Trip to see Katherine at Taylor

After 6 days of unpacking and setting up house, my mom and I took off with the kids for Taylor University in Indiana to see Katherine for parent's weekend. It was a long trip but we had a lot of fun and the kids actually did surprisingly well in the car (considering the longest road trip they'd ever been on in Hawaii was about an hour! :) It was great to see you Katherine and meet your friends and see your life at Taylor. Thanks for sharing it with us! Love you! Making the kids run around whenever we stopped.
We got there late Thursday night and all went straight to bed!
I went to chapel with Katherine Friday morning and then we all had lunch at the "DC" (dining commons) with her and some of her friends.

Sisters :)
Katherine bought them each a Taylor teddy bear and Blake a Taylor Nalgene to match the one she'd already given Natalie. Natalie calls it "Tebby" and sleeps with it every night. :)
We went to Outback for dinner with some of Kath's good friends on Friday night. Some fun in our hotel pool.
We went out to a Thai restaurant on Saturday night. Our cousin Maggie who also goes to Taylor came with us. I hadn't seen her since my brother Jonathan's wedding in 2006!Katherine's 21st birthday is this coming up this Monday so we had an early celebration at Baskin Robbins after dinner.
They had no forks... or plates... and it was rock solid, but finally they gave us a sharp knife and we used bowls and spoons. It's the thought that counts, right? :)


Maggie and Blake
Aunt Katherine and Natalie
Katherine goes to this great church called "God's House" and Natalie loved that it looks like a castle.

Lunch at Sonic (my first time, although I've heard so much about it!)

Thanks for the great weekend. It was so good to see you and Natalie hasn't stopped talking about you! Can't wait til Thanksgiving!

On the way home again... getting out some energy at Wendys. :)

Bye Grandma!

The kids (and I) were sad to see her go after being with her for 2 weeks straight. "It's kinda sad and lonely around here now... ... sure wish Grandma was here to play with us." "Guess we'll have to find something to do on our own...
... we'll just sit on TOP of the fort Mommy tried to make us. It's not the same as Grandmas."
I bought new bedding for Natalie's bed and the kids loved playing on the mattresses.

They had so much fun!

Where'd they go?
"I guess we can still have fun with just Mommy."

I know Brian is absent from all these pictures... he's alive. :) He's getting adjusted to classes and still glad to be a Penn State student. Especially since we're going to the game on Saturday night! Look for us on TV! We're super excited about the game and being together just us (the Yoder's are coming down for the weekend). And you'll get to see some pics of him in that post. :)

Adventures with Grandma!

The kids and I went to New Jersey for a couple days so I could pick up our van in Baltimore. Then my mom came back with us to help us receive our household goods and unpack. She was a total lifesaver and I don't think we could have done it without her help. Thanks so much mom! :) Feeding the ducks again--Natalie's favorite thing to do!


Yummy ice cream.
My dad drove me to Baltimore on his way to a meeting in DC and I drove the van back home. Grandma stayed with the kids and made them this cool fort in the dining room.


Going on a ride with Grandpa!
OUR STUFF IS HERE!!
The kids didn't know what to play with first! They were so excited! :)

I love this picture of them!


Juice break
One thing I love about moving and traveling is the sunrises and sunsets in different places. PA definitely has given us some pretty ones already. This was off our front porch.

Another fort by Grandma
We found this German outfit while unpacking... my mom bought it for her when she was just a few months old... it fits now!
So excited to have all their toys!
Making brownies--yummy.
She got to lick the bowl. So fun to make a mess! :)