Geocaching in the rain

I took Emily and Ben with me to go and perform maintenance on one of my Geocaches that I have out there hiding.  It was a fun walk through the woods with two of my kids.  Well except for Ben crying the whole time.  We were in the woods for about an hour and a half.  He cried for all but 10 minutes.   He spent the first ¼ of the trip crying for mommy. The second quarter of the trip was because he didn’t want to go near the water.  The third quarter of the trip he cried because I wouldn’t let him go near the water. And finally the last part of the trip he cried because he wanted Gimmy.  I’m not sure where that one came from.  I guess maybe it was because I always take him in the woods when we are back home. Oh well.  We will get there soon I hope.    He is a picture of the kids as they found the water.  It was like 33 degrees that day.  If the water not frozen its warm enough for playing in right?  LOL j/k.  To my left is a hole with about 8 inches of water in it. I snapped this picture just before Ben started running and tried to jump in it.  I literally caught him in mid air.

The Next Adventure

I love the outdoors.  I can’t really get enough of them.  For the most part if it can be done outside I have done it.  I regularly hunt, fish and geocache. I have hiked/backpacked thousands of miles. I have been spelunking and repelling, snow skiing and water skiing, wake boarding and knee boarding.  I have learned to snorkel, took scuba diving lessons and dived on a reef.  I ride dirt bikes and quads. The list goes on and on and on.  One thing that I have really wanted to do but have never gotten around to doing was Rock Climbing.  This year I will finally mark that off my list.  This isn’t going to be something that I’m going to do once or twice.  I really want to get into making this a habit sport.   So much so that I have spent hundreds on gear and dropped 40lbs already. 

I have found some guys at work that have taken me under their wing to train me up properly and teach me the ropes (pun intended).  I’m really looking forward to starting this series of adventures.

Here is a picture of some of the gear that I bought.  I actually had to return this harness because I shrunk enough that it was to big and wouldn’t tighten down anymore.  Good problem to have right?  

I borrowed some rope from one of the guy who is going to teach me to climb.  He gave me a list of knots to learn.  Knots come easy to me and I learned all 8 in a couple of hours.  Just to verify that I learned them, stopped tying them for over 2 weeks.  When I picked up the rope again I was still able to tie them all again.  After learning all the knots I decided to try them out.  It was cold and the ground was snow covered I tied off to a heavy hook in the garage.  The garage has an 11' ceiling so I could easily suspend myself and practice ascending and descending.  Emily really wanted to try it.  I don't have a harness that fits her, but I did learn how to do a Swiss Seat which is a type of harness made out of a piece of rope or webbing.  She loved it.  Every had that I come home she asks if I can put the rope up for her to climb.  I hope that she keeps that enthusiasm.  Here is a picture of Emily after she climbed the rope all by herself. 

"God never made an ugly landscape. All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild."
- John Muir

Clock Work

When we got our van about a year and a half ago we noticed that the clock on the dash never lit up. I searched Google and found nothing on it. I knew of someone else who bought a Honda and their light (same style) never worked either so I just figured that it wasn't something that came with certain models. On Thursday, spurred on by our resent trip to PA (most of which that in the dark) I did another Google search. Wow, this time the whole page was filled with stuff. What a difference a year makes. I quickly read a couple of links and found out that there is indeed a back-light bulb for the clocks. Apparently its a design flaw. Honda chose to go with a standard bulb instead of an LED. This wouldn't be bad, but they did something else foolish. They decided to make the light power up when the engine is running. This means that its on night and day so the bulbs only last a couple of years at most.

From everything that I read dealerships where charging over $10 for the part and at least an hour but most were charging 2 hours of labor t0 replace the bulb because the whole dash had to come off. That's anywhere from around $100 to upwards of $200. I don't know about you but I find that a little silly to pay that much for a light bulb. The second link that I read was this one. It was very helpful and right on the money. I quickly went to Radio Shack and got the LED bulb that they recommended. It contained 2 bulbs for $2.12 after tax.

I didn't have time to replace the bulb that night. I figured if some dealerships are charging upwards of 2 hours in labor then I was not going to have time to finish that night and I didn't want Laura to be without a car the next day. I waited until Thursday night to tackle it. I followed the directions just like they said. They were spot on. I got the whole thing disassembled, bulbs switched, reassembled without a hitch. I finished and looked at my watch. It only took me 25 minutes and that included me taking a call from Dad.

