Pics

Mystery Pic

What is to the right of the CD rack....hmmm!?!?!?

B-Day Boy

Today is Adam's 16th birthday! It's hard for me to believe...I had a tough time when Alyssa turned 16; now our youngest is that age! Guess it's time for another (NOT)!! He definitely decided he wanted to wait to do his birthday dinner until mid-October when we see Alyssa (that just makes my heart melt...LOL!!). I figured the least we could do was take him out to lunch. We dined at Paolo's in Northampton; if you've never been there, you don't know what you're missing!

Last year, I had promised him that he could ask 3-4 friends to join him at Great Wolf Lodge for his 16th birthday. It's a really neat hotel that has an indoor water park, but it's not cheap! He recently changed his mind and decided he would rather have an Ipod for his birthday instead of the party at the GWL. Kurt and I decided the Ipod would be cheaper by far; thus he got his Ipod today.

He has one last surprise waiting for him yet today. He's currently at Youth Group at church and they are going to celebrate his birthday at my request. I picked up an ice cream cake from Carvel yesterday and got some balloons, drinks and pretzels. The youth advisors agreed to pull it off for me...hopefully there will be some pics from that yet.

Happy Birthday Adam! We Love You!!

Gift from Alyssa (Yeah...yuck!!)

Signs of Fall

(Any guesses as to what these are??)

Thief

Alyssa was at a DiscipleMakers retreat last night into today. She forgot her camera, but her friend Sarah took lots of pics. I borrowed (stole) a few from her Facebook so I could share them with all of you. (Just a note: Alyssa said she and Sarah are talking about rooming together next year.)

Famous

This article is about Alyssa's First Year Seminar class she took over the summer. Enjoy!

Awwww

Adam will celebrate his sixteenth birthday on Sunday (please pray for me....LOL!!). Our tradition with the kids has been to allow them to choose a restaurant and we all go out to celebrate their birthday. He told me about a week ago that he would like to go to Red Lobster for their never-ending shrimp feast. I was fine with that; that's where Alyssa chose for her birthday in August (although she did try to get us to allow her to choose The Blue...LOL!)

Last night he said that he still wanted to eat at Red Lobster, but had decided he would like to go to a different one than the one by the Lehigh Valley Mall. He said it was a little bit of a drive, but he likes the ambience and service better at this other one. He feels the food is even better at this other Red Lobster. I had a feeling I knew where he was going with this.....

I said, "You're not suggesting the Red Lobster about three hours away from here are you, per chance?!?!" He said, "Well, it's on this road called Atherton...."

Atherton Rd. is in State College....he wants his sister to be there at his birthday dinner....it makes me want to cry....

It's amazing to me how much closer they seem to be now that Alyssa is gone. It's a darn shame this couldn't have happened sooner.....

Blues

Adam and four of his scout buddies went deep sea fishing this past Saturday night with their two troop leaders. He said the boat was packed and they ended up on the wrong side of the boat somehow. The people on the other side of the boat were catching fish left and right. Only three of the kids in his troop caught a fish.

From left to right: Shawn, Rio, Alex, Jason and Adam

Only the fish on Adam's right is the one he caught. His scout leader told him it would look more impressive if he held two!!

PSU

I had a wonderful day yesterday at PSU with Alyssa. The itinerary included breakfast at Eat-N-Park, Walmart, Target, Michael's and Circuit City. We then hung out in Alyssa's dorm room as she put away the stuff we got at Walmart and Target, and watched a pathetic Penn State football game on TV. By the time the game was over, it was after seven, so we went to get dinner. We tried Olive Garden, but the wait was way too long; we ended up across the street at Outback Steakhouse. I dropped her off at 9:30 p.m. and then had the horrible task of saying good-bye (That's always the hardest....). After a three hour drive and quick pit-stop for a drink, I got home at 12:30 a.m.

