A special 16th birthday....

A very happy 16th birthday to my "other daughter"...Elissa Virginia Papantonakis! Tonight, Lissa came straight from school to have her special birthday dinner with us...her favorites...tacos/burritos....and brownies for her dessert! We were so glad she could come and celebrate her birthday with us!

Below...it all started when Jamie moved in across the street from us. I was still working, so didn't really get to know her really well until we were both expecting our daughters..Meghan & Elissa...I love this picture from my baby shower, summer 1993. (sorry about the pictures being weird and the captions seeming off...I just learned how to use my scanner and was in a hurry to scan these while Ty was sleeping!) Above, Jamie and Elissa and Meghan and I, summer 1994...and again tonight....we hope to do pictures like these every so many years...watching our precious daughters grow up into beautiful young women!
Meghan and Elissa at one year old....Playing together summer they were 2 years old....
Elissa's 3rd birthday party... below....The girls before starting kindergarten...And tonight...both beautiful 16 year olds!

Meghan, and Elissa 13 years old...Sara almost 11 years old...

And tonight...3 years later.

Sara and Elissa...

Jamie and I and our oldest daughters....living across the street from each other....the girls went back and forth as if each home were her own...playing like sisters, fighting like sisters...sharing everything. So many memories....from playing house, dolls, dress up, building people pyramids, sled riding and making snowmen, swimming and sprinklers in the summer...baking cookies together...so many special memories...and a lot more to come!

Happy 16th Birthday, Elissa! We love you very much!

The Quaint Sayings of Anna Banana

Our little Anna, so cute and lovable, and so witty! Recently she has been saying some really funny things! She is always so cute, she is at the moment writing a Jesus Letter... she said, "Can I put it in an envelope and mail it to heaven? Will the Mail Man take it there?" We had to explain to her to hang it on our artwork wall so Jesus could see it... she is so sweet!

Her letter says:

DEAR JESUS,

I LOVE YOU!!!

*ANNA*

Now is that not the cutest thing? Here are some funny Anna-Isms:

• When stepping outside at the lake she hollered, "TURN THE WIND OFF!"
• When pulling into the drive-through at McDonalds, she commented, "The M looks like an upside down butt!"
• When talking about heaven (deep) she said, "Heaven must be so cool... it must have like 20 bathrooms!"
• When at the lake in the kitchen, my grandpa commented to my mom, something to the form of, "Just heat it up in the microwave." Anna promptly asks, "What is a microwave Mum?"

Thats it for now folks tune in next time to hear Ronnie-Isms!

Quote of the day...

"When one door closes, another one opens, but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us." Alexander Graham Bell

~I'm learning to be content with the 'closed doors' in my life...whether they be friendships, health related, job opportunities for Ron that didn't work out....not to worry or stress over them, knowing that they are doors that God has shut....for my good and His glory.....I'm also learning to value the doors that He is opening for our family...not necessarily doors that I would have chosen, but knowing that if He opened them, then they are good...to be content wherever and with whoever in our lives that He has sent! God is for us...it doesn't matter who could be against us! Knowing that God has full control over EVERY aspect of our lives is so freeing and so reassuring...and every time I open His word, I'm reassured even more! So....have a great day in the Lord today!!!! ~Sue~

Precious hockey memories...

Ok, really...how many pictures of the Stanley Cup does everyone want to see?! If you are my guys....they would have me blow this up and frame it in my livingroom! LOL

I LOVE having my children around me....I LOVE doing things with them...and there are certain activities that I do with my girls, that I remember doing with my mom and grandmother...I feel they are a priceless priviledge for me to be able to do them with my daughters....and I LOVE watching my husband and son interact and share things as well....like their love for HOCKEY! Yesterday, they had the opportunity to skate on the Mellon Arena ice...probably for the last time, as they are building a new arena. This is where the Penguins have won their Stanley Cups...and fought, sweated and overcome odds to win....it means so much to Ron to be able to share it with Ronnie...and I sent our 'resident photographer' along to document it! (Thanks, Sara!)

Ron and Ronnie...sitting in the Penguins bench...I love their smiles!

Faceoff at center ice!!!

Our special photographer!
Ronnie and our friend "Iceburg"!

Pretending they were actually watching a play on the ice...cracks me up!

Let's go Pens!!! Here is to another LOUD hockey season in our family! Come on, Pens...bring Lord Stanley home again this season! ~Sue~

Praise for God's timing...

