Fly, Eagles, Fly!

July 26th was my 30th birthday (oh, the horror!), and part of my birthday celebration was a trip to the Philadephia Eagles training camp at Lehigh University. Lucky for us, the field is about 10 minutes from our house.

I liked football through middle and high school, but lost interest once I was in college. It wasn't until two years ago, after working around a bunch of football fanatics, that I finally got back into the game. Being an eastern Pennsylvanian boy, I naturally started rooting for the Eagles.

Anyway, Jenn, the kids, and I got to the training camp a little after 9AM, which was soon after the morning training started. Lehigh had three football fields, and two of them were used most of the morning for offensive and defensive practice. The third field was used for a short time for field goal partice.

Unfortunately, it was hot Wednesday morning, and the kids became ansy quickly. Part of the problem had to do with them not being able to see the players (Kai only knows McNabb's, Westbrook's, and Dawkins' numbers). So, they looked rather bored as we watched the offense practice different plays. It was great seeing the A team work with both the veterans and rookies. I also got a chance to see Garcia, Detmar, and Chang do some work as QB. Jeremiah Trotter broke up a fight between two rookie offensive linemen. That was entertaining to see.

After a while, the defense and offense practiced in a full scrimage on the middle field, so we got up to move. Jenn noticed an area with minigolf, moon bounces, and other activities for the kids. And they were all free! The kids had a ball practicing throwing at receivers, crawling through a moon bounce, and taking a picture with a cutout McNabb. Meanwhile, I watched the defense and offense duke it out, including Garcia throwing a touchdown pass, Akers making a 47 yard field goal, Shawn Barber getting injured (fortunately it was only a cramp!), McNabb scrambling towards the endzone, and I even got a chance to see Buckhalter out on the field. He was a promising running back whose been out for two seasons with knee injuries (plus there was a drug problem one year).

Wednesday was a great birthday, but it wasn't perfect. You see, on Monday evening, I was trying to be a helpful Scotty and pull ivy off the back of our shed. My forehead and hands started getting itchy on Tuesday. By Wednesday, I knew I had poison ivy. :(

Eventually my face swelled up to the point where I had to go to the doctor and get a shot of adrenaline and steroids (hey, maybe now I could make the team!). I spent Thursday and Friday at home, which didn't please my boss. I'm feeling pretty OK, now, though. I still have medication to take, but I will back at work on Monday. At least it wasn't as bad as when I was a kid. Once, as a child, my eyes swelled completely closed and I had to be taken to the ER. That was no fun. I guess the moral of the story is that I shouldn't do yard work. ;)

Scott

Woohoo!

My sister sent me this picture of a "new outfit" she made for my niece Faith. It's hard to read the yellow in the picture, but it says "I'm gonna BEE a big sister!" So CONGRATS, Cyndy, Barry, Faith and Hannah! Hey, congrats me, cause I get to be an aunt again!

Pinatas and Pirates and Piles of Work

Whew. What a week!

I've been overwhelmed a bit this week. We're having a really fun contest on Scrappin_FUN, and this week was a scrapathon - which meant 100+ layouts to upload to the blog, lol! They were gorgeous, though, and my team pulled ahead - woohoo! In addition to that, I'm in charge of Vacation Bible School at my church. I love running VBS, but it is a PILE of work. For example, this week I had to: shop for all the decorations and supplies; create manuals with step by step directions, schedules, and maps for all my volunteers; make a sample of each craft; re-write all the opening skits to include an extra character (because one of my volunteers is a puppeteer); call around to all manner of supply houses looking for staff t-shirts, and when they weren't forthcoming, iron-on decals to 21 shirts; and decorate and cook for a teacher training luncheon. (We had cheese enchildas, a chicken taco bar, nachos, fruit kabobs, and Fiesta Friendship cakes. YUMMY.) Plus, Scott had to get all the stuff for make your own english muffin pizzas for the children of my volunteers and run a child care program during the meeting.


This is all par for the course, though, and wouldn't have bothered me at all except that the majority of it had to be prepared on Saturday. Which also happened to be the day my kids came back from Grandma's house! So they came back to a mess, a stressed mommy, and a huge to-do list. This kicked in that old favorite, parental guilt, so we told them we'd take them to Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest. (We had already screened it and deemed it gruesome, but basically appropriate. Unlike X3, which was gruesome and highly INappropriate.) Gotta love kids who show up looking like this to leave for the theater!

