The Louisville Science Center

Last December, our dear friends the Schwenkes moved away.  It was really awful.  We are all still pretty sad and not at peace about it, I'll just be honest.  Many friends move away because they are done with seminary and find jobs.  The Schwenkes had to move because they couldn't sell their home in Eastern Kentucky and the people (the state?  the gov't, whoever) wouldn't allow them to rent it any longer.  And a few months ago, Matt got his orders from the US Army...he'll be leaving for Afghanistan soon...for over a year.  :-(  They have three children ages 8, 6 and 5 (something like that).  Please pray for this sweet, precious family.

We are reading the story of Joseph right now.  The story always convicts me and teaches me,  more and more every time I read it, that God's plans are the best plans.  That there is a bigger picture we can't see.  That He does love us so very, very much.  

I don't know why God has taken the Schwenke family away from us.  Josiah doesn't understand why I don't let him have whatever he wants, either.  He lets me know through frequent temper tantrums that hurt my heart, my feelings and make me angry.

He doesn't understand because he is two.

He is small.  He's short-sighted, selfish and immature.

You see what I'm saying, here, right?

Every now and then, the Schwenkes visit us.  They make us go crazy places like they always used to.  Jenn always planned our home school field trips.  She got us all motivated to drag our clan to places us moms would probably never go by ourselves, without our husbands, because it is quite a chore!  But in a large group, we watch out for each other, and it all works just fine.

Plus a lot of people leave when they see our big group coming...

On Tuesday (yesterday) we went to the Louisville Science Center.  We all had earned free passes anyway with the Louisville Free Public Library Summer Reading Program.  So this trip was almost free.  I paid for my ticket and we all packed our lunches.  We left at 9:15 am and got home at 2:30.  Shwew.  It was quite a day!  

Waiting outside the doors for all our friends to arrive.

Our 5 and 6 year old friends  really know how to get into character.  We love playing with them!

Josiah was an excellent bus driver, even though he was convinced it was a train.  Choo choo!

He spent an hour playing in the water, getting soaked.

The rain jacket didn't help much!

He loves to make tea for Mommy.

I l-o-v-e this picture of our sweet seven year old friend, Kaylee.

The tubes of air...shot balls out, so cool!

"We need these blocks at our house.  These are REAL blocks!"

Shopping for shapes!  The kids could grab a list of shapes to "buy" and checked out at the register.  

Maryn apparently had a very, very long list.

Building a rollercoaster!

After our friends left, we stayed a while since Owen finally fell asleep.
I got to play with them finally, and we all built a couple castles.  :)

The Easter Egg Hunt

Organizing an Easter Egg Hunt sounds like a pretty easy thing, until you sit down and start working out the details and realize--wow, there's a lot of details here we need to figure out.  Age groups, how many eggs, how much candy to buy, filling the eggs with candy, special prize eggs, volunteers to help stuff, hide, monitor (and chase away squirrels), someone to deliver an Easter message, etc.  And really, it's all over in about ten minutes!  But I think the kiddos and parents all had fun.  

Here are our friends, the Syzmanski girls (Chloe and Lilia, backyard friends):

 Here's my sweet baby boy, with Ella Grace perhaps thinking there may be eggs hidden in the landscaping?  I don't know...

 Maryn brought her HUGE basket because her actual Easter basket was too pretty to bring outside.  Aren't I such a fun mom?

 We had the kiddos sit down for an Easter message delivered by our friend and next door neighbor, Drew (Ella is his daughter, seated in the middle between Eli and Ella Grace).

Our friends the Powells.  Their Mommy Elise helped us out so much today!  She is one of my dearest friends, and Julia is probably Josiah's best friend, and Ella Grace is Maryn's best friend.  Eli and Josiah love each other as well.  We love all of them!  We had a cookout with the Powells last night, too.  And Elise's new baby boy is due just two weeks after ours.  Owen and Aidan, destined to be buddies!

What a blessing friends are.

International Food Festival

Last night we held the first ever International Food Festival in our neighborhood.  I love our neighborhood and all the unique opportunities we have for making friends, experiencing different cultures, and just doing fun (FREE) things without even having to drive anywhere.

