Here we go again! That is to North Dakota . . .

Okay this will be a short and pictureless post . . .

Well, I have been busy packing in anticipation of an upcoming move. Plus my in-laws have been gone on vacation and I thought this would be the perfect time to pack because those of you who have moved (haven't we all at some point or another) know it is a messy job - that way my in-laws didn't have to deal too much with clutter, debris, and chaos. When we moved into my in-laws we packed our house up (what was left after having a huge garage sale where we sold the majority of our furniture), put the majority of our belongings in storage (that's about $5k we'll never see again), and only brought the necessities. Of course, over the last 4 years and 9 months, as a family of 5 with three growing kids, we have acquired some things; however, we have been pretty good about once or twice a year going through toys, books, clothes, etc. to donate. So, after packing the basement, where the kids' toys & overflow of stuffed animals were pretty kept, we came away with 3 boxes to move; 4 lg. boxes and 3 over sized trash bags to donate; and one huge trash bag of nice stuffed animals (Build A Bear, Ty, etc.) to take to a local nursing home.

Yesterday we tried to get the house back into order as the in-laws return from vacation and we head out to North Dakota. Yes, we are flying out to North Dakota, the Bismarck area. Jay will preach on Sunday and then we have a full day of social activities as well. Then on Mon. and Tues. we will tour the area and hopefully find some form of acceptable living arrangements. Then we head home on Wednesday for another crazy day. My poor father-in-law will have to run Cassie to the zoo, pick up our mid-week papers, then pick us up at the airport, and then go out to eat with us as we head back to the zoo to pick Cassie up from an evening of volunteering.

We are trying to get all the things done that need to be done before we fly out today. When we get back I will hopefully have more info to share about a pending move, ordination, and plenty of photos to share.

A flash from the past . .

Fifteen years ago, I became friends with Laura as - we both worked at Olive Garden. We always had a great time working together and just hanging out together. At one point we lived in apartment complexes across from each other and we would keep each other company while the men in our lives were out working hard to provide for our families. My oldest, Cassie, is only 4 months younger than her eldest daughter (second born), Taylor.

As we moved around the area we kept in touch and would get together so the girls could play and we could have adult conversations. As our families grew and life happened our visits became far and few between. The last time we saw each other was in 2003 after she had her youngest daughter. We keep in touch via the web even though we are only 40 minutes apart. But yesterday I got to visit with her at her oldest son's baby shower. It was so nice to see her, her sister, and the kids. I hope we get to sit down and visit one more time before we move. And I truly hope we continue to keep in touch - the web is great with emails and Facebook!






This picture was taken in January 1996 - Cassie is the one swallowed by the snowsuit, Travis is in the middle, and then Taylor.

Below you will see how they have all grown . . .



Where does the time go?

Baby Shower Cake

A friend of mine threw a baby shower and I offered to make a cake. She took me up on the offer, which I was thrilled about as it gave me another opportunity to try out my cake making skills. I obviously still have some skills that require more work. I guess I should try to make one cake a week. The draw back to that is, then there's a cake in my house to eat and we all know I can do without anymore sugary treats!! Maybe I'll make a cake and give away to neighbors - that'll be one way to meet people when we finally move.

The cake was yummy, if I might say so myself. It was a vanilla cake with vanilla mousse and butter cream icing.

The Rescue . . .

Okay, last night we heard the visitors at the trash cans again. So, Jay, Mackenzie and I peeked out to see them. Jay said they had only one can opened, but Mackenzie & I watched mama and one little one hop around and pouncing with their front paws through the grass. Do they eat bugs from the ground? Well, they were out of sight so Mackenzie went back to bed. The noise always gets her out of bed as the cans are almost under her bedroom window.

A few minutes later, I could hear noise again outside so I peeked through the blinds. One little one was trying to get into the can, grasping by his hind feet/toes to keep him from falling in, but to no avail he tumbled into the can. As I was telling Jay I didn't think he'd be able to get out, the little critter started pawing and clawing to get out and I could see his cute little nose and paws. I know my fil would love to get rid of them, but he's just a baby. So, Jay said he'd undo the bungee cord and tip the can over so he could get out. Well, when he went out to help he says, "Uh, Ang, there's three in there." Oh no, all her babies were stuck in the can. We were watching for mama and she was only about 25 ft. away in the darkness watching, we could see her eyes glowing. Of course I had to grab the camera before he helped them get out.

While Jay took their picture, the helpless little critters were hissing and growling at him. Like they could do anything from there. So he released the bungee cords and tipped the can over and they came running out. Two stopped and looked back at us, but my camera was off so I didn't get a picture of their departure.

We could have gotten rid of the three of them very easily by closing the can and putting it on the truck for a ride further out, but I didn't want them to be separated from their mama. Besides, aren't they just so cute. I know they're cute now and in a year they may wreck havoc on the trash, but until then when they're able to take care of themselves without mama they can be free.

Unicycle anyone?

