Ray of Sun

I've had a very gloomy week this week, with the exception of one day. On Monday we took a day trip to Palmyra. It was my first time seeing the church history sites and it was beautiful! We had our own small miracle in that it rained the whole drive there, cleared up and was super nice while we were there, and then rained the whole drive home. The sacred grove was amazing with the leaves just starting to change and the kids really enjoyed the visitors center at Cumorah's Hill. Unfortunately, the Temple was closed and we couldn't see it very well through the trees and such from the gate. But, there's always next time! Little shining days like these are what give me the strength to keep going.

Back To School

George is officially back in school. He is excited because this year he gets to ride the bus home! He's getting so big. It's fun to meet the bus every day and see him climb down the big stairs. I can't believe he's going to be in Kindergarten next year and tha Isaac is going to be old enough to start Preschool!

So, funny/embarrassing experience today. I had a dentist appointment to fix a filling that I just had done about 2 years ago! Anyway, I raced home because the piano tuner was coming and when I got here I couln't even hardly talk to the guy because my mouth was still so numb. I swear I was slobbering and sluring my speach and there was nothing I could do about it. He probably thought I was intoxicated or something. But he fixed my piano! Yeah!

On Tuesday we took the kids to The Great Escape amusement park. The boys had a blast! It was one of those rare days that everything goes smoothly. We had no complaints, no behavior problems, no kids running off- and Ella was a gem the whole day too! The kids are getting old enough to really be fun on family outings. They get excited about things and just really enjoy being together.

Isaac's favorite ride was the motorcycles. I think it was a dream come true for him to be able to ride one, and it was okay with mom and dad too because they weren't real! George really liked the rollercoaster (the small one in kid land). He was scared to death but wanted to go on it again as soon as it was over. Way to be brave George!

School is starting again soon. I can't believe the summer is ending already. I don't think I'm ready for the cold weather yet. I think George is excited to go back to preschool though. And we finally took away Isaac's "Uh Oh" (pacifier). It's been a rough 2 weeks, but we're making progress...maybe. Next, potty training! Can we do it by Christmas?

Happy First Birthday!

This past year has really snuck by me. It's REALLY hard to believe that it's been an entire year since we brought our beautiful girl home to a half packed apartment-getting ready to move to NY! She has grown so fast and is truly the sweetest person I know. We are so lucky to have been blessed with such a happy, content little soul. Heavenly Father knew that we needed her and exactly when to send her to our family.

We had a great birthday day on Saturday. We started the day opening presents because the brothers couldn't wait a second longer. In the afternoon we had some friends over for cake and ice cream. Ella wouldn't get messy at all! After dinner we sat out on the driveway and watched the parade for Hartwick Field Days and ended the evening with fireworks. My favorite thing about parades here is the fact that there are no floats (sp?). The "royalty" ride on top of the fire trucks. Super cool! My other favorite was watching all the old cars in the parade "burn rubber." We have tire tracks all over the road in front of our house. Gotta love small towns.

Anniversary

Benji and I celebrated our 7th anniversary yesterday! We couldn't find a babysitter (they're rather scarce) so we took the family to the Farmer's Museum where the kids got to see some animals and ride the carousel. After the kids went to bed, Benji and I had dinner and watched a video that my sister put together for us. We never had one of those cheesy wedding videos with pictures of us growing up and dating and all that, and she figured we missed out, so she used her video making software to make one for us. We really enjoyed it! Thanks Jess!

I am so grateful for Benji. He really is just the most wonderful person ever! I'm pretty lucky that I get to be with him forever. I couldn't have chosen a better husband or father (just ask Isaac).

For those of you who can't tell, the person in the picture with Benji is ME! Apparently I have not aged gracefully and have perhaps gotten a little bit chubby, because I've had a couple of different people ask who was in the picture with Ben. Like I would keep a picture of Benj and another girl hanging around my house! :)

Summer Days

The kids are loving summer. The warm weather, playing outside, riding bikes, kicking balls, going for walks, and in Ella's case-picking lots of grass. George's absolute favorite summer pass-time is having water fights.

So, I was telling my mom the other day that I have gone about at low as you can go in the eyes of my son. The other day he got in trouble for something and as I was putting him in time-out he said, "Mom, you're as mean as Darth Vader!" I'll I have to say is, "Mmwaa, ha, ha, ha!" :)

Grandpa

We said goodbye yesterday to Grandpa Harry. We are really going to miss him. The kids don't understand why people always have to leave. Grandpa was really nice to help us with some home-improvement projects while he was here. We now have a new basement window and bathroom cupboard, and I no longer have to bend down to turn on my diningroom light. Yeah!

We've had some good storms the past few days. Sunday night we had a huge thunder storm. My kids have never been scared of thunder, but this time they were. It woke them up and I ended up sleeping at the foot of Isaac's bed until it passed. Last night at about 6:30 we lost power during another storm. By 10:00 Benji and I were trying to decide if we should try and eat the 3 bricks of ice cream grandpa left in our freezer before it melted. My oil lamp was a complete failure, giving off almost no light, so we brushed our teeth by candlelight. Quite romantic.