. replied, "I'm not going to be a preacher like you." Jeremy said, "Oh, you're not?" D.J. said, "No I'm going to be better than you!" :-)

A New Lighthouse!

2008-05-25T17:46:00.003-04:00

Shady Maple has a large gift shop on the bottom floor of their building. Last week when we were there, Jeremy purchased a lighthouse candle holder for me. It is very pretty. Hopefully you can see it somewhat in the pictures.

Here you can see what it says on the glass a little bit better. It is Proverbs 30:5.

Natural-born leader?

2008-05-20T18:11:00.005-04:00

The other day, after we had picked up the boy's playroom, I sent D.J. in to vacuum. I walked by just a little bit later, and D.J. was teaching Brandon to vacuum. I got back with my camera in time to catch Brandon using the vacuum. Guess D.J. is going to make a good leader- he knows how to delegate! :-)

Picture Time!

2008-05-20T17:20:00.005-04:00

For lunch on Sunday, we undressed Brandon so that he wouldn't get his good clothes messy. It's a good thing that we did! As you can see from the pictures, Brandon thoroughly enjoyed his meal! I decided to take some pictures of the mess.

At first, he was just humoring his mother, letting me take his picture.

However, then he got tickled by the flash and really started laughing. It made for some great pictures. Every time I took a picture, he laughed harder. He must have been "in a mood!" :-)

Family Day

2008-05-17T22:57:00.008-04:00

Jeremy had last week off from school. His spring session had ended, and his summer session begins this week, so we decided to take advantage of the time off and take a family day on Thursday. We took another trip to Philadelphia zoo. The last time we went, some of the things were still closed for winter, so we were able to see even more animals than last time! Here are some pictures of some of the animals. I don't think that I posted any of these animals last time.

Black bear

This was a different kind of a bear. I think it was called a sloth bear.

Zebra

We caught a peacock with his feathers spread!

I can't keep all of the cats straight, so I am not going to try to give all their names.

Penguin

Rhino

One of my favorites -Gorilla!

D.J. having fun. There was a board that if you touched the pictures, if made that sound that the animal makes.

Here, D.J. was able to "design" a monkey house. They had different basket, trees, monkeys, etc., and the kids could play with the stuff, designing a home for the monkeys.

You can tell who had the camera here!

We took a picnic lunch with us. We had turkey or hard salami sandwiches. I asked D.J. which he wanted. He chose the salami. While he was eating it, he said, "Is this slimy pepperoni?" We thought that this was really cute.

After we were done at the zoo, Jeremy took us to Shady Maple Smorgasbord. :-) He had cooked lunch for me for Mother's day, but still wanted to take me out. Since he knows how much I like Shady Maple, that is where he took us. We really enjoyed that also. We had a very long, but very enjoyable day!

The things kids say!

2008-05-12T20:29:00.002-04:00

The other day D.J. and I were out shopping. As we passed a pond, D.J. said, "Look mommy, an ocean!" :-)

Then yesterday (Sunday morning) as I was getting Brandon out of his booster seat after breakfast, he said, "go church" I asked him how he knew we were going to church and he replied, "it Sunday!"

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T20:15:00.002-04:00

We want to wish a Happy Mother's Day to Mom Major and Mom Brown! We love you and hope you enjoy your day.

In Honor of Mother's Day :-)

2008-05-11T14:03:00.005-04:00

You're Really A Mom When...

You count the number of sprinkles on each kid's cupcake to make sure they are equal.
You want to take out a contract on the kid who broke your child's favorite toy and made him/her cry.
You have time to shave only one leg at a time.
You hide in the bathroom to be alone.
Your child throws up and you catch it.
Someone else's kid throws up at a party and you keep eating.
You consider finger paint to be a controlled substance.
You mastered the art of placing food on a plate without anything touching.
Your child insists that you read "Once upon a Potty" out loud in the lobby of the doctor's office and you do it.
You hire a baby sitter because you haven't been out with your husband in ages, then you spend half the night talking about and checking on the kids.
You hope ketchup is a vegetable because it's the only one your child eats.
You find yourself cutting your husband's sandwiches into unusual shapes.
You fast-forward through the scene when the hunter shoots Bambi's mother.
You obsess when your child clings to you upon parting during his first month at school, then you obsess when he skips in without looking back.
You can't bear to give away baby clothes--it's so final.
You hear your mother's voice coming out of your mouth when you say, "Not in your good clothes."
You stop criticizing the way your mother raised you.
You read that the average-five-year old asks 437 questions a day and feel proud that your kid is "above average."

