schickHouse

Poolside

Dan & Amy have been visiting from Texas this week. We've had beautiful weather and spent lots of time with them in the pool. All the children are becoming braver in the water, especially Shelby and Cyrus.

Safety first in the baby pool!

Uncle Dan gathering sun and inspiration to try out the scuba gear.

Angela setting up her resort.

I hesitate to post this silly photo, but it's always good to get a real big belly shot toward the end of the 40 weeks. Besides, it'll be fun to look back on. (in just a week, even!)

The adults have even been getting braver in the water.

Go, PopPop, Go!

Shelby wants her hair cut. I can't imagine why.

My selfless hubby, taking a dip in between doing chores that I can no longer handle.

Daddy's getting really good at flips!

Elle Mae likes to double up on the floaties.

The amazing flying Dan!

Cyrus attacking Aunt Amy with his water gun.

The best picture saved for last. Uncle Dan hoisting Cy sky-high!

Gramma's

A couple weeks ago we were keeping Great-Gramma company on a Friday evening. This time is always so peaceful as the children play outside, watch the buggies go by, and I snap photos I can't resist during the golden hour. That last photo is the children intently watching an "ant party." I love their imaginations.

Water Fun, Part 2

We were able to celebrate cousin Torance's birthday the other week. I was too lazy to go get my camera until the water got going, so I didn't get a lot of birthday girl pictures. The giant slip n slide was a big hit, as was the giant sling shot.

Fresh Air

Yesterday we took a long walk in Grammy & PopPop's yard. I had such a wonderful time enjoying the green springtime, the happy children, and the warm weather. Hope you don't mind a good amount of photos, some not-so-traditional. :o)

       

       

      

And a long play in the yard equals a good sleep at night, four in a bed.

Bounceoline

On Saturday, after the egg hunt, we took in a mini-concert at Gramma's. Mom played mandolin, Doris played guitar, and they had two others playing, too. Then we ventured over to check out Kevin & Heather's new place. The children had a terrific time on the "bounce-o-leen" (thank you, Elle Mae, for the word coinage!), and playing with cousins Torance, Jo-Jo, and Ben.

Party Monday

on monday we gathered to celebrate chrissy's & jenna's birthdays. besides some delicious ice cream cake, we enjoyed some softball, a visit with aunt amy, and some lap time with poppop.

Nana

yesterday i rode with grammy slice and aunt carla to nana's funeral. nana was 100 years old and still healthy when she went to be with our Lord. when remembering nana, some things that come to my mind... molasses lace cookies, quarryville, knitting, a 50's era kitchen, a constant smile, no complaining, and 100 years. gertie, carla, & dee dee all spoke some wonderful remembrances at the service. it was good to catch up with that side of the family.

Hangin' Out

some miscellaneous fotos of us enjoying the mild weather and each other.

those superball shoes really do the trick for scootin'.

still my cutie.

nice shirt, dan.

poppop takes his turn.

watch out, speedy!

workin' on the 4-wheeler.

angela will do this every time she sees the camera now.

miss you, uncle dan!

cyrus shared his love of alena's ds with elle mae. i guess it must've felt just as strange for my parents to watch me tackle pacman at the same age.

Visiting Fun

we've been having a wonderful week with lots of visiting, eating, catching up, and announcing (see the ticker at right). this is the longest we've waited to announce. just seemed like fun to do it at Christmas time. my mom did find out a week early, but she kept our secret, too. 

so far we've celebrated Christmas at my parents' with my family, at my aunt's with my dad's extended family, and at steve's mom's with his family. last nite i went to a friend's house and had a blast with the old timers from the hop.

today we are headed to my parents' for lunch, then back to steve's mom's for a little birthday celebration for elle mae. just cake and ice cream. tomorrow she will be three years old. she is SO excited. we've been snapping some fotos, but i'm not very motivated to get them up right now. looking forward to lotsa gaming on nye.

This N That

so, this is going to be a hodgepodge of a post, a smattering of this n that. we've been in lancaster for about five days now, about halfway through our stay. we've been enjoying ourselves. nothing much on the agenda, so we've been hither and yon just relaxing and having fun, maybe even getting a couple things done that need it.

last week, i scooped up the children & headed to town to impulsively buy clearance halloween costumes. the desire is always there, but me following through on it was somewhat uncharacteristic. had some buyer's remorse, but nothing too extreme. love the fun we'll have with these pretend clothes though.

         

we spent our (probable) last temperate saturday at home cleaning up from the early blizzard.

first (and pretty much only) on our schedule in lancaster was uncle jon's birthday party. his candles were of the sparkling variety! too much fun.

we've spent our fair share of time at ye ol' pizza shop. shelby always wants to make bread sticks. she had a couple helpers.

other than that, we've just been takin' it easy...

... angela has chosen this at least three times as her leisure activity. she is turning into quite the poppop's girl. she'll just lay, so still & quiet, til she (or they) nod off. fun snugglin'.