We got to try a lot of different foods last night.  We had Indian and Nepali food, Iraqi, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Italian, and more.  I'm not sure the lasagna John made was authentically Italian but it's the kind I prefer!  My Italian grandmothers didn't ever make lasagna that I can remember.  They made lots of soups, eggplant parmesan, tons of vegetables and of course loved to have bread, bread, bread with every meal.  And pizzelles!  Wow, how I love pizzelles and wish I had my grandmother's old iron pizzelle maker.

My favorite food at the Food Festival was the Samosas from Nepal made by our neighbor, Babitra.  Samosas are little turnovers stuffed with meat, beans, potatoes, whatever.  They were a little spicy but definitely in a very, very good way.  John loved the spring rolls made by Esai (sp?) who I think said she is from Japan, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.  They were made with a really super thin (thinner than paper) dough and stuffed with a colorful array of veggies and I think what John said was crab (or lobster?) meat.  There were two amazing sauces to dip them in which John said were incredible and spicy, even for him.  But he loved it!

Josiah stayed entertained by Miss Margeaux's dog.  Pets aren't allowed in our neighborhood, but we have three sweet blind ladies living here that all have seeing eye dogs.  And this has been my kids' sole exposure to dogs, for the most part.  Josiah climbed right on Margeaux's lap and petted that dog, laughing at her (hysterically like he does with babies) until the dog licked him and he flipped out!  But after a few minutes he got used to it and was right there again.  Then he had a free piano lesson with Miss Easai (see facebook for a video of that).

What did Maryn do?  She ran around like a wild banshee, scooping up food whenever it pleased her (mostly cheese puffs and brownies).  :)

I am always surprised more people don't come to these events.  What on earth else do they have to do that could be better than what I just described?  Not only free food, but pleasant company and the opportunity to make more friends!

Valentine's Party

On Wednesday, our sweet neighbor Rebekah  invited us over for a Valentine's Party.  It was so much fun, and such a blessing to me.  After teaching in Immokalee for four years (where Valentine's Day is way, way crazy--the toughest holiday for me by far as a teacher!), I am not thrilled about having Valentine's Day Parties.  I was so happy to go to one that was not planned to by me.  I am so happy to go to ANY event not planned by me!

 First, they made Valentines' bags, of course.  Josiah is doing great with crafty stuff--even glue sticks!  He loves stickers, markers and crayons.  The things you see in the middle of the table, as a centerpiece, were little ribbon wands for each of the kids.

 Chloe and Lilia, two of our best backyard friends!  I love Chloe for her special 5 year old leadership.  Maryn usually lets Chloe be in charge of their play and leads the smaller kids in all kinds of pretend play, and I appreciate that a lot.

 Above, Miss Bekah was helping the girls (Ella, Ella Grace and Maryn) make bracelets.  I love this pic just because you can see all Maryn's curls!

 Love her.

And here is Josiah playing with his first sensory  box.  I filled a box with rice, measuring cups, heart shaped things, some plastic animals, etc...and he has been having a great time digging, dumping and finding hidden things in here.  A total winner.  I love this.  I love it, love it, love it.

Today we had Ella and Ella Grace over for some more Valentines activities.  We made sun catchers, filled big pieces of paper with all kinds of fun things Aunt Cathy sent us (crepe paper, stickers, foam hearts, ribbon, lace, foil, etc.), and did a few fun papers (dot to dot hearts, gluing on flower petals).  Then we read some books (Where's My Sweetie Pie? by Ed Emberley, such a good one) and played and played and played.  Then we had lunch with Miss Elise, Eli and Julia who came up and shared some of their lunches with us.  It was a great neighborly event.  Aside from the fact that all the little girls were pretty tired and were not getting along very well :)

I love our neighbors!

PS:  My hips hurt.  It took me about 2 hours just to "pick up" our house...not even really clean, just pick things up and sweep, wash dishes, etc.  UGH!!!!  I'm tired of this.

Play Time!

