Missing it!

And no it is not the apartment.  It is the location.  Been to two grocery stores over here and not too thrilled with the choices they have.  That means very little to no organic or natural selection. 

While we were at the apartment today, we headed over to Whole Foods.  Boy will I miss having my two favorite stores only a mile away.  Both Whole Foods and Trader Joe's were right there!  I will definitely be working a visit to them in my schedule.  I can't wait for my stuff as there is another refrigerator in one of the PODS.  

Still have a few other stores to check out and see what they have to offer.  Here's hoping for something better than the others offer.

Lunch Date

Eating at Applebees while doing loads is wash at apartment. The apartment has only few things left. But we needed to finish up and do wash as the PODS haven't arrived yet. Asked Josh what he wanted and he suggested Applebees.


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He's Off

Stephen and I woke up at 3:30 am to get him to the Trenton Train Station to meet with most of the team to get up to Newark airport.  

He was extremely excited.  You could hear and see the excitement on everyone's face.  Even at that hour of the morning.   They have a lot of bags they were transporting.  I hope it all went well.   It was nice to be there.  Had the opportunity to pray with the group before they got on the train.

The updates from facebook let us know that they arrived okay.  Each leg of the trip went well.  At least they did not report anything differently.  I am sure Barb is a little at ease as she was worried.  She has a "no child left behind" rule.  BTW - it also applies to her, she is not a good air traveler.  She even posted that she was feeling sick.  Yuck!  

I know that all will go well.  I am very excited to hear about the updates as well as hear about all that will occur while they are there.  Stephen even took a camera, I do hope he remembers and has the opportunity to capture some moments to share with us upon his return. 

Be praying!!!

I actually had to nap twice today to adjust to the wake up time.  I can only imagine how they are feeling.  The young ones were good today, allowing me the necessary rest my body required.   It should be interesting to see how the days unfold.  I already noticed some changes in Abigail.  She was always the "bossy" one, but I heard her talking to Josh in a manner that Stephen usually does. 

Visitors

We received our first visitors today.  Bill's parents stopped by!!  It was very exciting for the children to have them come.  They also came with some goodies they picked up for the kids from Hawaii.  Just little trinkets, but kids love that stuff.  

It was a nice visit.   A time of catching up and talking.  It has been some time since we were able to all be together. 

It really does feel like home already!!  It was such a great feeling today.  Sitting down on the sofa with my hubby relaxing and watching  HGTV, it really hit me that this is ours and we are home.   Will be fun when the PODS start arriving as we get to unpack all the stuff.  Someone mentioned that it will feel like Christmas here.  So true, it has been a while since we had those items. 

Slacks

Lunch!! Italian sub. Philly cheese steak. Wings.


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Shout Out!

A big huge shout out to my girlfriend Carla for today is her birthday.

Happy Birthday, Friend!!!  Miss you!  I do hope you have a splendid year in the Lord!!!!

 (She is the one on the right!!!)

Saturday Morning

Love to do big breakfast on Saturday mornings. A few set backs were discovered.
A pan that doesn't fit! ( I love this pan).  It is suppose to cover two burners.  Doesn't do that.  It can't even fit from front to back.  It was also bumping into the small pan in the back with the sausage.  GRRR to the stove.

All said and done, it did not stop us from making it work!



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Finishing Apartment

Went over to apartment to wash clothes and finish getting our stuff.











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Making it Ours

The daunting yet exciting task of unpacking and making this place ours has been both rewarding and exhausting!  

The many remarks from the children about working "so hard" or "when will we be done" have had me chuckling.   While I do require them to pitch in and help, they have not done anything yet.  When those PODS start arriving the real work will begin.   I am not saying they are not working, oh they are, but I know what went into those PODS and I know what must come out of them!  

Some of the things they have done:  unpacked books and put them on shelves, unpacked their clothes and put them away, unpacked toys and put them in big closet in basement, put away the Wii and xbox games, unpacked the pantry box, unpacked cups, etc.   I know I should have taken some photos but I was busy right along side them.  I will try to remember to take some over the next few weeks!  

