Still got 'em!

Ears, that is. When Lindsay was a baby, we always cracked up about her ears. They are SO cute, yet SO sticking out! When I saw this picture from her birthday, I got to thinking about how she still has the same ears except now they're just covered by all her beautiful hair (when she's not wearing a party hat). She's just so cute!

Lindsay at (almost) four.

Lindsay at three months.

Stay tuned for my posts about the tooth fairy dilemma and Lindsay's four year photos (scheduled for tomorrow morning - wish me luck and cooperation!).

Happy Birthday Lindsay!

Four years ago today, my sweet little girl entered this world, sweet, beautiful, startled and without much warning. Her daddy missed it by a few days but we were extremely lucky that her grandma was able to come across the country to be there for the birth. What a crazy time that was! I can't believe how fast time has gone. I can't believe my youngest "baby" is four.


A celebration is in order! Last weekend, Beth, Dave, Karilyn and Heidi were here for a quick weekend visit and we decided that Saturday was the perfect time for a party. Lindsay wanted to have macaroni & cheese (her favorite) and green beans. Jeremy and I decided to add hamburgers, hot dogs, and pasta salad. She wanted blue (her favorite color) icing on her cupcakes. She is really into cats so we had a cat party complete with decorations, plates, napkins, cups, etc.

After our fine meal, we continued the festivities with a pinata. I think the girls had a good time with that and we even managed to break it open and collect the goodies with no injuries. Lindsay opened her gifts. She got a baby buggy from Jeremy and I along with a new outfit (a skirt and leggings since she will only wear skirts these days and an adorable donut shirt) and a stuffed kitty. (She has been wanting a "buggy" for months now.) The Hodges got her a cute Only Hearts doll - kind of like a Barbie but softer and not as "voluptuous" and an extra outfit for her. Laura got her a new Calico Critter for her collection.

She had a really great time and is happy to be four even though I'm sad that she is getting so old so fast.








We are going to take her to Friendly's later today for a meal and ice cream to celebrate her actual birthday.

Sorry for the lack of posting this week. I have been battling a serious case of the lazies and hope to overcome this soon. Have a great weekend!

We DO NOT Like Ike!

We have survived the hurricane. We were seated in the front row of the bitter bus but we made it. "Hurricane" Ike barrelled through southern Ohio on Sunday. The winds were unbelievable, like nothing I've ever seen. We lost power after church sometime on Sunday afternoon - I think it was around 2:30. We were without power until Wednesday morning. This is no way to live when you're spoiled like I am! I am not a huge fan of camping and yet, we were pretty much camping in our own home. We lost everything in our refrigerator (good-bye money) but were able to salvage our freezers because of a huge blessing. Our neighbors have a generator and were gracious enough to rig extension cords & splitters from it to both of our freezers. We are very grateful. They take great care of us!

There are still thousands without power and I am SO THANKFUL that it's not me still waiting in the dark. Gas, milk, eggs, etc are hard to come by so it certainly has been interesting and not something I truly expected would ever happen. Around us there are hardly any stores or gas stations open because they are still awaiting power to be turned back on.

School was canceled on Monday and Tuesday and delayed yesterday. Finally today is a normal day for students. Laura was pretty excited to be getting back to school.

We are eagerly looking forward to Lindsay's birthday party on Saturday. The Hodges' will be here with us to celebrate. Hope we can find some vittles for the occasion!

I will leave you with some photos from our house and from around our neighborhood.

Our backyard

The playhouse was blown apart and pieces went flying down the street.

Our neighbors on the other side of the school

Neighbors a few houses down. Poor swimming pool.

The park behind our house. The tree is across the road. There was about five feet for cars to get through. Look at how the rest of the tree is leaning. Yikes!

Neighbors down the street

Around the neighborhood

The next street over. I don't even know how these people got out of their house!

"Our" house - the one we had an offer on a few months ago. There are huge limbs across the front door and into the garage roof.

I'm off to exercise. Later!

A love gone sour

Immediately upon her return from school this afternoon, Laura presents me with this:

In case you cannot tell, it is a note from the school nurse stating that she was seen in the clinic today for "Ice for bump/bruise to finger". I proceeded to ask her what happened in which she states that Keegan stomped on it. I asked her if he did it on purpose. The response: a shrug of the shoulders. So, not sure what this means. I will keep you all posted if she ever decides to spill the beans.

She never wants to talk about school for some reason. She was the same way last year. When asked what they did at school, they never seem to do anything. Every once in awhile she will tell us a story or explain things they did at school but most of the time she has no comment. I have heard that this is normal. You can bet I'll be keeping my ears open for the full story on the day's events...

