Picnic Perils

During a picnic at my sister and brother in law's (I'm boycotting hyphens) house Noah got into a tussel with his plastic wear.
Important lessons were gained by both him and the plastic fork. He lived, but doesn't want to talk about it. The fork doesn't talk.

'Every Kiss Begins With "E"' - Noah H.

Mayzie

We have had a busy fall and have woefully neglected this blog. For that I am sorry, and soon, maybe before Christmas, maybe after, I will post a bunch of updates.

But I wanted to let you know that our beloved Mayzie became ill and passed on a short time ago.
It was very difficult and we cried and cried. We all got to hold her, hug her and tell her we love her before she died. We buried her in our yard near the house where we can remember her regularly.


About a month after Mayzie died Hannah came across a cute, sweet Tabby cat that somehow worked her way into our home.
We've yet to settle on a name for her, she gets everything from Millie and Mollie to Peep and "whew does that cat have bad gas!" Feel free to submit your choice for a name too.

You think she's going to be happy here?

Summer Fun - The Pool!

I found this image in the dictionary under "Cutie Patooties!"

Ah h h h h h . . . yes . . .

Remember those days at the pool,

drinking in every moment of sunshine fun?

Endless laughter then warming up and filling your belly

with a hot dog and Kool-Aid?

Only to dive back in again, before the required 1/2 hour wait!

Larry Norman

Larry Norman was a friend. His passing was like a crack in time, for me. Everything stood silent for a moment. Like all things that require an emotional toll, facing them and the passing of time provides a new perspective. If you've never heard of Larry or his music, and you enjoy any form of contemporary christian music, then those you enjoy listening to are standing on his shoulders. http://www.larrynorman.com/


These pictures of Larry were taken at The Comedy Connection in Washington D.C. a few years ago.

I wanted to let you hear a song / video that I think is particularly clever, and the song references Larry Norman. Hence the buildup.

The singer / songwriter is Randy Bonifield ( http://www.randybonifeld.com/ ) and he performed it for his church as his pastor, Tom, was preparing a sermon series on the endtimes.

Here it is.

Hmmm . . .

Sometimes I look at my kids and wonder what's going through their minds.

And sometimes they catch me looking, and I take the picture anyway.

(Sometimes I wonder what's going through my cat's mind too.)

The Post Post

The Scout is Ready.

Bring on the Adventure.

Have you ever seen a more cool kid than this one?

Sing With Us

On the side bar on the right are some songs that we enjoy and we thought you might as well. Some of the kids have performed some of them for musicals at school and still sing them around the house. The video's that accompany the songs are pretty good too.

Enjoy.

(P.S. - the selection "100 Years" is the 4th one in that small grouping. Hopefully before too long. I'll figure out how to display only the one we want.)

The Phantom of Venice

Hannah is our original Nancy Drew fan.  

If you follow the sluth you would be aware that she is offering an opportunity for her fans to become a part of the next PC game, The Phantom of Venice.  

Stepping up for a chance, Hannah created and entered her mask into the running to be chosen as one of the costumes for the future episode.

There were specifications and guidelines pertaining to size and basic shape that had to be followed.  After that her creativity kicked in.  

We don't know the results yet, but we'll let you know if she is chosen.

Same Tournament, Flash foward 525,600 minutes.

This is the tournament that I posted pics very early on in this blog, 

only it is a year later, some of the players faces have changed and the final result was different.

Our team had been put together the day before the tournament and some of the girls had never met before, let alone played together.

But play they did, both skillfully and valiantly, again, and it was a blast to be a part of the tournament.  We lost early on the second day, keeping us out of 1st or 2nd place contention.  This led to some disappointment, but over all it was a really fun weekend.

A Great Day

Today is Sunday, June 22nd. We went to church, worshipped God in song and spirit, listened to a compelling sermon and watched, no . . . laughed at Nick Richter on video demonstrating how not to reach out to strangers. Then we had fried chicken and bought cheese for sandwiches for the whole week. It was already a great day and could have ended then. After a little night time TV, that is.

