Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Everyone! Be sure to send/post pictures of all the kiddies in their costumes. Isabela did not want to buy one, but her friend Taylor is going to hook her up I think. She HAS to go trick-or-treating, so... she is going. It is tonight from 5-7 in MC.



In other news this morning was a great morning... it was our first pay period with no MORTGAGE PAYMENT! So I used it to pay off a credit card! I logged on to the mortgage site just to make sure everything was good, and cheered when in red letters it said, "no accounts found" and a blue link that said, "click here to add account". Yay!

It was also a great morning because I got an email from my history teacher about my Detectives paper on MASTER and COMMANDER: She said my paper not only looks good, but looks EXCELLENT!! I was the only person to choose M&C, other choices included The Patriot, Last of the Mohican's, Amazing Grace and Amistad. We had to watch the movie and research the historical inaccuracies in the movie. I took a couple extra days because I wasn't real familiar with Napoleon...it's okay though, she gives you a few extra days. So I'm excited. And I also got confirmation on my seat for the bus ride to Chicago for the book club trip.

Christmas Shopping!

I have been busy Christmas Shopping already! I have been shopping a little all year and now I have shopping done for Casi, Makenna, Chris, Amanda, Thom and Matthew. I have most of Isabela's shopping done too. I'm so excited Christmas is nearing quickly.

Scary Dairy

So I'm sure MC news hasn't made your local news stations, last Monday the bank down the road from us was robbed at gun point. Friday, a bank just a few miles away from was also robbed at gun point. So work has been extra stressful with trying to keep eyes out for potential problems. We did have a guy come in and the police have already been in to ask us if anyone looked suspicious the past few weeks. One guy has, and we gave them what we could. Other than that, we don't have any real news.

Also, National City has been bought by PNC Financial Group. No changes are scheduled to take place until the end of the year, but who knows. The reason for the acquisition is because both banks alone are to small to receive bailout money... but together they will receive over 7 billion. That is what we hear anyways, but you know how reliable the Internet can be.

The Weekend Came, The Weekend Went

Thursday was Isabela's first Chorale performance. Grandpa just happened to be driving nearby, and came over to watch the show. We got dinner from Chilli's - Isabela and I had to eat in the car because we ran out of time.

If think Dad is looking funny holiding his arm like this, you should check out his elbow...



He hit it inside the truck and it swelled up like you wouldn't believe. He said it hurt, and he had trouble bending it, but he said he was okay.


So with all the pretty bright colors and lights, there was a slight problem getting pictures no matter which setting I put it on... perhaps it is time for me to get a new camera. But...there she is second row behind the blond boy

She did a great job and there are videos posted on her blog.

Saturday Chris got started early with the windows. I had to work till one, he had a breakfast with guys from work and Isabela had a pumpkin carving date with Taylor, a friend from school. Chris also made a WONDERFUL lunch Saturday in the crock pot - it was a delicious medley of shredded chicken, peas, carrots, rice and potatoes.

All the rooms except the smallest bedroom and the kitchen are ready for winter.

Saturday night Chris and I made cookies while Isabela was still out with Taylor. Here I am mixing the colors for the sprinkles. I only made three, Orange, Black and Green, (it looks yellow in the picture)

Chris mixed the dough in the mixer. He loves that thing.

We had a little trouble rolling the dough to the right thickness. But eventually Chris got the hang of it. He was in charge of rolling after that.


When Isabela got home, we put on the icing, and the sprinkles. I gave a jar of cookies to the kids upstairs, they loved them.

Sunday Isabela went to Chicago with the Carpenters and Chris and I went GEO CACHING! We did not find a thing though! We actually ran into other Geocachers. But we didn't want to risk them finding it first then all the hunt be gone for us. So we moved on to another one and when we went back to the cemetery for the other one, it was so windy and cold we decided to try again later when we were dressed a little warmer.

Looks like Pinocchio. :)

After hunting we did go to lunch at EL Bracero's, it was YUMMY- I love their chips and salsa. Chris and I also took a nap later after we watched Adventures in Babysitting.

