Kimberly's 10th Birthday Party

Kimberly had a fun out doors party and sleep over. First, everyone played in the backyard (of our new house). Then they had dinner and she openned her presents. Finally, they went in the front to play in the sprinkler:) After they dried off, the girls came inside. It was movie time and homemade popcorn before bedtime. What a great party!

We didn't do the sprinkler earlier because it was quite cool...but as you can tell, nobody wanted to miss out on getting wet:)

Afgan time

My mother decided to make each of her children an afgan (with them choosing the style and colors they'd prefer). No matter where she'd go, Mom would take her sewing bag with whatever she was working on. Today--it happened to be Kimberly's birthday party. Mom had come to "be my other adult" and while waiting for the guests to arrive...she sat outside and crocheted:) This was her Zen time!

Thanks, Mom. It turned out beautifully! We love it.

A sister's friendship...

...isn't it wonderful to share such special moments together. What amazing friends we have living right within the walls of our own homes! I love you, sister.

A Reward for hard work.

I have always wanted a fire pit since moving into our new house. So, Jerry and the girls got me one for Mother's day/early birthday. Since it was perfect weather, we decided to use it one Saturday after they finished their yardwork.

Now, we had to have a Boy Scout present when having our open fire pit. (So, gladly Jerry volunteered.) We got out our scuwers and cooked the hot dogs. This was the girls first time experiencing out door cooking:) It was fun.

After dinner, of course we had to make s'mores too. They were delicious!

This is what they had been working on all day. Nice!

This is our first spring with our large yard. Jerry and the girls did weeding and mulching in the front lawn island. They spent the better part of their Saturday working together outside. What a beautifully colorful picture they created in our yard!

Backyard fun

Natalie, Courtney and Kimberly all did so great on their report cards that they each got a prize as a reward. These were the prizes: walkie talkies, a Pegasus, and a Michael Jackson CD. Since Mommy had done such a superb job assisting WITH homework this year, she got a prize also. She chose a Badminton game. Daddy set it up and everyone went out to the backyard to play! It's been a lot of fun...oh, even for Mommy:)

Our Easter Traditions

The spring season is beautiful!! Daffodils galore, cool weather, and bright lovely eggs to HIDE. My brother and sisters families always come together at the Dirle's house for an Easter Egg hunt with the cousins. Grandmommy out does herself with not only making "Granny's chocolate eggs" but she also sews for her grandchildren!

This year she made matching Easter dresses for all the cousins (NY girls too). Natalie and Caroline's dresses were alike and Courtney and Johanna had the same pattern. Kimberly got her OWN pattern. (Being older does have advantages sometimes...) Kimberly was wearing her new glasses too:) Thanks Grandmommy! They are beautiful.

While spending this time together, we have a wonderful time sharing and talking of that Easter morning . What a blessing it is to teach our children of our Savior, Jesus Christ and all that His life means to each of us! Such a splendid day.

"Home" made Eggrolls

One Sunday afternoon Jerry and the girls decided to try their hands at making homemade Eggrolls. So, everyone rolled up their "pajama" sleeves and grabbed a wrap. The girls did a great job measuring and sealing the eggrolls. (They had never eaten one before.)

We didn't have pork so we substituted it with ground beef. It still tasted really good!

Jerry taught the girls to keep the wraps wet so they wouldn't tear.

Jerry was sooo ready to cook and eat the eggrolls after working hard to make them that he forgot to read through the WHOLE recipe before making the eggrolls...they needed to be refridgerated for 4+ hours prior to cooking!! UGH

To say the least, the eggrolls still tasted awesome--the next day. Jerry loves trying news things...and the girls love to help Daddy try new things. Here is the finished product! They were delicious.

Look what I learned...

I am the Achievement Girl leader for our ward. And sometimes Courtney gets to "tag-along" when Daddy's gone. So, last night the girls learned the proper way to iron and then tried their hand at sewing buttons, snaps and a straight stitch. As you can see, Courtney participated and is quite "hooked" with the whole sewing deal.

Courtney had such fun practicing her snaps today that she ran to get her OWN shirt to fix the button. Her "purple" thread from last night would work JUST fine! Yeah.

Well, if you need a button to be sewn on--you know who to come to:) COURTNEY CAN DO IT!

The first SNOW in our new house!

This year we realized that when we CAN'T see the picnic table in the backyard, anymore, we have a lot of snow! Now, every snow, we send Daddy out to measure so we can brag (devestate others) about our inches:)

Here are my snow angels: Kimberly, Natalie and Courtney.

Later that day we found Daddy building his OWN snowman ;) SSSHHH!! He doesn't know...that WE know!

California wedding

Well, to tell the full story...Jerry won a contest at work, so he and I got fly out to California for his brother Kevin's wedding. My mom graciously came to stay with our girls the week we were gone. To say the least, the PA rain followed us out to CA for MOST of the trip. It was nice to see family but it wasn't the same without our girls! And YES our faith was tried every day, to help Jerry and I work together and enjoy our time away. It was a beautiful Temple ceremony. Kevin and Megan were so happy. The day of their wedding the rain finally stopped! I'm grateful we could go. By the way, it was the most expensive wedding/trip we've ever attended (our luggage was lost the ENTIRE week and we both had to buy ALL new stuff). HaHaHa

"Choose The Right"

Natalie turned 8 years old the week after Thanksgiving. She had been preparing, over the last year, to be baptised in December. On December 26th, Natalie was baptised by her Dad with family and friends close-by. It was a memorable service! She and her Eastern cousins even sang together. Natalie continues to strive for righteousness daily. And enjoys reading her scriptures to strengthen her testimony. She is a "daughter of God".

Traditional tree decorating time.

The weekend after every Thanksgiving, we decorate and put up the Christmas tree together. Daddy and the girls are in charge of decorating the tree. And Mommy is to decorate the rest of the house.

Well, since we had recently moved-in we weren't quite sure where to put things this holiday. So, we moved the piano and coffee table for the tree to be in the right corner of the room.

How many girls...I mean lights does it take to decorate YOUR tree???

Only AFTER the tree was completely decorated did we realize that it would fit perfectly on the LEFT side of the fireplace.

And "THAT'S" how you get your Christmas tree from one side of the room to the other...you change the color of your decorations:)

"Welcome to OUR home!"

This was the video Jerry recorded as we were driving up to Corry Ave after we signed the papers and ALL 5 of us got our OWN key:) We love our new house. What a blessing and amazing miracle all that happened to get us to this BECK home to grow-up in! Now we have room for company. We'd love to have you come and visit anytime.