Homecoming 2008

What a weekend! Friday Peter brought home Panera (SO good!) and we went grocery shopping. We picked up "PS - I Love You". It was pretty good. Not fantastic but worth a try. (It's no "Atonement"). Then we went to bed fairly early. We're party animals I tell you!

Saturday we made breakfast (toaster Eggo waffles, baby) and hung around the house a bit. Did some laundry. We're so exciting aren't we? Ok, here's where the weekend really picks up. Around 2 we headed to Messiah to check out Homecoming. We took a stroll through the Oakes Museum (pretty awesome) with about a million kids + strollers. Then we headed to the President's new house "Orchard Hill". The house was amazing, outstanding and fabulous all rolled into one plus 10. Really truly incredible. I loved it.

Around 4 we met up with my 4 college roomies - Linz, Chris, Whit and Stef - at Isaac's for dinner. We had a really nice time visiting. We hadn't all been together since June 2006! It was about darn time. After dinner we, Linz and Jason headed back to the soccer game to meet up with another friend - Nicole. Despite the fact that she lives roughly 3 miles away, I hadn't seen her since graduation so it was a nice treat to meet up and chat. After all that we crashed.

Sunday we taught Sunday school and then came home to prepare for my Pampered Chef party. Only 6 ladies showed up but we had a good time nonetheless. Peter met up with his Dad at the mall to hang out and avoid all the estrogen. At the party we made a one pot pasta dish that was so, so good. Penne cooked in chicken broth with brocolli, carrots and sun-dried tomatoes. Oh and cream cheese. Delish! My mom and aunt were here so we had a nice time hanging out with them after the party too. Then we had our small group meeting and didn't get home till 9. And then we crashed again, haha.

This morning we awoke to a chirping smoke detector in our bedroom at 4 am. We have a cathedral ceiling and Peter could hardly reach it even standing on my dresser. We couldn't find a way to change the battery so we're enlisting the help of a neighbor tonight to help figure it out. So frustrating!

That's all the news from here. Keep on keeping on.

The Hutch

...as promised. See below :)

Not much going on this week. We're enjoying the lovely Fall weather. Today it feels close to 80 and we have the windows open again. Simply beautiful.

Amy made a lasagna on Tuesday and we're still enjoying it (along with what's left of the baby shower goodies).

That's all for now.

It's a baby shower!

Amy hosted a baby shower for our good friend Michelle. There were 10 guests in all. It was a good time! Michelle wanted a dessert bar so we had about 8 different desserts. We have leftovers coming out our ears and we already gave some away to Amy's parents, our neighbors and Amy's parents' neighbors!

Chris and Michelle are having a surprise so the shower was gender neutral. We tried to get yellow roses but all we could find was pink. The shower was for Michelle and she's a girl so maybe that's ok, haha. We didn't play any games but we did have the guests fill out pieces of cardstock with words of advice and encouragement to put into a large glass vase to keep in the nursery. All in all, Amy was pleased with everything but we're both glad for it to be over.

Amy's Mom and Dad dropped off a hutch from her Gram tonight too. It is beautiful and fits just perfectly in our dining room. Photos to follow eventually, promise. It's just been too busy a day and we're too tired and lazy...

A Little Inspiration

From The Gabe Dixon Band

The new day dawns,
And I am practicing my purpose once again.
It is fresh and it is fruitful if I win but if I lose,
Oooooo I don’t know.
I will be tired but I will turn and I will go,
Only guessing til I get there then I’ll know,
Oh oh oh I will know.

All the children walking home past the factories
Could see the light that’s shining in my window as I write this song to you.
All the cars running fast along the interstate
Can feel the love that radiates
Illuminating what I know is true,
All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself,
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

The winter’s cold,
But the snow still lightly settles on the trees.
And a mess is still a moment I can seize until I know,
That all will be well.
Even though sometimes this is hard to tell,
And the fight is just as frustrating as hell
All will be well.

All the children walking home past the factories,
Could see the light that’s shining in my window as I write this song to you.
All the cars running fast along the interstate
Can feel the love that radiates
Illuminating what I know is true
All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

Keep it up and don’t give up
And chase your dreams and you will find
All in time.

All the children walking home past the factories
Could see the light that’s shining in my window as I write this song to you.
All the cars running fast along the interstate
Can feel the love that radiates
Illuminating what I know is true,
All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself,
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

All will be well.
Even after all the promises you’ve broken to yourself,
All will be well.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.
You can ask me how but only time will tell.

Happy Fall!

I never really liked Autumn. Possibly because it meant going back to school. Don't get me wrong - I loved school! It was just all-consuming for me so I never took the opportunity to appreciate the change of seasons. Now, I absolutely ADORE the Fall. The colors, the weather, the recipes! We've already had 2 batches of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and I'm sure many more will follow. Celebrate we will - and with cookies!

I was instructed to write a blog that was more than 25% text (less than 75% pictures). See the thing is, my writing tends to be a little boring but pictures... pictures are always fun. I'll see what I can do with this blog anyway.

It has been about 2 weeks since the last post so what have we done? Peter bought me flowers. We had dinner with our neighbors and I made an apricot, almond & pinenut cake (super yummy). We saw "Burn After Reading" with friends. We enjoyed the season opener of "House" (swoon). Our realtor and his wife took us to Olive Garden. We went to Macaroni Grill with our small group. I went shopping with one of my college roomies. We hosted Small Group at our house.

I think the most exciting thing to happen though, was having someone else paint our hallways and stairwell yesterday. I met a guy through my work who has painted as a side job for a few other people I know and came highly recommended. He got it all done in one day! It looks fantastic. It is a very subtle color - "Napery" - but trust me, it looks better than primer white with scuff marks.

Not much else going on. This Sunday we're planning a day trip to Maryland to spend the day with good friends :) I'm planning a baby shower for the following weekend and a Pampered Chef party for October 19th (you're invited!). So life is a party at the moment.

If you're the praying type, you can keep us in your prayers. We would greatly appreciate it!

Lots of love,

Amy

Happy Birthday!

Last weekend we drove to Pittsburgh Saturday morning to attend Amber's 2nd birthday party. Amber is Josh and Nicole's daughter - Amy worked with them one summer in college and they've been good friends ever since. Since they live in Pittsburgh, we don't see them very much at all. In fact, the last time we saw them, Amber was about 7 weeks old (we'll post a pic below).

We had a great time and although it was A LOT of driving for one day, it was more than worth it.

Out With the Old

... in with the new DRUMS!

First the old.

Then the new.

Plus the toms that sadly were not used during worship.