I thought I'd try actually posting to this blog to see how the tools work. Here's a neat site that someone sent me the other day.

weatherbonk

It does I nice job of combining several different types of information into one page. There are also links to skibonk and golfbonk at the bottom of the page.

This one's for Eva - the boys wanted to learn cross-stitch so we bought them some beginner kits. Here they are working on their stitches.

While we were at Dad's for Thanksgiving, we stayed at the condo on the beach. As you can see, the dogs had a great time playing fetch in the surf while the kids built sand castles. Man, it's good to live in the South!









The big treat, beyond Thanksgiving Day itself, was a trip to Magic Quest. If you don't know what Magic Quest is, check out the website, but it's a really cool interactive place where you perform quests and try to become a Master Magi. The boys had been there once before, but it was new to the girls and Walter. Walter said his legs hurt afterwards from all the walking and running you do to find your ruins.




The great thing about Dad's condo - other than it's ocean front and free! - is the way the coast is situated, you get both sunrises and sunsets. This one was a doozey!

Here are the long awaited Thanksgiving pictures! The boys finished up the cooking and we had yummy turkey and mashed potatoes, rolls that the kids devoured, and various veggies and salads. It was a great Thanksgiving!

Here is a bit of Christmas cheer for everyone

It does a heart good! Maddy and Craig are learning to play the guitar together. I'm not sure who enjoys the lessons more! :) They are currently working on Heart of Gold.















Also, I meant to post this last month and forgot about it... Katie is always a trooper when she has to do all this crazy medical stuff. Here she is smiling through her latest EEG.

While we are waiting for Amy to post the pictures from Thanksgiving..... (hint, hint), I will give a Maddy and Katie swim/diving update. Maddy got 8th in this weekend's diving meet and she didn't even get points for her third dive. It was supposed to be a half-twist, but she did more of a front splat which doesn't get any points... Poor kid was pretty red, but came out of the pool smiling! Katie dove for the first time this weekend and got 5th place - awesome, considering that in diving the girls dive in the 11yr and under category, so most of the girls are older. They are both loving the diving. Mom is OK with it until they both have to try an inward dive...

As for swimming, they both did awesome as well. Maddy is loving it, but needs to be about a foot taller and six inches wider in the shoulders! :) She is such a peanut compared to the other swimmers. Katie is holding her own, but not sure she wants to keep swimming. She came in 3rd in the 50 Free with an awesome flip turn last weekend, but insists "swimming isn't for her..." Go figure...

Sorry no pictures, but it is really hard to get diving/swimming pictures. You'll have to wait for Amy to post those Thanksgiving pictures...

Also, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Amy!!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the advantages of homeschool is that you can take a day off whenever you want! :) Friday was a beautiful day, so we headed to the beach with Grandpa. I'm not sure who had more fun - the dogs or the girls.

A couple of pictures that are overdue for posting. Also, Kristin you were incorrect - Nicky carved the elaborate pumpkin and Walter carved the other one! Here are the boys in their Halloween costumes.




Here's the birthday boy opening his presents Thursday morning - he received a scooter and metal "put-it-together-yourself" safe (wants to keep some things safely away from his brother!) from Nana & GPaZ; the Hannah Montana and High School Musical CDs and the movie "Cars" from his mom, dad & Nicky.



The school had an assembly on Joey's birthday with Fish the Magish. The teachers conspired to have Joey called to the stage to assist with a magic trick. Joey held up his hands and Fish pulled a ribbon out of his hands. That ribbon just seemed to keep coming and coming out of his hand!

We had a very nice Halloween. We went trick-or-treating with some new friends that Maddy and Katie met. We have a VERY good neighborhood - the kids came home with tons of candy, crayons, playdough and even money! Plus our neighbor does games on Halloween, so they enjoyed hanging out next door and playing games as well. All in all a good time was had by all.

Whooooo! It's spoooky Halloween!

Can you tell which pumpkin was carved by Nicky and which by Walter?

We found a praying mantis next to our side door. Here are some pictures of it - have you ever seen one so big???

Oscar passed away last night after 18 grumpy but good years. He had been so lifeless on Wednesday that I was going to bring him into the vet when Craig returned from San Francisco. It was almost like he was waiting for Craig to get home... When Craig came in and scratched him behind the ears, Oscar lifted his head which was the most movement I had seen since lunch. Craig then took the girls to swim and I stayed with Oscar. About an hour later he was in my lap and took some noticeable breaths and then died. If you gotta go, that's the way to do it.... :(

I asked Maddy who she thought he was pestering this morning for a drink from the sink and she replied, "Oh - Mommy, he can drink from the bowl again!"

THE ROOM IS DONE! Well sort of - there are a few more projects, plus some decorating that needs to be completed, but they can move in! We patched all the holes from the electrical work (which was a terrible mess), then we painted. The girls were a great help with the painting. I did the cutting in and they did the paint rolling on the walls.








Here they are working on putting the bed together. Is Craig helping the girls or the girls helping Craig??????





















The finished room!











After all that hard work, we need a good night's sleep!

The much awaited picture of Katie with her brand new glasses! She says the world is much clearer now! :)

So here are pictures of the much awaited finished porch! Unfortunately, now we decided the tree needs to come down and then the landscaping needs to be reworked. Of course Craig would like to fix the ugly soffit & gutters as well.... One project just leads to the next in this house! :)

Here are a few shots from the wedding. Mark & Karen got married on Saturday, 9/23/06. The boys were ring-bearers and got to wear really cool tuxes!

Here is the progress on the new porch. I think that the stone is really going to give it the same look that it had before we had to tear it all up.

Spent the weekend camping by Hawk Mountain. It is an official counting location for migrating birds of prey. We saw several hawks and turkey vultures, 5 osprey and 3 bald eagles. Unfortunately, Walter couldn't make the trip, so I had to replace him with new hiking companions. They aren't as talkative, but they sure are much better at finding and staying on the trail! :)

Here are pictures of the big birthday celebration! Maddy turned 9 and Grandma turned 91. As Grandma said, "You put them together and they are 100!"

We decided to attend a Corn Roast this weekend which was at the Indian Culture Museum in Allentown. As most of you know, Maddy's very favorite subject is history, so we are really enjoying early American history while we are out here in Pennsylvania. The girls learned how to make an animal skin into a soft piece of leather. (The pictures are of them taking the fur off the skin.) Did you know that once the fur is removed and it has been dried, you coat it with mashed up brain and water to get it soft? We also learned that if you make arrows and tools from stone you are a "flint knapper". (By the way, in the controversy about what you call the native people... they all called themselves "Indians" which I find fascinating since we are taught to call them natives... Just an interesting observation...)






You of course can't go to Allentown without checking to see if they indeed did close all the factories down... Although in Bethlehem, there was no evidence of people filling out forms, standing in line.... :) This is a shot of one of the steel mills that was shut down, but is just standing and rotting.... The girls took it from the car window and thought it would make a good postcard.

As many of you know, we joined a CSA ("community supported agriculture" farm - www.pennypackfarm.org if you are interested in those types of things...). Craig jokes that it was a large sum of money to allow our children to weed - Maddy loves to go and weed at the farm. But besides weeding, we do get a share of veggies every week. Being vegetable challenged, I often do not know what I am getting. So, I thought it would be fun to play name that fruit/vegetable right here on the blog! So here is this week's mystery item - you get bonus points if you can not only name it but come up with a recipe that my family enjoys! (And yes, I do know that is a banana in the background - I only put it in the picture for scale...)