 The last two days we had our new little friends, Elijah and Levi, over for play time.  Yesterday they were with us from 10 am - 2:30 pm!  We had so much fun.  All four kids played back in Maryn's room for an hour and a half.  I didn't even have to go back there at all!  I got some mailing stuff done, did some reading, and ate a few treats while the kids weren't looking.  ;-)

 Levi and Josiah really play well together.  Josiah LOVES having boys over!

 And um, Maryn loves it, too...

 After lunch (grilled cheese!), they colored and did Play Doh and played some more, and then we watched Tangled.  Because their nap time is usually at 1:00, and they were all starting to get a little feisty.

After I took the boys home, I told Maryn we'd make cookies.  So we got out all the ingredients, and guess who woke up?  Josiah, of course.  And obviously Maryn didn't want to wait too long to make those cookies (there were marshmallows and candy bars in the recipe, so she was desperate for a taste).  So I got to cook with two kids in our miniature kitchen, which I assure you is a great pleasure.  :-/

Above you see them helping me cook.  Looks fun, huh?

Today we picked up Elijah and Levi, and Elise Downstairs volunteered to take Maryn if I took her son Eli for some boy time at our house.  So I had the pleasure of having four boys at our house, ages 1, 2, 3, and 4!  It was so much fun.  I've concluded that boys are definitely louder than girls, but boys (the boys here anyway) are a little better at keeping busy and actually make less messes.  Because most of the time they were just chasing each other and sword fighting...not too messy.

When Maryn came back they spent an hour or so playing "Tangled," and she got to be Rapunzel of course.  Eli was Flynn, and he was being so sweet to her!  I am really happy about that because Maryn and Eli really used to clash.

Now we are getting ready for a big appointment at the seminary clinic.  Josiah is supposed to get four shots.  I usually limit them to two at a time, but we are so, so, so very behind and WIC and our pediatricians are starting to wonder about me.  Plus our little friend thought she may have whooping cough and I kind of flipped out since Josiah definitely is not fully vaccinated against that.  'Tis the season!  But we are staying healthy this year, so far.

Josiah has a pretty bad cold, but I am hoping this time it doesn't develop into bronchitis, pneumonia, etc. like it usually did last year, and Maryn hasn't gotten it yet.  Miracle!  I am using those Shaklee vitamins in their juice and letting them eat clementines all day.  They are both eating and sleeping well, so hopefully we can fight those germs.

Happy Play Time!  Serve your neighbors somehow this week.  It really is a pleasure.  ;-)

Hallway Play Date

We had our hallway friends over this morning for a little play date.  The kids usually behave pretty well and the mommies get to talk.  And no one even has to walk outside.  :)

Miss Elise being Miss Preschool Teacher :)

Ella Grace, her daughter, Ella, Bekah's daughter, and Maryn

 Elise's youngest, Julia.  They live right downstairs.

 Elise, Julia, Josiah, Weston and Miss Bekah (who lives across the hall)

friends :)

Dear Friends that have moved away,

Do you know that Maryn misses you?  That she asks about you every day?  That you are her prayer requests every night?  It's true.  And I miss you, too.

She says, "What happened to Mara?  Why are there other little girls living in her house?"

She says, "Now I don't have any friends."

She asks, "Why do all my friends keep leaving?"

And I play Candyland and Play Doh with her all evening to make the sad feelings less heavy.

We miss our friends!

But this evening the Powells came to visit while the Daddies were working, and I love them too.  I am so glad they are here.  We are so blessed.

If this is too long and boring, don't read it :)

I am getting ready to update Maryn and Josiah's scrapbooks.  Maryn's was started by Alicia and chronicles her first three months of life in great creative splendor.  Josiah's was started by me, and chronicles his first year of life in about 7 little pages that I completed in less than an hour.  I intend to get them both up to date by Christmas with the same tenacity and quality as I did with Josiah's.

I had to load up my Snapfish cart with pictures from my facebook, which stores all my photos, and I had to go back to all my favorites of Maryn's childhood so far.  Such sweet times with our baby girl, and how she's grown!

