Joel's Super Bowl Preview

Hi, folks!
As promised, I (Joel) am here to help you break down Super Bowl XLIII, which happens tomorrow at 7:15p.m., just so you know. Don't worry if you can't understand this; my mom couldn't either. Lets get started, beginning with the local bad-boys, defenders extraordinaire!

PITTSBURGH
When they have the ball: look for quarterback Ben Rothlesberger to employ a variety of screens and option routes to establish a rhythm, which he could not do in Super Bowl XL only three years ago. Also, Ben is notorious for holding on to the ball too long, so the timing routes and designed passes will make things flow much easier for the Steelers as well. Arizona must also remember that running back Willie Parker set a Super Bowl record with a 75-yard touchdown run as a rookie in Super Bowl XL.
When they are on defense: Arizona wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald set a playoff record 419 receiving yards, besting the greatest wide receiver of all time, Jerry Rice. Covering him is paramount to the Steeler's success. A healthy return of Anquan Boldin only adds to the difficulty of this nearly impossible task. But the Steelers can give Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner a much harder time using Fitzgerald and Boldin by applying once again their incredible pass rush. The Steel City represents an exotic, aggressive blitzing package, utilizing smallish, athletic linebackers such as James Harrison and Larry Foote.

ARIZONA
When they have the ball: The Steelers should know as well as anyone just how good Anquan Boldin and Larry Fitzgerald are, because they've been impossible to miss. But something less popular in the Super Bowl conversations is the resurgence of running back Edgerin James. He had several key runs in the NFC championship game that opened up huge plays, such as the big pass to Fitzgerald early in the game. Becoming one-dimensional in a big game such as this is almost certainly fatal.
When they are on defense: The Cardinals were known for being sluggish, and kind of out-of-shape on defense for most of the regular season, and showed little enthusiasm late in the game. The playoff teams they knocked off a few weeks earlier were a big test, and they rose up to the occasion. The Steelers are not a bad running team, but not half as good as the Atlanta Falcons, or Carolina Panthers, both of which Arizona beat in the playoffs. But pass coverage is an equally big task, going up against a healthy Hines Ward and a playoffs mega-star, Santonio Holmes. The Cardinals are not entirely defenseless, however, with talented players like Dominique Rogers-Cromartie and Adrian Wilson in the defensive backfield.

THE OUTCOME
I think that this game will be a lot more interesting than people give it credit for. Both teams have outstanding talent, and I like both team's offensive schemes. But, someone has to win, and someone has to loose. We won't know for sure who that will be until tomorrow night, but we all love to guess. My prediction:
STEELERS 21,CARDINALS 24!!!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my preview, and I hope you enjoy the game as well. I know I will.

Johnny and Chachi's 80's medley

Here is another of my favorite Johnny and Chachi videos - a great flashback to the eighties!!! Yes, this week has been a week of remembering those days! (Thanks to Facebook!)

And I'm afraid Jaden is going to look like Chachi soon if he doesn't get a haircut!

I've entered the world of Facebook!

OK, I finally did it - I got on Facebook! Oh my goodness, it has been like stepping back into time this week as I've seen pictures of people I haven't seen in over 20 years!! And it has been amazing hearing from so many classmates and old friends. I am so thankful for friends!!! And one thing that has really,really made me happy was seeing evidence of God's grace in the lives of many of my classmates. We went to a very strange legalistic school and despite coming out of that environment, so many are still walking with the Lord today. Three old friends are now Christian school administrators! And many more are devoted followers of Christ.

By the way, our son Joel wants his own blog now, but I'm probably going to let him post on here from time to time. He's got quite a gift with writing (NOT like me!) So sometime soon you may see a post or two from him - and I can almost guarantee it will be about football.

Speaking of football, GO CARDINALS!!!!!! Yes, I'm still a die-hard Redskins fan, but I would like to see the Cardinals win the big game. I love under-dogs. Even though the Steelers are a more local team. But my dad lives in Arizona, so that counts too! : )

Well its time to get off here - we are in the middle of potty-training...... and YAY! Today for the VERY FIRST TIME, Jaden told me on his own that he had to go! And he did! That was a very, very happy thing! Now if only we could bribe him into sitting still long enough to get a haircut......

Pictures from Future City Engineering Competition

Here are the three Presenters from our Hempfield Homeschoolers' Future City Engineering Team: Marshall, Joshua and Joel standing behind their model city Waiani. Most of the morning, Joel and the other presenters had to answer questions from engineer judges about their city.

