Jay's Scooby Party

Today is Jay's 8th birthday. We had a friend party for him last Friday. The theme was A Scooby Doo mystery. When the kids arrived, they were sent on a mystery hunt which included games and finding clues in order to solve the mystery of who stole the cake. They had a blast.I had fun dressing our four to look like Scooby characters.

(I figured they could use the costumes again for Halloween.)


Here is Jay taking a picture of me taking a picture of him with his birthday present...a camera!

Happy 90th Nana!

John's grandmother, affectionately known as Nana, turned 90 at the beginning of this month. So, we had a big blow-out party for her (haha).
Here she is blowing out the candles on her cake and with her 8 GREAT-grandchildren!

Philadelphia Art Museum

The kids had a random Wednesday off from school (teacher in-service), so we went to the Philadelphia Art Museum. We had a wonderful time!

Hannah loves VanGogh. Her favorite is Starry Night, but her second favorite is Sunflowers. She was so amazed to see this painting (it is one of 7). She stood looking at it for quite some time. Unfortunately for her, her siblings were getting antsy by that time which didn't allow her to sit and stare for as long as she would have liked.

By far, the kids' favorite area was the Coat of Arms Hall where they had
all kinds of different armor on display.

They are being statues :)

A Crazy Amount of Snow

February was record breaking in our area for amount of snow.
It got to the point where you just had to laugh...
I'm posting this because I know in a few months, when it's sweltering,
it will be fun to look at the house buried in snow.

Historic Philadelphia

A few weeks ago, my parents came for a visit. We decided to go down to Philadelphia for one of the days. We took a carriage ride around the city to start off our day.

The Liberty Bell. It has a long gallery of historic pieces and information prior to the Bell. As we strolled toward the Bell, Daniel kept asking me is that the Bell (referring to various artifacts throughout the hall). I kept responding, "No, Daniel, the Liberty Bell is big. You'll know it when you see it." When we finally got the the real thing, Daniel said, "That's not that big!" I think he missed the historical significance...

Inside Independence Hall. The chair all the way against the wall on the left side of the picture is the original chair used during the Revolutionary days.

Betsy Ross' house and the site where she made the first US flag.

In Elfreth's Alley which is the oldest residential neighborhood in America.

(I think this picture looks like a band's picture or an album cover.)

We went to the US Mint. I thought the kids, boys especially, would LOVE seeing money made, but unfortunately, nothing was in operation when we were there.

Posing on the lawn across from Independence Hall (you can see it in the distance behind them).

We had such a wonderful day. I enjoyed it immensely, and the kids still talk about it regularly.

Daniel's Birthday

January 10th was Daniel's 6th birthday.

Being that he LOVES all things sports, we had a football-themed lunch.

Daniel's birthday guests (several boys from his kindergarten class
and several friends from church)


Birthday cookies for my child who does not like cake.

Some of Daniel's cards and the football craft we made.

Snow...And Lots of It!

The Philadelphia area does not tend to get much snow. Some winters we don't get anything at all. Last week, much to our children's delight, we got over a foot. Some places near us got up to 2 feet! All the kids wanted to do was play in it. So, every day until it melted they spent an hour or so enjoying it. I, on the other hand, watched from the kitchen window! Growing up in Western New York and then living in the Pocono Mountains, I think I've seen a lifetime of snow already! haha

Our friend Josh helped the kids build a snow fort.
A few days later, they were able to dig a hole in the bottom
which they then lightly covered declaring
that it was their fort's secret emergency exit.
I kept seeing Daniel rolling around in the snow!

Here's Jay taking a flying leap into the snow in our backyard.
Needless to say, he was a little bit excited!

After the storm was over, the entire area was blanketed by a beautiful snow. I thought our house looked pretty surrounded by the snow and the blue sky.