4th Of July Weekend

We had a pretty busy weekend this past weekend. We traveled to Lancaster, PA for Michael Schwartz's wedding. We stayed with Marissa and Andy Kmiec while we were down there and what a treat that was! Thanks you so much Kmiec's for letting us crash at your place. We didn't get to chat with Michael much but it was so good to see him. We actually got cute pictures of us too while we were there always a bonus!

The kids did not go to the wedding with us they stayed with Grandma B and went to Seneca Hills for a North-Mar Church (Mom and Dad Greaser's) family camping weekend. We met them there Saturday for lunch. Grandpa Joe also came and met us there for Saturday to Sunday. We had a lot of fun from crafting, to playing gaga to just in general being with family.

Finally to round out our weekend we went to Michelle's Graduation party and that was a good time. We will miss Michelle lots when she goes away to college but we are so happy and proud of her for the woman she is turning out to be. Besides the kids got to play on Mr. Mark's tractors and they love that!

Derek's Day at Midway

We had an interesting day the day I took Derek to Midway. I was in charge of taking Derek and a little Amish boy Norman around. There are a lot of Amish in our community and they send their children to public school for Kindergarten to learn English. Most Amish are more fluent in German and so why they have such a hard time talking to us sometimes is not because they are slow but because their primary language is German and English is a secondary language. (That was your Amish trivia for the day!) Any way Derek and Norman and I ran around Midway together. When I say ran I mean it I could not slow the boys down that day. We went from one ride to another to another. It was a lesson in standing in line and patiently waiting though.

Here they are on the tilt out ride my first attempt at a picture I said look at me guys and Derek looked the other way and Norman looked at me. This attempt Norman looked at Derek and Derek smiled at me so you have to take what you can get!

Derek loves the ride you can paddle your own boat. But they did enjoy the ride where you can go round and round while the motor does the work for you! Remember how I said that we ran the whole day we did. They only sat down at 11 for lunch because I made them. They ate in 15 minutes flat and wanted to take off again and I made them wait until I was done with lunch at 11:30. No one else was waiting in line because they were eating like normal people and so they boys were so excited they had the rides to themselves.

The spinning cups are not the best idea after lunch, but it never fazed these boys they had a ball. I told them the front car of the roller coaster was the best and they rode up there I don't even know how many times. I end this story by saying I am not sure Norman's mom and Dad would be so keen on the amount of pictures I took of their son, the Amish don't like to get their picture taken, but he rode every ride with Derek and I enjoy taking pictures of my son. So here is a little taste of our day at Midway.

Amen!

On Sunday night we had baccalaureate for the graduating Seniors instead of an evening service. So we walked up to the school and attended in the auditorium there. It was a nice event there are certain song, hymns the Seniors can choose from and they aren't popular by any means but they are still hymns. The pastor, and there were six of them up from we have six churches in our small town, then spoke on the Prodigal son. He compared the prodigal son wanting his inheritance to "Senoritas" and I thought that was a funny take on the story. After he finished preaching though he asked the parents of the graduates who were there and wanted to pray with their graduate to come and take the hand of their graduate and lead them to the front and pray with them. All of the students who were there had a parent or a friend come up and pray with them. It was nice to see I am not sure all of them wanted to be up front and were feeling peer pressure to go up but still the pastor got up and prayed for them. He was praying for them in different ways, as they go to school, as they go into the military, as they start a job and so on. He also prayed for them in a way that suggested they had problems and was in the process of saying and in Jesus name we ask that you take this problem away, but all the farther he got was and in Jesus name when my sweet Nathan, who had been crawling over his Dad and me most of the night, sitting in the theatre seats where he could sink to the back, yells out Amen! Talk about breaking up all the mood of the moment. People couldn't help but laugh. And since we are such a small community everyone knew who it was who had said Amen. Tim and I could not stop laughing. You know the laugh the kind you have during a church service where you aren't supposed to be making any noise, everything just seems so much funnier then doesn't it! Nathan is such a ham and is such a joy to have around!

Sarah's Pre-K Celebration

Sarah had her pre-k celebration yesterday. There is nothing quite as cute as little 3 and 4 year olds singing songs. It really was a good time. They sang eight different songs and Sarah even had a solo. She sang six little ducks and was absolutely wonderful. (This is my prejudice coming out can you hear it!) Sarah has a very small class so the teacher recruited some 3 year olds to join the class. Sarah is considered the little mother in her class. She has a few boys that she takes "good care of" while she is at school. She is such a mother hen. Even yesterday she sat by one of the little boys and was telling him, in a super cute manor, its not time to sing yet, sit up straight, sing good. The little boys mom thinks its so cute and I have to admit I would like her not to be to bossy but she really does care for the little guy. After singing they had refreshments and then we went home. Sarah played with one of the little girls from her class for the rest of the afternoon. Sarah does have some good friends who are in her class. There are four little girls that attend our church and whose parents I agree with their faith and morals which today you don't always find. So I am glad she can make school friends and church friends and some of them overlap and then they will have each other to stand string for God in the future also. Ah, nothing like pre-k celebration to make you while away the years and see her in High School facing peer pressure.