The team spent hours answering questions from the engineers. In the end, they received two special awards: Best electro-engineering and Best Creative Problem Solving awards.

Here are some close-up pictures of Waiani, the model city. It is located in Hawaii in the year 2158. The scale of the city is 1 inch =40 feet.

Notice the stadium of the Waianni Wild Hogs made by Joel. Nearby is a beautiful waterfall and some high rises.

Mrs. Brackbill, our team's teacher is in the background and next to her, on the far left in the background is Mr. Schulz, our team's engineer mentor. They made all of this possible and worked many, many hours helping our team prepare for this day.

Joel made 4 posters to use as visual aids in their presentations to the judges. This one demonstrated Waiani's geothermal power. To break the tension and stress, we enjoyed an entertaining presentation by Hatfield Corp. in which they demonstrated a wonderful accomplishment of a team of engineers in creating the Phillie Phanatic's Hot dog launcher!!!! This contraption can actually shoot out hotdogs all the way to the upper decks of the stadium during the Phillies' home games! I took several pictures, but the hotdogs shoot out so fast you can barely even see it flying out..... finally I got this picture in which you can see the foil wrapped hot dog in a bun as it is making it's speedy flight to the back of the auditorium!

At the end of the day, the 6 final teams presented their model cities on stage to a panel of final judges and were then asked several questions by the judges. Our team was the last to present and they did an excellent job although they came in 4th place. No pictures of the presentation unfortunately! This photographer was too nervous and wanted to watch without distraction of having to take pictures. I will probably be able to post others' pictures in the near future.

And even though they came in a disappointing 4th place out of 47 teams, the teams that beat them were very, very good! In fact two of the top teams this year won first place in previous years and each went on to the top 4 spots in the National Competition in Washington D.C.

Future City Engineering Competition

What a long day it was - full of emotions, pride, nervousness, suspense, hope and then disappointment too. First of all, I am SO proud of the Hempfield Homeschool Future City team!!!! They did a terrific job and their model, presentation, performance, assignments were all top-notch. They stood out as a very excellent team - and they were also the only homeschooled team there!

They were very impressive, and the model looked fantastic! Out of 47 teams, we really believed that we could go first place. For the whole day, Joel and the other two team members who were picked as "presenters" had to answer questions from the judges about their future city. Then they had to go to another room and perform their oral presentation in front of a group of judges and answer more questions about their city, particularly the engineering aspects of their city. We couldn't observe that part - we just prayed for them!

Then later in the day, the top 6 teams were announced. The top 6 teams would be advancing to the final round and Hempfield Homeschool team was announced as being one of the top finalists! Yay team! Each of the finalists then had to perform their oral presentation to the final judges on stage - in front of the whole audience of people. So then we could see them give the performance and they did GREAT!!!! We were so proud of them!!!! Then they had to answer more questions from the final judges. We were very happy with how well they did and we really thought that they could very easily place first or second place.

However, in the end, it was announced that they won the "Honorable Mention" spot, the 4th place winners! Not bad to be 4th place out of 47 teams - mostly from large schools, some with more than twice the number of team members. (Our team only had 9 students and some schools had up to 30 some) Anyway, we were very proud of them, yet honestly, very disappointed. Joel just about cried. But we did win two special awards - best electro-engineering and best problem solving awards. We won over $400 in cash prizes and they got medals and plaques to take home, pictures in the newspaper, interviews and the good feeling that comes from doing their best and working very hard.

We expected to place higher, but we went home happy and praising God for it all. It was a great experience and even the disappointment is another lesson in life. I believe the team was honorable and I am very proud of the honorable mention! They are winners in my book!!

I took several pictures - check back here tomorrow for them. It's late now and I need to go to bed!

Future City Engineering Competition tomorrow!

Tomorrow morning at 5:45 AM (!!!!), we will get on the bus to Philadelphia along with the rest of the team and their families and head to the Future City Engineering Competition for a full day of judging, presentations, awards, etc. It will be a very long day for all of us, especially the team. Joel was chosen by his team to be one of the three presenters so he will be answering questions by professional engineers about their future city design. He will also be presenting their city to the judges in a skit format in which he plays the role of the successor of David Murdock, the owner and founder of Dole Foods and Dole Nutrition Group.

