Newest Addition

Our newest addition!  We just had the worst luck with the poor old CRV (2001) this year.  We bought that car just before we got married so we had it almost 10 years with almost no problems.  I'm sad to see it go.  Back in late winter Nate hit a deer and instead of totaling it, they decided to fit it.  We were without a second vehicle for 6 weeks!!! It was a nightmare.  I figured this summer when things were less crazy at work I'd call the insurance company and get rental car added back on.  But I wasn't soon enough.  Memorial Day weekend Nate, Josh and Luke were headed fishing and got slammed in the side.  Poor thing wasn't worth fixing this time.  At least we were only out a second vehicle just over 2 weeks this time.  It was a huge pain again, but after a lot of prayer I'm glad we waited for this one because Nate really wanted a truck.  It's a 2001 Silverado.  He got a great deal, only a few hundred over what we're getting for the CRV so it was great.  It has a ton of miles but the engine and transmission have been replaced, plus its cheap enough to work on Chevy's.  He's so excited!

Aliyah turns 4!

Turning 4 is so complicated it takes several weeks!  We started with a whole birthday weekend full of lots of family Memorial Day weekend (which I will get around to sorting pics and posting at some point).  The next week we had a tea party with her girlfriends.  This was all good because on her actual birthday, while I did get to take her to breakfast at Friendly's, it was a crazy day between the charity golf outing I run for work and Max's pre-school graduation.

It was a fun breakfast date, even sweeter when she climbed on to my side of the booth to snuggle up:)  And who shouldn't' eat pancakes with m&m's for their birthday!

Her birthday morning gifts!

This one from Max first (a bag you can color yourself)

She's wanted a highchair for her babies, this turns into a swing also- score!

Daddy got her her own tool box and blinged it up:)

Some books and a movie from Uncle Kris and Aunt Wendy (not that we like Frozen or anything!)

Grandma Melody and Great Grandma Nancy made the cutest cards ever!

Doesn't get much better than new play-doh!

Super Cute Royalty!

(for memory purposes: Ali, Emily, Brynn, Vera & Gwen)

(They're dancing to the VBS DVD)

I wish we had more princess stuff!

As for 4, well, she's a trip!  A little sassy attitude coupled with pure sweetness.  She's anxiously waiting for those curls to grow long down her back (I assure her they will some day, though kinda starting to wonder myself:)).  She is quite bright, loves to SING, and loves her babies and princess stuff.  Her and Max get closer by the day which is super sweet.  She can cop an attitude which we're working on, but I feel that may be a life long battle;).  She eats well, and still takes a nice long nap.  We did have to put an alarm clock in her room so she can see the numbers and she can't get out of bed until the first number is a 6.  If we could drop the night time pull ups I'd be happy, but we stopped stressing over it.  Aliyah is very independent and could stow away to her room to play by herself even in a house full of kids, even though she loves her friends.  She definitely does her own thing! She enjoys Sunday School and Library Story Hour and looks forward to pre-school in the fall.  We're beyond excited to see what the Lord has in store for our beautiful sweet princess!

Max Pre-School graduation

What an amazing experience we've had for Max at Tender Hearts.  Miss Holly is just such a perfect fit for him.  She does a great job (especially since again there were 10 boys and 2 girls).  It was just the perfect start to learning, socialization, Christian education, and there was never a day in the last 2 years that Max didn't want to go to school.  We're forever grateful for his experience there and are looking forward to Aliyah going next year.

His last day I took him and picked him up.  We enjoyed a lunch at Wendy's.  This was the last snack packed and last drop off.  I was sadder for that than the actual graduation;)

Ta-da!

They really did a bell chorus to God Bless America.  He was the only one with the purple bells (she held up a color so they'd know where to play).  All the kids did an amazing job!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

 

Spring Happenings

Well, we haven't done a lot of traveling (T-Ball games every Saturday) but we've kept pretty busy this spring.  One of our first jobs was cleaning out the basement and attic.  I have no idea how we accumulated so much stuff in only 8 years but it sure feels good to get rid of a lot of stuff.  We even had a yard sale at a friends and made a little money off of it.  And now...

We always enjoy the Camp Hill Memorial Day parade.  The kids love most getting the candy people throw:)

Lots of baseball pictures.  We're just having such a wonderful experience.  Nate is enjoying helping to coach and the other coaches are doing such a great job.  The improvement from the beginning of the season is just amazing.  It really is a great team and Max is really enjoying playing (though he'll tell you his favorite parts are hanging out in the dug out with his buddies and seeing what snack he'll get after the game:))

A typical game:

Last Saturday Max got the game ball.  He had 3 great hits and a nice fielding play at 3rd.  We were all proud:)

Aliyah with one of her daily set ups.

Nate built a fire pit out of an old charcoal grill early in the spring.  We've gotten a lot of use out of it and love making smores!

Can't be spring without some dirt/grass stew!

The other Friday evening the baseball association had their night at the local minor league Senators game.  Nate and Max got to go out on the field during the National Anthem.  They had a blast. I also caught a T-shirt during the game and then fell after I caught it:)

Aunt Julie was out for her birthday weekend so they enjoyed sharing some cotton candy!

Towards the end of the year they had a pre-school picnic.  They played on the playground, had a snack and did a craft.  Siblings were allowed to come too and they all had fun.

Our biggest house project this year was our new doors!! We saved the tax refund check and decided this was the thing to spend the $$ on.  The doors were original to the house (75 years old), terribly drafty and the back one the knob hasn't worked since we lived here (could only use a key on the dead bolt to unlock, sort of a fire hazard now that the kids are older and could get out).  We had our fix it guy from church come out and do an amazing job.  What he thought would take a day and a half took nearly 4 because the house is so old and uneven, but he's a perfectionist and we couldn't be happier.  Of course a new door in the kitchen lead to a whole re-paint of the whole room.  It's nice to have everything all clean and spruced up in there.

 

And a little gardening fit in there too:)