5 Year Anniversary in Our Home :)

We are so excited to have been in our house for 5 years today. Coming from a great house in Clarksburg, WV to a brand new house in Washington, PA to where we are now...Centerville, PA.

Our home is everything we could have wished for...3 level house (14 rooms total), 6 car garages, 10 acres, pool, gorgeous landscaping, and very private!!


The picture below is from when we first moved in...we have since painted the outside trim lime green which has really brightenend up the house.



Since we have been in this home, we have put our heart and soul into it. In the first few months we were here, we added color to every white wall in the house except the foyer. The first floor: The Great Room was given Paprika and tan walls, white stayed in the vaulted glass foyer, sunny yellow in the dining room, cool blues in the den, lime green in the kitchen and white in the laundry room. I also designed new fireplaces in each living area (love how they turned out!) The kitchen had to be given a new faucet, dishwasher, and range hood. They left behind a wonderful double oven! After having one of these, I will never use a single again.

The second floor: The Master was given Palmetto green walls, Reiner and Brandis' room (which was Genin's at the time we moved in) was painted light blue with one wall of state maps, Kaplyn's room was painted lilac, and the kid's bath was painted cappucino.

The lower level: This area had to be finished. We painted the gameroom tangerine and added a custom pool table w/tangerine felt, 2 arcade games and 1 pinball machine. Cameron and Genin's room (just Cameron's room at the time we moved in) was painted lighter green with a sports theme, the bathroom is green with a beach theme and the discovery lab is primary colors..this room has computers and learning tools for education. The lower level foyer is tan and we just recently added schooldesks to a storage room for the kids to do homework when they get home from school.

Our fav areas are the pool...Pic 1: The Pool and hot tub.

Pic 2: Yard in Pool area beside the hot tub.

Pic 3: Yard to the right of the hot tub.

Pic 4: Patio of the Pool Area.

We have many birthday parties and get-togethers in this area every year. It is very relaxing during the spring/summer months. We string white lights along the fence every spring to give some wonderful mood lighting along with the tikis. In 2005, Greg and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary with a catered event in this area. We plan to do the same this July for our 15 year anniversary.

The front of the house landscaping...

Front Flower Garden :)

Between weeding and mulching, this takes me a while to do, but is totally worth it once it is finished and very fresh looking. Look forward to posting new photos once we get our yearly landscaping finished.

While in this house, we gave birth to 2 more sons, Reiner and Brandis and have a little girl on the way. This house is perfect for our expanding family. Though we have 5 bedrooms, the bedrooms are also large enough to put more than one child in. The yard is large enough for our kids and their friends to run around, the front hill is great for sleigh riding and the driveway is big enough to accomodate all of our guests cars for parties.

The only thing I would wish for is a warmer yearlong climate, but since I am in PA and am amongst cold winters, I will just enjoy what I have been blessed with. A gorgeous home filled to the gill with warmth from the love of a mom, dad and their 5 babies :)

More Things I Learned at the Grocery Store...

More things I learned on my recent trip to the grocery store...

1. 79 cents a lb for bananas!! Not even a monkey would pay that price!

2. Genin doesn't talk as much as Cameron on grocery trips, but when he does...it is strange..he told me if the store caught on fire, he would save me because I have a person inside of me!

3. I saw a woman older than me walk up to the bulk candy area and take 4 mini twix bars without paying...she is going to make the ripoff price of 15 cents each, even higher!!

4. No, thanks. Just because I sample the zuccini pancake doesn't mean that I am going to buy it...I just like taking samples and not buying anything...

5. Genin can make a pretty awesome throne out of diapers and toilet paper packages.

6. Many people like Throwback Pepsi...but I don't think it tastes nearly as good as the kind they make now so...throw it back!

7. Don't question a cashier about a price that an item was supposed to be..."She doesn't know anything about it...she just rings them through!!!!!"

8. I can't stand people who park in the stork spots and try really hard to push out a non-existent stomach to make it look as though they are pregnant...they are worse than the people who come up with a ridiculous looking fake limp and park in the handicap parking.

9. Genin accidentally rammed a cardboard display and there were 3 mini York Peppermint Patty wrappers under it...guess the candy thief made her way down that aisle as well.

10. We have a heck of an assembly line at home to put away groceries...3 months worth for a family of 7 brought in and put away in 15 minutes...boy are we good!!