As most of you know, we all got sick Wednesday.  John came home from work late Tuesday night with a stomach bug.  He slept on the floor of the bathroom all night and after I went to get Josiah and Maryn out of their beds, I was in the other bathroom for a while...both kids standing beside me of course as I knelt over the toilet.  Glorious.

The hours that passed that day were incredibly unpleasant, but our sweet neighbor Elise took both of our children all morning (9:30-1:00).  Sometime around 3:00 Maryn cried that her belly hurt, ran back to her room, and threw up everywhere--mostly on her dress up clothes.  Sadly, very sadly, some of her dress up clothes got ruined in the dryer.  Her Snow White dress and her very favorite dress up costume, the fairy from Halloween last year.  She hasn't noticed that they are gone yet, but it broke my heart.  She wore that fairy costume almost every day her whole second year of life.  I am seriously considering looking for a replacement online even if we just keep it as a keepsake.

Fortunately by that time John was feeling A LITTLE better, but I was still throwing up.  Also, whenever I get any kind of sick, a migraine always accompanies the illness.  So my main woe was actually the headache.  I was insanely hungry and kept trying to eat small bits of things.  It's tricky being sick while pregnant because it's so easy to become dehydrated, and if an expectant woman doesn't eat for hours, she will feel nauseated.  So it was a losing battle.  I felt miserable clear up until Friday (mostly from the migraine), when I finally surrendered and drank coffee.  I felt terrific after that.  Poor Maryn was the sickest I've ever seen her, throwing up all night, almost once every hour.  Since I was still miserable myself, John had to sleep with her all night and take care of her even though he was still not feeling well himself.  I still think I am in recovery mode, but my son is not cooperating with my sleep cycle...and we are just busy.

Most people have a lot to do in the month of December.  When you're a one car family, you have to fit all those errands into very small windows of time but still try to "enjoy the season," and time together and all that.

Today I squeezed in a trip to Hobby Lobby, which I did NOT have time for, but I wanted ribbon to try to make the craft from Ladies Craft Night.  It was such a nightmare, and we ended up walking out of the store with nothing at all, Maryn almost having a meltdown on the way out.

So, Ladies' Craft Night.  I had been thinking of doing this for a long time.  A lot of people think I'm crafty.  I do like and enjoy creating art (painting, drawing) but I rarely feel it's worth the time and money.  I like doing kids' crafts, too (with kids, not by myself).  But I just don't make a lot of stuff we actually use around the house, and the question is--why?  Well, it costs a lot of money to be crafty for one thing.  And, it's lonely.  But if I had a friend sitting next to me doing a similar project, wouldn't the time go faster?  And wouldn't it be less stressful?

So we planned a Ladies' Craft Night.  I chose two crafts, which was tricky itself because it couldn't be something that needed a lot of drying time, coats of paint, etc.  It couldn't require a lot of nicer materials (like scrapbooking dye cutters, sewing machines, etc.) or special skills (sewing, crocheting).  We did ribbon trees and a Christmas countdown calendar.  When buying the supplies, I had no idea how many people would come, but I sort of suspected it would be a total flop.  So many people were sick and it had been raining for days.  But I guessed maybe 15 women would come at most, and loaded (LOADED) up my cart at JoAnn's.  Maryn and I were there for 2 hours.  We nearly cleaned out their ribbon and tree forms, and the cashier and other customers probably thought I was nuts.

Maryn, by the way, did a fantastic job at JoAnn's.  I am so proud of her.  Her only complaint at the end, at 1:00 (we missed lunch and 1:00 is normally quiet time), was that she was hungry and, "I miss my daddy!"  See, we have to run errands like this when John is home because we need the car of course, so we did miss Daddy indeed.  And while we usually can go grocery shopping as a family, JoAnn's is a less pleasant experience with the boys along.  :)

So my total bill at JoAnn's, even with some measly coupons, was $250.  I bought some things for the Kids' Crafternoon (next Monday) as well, but still.  I almost passed out, put it on our new American Express Rewards card (to be reimbursed by our property managers), said a prayer and headed home.

