Sweet Crunchie Goodness

My brother in law Scott picked up some Crunchie bars for me when he was in the London airport! I am so excited! These are my favorite candy bars of all time. They are made by Cadbury and are really hard to find! I used to stock up on them when we would go visit my Aunt Ruth in Canada, and I ran across them at a specialty store in LA. Needless to say, when I heard he was passing through England, I made a plea for chocolate! Yea, success! They don't 'expire' until Jan '09 so I am going to make them last as long as I can, although I may finish them off before too long.

Shady Maple

Today I went to Lancaster with my In-Laws, and Lisa and the kids. We met Kathy there who had brought along Ray and Ruth Land. They hadn't seen Cole before, and it was fun to see them interacting with their great-grandchildren!

We passed these kids and their pony on the way home. Looks like the boy in the hat is the 'brake'. I love the flag too.

Wildlife

My kitten is growing so fast! And I saw a few of these birds as I was driving home today. They are a really beautiful blue.

The kids are here!

Lisa and the kids are visiting from Florida! They are growing so fast, and are so much fun! The newest member of the family is exceptionally smiley. He is so cheerful and has a contagious smile!

My New Toy

I discovered that we have a T-fal/Krups outlet here! Yea! They have lots of pots, pans, cookie sheets, coffee makers, indoor grills etc, seconds and discounts galor. I have a weakness for kitchen utensils and gadgets, and shoes. Hubby and I have been getting increasingly frustrated with our toaster oven, and I found a discounted refurbished one! It's really cool. The door opens all the way, and easily too! It has 2 removable racks, and a broiler pan. It can toast, defrost, broil, and bake. I did chicken in it tonight! It is fantastic. I can cook chicken at 350 for 30 mins and it only takes 30 minutes! You don't have to wait for it to preheat, and you don't heat up the whole kitchen with the big oven. It has a timer too, so when the timer goes off, it shuts off! How cool is that? I know that I can do that with my big oven, but I like the fact that this uses less energy and doesn't heat up the entire kitchen. Woohoo. :)

Sunday School Picnic

This is a week late, but I figured I would slip it in here. Here are some of the darling faces of Dorothy. It was really hot and humid that day.

And this very special lady
had a BIRTHDAY today!

Soccer Season

It's that time of year again. Hubby is playing outdoor soccer with several of the guys from Superior Walls, and meeting. (For those of you back home in CA, yes, we play soccer indoors here during the winter.) Hubby is on the right, Erika's hubby is on the left. Friday nights are now soccer nights, I grab the lawn chair and watch with the other wives as our men work out their fidgets and frustrations from the week. I must admit, my man looks pretty handsome out there! He really loves to play, but sadly we are both feeling the effects of "swift-footed Time". This little girl is the daughter of one of Hubby's soccer friends. I have discovered that I love taking pictures of kids! They are so expressive, and they do the funniest things!

Update

Today is Grandpa and Grandma's

55th Anniversary! I love them both so much and was delighted and honored to have them come a visit me. I know it was a long and tiring trip but they were real troopers about it. I miss them terribly. They have given me 30 years worth of wonderful, fun, loving memories that I will cherish forever.

In other news,

Miss Diana is growing by leaps and bounds. She is getting cuter by the day, and is starting to get those cute little rolls here and there. It seems she has some colic, so prayers for mom's ear drums and baby's tummy would be appreciated.

Tomorrow is our Sunday School Picnic, so hopefully everything goes well and we have no injuries. Last year Craig twisted his ankle and had to hobble around on crutches, we felt really bad for him.

Soaring

Grandpa and Grandma F. just spent a wonderful week out here in the Garden State. It was so much fun to show them around my new environment, and give them a little insight into my daily life. We spent one day in Lancaster. We visited the tabernacle and drove through the countryside admiring the barns and clotheslines. We also spent a day down in Cape May, gawking at the victorian homes.

I found something new around here too! I found a river cruise starting in Millville, on the Maurice River. It was so much fun!! It was a little flat bottom boat and we went down stream for about an hour and came back, about 16 miles roundtrip. It was a beautiful day, and the scenery was amazing. We saw a pair of bald eagles and their 2 one yr old chicks! They were beautiful! There were many Osprey and several Blue Herons to admire as well.

Dianna Elizabeth Sikora

After much anticipation, little Dianna is finally here! She was born at 3:08am and weighs about 7 lbs.

Reprieve

The Flyers narrowly avoided elimination and live to see another game! In a edge-of-your-seat game the Flyers won 3 to 2. Woohoo! We can actually see the game much better from home in HD, and it's narrated!! (And you can see Marti's eyes!) But you can't get the same passion and energy you find in the stadium. (Hubby does try though!) They had about 3 fights in the last minute of the game, and it's much more fun to watch up close!

A sad day in Mudville...or Philly. Whatever.

The Flyers lost, again. But this time we witnessed it in person. It was bad, very bad. Hubby and I drove up to Philly to watch Game 3 in Round 3 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. It has been very exciting, and we were hoping they would win (since they lost the last 2 games in Pittsburg) since they were at home. The whole night was a bit rocky. To start with, parking was a nightmare. There was a baseball game starting 30 min before the hockey game... and the stadiums are across the street from each other. It took us over an hour to park. Then we start watching the game and it got worse. I think 'Penguins' is an odd name for a team of large, aggressive, sweaty men, but what do I know? They beat the pants off us, on our home turf, in front of a sold out stadium. I won't bore you all with details. Then it took about 2 hours to drive what normally takes 1 hour, mainly because the parking lot was so jammed up. We did get free bright orange XL tshirts! This is the only time you will ever catch me wearing orange. I am partially deaf now, but I had a great time yelling and screaming! Maybe next year...