Summer Fun!

Memories are great, so here are some of ours! I forgot to post these pictures from this summer, and thought well, I should post them now while I am thinking about it.



There is Casi, Dad and Austin.


Austin is starting to get brave on his tube!



He jumped on to my tube.

Now he knows his lifevest WILL keep him above water. He jumped from tube to tube!

It's a Boy!!!

So.. this is probably going to confirm any suspicions you might have had about my smarts for animals.... Tigger is a BOY. We've been saying girl since we got him because apparently he's already been fixed and that's why we couldn't see any... man parts... to know he's a he. We looked but apparently we didn't know what we were looking for. So I hope everyone gets a good laugh out of that... and that we spent $180 on the check up with the new Vet (who is apparently a Little more perceptive than the last one), flea medication (I'm told they are VERY bad right now), Rabies shot (yeah, we got the three year one again!), and blood test for feline leukemia because her temperature has been spiking really high lately, and she's been going outside a little more often in past months. So hopefully results will be good news at the start of next week.

States Map

If you scroll all the way to the bottom, you'll see we have added a map to track our GEOCACHE Finds by state. There are only two states right now, and not even in our own state... but we'll add more as time rolls by.

Going to Ohio

This weekend we went to Canton, Ohio to visit Isabela's brother. It was actually a nice 5 1/2 hour drive. Toll roads and no back roads made it very nice. We arrived about 2pm and got settled into our rooms. Then Isabela's brother, Guga, took us to see Walsh College. He showed us the dorms, introduced us to some of his friends, showed us classrooms, the library where he works, and the gardens.

Afterwards we went back to his house and decided on where to eat. We went to a locally owned restaurant called "Papa Bears". The pasta was soooo goood. Service was great.


After lunch we went to find a Geo-Cache. It was at a park near the college. We searched and searched and it was cold.



We were about to give up...

when Guga found it! Stuffed away under the water fountain right by the building.



We went to the soccer game that night and woke up early to go to church with Guga's former exchange family. This is cool because the parent-in-laws of our Pastors daughter from Sharpsville attend this church. We said, "Fierbaugh, we know some Fierbaughs that moved to Ohio." and turns out, they are her husbands parents. Here we are with the Church's pastor and Guga's exchange parents, Mary Ellen and Dick.


They have a beautiful home way out in the country. It is great. Here we are in the front yard.



We had an amazing lunch, Mary Ellen is a GRRRRRRREAT cook. Very filling. Lovely home. Glad we got to meet them. Sadly we had to listen to the Colts get beat very badly by Greenbay on the way home. But it was a great trip.

Happy Halloween my Sweeties!

Going, Going, Gone!

So if you've been wondering where we've been- I'd just like to remind you that we have a teenager now, and anyone who has one knows that they keep you very busy. I also have work and school which means HOMEWORK, HOMEWORK, HOMEWORK. However, I write more for my history class then I do my writing class, but I have to say I ACED MY HISTORY EXAM from last week!!!!... and this partly was because of all the essays she makes us write.
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If you're wondering if we got any REALLY,REALLY,REALLY, REALLY exciting news- well we do-----the house in Kokomo (Sharpsville)---- IT'S GONE! SOLD! I did not want to jinx anything so I never posted about it, but for those of you who haven't heard- we held on to it for over a year, it sat empty. We got the water damage from the storms repaired and the roof replaced from the wind damage- we put it on the market on a WEDNESDAY and had an offer on MONDAY. We lost some money after taxes, fees, and the fact that the home inspection claims we don't have a septic, so we had to pay for that, but it was still a killer deal and was much worth getting out from under that monthly mortgage payment. IT'S SOLD!
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Exchange Program Trip to Niagara Falls

This trip was a whole-lotta fun, but also very tiring! I am not going to tell every detail because it was BUSY weekend, plus the pictures pretty much explain themselves in some cases. :)

Saturday morning (very early might I say) we headed to Chesterton to pick up our van. Chris was a driver, I was a chaperon. Though Chris did a much better job than I at yelling at the kids to keep quiet while Warren was trying to talk to them.