Joel and his team of other homeschooled 7th and 8th graders built a model city called Waiani in Hawaii, which means beautiful fresh water city. They created their model city with trash, recycled materials and anything they could find. It all had to be built to scale and had to include certain elements including a movable part. They had to do a computer design of the city using Sim City software and again they had to meet many requirements for that portion of the competition. They had to write a research essay and a design abstract on the topic: "Creating a self sufficint system within the home which conserves, recycles and reuses all existing water sources."

Each of those requirements along with the oral presentation - all factor into the points needed to win the competition. Joel and his team have worked very, very hard on this. They have a wonderful teacher who has poured herself into this and opened her home on weekends for workdays for the team. Also they have an engineer mentor who has helped the team understand how to envision technologies of the future and incorporate those ideas into their city.

To read about this competition go to www.futurecity.org

Last year, there were 32 teams at the regional competition and our team won 4th place! This year, we are hoping to be in the top three. The first place team will then advance to the National Competition held in Washington D.C. next month.

Please pray for Joel and the team tomorrow as they spend the day talking to judges and being at their "very best" all day. It will be stressfull and they will be grilled with lots of questions from engineers. They have to think quickly and creatively answer questions that they may have not even thought about before! Also, as homeschooled students, they will be noticed by all the judges and professionals and pray that they will be a good testimony to those who sometimes misjudge homeschooled students!

Jaden will be spending the night and the day tomorrow with Grandma while the rest of us go to the competition. He is very excited about going to Grandma's house all by himself for a sleep-over! She is going to spoil him rotten.... eat out, go to the Children's Museum, play with new toys..... but they'll have fun. I'll post on here late Saturday night when we get back about the results of the competition.

Thanks for praying!!!

Teaching about the Oregon Trail

This semester, I'm teaching third grade classes in both of our homeschool groups all about the Oregon Trail. I have always found that topic fascinating and am awed by the pioneers who suffered so much to follow their dreams. I don't believe I would have ever wanted to do what they did - walk 2,000 miles across an unknown and foreign country, drinking muddy river water to quench my thirst, watching babies and children be buried, trying to keep my children warm and fed and alive.... all to live a harsh and isolated life!!! If it were just me, I would perhaps be willing to suffer greatly for a dream. But to see my children suffer.... no, I could not do that. Some families did have good experiences and to read their stories is truly inspiring! Many made it across relatively unscathed.... except that they would have seen others suffering and so many, many, many graves. Other families fared much worse. I read that 1 in 11 people who ventured on the trail died on the journey and many of them were children. In the end, for many, it wasn't worth it. They didn't know, until it was too late, how hard it was!

I'm sparing the third graders much of the tragic, gory details of the sad stories, but we are learning much of the geography, daily routines, adventures, hardships, interactions with the Native Americans, and interesting facts along the way. It has been easy to plan activities, games, lessons and everything through the plethura of online resources and library books available. One of the favorite things for my class is the Oregon Trail game we play at the end of each class - no, not the computer game. I drew a large map of the trail that I posted in front of the classroom. I divided the class into two teams, two traveling families. At the end of each class, we continue the game in which each "family" answers questions to move forward on the trail. Sometimes they pull a card with a hardship like an ox dies or a wheel breaks and they have to stay put. Other times, they get fair weather or fresh meat and they advance more. My kids love seeing their wagons progress on the big map! And each week, we pick up the game where we left off. At the end of the 8 weeks, hopefully at least one of the families will have made it to Oregon City!

One website that I found really interesting is
http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/00.n.trailarchive.html
Here you can read full texts of several diaries and memoirs of pioneers who made the trip west. Very fascinating reading! Particularly good reading when feeling like we have it hard as homeschool moms and overwhelmed in our busy lives!

It's COLD!

Jack Frost makes beautiful designs in our sunroom.
The temperature in the family room by the fire is nice and toasty warm - 80 degrees. It is only 10 degrees outside. The coldest weather we've had in years!!!
Even our car is suffering! It usually only looks this bad when we are up in New York!!! This is the normal car look up there! Notice Ivy's signature in the back!

Feeling like we are in Siberia!

It is COLD here! Really, really, really cold. This feels like Siberia, or Minnesota, or way up in the boonies of NY where Mark's family lives. Normal for THEM to have temps in the single digits or below....but for us, it is way too cold! We aren't used to it! We don't like it one bit! OK, got that off my chest!