I can't tell you how nice it is to finally be able to look at the time while your driving without having to turn on the interior lights. Now only 257 more things to do to the van to get Laura off my back about it. . . j/k.

From the picture you can see how small the light is compared to the penny. I can't imagine paying over $100 for that. Yikes!!

Emily turns 5

Emily had a fun birthday and was really excited to turn 5.  Emily requested the ladybug theme so it gave me an opportunity to attempt some ladybug cakepops.

A few of Emily’s favorite things these days: jumping on our trampoline, playing games on the computer, coloring, playing with her brothers, doing things with Daddy and playing with family and friends.

Benjamin at 21 months

Thanks to a little ditty that my Mom taught me and says quite often to the kids, Ben can identify all his facial body parts.  The ditty goes like this... head bumper, eye winker, nose smeller, mouth eater, chin chomper, gully, gully, gully.  You touch each part as you go and then after the chin you tickle their neck.  Ben will do it on me beginning with my head and then he loves to skip right to the tickling part. 

Ben gets more verbal each day and has entered into full blown repeat mode so he's learning lots of new words.  It's especially neat to hear your kids when they first start saying please and thank you.  Ben will usually sign the word please, but his thank you is verbalized as "tank you".  How appropriate for our little tank.

He is definitely all boy and loves to be rough and tough, but thankfully he does have moments still where he loves to give great big hugs.  

As you can see again this month that trucks and cars are never too far from his sight.

Happy Birthday to my Montana Man

Here's a picture of Charlie during our honeymoon on one of our treks up Going to the Sun Road.  Looking forward to spending many more birthdays with you.

We love you!!!

Aron - 7 months old

Here we go Steelers, here we go.  Well, as you can tell from the tight fit of this onesie on Aron, this outfit has to go back into storage.  At Aron's doctor's appointment on July 11, he weighed 19 lbs. 11 oz.

Aron hasn't quite figured out how to roll over, but he does seem to enjoy scooting himself backwards across the floor by using his legs.

Aron has officially been nicknamed Mr. Smiles because he grins from ear to ear 98% of the day.

Emily - 4 years, 11 mo. - July 16

Well it snuck up on us.  Emily will be 5 in one month and I can't believe it.  It seems like just yesterday she was learning how to maneuver the mouse and pretending to call Aunt Kara (Clara).  Click here to see the video.  She still has moments of frustration when things don't work the way they should, but we are working on our self-control.

Emily enjoys playing with her brothers for the most part.  She likes to pretend that Aron is her baby and enjoys running around the house with Ben.

We continued our schoolwork throughout the Summer.  She enjoys writing and phonics, but I am learning that she is able to focus better when her brothers are asleep so we've been flexible with our schedule which is good for both of us.

3rd Annual Idlewild Trip with the Groff's

We had another opportunity to visit Idlewild this year.  In April this amusement park was named Best Park for Families in the World.  It truly does have something for each age group.  Ok that's enough for my plug.  Enjoy the pictures by clicking on the slideshow link below.

SLIDESHOW

Benjamin at 20 months

Here is our little ball of energy.  He gives funny a whole new definition.  There is something new on the funny list pretty much every day.  His latest thing is to make sure you are fully aware when he has a boo boo and just the way he says the word boo boo will make you laugh.  He likes to walk around the house holding a toy microphone and speak his mind.  You can't understand a word he's saying, but it sure sounds interesting.  Speaking of words.....Ben's latest words are outside, cheese, eye, hot and "wil-wee" which is actually Lilly, our neighbor's little girl.

Ben is going to be a full blown water boy.  He likes to move his arms and legs in the tub like he's swimming and has no problem pouring water on top of his head.

Ben continues to do well with feeding himself and getting the majority of the food to his mouth.  The latest item that has been very helpful around our house is the set of bowls that suction cup to the tray of his chair or to the table.  

Aron - 6 months old

There is just something about our kids expressions that makes me laugh out loud.  They seem to be able to contort their faces in many different ways.

Aron continues to grow by leaps and bounds.  He is very content unless I am a little delayed getting his food and then he begins to whimper.  He is doing much better with eating oatmeal these days since figuring out that his tongue stays in and he seems to already have a favorite vegetable which is peas.

Aron's favorite past time seems to be watching his brother and sister horse around.  He also loves rocking with his brother in Daddy's big rocking chair/recliner.

So far none of our kids have gotten any of their teeth before the age of 1 and Aron seems to be following the same pattern.  A normal teether might be a washcloth or a chewy thing that goes in the refrigerator, but our kids seem to really enjoy this one silicone Steelers wristband - Steelers fans from birth.