We went to the Boyd Theater in Bethlehem to see the movie. It's a really great place - it's an old theater that still has a balcony (though it's not used), gilted walls, a triangle marquee over a box office window, and heavy curtains that pull apart to reveal the screen . Very atmospheric!
The movie itself has its moments. The scenery is gorgeous, the ships wonderful, the actors fun. As a fluffball summer movie, it's pretty good. But the ending, or lack there of, is downright irritating. I hate sequels that basically end with "to be continued". The kids loved it though, and are just excited to see the next movie. Then again, the other plot point that irritated the adults in the family went right over their head. What the heck is Elizabeth Swann's problem??? Poor Will Turner goes to the ends of the earth to save her (twice!) and she's messing about with Cap'n Jack? Wrong, wrong, wrong. *sigh* Ah well, I suppose we'll be queuing up for the last movie because we have to see how it all ends, right? And the gorgeous cinematography is worth the price of admission on its own.

God is Great!

I woke up this morning, panicked and behind hand with the world. I am in charge of VBS at my church, Calvary Baptist Church of Allentown. Actually, I'm in charge of most of the children's ministries. And I love it. I really do. But today, I was facing setting up my VBS registration booth knowing I was down 6 volunteers from the bare minimum required to run the program. I had called all of my "usual suspects". I had cornered volunteers left and right. But I just couldn't find anyone willing to help.

On top of that, I had to get the booth itself set up. I frantically searched for my volunteer list, which had gotten misplaced. I printed leaflets and information for Scott to copy. I grabbed Christmas lights. At the church, there were tables to set up, papel picado to string back and forth, a giant parrot to inflate, a desert landscape to hang, bulletin inserts to stuff. And on top of that, a volunteer teacher for Sunday School had not shown up that morning. I was frantic. I was harried. I guess it showed. Because by the time church started, I had 5 of my 6 volunteers. They saw my distress, and they jumped in to help. And I'm truly grateful. So I was ready already to proclaim God's grace. But there was more to come.

You see, in church, Pastor Bouder asked for prayer concerns. I shared a request for prayer for the VBS staff. I also expressed my praise that so many of my needs had been filled that morning. Pastor Bouder went on to preach a great sermon, about the things that God wants for our church. He talked about the fact that God's glory shines forth from church only through the actions and attitudes of those in the church. He talked of unity, of service. He even mentioned stepping forward to fill needs in the church, specifically saying that some might feel called to serve as teachers in VBS. At the conclusion of the sermon, he asked anyone who wanted to glorify God to step forward. Normally, people come forward to join the church, or make a declaration of faith, but he was asking specifically for those already in the church to glorify God by coming forward. We sang "To God be the Glory" and to my surprise, no one came forward.

Before I continue, you should probably know something about me. I can stand in front of 200 seventh graders and not bat an eyelash. I can make friends with any kid who walks by me. I can teach children I've never seen before. But put me in front of a group of adults, and I'm a quivering coward. Every year, my drama kids have to pull me on stage for my bows, and I only make it through by looking at them, not the audience. Open house makes me nauseous. Because I'm afraid of being in front of people.

But God had answered my prayer for volunteers. I had been serving Him, but not showing His glory that morning - I was crabby and worried, not joyful and faithful. And I was called to show my joy and faith. So I set down my hymnal and walked up front. It was scary. But Pastor Bouder put on a huge smile and hugged me. And other people followed, including my darling Scott. (He didn't even tell anyone my knees were shaking, wasn't that nice?)

After Pastor Bouder dismissed the congregation, so many church members came up front to give me hugs or say thanks for all I do in the church that it took me 10-15 minutes to get back to my booth. Imagine my surprise then, to see a LINE of people waiting for me.

I got 10 volunteers, more than I needed.

Nearly all of my paper flags with donations we need for snacks were taken by people willing to purchase the items.

In addition to the kids my kids play with in Sunday School, 4 complete strangers, first time visitors to the church, signed up to bring their kids.

PRAISE GOD!!!!

Scrappin' Away the Summer

The summer months are definitely a blessing. For me, the school year is an ongoing to-do list, that never seems to get shorter. One of my colleagues makes an running joke of my endless list, asking at each team meeting to see how many items are listed on that particular day.