Alyssa and Kaylynn's door

Alyssa's snack drawer

Plant on left is thriving from summer; one on right she bought on Friday at Farmer's Market

Watching the game on TV

Worst part: LEAVING :(:(

Good

Better

Best

MooseNation

AT&T Bars

Get it?!?!?!? (I didn't....they had to tell me....duh....)

Neat

One of the new young adult leaders took a pic of the kids at youth group last week and created this picture...I think it's really neat! Thanks, Bobby!!

Mom and Daughter

(Mom)

(Daughter)

Bridges

Top two pics are of Geiger's Bridge, last one is Rex's Bridge. Adam took us this way when we went to visit Kurt's parents on Sunday. His Aunt Martha showed him this way.....

Photos

WOF

This past Friday and Saturday, I joined 19,000 of my closest women friends at the Amazing Freedom Conference at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. It was a time for prayer, singing, praising God, learning and laughing.

We listened to:



Sandi Patty - What an amazing voice this woman has! She brings tears to your eyes with her music...












Nichole Nordeman - She's won several Christian music awards. Don't tell Alyssa, but I got her another CD!








Mandisa - This young Christian woman was a contestant on one of the recent American Idol contests. She was voted off when there were about eight contestants left. After hearing her voice, I just can't even imagine how she didn't win! She is phenomenal.









Carol Kent - What a story this woman has. Her upstanding Navy Seal son is serving a lifetime sentence without hopes of parole for murdering his wife's ex-husband, who had been threatening his ex-wife and two little children. She and her husband have relocated to Florida where he is serving his sentence, so they can visit him every Sunday. They now spread the Word to the inmates and families where their son is incarcerated.







Then, of course, there were the usual Women of Faith speakers. As always, it was a phenomenal conference!

Cargo Update

I'm a bit p/o'd (abbreviation for pissed off...LOL!). There was an article in the paper yesterday morning saying the school district is reconsidering the ban on cargo pants/shorts. This is after we bought Adam brand new cargo shorts, cuz they were the only ones we could find, and he (neatly) took the pockets off of them. Make up your minds, you morons!

In Memoriam

Thankful

* So I get frustrated with Kurt because he always feels the need to fix anything by himself that's not working...or if something needs to be built or re-done, he always wants to do it himself. His main reason for doing this is to save money. I can see his point most times, but sometimes I feel as though it would get done quicker if we hired some outside help (I've been hearing about a deck for years now...LOL!!). Our central air quit over Labor Day Weekend. I probably would have made a phone call right away; he, however, chose to investigate and found something wrong with the fan down in the basement. He was able to fix it in about two hours and probably saved us hundreds of dollars in labor. Thanks, Kurt....love ya!!

* I was kind of not looking forward to bells this year without having Alyssa there. It didn't seem like it was gonna be the same without her. And it's not the same, but on a bright note, Jamie has joined our choir! She's so excited about practice every week, and it's so nice having her there! We've even turned a couple of Monday nights into 'girl's night'...she came over early one night and we played Scrabble before practice, another evening we went out to eat prior to bells. Tonite Kurt wanted to know why I was home before bells....said, "I thought Monday nights were 'Jamie nights', where you play games, or go out to eat, or do male bashing." I assured him that we do the male bashing during the day at work, and that by the end of the day, we have pretty much covered everything!!

* This doesn't necessarily fit into the Thankful realm, but I watched Adam rip the pockets off on two pair of cargo shorts he got tonite at KMart. Other than gym type shorts, or jean shorts, it's tough to find shorts that aren't cargo shorts. As of the start of this new school year, the high school students aren't allowed to wear cargo pants or shorts. This will prevent students from bringing their weapons into school. So, yes, I guess I am thankful that my son is now safer.....

Triplets

Jason, Greg, Adam & Jessie (Shirts not planned!!)

WHOOP, WHOOP, WHOOP

PENN STATE 31

NOTRE DAME 10

We Are.....

PENN STATE!!

BEAT NOTRE DAME!!

Kittenzzzzz