Our neighbor is getting rid of lots of stuff. I guess they were going to have a garage sale this past weekend, but it got rained out and instead of rescheduling it they were trying to find new homes for things. Well, evidently they had a unicycle. Who owns a unicycle? Really?! It looks like we do now.

So this is what she spent most of her day doing . . .







Those crutches I acquired back in April when I sprained my ankle sure came in handy.

Our nightly visitors . . .

Usually every night around 9:30ish we hear noises outside and we have caught a glimpse of a raccoon visitor. Believe it or not, she's pretty neat. She usually takes the lid off, which my father-in-law fastens down with bungee cords, and gets what she wants out and leaves the trash laying on top of the other cans.

Well, the other night the noise was early so we all peeped out the window to see that our raccoon friend was watching as her little one was eating, wait there's two baby raccoons, no, wait - there's three, as the third one climbed out of the can. Mama raccoon, would come up to the window and just look at us as we watched them. Now this particular night that I took pictures, they tried to get into the cans, but gave up really easily and left. They are so cute, but I don't think my in-laws like them being around because they can get pretty messy. The kids enjoy seeing them.

A fun cake . . .

Our dear friend, who also happens to be our mail lady, asked me to make a birthday cake for her granddaughter's first birthday.

They sent out the cutest invitations that had a bunny holding a carrot on it and it read, on the outside - "Something to Sprout About" and then on the inside - Hip Hop Hooray, It's My 1st Birthday!" So I said I could make a bunny cake, but the mommy had requested a carrot shaped cake.

So, this was my attempt to make a carrot shaped cake. I used the Christmas tree pan and made a two-layered vanilla cake with a vanilla mousse filling. I also used the mini Christmas tree pan to make smaller individual cakes. Which I was originally going to use the smaller trees to make a small carrot smash cake, but they were smaller than I wanted. So I ended up making a small 6" round vanilla cake with a bunny on top and wrote "Hoppy 1st Birthday!". It turned out cute. I just need to practice on placement of the writing.

4th of July in Adamsville

Three weeks ago we said our "official" goodbyes to the church family we have spent the last twenty-two months with. It was Jay's last Sunday preaching and serving as the Vicar for the Adamsville Parish, and to help in their transition with their new incoming pastor, Rev. Mary - a classmate of Jay's, we made a choice to stay away for a while to let everyone get acquainted. It's been hard as we miss everyone, but we knew on the 4th we would be back to join in a community picnic at a church member's cabin.

So, Jay, Cassie and I got all of our Bag delivering done (7 1/2 hours) between an hour Friday night and the rest on Sat. morning so we could make the 55 min. drive and not have to rush back to deliver anymore so we could enjoy visiting as long as we wanted with everyone. It was a great time and we had some great conversations. It was a potluck style picnic - the Spikers had a hog for everyone and then everyone brought a side dish to share. Well, I made my Great Aunt Elizabeth's copper pennies and then a platter of spaghetti and meatballs. The food was very yummy and the kids had a blast playing with their friends.



BTW . . . these are cupcakes!











Oh yeah . . . I got matching shirts for all of us from Lifeway. I got a great deal on them last week, they were only $4 a piece. Jay, Mackenzie, Cassie and I all had matching red ones and then Zack had a nice white one. Cassie was having a fit because she had to wear a matching shirt. I told her better once a year and not once a week - it was more like a friendly ultimatum.

















We had a blast and it was great seeing and chatting with everyone.

Indians Baseball, Sunday, June 28th

Indians vs. Reds

We all traveled to Cleveland last Sunday to watch the inter-league play in baseball for the Ohio Cup. It's always nice to see the Indians play the Reds because we're happy when either wins, but we were rooting for the Indians. Unfortunately, the Indians lost to the Reds and they were losing early on so it kind of took the fun out of attending the game. But at least we got to see them play one more time this season and it wasn't freezing or raining . . . YEAH!

We made a family day of it . . . Jay's bro's family and his wife's parents along with Jay's parents all went. We had a good time toasting in the sun and luckily no one got burned. The Ohio State Alumni Band and Brutus were there, too.



I'm not sure what happened here . . . evidently they don't know how to spell OHIO.






Isn't he just adorable . . . this was Odie's first major league baseball game and we got to be there with him. He was mesmerized by all the people and everything around him.






Thanks everyone for making the trip with us . . . we enjoy spending time with everyone especially before our big move.

Tween Night June 26th

Well, we got to host another tween night in our yard as we are still in the great state of OHIO. We were excited the kids got to have their friends over again and spend more valuable time with them. It was a small group this time. Unlike the 22 kids we hosted the first time this summer, there was only 8 (three of which were ours), but they still had a great time. The spent a great deal sitting around talking and then they found a few things to do. It was an even split - four boys and four girls, so everything was boys vs. girls.

After breaking up and having races in the side ward, they decided to play a lot of dodge ball. Then after a while they finally sat and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. They closed the evening with a good game of Ghost in the Graveyard.