Watch out for the web!

Imagine our surprise tonight when we go to walk out the back door and just about walked into this huge spider web, complete with the icky large spider sitting dead center, eating its prey. YUCK!! Of course, once I stopped laughing at Kevin for getting web in his head (of course had he been watching where he was walking, that wouldn't have happened, HA) I grabbed the camera to see if I could get a picture of it.

My 4 1/2 month old niece came to stay with us for the weekend. My brother has to work nightshift (police officer) and my sister-in-law went to the beach with friends. So we were more than happy to get to spend the weekend with Briana. She did great today and is such a pleasant baby!

September Already!

Wow, where does time go?? Today is Labor Day. It was SO beautiful out! We didn't have any plans for the day, so we worked on getting things done around the house. I can finally say I finished mulching. Sure, it's almost fall, and it took me all summer, but at least it is done! HA

I put some charcoal in the fire pit and we had a cookout ourselves. I marinated a steak for Kevin and the kids and I had burgers and hot dogs. I also took fresh veggies from my garden and made shish-ka-bobs, YUM!!


Finished off the day by lighting the tiki torches and sitting out in the hot tub!!! Nothing better than a nice soak with all the jets running. I can even watch tv while sitting out there!!! :) I took some photos from the deck off my bedroom of the water changing colors. I think it cycles through about 7 colors, much prettier in person!

Shady Maple Company Picnic

Today was Shady Maple's annual company picnic held at Terre Hill Park. It was perfect weather, warm and sunny. It was a combined smorg and farm market people, which was kind've a bummer as it made for a lot of people you didn't know.

We started out with eating around 2pm. The famous shady bbq chicken, pulled pork and steamed shrimp were the main highlights for food. There were kids games, a merry-go-round, bounce maze, guessing games for adults, candy scramble, bingo, etc. Lots to do! The pictures above highlight the kids riding a homemade "train"....all 5 of my kids are in the first 4 carts. Also shown above are the older 4 playing a tossing game. And yes, that other blurry pic is me racing my kids through the bounce maze (that was SO much fun!!!)

There was also an apple pie contest which Kevin signed me up for. I never did anything like this before, so I researched some recipes. I knew in order to potentionally place, I had to come up with something unique. Therefore I came up with a carmel apple pie crunch recipe with a homemade flaky crust. To my surprise, I placed 2nd!!! Got a ribbon and $20 gift card, woo-hoo!!!

Blue Ball Days

Today was Blue Ball yard sale day. The girls and I headed out early morning and hit the sales and the guys and puppy joined us later on. Got a few deals on some clothes and a double stroller.

Afterwards, we headed down to Goods Store where a bunch of the local fire companies were displaying their trucks. Of course since I am involved in EMS, I had to go down and show my support to my fellow guys! ;) The kids toured a few engines and I took their pic on Engine 322, aka Blue Ball.

It was a nice day overall. Beautiful weather, picked more tomatoes to turn into salsa and spaghetti sauce. Hard to believe August is coming to an end!

Migraines, Bones & Shopping

I know, an odd title, but just figured I'd include it all! Sarah has been experiancing migraines pretty frequently. So much so that we are being sent to Hershey Medical Center for her to see a pediatric nuerologist. She woke yet again early morning with a migraine. Got sick several times from the pain. I wasn't sure if we would have to cancel Susans ST appt, but we were able to go. I had planned on taking the kids to Park City but wasn't sure if Sarah was up to it. She said she was.

So we spent almost 3hrs walking around Park City. We got some great deals, ate lunch downstairs, played in the play area, etc. They had a great time!

Came home and shortly thereafter, UPS stopped by and delivered my saxophone, woo-hoo!!! So we ran out and picked up reeds so I could play it a bit. I am going to enjoy getting back into it again. My next step is to get a new neck strap and pick up a Kenny G music book/sheet music.

I am including some pics of our puppy, Captain Jack. We bought him a 2ft raw hide bone this weekend that he is just in LOVE with! We gave it to him Saturday afternoon, and shortly after snapping these photos, he managed to chew it in half already. Oh, Jack just turned 9 months old and he is as big as a horse!! (the other picture is of him and Erik "cuddling", yeah the odd dog is SUPER affectionate and has to cuddle with us all the time!)

Happy hump day to ya'll!!! :)

Happy Birthday Kaleb Michael!!!! (his brief story)

This is earliest picture I have of Michael. He is over 4 months old (this is about the time he would've been due). Sadly, his birth mom won't give me any of his NICU pics.
This is Michael today, 8-10-08, his 2nd birthday!

Today is a special day. Exactly 2yrs ago today, a miracle child was born at only 23wks gestation, weighing 1lb 2oz and 12". He wasn't expected to live, much less reach the goals he has today. We were blessed to receive a call in July '07 about a medically fragile baby boy as a preadoptive placement. Not knowing what we were getting into, we gladly took him into our home and our hearts.

Kaleb Michael came to us at 12 months old, not able to sit up on his own, nor crawl. He needed daily nebulizer treatments as well as a lot of other special treatment. Within a month of him being with us, he was not only sitting up on his own, but crawling and pulling himself up on furniture!

He is in Occupational therapy, Physical therapy, Speech therapy and Special Instruction. He wears glass, hand splints and special ankle/feet orthodics. His main diagnosis is Cerebral Palsy. He has retinopathy from prematurity as well as astigamatisms, paralyzed vocal cord, nephrocalinosis, Chronic Lung Disease, just to name a few. It is looking like he may have trouble speaking due to low muscle tone in his mouth. Kaleb does quite a bit of sign language and is learning more every day. Since we don't know how he will be able to communicate, we need to continue to persue sign language.

He has come much farther than anyone ever thought he would. God has a purpose for his life, that is for certain. Look how far he has brought Kaleb Michael and how much he has overcome in his short life. And the progress he continues to make day by day.

So today, even though he has no clue what it is, we celebrate the miracle that his life has been. May God continue to bless you Kaleb, and use you for whatever His purpose may be! We love you!!!!

A beautiful Saturday!

The weather has been amazing the last 2 days! I was able to turn off the a/c and open up the windows!

After a nice time of hanging out with friends last night (ya'll are a crazy bunch!), I was up early this morning to do an ambulance stand by for a 5k race. Thankfully no one collapsed and the race ended with Santa Claus bringing up the rear. (I'm serious, I wish I would've had my camera!)

Came home and we ran a bunch of errands as a family for a few hours. It eneded with Kevin knocking the mirror off the van (ask him about it, thankfully it was an easy fix!) We took the kids to Friendlys as we had a gift card and were out that way. They loved getting their own sundae!

I picked a HUGE pile of tomatoes out of the garden! Of course, everyday lately I have been. I can hardly keep up. We have been very blessed this year with a wonderful turnout from the garden. Look above at the picture, I have double the tomatoes sitting on my table right now!!!

Today is 8-9-08...which happens to be the birthday of a special friend of mine! I wish him all the best and hope he had a great day! Happy Birthday Paul!!!