More Family Time

Even though Greg has been on call this whole month (he can do this because he takes home call which I think is just a way around the 80 hour work week and I could go on about that), we have had time to do some fun things with the girls. We went to the apple orchard intending to pick apples but they only had red and golden delicious ones to pick. So we just bought my favorites, Honey Crisp, and Jonagold from their store. Then we headed through the corn maze. They had a small one for little kids and a larger more complicated one for us "smarter" folk.

This was in the bigger maze. Greg and I went with them while Jamie stayed out with Sydney. London didn't want to stop long enough to even take a picture. She insisted that she knew the way out. After a while she asked that someone else be the leader, so Brooklyn stepped up. That didn't get us anywhere either. It wasn't til the ole reliable mama took over that we finally made some progress. What would we do without ME? I won't go there.

They decided they wanted to pick the feed corn to see what it looked like. London was teasing Brooklyn that you could really eat it...Brooklyn didn't buy it.

After the maze there was a pumpkin patch that they walked through. Didn't know if they were supposed to or not but they did. Too bad they couldn't pick their own.

From the apple orchard we headed to ....

The inside was chucked full of jams and jellies, JIF peanut butter, pilsbury, crisco, hungry jack, products, ice cream toppings, tons of other cooking gadgets, a hall of history, and a little cafe. My mom could have stayed in this store for hours. We however, managed about 45 minutes.

We loved meeting the Pilsbury Dough Boy!

Or at least climbing on him.

Good Bye Smuckerville!

We have so many cool things around us and I would love to see them all. I am hoping to visit other amish towns, take a ride down the Erie Canal, and hit the covered bridges festival, ride the Polar Express, visit the Rock n Roll hall of fame, the NFL hall of fame, go to Browns game(only when they play someone cool), go to more Indian's games, and whatever other adventures I uncover. Too many things, so little time, oh and money.

You would think that this would be enough for one day, but it didn't stop there. We came home got some dinner and went back out to play some miniture golf. You know, Greg had to practice his putting game.

I strapped the baby on and had to get in on the action. I am pretty sure I beat them with one hand! London got the hang of it pretty quick. Brooklyn kept switching hands and sides and would wind up and smack the ball. She didn't get the concept of hitting it soft. I think she will do just fine in softball, and maybe on the golf range. Greg had his serious game face on and was telling the girls that he wouldn't take them again unless they obeyed the rules! He is a rule GooRoo!

By the end of the day, we were all tired and ready for bed. But we sure had a good time spending it with each other.

Hike to the Ice Box Caves

We have had some gorgeous fall days. The weather has been right around 70-75 degrees. Perfect for exploring all the great hiking trails around here. And that is just what we did. This particular hike had incredible scenery. The pictures I show won't do it justice. Rocks created all these nooks and crannies and ledges, even extremely smooth rocks made a nice slide for the kids to play on. It truly is amazing all of the beautiful things the Lord created for us to enjoy.

Going into the "Ice Box Cave" which was too narrow and wet for all the kids to go in.

Up through the narrow rocks which opened up to awesome ledges above.

Good thing a bunch of boys came with us so we could "capture" wildlife moments.

These are absolutely the world's freakiest little spiders. They were all white and covered the whole branch.

We found Little Zions National Park

Sydney was a good sport. She loved being hauled around in her pack.

At the end of the hike there was this look out point across the whole valley. It was so pretty. I can't wait to go back in a few weeks when all the leaves are changing and see how amazing it will be. We had a great time! Here is the link if you'd like to see other pictures or get info.

http://hikingohioparks.com/virginia-kendall-park-hiking-ohio-parks.html

my cute little nephew

What 12 year old does this? I am amazed at the ambition he has. He is such a good kid. I want him to reach his goal, so I was hoping that many of you could get on and help him. Even if you could donate five dollars. I want him to be successful. Thanks in advance to any of you who help. If you could forward the link to anyone who may be interested in donating I would appreciate it and I know Jaden would be so excited.