So I am not kidding you, I think nearly 30 people came to this craft night.  I mean, I know it was a good idea (for me!) but apparently everyone else thought so too!  I was so happy to see a great turnout but we did NOT have enough materials.  Meg and Beth had to run to JoAnn's for more, but apparently they hadn't restocked since my visit.  I didn't even get to make a ribbon tree.  I think I am going to give up on it, because I am starting to wonder if it's a curse on me.  It just wasn't meant to be.

I was also happy that it was a good mixture of people.  Not just seminary wives.  The cute young seminary wives without children yet, and the old seminary wives with at least two, four sweet Muslim ladies, and several women not associated with the seminary at all of all ages.  Two of our blind lady friends came with their seeing eye dogs, and though I was a little worried about how they'd do with the ribbon and straight pins craft, they really did an excellent job.  I think everyone had a great time.

I also found a second person to drive for our monthly Food Line distribution!

Sometimes, it's just one success after another!

And I tried all the crafts tonight for our Kids' Crafternoon and had to re-plan the whole thing because every craft was a total failure.

Sometimes, it's just one let down after another.  :-(

But all in all I would say we are having a great December so far.  Our sickness was dreadful, I'm still days behind on laundry, but we did have a lot of quality time laying around and cleaning up after each other when we could.  :)

I think I'll post pictures for this post tomorrow, or I'll do a whole post with pics.  Or just look on my facebook page.  I'm tired, and Josiah is finally asleep!  Yay!

Special, special times

This is how I get my hair and makeup done in the morning since DST ended:

 The handprint reindeer ornament we made on Wednesday.  So cute!

 Maryn loves our tree.  And lights.  And ornaments.  And Christmas!

 Here she is hanging up the special ornament she chose this year on our annual Hallmark trip.

 I accidentally turned almost ALL my pictures for this post the wrong way :)  Sorry!  But here is her ornament this year.  It's a Madame Alexander doll.  I have no idea why she picked it.  I thought she'd pick Cinderella or a ballerina, but chose this cute little Christmas doll.  She is cute!

 Here's the ornament Josiah chose (we sort of chose for him, but he seemed to like playing with this box the best).  It's a Woody and Buzz ornament.

 Here they are reading the Christmas books we got out.  They found the ones Grandpa Erdman and Uncle Mark and Aunt Melissa recorded for them.  Maryn went CRAZY when she heard Grandpa's voice, and she's been listening to them almost every day since.

 John brought home an early Christmas present for me.  They put it together last night!  It's a new end table, and it's so pretty!

 Here's Maryn hanging the star!

 Remember Josiah's favorite little friend in the backyard, Chloe?  She and her family are moving away in the next few days.  That's all I'm going to write about it because I will start bawling.

We have been having a good time despite all the rain the last two days.  We had friends over today.  12 kids, 5 mothers.  3 of the mothers are pregnant!  We invited a new neighbor, Charissa, and her two little boys.  I think we made her happy today.  She's due with their third in just a couple weeks and was very worried about making friends in a new place with a baby coming so soon.  She couldn't believe we had 12 kids in our tiny apartment, that they were all well-behaved, and that we pulled together a lunch for all of us with a little teamwork.

I love where we live!

Even if the ceiling IS leaking again!

I'm pregnant. I DESERVE to write a long-winded post about myself and my feelings that no one cares about.

Hi everyone!  I am feeling a lot better than I was the other day when I whined and complained and felt ungrateful and sad and entitled and selfish.  I still feel that way a little bit.  I think we all do to a certain degree.  I usually go through a little depressed state when I am pregnant.  I think it's just the hormones talking.  This pregnancy, I'm going to just come right out with it.

John and I had a date night grocery shopping last night at 8:30 pm.  Both kids woke up for our sweet neighbor while we were gone.  :)  Which almost never happens.  I watched her kids today in exchange so she could go grocery shopping.  Her baby slept the whole time (babies sleep?  Mine don't!)  and Maryn, Ella and Ella Grace played extremely well together.  Elise (downstairs neighbor) came over and we folded laundry together.  It was really nice.