When all the problems arose with the PODS I was a little annoyed.  Prayed and God showed me that spacing them out is better.  I know me and I would work hard to accomplish emptying them.  The scattering will allow us time to rest before we need to attack the next set.   After staying in the apartment for 2 years, I really want to be IN!

The children enjoyed playing basketball today, kicking a beach ball in the yard (it was windy which made it very fun), and climbing our trees!!!  Even though it was hot out there today, they still managed to play outside!!

We are happy!  Thank you, Lord!

We're In

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Really?

During all the packing and getting ready for the big move, I discovered that we were given wrong information from PODS.   Have to say at this point, I am not a big fan, nor do I recommend using them for a long distance move.   Suffice it to say I have no idea when or if we will be getting our PODS.   It has been an interesting day.   Here I thought we were going to have money problems, but that is working out.  Still need to pick up check tomorrow afternoon.   But all is going as planned in that department.

I vow to not move myself again!!!   I am making sure that it is covered from beginning to end.  I am trying very hard to look to God and allow Him to shine through in my life.  If you would be so kind as to say a prayer for me, I would humbly accept!!

Moving = Nasty Pier = No Fun!

Father's Day

Okay so I was reading other's blogs and saw so many about father's day and felt a little bad.  You see we did not do much of anything.  Just sat around the house after church and Five Guys.   I am hoping it was because Bill was up at 4:30 am to catch a flight to Chicago.  
Anyway,  I do hope you had a good Father's day!!!   We love you!  Be safe!

Week in Review

Monday June 14th - Packing packing packing.  We started packing this place up.  Abigail helped tremendously doing 3 book boxes and then she moved on to her bedroom.  There she accomplished 2 boxes.   Oh my aching back.

Tuesday June 15th - Island Beach.   We were invited to go to the beach with the Cherry family and I usually don't say no to the beach.   We got up early and picked up the Cherrys along the way.  It was about 1 1/2 hours away but sooooo worth it.   This lady is not a fan of the Jersey beaches (the list is long) but this beach was good.   First it is a barrier beach so they allow only so many cars on, second you only pay per car load not per person.  Third, they had lovely shower facilities.   This may have become a favorite of mine.   The biggest set back was there were A LOT of seagulls.  And they were aggressive.   High tide was by far the best part of the day.  The kids were able to go out far and really enjoyed that!  I do need to invest in some beach chairs!!!

Wednesday June 16th - Up and out early to meet a gentleman that runs a Rock and Roll camp.  Stephen and I went over to a friends who was willing to host him so those of us here could meet him.  The camp is about an hour north of us but we decided to sign him up as there are other families considering it too.  That means carpooling.  I like that.   Then it was back home for... more packing!

Thursday June 17th - Packing and piano.  Yes more packing and Abigail needed to get to piano it has been over 3 weeks since she went last.  

Friday June 18th - Need I say it, more packing.  But we ended the day with fun...   TOY STORY 3!!!  Bill was able to get home an hour earlier than usual so it was pizza then off to the movie.   We thoroughly enjoyed this film.   Kudos to Pixar and all that were involved in the making of this movie.   Just fabulous!!!!!  They did it again!

Family

On Sunday we headed into NYC to celebrate my Uncle Ron's 75th birthday!!!  It was soooo great to see a lot of the family.   My cousin Elaine (her Dad) hosted the event at a restaurant close to her home.   Of her 7 siblings all but 2 made it.   The funny thing is some of her sisters had no idea whom Elaine invited.  So they were equally surprised to see the family.  Due to all the excitement I did not take any photos at the restaurant.  However we did go back to Elaine and Arie's home to have some dessert!!!

At the bottom you will see some wet individuals - yes we got soaked.  We knew the rain was a possibility but completely forgot to bring umbrellas!!!  Glad it happened at the end of the day!


