Just thought I would quickly update you on what's going on. My parents put the family home up for sale on January 2. Nothing was happening for quite some time, which seemed a bit normal for the times, but also frustrating for my parents. The end of August, an offer was given.

At the same time, the offer was given, my mom had fallen on her knees on a tile floor and broke a kneecap~OUCH! While she was in the hospital recovering, the papers were brought to her to sign and she was told the new owners wanted to be in the house by October 1st. Whoa!

Long story short, September was spent cleaning out the family home. There were so many emotions to deal with, along with a lot of work cleaning out. The actual selling process was a nightmare as the closing date was changed three different times plus there were a few other 'messy' issues with the buyer :(

Praise God it is all done now and my parents found a rental home in the Outer Banks. They will be moving there on November 1st. (sigh)

So, that was September. Now, it is October and I am doing my best to jump back into my life. Oh, wait, September was life. Isn't it true that 'life is what happens while you are busy making plans'?

Stampin' Up! has so much to offer. If you haven't done so in awhile, please check out my website for ideas and new products. I would absolutely love to set up a date to present a workshop for you and some girlfriends. Give me a call and we can work something out!

Until next time, happy stamping and enjoy life....every day!

Family's summer fun

This summer, we let our oldest child choose (to some degree) where we would go on vacation. She was about to start college, so we weren't sure how many more vacations she would be able to join us. We weren't surprised at all when she chose the beach!! So, we headed to Ocean City, NJ for four nights in July. The weather was wonderful and the beach, as always, was very relaxing! Just hanging out with my kids makes my heart happy :)
On the boardwalk, we found these great Thing 1, Thing 2, etc. shirts. I loved them, but wasn't sure I wanted to put out $15 per shirt (it adds up when you mulitply by 5!). After talking with a couple of store owners, I got a reduced price and the kids started picking out their favorite colored shirt. Fun!

One afternoon, we stayed at our hotel and hung out. Josiah wandered around Jeff's chair just watching him for a few minutes. Then, he climbed up on his own chair to do like Daddy :)

Dutch Blitz is one of our favorite card games. It's tough to find the time at home with our schedules, so this was such a treat. They are so fun to play with.

Marissa (she's the one in the middle) turned 18 at the end of August!! She chose to invite a few friends to go out to the Olive Garden for dinner and I got to tag along. What a great group of young ladies they are.

Now, we are onto September and activities are in full swing. Marissa is attending college for phycial therapy and working part time, Spencer is in 10th grade and playing fall baseball. Naomi is in 7th grade and back into her regular gymnastics practices and Hayden is in 3rd grade and also playing fall baseball like his big brother :) Josiah? Well, he is almost 3 and as the youngest of five, he does his best to just keep up! He's awesome and keeps us laughing most days with his growing vocabulary and hysterical faces.

Hope you all had a great summer too and can do your best to keep all in balance now that we are back into the 'scheduled' life.

Off to San Diego!

For those of you who don't know, both of my girls are members of the Upper Bucks YMCA gymnastics team. My older daughter is a Sr. this year and has qualified for the national competition which will be held in San Diego next week!! She has never made nationals before, so what better time to do that than her Sr. year :) The two of us will be flying out tomorrow. Opening ceremonies will be on Tuesday in Sea World; how cool is that. Then, she will compete on Thursday evening. What an opportunity for her to compete this way and for the two of us to make some wonderful memories together.

Jeff will be taking the week off and doing double duty with the rest of our cherubs at home. I know he'll do great! He'll do things a bit different than mom, but he'll do great, just the same :)

I wanted to make a little something for each of the team members. Since they all carry black gym bags, I thought bag tags would be appropriate. They were fun to make and hope they like them.

Last Friday, while I was at the Quarter Auction, my sneaky husband got into my stuff. Here's my card I received for Valentine's Day this year, created by my Valentine. How sweet! He was so proud of himself for using pearl dots :)

Oops!!

Spencer was so excited to go snowboarding for the first time on the 'real slopes' of Blue Mountain tonight. My husband was able to get some tickets through his work for both of them to head up there tonight. I got a message around 8:15 that they were in the ER. Ugh!


Apparently, he wiped out on his very first run. What a bummer!!! So much for snowboarding this year. By the time the cast is off, the snow will be gone (or at least close to it). Jeff took along the camera to get some pics of Spencer snowboarding and since he never had a chance, this is what he got. Good job, Honey :) This is Spence's temporary splint put on by Blue Mtn's first aid guy.

Well, I had a very unexepected weekend, to say the least. On Friday morning, I headed to Virginia with a friend for what was to be a whirlwind trip. You know, leave at 6 am and drive 7 hours, do what we needed to (too long of a story for here) and turn around an hour later and head home, hoping to arrive in PA before 9 pm. Plans are a funny thing :) Who knew the state of VA could get hit so hard with snow? Apparently, not us! About 2:30, the snow was so bad, we couldn't tell what lane we were in or if we were even in a lane. We decided to head for cover as we passed one too many accidents and stranded vehicles. Two days later, we are now home and very thankful for that. It was quite an adventure, but the Lord kept us safe and guided us to a hotel with an awesome staff that fed and cared for all of us unsuspecting travellers. Thank you to the Holiday Inn staff in Waynesboro, VA. KUDOS!!

And here's what was going on at home while I was gone. Another Kudos to my husband and older kids who kept it all running at home in my absence :)

My younger daughter, Naomi, has been homeschooled since day one. She is fun and vivacious and just generally a joy to be around. This year, she has made many leaps of faith. Naomi began public school in September in a school where she knew one boy (our neighbor) at the start of the year. The nerves hit her about a week before the school year began and they have subdued quite a bit by November. Her time with God every night before heading to bed has been a stronghold for her in this new adventure. My husband and I attended her parent/teacher conference today and were told what a happy child she is. Of course, we already knew this, but it is very exciting when others see it, too. As an added bonus, we now have a "My child made the honor roll' sticker to put on our car :)

In addition, she also ventured out and auditioned for the Moravian College Christmas Vespers child solo. When the letter arrived letting us know she will be singing Morning Star for two services, she was both excited and nervous. One service was held yesterday afternoon and she did very well. Her second performance will be December 4th at the Moravian Church in Bethlehem. I'm proud of you, Naomi!