Matthew is 5!

How did it happen that my baby is now a 5 year old?? Time has flown by. After my spectacular  birthday surprise, Matthew's birthday will not seem as exciting.

 Matthew loves Lightning McQueen so I made him a Lightning McQueen car cake with oreo tires. It is certainly not professional but it was tasty. He loved it and that's the most important thing. Yummy. Red #40!

We went to Recreations Outlet for Matthew's birthday party. I invited everyone from his class and Austin. Austin is our old neighbor who moved away but yet Matthew absolutely loves him. He is 8 years old and really treats Matthew as a friend.  Matthew prays for Austin every night.

Lightning McQueen cake

Another view of this awesome cake

Matthew and Austin and the cake

Playing in the house

 For Matthew's birthday dinner we had corn on the cob and cheese quesadillas. That is his favorite meal. We also had orange pop. Orange is his favorite color and he loves soda. Really loves soda. I mean the kid would only drink soda if we let him. So we got some orange pop for him. He is wearing his favorite cars shirt as well. It was a great day for him.

Birthday dinner

Birthday cake

 Uncle Dave and Aunt Becca got Matthew a game requiring a steady hand (slightly ironic for David!). We all played it and had fun. Sarah really loved the game and just played by herself the rest of the night.

Uncle Dave and Aunt Becca's present - a game!

Cars apron!

Grandma made Matthew a few shirts and an apron with Lightning McQueen on them. It was cute! We got Matthew a cross track and a bumpy railroad track. He really loves trains and he always asks me to play trains with him. I told him to smile big in all the pictures (obviously!).

Surprise!

For the past month I knew my sisters were coming on June 20th, Matthew's actual birthday for a pedicure. This was to celebrate my 40th birthday. I thought it would be fun and afterwards we could do something else like go to a restaurant and see a movie. I texted my sisters (see below)

"Maybe we could go to a restaurant and a movie? Maybe I'll invite some of my other friends." 

Missy suggested Buca. 

The kids had never been to Buca. That sold me. They would love it!

Hey let's go to Buca!

Erik met us at the door which makes sense since Buca can be a maze. When I saw him, I gave him a big kiss and said "thank you for my birthday pedicure. You are so awesome." I didn't realize the best was yet to come. 

I walked in to a surprise party that I had NO idea about. Seriously. How did Erik pull this off without me guessing?

After the party we had more cake!

Please note the pope looks somewhat creepy in every picture.

I couldn't believe all the people who were there! Missy and Dave, Amanda, My Mom and Dad, Rob and Shelly, Erin and Thad, Tim and Jen, Andria and Greg, Tricia, and me and Erik! I was so surprised and thankful that everyone came to celebrate. I love surprises and this was the best of all!

The kids still haven't been to Buca.

Autumn Lakes and rainbow

This weekend we went camping at Autumn Lakes campground with the Price family and the Knupp family. They both stayed in cabins on the lake. The cabins here were really nice with their own kitchens and bathrooms.  This campground has a nice lake with paddleboats, kayaks, and canoes. The kids loved the paddle boats and canoes. 

Canoeing on the lake

On Friday we were in the pool 4 hours. I got a really bad sunburn yet somehow the kids left unscathed. We also ordered the pizza they make at the campground. It was surprisingly good and inexpensive for campground pizza!

Friday evening I left to go see my friend Lara (Jenna's teacher last year). She wanted me and 3 other women to come and pray for her. She had a double mastectomy on Monday and will have to go through chemotherapy starting in August. It is so devastating how many people have cancer. Such an awful disease.

Sarah and Addie in the paddle boat

Jenna and Paige paddling

Fun on the lake!

 Saturday the campground had many activities such as slip and slide, crafts, egg toss, petting zoo. We did all of the activities! Jenna and Paige won the egg toss and earned two dollars to spend in the store!
Then on Saturday right as Erik was making the fire for us to cook our hot dogs we got caught in a downpour! My vote was go to to a Chinese buffet since this is the default option when it rains, but we were outvoted and went to a pizza place. The pizza was great though and there was a beautiful rainbow. Fortunately the rain stopped in time for smores!

Ummmmm... I don't want to try this product

Slip and slide

Rainbow at the campground

In other news:

1. Erik finished Warbreaker on our camping trip and really loved the ending. I was so excited that he loved it!
2. I am reading How we Got to Now by Steven Johnson. This is an excellent book talking about how innovation breeds more innovation. The printing press led people to realize they needed glasses which led to microscopes and the telescopes, etc. It's a great read
3. I am loving In Legend Born and Changeless. Two books I am also currently reading. 

Cakes and Fish

June has snuck up on us. The kids finished school the Thursday before Memorial Day and that weekend they went to my parents house for a few days. We worked on the new house. Having a rental has been a learning experience for us.    We closed on the house Wed. May 20, put the house up on zillow as a rental that evening, and had over 100 people call and email us. 

Seriously. 

It was craziness for a week. The phone rang off the hook. Then we had a renter sign on May 27 exactly one week after we closed. It's been a whirlwind. We've done quite a bit of work to get the house in shape. Erik is amazing and has done so much to improve the house. He is so handy! This is a perfect job for him.

In other news, Jenna has joined two friends from church to make birthday cakes for kids from poor families. She will be working with Family Promise and Common Ground Free store in Delaware. It's a fantastic ministry and I'm so glad she is a part of it. They came up with the name: Peace of Cake ministry. 