Just wanted to thank God for His timing...again. A little background info. Ron works nights, weekends, crazy schedule...he only gets to church with us on Sundays when he is on vacation, so since this was the last day of his vacation, we all got ready this morning (early!), and with expectation and piled into the suburban....which didn't start. So...we hurried into 2 cars and sped up to church....where our pastor preached on not allowing satan to take our focus off of Christ....by distractions, worldly cares, stealing our quiet time.....minutes after we figured out that we probably need a fuel pump....list price $310 just for the part.

Praise God that it didn't die on us while we were in New York! Or at the rest stop in the middle of no where! Or in Hickory, Pa. yesterday....but right in our driveway! Thank you, Lord!

Thank you, for the very timely reminder to stay focused...to run our race with persistence and endurance....keeping focused on our Savior and eternity. To count our blessings and always, always....keep focused on Jesus...who He is, His grace, and what He has done for us....Thank you, Lord!!!! ~Sue~

Hickory Apple Festival...

It didn't rain today!!! Praise God for sunshine!!! Today, since it was really the last day of Ron's vacation, we headed out to Hickory, Pa. for the Hickory Apple Festival....it was so much fun! We were just so happy to do something as a family, without rain! LOL Someone may be wondering why I have a picture of a schoolbus...well, this was our 'shuttle' from the field where we parked, down to the town of Hickory...and the only time my children have ridden a schoolbus! I had to preserve it to memory! Seriously, we were very grateful to have the free shuttle...the town was jammed with people, no where to park...it was a real convenience to us to be able to park and ride.
Ronnie and Anna enjoyed the petting zoo...the usual, sheep, goats, rabbits and even baby piglets!

This was cool...a man had about half a dozen birds...peregrine falcons, hawks and this guy...a red tailed hawk. Since we see them all the time around here, but never close up, this was really neat to see.

Ronnie liked this display of arrowheads...

And, of course...APPLES! Look at her face...candy apples and caramel apples were enjoyed...

(This one was hard to bite!) Apple pie and apple crisp were sampled by the Gorecki family as well...of course, I told Ron to buy me a bag of apples and I'd make him a whole pie...but it was a really worthy fundraiser for the local volunteer fire department, so we didn't mind the prices.
It is always so nice to be able to do anything with Ron...with his crazy schedule, doing anything as a family is always the nicest memories for us!

All the kids had a good time....look how crowded it was! This is a much anticipated, local event!

~Seems the whole town, and all the little towns on the way into Hickory pick the weekend of the apple festival to have garage/yard sales....we must have passed 50 of them! On the way home, we did stop at one that looked promising...and it paid off! Meghan got a hard cover edition of the Fanny Farmer Cookbook...Sara got a lamp for her room, but Ronnie and especially Anna really were lucky...


Ronnie got a "Meet the Robinsons" science kit..complete with microscope, slides and testtubes...he came home and did experiments until it was time for dinner.

Little Miss Anna....she got a real "my first" Singer sewing machine! It really works! It is safe for little fingers, and she is so excited....first thing she said is she wants to sew a quilt for her dolls...here she is practicing. She also got a bike. The bike she has, has hard plastic wheels, and no brakes...we took it on the trail and she hated riding it. This bike, although not as 'pretty', has real tires with excellent tread, BRAKES ( I was worried about that!), and best of all...it has a seat on the back for her to give rides to her dolls and stuffed animals. She was so excited! We're going to get her a basket for the front and a bell...and she'll be ready to roll! It was a fun day!
After a healthy dinner of homemade chicken fingers and 'smashed' cauliflower...Anna helped me make some chocolate chip cookies....a treat after the healthy dinner! LOL

I thought I would leave you all with some warm, sweet, gooey images!
With a glass of cold milk....a perfect ending to a perfect day! Hope you all have a special, blessed Sabbath tomorrow! ~Sue~

Vacation memories...Lake Chautauqua

Well...we're home. It is bittersweet....we all loved our vacation at the lake so much! But...there is no place like home! (especially now, as the Penguin's hockey game is on tv right now!) We had such a wonderful time on vacation...even though it was COLD and RAINY....we had 1 day of no rain...and it was still cold, overcast and windy....but it was so good to get away! My parents came up for a few days...bringing goodies! They love to spoil my kids (especially their Buppy!) and we had tons of lunchmeat, white bread and buns, rootbeer, icecream, and tons of candy....all the things they rarely get here! LOL We will be detoxing for weeks! This is the view from our window...anywhere you sit in the livingroom or eating area...this is what you see....even cloudy or raining, the view of the lake was so peaceful and beautiful!
The kids had a tire swing and a wooden swing to play on (in between raindrops) while they watched the ducks

Our little fishermen...they were so excited to go fishing! We were prepared for the weather (thanks to advanced weather forcasting online!) so we had warm raincoats, and boots...