(dayformothers.com)

A teacher gave her class of second graders a lesson on the magnet and what it does. The next day in a written test, she included this question: "My full name has six letters. The first one is M. I pick up things. What am I?" When the test papers were turned in, the teacher was astonished to find that almost 50 percent of the students answered the question with the word Mother (Unknown)

A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday school presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son's memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, "I am the light of the world." The child beamed and with great feeling and a loud clear voice said, "My mother is the light of the world." (Bits and Pieces)

Brandon hard at work

2008-05-03T13:17:00.003-04:00

D.J. ready for "work"

2008-05-03T12:58:00.002-04:00

The other day D.J. got himself dressed for "work." I thought that the result was so cute that I had to take a picture and post it for everyone to see!

More pics of the boys

2008-04-26T23:53:00.003-04:00

One day this past week, we spent the day with some friends. We went to a park that had some really pretty flowers, so we took the opportunity to take some pictures. The first one is D.J. and Brandon with their friends that they were at the park with. (one is sitting by D.J. and the other is peeking around the tree) The rest are just various shots of D.J. and Brandon in the park.

We're on the road again!

2008-04-25T22:46:00.002-04:00

For those of you who may not know, we will be moving again. Our tentative move date is in August. Pray for us as we are in this time of transition- trying to find a house and a job, and packing. (yuck :b)

D.J.'s first attempt at taking pictures!

2008-04-21T16:01:00.002-04:00

Today at the park, D.J. tried taking some pictures for the first time. He did it all by himself. I didn't think he did too bad for a four year old!

Mom, this one is for you. D.J. took this before we received your comment, but after your comment, thought that we better post it. :)

Testimonies

2008-04-14T19:20:00.004-04:00

It seems as though the boys are doing new things every day. However, I thought that I would share one of D.J.'s newest things with you. He has started testifying in church. He really enjoys this, and really gets into his testimonies. He actually almost "preaches" his testimonies. I am unable to record it for you all to hear, but I will try to give you an idea of what he does. Last night he testified in church and this is what he said. (bold words were said louder) "I love Jesus. He died so I could go to Heaven." Then he paused and acted as if he were going to say more, but sat down. Sometimes his testimonies are even longer, with a few hops included!

A Day at the Park

2008-04-11T12:55:00.006-04:00

We had a really nice day, so we decided to take advantage of it by going to the park.

D.J. and Brandon off to play!

They tried out the swings. Brandon has always been scared of swings, but he even swang a little bit this time. (Not too high though!) D.J. kept asking to be pushed higher!

Of course, we can't forget to drive the cars and machinery.

Brandon's favorite part was the slides. He loved climbing up the steps, sliding down, then doing it all over again as soon as he was down. :)

And D.J.'s highlight of the day - the "big slide!"

D.J.'s Program

2008-04-09T00:09:00.004-04:00

In our children's church, the children have been learning the Lord's Prayer. The unit ended, so they came upstairs and did a program for the adults, to show what they had learned. Here are the children. (at least the youngest ones - the older ones didn't participate)

D.J. during the program.

D.J. quoting the Lord's Prayer all by himself!

We love our parents!

2008-04-08T23:54:00.007-04:00

As part of the Easter decorations at our church, everyone was given an opportunity to purchase an Easter lily in honor or memory of someone. We decided to purchase one in memory of Jeremy's dad and one in honor of our parents. We want our parents to know that we love and appreciate them. Here is a picture of the lilies.

New Glasses!

2008-04-01T21:25:00.002-04:00

Brandon loves sunglasses. He got some new ones, and was happy to model them!

U.S. Marshal!

2008-03-30T23:45:00.000-04:00

D.J. posing with some of his birthday gifts. The guns are from Daddy and Mommy, the badge is from Brandon, and the glasses are from Dan and Gina. He really enjoyed showing them off!

D.J. and Brandon singing

2008-03-30T23:30:00.000-04:00

Click on the title to hear D.J. and Brandon sing a song. Some of you may have heard this already. Hope you enjoy it!

Friday

2008-03-29T23:05:00.010-04:00

On Friday, we went souvenir shopping. These are the results - a hat for each of the boys and a sweatshirt for everyone!

After we were finished shopping, we let the boys go on a couple of rides.

Hey, even big boys need to play!

We were told that Gatlinburg was the minature golf capital, so after rides we went minature golfing. This was D.J.'s first time and he thoroughly enjoyed himself!

There were some ducks walking around there, so after we were done with minature golf, we fed the ducks.

Thursday

2008-03-28T22:16:00.011-04:00

On Thursday, we went to the National Park.

First we stoped at the Gatlinburg Welcome Center and got a map of the National Park so that we could figure out where we were going.

Then we got into the van to drive through the park.

As we were driving through the park, we kept stopping every little bit to take pictures.

Then we stopped for a picnic lunch.

After lunch, we got back in the van, drove some more, then stopped at a spot where there was a "museum" you could go through. It was set up like a typical mountain farm would have been years ago.