The Top Ten Reasons I Love Uniontown Mall

Kaplyn and I visited Uniontown Mall yesterday and while there, I came up with the Top 10 Reasons I Love Uniontown Mall

1. JCPenney has an entrance right next to the bathroom.

2. Gamestop always has a quick bargain to satisfy any child's video game fix.

3. It is funny how many people in Uniontown are nuts over Auntie Anne's pretzels...there were at least 20 people in line!

4. Uniontown people are scrappers! There is always an argument in at least one store we go into...this time it was Claires.

5. Gene and Boots! (Need I say more)

6. Uniontown Mall always has the best holiday decorations...where else can you find a 12 foot easter basket with the same size bunny included?!

7. The $1 clothing racks at Rue 21.

8. The employees at Hot Topic :)

9. Fries and ranch (or bleu if you prefer) at The Boston Beanery.

10. A ton of benches and couches to just sit and people watch...better than tv!!

The Aftermath of Winter...

Now that the sun has melted away the last of the snow, I look forward to spring with a vengeance!! Gone are the days of slipping and falling in the driveway, having children walk in from the bus with snow halfway up their pantlegs, having use of my Yukon XL since my husband can finally get his Camry down the driveway, etc...at least until next year!

It is amazing how green grass can put a huge smile on your face that has been missing for a few months...until you discover the aftermath of winter...Fallen trees, destroyed bushes, less privacy for sure! Since we have been in this house, we have had trees fall during thunderstorms and other rough winters, but the trees are noticeably sparingly at this point. I am afraid with a few more winters like this, there will no longer be the privacy between houses that we longed for when we moved to the country. Hopefully when the leaves return, it will give us back some of this privacy we all love so much!



My favorite bush has a branch split right down the middle. Although all of my other bushes which were flattened like pancakes during the heavy snowfall made their way back up to the sky with the help of the wonderful sun, this one has stayed lower no matter how much talking I do to it. Usually the prettiest bush we have with it's pink leaves in the spring, it has now become the ugly duckling among all the swans. Don't worry little bush, I will continue to praise you and nurse you back to health until you are well enough to spread your branches to the heavens above once again...

We have found many items that were missing during that month time period as well:

Found!!!
1 broken snowshovel-this had a slight crack in it before the snow buried it. Now in 2 seperate pieces, it will join a lot of other items in the garbage during spring cleaning. I believe, although my husband acted boggled by where this went, he was actually happy to report it missing...

Found!!
1 butterfly net-Reiner decided that a butterfly net could easily be used to catch snowflakes, but has yet to understand the concept of snowflakes melting. I was happy this came up missing...saved me from a lot of temper tantrums.

Found!!
1 unrecognizable soccer ball...Genin sent this flying out into the yard during a break in the snowfall...it became covered somewhere in the yard overnight and was long forgotten...not sure what mixed with the snow in that area, but this ball is crazy looking at this point!

Found!!
1 black cat...This stray cat was coming around everyday for weeks before the snow fell. It was never seen again! With fear that the snow had somehow come down too fast, I spent a morning digging out my porch (with a tiny gardening shovel since the snow shovel was MIA) hoping that I could get some reassurance and not find a frozen, flattened cat attached to my porch floor. Nothing found, but happy to report, it is back along with the sun that was missing for so long!

Found!!
1 snowball in my garage freezer...someone must have been worried that we wouldn't have enough snow to enjoy...they were soooo wrong....


Thank you to Mr. Sun for all of his help in finding these missing items. Although I did not offer a reward for their safe return, I do promise to bask in the glory of your wonderful rays for the next few seasons with a sincere smile of graditude on my "hopefully" tanned face. XOXO

Cameron's 12th Birthday Movie Theater Party

Cameron finally had his friend party and I must say, it was awesome!!! Due to the snow, he had to hold it off from his real birthday on February 1. He was glad he did because everyone invited (except 2) showed up for the event :) The theme for his 12th year: Movie Theater! Dressed as Ben Stiller's security guard character in Night at the Museum, Cameron greeted 16 guests.



After pulling up in the driveway, guests got to walk the red, lighted carpet, roped off with velvet ropes (or my version anyway!) Entering the front door, that got a glance at the lit up marquee sign on the staircase...King Theater Now Playing: Cameron is 12!


