Thursday, November 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

Today, we travel a little over an hour to spend Thanksgiving with (almost) all of Darrell's side immediate family. Since he is the youngest of six, it is quite a gathering. I am very thankful to be part of such a loving family. I am also reminded today of the people I will not be able to spend time with but whom I am very, very thankful for also....my dad and step-mom in Iowa, my sisters (one in Iowa, one in Colorado), my step-sister and step-brothers, my niece and nephews, my grandparents, all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins spread throughout the United States and my wonderful friends who are spread out not only in the United States but also overseas. God has blessed me with loving, meaningful, and long-lasting relationships, for which I am truly grateful. So as we prepare to head out for our annual Thanksgiving feast, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Happy 4th birthday, Alec!

We had a birthday party for Alec on Saturday, November 21 at our house. Three of his friends from the area came, as well as our dear friends, the Shullenbarger family, from Maryland. Grand total of participating kids (including our family) was nine. Alec opened his Batman house right before the party because that was what gave him the idea to have a Batman-themed party. Activities were decorating Bat planes (thanks Chris and Jessica for making them) then throwing them at the Bat target and freeze dancing to music. Pizza, cake and ice cream and presents rounded out the fun. Alec thoroughly enjoyed his party.

Mondays are our busiest day of the week, so we celebrated in the midst of the activity. Alec picked all three meals (Breakfast: French toast; Lunch: P,B,&J; Dinner: Hot dogs). As you can see from the picture above, he was very excited to get to use the red birthday plate. Happy Birthday, Alec!
Above, Ann-Marie got lots of baby time with Haddie (only three weeks old!)




Friday, November 20, 2009






Western PA fun with Dad and Mary....come back soon - we had a blast!


Texas pictures

Proof that we were in San Antonio....Mariachi band, Armadillo races, the Alamo and our precious friend, Kathy. Bottom picture is the New York Life dinner.....thousands of people in attendance.




Chicago pictures






Thank you to April! It worked, I can upload pictures.....only one or two at a time, but that is an improvement from none. So here are the pictures from Chicago.....Willis tower, Field museum and Millennium park.

Update and Blog problems

Well, I'm still not able to post our trip pictures, and I may have to switch to a new site for our family blog if I can't get these problems resolved soon. So that, among the busyness of life, is why I haven't updated our blog.

We had a great time with Dad and Mary while they were in western PA. We were sad to see them head back to Iowa, but it was good to get back into the swing of things after a week and a half of vacationing. Evan started a Martial Arts class near our house...we're doing a trial month to see if he likes it. Ann-Marie is back into gymnastics. We've been taking a lot of fun and educational field trips. Life continues to be busy......

Upcoming, Alec's birthday party tomorrow (Saturday) and his fourth birthday on Monday! My baby is turning four...where does the time go? Then onto Thanksgiving and on December 2nd, my sister, Sheila, and her family from Colorado will be visiting us for a week! Exciting stuff!

I will update everyone soon as to whether this blog will stay here or move to another blogging site.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Trip details

Well, I'm having problems adding pictures, so I'll update our blog with the details and add pictures once I figure out the problem. On October 30th, we drove to Chicago to my Aunt Sue and Uncle Lyle's house. We went into Chicago on October 31 and visited the Willis (Sears) Tower, the Field Museum, and Millennium Park. Darrell and I flew to San Antonio, Texas on Sunday, November 1st, leaving all three kids in the care of Aunt Sue and Uncle Lyle (HUGE THANK YOU!!!!).

Darrell and I went to San Antonio to attend a New York Life conference. While we were there, we enjoyed the Riverwalk, the Alamo, Market Square, and Gruene, Texas; as well as many nice restaurants and New York Life hosted events. We also were able to meet up with Kathy, a dear friend who lives in San Antonio, and without her would have never discovered Gruene, Texas. The weather in San Antonio was 75 degrees (give or take) with no clouds in the sky! We had a great time. We flew back to Chicago on Thursday, November 4th. My Dad and Stepmom drove to Chicago from Iowa and we all spent one night at my aunt and uncle's house.

We drove back to Pittsburgh on Friday, November 5th, with my Dad and Stepmom following. It was their first time in PA! On Saturday, we had great weather so we took them to McConnells Mills and Moraine State Park. On Sunday, we took them to our church and to Irwin, PA to attend a birthday party for one of our nephews - so they got to meet most of Darrell's family. We took them into Pittsburgh on Monday and visited the Strip District, the Incline, and Station Square. Hopefully that got them interested enough to come back and enjoy more of western PA! We saw them off this morning at 7 a.m. - now back into some sort of a routine. We had a wonderful two weeks, with lots of blessings and great memories made. Hopefully, I'll be able to post pictures soon.