Phil voting :)

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Fall is falling

Every Wednesday I take the kids to story time at the library. The past two weeks we have gone to the park after story time. Today was such a beautiful day, and the kids both had a blast. The air was chilly, but the sun was shining. I am hoping that we have many more days like this before winter. Not only do we play at the playground, but I like to pack a lunch and make a long day of it. It wears them out!

Traders Point Creamery

Today was the first day that I took the kids to see the cows and watch them get milked at Traders Point. I have been wanting to do this all summer, but the weather was either too hot or they took late naps. Well, today turned out to be the perfect day. It was just right temperature wise, and Phil was going straight to the library after work to study. I needed something to fill up our time, and we had a blast. Austin went right up to the pen and petted a calf, while Ariel (our true animal lover) was somewhat hesitant at first. When she saw Austin do it, she had to :) I am noticing that with potty training too. I hope that it helps to motivate both of them. Anyways, we also got to see some chickens, a sweet barn cat, and the milking time. I have put some really great pics out on our shutterfly website (see previous post).

Trips

We have created a shutterfly website that allows us to share all of the pictures that we take - without taking up lots of room. Our lastest trip is to the Indiana Dunes State Park. Feel free to visit and check it out http://thebrownhouse.shutterfly.com

Sunday School

Phil and I have taken over teaching Sunday school for the teens in our church. We were using the scripture lessons that were provided to the whole congregation every week as a lesson plan, but we didn't get one last week. It really stretched me trying to find something that is interesting but yet full of God's word. In case any of you ever need lessons, this is a great website www.teensudayschool.com
Our first lesson is going to be on the spiritual discipline of studying God's word. Soemthing that I have to admit I still struggle with.

Time

It's amazing how I never feel like there is enough time in the day to accomplish all that I want to get done. I am aware that some of that feeling stems from me not using the time that I have during the day as efficiently as I can, but I also know that it is important to my sanity to have those moments here and there to do mindless things - such as get on the computer. One thing that I am not going to stress about is this blog. Before typing this I started to get upset at myself for not adding more, but then I realized - this blog is mostly for me, so who cares. I will write when I can.
Some cute things that Austin is doing lately:
saying "I won't do it again" when he thinks that he is going to get punished for something
Imagining all the time (for an example) Today I listened to him tell the pen he was holding "be careful honey" as it toppled over onto the floor
He is starting to really like dinosaurs and growls a lot :)
Some cute things that Ariel is doing lately:
Climbing onto Phil's or my stomachs if we are on the floor or bed and saying "giddy up"
When giving an affirmative answer hers is "yup"
she loves her opposite book - today she said "happy....sad" more times than I can remember

We're Back!

Trying to post while we were gone turned out to be impossible. So here is a brief synopsis of what happened.

7-16
Went to the Spa - had a terrific time
Stayed at Dad's late shooting off fireworks - the neighbors called the cops on us so we had to stop
Had either a deer or dog run into the side of my new van on the way back to Krista's from Dad's - didn't see any damage when I pulled over to check

7-17
Krista couldn't open the van door - didn't realize until then that there was any damage to the van
Krista's dress didn't fit at the last fitting. I truly thought that she was going to punch the girl at the bridal store
Went to the mall while the dress was having one more alteration and got Ariel a pair of shoes for the wedding
Went back and the dress fit great - Praise the Lord - and no one got hit :)
Phil arrived in PA - he was not pleased about the new van having a dent in it :( - not my fault!

7-18
Returned the rental car to Erie airport
Took the kids to beach 1 - Turns out that even though Ariel loves water, that much water scared her. She was fine while we were up on the beach but started shaking when I carried her down to the lake and wouldn't let me put her feet in for anything
Got back in time for the rehearsal - sweated (literally) the whole way through it. Krista and Andy chose a church without air conditioning for their July wedding :)

7-19 - The Wedding Day!
Krista and Andy's wedding was beautiful, and thanks to some well placed fans I was able to keep from sweating too much. Austin and Ariel did great. They both walked down the aisle with no problem. I cried during the toast that I made at the reception. What an emotional time!

7-20 to 7-25
Took the kids to the newly renovated Hasson pool. It was awesome and they had a blast.
Went out to eat with Kelly H, Kelly, Amy and Lacy. Stayed out for 5 hours with them - poor Phil
Went to the park and had lunch with Kelly, Amy, Lacy and all their kids. It was the first time that we were all together with all of our kids. There are 9 of them now!
Hung out with Amy, Jer, Kelly, and Josh at the park in Franklin. Austin and Ariel made several new friends.

7-26
Gateway Clipper with Lacy, Ryan, Kelly H, Jim (her boyfriend), Rich, Matt, Skylar, Travis and his wife, Nate and Liana. We had a great time. It was over so quickly (or so it seemed) that we decided to hang out in Pittsburgh for a while. We went over to Richie's office and then down to the Point. Unfortunately the Point was closed, but I really enjoyed the reason why - FIREWORKS! The echos of the fireworks off of the downtown buildings was so cool.