Sarah turns five

Yesterday my darling little girl turned five. She had a small family birthday party with both sets of grandparents our family and Michelle. We had a really great time! (I haven't ventured into the birthday party with friends yet. I am sure I will some day but for right now we are good with the family thing!) We made grilled chicken, loaded baked potatoes, jello, 7 layer salad, and a wonderful Teddy Bear Beach Party cake. My mom made the cake for Sarah and it was perfect! Sarah received many amazing gifts from crafts, to dress up clothes, to Disney princess dolls. I can't believe how old she is getting. My mom spent the night, my Dad had to go back to camp, but when my mom left this morning Sarah cried. She really does love her grandparents and I am so glad that my children have relationships with their grandparents. What a blessing it is to have loving Christian family.

As a part of my gift to Sarah I made a digital scrapbook for her. Here are a few samples of what was in her book.

Kindergarten graduation

The proud graduate of the 2009 Kindergarten class!

Wow- my son graduated from kindergarten today! I can't believe it he is already six and has finished his first year of a full day of school. (He had half days of pre-k last year.) My son has learned so many things in the last year he is now able to read books to his sister and brother, he can write out his numbers from 1-200 and beyond (have actually seen the 1-200 so I am sure he can go beyond). He is adding and subtracting and doing small word problems. He had real "specials" gym (where we got stitches in the chin), art, computers, music (they learned some really cute songs and sang them for us at the program today), and library (where he, being all boy, brought home books about Star Wars, and He Man). So we have had a really great year. If you remember one of my earlier blogs was about how I sent him to school at the beginning of the year in tears, we have come so far. Right before my eyes my son is becoming a big boy. I am so proud of him.

Here is the 2009 Kindergarten Class- The Future Class of 2021!

The Sears Men, at the cookie and punch reception after graduation. Derek tolerates the fact that we want them to have their picture taken together!

A really great day at Midway

My children are deep into their end of the year activities and have been on a few field trips. Sarah got to ride her first roller coaster and got to run around with friends at Midway Park. It was a lot of fun for all of us.

Sarah and I riding her first roller coaster, we had such a good time.

Sarah and her friends in the spinning cups.

Sarah and I on the tilt a whirl- really we had that thing going so fast I almost puked right then, it was a lot of fun but the tilt a whirl gets me the wrong way sometimes!

We got on the slide together too, the pink slide went super fast, I had to hold onto Sarah really tight.

Summer TV Shows

I am a TV junkie really and truly I just can't help it. Its a form of entertainment that I really enjoy. So here are a few TV shows that I am enjoying this summer.
1. So You Think You Can Dance- Fox- A take off of American Idol except its dancing instead of singing So cool I really am enjoying this show. Its not to late to start watching and really enjoying the show, the top 20 have been picked and the good part it about to begin.
2. Burn Notice- USA- A spy has been burned and is trying to get his life back its way cool.
3. Royal Pains- USA- A Dr. who is black balled by the medical elite and so goes to the Hampton's to be a concierge Dr. for the rich. A little McGyver a little medical drama and it makes for a pretty good show.
4. America's Got Talent- NBC- Its fun after they weed through the riff Raff and it cover so many talents.
5. Monk- USA- Its the final season of it this summer so pick up this quirky detective he is so lovable.
6. Robin Hood- BBC America- I am not sure if this will be back on this summer but I have totally loved this show.
7. Leverage- TNT- Robbers gone good I like this kind of show, could you tell from the rest of the note.

Well I guess I just like a lot of different shows. I just like TV in general.

A busy weekend

Busy seems to be the word of my life right now. My weekend was a pretty wonderful event. On Saturday I celebrated with my family by having a baby shower for my brother and sister-in-law who are expecting their first child. It was held in Grove City, PA at their home. One of my good friends who I was in her wedding 11 year earlier, Chris Pancratz, was there and it was a real joy to be able to spend time with her.

My sister-in-law is totally a cute pregnant girl and we got a really nice picture together. (She's the pretty one in the picture!)