There were many buildings and farm equipment to look in and at.

After looking at the farm, we got back into the car and drove some more. We went through the Cherokee Indian Reservation.

Then we got out and walked on one of the trails.

As we walked, the trail kept taking us higher and higher. When we looked down, we were pretty high up!

Finally we got to our destination - a waterfall!

D.J. by the waterfall.

On the way back to our cabin, we saw some elk in the national park, so we had to stop and take some pictures.

Wednesday

2008-03-27T22:08:00.010-04:00

On Wednesday it rained, but it didn't really matter because we went to the aquarium. By the time we were finished in the aquarium it had quit raining. We really enjoyed the aquarium, especially Brandon, who loves fish. As we were walking around looking at the fish, he kept pointing at them and saying "fish, fish." This aquarium had something that I haven't seen in any other aquarium. There was a glass tunnel that we went through on a moving sidewalk. There were fish and sharks swimming all around us. There was one place on the glass that there were marks with a sign saying that the marks were from a shark attack on the tunnel, but that no one had been harmed. We thought that this was neat.

Here are some pictures of the kids at the aquarium.

D.J. and Jeremy standing in front of a waterfall in the aquarium.

Here is a stingray that we saw. Brandon loved the fish, but was scared of the stingrays.

These are some frogs that I thought were really pretty. I liked them until I found out that they are poisonous!

There was a hall that had some information things in it. Some of the things had wheels to turn. Brandon really liked turning them.

Brandon & Tricia looking at some fish.

D.J. enjoying the aquarium.

Jeremy touching a stingray!

D.J. touching a stingray. (Dan is holding it for him, so that he could touch it.)

Tuesday - D.J.'s birthday

2008-03-24T00:52:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday we had a full day. When we got up, D.J. opened one of his presents. (the shirt he is wearing in the pictures - "one like daddy wears!") Then we went to Wonderworks. This is a hands-on science museum. D.J. thoroughly enjoyed it.

The "upside-down" building (the outside of wonderworks)

Jeremy and D.J. in a "huricane"

D.J. as an astronaut

Brandon running on a piano! Each key made the sound of the note as he stepped on it.

Next we went to Ryans Steakhouse for supper. Then we went to The Comedy Barn. There were many things that went on there, but I will give just a couple of the highlights.

There was some singing.

There was a man that did some juggling. He juggled with sawblades. And yes, they were sharp ones.

He also juggled with a bowling ball, a ping-pong ball, and a rubber chicken

There were some dog tricks.

However, the biggest highlight of all, was D.J.! They had all of the children under 10 that wanted to, to come up on the stage. They then had them clap and hop, and do various things while some music played. D.J. loved being on stage. He kept talking about it for the rest of the week!

Then we went back to the house for cake, ice cream and presents. D.J. decided that he wanted a Thomas cake this year. We ended up just ordering one as it would have been difficult to make one and still get done what we wanted to get done. He was very happy with the cake though!

Present Time!

Monday

2008-03-24T00:15:00.000-04:00

On Monday we drove to Tennessee. On the way there, we stopped at CiCi's pizza for lunch. For those of you who may not know, that is an all you can eat pizza buffet. They have all kinds of pizza, breadsticks and dessert pizza. (They even had macaroni and cheese pizza, though D.J. was the only one brave enough to try it!) Once we arrived in Tennesse, we got settled into our cabin, did some grocery shopping, and enjoyed the hot tub!

Some pictures of the cabin

the living room

the stairs and loft overlooking the living room (leads to the bedroom)

the bedroom

1 (of 3) bathrooms

the kitchen

the backporch- grill and hot tub

Our Vacation

2008-03-23T23:54:00.000-04:00

We are back from our vacation and thought we would share a few pics with you to let you know what we did. We had a lot of fun! Throughout the week, we were in a total of 6 states: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

Trip to the Zoo

2008-03-12T22:03:00.000-04:00

We went to Philadelphia Zoo today! Jeremy's mom got us a membership for Christmas, so we decided to take advantage of it today. We had a lot of fun. :)

D.J. "driving" a tractor at the zoo.

D.J. "milking" a cow at the zoo.

The zoo has a clubhouse that zoo members are allowed to go into for the children to play. This is D.J. sitting in a flower in the clubhouse.

Brandon sitting in an egg in the clubhouse.

D.J. with an "alligator" in the clubhouse.

Some of the animals we saw.

Tiger

Elephant

Flamingo

Polar Bear

Giraffe

Monkey

D.J. with some of the animals

D.J. as a flower

D.J. (carrot) and Brandon (bunny)

Birthday Party Decisions

2008-03-04T00:14:00.000-05:00

D.J. has a birthday coming up soon. He is very excited and is trying to decide what to have for his birthday cake. If you have any suggestions for him, let us know!