It's Christmas!

Here we are...four days after Christmas already! We talked about Christmas for weeks and now it's over. We had the opportunity to see quite a few of our relatives on Christmas Day. It was a pleasure to enjoy the company of our nieces and nephews who we rarely have the chance to see. In addition, we got to spend time with our newest great nieces and nephew. I have a hard time remembering Alyssa and Adam being that small!! Instead I got to see both our teenage children dressed to the nines on Christmas Eve. Adam was barely recognizable in his dress shirt, khaki pants and tie...we're so used to seeing him in jeans and a tshirt! It was a joy! And then there's Alyssa...our beautiful mature sixteen year old standing up front with the teen choir at our Christmas Eve service and playing handbells alongside mom at our midnight service. All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas!

Another explanation!

OK, this blog stuff is making me looney! I have been trying on and off since my last posting to get a fall picture to go along with that story. So now it finally works, but it's almost a month later! I just can't win!

It's Just Not the Same

When I was a little girl, we used to pick a Sunday in October and take a drive up through the Poconos to look at the fall foliage. We would stop at a roadside stand and get crisp apples to eat on our trip. As I grew up, graduated, went to nursing school and eventually got married, I never forgot our special October trips.

Quite a few years ago, I tried to start the same tradition in our family. We played this little game, where the kids and I would try and get Kurt lost in the Poconos. We would take turns picking which road to take and which way to turn. You need to understand that Kurt has an internal compass...he never gets lost! So it was always quite a challenge to try and get us lost! Of course, we always made sure we found some place to buy apples.

In addition to enjoying the fall foliage, we would always drive to the top of Camelback Mountain and take pleasure in trying to pick out different landmarks using our binoculars.

I look forward to these annual excursions every year. Well, imagine my surprise last year when the kids told me how they HATE these little trips! I guess maybe it has to do with them being teenagers. Needless to say, there was no drive through the Poconos this year. There goes the tradition....it's just not the same...

We got him!! 

My Baby's Birthday!

OK, so he's not really a baby! Well, he's kind of a 6 foot baby! We celebrated Adam's 14th birthday on Friday by taking him to the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant. A birthday celebration at this place is quite the big thing!! They make you sit on a saddle as they loudly announce that it is your birthday and they ask the whole place to give the birthday person a LOUD YEE-HAW!! I think we managed to successfully humiliate Adam! As one friend put it, it was time for us to embarrass himl, as opposed to him doing it to us!! Check out the pic!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

It's been a busy two weeks in the Geiger household. OK..... when isn't it a busy week in the Geiger household?!?!?!? Last Friday and Saturday, Alyssa and I had the opportunity to go to the Women of Faith conference in Philadelphia, PA. It was a great two days of worshiping, singing and praising God with 19,000 of our closest women friends! If any of you women out there ever have the chance to get tickets to go, I highly recommend it. This weekend, Alyssa and I spent a couple of days at Bear Creek Camp, our Lutheran church camp, near Wilkes Barre. Our husband and wife pastors take the first year catechetical class there every September. This year's class is quite small, so they needed some extra youth to accompany them in order to have enough people to do their group building activities. Alyssa volunteered to go. To top it off, they ask adults to accompany them to do the cooking. This time no one volunteered. Another friend and I offered to go Friday night, sleep there and do the cooking on Saturday. It was a lot of fun! We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast, BBQ hot dogs and soup for lunch and the big hit of the day....chicken tarragon with rice, corn and tossed salad. We both enjoyed our time with the youth!

Happy 1st Birthday, Jonathan!! 

An Explanation

A bit of an explanation....the car in the below picture is actually a 1965 Alpine Sunbeam. Adam's uncle recently gave him the car. The intention is for Adam and my husband to restore it for Adam to be able to use once he turns 16. Restoring cars is Kurt's passion (mostly British sports cars), and as a result, Adam has become interested in the same thing. Kurt is currently restoring an Austin Healey and promises Adam that as soon as he is done with the Healey, they will begin work on the Sunbeam. Adam can't wait!!

Kurt thought this might be a good one for Alyssa! She didn't care for the color. 

Random Thoughts

It's driving me nuts that everyone is trying to place blame for the poor response to the hurricane disaster last week. I agree that a probe is warranted, but I wish everyone's energy, at this point, would be towards relief and recovery instead. Along those same lines, I put a new link on my page called Eye of the Storm. This blog is dedicated to the recent hurricane. There are some unbelievable pictures and journal notes. If you have a chance, I would recommend taking a look at it. Still looking for a car that Alyssa can drive while she has her permit and after she gets her license. Spent hours on the computer last evening hunting for something that meets her requirements and also KURT'S....LOL!!

I Think, B'Gosh, I've Done It!

Well, after several hours of struggling, I think I have figured out how to get a counter on my blog. I can't let Jamie think I'm totally computer illiterate! And if it has worked, mine is cuter than hers....LOL!!

Here We Go!

The fun has begun! Alyssa had dance tonite from 4-5:30 and then again 7-7:45. Adam had Boy Scouts from 7-8:30 and Kurt began choir at 7:45. Fortunately, Alyssa's choir doesn't begin til next week. That's 6:30-7! And that's just Wednesday nights! Alyssa and I fended for ourselves and ate with my Mom in Nazareth, while Kurt and Adam fended for themselves. Le Chef Adam made his new Spam recipe for Kurt...and they both survived!! Tomorrow I am off to volunteer at the local elementary school, which I have been doing for 10 years. Then a special friend from church and I will be enjoying lunch together.

Still figurin' it out!!

OK, you're gonna be tired of seein' these, but I am desperately trying to figure out how to us this blog thing! You see i did figure out the picture issue. Had to download a new FREE program with which to do it, but figured it out nonetheless!! We had huge steaks for Labor Day dinner....saved a third of it for my lunch tomorrow! Back to work and school tomorrow!

First day of school on September 1, 2005 

It's Labor Day 2005

Greetings! This is my first attempt at a blog. Thanks Jamie for sending me yours! It gave me the impetus to try my own. We spent the day doing various things: book shopping for Alyssa's self-help book report for Peer Helper II, ACMoore shopping for posterboard for Adam's project for science, car shopping for Alyssa's driving needs and dinner with Nani. In between we had the opportunity to catch up on the Katrina disaster. You can't miss it...it's everywhere on the news. I hope we all have the chance to somehow contribute one way or another...either monetarily or in-kind donations. Happy Labor Day!

Our family by Barnegat Lighthouse in July 2005 on Long Beach Island, NY