October Winter Storm and Halloween

On his own, Ezra picked up Jude's school accessories one afternoon.

He loves his big brother. And, his big brother loves him! This really is why I've always wanted a big family.

Halloween gets an honorable mention but really didn't get a whole lot of attention from the elder
Swishers. I was recovering from the flu and Brandon had to work. Brandon carved a happy jack-o-lantern with the kids and we went out for a 40-minute neighborhood shuffle. The kids loved it, despite our diminished enthusiasm.

Abigail has worn this costume three years in a row. She'd like to wear it next year, but I've already started the "Honey, you are getting too big" conversation.

Jude was Darth Vader and used the force on me at every opportunity.

Ezra is supposed to be Indiana Jones (he has a whip and a hat) but didn't want to wear either accessory as we trick-or-treated. I especially like the stubble Brandon drew on his face.

Brandon allowed the kids to do most of the carving. Ah...dads and knives.

The finished product

Notice Ezra is covering his mouth; he was grossed out. Maybe he'll get the novelty next year.

October 15. I understand now the importance of leaves falling before the snow does.

Thankfully, our neighbor saved his trees by removing the snow early in the day. Our neighborhood looked like a minor war zone the next day as trees had broken without warning.

Abby's class trip to the pumpkin patch

Ezra was thrilled about the tractor, its driver and the wagon it pulled. The wagon ride took us to the pumpkin patch, where the rain turned into sleet. It was SO cold and wet, which is why my camera was hidden away.

I tried to get Ezra to smile--this is as much as he'd give me.

Exploring the farm brought many kids to tears. Ezra kept pleading, "go to house." So, I took him inside a storehouse while one of Abby's teachers took her through the corn maze. The sleet turned to snow while they were enjoying the maze.

This is later at home after soup and hot cocoa. The kids decorated their gourds and forgot about their near frost-bite while we watched the snow come down from our warm home.

This is what it looked before naptime...

This surprise snow storm began on October 14 and continued through Oct 16. All the kids in State College had a snow day. Many, many trees were destroyed under the weight of the wet snow. The very large tree in the upper right corner of this picture, the tree in front of our neighbors house, no longer exists. Thankfully, we didn't have a power outage as many in our town did.

Family outing to the Way Fruit Farm

We started by taking the tractor pull on the wagon out to the pumpkin patch. But, we were cold (and cheap) and decided just to ride it back to the apple orchard. Ezra LOVED the tractor ride and talks of it often.

We decided to pick 1 peck, I believe, of apples. There were at least 6 varieties and we enjoyed taste-testing our way through the orchard.

Check out these mammoth clusters!

Yummy!

Ezra said he was riding a horse in this picture. Okay.

We definitely got our $7 worth of apples!

Chicago trip and Indiana House Reunion

My favorite Miles

In late September I had the privilege of taking a long weekend to visit friends in Chicago (sans progeny). I started my trip with a gathering of the "old" Chicago friends at the Warrens' home.

Mama Christine and Baby Luke

Everyone's favorite Deacon playing with Jonah and Isaac

My first godson, Jonah, sporting the Dharma Initiative logo.

My second godson, Manny, looking at all the big boys being rough and tumble.

Then, I moved on to the Official Indiana House Reunion. There are eight women who get-together yearly from our senior year house. Only six were able to join in Chicago this year, but two of those brought their two daughters each. So, we had a house of ten females. It was a wonderful weekend of fellowship!

Here are Ava Beidler and Kettie Olson: cute, cute, cute!

Celebrating Katy's birthday

Look at these pale girls! It must be the lighting.

Kettie as Cinderella

Ava and Kettie rearranging the furniture

Auntie Katy and Tovie Olson

Aunt Amy and Ravinia Beidler

The Beidler Sisters

Kari and Jill holding Tovie and Kettie

Second generation Indiana House

Pumpkin patch fun

Ava making her choice

Katy, Gentry and Jill

Olson Sisters

Mealtime!

Kettie and Ava

"Cheese!"

Shore, Why Not?

Okay, I stole that opener from my good friend, Katie Gaspard.

We crashed our good friends, Clay and Katie Gaspard's, family reunion at Ocean City, New Jersey September 21. It was a 24-hour blip in our week, but we had an awesome time. Katie's parents, Marcia and Paul, graciously invited us to stay in the house they rented on the beach. And, they fed us. It was a sweet set-up!

My three kids!

The whole crew, squinting in the sun

My "big" boy

Thanks, Nana and Papa, for Abby's new swimsuit!

Everyone's best friend: Katie Gaspard!

Okay, I don't look very big here, but I sure felt big. I am quite a bit bigger now. :)

Abby and James, Clay and Katie's son.

Me and Anastasia, Katie's daughter

My sweetie

At the boardwalk...

havin' fun...