We bought 2 'punching balls' at Wal-mart while buying a few groceries...they were a hit! We all had so much fun with them...at one point we broke into 2 teams and were hitting it back and forth across the livingroom...ok, not exactly advance rocket science, but boy, did we have fun!
My step-dad, Ronnie, Meghan and my mom
We were able to have lunch at this resteraunt that we visited 4 years ago when we were here...and it was every bit as good as we remembered!
Wish I was able to get a better picture of this mexican mural....it was beautiful...and the food was excellent!

Because the docks were already taken in, we walked down a little lane and fished off of a little wooden bridge...this is where they were able to catch a few perch...everything they caught was too small to eat, but we're hoping next year, to catch some big ones...Ronnie wants to catch a pike really badly!
I really loved spending time with everyone...and yes, I fished, too! This is the one that Anna and I caught with her own fishing rod...she was so proud!
This is Anna with the first fish she ever caught...Lake Chautauqua is also where Ronnie and the girls caught their first fish as well....good memories, here!
Since it rained most of the time, we got creative inside. One day, Anna made lunch for everyone "all by herself"! She patiently made pizza bagels for everyone, and was so proud!

In between the rain, I thoroughly enjoyed long strolls with my beautiful daughters...while the little ones fished with dad....it was so beautiful there, and peaceful....we talked about the future, our plans...and what we can change when we get home, to make our lives more like they were at the lake.
We enjoyed lots of games...card games, Phase 10, and Ronnie now loves the game 'connect 4'! He's been playing it with everyone. (he beat me the past 4 games!)
We hadn't played the game "Set" for years, and when I found it in the cabinet, I took it up with us...Sara is the QUEEN of Set! We can't keep up with her! It sure sharpened our visual perception, though...and we will be playing it frequently again around here to keep up!

We did a few puzzles while we were gone. The 24 piece puzzles, Ronnie & Anna got the hang of quickly...so we moved on to the 100 piece puzzle that said for ages "5 and up"...well, this 100 piece puzzle was HARD! Took us forever to put it together...Ron finally finished it! Oh, how we laughed!

My mom and dad were NOT crazy about Set...they got the hang of it, but decided it was too much agrivation...they are 'card sharks' and taught us a few new card games. One was called "Pay Me"...that was a lot of fun!
Another favorite game for the little ones is Clue Jr. As the older girls love the origional Clue, when I found this at the thrift shop, I snagged it! We really want to play more games together, so it will be nice for 3 of us to play this at one end, and the older ones at the other end of the table playing the origional...that way we are all together, having fun, but the little ones can play, too.
Our last night at the Lake, last evening, it DIDN'T rain! We pulled out the telescope and looked at the moon and stars....we really think we saw Pluto! (complete with a moon on either side of it....it was a powerful telescope!)LOL I love the expression on Ronnie's face in this photo!
Looking at the moon...with the beautiful sunset behind them!

We had a great bonfire going....roasting marshmallows, making s'mores (yum!)..Sara and Anna were loving the marshmallows!

My mom and Meghan around the fire...

The Gorecki family...enjoying the bonfire...before the cold drove us inside!

~We also spent some time watching old movies, watching the "Mystery Woman" movies...great mysteries...and just talking and enjoying each other's company.

It was so nice to "re-connect" and relax! It was very interesting to us, with no internet, no phone, no obligations, no cable tv....made us all think differently. My quiet time was awesome....looking out at the lake, and looking around, counting my blessings. I was able to crochet 3 pairs of wool slippers, one wash cloth, play games with my family, get caught up with my poor neglected journal...it was wonderful!

~One thing our family decided to do, is to only access the internet once a day....so checking emails, once a day. Checking facebook, once a day. Checking blogs....once a day. Updating our blog...once a day....ONLY going on the computer once a day....so, if it is an emergency....CALL ME! LOL If I'm not busy with my family...then the machine will not pick up...or leave a message...I'll get back to you when it is not inconvenient for my family. I think it finally got thru my thick head...I am going to use technology....not let it control me! The internet is too tempting for me...I love to research...I love learning new things...I could research all day, storing information, printing out projects to do...but I will only have these children for such a short time, they deserve my attention...and when I am available, my family is content.

So...our family vacation was a great success! Relaxing, lots of memories made, lots of family time....and important lessons learned. Thank you, God! ~Sue~

And....we're off!

We're off for our vacation....Lake Chautauqua...here we come! We'll catch up with another visit next weekend when we come home...I pray that you all have a very blessed week! ~Sue~