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Creation

Feedback: Is Christian Orthodoxy a Cult? - Answers in Genesis

I urge to find time to read the above. It is so helpful in understanding so much more about Creation vs. Evolution. As I consider new curriculum for next year, I am seriously considering and praying about using AIG's curriculum. A friend ordered it and lent it to me to preview. I really do like it. Besides Miss Abi asked if we could use Dr. Ham's curriculum. (He didn't write it, but definitely supports it.) May I say it is well done. I especially like the way they break it down per age group, very easy to use with children of different ages.

Enjoy the read. Get a cup of coffee/tea and sit back and get some insights to defending our beliefs.

Midnight Show

Stephen is so happy to be attending a midnight showing of the A-Team.  He has never been to a show at that time and he is going with other guy friends so he is feeling pretty good.  I am so grateful for other families that think they way I do.  It really helps with the kids and all they want to do.  Oh my boy is growing up!!

Swimming (sort of)

Josh is determined to learn how to swim this year. I know, I know bad mom award here as I have never given my kids any formal swim lessons. Perhaps it comes from my youth. I did not have any we learned in my grandma's pool. Creature of habit?! Anyway here he is trying. Not bad for the first time without swimmies.



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Testing, testing, testing

Never ending testing.  The last three days were testing days for Stephen and Abigail.  They were definitely glad to be done on Thursday.  Stephen's group finished up super early.  They were only in there for an hour and a half.  Abigail's age went for the full 3 hours.   Some of the moms were talking and we think that the young ones should finish earlier on the last day because they are fried.  My Abigail was exhausted.  I wouldn't be surprised if she did not fair well on those portions of the exam.  

I was also think that maybe they could make it every other day, instead of 3 straight days.   We only tried to do some work on Tuesday because I could tell the other days they had had enough!!!  I know from talking that some other families did the same thing.  While I know the testing is optional (at this age in NJ), I like to get the results to make sure we are on par.  It should be interesting this year, the results, I mean, as Stephen felt there were some things that he really had no idea about.   Oh well!!!

Abigail was very tired by Thursday night.  She was barely keeping her head up at the dinner table.   So glad is it behind us.  Here's to finishing up school work soon!!!!

Pictures

Here are some highlights in pictures of our recent activities.  Enjoy!  (Also check some other posts as I have added some additional photos.)

 Baltimore Inner Harbor

Joshua out with Bill

Recital Pictures

Trenton Thunder

Beach

Beach

Thursday morning Bill had a PT appointment, so out the door early he went.  While he was out, I was checking some place we could go as a family for a little impromptu field trip.  At Point Pleasant Beach, about 1 hour from us, is a boardwalk, beach, and aquarium.   Bill called on his way home and I suggested we get in the car and go.
We packed up some bathing suits, towels, and sandals.  Then off we went.  We arrived there just at noon time.  The aquarium is small and we went through it in about an hour.  It acutally took us longer to decide where to eat lunch.  We walked the boardwalk to see what they had to offer and then ventured into a place which had sandwiches, pizza, or fried food.   I was disappointed to not see salad but probably best they did not have it.
Afterwards it was time to go onto the beach.  My biggest gripe with NJ is that you have to pay to get on the beach.  And this beach is expensive.  We had to pay $25 for our family.   Bummer!!!  The young ones were the only ones to don on their suits because it was cooooold.  I was very surprised since it was suppose to be in the mid 80s and it is June!   They found some friends and had a great time making sand castles and running in and out of the water.  Stephen stayed with Bill and I on the blankets trying to stay warm.  He had a towel covering him from head to toe.
At about 3:30p we got off the beach, got the young ones changed and walked to find some dessert.   Ice cream is our food of choice and we just had to decide which place to pick.  It is in abundance there.
By then we were wiped and ready to head back home.   A great sponteaous family day!!!

Meeting the Man

The kids wanted to meet Dr. Ham.


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