the river goes east

The weekend of Ted's birthday we went to visit some family in Mechanicsburg, PA.

My Aunt Janice has been saying for YEARS that we need to come see her. So my last trip to the river this summer, we stood in the kitchen and picked a date. When something makes it on the calendar, it stays. When we say "let's do that sometime" or "let's put it on the calender", it never happens. So my mom and I drove up with the kids. We met the girls of the Moran family. And my cousin Heather and her kids live out there.

 

On Saturday we took a really fun train ride.

Sophie, Charley, Dash & Ted

Mom & Deb

Kristen & me

We got off the train at a stop with super fun kids stuff. Including a corn maze.

Me, Heather, Kristen & Megan

Sophie, Ted, me & Mom

Aunt Janice, Deb & Mom

We celebrated Ted's birthday.

Sophie asked if we could go back for her birthday. And put a candle in her chocolate chip pancakes. It was a fun, fun weekend. Next time we're hitting up the Virginia wine country without kids!

Wyatt came over on Sunday night to finish off the birthday weekend celebration. He stayed over in the top bunk (no school on Monday) and I checked off another year without a friend birthday party!

september & october 2014

It's almost the end of October so it makes sense to catch up on pictures from September and October:

Last week we went to Pittsburgh for the Monday Nigh Football game with the Berg's. Such a fun evening and perfect weather.

Steph stayed with us on Saturday night and got a good read in with Sophie. So fun to visit with her for an extended amount of time.

Wyatt (our cousin) has football practice at the park beside our house 3 days a week so the Kozels stop by most of those evenings and sometimes Lily stays to play. This particular evening Sophie & Lily were dressed as princesses laying in the yard/lost in the woods!

Ted's baseball games (which are now over and we have since moved to basketball) were at fields near our house. Sophie and I tried various methods of transportation getting there including walking, bike riding, running and a combination of any of those. We found that both of us scootering got us there the quickest and able to stay together and not too much craziness. Too bad we figured it out late in the season.

Tommy came to one of Ted's ball games which he loves.

Ben met up with these long time friends at a football game a couple of weeks ago. It's always such a blessing to see friends like these.

John Allevato, Ben, Josh Dodd & Alex Huffman

Ben umped one of Ted's games when the umpire didn't show. Ted caught a lot this season and kind of liked it. This is such a fun picture.

And then Ben called strikes on Ted and struck him out!

John Howard was in town and surprised Ted after school. Blue eyes for days.

A little ball playing at the park.

And more blue eyes. Ted loves John Howard a lot and it was such a gift after a long, sad week to have him love on Ted a little.

Sophie is back at gymnastics and loving every second of it! The way you can tell is because she bounces and doesn't stop the entire time she's there.

Sophie found this snail on the way home from the bus stop one afternoon. The girls sees the craziest things.

And this was  the reminder post it note she left me to remind me to go to Target and get another headband when her beloved silver hairband with the big bow broke.

I'm sure there's more pictures on other phones and cameras. But that's what I've got for now.

ted's 9th birthday

Ted is NINE today! I can hardly bring myself to say that. He's halfway to being out from under our roof (hopefully). As long as some of these days (and years) have been, they seem like a blink of an eye in reality. I mean, 9 years ago today he was 4 pounds nothing and looking like this:

Today we wear the same size shoes and share socks. And he's handsome as all get out.

So, some highlights of Ted's 8th year:

way more independence and freedom around the neighborhood and at YL camp
a lot of transitions in teachers for 2nd and 3rd grade but he adapted well
fall baseball (kid pitch), catching and improving a lot

a profession of faith

lots and lots of questions that help him learn more

no more carseats

working on his love language of "quality time"

followed by a close second of "words of affirmation"

learning and appreciating strategy games

enjoying reading slightly more

loving being outside and playing any sort of sport

his healthiest year yet - we paid his deductible in SEPTEMBER!

imessage, ipod and spotify

piano lessons

staying up later to watch monday and thursday night football

When people ask me about Ted, I tell them that he's a good kid. He has a bit of a temper and gets frustrated easily. We're learning to have some self-control in that. He does not love school, although he doesn't hate it. He would much rather be playing some sort of sport outside any day over being inside even watching tv, playing video games or practicing his piano. He likes to talk. He asks LOTS of questions all the time. He loves to learn more. He's not much of a reader. He is learning to not follow the crowd so much. He loves sneakers and rarely wears anything else. He values comfort over style any day when it comes to running pants and gym shorts. We talk a lot when we snuggle in the evenings. He still tells on himself a lot. Ted loves a good adventure. He has a really tender heart. He's sweet and kind when he wants to be.

9 years of Ted:

Happy 9th Birthday, Pal! We are so proud of you.

meredith & chris

This weekend Ben and I were at Meredith and Chris' wedding.  Oh my word! I love a good wedding that has the bride written all over it. It was affectionately called Isaacs Wedding 2.0. You see, Meredith's sister, Beth Anne, got married 5 months ago. They had two completely different weddings and both were absolutely beautiful. Meredith's included stunning fall colors, cowboy boots, a beautiful venue, a local favorite band, desserts, candy, popcorn and mason jar mugs, and lots of people that we love so much.

It has been such an honor and a blessing to be part of both girls' weddings. We've loved them a lot of years and it's so amazing to see them find men who love Jesus and love them so much. Meredith and Chris are such a great match. Truly. There are such big things ahead of them together. We haven't known Chris all that long, but through pre-marriage counseling and spending great time with them together, I'm so proud of who they are and where they are going.

Meredith and Chris, thanks for letting us share your day. I hope it was all you dreamed it would be. It was truly one of the coolest weddings I've ever been to!

Check out their professional wedding photos HERE. (You totally want to look at these. They are AMAZING!)