He told me a couple weeks he was going to be a team captain for the Relay For Life Cancer Walk in October in Arizona ! I am so proud of him!!! He is so excited and has put together a team of about 10 friends. I think he can have up to 15 on his team so he is working on adding a few more. He has asked his dad to be his chaperone. By participating he wants to honor all cancer survivors as well as pay tribute to those who have lost their lives. Cancer runs in our family as it probably does in a lot of yours. On one of the main cancer websites said, "based on rates from 2003-2005, 40.35% of men and women born today will be diagnosed with cancer at some time during their lifetime. This number can also be expressed as 1 in 2 men and women will be diagnosed with cancer during their lifetime." That is just toooo crazy and we want to help! That is why Jaden has chosen to walk! For those of you not familiar with the walk, it is anywhere between 12-24 hours depending on which location you do. This particular one is from 6pm to 6am on October 17-18th. Someone from your team has to be out walking on the track/football field at ALL times. The entire event is to help raise cancer awareness and funding for cancer research. This relay event is trying to raise $100,000.00
Each participant pays a $10 registration fee and the rest of the money is raised by the teams through fundraising and donations. So Grandma Nancy has been working for the American Cancer Society for 15 years or so and has some ideas for Jaden to be able to accomplish this. If any of you would like to help Jaden or help in the fight for cancer then I will post a link at the end of this entry. I know he would very much appreciate it!!! He has been brainstorming to come up with ideas for fundraising such as selling doughnuts one morning at the school before school starts. He is trying to come up with a list of businesses that might be willing to donate so that their team can sell items the night of the relay to help reach their goal. If you have never participated in one of these relays, check in your own city about dates and create your own team! It is definitely a rewarding experience that you will never forget! Just go to http://www.relayforlife.org/

Here is a link to his website for online donations to help his team meet his goal of $1000. Any amount great or small helps us reach our goal. :)

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeGreatWestDivision?pg=personal&fr_id=5316&fr_id=5316&px=7998395

brooklyn and the camera

As someone once told me, Brooklyn is a creative handful. Such a nice way to put "she is a whole lot of trouble." She reminds me of her cousin Sierra when she was little. We have had so many incidents with her that it is not funny. However, now we can look back and laugh. She is finally out of that stage, well I hope so, and now she is exploring new ways to channel her energy. One of them is taking the digital camera and sneaking up on people and taking their picture, or taking pictures of random things, a million times. But there have been some funny things she has caught on film. Like the other day, I have been on an exercise kick to lose the 'baby fat' when she was in Sydney's room with the camera and caught this sexy mama all hot and sweaty.

I know what you are all thinking. If she can make me look this good she might have real potential as a photographer.

Lost Tooth

Sunday London had been wiggling her front tooth all day. At church I looked at her and it was bent back and looked horrible. During primary she wasn't interested in singing, she was interested in playing with her tooth. So we were on our way out of the parking lot when I looked in the rear view mirror only to see London's face with a big smile on it. She said "hi mom" and kept grinning. As if I wouldn't notice. I said when did you lose it and she said right now. Losing teeth must be the grossest and ugliest thing you have to put up with while being a parent. Well, there might be a couple things worse, but this certainly is high on the list according to me.

little rockstars

London was invited to a birthday party at the covetted Justice for Girls. She loves it because they do her hair, give her the fake head microphone, give her arm warmers, and then they get to choose 6 "girly" things for their goodie bags. When she got home she was in a generous mood because she gave Brooklyn her old headphones and told her they needed to go play together. Watch out because you might be looking at a future American Idol!

They had a fashion show and this is the pose she told me she did.

Love London's serious rockstar pose.

The peace sign and rock out sign are the best!

Daddy's Girl

So do you think there is any family resemblance? All my girls have been blessed or I say cursed with Greg's cowlicks. But Sydney's is exactly like Greg's. In fact, can you even tell who's who in these pictures. I just laughed when I compared the two. Even the amount of hair is about right! At least we all know she didn't come from the mailman.

Baby Sydney

I was messing around with the camera the other day trying to figure out how to put the date back on the pictures and I found the black and white and sepia option. So I used the cutest model I could find and this is what I came up with.

Then I wondered what it would be like to have a little boy and what he'd look like, so I slicked the model's hair down and now I don't have to wonder anymore.

Well, as you can see, that is what she thought of me playing dress up with her.

Gymnastics

Yesterday was Brooklyn's first day of gymnastics and boy, it was a trip. There was about 15 four year olds bouncing off the walls. She had two friends taking it with her and they were making sure they were right next to each other. At any given time, you'd look in the gym and see bodies jumping up and down. It was hilarious! After watching London for a couple years in this same gym, Brooklyn was ready to go. Before school, we went out to find a leotard. She found this one that had "balance" written on the chest in glittery diamonds. When I told her what it said, she said "oh, like balance beam". That was the one thing she wanted to do. So of course we had to get it, and that it had pink on it (her favorite color). When I picked her up from school she said she was a little nervous to go but she said that she knew Miss Diane (her teacher) wouldn't let her fall of the balance beam. She cracks me up. But she did well and can't wait til next week. So I guess that is a good sign for her, but not my pocket book.

working the beam

getting ready to do cartwheels on the mat with her friend

doing backward somersault
learning the bars