Her mom was there also from Colorado so we were able to get pictures of

all the family, well the girls, together! What a blessing to be able to be together and share in this happy and joyous occasion. Now I can't wait until the end of July to meet this little one.

This weekend was also Sherman Prom so I went and took picture of the girls who I am close too and was able to help them with make up and the putting on of the gowns. They were so stunning. Jessica in the blue ended up being Queen, Michelle is in the yellow and Alyssa is in the coral. The dresses are stunning colors! How original!

And finally Saturday night was summed up with our family minus Nathan going to the Lake Erie Speedway, the Race to Read night. Our children participated in a program at school to ready every day for at least 15 minutes a day for a month and they got us all free tickets to the speedway. There were 6-8 different stock car and modified car races and then fireworks at the end of the night. It was a great time. I admit I am a hick and I love the races!

Hopefully this weekend will be a little more laid back and we can just spend time together as a family! Friday is Derek's trip to the zoo and last Thursday was Sarah's trip to Midway Park so look for those blogs soon.

Latest endeavors

This is the finished page with the picture included. Still working with square pictures am trying to figure out that part now.

This is going to be part of Nathan's book. I made a book for Sarah and Derek for their birthday's a few years ago and now I am going to work on a book for Nathan.

I did it!

I was able to create my first digital scrap book page today. Now you will excuse the fact that there is no picture in it. The one I have is a scanned one and the image was to fuzzy so I took it out. I am waiting for a digital copy of the picture and then I will have a completely finished project.

I am not sure if this will be used at all but it was very comforting to know that I am able to do it and I had a lot of fun creating it too!

Digital Scrapbooking

Digital Scrap booking- wow my new love. I am not really so good at hands on things but I absolutely love computer design. So I am embarking on a new journey digital scrap booking. There are so many options and things you can do with this. I have found web sites and am taking tutorials and just eating this up. SO stay tuned the picture below is such a generic form of what I am going to be doing soon. I am really excited about this and will let you know all the places and sites I visit and will let you in on the creative side of this Sears.

Is it cheating?

I would like to scrap book. I really would, but I don't tend to have the patience for it. Right now I don't have the funding for it either. So is it cheating if I "scrap book" on my computer? I love to mess around with photos in publisher and paint and other programs on my computer and if I get the same cute picture result is it still "scrap booking" or not? I received a scarp book filled with the blank holder pages and I really feel the need to fill up those pages but I just can't go buy materials right now. But I do have photo paper and printer ink at home and the computer writes so much better than I do! (I know I could use stamps but again the whole cost thing.) Anyway here is a sample of what I came up with on my computer, I even printed it out and think it will be the first page of my scrap book. Its just an idea!

A vehicle for Ketchup

That's what my mom called it. You know when you have french fry and you just keep dipping it in the ketchup and licking it off so that you can do it all over again. Nathan is in that stage right now and it really funny and cute to watch. I want him to eat his hot dogs and he has had an aversion to them lately so I thought I could inspire him with ketchup. Yes the ketchup worked in so many ways! He eats his hot dog, but he as well eats his string cheese and pretzels with ketchup also. Well he uses string cheese and pretzels for his vehicles for ketchup. He just keeps using them over and over again to dip, lick, repeat! So now every time I see Nathan eating his ketchup I think, nice vehicle buddy! And I chuckle!

A busy week

Its Friday and Sunday's coming. I think its so cool that they said that back in old spiritual gospel homes. Keeps the focus where it should be right!

Anyway this was a very busy week in the Sears household. It started last week actually.

Last Saturday night I was in charge of the program for our Mother/Daughter Night out. See we usually have a banquet because I was in charge and am not into very formal things I went for casual night out for Mother's and Daughter's. It was entitled God's Wisdom of Little Girls (at heart). It started with a fashion show of the little girls in church. I had them come walking down the aisle of the church dressed up like the names of roses. For example American Beauty rose, the girls were in 4th grade and dressed up for a beauty pageant. Sarah went as the Ballerina rose, she was too cute. We had angels roses, and bride roses, and knock out roses, the little girl was dressed as a boxer and she did a great job. I really had a lot of fun and from the feed back I got so did many others who attended. We had a dinner served by the pastor, my FIL, and some men of the church and it was fantastic- good food, and not having to clean it up way cool! The finish to the night was the movie Kit Kittridge the American Girl. Good flick for mom's and Daughters of all sizes, but I left early because we headed to Ohio that night to see my Mom and Dad and Brother and his wife.