I got our kitchen cleaned, mostly.  It's kind of difficult to get it cleaned because I'm always having to feed my kids or myself and John.  What a pain eating is!  I'm sort of on a 5 meals per day plan so there's always dishes to do.  Elise may have talked me into asking for (praying/pleading for) a portable dishwasher.  It seems stupid, but I just can't keep up with the dishes.  One reason is because I can see NOTHING from the kitchen, so if Josiah is awake, I really can't do dishes.  I can try, but I usually get interrupted...so I just wait.  And wait, and wait.  And then it becomes 8 pm and pregnant women, at least this one, can't do much at all after 8 pm.

I think I'm feeling very discontent.  I wish I had a dishwasher and I wish we could eat out more often.  I wish I could order pizza for once.  But I say that and you know, I am glad we don't waste our money eating out.  It is a waste of money, and there are other things we need or want that are more important or valuable.  I am just very whiny.  I realize this.

We got together with the Dooleys the other night!  The Dooleys were friends of ours in Naples (they live in TN now) and their daughter London was born two days before Maryn.  We were actually in the hospital together.  Stacie got me through being a new mom because we could sit and laugh and complain together without feeling judged too much.  It was neat for our girls and our two boys to play together.  Even though they didn't play all that well and we gave up and put on a movie!  It was a little late, lol.

Anyway, Stacie complimented me that I am a very content person.  She pointed out that we had a card table as a dining room table for a year and a half, and no washer and dryer for a few months, and no microwave for a year, etc.  But I am the most discontent person.  Now we have a table, a washer and dryer, a microwave...and we got all of them cheap or free.  Good things do come to those who wait, I guess.  But now I just want more.  And more.  And more.

I want little boy Nikes for Josiah!  I want beautifulllll maternity dresses so I can feel pretty even when I am fat.  I want to eat whatever food I'm craving at the very moment I crave it :)  I think this might be part of pregnancy.  Society kind of teaches us, "I'm pregnant, I deserve this."  I can't help sometimes but to think that's true.

Anyway, when we were with Nathan and Stacie, Josiah did so well.  He is such a little love bug.  He sat on Nathan's lap and Nathan rubbed the back of his head.  When he stopped, Josiah signed that he wanted more!  How stinkin' cute is that?  He hardly ever does that sign, not even for food.  But he did it for a guy he's just met to get him to rub his head.  What a little sweetheart.

Maryn, on the other hand, didn't really want to talk to anybody.  She just wanted to play with all of London's toys and not share a thing.  Ah, kids.

Happy National Cupcake Day!

We went to a cupcake party today.  It was set for 11:00.  Apparently everyone in our neighborhood eats a lot later than we do.  I was unwilling to let my children fill up on cupcakes half an hour before lunch, so we had our lunch and arrived a little late to the party.  Maryn, in good Maryn fashion, dumped a pile of sprinkles on her cupcake, licked off the frosting and sprinkles, and sprinted for the playground.  Josiah, in good Josiah fashion, at his miniature cupcake in one bite and his sugar cookie in two seconds.

It was in the 50s today, and the playground was nice and cool.  We stayed until 12:30, when all the other kids' sugar highs were wearing off and they had to head home for lunch.  We came home, ate some Halloween candy and took naps.  Maryn fell asleep with the Target Toy Book on her face.  Fun times :)

We are getting excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Are you?  I  know Christmas morning is going to be SO much fun this year.  We have big plans for some great gifts for our kiddos, and I am going to love to see their faces light up (followed by days of spoiled brat attitude, no doubt...lol...just kidding...).  I already got a few stocking stuffers, and some presents for a few family members and friends.  I feel so blessed to be able to give a few presents this year.  I am grateful!

Speaking of gratefulness, I put another Food Line under my belt on Tuesday, and scored a box of Jimmy Dean Sausage sandwiches, which is something I've been craving.  Maryn can't quite understand why I want Jimmy Dean Sausage sandwiches as my dessert rather than ice cream and cupcakes.  I don't even know if I have ever eaten the things before in my life, and they taste like cafeteria food, but man.  I like them.  John and I just had this discussion.  Remember cafeteria rib sandwiches?  They are one of those things that taste so good, but you know they are gross.  I was so happy to be a teacher and get to eat cafeteria food every day if I wanted to.  Chicken patties?  Yes, thank you.  Rectangle pizzas?  Seconds, please!  Chicken nuggets?  Yumm-o!