The straw that broke the camel's back was when we woke up this morning to FROZEN PIPES!!! What in the world?! I thought that only happened in back woods type places, hunting cabins, remote well-water places....not in a neighborhood with public water! Not in my house!!!!!!!

Growing up in Virginia, this was absolutely unheard of. Plus we were always fortunate to have electric heat. So here is Reason #562 that I really, really, really like electric heat! No oil pipes to freeze to make the house cold enough to freeze the water pipes!!! That's exactly what happened - the oil froze in the pipes and made that end of the house freezing cold which froze the water pipes.

I am thankful for our woodstove! In our family room, the temperature is close to 80 degrees with the fire going. The other end of the house by the kids' rooms is 56 degrees!!!!!! When we woke up this morning, Jaden and Ivy were still sleeping in their beds, buried under blankets and unaware of how cold it was in their rooms! I am SOOO thankful that I thought to give them extra blankets last night or they may have had frostbite!

Mark used my hair dryer up in the attic to thaw out the water pipes. Now he's off to get a heat additive to put in the oil to keep it from freezing.

So it has been quite a morning already! I am thankful that so far, there is no apparant damage. I'm thankful that we are warm and cozy by the fire. I'm thankful that Mark knows what to do to fix this! And I'm thankful that the temps should be warming up soon!

The Don't Song

We really like this! This is Johnny and Chachi's The Don't Song. Enjoy!
And by the way, my husband lives out this song very, very well! I am very blessed.

Jaden's Baptism

Yesterday was a very special day for our family as we had Jaden baptised. I was so nervous because three year olds can be so unpredictable and I was imagining all the worst things that Jaden could possibly do or say up there in front of the church! As it turned out, everything went very well. There were 4 little ones baptised and of course, Jaden was the oldest! Mark held him and he had a sweet calm little face as Dr. Rogers sprinkled the water on top of his head.

It is so amazing how God is involved in so many details in our lives. Yesterday morning in Jaden's Sunday School class, the lesson was on baptism! How perfect that was! Jaden has a limited understanding of what it all means, but we have explained it to him the best we can. This shows that he is God's little boy and promises to save Jaden if he puts his faith in Him. We look forward to that day when Jaden does know Jesus as his Savior. For now, he knows that God loves him and the seeds of believing faith are starting to grow in his heart.

I've been tagged!

Amanda at http://www.encouragementalongtheway.blogspot.com/ has tagged me in a photo-posting game! This is what I'm supposed to do: Go to my picture files on my computer. Open the fourth folder and click on the fourth picture and post that to my blog. It has to be the fourth picture of the fourth folder - no exceptions! This put great fear and trepidation in my heart because I have the very, very bad habit of never deleting any pictures!!! I had no idea what picture I would find there!!!! As it turned out, my fourth folder was full of pictures of one of our annual trips to the beach in 2007. And the fourth picture is:

We went to Island Beach State Park in New Jersey for the day on my birthday back in 2007. This is Joel, my husband Mark and little Jaden who was only 19 months old. It was Jaden's first ocean experience! It was a wonderful day and what a great memory to have..... now that it's the middle of January and we are experiencing extremely cold weather! Yes, my heart longs for summer!

I am supposed to tag 4 other bloggers, but for now, I will just pick one: Kelli, at http://www.thelandofboys.blogspot.com/ who sometimes reads my blog and I enjoy hers as well!

A Visit from Dr. Rogers

Our pastor, Dr. Rogers, came to visit us at our home this morning. Tomorrow Jaden is getting baptised and Dr. Rogers wanted to come over and spend some time with Jaden and show him what was going to happen and to pray with us. I thought that was a great idea! Hopefully Jaden will do OK tomorrow and it will be somewhat familiar for him because of the "practice" session today!

When we first told Jaden that Dr. Rogers was coming over to our house, he was SO EXCITED!!! We quickly realized that he thought we were telling him Mr. Rogers was coming over!!! And Jaden loves Mr. Rogers' TV show! Then we explained that our pastor was coming and showed him a picture of him so he wouldn't act disappointed when it wasn't Mr. Rogers at our door!

Interesting side note here: Mr. Fred Rogers was actually a Presbyterian pastor in the Pittsburgh Presbytery at the same time that our pastor, Dr. Michael Rogers was when he was a young pastor in western PA! So for a time they were in the same Presbytery although our pastor said they never actually met each other.

