I'm not sure if everyone is feeling the same way right now, but I am super ready for spring, and the changing of the season. Maybe it's that I live in New England, and the winters are longer here, but it seems that the temperature has been below freezing for an eternity. I originally thought it was cool to see that the rivers had frozen over, but now I'm thinking... "give me a break". I thought that Puxatawny Phil didn't see his shadow... The picture above is a stark reminder to me about how bad the snow can get.

Oh, and as a bonus... since it started raining a couple days ago, our sump pump turned on, and we've been pumping out the french drain system for the last three days. I am praying that we don't have another March 2010, when we got 14 inches of rain, and our basement was literally a river because the ground water level was so high.

Where did all the Blogs go?

Ok... So I was just thinking about our blog, and how we have totally let it go... We haven't posted since July of 2010... so almost 8 full months. So... I sat down to write a new post, to get "caught up" with all of our friends. And, of course I couldn't think of a thing to write on the blog. So I did the normal thing, I went looking at all of our friends blogs. And I felt SO relieved! At least half of the blogs are completely devoid of posts within the last year. Some have even been abandoned for 2 full years. My sister... well, she only has two posts on her blog. Have we all become so dependent on facebook that blogging has become obsolete? I'm not saying that the entire world is trending away from blogs, but I have noticed that the only thriving blogs have been those dedicated to a specific topic. Do we now get our "fix" of friends through facebook... what is almost completely a voyeuristic tool to see how our friends are doing, without them knowing we are checking on them? Oh, of course we write our little "I love this pic" and "Haven't talked in a while" little notes on peoples walls, but most of the time we lack enough gumption to write a status on serious topics.

Well... I want everyone to know that I love you, even if you don't post on your blog anymore...

As time goes by...

Wow! The year has gone by fast! I didn't think it would be this long since our last blog!! Unfortunately for those of you who are on Facebook, know well that I am on there way more than what I should! So I don't get to devote time to our blog!

I won't download our entire year right now but it has been one adventure after another! I will work on keeping this more updated over this coming year!

Here are some pictures to hold you over until next time:

"EVERYTHING!"

was Sam's response when I asked her what her favorite part of her first day of Kindergarten was. Couldn't have prayed for a better response!

Yesterday was an amazingly nice day! I'm convinced it's because Matt was able to stay at home in the morning to take Sam to school w/ us! (thanks babe!) We were all up and showered (that's right, all four of us got showers in the morning!). The kids ate breakfast and then off we went! We arrived at school on time too!

Oh, and did I mention she has to be at school about 45 mins earlier than the public school kids and an hr earlier than preschool last year!? Yeah, I didn't think it would happen at all!

She entered the school with the typical caution of entering any new situation. Thankfully, a few adults who know her greeted her by name. That helped a lot!! It was relaxing for us too because Mr Kamp the assist. headmaster/music teacher (also Matt's elementary music teacher) was out to greet everyone so he told Matt to get to class! It was cute! Mr Kamp has been a great part of our transition here for Sammie. See, his wife was Sam's preschool teacher last year so that gave her a way to connect the two schools and know that she'll still get to see her beloved Mrs. Kamp from time to time! sniff, sniff

Here's a small glimpse into kindergarten! (Don't call it school or you'll be corrected by the student herself..."you mean kindergarten!")

Still here...

Well, it's been quite some time since our last blog. How are ya?? We're doing well. I cannot say that there is anything major to share but I just felt the need to write on here since we have been slacking on this page!

I will leave you with a picture or two of the kiddos!!

Daniel reading his favorite book


Sam's first trip to Fenway!

In Loving Memory

It is always hard when you lose a friend, but to lose someone who is completely healthy in a car accident reminds you of how short our time here on earth is. On Monday, one of our close friends from Messiah College died in a head-on collision in Dayton Ohio. Below is the news video about her accident. She was an only child, and we are praying for her parents as they have gone to Ohio to coordinate services and bury their baby.

Teri Lee Carl
Born: February 28th, 1979
Died: December 1st, 2008

We miss you Teri Lee... See you in heaven.

The Ring's Visit

We are sooooo happy that the Ring's are visiting us!! They arrived here yesterday, and we've been able to spend some awesome time together. Today we went to Monkey Joe's, an indoor moon-bounce/gymnasium, where the kids went crazy and had a blast. We came home and watched Veggie Tales Jonah, and let the kids rest a bit. It's always great to see close friends, and we hope that all our friends from VA come and see us soon!! We miss living in VA, and we miss Calvary Baptist Church.