Found the kitten

Found the little guy under the porch finally. I guess she only had 2 kittens. One of the girls that works here took the other one home. And I was having a stare-down with the goat, who kept trying to steal my sandwich. All in a days work... What did you do at work today? : )

My new kitty

I adopted a cat. This one my husband can't complain about because she lives at work! I adopted a stray cat that lives under the restaurant. She is very little, and just had kittens apparently! I haven't found them yet though. I treated her for fleas and ticks, and set out her food dish when I'm done working. She is so sweet, and comes when I call "kitty". She purrs and rubs up against my legs when I come outside, then follows me around till I go back in. We also have a pet goat named Marika (Mar-ee-ka) that lives behind the restaurant! And a rooster! :) I now have only to step out the back door to get my animal 'fix'. Wahoo! I have missed being around all the wildlife.

New Acquisition

TaDa! I finally found a high chair. At a yard sale, for a really good deal! It is very 'retro', and perfect for Lily and which ever munchkins come to visit. And no, Darrah still hasn't had the baby yet.

Way To Go Flyers!

Umberger was amazing tonight. Woohoo! Flyers won 6-4 in a tense game, moving them on into the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. :) Lots of cheering in this house. I have come to really enjoy hockey! We should be buying up stock in Tums though. I was going to post a cool picture from the game from the Flyers website, but I'm not sure if that would be legal or not.

Springtime in NJ

Spring is here! The cherry trees are done blooming, and I wasn't quick enough to take pictures of those. Even the dogwoods look like they are almost done, but the colors are still stunning. Blooms from white to dark pink they brighten up the landscape. The woods are getting greener by the day, and now the azaleas are blooming too! Darrah, Erika and I went for a walk yesterday,,, to try to induce labor. We stopped at WaWa for a sandwich, picked some lilacs on the side of the road then took a chocolate break. We strolled around for 2 hours- smelled the flowers, picked a few and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine.

Remodeling

So the room isn't completely back together, but it's come a long way! I love our new room! Just a warning to those of you looking to buy black wood furniture... make sure you really like to dust first. Its a daily chore. But on the bright side you can write love notes in the dust... how romantic. : ) I left my house in the middle of upheaval when I went out to CA, so it's nice to have things back to 'normal'.

Healthy As A Horse

I know, he is too cute for his own good. JakeJake is doing very well. We had a bit of a scare on Sunday when we found a 'squishy' spot near the back of his head. The doctor sent them to Loma Linda ER to get another CT scan, but they wanted to see the original scans first.. so they came home with no news. On Monday, doctor had them go to the local ER and they actually did another scan. They were able to get the originals and said that there were no changes and he looked great. There weren't any fractures near the spot of concern, therefore it was just a bruise-like hematoma under the skin and should go away after a while. His face looks great, he still has a little black under the one eye, but other than that he is as adorable as ever. He has got tons of energy too! Auntie has to take naps when they do- it's tough keeping up with those two boys! I am really going to miss them!! Yes, that is a hospital bracelet on his foot. He had a fit when I slipped it off his foot, he tried putting it back on. So we left it.

Our family has always had animals around. We were raised to love and care for our pets, and animals in general. From the time I could walk, we had pets. I remember a duck named Charlie, chickens, and numerous cats over the years named kitty, just to name a very few. As we got older, our animals got bigger. My little nephews are no different. If you don't have pets, you go catch something. They have a beautiful dog named Chester, which sounds like "Teh 'TAH" from Jacob. The influction in his voice sounds just like we do when calling the dog. Chester was bad this week though and killed the baby rabbit that Jim had been watching out the window lately. On a brighter note, Caleb has been collecting caterpillers! Not the fuzzy kind, he informed grandma, 'They pokey". He keeps some leaves in their bucket for food, and when they escape each morning, he finds a few more to replentish the bucket. Jim also found a lizard on the porch which is now in a fish tank in the living room. Caleb named him Algea. We aren't sure why. The bad part about Algea is that he eats crickets, live crickets. Bugs give Auntie the willies, but the lizard is fun to watch.

Getting Better

Chub Chub is continuing to improve! A relative told us that it could take up to 48 hours for the Morphine to completely clear out of his system, and it looks like they were right. He has been more hyper than normal lately, but last night he was more subdued and borderline grumpy. I suppose that was a good thing, now he is moving slightly slower and seems to be more aware that he is 'hurt'. His balance is still a little off, probably becuase his eye is still about half shut, but its getting better each day. It's cute to see him tilt his head back to try to see things with both eyes. He has an appointment this afternoon with the family doctor.

This is where he fell, it's behind the garage. It was hard to get out of Caleb exactly where he fell from but we think it was somewhere below the top landing on the stairs. We think he may have hit the ledge on the way down which helped to break his fall. It could have been a lot worse, so we are very thankful!

Grandma gave him a 'George' balloon with a big band-aid on it. Very cute.

Big Brother is helping Daddy put a fence up around the front porch.