But instead we went outside, into the sunshine. Neighborhood kids kept coming over and we had another great day on top of the one we already had.

Here's the proof.

A little sitting . . . (How many kids do you see - hint - there's 8)














a little sliding . . .














a little swinging . . .














a little posing. . .














a little soccer . . .














a little volley ball . . .










































a little climbing . . .














a little strategy . . .














for both sides . . .














a great day. Enough said.

Tommy Jenkins

Due to forces beyond our control, the high quality video of Caleb as Tommy Jenkins had to be taken down from YouTube.

This is a picture we took after the show.

Tommy, we loved ya, but we hardly knew ya.














However, You CAN watch it right here.

Welcome back Tommy!

So Long Tommy, again . . . for now . . .

Random Pictures

I had been looking over a bunch of photos we've stored and not really done anything with when I thought, I don't really want to get rid of them, and there are not really enough to put together a theme or story.

So I decided to make it "random pic's from the past post day." And now that I know that I can put up photos for no reason and with out rhyme, I think I'll keep looking through old groups of photos and do this more often.

I do hope you enjoy looking at them, but I won't stop posting them even if you don't.
















This is one weekend last summer at a soccer tournament. It was such a beautiful day.















It was a 4 v 4 tournament and this is the team before our game and then after getting 2nd place.













This is the same picture as above. Hannah stood motionless until everyone left. Uh huh.
















This hive appeared almost over night.















Notice that it's partly on a window.














This is the view from inside the window!
Can you believe the local Zoo didn't want this thing?


Here is some creativity from my kids. Notice the sign on the pole.

























I have no clue how long they were able to keep them alive.


Noah got to perform with his school chorus at a local hockey game and this is the pregame hug.






























And this is the post performance pose. We didn't stay for the game because of the manner in which those guys play.
















Have you ever seen a girl so sweet or a smile so nice?


One of these characters is my son.


He won three contests last fall with this get up.


I insisted he stop making fun of me.




















The VonHedrick Family Singers at Open Mic night.
Yeah, I would have been singing but I had this camera thing to do.

They always seem to ask me to do that when it's time to sing . . .


















It was pitch black dark and we were driving home from somewhere. I held the camera up and from the drivers seat and snapped the picture without looking.

















They weren't going to be fooled a second time.
We've got to get Noah to a doctor.















Some family traits are fairly obvious.















This is on a Saturday afternoon on something called a Lay Witness Mission. This is part of the youth team and we were having free time. It's Hannah, Hannah and Caleb.















Noah's Birthday Pie - Lemon Mer . . . filling.
















Blowing out the pie candles. He was born the day after Halloween. Notice that Jack is smiling?

Another milestone has been tread

We all gathered at Triadelphia Middle School (TMS - Too Many Steps (Thanks L. M.)) to watch our first born move from middle school to HIGH SCHOOL. The auditorium was jam packed with eager parents and friends and the key note speaker was pleasantly entertaining. He even mentioned Hannah's name stating that he could not wait to hear her voice at the new Fine Arts Center at Wheeling Park High School. I think there was a bit of a glow coming from our row of too small and cramped middle school sized seats.

Hannah was beautiful. She is so subtle, and gentle and kind . . . and beautiful.

At the conclusion of the ceremony we gave her a bouquet of multi-colored roses (cause lots of colors are great) and I watched her pull one out and give it to a friend who didn't have any.

We took a few memories.




This is Hannah and probably the best Chorus teacher
in the world. And she has a really cool name;

Joyce Jingle.





A few friends from chorus.

Mallory, Ms. Jingle, Erin, Emily, Hannah, Hannah








Hannah and Hannah








Mrs. Roth - Hannah's first teacher after Becki.




After we got home we took a few pictures of us.




Hannah and Scott's Mom.









Proud parents.