Happy Father's Day

Hand-me-downs are great, but I think it's much more special when an item of clothing gets passed down from your parent.  Ben is wearing one of Charlie's suits he wore when he was Ben's age.  I would have sported Ben in Charlie's boots (see this post), but they are already too small for Ben's feet.

Here is Emily making Charlie's Father's Day gift.  It's a back scratcher....idea borrowed from this website with different craft ideas.

Happy Father's Day Charlie!  We love you! 

Happy 7 Year Anniversary

 1 Corinthians 13:1-13             ¹ If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.
 ² And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

 ³ And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing.

 ⁴ Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

 ⁵ doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil;

 ⁶ rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth;

 ⁷ beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

 ⁸ Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.

 ⁹ For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;

 ¹⁰ but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away.

 ¹¹ When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things.

 ¹² For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known.

 ¹³ But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Emily - 4 years, 10 mo. - June 16

Well you can tell that Summer has definitely arrived.  Emily's normal attire consists of pj's and her bathing suit these days.  Also, it's not uncommon to find Emily all ready for bed and outside in the front yard with Daddy catching fire flies.

Emily had the opportunity to make her annual trek to Pennsylvania again this year to spend a week with Gimmy and Pappy.  She had a blast catching fish with Pappy and helping Gimmy in the kitchen.  Our kids are so blessed to have both sets of Grandparents alive and well.  Thank you Grandparents for the special time you spend with our kids.

We are so blessed to have kids in our neighborhood.  Emily has a very good friend that lives diagonally behind our house.  The girls are only one month apart and have a lot of fun together.  These pictures will be fun to share with the girls when they get older.

Poppaw's Hats

My Mom watched the kiddos and found that they were fascinated with my Dad's hats.

Benjamin at 19 months

Here we have Benjamin "The Thinker".  I have no idea what he has his eyes fixed on, but it kept him still for a brief moment.  Benjamin is truly all boy.  He loves planes, trains and automobiles and was thrilled when I opened Charlie's collection of matchbox cars.  He really likes the sandbox and thankfully equally likes the water. 

Strangely enough Ben went from wearing a size 6 diaper this month to a size 5.  I'm sad to see his baby fat disappearing, but not surprised because of the amount of running he does all day.

I keep waiting for the picky eater phase to happen upon us, but it hasn't hit yet.  Pretty much anything he sees us eating, he will try.  He loves his eggs with ketchup and likes to dip his carrots in dressing.  

Aron - 5 months old

This little one is one big smile.  Sometimes he is smiling so much it actually interferes with him eating.  I'm a little early with the cereal, but I thought we would give it a try.  He seems to like the taste, but not too fond of the texture so I think we'll be holding off and try again in a couple of weeks.

Aron can sit up on his own for a couple of seconds and loves watching his Sister and Brother as they romp around the living room.   

First try with oatmeal - May 16

Emily - 4 years, 9 mo. - May 16

Emily truly is in Mommy mode with her brothers and sometimes I forget she's only 4 years old.  She has done such a good job adjusting to the changes the last 5 months.  We are still working on being patient, but even most adults struggle with it so we take our daily successes.  

The most recent "deep questions with Emily" was during a teachable moment where she asked, "Mommy, how does God punish Mommies and Daddies for disobeying?"

Emily is sporting her brand new waterproof apron which was handmade by my Mom.  This apron serves so many purposes.  It's not only good for times when she helps cook, but also helps keeps the clothes somewhat dry during "water time" (playing in the kitchen or bathroom sink) on those rainy or absolutely scorching Summer days and during finger painting fun.  Check out this very cool site to see how to make a thumbprint tree which can be done with finger paint if you don't have craft paint around your house.

Emily's Preschool Graduation

It's hard to believe Emily's year of preschool is already over.  She learned a lot and really enjoyed meeting new kids.  The school gave each child their own album filled with pictures taken throughout the year.  What a blessing to have a school program so close to home and at no cost.  Thank you to the Thornton family for giving us the recommendation.

The day began with a picnic lunch with friends and family and then the ceremony in the evening.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day began at church with the kids singing a song to the parents.

We had lunch at our house and had a relaxing afternoon and evening with the kids.

 

One of our Mother's Day traditions that we started a couple of years ago is planting flowers with my Mom in our front flower bed.  Emily loves to help so it's now a three generational project.