Mother's Day in Ohio was great. It has been a while since I had Mother's Day with my Mom. My own children got me cards and a Willow Tree keepsake box. For my MIL and Mom I made photo frames. I had the local framing shop cut the words GRAND KIDS out of hunter green photo mats and filled in all the letters with faces of my children. Big hit for the Grandma's!

Monday night we set up for the Awana closing and Fun Fair. The Fun Fair is a mini carnival in the church basement. We had throw the darts and pop the balloons, car races, bean bag toss, Gold Fish pond, guessatorium (this was my booth) and lots of other fun games. We had a ticket system set up and we made a prize table where they could turn in their tickets and get prizes they wanted. Tim then stayed at church for a Deacons meeting.

Tuesday was the closing program where Derek finish his first Sparky book and review, and extra credit book and got an award for that. Sarah finished her second cubbies book and got her award for that. Tim and I have been working Awana for 7 years now! Oh and did I mention that Nathan has been nursing a fever since the middle of the night Sunday? Someone had to hold him the whole time Monday and Tuesday and he isn't a little baby any more. Our arms got quite the workout.

Wednesday was youth group and my kids make such a commotion. There is no more little kids church on Wednesday night which I am good with. But my kids are sick of sitting around and listening by that time and church doesn't start until 7:30 on Wednesday and that is their normal school night bed time. So...Wednesday nights are kind of crazy but good to, being an example for the teens showing a united family front is good.

Thursday night, first night of t-ball. Derek has moved up to intermediates but Sarah is still playing t-ball. So here we go don our hats and shirts and are off to a night of t-ball. Tim coaches with Derek's team and I coach with Sarah's team so Nathan had to go to a sitter's last night but in the future he will get to go with Grandma. So we arrive about 10 minutes late but no one has really started anything yet and there are three intermediate teams and three t-ball teams so two teams play games and the third in each level practices. Sarah and Derek's teams were practicing. Sarah's team is made of of six little four year old girls. Whew just writing it makes me sigh. We had fun though throwing and catching, bouncing the ball of the net and chasing it, and batting.

Now its Friday and Tim is umpiring. Its a beautiful day and life is good. Amen!

Help I need Baby shower game ideas

Please help me out I am looking for unique baby shower game ideas. My sister-in-law Jessica is having her first baby and her party is at the end of May and I wanted some fun unique games to play while we are there. Now this is a mixed group of ladies mostly your moms age. My sister-in-law is in her 20's but the rest of us will all be older than that. I am going to use the draw a baby on a plate on your head in one continuous line game. I may refer to it as the baby slug game, some of you may understand. I am also going to play guess how big around Jessica is with toilet paper. But any other ideas I would love to hear them. Thank you all for your input!

Silly family!

My children tend to make me laugh more often than not. Here are a few instances of laughter from my children.


Sarah tends to be a little klutzy. We wait outside in the afternoon for her bus to come and I am always telling her, "Sarah please do not run around. You will fall down and get hurt if you run around." She was standing next to me obeying like a good little girl and the bus pulled up to our house I leaned down and kissed her and she turned for the bus and wham hit the deck. Spread eagle on her face in the dirt. I picked her up dusted her off and put her on the bus in tears. Really what are the chances, she's just got talent!


Then later that week we were up in her room and I walked in to see her jumping on the bed. I was in the process of telling her not to jump on the bed because she could get hurt when... yep you guessed it she foot missed the bed and down she went. Her face was so comical like how could this be happening to me, I never do crazy stuff! I just started laughing and the only thing that came to mind was one little monkey jumping on the bed, she fell off and dumped her head. Sarah really did not find the humor in the situation even when I sang her the song. I sure thought it was a trip though.

I rearranged the playroom the other day and moved the play kitchen under the light switch. I didn't do it on purpose but Nathan thought that was the best thing ever. I am sitting working on the computer and I hear him call, "Mommy." "Yeah Buddy what's going on," meanwhile still looking at the computer. Louder this time, "Mommy!" So I turn and look and am about to start saying something but the only thing that comes out is a laugh. He is sitting on top of the play kitchen turning on and off the light. He was so cute I took evidence of the deed!






Then there was the time that Nathan decided the epic battle of the century was to defeat the Baby Einstein characters from trying to take over the world. He pulled out the light saber and went after the TV with a vengeance. It was so funny, almost busted a gut really!




Today Sarah decided to ride on the sit n spin. A gift from my brother that I am going to repay after he has his little one don't you worry! So they were riding on in together and wanted a picture Nathan wouldn't hold still so Sarah held his head for him. At least they were still really happy riding the sit n spin!














Children are a gift from the Lord. Did you know that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. How can we not when he gives us theses precious gifts!