To be honest, I could keep up with my to-do list in the summer. Right now for example, the kids are away. However, I could still have laundry, vaccuuming, cleaning the pool, weeding, and a HUGE list of vacation Bible school tasks keeping me occupied.

But hey, it's summer vacation. So what am I doing? Scrappin'. I just uploaded 13 layouts to my Scrapjazz album (link in sidebar) and that's just some of the layouts I've done in the past two weeks. In fact, while resizing and stitching all these scans, I made another two pager! I think I like it better than the ones I uploaded, actually. And now I've addicted my sister - I got 4 e-mailed layouts from her already, and she's only been home since Wednesday. Gotta love those lazy, scrappy summer days.

An Aquatic Discovery

I have discovered that I would someday like to live near water. I always knew I liked the ocean, and swimming has always been one of my favorite sports, but it took our trip up to Cape Vincent to realize how much I truly enjoyed the water.

Growing up, I had the chance to swim in the Atlantic (both on beaches in the United States and Bermuda) and in various lakes throughout the northeast. I've been on a cruise ship, tour boats, and ferries of various descriptions. However, I never had the opportunity to ride in a motor boat. Last weekend, Gordy took me and the kids for a ride in the St. Lawrence river. I even had the chance to drive the boat around one of the islands in the river. Water is very relaxing. When I am out on the water, I am able to push all my troubles and stress away for a few hours. I can ignore work or church responsibilities and just enjoy myself.

The vastness of water is a reminder of the awesome power of God, and of the extraordinary wonders this world has to offer. The sheer power that is hidden within that water is amazing. It is something most people do not think about until a tragedy occurs like a tsunami or flash flood.

Somewhere, under those waves, are fish that I could catch and eat if need be. I was never a hunting kind of person, but I don't have any difficulty wanting to fish. Cleaning the fish...well, that's a different story.

Someday I will convince Jenn to move with me to someplace with water. Maybe the St. Lawrence, maybe the Atlantic coast or a lake, or elsewhere I have not yet visited. I do love where we live now, so this is something I would save until retirement. Until then, there is always vacation.

Scott

Spreading the Addiction

I LOVE scrapbooking. I spend hours a week with paper and photos, trying to find the perfect way to capture my family's memories. So when my sister asked me to make a scrapbook of her daughter's really amazing first birthday luau, I gladly agreed. But then she changed her mind. She decided, hey, I want to try making her scrapbook myself. And she asked for my help. I was only too happy to agree. I don't know if she'll ever be as addicted as I am, but she's so creative, I'm sure she'll make GREAT pages if she continues with the hobby. Here's her first two pages ever, plus one I made while she attacked the second page completely solo. Way to scrap, Cyndy!

Lost: Two Kids. If Found, Please Return.

Well, it's that time of year again. My kids are at their Grandma's house. I'm sure they're having a fabulous time. They were before we left. We went up to Cape Vincent on Saturday, and joined Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Cyndy, Uncle Barry and cousins Faith and Hannah. We spent the weekend at Mom's booth at the French Festival, enjoying the river, and in my case, teaching my sister how to scrapbook. My family got me a birthday cake, and we played card games the night of my birthday. (I'm thirty now. I don't want to talk about it.)

The kids just love being together. Faith has gotten SOOOO big. She is just the most adorable little angel. Hannah is a sweetie, and she and Kai had a great time as usual. Kai was even teaching her the piano. Nicky enjoyed his usual wild child favorites: sword fighting with the plastic sword he won at the French Festival, and costumes - this time a tiger face painting that he wore right through dinner on our first night there. But now we're back home and they're still there. I hear they're fishing, and that Nicky caught a black bass. I hear they're painting ceramics, and Kai painted a frog. But I don't get to enjoy seeing them have all that fun, and that always makes me a bit sad. Plus, I worry when I can't check on them at night. Call me overprotective - I am. Call me a worrywart - I admit it freely. But I miss them. Stay safe, babies.

A Small Town Spectacle

There's something undefinable about a summer carnival when the sun sets. The painted panels and rainbow tents that are garish and muddy by day become a whirl of light and sound in the warm twilight. The rides that seemed merely nausea-inducing become magical, and a park normally suited for quiet strolls and slow baseball games is now a non-stop party.

