Connor's birthday!

We are blessed to be able to babysit for our little friends Connor and Fiona on Thursdays this summer. We love hanging out with them, and we are looking forward to lots of exciting adventures on our Thursday together! Last Saturday, we were invited to Connor's birthday party which was quite the honor. We had a great time watching the kids have lots of fun and sitting and talking with the adults that were there. I love these pictures of Connor opening his card and gift from us, plus seeing his cake. Unfortunately, my camera died after the last picture so I had to stop taking them. But I love love love his laughter when he opened our card. It sang a funny little song, and I guess he liked it as much as we did!

Jessie girl

We babysat for Jason's parents dog, Jessie, for a few days last week, and we had such a good time with her. Jessie and Wilson get along so well - they're just right for each other. She has lots and lots of energy and adores Wilson. She loves to give him kisses and play with him. She also is the cuddliest dog I have ever met in my life! If you are petting or holding her, she will scoot closer and closer and closer to you until there is nowhere else for her to go. She literally cannot get close enough to us. She took to sleeping in our bed for the days she was with us, and the same thing happened in there. She just couldn't get close enough! For some reason she knew not to climb on me, but Jason was not so lucky! If he turned over on his stomach, she would crawl on top of him with her arms and legs wrapped around him. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. It's nice to be SO loved and to see a dog show that much affection. Here's a picture of Jason and Jessie watching TV - I had to get it because it was so typical of what went on the whole time she was with us.

Happy baby to me!

My baby shower was so much fun! It was hosted by the ladies in my small group, as well as my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. They were all so thoughtful and generous, and I had a wonderful time! I hope that everyone else did as well!

Some of our good friends - Sarah, Molly, and Kate are sisters, and they are all sweet and funny girls!

My mom posing with her "Grandma Holz" photo album. She was being silly about the word "Grandma" - she's not quite ready for it yet... any suggestions for other names for her?

Our small group - Sue, Shari, Lori, me, and Michelle. We're only missing Jayne!

Peggy is the other host mom for foreign exchange students that we got to know this year.

A lot of lovely ladies - Linda, Ellie, Kris, Elaine, Heather, and Tammie. Linda and Ellie are both ladies who do EVERYTHING at church, Kris and I spend lots of time together each week while her girls have piano lessons with Jason, Elaine used to sing in the choir with us, and Heather and Tammie both teach kindergarten in our district! Heather and Jason work at the same school.

Another bunch of wonderful women - Marilyn, Peggy, Joan, Karen, Jean, Tracey, and Flossie. Marilyn, Peggy, Joan, and Jean all sing in the choir, Tracey is our pastor's wife, and Flossie is... just Flossie. I could write a few blog posts about her all on her own, but Flossie is the person who went out of her way to introduce Jason to our town when he first moved here. She is known for her hospitality in our church.

The ding-a-lings! Jason and I ring in the handbell choir with all of these fun ladies - Gladys, Vicky, Colleen, and Joyce.

This was my table, but I forgot to get in the picture - my sister-in-law Julie, our friends Sarah and Kate, my mom Ann, and Jason's mom Norma.

Opening gifts.

Jason came for the last half of the festivities, but the rest of the pictures didn't turn out so well, so this was the best I could do :)

I had SUCH A GREAT TIME! Thank you to everyone who was there!

My mom came to visit!!!!

A few weeks ago, my mom came up to visit for the weekend. She came up to be able to go to my baby shower, but I was just so glad to see her and be able to spend a few days talking, hanging out, and eating lots of ice cream! I miss her so much, and it was JUST what I needed.

Her flight came in very late on Thursday night, and we had such fun picking her up and driving through McDonald's for dinner at 1 AM.

The next morning, we all slept in and then walked around downtown and to the park for a little while.

We also went to one of the local farms and Mom admired their tomato plants because hers aren't working out quite as well.

Later that night, we went out to dinner with Jason's parents and then drove out to a huge park we have nearby for a walk around the lake. It was lovely and peaceful - until it started pouring rain. We all hid under a tree while Jason ran a very long way to get our car. He's a saint :)

The next day, we went to my baby shower and then sat on the couch for the rest of the night watching Alice in Wonderland and eating leftover shower food.

The visit seemed so short but I am grateful for every minute of it. I can't wait to see Mom again when she comes for the baby's birthday!!

Silly girls.

Jason and I have been cleaning out our attic and garage in preparation for a yard sale and to make room for all the baby things we've been accumulating. Some of our little neighborhood girls got into some of my things and started playing dress up the other day with leftovers from my bachelorette weekend. It was so cute!

