A Night Away

Several months ago now, we were given a certificate for a night out!  We thought with Easter Week Services behind us, we would take advantage of some time away!  

After we checked into our room - we found a nearby park.  It was a beautiful day and we wanted to take advantage of the sunshine!  The boys played basketball....

Maddie and I enjoyed the playground equipment.

 We grabbed some dinner before heading back to the Inn.

 Then we found the game room!

The Inn was really so pretty and rustic and very quiet - perfect for an evening get-a-way!

We ended the evening with the looney tunes!  

Fun evening out with the family!

Cinderella

On Saturday night Maddie and I went to see Cinderella with Cathy and her granddaughter!
Our local high school was putting on the Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella.

Maddie was super excited!
She wanted to dress like a princess.  The only problem (or so I thought), she didn't have a Cinderella dress.  She was not deterred in the least.  She proudly put on her Jasmine outfit.

She was ready!

Oh wait, can't forget the Cinderella shoes!

Reese wore her Cinderella dress and they were both super excited to be seeing Cinderella!

They had a blast!  We all did!  It was well done and the girls had so much fun!  I was worried because it went kinda late, but Maddie stayed up through it all and enjoyed it so much, especially the carriage all lit up and Cinderella in her Wedding dress!

Fun times with my little princess!

God's NOT Dead

This weekend we went and saw a great movie!  First let me explain that it has been a long time (like Cars when Ronnie had his 3rd birthday - and then it was just Ron, Ronnie and I) since we went to the movies as a family.  It's kinda expensive to take 6 of us to a theater.  We simply wait till something comes out and then wait a little longer and eventually we see it...maybe.

Well this movie was one we really wanted to see!

We were super excited when some friends of ours got us a gift card to our local theater.  

As I said, it was the first movie theater for these 3!

And it did not disappoint!

They loved it!

Maddie even said, "Mom, it's a WBCL song".  WBCL is our local Christian radio station and she knew the Newsboys song, "God's Not Dead"!

I would for sure recommend this movie, even if you wait till you can watch it at home, it's worth the watch!

Last week we met my parents and my brothers family at a KOA Campground in Wapakoneta.  I wish I had used my camera a little more, but my mind was preoccupied with all that was going on with Ryan!

I did manage to get a picture of these 2 cuties sitting at our picnic table!  

Maddie adores her big cousin, Terra!

Daddy spent most of the weekend around the fire.  He loves fire!  He made bacon one morning, pork chops one evening and hot dogs for a lunch!  Love, love love grilled food!  And this handsome guys is my all time favorite cook!

We did have a good weekend, just wish there hadn't been so much other stuff going on!

When we packed up to leave, we left our Big Brown Eyed Little Man.  Nathaniel would be spending the next few days with Pap and Grandma!  It was his "turn" for the summer trip with Pap and Grandma.  Only Terra and Ronnie had gotten a summer trip and now it was Grand kid #3's turn.

They went south to Louisville to the Louisville Slugger Company!  As you might have guessed, Nathaniel LOVED it!  Then they also went to Indiana Caverns, which just opened in June.  They went on a underground boat ride.  Nathaniel thoroughly enjoyed his trip - although I think he missed us a bit!  We missed him a TON!  

All 3 of his siblings were so anxious for their brother to come home.  They tackled him with hugs as soon as we saw him on Tuesday afternoon!

I didn't get the greatest picture of Pap and Grandma, but they all 3 had a great trip! (I have to learn not to snap pictures when people are talking - sorry)

Thanks Pap and Grandma for a fun weekend and a Fun Summer Trip!

Big Game

You may remember that the boys received tickets to Indians games this year through their High Achiever Program.  Well one of the dates available to go was during the Indians vs. Tigers Series!  The kids were excited. It was only the biggest series in baseball right now, and we were going to be there!  

We had different seats that usual, but still good! 

It was a great defensive game and a fun one to watch!

In the end our closer came in and ended up not closing real good.  We lost, but we're still HUGE fans and feel so blessed to attend 2 games this season!   We'll watch the rest of the season at home and hopefully cheer our Indians on to Victory!

The Zoo

This week we took the kids to the Columbus Zoo!  We haven't been to the zoo in Columbus in 5+ years and we knew the kids would enjoy it!  The weather was perfect and we had a LONG fun day!

We enjoyed a picnic lunch!

All the kids were looking forward to different animals, but they all enjoyed so much of it!

Below you can see it in Eli's face.  He was into the aquarium!  They all were - it is pretty amazing. We sat down and watched the fish and sharks swimming around!  We even got to see a diver feed some of them - really fun!

The manatee's were pretty impressive too, massive animals!

Another neat thing was watching this elephant get a drink!