Guests were asked to dress as their favorite movie characters and we had some great ones! In attendance where Ben Stiller's Security Guard character from Night at the Museum (Cameron), Zombieland character, 2 Sandy characters from Grease, Spongebob Squarepants, Miss Scarlet from Clue, The Blue's Brothers, Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribbean, A doctor, 2 Indiana Jones characters, a motocross rider and The Joker from The Dark Knight! I served as head usher while Kaplyn was a 2nd usher. Miss Scarlet took the prize for Best Female Costume and The Joker took the prize for Best Male Costume. They received movie reel bags filled with popcorn and movie theater candy.





Some guests made their way into the living room where music was playing and the karaoke machine was set up and some went down to the lower level gameroom to hang out, playing billiards or video games. We also had movies playing on every tv in the house.

Food was served at the Refreshment Bar (dining room) Red carpet led you to the table of movie theater food; hot dogs, nachos & cheese, popcorn, soda and candy!

After eating, kids went to the living room for games; guess the movie themes...I played music from a cd that burned. It was made up of all movie themed music. Kids could guess the song title, singer or band, movie it was from and year if they wanted to try :) The second game had them looking at celebrities (with no heads) They had to guess who was in the photo and a random question about that person. Winner received movie size boxes of candy.

The cake was a huge box of popcorn! I took 2 rectangular cakes and lined them up side by side. I added a decoration to the top of popcorn looking like it was coming out of the box (this was glued down so this part was not edible)

Each child left with a popcorn goody box which included a plastic reusable popcorn box, popcorn, movie theater candy and a copy of the movie themes cd from the game we played. 16 awesome hits!!!
The girls left at 9 while the boys slept over. What a night that was! Everytime I attempted to go to bed, I had a 12 year old asking when I was going to bed which prompted me to stay up longer to foil whatever sneaky plans they had :) Between the party and the sleepover, they went through a huge bucket of candy and almost 100 cans of pop, which explains how 4-5 of the 10 kids stayed up all night long!!

Breakfast the next morning was an easy one. I was not awake enough to do too much; donuts, chocolate milk and sunny d. The kids loved it!

Time for cleanup!

Found: Neck scarf from one of the Sandys, Men's Urban Pipeline Jeans 33 x 30 with band aids in the pocket, Pitt T-shirt, 2 ribbons (possibly to close an overnight bag), Men's black shoes size 8 1/2. So far, the shoes have been claimed and I know who the neck scarf belongs to.

Lost: Levi Jeans size 16 husky or a possible 33 x 28 and a tooth. Both belong to the same person.
We have gotten rave reviews from the party so I will chalk this up as a success!!

*More party photos are able to be viewed on my facebook and myspace pages.

Happy Feet!

I don't think I have ever had a day that started off smooth in my life. Beginning with the school age children moaning about having to get up for school, fighting about what is for breakfast and then arguing on the way out the door over who gets to sit in the front seat on the way down the driveway to the bus. Thank goodness for my younger aged children, I don't have any worries with them...yeah right!

Today's issue...Reiner and socks. It all started when I got him out a pair of plain white socks just like I always do. Well, he has really been getting into printed socks ever since he received a pair of Lightning McQueen ones for his birthday (whoever bought him those, gee thanks) He wears them with everything! I can barely get them off of him to wash. When they do make it off of him, he somehow seems to find another favorite pair to try to get a weeks worth of wear out of. Teddy bears, basketball, he has even worn holes in some which he digs back out of the garbage after I toss them. Today's pick: striped blue/grey which look like Converse chucks. Another issue on the socks...he hasn't learned that there is a concept to matching your clothing. He is wearing red today. I even begged him to wear the Winnie the Pooh socks with red balloons, but that was a no-go. Once he has made his choice, there is not another word with him. Now, what to do with the white socks....extremely clean hand puppets?

Oh to be a kid again and have my only worry be about socks....

Rub-a-Dub Dub...

So, last night, I had my 12 year old load the dishes into the dishwasher for the first time. He has been taking turns with his siblings unloading it for some time, but had never been asked to load it. After whining a little bit about having to rinse dirty dishes (he kind of has a weak stomach with these things) he reluctantly decided he better listen to his parents.

I can't figure out if what happened next was because he was truly trying to help out and didn't know any better....or if he thought purposely messing up would result in him not having to do this job again.

This is what happens when you put regular dish soap into the dishwasher....

Greg and I (including Cameron) spent quite a while bucketing out suds...any that didn't come out the seams of the dishwasher when it was closed. Sadly, no matter how much you remove, more of it appears when you turn the water back on. Next came the shopvac and one very annoyed dad!

Thanks for an adventurous night Cameron, you know, because we don't have anything better to do with our time....