Abigail's 4th birthday...and Brandon's 33rd squeaks in for an honorable mention

Abby's "real" birthday, September 9th.

Nana Jill came for a visit September 11.

Then, it was Dad's birthday on September 16. We really know how to party!

Brandon is giving a thumbs-up to his favorite dinner: homemade pizza (which includes homemade pizza dough).

Then, Abigail's birthday tea party was on September 17. She had two girlfriends over for dress-up, make-up, tea and butterfly cake.

Earlier in the day, she was practicing her hostess skills.

Thank you, Nana and Papa, for this shirt!

Hope, Gracey and Abby enjoying the finer things in life.

My first butterfly cake...

Signs of Summer

My friend Janine visited from Pittsburgh for a weekend in August.

We walked at three locations around town, in the sweltering heat, had dinner out and, of course, stopped at the Berkey Creamery.

Cousins: Isaac, Shianna, Haleigh, Jude (harassing Haleigh), Abigail and Ezra at the Huntingdon Fair.

I only had my camera out for the first stop--the hogs--before giving up entirely. It was incredibly hot (and stinky) and keeping the family together required all my energy.

The fruits of my garden. Yes, those are baby carrots.

Admittedly, this is a pretty lean garden. I had 6 tomato plants, a few cucumber plants, a yellow squash, zucchini, and basil. (I'm not counting the carrots.) The rest of the seeds I planted didn't do much. We had onions, but they were mini, too. This was a trial year and I think I've learned some lessons for next year's attempt.

Good Times with Chicago Friends

Our dear friends the Hunters--Brian, Kendra and Miles--came for a 3 day visit in early August. We had a wonderful time and my only complaint is that it went way too quickly. Come back soon, Hunters! As you'll see, we filled our days with activities.

One random exciting event occured when our neighbor, who does daycare, had a fire engine and fireman visit our street to do a firesafety talk and demonstration. Jude and Abby were at VBS, Miles and Ezra only found the truck initially interesting, but Brandon and Brian thoroughly enjoyed the event, as you can see.

Here is a view from Mt Nittany, a short hike about 2 miles from our house.

You can see why it's called Happy Valley.

Look at this little boy, growing up before our eyes.

Two handsome lads playing and reading books in Jude's fire engine bed.

Brandon shepherding Ezra, Miles and Jude at the Shavers Creek Environmental Center.

Inside we saw snakes, turtles, a few birds, and lots of hands-on exhibits displaying local flora and fauna.

Outside is an aviary with over a dozen owls, eagles and smaller birds of prey.

We were able to see the birds being fed, which was both fascinating and a little gross.

Here are some pictures of Miles on Ezra's new scooter. Miles figured out how to coordinate his feet to make it move; Ezra still expects to be pushed on it.

See this dog? Ezra decides to put him in his "pocket." Look below...

See Ezra's shirt bulging near his chest? That's where he kept his dog for the rest of the evening, including dinner. If you look closely, you can also see that he has grass sticking out of his diaper.

Look at these hams...

Friends, food and fun!

Look what fun Aunt Kendra had during bath time.

What? My hair?

Ha!

More Fun with the Hunters

Brandon took Brian and Jude on a hike up Mt. Nittany.

Then, we celebrated Ezra and Miles' birthdays at the Berkey Creamery. Always a favorite!

Of course, we had to let the kids burn off some of the sugar high.

Parents overseeing the running, jumping and falling.

Ezra giving Aunt Kendra a back rub. I think she enjoyed it.

Happy Valley

The third wheel

The love birds

Shavers Creek Environmental Center

Delgrosso's Park was Miles' and Ezra's first big kid rides.

Haleigh, Olivia, Isaac and Jude = cousins having the time of their lives

Delgrosso's Park also has a water park, which was our family's favorite.

Little Miss Abigail

Daddy and Ezra (yes, Ezra's lips are blue)

Water cooler talk

Cheese!

Uncle Brian and Miles

Our niece, Nataisha

Brandon may have had the most fun of all participants. He especially enjoyed riding the slides with Jude.

"Ezra, where are your feet?"

"Here they are!"

Cousin Lindsey brought her new baby Wyatt (2 1/2 weeks old) just for Abby. :)

Maternal impulses are emanating from this nearly 4 year old.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ezra!

Our nieces decorated for the party with their own renditions of Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar.

Ezra's favorite meal: beans and rice. The helmet is for his scooter...look below.

A two-year-old reading the card first? How precocious!

Haleigh, our niece, enjoying the party.

Who knew that they made scooters for the least coordinated among us: toddlers.

You may not at first glance register this face as pure joy, but Ezra is thrilled to receive his own Leapster hand-held game.