Philly or Bust!

Over Memorial Day weekend, Jason and I took Tyrone to Philadelphia. The main reason for doing this was because Ty wanted to meet his pen pal, Danielle, before he went back to Germany. Ty and Danielle have been writing to each other since elementary school, and she happens to live in Pennsylvania not too far from Philadelphia. We thought that we would try to do as much of the Philadelphia experience as possible while were there, and I think we managed that! We walked for miles over two days and we saw so many great places and things. I can't wait to go back someday with our own children and spend more time doing some of things we missed (and also slow down the pace a little - two days for all of Philly was NOT enough!)

We started by heading straight for the Museum of Art - not for the museum (although I would have loved to do that) - but for Rocky, of course. The parking fee for the museum was outrageous, so I drove around the statue in front of the museum while Ty and Jason got out and looked around. That, by the way, was the extent of my driving in Philadelphia. I am so thankful to have married someone who is comfortable driving around in a big new place like that because I am most definitely not. (As we found out when I stopped the car and got out crying at a stoplight to make Jason drive because I couldn't handle it anymore!)

The one picture I actually made it into at museum - in my car, driving around in circles!

Next we headed to Macy's in the Wannamaker building. We love Macy's a LOT but this time we went there, not for shopping, but for the organ in the middle of the building. It's the biggest organ in the world, and I happen to believe it's in one of the best places in the world. (I did say how much we love Macy's, right?) Unfortunately, we weren't able to hear it played - we missed the organ times both days we went inside.

After Macy's, we checked into our bed and breakfast, the Thomas Bond House. I'm so glad Jason found this place because it was very convenient - we could walk everywhere we wanted to be. It was run by a mostly (but not always) nice, but very interesting lady, as most places like this seem to be. We had a lovely breakfast served to us, as well as cookies for a late night snack! There was also a wine and cheese time in the evening, but we missed that part. The hotel is the smaller building attached to the HUGE parking garage that I suppose is a necessity in cities like Philadelphia.

This was near our bed and breakfast. At the corner of this building, a man stood there with a lady puppet and a boombox - for the entire two days we were there. I never saw him leave, or stop singing. It was funny and very weird.

Right across the street from us was the City Tavern, a really neat restaurant where our founding fathers actually ate (and drank lots of beer). The food was delicious, expensive, and old-fashioned. We loved it, and it was worth the money! Ty had soup, I had turkey pot pie, and Jason had sausage and mashed potatoes, and we all enjoyed our food immensely! We sat next to a couple from Germany, and Ty got to speak with them for a few minutes as they were leaving.

We walked around a little bit, and then came back to the bed and breakfast to meet up with Danielle's family for the afternoon and evening. They were wonderful, and we really enjoyed spending time with them. It was so great for Ty and Danielle to meet finally, and they were also really great tour guides!!! We spent most of our time with them on South Street and in Penn's Landing. We ate Philly cheesesteaks and water ice - and THAT was good!

Danielle and Tyrone on South Street.

The lovely Leopold family.

One of the very first things we did with Ty was take him to Pittsburgh to see the recreations of the Nina and the Pinta as the make their way around the country. We were surprised to see them in Philadelphia more than 6 months later.

The next day, we did all of the historical stuff. It was HOT out, but I'm so glad that we did everything we could. We started at the visitor center, and then went to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. We stopped for some shopping and touristy traditions. We also were able to see the Christ Church, the Christ Church burial ground, Betsy Ross' house, and Elfreth's Alley.

The Senate Room

I wish that all meeting rooms still looked liked this...

As close as I got to Rocky!

The post office and the site of Benjamin Franklin's home. Unfortunately we couldn't see much of this because it was closed that day.

Betsy Ross' house

I love this quote from Ben Franklin.

Ben Franklin's grave - each year the Christ Church collects all of the pennies thrown onto his grave, and they have a church BBQ. This past year, they were able to spend $4000 on their picnic!

The windows at Christ Church. We went inside as well but there was a tour going on, and it was WAY TOO HOT to wait until they were done. We have to get the "sit in George Washington's pew" pictures next time we go!

Elfreth's Alley - the oldest continually inhabited neighborhood in the county

The back of one of the prettiest building in the city.

Every shopping place had beautiful architecture and light fixtures. While I was trying to capture the beauty of this Barnes and Noble, I got in trouble by the manager for taking a picture!

We did a LOT on our quick trip to Philly, but we had a great time! Like I said, I can't wait to go back and spend more time there some day.