We always gathered like this and Chris was always walking around going, "guys come on, listen." I know it is hard to see but if you look in the right hand corner the boy in the grey shirt on the end, that's the problem child for the trip. He was in our van- always the last to get in, always mouthing off. ALL the chaperone's said they will not allow him in their group if they do another trip...and if you look two boys over from him, the one in back there, yeah that's the one that I had to keep sending back to his room because he wanted to go see his girlfriend. Which I think eventually, he just went out the window...


Our first stop was at Amish Country and while the kids ran around town and took pictures of the Amish people and shopped the shops, the adults made sandwiches. Chris and I had to boil and peel 60 eggs the night before to make EGG Salad. We both said we wouldn't eat it, but it was DEEE-LICOUS! We ate like three or four.


This is Warren the coordinator with the sweatshirt on, and Rich a Marine and a driver for this trip.


The kids got back early and are waiting to get their sack lunches. They could choose from Egg Salad, Tuna Salad or PB&J.


Yeah that PB&J in the same container stuff was gross looking, but the kids seemed to like it. I made about 20 of the 50 PB&J's.


Here is Warren again with Driver Mark. I think he may be a teacher in Valpo.


Other drivers/chaperone's were Christine and Derek- NEWLY WEDS!


Here is a bad picture of Daniel, a chaperon/kid from Brazil. He was an exchange student 5 years ago and back going to college at Valpo U.


We made a stop later that night at CEDAR POINT! It was my first time and how much fun it was. We only rode one coaster, which the picture is on a sidebar there. The lines were not too long. We only saw Isabela for 5 seconds when we got there and then she was gone. Chris and I walked through the Haunted Forrest with Warren after taking a nap out in the van. Which was a good thing since it was another 3 hours till we got to the hotel.



Then we got up in the morning, had breakfast in the parking lot, lunch in the park near Niagara Falls, then we stopped at Niagara falls and learned how to not use the high tech parking meters. Yeah, those are not cool. It like takes a credit card and has a camera on your plates, so while we were trying to figure it out, the VIOLATION lights started flashing and a message saying, "you will be billed a $25 violation fee." So we had to back the car out of the spot, and drive back into it to reset the thing.









This is the Maid of the Mist - I chaperoned this tour with 16 students by myself. It was easy because there was no where for them to go but overboard, and all the trouble makers went to Canada....


19 kids went to Canada with ONLY ONE chaperon---CHRIS! He had the tough job the whole trip, driving, keeping kids quiet, and chaperoning in Canada by himself... unfortunately he had most of the Spanish kids and they are so misbehaved. They were supposed to be at the bridge at 6:45.. they showed up at 7:15 after Chris had spent that 1/2 hour searching for them. Everyone else had to wait in the vans like sardines because of them. They were rude, foul mouthed- a sad representation of their country.


Isabela took the tour under the falls. She got to touch the falls! She also said that the rainbow circles under the falls. The kids who wore pants were very cold, but the weather was warm so they dried on the drive to the motel.




I was excited to see this Welsh Dragon on a stone in the middle of the park. I knew my mom would want to see it. We have family in Wales, so I had to stop to get a few pictures.






Here is almost all of the kids that went on the Maid of the Mist with me. I bought a magnetic clip for the fridge at the goodies store.










Isabela bought Chris and I hats! They are wonderful! Thanks Bela!


On our way home the next day we stopped at the ROCK-N-ROLL HALL OF FAME. Chris was wishing he had the money to get Thom one of these gold albums.

Because we are hard to see, Isabela and I just took our picture on the drained fountain there and we're jumping down.

I'm TIRED!

There are two of the German students and they were my favorite on the trip in our van. So, so, so polite...even if I did think they managed smuggle some alcohol in from Canada... they boy could throw a grape REALLY high and watch it all the way into his mouth. It was insane! I never did learn their names though, and Jasper from Germany was really nice also, he kept me awake in the van by talking about NCIS.