Amazing how God created them!  Absolutely Amazing!

Maddie was impressed by the flamingo's.  

They looked fake, she took it all in!

 Then we went into the reptile house - not my favorite at all!  Eli and Nathaniel wanted to get in the line to pet a snake.  I got in line with them to take a picture, but at the last minute Maddie decided she wanted to pet it too.  I didn't snap her picture because she wanted me to do it with her.  It's crazy the things we do for our kids.  So Yes, I can now say I have touched a Corn Snake, it wasn't the highlight of the day!

Maddie was the most excited about seeing the monkeys.  This orangutan didn't seem to mind her checking her out.  Glad she kept still while Maddie peered in at her!

As we waited hoping the Polar Bears would go for a swim - I caught Eli taking the plunge!

We got several pictures of the kids on the statues, seems those are still a hit!

We had a great time at the zoo and made lots of memories!

It was a great day to see all the Amazing Creatures God Created!

Dinner Out

Maddie got a McD's gift card from some church friends for her birthday!  So the other day after baseball, she too everyone out :)

WOW - no denying they are related!

having fun with Dad

Big and Little!

We had a fun meal together!

Daddy's Home!

For those of you wondering, Daddy made it home!!!!!!  We were so excited to see him as it had been a VERY LONG week! 

He actually came a little early because of our very busy weekend!

We had Christmas with my grandparents on Saturday.

 

Maddie had been sick all week and was still a little down a little, but she loved being read to by her big cousin, Terra! 

 

 

My brother, his wife and my Mom and Dad.

 

Terra and Ronnie got to hand out gifts to everyone.

 

All the boys, including the big one, enjoyed Bradley's new 5 in 1 game. 

Here they are learning to play pool!

 

 

Then Saturday evening, I took a group of 16 (2 missed the pictures) ladies to Ft. Wayne to hear Chonda Pierce.  It was her last concert of the year and it was great.  I had not heard her before, but she was funny and also had a great message - it really was a fun evening!

 

So that was our Saturday.  Today was pretty busy too, but I'll post more on that later.

Temptation

I'm a little nervous about a new business that just opened in Bryan for a couple of reasons.  #1 - we (usually Ron, but Wilmore weeks -me) have to pass by this particular business 2 times every day that the boys have school 

#2 - I am weak!

 

It's a Tim Horton's! 

 

 First of all, I am not a coffee drinker, but if there is hot chocolate, I'm there!  And then you add to that Long Johns - wow, trouble!

 

So, Ron had taken the boys one day last week and they enjoyed a doughnut in the new store!  And Ron had brought me a hot chocolate on opening day, but Maddie hadn't been so privileged yet, so I just HAD to take her!  :) 

 

I am please to tell you that we only stopped one time this week :)

We enjoyed it!  Maddie picked out a doughnut with sprinkles right away.  Although I think it had too many sprinkles as she ended up turning it over and eating the other side and leaving the sprinkles!

 

I, of course, tried their hot chocolate and a long john - it's really not good that they are right there and yet, it's soooo GOOD!

I may need some prayer on this one and as if that is not enough - they share the store front with Coldstone Creamery - I've only had that one time, but who needs an excuse for ice cream!

Progressive Field

Today we had the opportunity to go to Progressive Field.  For those of you who are not Indians fans, or even baseball fans.  Progressive Field is the home of the Cleveland Indians Baseball team!

Last year we were given tickets by the Ruffers.  This year we were asked to join them on a trip to Cleveland.(this is particularly big because Mr. Ralph cheers for that team in Detroit)  We would also be going with another couple in our Farmer church (Doug and Mary Sue).

The stinky part about today was that Ron ended up not being able to go.  He had a funeral this morning and so was unable to make the trip with us!  (I am proud of my husband.  It is very difficult at times to be in ministry, but Ron does it well.  He always puts others before himself and I'm so proud of the example he is giving our kids.  He could have said, and been justified in saying "I can't be there on Wed, I'm going with my family to a ball game"  but instead he put the ministry to our people first and ministered to a hurting family.)

All that being said, it was hard to leave him this morning!

In addition to Doug, Mary Sue, Ralph, Cathy and the 5 of us there was also Bradyn (Ruffer's grandson who is Nathaniel's age).

We weren't sure it was going to be a good game or not.  Our Indians have been on a loosing streak and have not played well since the All-Star game!  Honestly though, that didn't slow these guys down.  They were excited to go and cheer for their team! 

As it turned out, our Indians just needed us to come and watch so that they could get a win.  The Indians are now officially 2-0 when we are present to watch!!

 All 5 had a great time!

Thanks you Doug and Mary Sue!

Thank you Ralph and Cathy!

We had a great time!