The Teacher's Pet

My shy little Lindsay is a teacher's pet. A Principal's pet to be more precise. Who knew the little one who never says "boo" to anyone she doesn't know, would find a BFF in Laura's school principal?! This is too funny. She has on a few occasions in the past had opportunity to say "hello" to the principal during various school events. A few weeks ago, we saw the principal while we were over playing at the school playground and exchanged niceties with her. Then Tuesday night when Jeremy and the girls were riding their bikes in the school parking lot, Lindsay spotted the principal going into the building. She jumped from her bike (leaving it unattended in the middle of the parking lot) and went flying across the parking lot to catch the principal so she could chat with her. Furthermore, last night Jeremy took L&L to a concert they were having at the school while I went to church. When they got home he reported that she spent the last part of the concert sitting on the Principal's lap. Who knew?

I find this to be hilarious because normally Lindsay doesn't care to say much to anyone, let alone people she doesn't know. Apparently though, she has quite a fondness for the principal. This is causing me a bit of concern because I fear we are going to be asked to leave the neighborhood because our kids have a habit of detaining anyone who may be trying to get any sort of work done. (Oooohhh, Mr. Wilson....)

These kids never cease to surprise me. Or, make a liar out of me. ("Oh, she's really shy and is usually afraid of people".)

Later!

Our Summer in Review

I am totally copying this idea from my sister. She did this on her blog and I loved seeing what her family did this summer. (Thanks for the idea Beth!) I am also doing a whole scrapbook on this summer's events. Maybe this will get me motivated to work on it! Here it is - the top 10:

1. Laura and Lindsay have shared a room since we've lived here (3 years). We decided to give up the guest room and give each of them their own room. What a mess that was for awhile! She wanted a horse theme and pink of course.

2. We went to West Virginia to Jeremy's mom's family reunion in June.

3. We had a blast in Gatlinburg, TN with our friends at the end of June.
4. Laura took ballet & tap class, Lindsay took ballet, together they took cooking & swim and art & swim at the rec center. They also both completed the Summer Reading Quest at the library. (June - August) ( That's Laura in the black & white.)

5. Laura and Jeremy went to Primary Camp at our Nazarene district campground in June.

6. Our friends all the way from Albuquerque, the Eyinks, came for a weekend visit in July.

7. We went to a Dayton Dragons baseball game in July.

8. Laura and Lindsay spent many hours in their little pool in the back yard. Jeremy is currently trying to grow an 8 foot diameter section of grass back...
9. Our good friends hosted a tye die party for the kids to make their own shirts. It was awesome! (July)
10. In August, we had Vacation Bible School and then left early to head down to our last trip before school started up again. We had so much fun in Washington DC and Virginia Beach.

It was indeed a crazy but VERY fun summer!

Hocking Hills

On Sunday afternoon we took a little road trip up to meet my mom and dad at Hocking Hills State Park. (Crashed their vacation for a little bit.) We had a great time. It was amazing - tons of hiking trails and into these gorgeous caverns and caves. It was like nothing I've ever seen before and I highly recommend going for a new appreciation of the outdoors!

Some of the trails were a bit scary just because one clumsy step could cause you to fall down a cliff and say goodbye to this cruel world. So, keep a very close eye and hand-hold on your children and watch your own step!

You can see the vastness of the rocks in this picture by looking closely -the colored "spots" are people.

Up near the top & center of this photo is a bridge we crossed over to get down inside this area.

Sorry for the blurriness - we had to turn the flash off for anything to show up and that makes it blurry. : (

In one of the little caves - only Daddy would go in there. Grandma and I were a little leery of what creatures might abide in there. I don't think the kids thought about that.

Laura and Lindsay LOVE to see and spend time with their grandparents. That's why I seized the opportunity to crash their vacation for a few hours. I just love this picture! Notice Lindsay's socks. I tried to tell her that they looked funny but she really doesn't care what I think. My friend April calls her "Punky Brewster" for her unique sense of style.

Jeremy and I are already trying to plan our next trip back so he can take his camera and practice up on his photography! This time we just had my little camera.

The rest of the holiday weekend was pretty boring which was fine with me.

Hope everyone else had a great Labor Day weekend!

The makeover

So I'm sure you've noticed the makeover. I want to have one of those adorable custom templates made for my blog but alas, I am too cheap. I decided to have my own free makeover. I did some scrapbooking/paper piecing for my header/blog banner and it turned out okay. It's really starting to annoy me though because as you can see, my photo does not fit into the header box. I've tried everything and nothing is getting it where it should be. Errrr...

If anyone knows any tricks out there, I would be especially appreciative. Otherwise, I guess I'll be "outside the box".

Thanks!