Jenna and the basketball cake she made for a 7 year old boy

                                                                                                                                                   We planted our garden a few weeks ago. This year I planted an entire box of sweet potato. I'm hoping we get some sweet potatoes although Erik is not a fan. I might be eating a lot of sweet potatoes.  We also planted tomatoes, corn, zucchini, cucumber, several herbs, onions, marigolds (to keep the deer and rabbits away), watermelon, and peppers.                                                            

Our 8 gardens

The beautiful rose bush by our new house

 Matthew has been pretending he is a cat lately. A cat named Twinkles. So Sarah drew a cat nose on him and cat ears. Then she drew on herself. They have been playing so well together. They also are all three tree climbing experts. It took Matthew awhile but Sarah has taught him how to climb the tree really well!

Sarah and Matthew as cats

The cake Jenna made for a 16 year old girl

 Because Jenna is making more cakes she, Sarah, and Lauren took a cake decorating class at Joanns. They had a lot of fun and Matthew helped too. They made some beautiful cupcakes!

cake decorating at Joanns

Addie, Avery, and Jenna with Peace of Cake Ministry at church

 Over Memorial Weekend we went to a friends house where the kids did some fishing. They seemed to really like it and each caught a fish!

Jenna's catch

Matthew's catch

Sarah's catch

In other news:

• I just finished Soulless by Gail Carriger. It is the first book in a 5 book series and Veronica lent it to me. It's a young adult book and is a fun, easy read
• I'm reading In Legend Born by Laura Resnick. This is also a fun read and has some characters I really like.
• Our book club is reading Warbreaker but I have already read it so I'm being lax with my reading ;). 
• I signed up for the Ohio Outdoor Woman adventure again this year: http://watercraft.ohiodnr.gov/owoa I like to go every year. This year I picked the birdwatching session but Erik said that was lame. I'll let you know how my birdwatching goes. 

Mother Daughter Weekend and Camping

May is generally packed with activities and this May is no different. Last weekend we went to the Marmon Valley Mother Daughter Weekend. I took Jenna and Sarah for a weekend of horseback riding, camp food, sleeping in bunks, petting animals, hayride, rock wall, and more! Shelly, Grace and Regan also went. Grace is Jenna's friend and Regan is Sarah's friend. So it worked out perfectly! It was similar to Skyview Ranch where we went with the 4th - 6th graders. Both places are Christian ranches. We even had devotion time here at Marmon valley. It was a wonderful time together.

Our beds

 On Friday night there was a barn dance. Jenna already knew many of the dances since she went to Pioneer day in 3rd grade. Sarah had fun dancing but didn't know the steps. Who doesn't love barn dances?

Chuck Wagon Breakfast

 We also had smores and saw the animals. Marmon Valley has this gorgeous peacock. I can't describe how beautiful the blue coloring is on the peacock. It is a wonder.

A beautiful peacock

 On Saturday we had a chuck wagon breakfast. Meaning they took us on a hayride out to get breakfast. We had hashbrowns mixed with peppers and onions, eggs mixed with bacon, and toast over a campfire. Yum!!

Then we went on our first horse ride. All the girls brushed their horses down and saddled them (with help!). Jenna rode on Rosie, Sarah on Faye and I had Scarlet. Rosie's stall was right next to Scarlet.  The horseback riding was beautiful through trails and over a stream. And we rode for over an hour.

Jenna on Rosie

 Next was lunch and back on the horses again. We rode from 1 -2:30 this time and even galloped a little bit. For the second ride Sarah was given a new horse: Topaz. Faye kept wandering off and eating grass. So they gave Sarah an old Grandma horse (that's what they called her) so she would be able to handle it better. Sarah cried to be losing Faye but loved the old Grandma horse.

Sarah on Faye

Along the trail

 After our second horse ride we went on a hayride. Sarah covered herself in hay. She probably still has hay in her hair....

The hayride

 Then we went rock climbing. Jenna and Regan were pros! They were up at the top in no time. I actually really like rock climbing too but it was for the kids only. Bummer!

Rock wall

 I highly recommend the Mother Daughter Weekend at Marmon Valley. We had such a great time, the weather was perfect, and I got to spend some quality time with my girls!

For mothers day every year I take each of the kids on a date. This year both Jenna and Matthew chose Starbucks. So I took them to Starbucks for a frappucino and a treat. Sarah chose Tim Hortons. While at Tim Hortons I found this amazing treat! This is a chocolate hazelnut donut filled with nutella. SHUT UP! Oh yes... It was amazing.

Where have you been all my life hazelnut donut?

 Jenna had her final strings performance of the year. She did really well and is enjoying playing the viola. Next year she is also going to join the band. Erik does not want me to steer her in any direction but I told her she probably should play saxophone since it is the coolest instrument.

Jenna's final strings concert

 This weekend we went on our first camping trip of the season to Alum Creek State Park. We had a beautiful spot right next to the camper beach. The kids were COVERED in SAND! Yes they still played in the sand and water even though it was rainy and yucky outside and the water was freezing. Apparently they don't care.

Alum Creek

Hiding in our camper

 The most unfortunate part was that it rained so much we could not build a fire.  So we ate our hot dogs and brats by cooking them in our camper toaster oven. And we didn't get smores. GAH! What is a camping trip without smores??

Puddles around our fire ring

Things are adding up with our new house. We have to fix several issues the sellers are not willing to fix. Thus Erik has put us into "poor mode" again. He told me I need to buy less chicken (we have chicken a lot) because it is expensive. Yikes! Hopefully we can get renters soon or we will have to start eating ramen noodles. It better never come to that!