Back to Jaden's baptism, it has taken us a year and a half to get to this special day. We first started attending Westminster Presbyterian Church back in September 2007. Over the months that followed, we studied more and more about reformed theology and the doctrines of grace. Some things that we have always believed have been challenged as we began reading the Bible in a new light. Both of us have bachelor degrees in Bible from a Bible college and yet we continue to learn and grow in the Word of God and it is an exciting journey! One of the areas that our understanding has changed has been the sacrament of baptism.... moving from credo-baptist to paedo-baptist. What helped us to understand what we now believe is the biblical application of baptism is an understanding of covenant theology. It is like puzzle pieces that all fit together! I won't try to write an in-depth explanation here, but I have linked a couple of good articles about baptism on this page. Also the monergism site that I have listed is an excellent place to go to understand reformed theology.

So tomorrow is the big day... Jaden will be baptised as a three year old! I guess you could say that he is twice blessed! He was dedicated at 6 months at our former church! It will be a special day for us as this will be a visible sign and seal of God's covenant of grace. No, this does not save Jaden. There is nothing magic about the water sprinkled on his head. Rather it is a visible marking of Jaden being included in God's covenant people. We hope and pray he will one day put his faith in God and we will teach and instruct him in the ways of the Lord. What an awesome responsibility we have. Yet, it is not our efforts that will save Jaden. (Thank goodness!!!) It will only be through God's grace and His grace alone.

Sequential Spelling

I think I FINALLY found a good spelling program for Ivy!!!!!! A friend of mine who has a son who also struggles with learning challenges and spelling recommended Sequential Spelling to me. After reading the website and using the sample lessons with Ivy, we are hooked! The AVKO (Audio Visual Kinesthetic Oral)Dyslexia Research Foundation publishes this. It is very affordable, very easy program and Ivy really likes it too which is extremely good!

It really is sequential, in that it introduces words in families that build on each other. For example,the word "in" is introduced first and by the end of the week, "beginning" is learned. It gradually builds on words to imprint them in the minds of the students and they are easily remembered.

There are no lists of spelling words to study, no spelling tests! Because with kids like Ivy, that does not work! She can memorize a list of words, take a test and then immediately not know how to spell them again. Very frustrating for her and me!

Sequential Spelling gives a list of words each day and any misspelled words are immediately self-corrected. The list builds all week on the previous words and it really does work. Of course, if you want, you can do spelling tests, but the writers believe that students learn best from their mistakes and so the tests are actually a learning device - not an evaluation.

If you have a child who struggles with spelling, I highly recommend this program - you can look at the website and you can print out sample lessons to try first like I did. http://www.avko.org/

Hymn of the Month

For the past 8 years of homeschooling, we have always begun our school days with Bible reading and a hymn. Each month, we sing a different hymn so that we can learn all the stanzas together. Sometimes we read about the history of the hymn and the author. It has been a wonderful way to start our days singing a hymn of praise to the Lord!

Last month, we just got a new hymn book, the Trinity Hymnal, that our church uses. Since we became Presbyterians over a year ago, we've had to learn many, many new hymns! I don't think we've had a Sunday since we've been there that there wasn't at least one unfamiliar song sung - sometimes all the hymns are unfamiliar!!! (Presbyterians sing different hymns!)

So my goal is to learn some of these "new" yet very old hymns. Joel picked our hymn for this month which is new to us: "Jesus, Thy Blood and Righteousness" by Ludwig von Zinzendorf, 1739,

Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are,
My glorious dress;
'Midst flaming worlds,
In these arrayed,
With joy shall I lift up my head.

Bold shall I stand in thy great day;
For who aught to my charge shall lay?
Fully absolved through these I am
From sin and fear,
From guilt and shame.

When from the dust of death I rise
To claim my mansion in the skies,
Ev'n then this shall be all my plea,
Jesus hath lived,
Hath died, for me.

Jesus, be endless praise to thee,
whose boundless mercy hath for me -
For me a full atonement made,
An everlasting ransom paid.

O let the dead now hear thy voice;
Now bid thy banished ones rejoice;
Their beauty this,
Their glorious dress,
Jesus, the blood and righteousness.