Well, it looks like Josiah is going to cry right through his nap time.  I better go rescue him.

I LOVE getting outside.  Just stepping right outside and being able to sit at a picnic table and talk for two hours with FIVE sweet friends and our 15 children.  LOL fifteen children!

I feel blessed.  Thank you friends.  :)

blessings come in all shapes and sizes

 Maryn and Ella Grace, sweet friends.

 Maryn's spider with six legs!  She had eaten two of them :)))

Auntie Alicia snuck onto our Babies R Us registry (which I created just as a list of things for our own reference, etc) and this came into the mail today!  I was absolutely shocked.  But you know what?  I SO needed this surprise today.  Josiah insisted on getting in it as soon as he saw it.  I LOVE it.  It's the Babies R Us brand new umbrella, or lightweight, stroller.  It has a sun visor and a cute little pocket in the back.  It seems very good quality, and like it will last a while.  I liked it even more than the Chicco strollers, which cost more than twice as much.  Thank you Alicia!!!!!

The Fire House

We took a great field trip with some of our neighborhood friends today to a fire house just down the street from us.  It's on the "historic Frankfort Avenue," and I'm saying this especially for my Florida friends--you would be amazed at how classic, beautiful, and just plain cool this fire house is!

Just as we were crossing the street to go inside, the one fire engine left with sirens blaring!  Then a train whizzed right by us.  The kids were ready for anything after that.

We walked into the garage area and one firefighter was left in the building, and he showed us the inside of the firehouse.  It houses 4 firefighters at a time.  So there was a living room sort of set up in the garage area with a big screen television, and there was a living room inside with a big screen television and four huge squishy Lazyboy recliners!  Now if I was most guys I know, I might consider being a firefighter.  :)

There was a full kitchen with lots of counter space, cupboards, a huge stove and oven, and a table almost like a cafeteria style table.  And a huge pantry of course.  Out back, the firefighter showed us where they used to keep the horses when they didn't have fire engines.  So cool.

Then he talked about fire safety and such, and took us out to show us the fireman pole!  A real fireman pole.  He said most people use the stairs though.  :)

The stair way was a gigantic, beautiful, solid piece of art winding down from the firefighters' bedrooms.  And there on the wall was a great map of Louisville, which was handpainted and drawn by someone.  Incredible.

Once the engine came back and the other firefighters arrived, one dressed up in his full gear and walked around to the kids.  Most of the 2 and 3 year olds totally freaked out, so it was a great experience to practice not being scared of him.  I think all of them did reach out to touch his hand and warmed up to him eventually.

We talked a lot about fire safety, dialing 9-1-1, and more.  THEN we got to see the fire engine!  Each child even got to get in and try out the really awesome seats that, when you strap yourself in, automatically attach your oxygen tank to your back.  Very cool.

What a fun day it was.  As if that wasn't enough, they then gave us helmets and real firefighter badges (stickers).  And...we all went to the seminary for a great picnic.

 Group picture!  

Caleb (4), Gabe (6?), Lilia (3), Chloe (5), Maryn (almost 3), Mara (5), Sam (6?), Eli (4),

Chloe (5), Sydney (7), Ella Grace (2.5), Jamie (2), Kaylee (7?), Lillian (1), and in the green sweatshirt, a little boy that stopped by as he and his mom were walking.  And the little one in the front with the yellow is Avery (2).  Not pictured:  Josiah (1), Bella (5), Zuzu (2.5), Sebastian (1), Miciah (3), Lily (2), and babies, Drew, Nathan, Reuben, Julia and Elias.  Shwew!

Caleb was standing in awe...

 Maryn...I am so glad she's learning how to pose :)

Then it was on to the seminary.  This is the only lame pic I got of our picnic.

So all those people are pretty much our backyard neighbors.  And there's more that couldn't come or whose kids are too young or in school.  Can you believe it?  We are blessed.  And never lonely!