This festival of light and spending is where we found ourselves tonight after an otherwise crazy day. Despite the fact that it's July, I had to go to work today for a team meeting. It wasn't a huge problem, but since the kids will be leaving shortly to go to Grandma's house for two weeks, I was wishing I could be at home with them. When I finally did make it home, I was greeted by a frantic mother-in-law. Scott's uncle had fallen, and needed to be transported to the ER. He was refusing treatment by the EMTs, so I needed to get MIL there so that she could convince him of the wisdom of medical care. Between that family emergency, the need to pack up the kids for our trip to Grandma's house, and the fact that Scott and I were both dragging after an early morning start, it seemed inevitable that we miss this year's carnival. But the lure of the whirl and glitter was stronger than our objections, and we found ourselves wandering through the crowds. I'm glad we went - July wouldn't be the same without this tradition.
Jenn

Thank You, Scott

A friend of mine on Scrappin_FUN issued a blog challenge to write about a song. This was the first one to come to mind:

My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why
I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
and I can't see at all
And even if I could it'd all be grey,
but your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad,
it's not so bad...

See, my kitty Tessa is dying, and there's not a darn thing I can do about it. For one thing, she has one of two fatal diseases, FIP or lymphoma. It's sad to hope she has FIP, as that gives her a life expectancy of maybe 3 years. But that's a lot better than the 10 months she has with lymphoma, if we spend a small fortune on kitty chemo. Her daily medicine regimen is sad enough, but I don't feel emotionally equipped to deal with her vet visits, too. I've never actually visited that vet without getting bad news, so it's easy to see why.

But I have Scott.

He visited the vet for me. He deals with the tough decisions. He calls me on the way home, just to let me know what the vet said. And he holds me and says he's sorry. And means it, even though she's just a cat.

I want to thank you
for giving me the best day of my life
Oh just to be with you
is having the best day of my life

Earlier today, I heard this song on the radio. As always, it reminded me of Scott. Whenever I have a bad day, I can count on him to make even the worst of days brighter.

So, thank you, Scott.

Jenn

Fireworks Photos

I'm pretty happy with these photos. They're not as great as some of the pictures shared by my friends on Scrappin_FUN, but they came out very well, for me! We took the kids up to the top of the parking garage in downtown Bethlehem to enjoy the spectacle. The trees obscured some of the view, but it was beautiful anyway. While we waited for the show, the kids had fun with sparklers. In light of today's "fireworks display" by North Korea, it's nice to know we live in a country where explosions in the sky mean celebration.

Jenn

July Fourth Fun

I love the Fourth of July. I may be too liberal for the Republicans and too conservative for the Democrats, but despite what those charming politicians would say, I'm a patriot through and through. I'm not blind to the faults of our country (and they are legion) but I am not unaware of the freedoms I'm entitled to merely by being born American, and descended from such fabulous people as my Uncle Larry, brother Ron and sister Angela who all served our country in the military. Politics aside though, what's not to like about a holiday 5 days before my birthday that is celebrated with family, food, and fireworks? Although only Scott's parents were joining our family party, I went overboard on the food and decorations as usual. The kids enjoyed our new mini-pool and making the inevitable s'mores. There's something distinctly patriotic in my mind about the Beach Boys, so we had them serenading us as we ate and talked to the in-laws about our recent trip to Disney. We only have a little postcard of a yard behind our twin home, but it served its purpose well today. Hot dogs never taste the same anywhere else as they do on a backyard grill on Independence Day.

Jenn

We Admit Defeat

We spend hours a day on the computer. Sometimes working, sometimes socializing, often playing. Many of those hours are spent sharing what we're up to with those we care about. We've talked about a family website for years, but never bothered. Until this point, we dismissed the idea of a blog on the basis that no one would read it. And maybe no one will. But for the same reason I scrapbook, for the same reason we're writing a Disney trip report over on Disboards, I decided to give a blog a go - someday, maybe my kids will read this and find it interesting. Besides, this way I can share the mountains of pictures I take daily without filling the inboxes of my friends and family.

So here goes nothing. We chose "The Average American Family" as our blog name because that's what we are. But average doesn't have to mean boring.

Jenn