The Sovereignty of God and Bad Circumstances

Over the past year and a half, I have come to rest more and more in the sovereignty of God. It has been a deepening realization and the more that I come to grips with God's sovereignty, the more peace and joy I feel even when confronted with bad circumstances or pain. We are seeing the sovereinty of God in my cousin Brian's life. God has used this time of Brian's incarceration to help Brian have a deeper relationship with Him. We are so encouraged by what God is doing in Brian through this awful time and it is becoming more clear that this was indeed part of God's plan for him... Not that God ever desires evil, unjust things to happen. Yet He is sovereign over these things, using them for His purposes and for good.

In recent letters from Brian, he writes that this experience will always remind him that God is in control of his life. He also wrote that this has helped him realize how much God loves him !!! His relationship with the Lord has obviously grown and he has changed and matured in many ways. So through this unjust tragedy in his life, God is working and it is good!

Brian has had a good testimony in this jail. The sheriff has said that Brian's attitude has been great. He is quite a contrast from the others that come and go through there. The Christian books that he's been reading, sent to him by my mom, have been passed around to other inmates. Who knows what impact that will have on many other lives? God can use Brian and those books to bring others to him.

Please continue to pray for Brian. This is very hard and he's got a long wait until the end of July for the trial. But I am praising God in this because He is in control and He is a loving and good Father.

The Curtains Closed

The curtain closed after a busy Christmas Show season for Joel in Sight and Sound Theatre's "Miracle of Christmas" show. Mark and I were able to go see his final show on Friday night. It was a wonderful performance! We were so proud of Joel and so thankful for this opportunity he had to be part of such a fantastic Christmas show.

On Saturday, we saw the final showing of the season's "Voices of Christmas" show at Sight and Sound's Living Waters Theatre. That was so much fun! We really loved that show and highly recommend it to everyone. I think the "Miracle of Christmas" show at the bigger theatre gets most of the attention, but "Voices of Christmas" was an absolute delight! Jaden was enthralled as were the rest of us! It was amazing.

So for now, Joel has a bit of a repreive from the theatre. He is hoping to be back as Ishmael in "Abraham and Sarah" which opens in April. It is time to send in the head shot and measurements and wait for a contract. We would love for him to have another year there. After 6 years, it has become home away from home and such a valued part of his life and experience.

Joel won't be bored though.... Future City Engineering competition is in 3 weeks and he will be busy, busy, busy preparing for that. He has been chosen to be one of the spokesmen at the competition in Philadelphia. Much to prepare for! We hit the ground running today getting back into the routines and rhythms of schooling. Our break was wonderful, but always seems too short!

New Poll

Well my last poll about The Shack was a dud! So here is a new one for you: Did you stay up till midnight last night to ring in the new year? We all did here - except for Jaden who is too young to care about a new year!

And speaking of the Shack book, I had to return mine to the library before I was finished reading it!!! I could only keep it for two weeks since there were holds on it and it could not be renewed. Two weeks was just not enough time for me - especially the busy weeks before Christmas! What was I thinking???!!!! But, honestly, it was not a great book, in my opinion. I thought it was poorly written and although it did give me things to ponder, I found myself disagreeing with it more often than not. Maybe some day I'll pick it up and finish the second half of it, but more likely I won't.

Happy New Year!!!!

We wish your family a wonderful and blessed new year! May you all be filled with hope and joy at this time of new beginnings. I love the feeling of a fresh start, renewed goals, and the nastalgia of the year gone by. Some of my goals are to be better organized, especially with meal planning and scheduling of time. Most importantly, I want the fruits of the spirit to be growing in my heart more this year. More love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Those are my goals! I would like to focus on each one at least one month... starting with Love.

We spent the evening last night at a party at the home of some new friends of ours from church. There were 9 families there so they had a houseful! Mostly teens and their families. Joel had a great time with all of his church friends there! Jaden was the youngest and because of him, we didn't stay very long. He needed to come home and go to bed. We invited my mom over and we watched Its A Wonderful Life and rang in the New Year.

This was the first time Ivy has been away from home on New Years. She was invited to go with a friend and her family last night Downtown to the Celebrate Lancaster! Event. I'm sure she had a great time downtown at midnight seeing the Red Rose drop! I hope she was warm enough since it was VERY cold last night! Then she spent the night with her friend and we haven't seen her yet this year. We missed her, but she was SO excited to go!

Today will be spent watching the Penn State game and continuing a nice long break from school..... oh, it will be so hard to start up again on Monday! Yes, we have enjoyed this wonderful time off!

Have a happy New Years day everyone!