The cupcake-making process began the night before Ezra's birthday party. I had the fan blowing on me to create that Marilyn-Monroe-in-the-kitchen look.

Here is my rendition of the Eric Carle Very Hungry Caterpillar. If you look closely, it even looks like the caterpillar is sweating.

Cookoo-Crazies

Regular post-bath craziness, exhibited by an uninhibited Abigail

The beginning of a new chapter in 2-year-old Ezra's life. He likes to sit on it, think and read his morning paper. So far, no deposits have been made.

Summer 2009

Neighborhood water fun!

Jude's Creation: Anakin Four Gun Ship

Pink hair, blue nail polish and an attitude!

Face (body) painting at the Pennsylvania Arts Festival

Our little flower

Jude playing basketball with the big boys at our annual church picnic.

The Cutest Ezra We Know!

Ezra and our niece Haleigh

If you look closely you'll notice that Ezra is wearing a frog bib while eating out of his frog bowl and his favorite frog "baby" is sitting on the table.

Sorry for the duplicates! I couldn't decide which photo was cutest. :)

Sanchez Visit

Jonah made himself right at home in Grandma's sand box.

We were thrilled to have the Sanchez family, if only for a few days. We took them out to the "country" as Jonah kept calling it and my mother-in-law took care of us all.

One favorite outing of the Swisher grandkids is feeding carp at Raystown Lake. We take dog food and
watch the fish fight for the food. I'm always afraid we're going to lose a kid, but this outing was incident free.

Jonah feeding carp

Laura holding onto Manny

There are no excuses for the paucity of photos recording our time together. I'm sorry, Jonah and Manny, that your madrina dropped the ball!

Congratulations, Brandon Swisher, MS, JD!

Brandon's best friend Keith came to celebrate Brandon's accomplishments.

Mom and Dad

Goofy Jude

That's all, Folks!

Outdoors

Abby showing off an ant

For Mother's Day, my generous in-laws gave me cushions for our outdoor chairs. These were desperately needed and have made our back deck a small oasis. I'll post pictures of the complete set soon. Thank you, Mom and Dad!

killing ants is a popular pastime

This is what happens when Mom is playing on Facebook...

Jedi Jude's favorite passtimes

Jude created his own drums.

Jude and our favorite neighbor, Mr. Mick, washing Jude's bike.

The Clone Wars

Swisher-ized Spring

Unfortunately, this post is late, but I have one more day to say, "Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!"

Abigail enjoying Easter candy

Dyeing Easter eggs with the kids. They loved the process and then ate the egg salad we made with spoons. I couldn't convince them to make sandwiches; they just wanted to eat it straight. Whatever!For March birthdays (Jude and cousins Haleigh and Nataisha), Grandma had each cousin decorate a square of angel food cake

then we "glued" each segment together with frosting, added face details and we had

a caterpillar cake!

Grandma is full of fun, creative ideas.

Abigail enjoying the children's library at Grandma's house

Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Papa's on Western Easter, which was our Palm Sunday. It was chilly!

I can't remember why I didn't have Ezra's coat, but Grandma had one to lend... just happened to be a girl's jacket.

These are a few of the photos I was able to snap when I tried to sneak a few of Brandon. No nice smiles for me.

Jordan, Brandon's brother, and our niece Haleigh

Our oldest niece, Nataisha

He kind of makes a cute girl, I think.

Abigail teaching Rebekah the joys of chalk art

A local Easter egg hunt

Our friends, Noah (above) and Simeon (below)

Ezra, with his Frankenstein Halloween pail. Again, this was Easter.

Ezra in the bath... I couldn't resist showing off his sway-back profile:

Spring Break in Kentucky

I took the kids to visit my mom, brother and sister in Louisville, KY for Spring Break. We had a great time, as usual. Here are a few shots of the kids playing together.

Jude and Juliana scouring the Lego catalog.

A familiar scene to us now-- we love it!

Juliana

Cole

Abigail and Hunter

Boys will be boys!

A mini celebration for Jude's birthday

Brandon + Corene = Forever (or at least 6 years)

Brandon and I were treated to a wonderful night at the Bedford Springs Resort and Spa. It's a gorgeous, luxurious hotel southwest of State College. In review of these pictures, I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't take any of Brandon. Sorry, Babe.

Our beautiful room

A dining room named for our favorite president!

Lunch at the saloon

This is actually the last picture we took, snapped as we were heading home. (Someday I'll figure out the uploading/publishing order.)

Breakfast, coffee and a newspaper!? Can you tell by my smile this is one of my most favorite pastimes?

After dinner we did some exploration. I was freezing!

This is the indoor pool that is fed with natural spring water. There are several springs on site, which is why the hotel was originally chosen for this location.

My wonderful hubby!

Chocolate covered strawberries and champagne, compliments of the hotel.