The Smith Family Luau

So to say that the Smith Family luau was everything that I dreamed a luau should be would be an understatement! It was incredible! To begin a really buff Hawaiian guy in a sarong and a gorgeous Hawaiian girl in a real coconut bra and sarong had us stand by them and get our picture. Then the luscious garden tour we took on a little tram that took us around to their flowers and fruits. We took pictures of as much as we could until our camera died! In reality Tim already had 100's of pictures so most likely it wasn't the battery it was just the camera saying enough already. You do not need one more picture, especially of the water pump truck!

We saw an Imu celebration where they uncover the pig that they have roasted on hot lava rocks and banana leaves under sand. We saw wild peacocks all over the place. Beautiful flowers and gardens. Oh it was so wonderful! Then it was dinner time, a lovely buffet of Hawaiian foods. Cold salad with Papaya or Mango dressing, Hawaiian sweet potatoes (they were purple and served cold) puoy ( a grey kind of paste made from Terro roots, not very good at all but at least I can say I've tried it). The meats were moth watering, scrumptious, incredible tastes like Kalua Pork (oh my goodness some of the best food I have ever eaten, this was the pig uncovered from the sand and banana leaves and it could not have tasted anything better), sweet and sour Mahi Mahi (I don't like fish but Tim said it was fantastic), chicken, and teriyaki beef (marinated beef brisket and it was so good!).

Then after dinner was the dancing part of the luau, we moved from their dining area to the show theatre and there as a live working volcano and dancing girls and guys, a fire dancer who was just fantastic.

Really the colors and lights and sounds all around were perfect for an Hawaiian luau. More than I could have ever hoped for in entertainment! It was a highlight of my vacation and I am so excited to write about it because it brings back happy moments and mouth watering tastes.

The joys of a sunset cruise

Well here we are embarking for our sunset cruise its Sunday March 29, oh yeah my birthday. How cool was it that it was my birthday while we were in Hawaii?! Actually the weather cooperated and we had a wonderfully sunny afternoon to get on the boat and go for a tour of the Napali Coast in Kauai, Hawaii.

The Napali Coast is a set of cliffs along the water and they are hike able but there is no road so the best way to see the coast is by boat. We left for the cruise at 2:30 in the afternoon and arrived back to land by 7 it was really wonderful. I will say only a few things and then give pictures because the beauty of God's creation can not be expressed in words. And even pictures don't give it justice. The picture at the top was taken literally seconds before I got drenched with water. Oh yes I spent most of the cruise cover in water we hit a decent wave and whoosh, Cindy got soaked!

Sorry for the bleach white belly of Tim's, he couldn't help it he wanted sun so bad!

We saw 8-12 beautiful humpback whales. They babies were growing up almost ready to leave for the summer and so when they breached although they were smaller than mom they are still big. We got close enough to the one pictured ad trying to get it on film did our best but wow it was really neat to see the wonders of God's creation!

Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri

The WWII Memorial for the Arizona is a really humble place to visit. I have felt really emotional about Pearl Harbor and all things military related for a while now and so to visit the Arizona was truly a blessing. The men/boys who dies that day were just there getting ready for a normal Sunday morning and wham things went bad. Have you watched the movie with Ben Afflack in it? The morning that the Japanese attack when the planes fly in over the boy playing with the ball and the mother hanging laundry its real. That's the hardest part for me. Its real it happened and it caused a lot of things in this nation to change. So we visited the Arizona and I was a bit on the cold side. Dressed for the tropical weather not remembering to factor in the wind so I really was a bit cold but still very emotional. If you ever have the chance to visit you really should. While we were there we bought a commemorative Pearl harbor book which had some stories in the back about men who survived the attack and we met two of the men who were featured int eh book. I shook a hand of a man who survived Pearl harbor lived to tell his story and will be honored for his heroism for the rest of his existence and hereafter. After the Arizona we went and explored the USS Missouri- the battleship that in WWII the Japanese boarded and surrendered on. We took a guided tour and for those of you who have ever toured a battleship before those things are monstrous. They are their own floating city. It was really cool to see the guns and the ammo and be in the command room and see how it all goes down during war. Also we heard the story of when the Japanese surrendered to General MacArthur and I just have to say I have a new found respect for General MacArthur he was a no holds barred kind of guy. We don't wait for the Japanese they wait for us. We will not wear our dress clothes to this thing we will wear our work clothes we are at war. It was pretty cool to see the documentation that was signed. To hear the story you don't hear in high school history class and so enjoy history. So thank you to the men and women who serve in our Armed Forces today I appreciate you in so many ways!