East Coast Conference 2009

We had a wonderful time at In the Light Ministries' annual conference . . . it's always wonderful to go back and enjoy times of worship and encouragement in the Word of God. It's also fun to see friends that we don't get to visit with very often. And we always throw a bit of "vacation fun" in there too! For Lael and Jaden, as long as we stay somewhere with an indoor pool, it's officially a "vacation". So Willow Valley Resort definitely qualified as a vacation spot -- not only was there a pool, but there were three pools and an indoor water playground, complete with a huge water slide!

We spent the afternoons at the pool -- and didn't get out of the pool until we were completely shriveled up!

At the conference itself, Lael really enjoyed the times of corporate worship, especially being able to worship with flags. And of course, both Lael and Jaden were glad to see their "In the Light" friends like Jenesis!

A definite highlight of conference for Lael and Jaden was the visit by Forgotten Friends.

Forgotten Friend's founder, herpetologist, author, photographer, and certified class clown, Jesse Rothacker is actually married to Brent's cousin (just a bit of trivia for you) . . . and he did a fantastic job teaching the kids all about reptiles.

The kids got a chance to be "up close and personal" with some of the reptiles . . .

. . . and some got CLOSER than others!

It was a whirlwind trip, packed full of fun and lots of wonderful memories!

Silly Saturday!

I thought I'd share a conversation that I had with Jaden this morning . . .

Jaden: Mommy, where did this come from? [pointing to movie popcorn box]
Me: It's leftover popcorn that Daddy and Lael brought home from the movies last night to share with you.
Jaden: I'll try it, but I don't think I'll like it . . .
Me: Why not? You love popcorn.
Jaden: Yeah, but this is FISH popcorn!
Me: [trying not to laugh] Uh, honey, actually it says FRESH popcorn!
Jaden: Oh, okay!

Cut him some slack . . . he's only in kindergarten, and the R in FRESH sort of looked like an I. And besides, I think it's pretty brave of him to be willing to try "fish popcorn"!

The Great Allentown Fair

Sunday afternoon we headed out to the Great Allentown Fair! It wasn't on our original plans for the weekend, but we were blessed with tickets and the weather was absolutely beautiful, so we just had to be out and enjoy it!

Lael loves animals, so it was no surprise that she would have loved to spend all day petting the different animals. The 4-H area had lots of baby animals in a "petting zoo" type environment, including goats, rabbits, ducklings, a calf and a pony. There was also an incubator with hatching chicks!

Jaden enjoyed the animals too . . . just not touching them! At least not the real ones -- he didn't mind milking this "cow" at all!

Then there were the rides . . . so many to choose from! Lael and Jaden went on this one with Daddy -- it's called the Spider, and they decided when they were done that they didn't want to go on that ride again!

The carousel was much more appealing!

Add in some funnel cake and this was just a perfect day at the fair!

Mmm! Peaches

Last month, we were invited to pick peaches with a couple from church . . . how could we refuse?!

I think Jaden's favorite part of picking peaches was pulling the cool basket-carrier around the orchard!

We did quite well, don't you think?

Life as seen through Jaden's eyes

Jaden loves our digital camera! He recently got ahold of it, and here's what I found when I downloaded the pictures . . .

Girls' night out!

This past Friday, Daddy sent his girls out for a fun night together . . . isn't he great?!!! (Then again, maybe he and Jaden just wanted us out of the house so they could do "boy stuff" like wrestling on the living room floor?)

Either way, we took him up on it and went out to do something I've wanted to do with Lael for a while . . . we went to a pottery studio to paint pottery! We decided to paint bowls so Mommy and Daddy would have special bowls for ice cream and popcorn eating too (in case you don't remember, I made bowls for the kids back in July) . . . the only ones they had were a bit fancier than what I had in mind, but Lael liked them, so that's what we went with.

Lael painted a bowl for Mommy, and Mommy painted one for Daddy.

Don't worry, honey . . . it's supposed to be red when it's finished (not pink)!

Between coats of glaze we used a blow dryer to thoroughly dry the glaze we had already applied.

And what better way to end a girls' night out than to head to Barnes and Noble for Double Chocolate Chip blended cremes (ala Starbucks) and Cookies and Cream Cheesecake (ala Cheesecake Factory)?!

Lael, I had so much fun hanging out with you . . . let's do it again soon!

Monday musings . . .

Here's a quote to ponder . . .

When God shows up, things get expensive.

I must continually ask myself -- Am I willing to pay the price?

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

Matthew 10:37-39

Fun with friends

We love it when friends come to visit! And any friends that travel over an hour one way to come and see us must love us a LOT!

Lael and Jaden had so much fun playing with Ladea, Mikya and Joshua when they visited last week -- and the mommies had fun chatting in person rather than over the phone for once!

Here's the "boys team" . . .

. . . and the girls' team! Thanks for coming, friends! Next time, we'll make the drive to visit you!

More from the corn roast

A traditional part of each corn roast is a candy scramble for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren . . . as long as they are still children (so I had to tell Brent to leave the candy for the little kids). This year they divided the children by ages to make it a little less chaotic!

It's amazing how much fun picking things up can be when you're picking up something sweet to eat! Now if I could just figure out how to accomplish the same thing when it comes to cleaning up the playroom! ;) The kids had the floor completely cleaned up in no time at all!Jaden loves his littlest cousin so much . . . . . . and it's easy to see why! Isn't she so cute!

The annual corn roast

One highlight of the summer is the annual corn roast that my mother-in-law's family has every year. It's great to see extended family that we don't see on a regular basis. And Brent and his brother have a standing corn-eating competition which dates back to their teen years when they actually ate more than two or three ears of corn at the corn roast. (Now they just gather up all the corn cobs of those sitting at their respective tables and claim that they ate that many ears of corn!)

Lael and Jaden love seeing their cousins (actually, they are children of Brent's cousins -- so that may make them all second cousins? I guess it doesn't really matter . . . it's easier to just say "cousins".) The kids had so much fun running around and playing together; it took alot to get them to stop and grab a picture: