School and such

Waiting for the bus.

Fred is driving to school this year, so he missed out on the pictures!!

It's time for school. Three are already gone. One is still in bed. So far, so good. There is much more homework in middle school than elementary school. Sam missed the bus already. He was in the library when they called his bus. He ran into traffic as the proverbial salmon tried to swim upstream. I'm thankful he wants to go to the library--but not at bus time. Ben is in two high school classes and thinks that there is a lot more work in high school classes. He's taking Spanish and Adv. Algebra 1. Fred seems to be having a hard time making the transition to school work. He was dragging while doing his little bit of work last week. Hoperfully he'll pick it up this week. He's off to a good start completing half of his AP American History work last night. It's not due until Wednesday. Peter is happy in his class. He's making new friends. He's learning that 4th graders are expected to do more and do it better than 3rd graders. There is a huge leap between those two years, it seems. I love his teacher. Ben had her in 4th grade. I'm very thankful that he has her and for the opportunity to speak into her life again. Since only Peter and Fred are playing on teams this fall, there is time at home in the evenings to work on homework and to read. I'm reading a book by Jerry Jenkins to the boys. I forget what it's called, but so far we really like it. It's very suspenseful. Having Peter home by himself in the morning is fun. The other three all leave around 7, but he doesn't go until 8:30. We are reading the biography of Eric Liddle together. It's a sweet time. How that time marches on, though.

End of Summer

We took a trip to Keysville to visit my parents and brother and sister-in-law the weekend before Labor Day. We celebrated Sam's birthday at Todd and Kim's ice cream shop. The cousins were very happy to see each other again. The parking lot of the ice cream shop has become a playground. There are several bikes and wheel chairs that the kids use to entertain themselves. They were setting up accident pictures. Some of them were quite good.

This is the new ice cream shop that Kim and Todd run in Keysville. If you are ever near, stop by for some delicious ice cream.

Aren't they so good looking???

Random

Rainbow in the clear blue sky

The great wall of China

Aztec pyramid

We have been in out and up and down. These pictures were taken at Shark Fossil Beach in Westomoreland County. We went there last Sunday. Our friends go there often. There really are shark teeth fossils all over. We didn't look for them much this time, but just enjoyed swimming in the Potomac. The boys were fascinated with all the clay they found in the water. This area is replete with it. Sam found an interesting rock that had a baby crab inside of it. It was one of those relaxing days away.

It seems that the last several weeks consisted of running and cleaning and more running. Now as we gear up for school, some of that is done. Fred came down this morning and asked if we could celebrate. "Celebrate Saturday?" I asked. "Celebrate no football today," was the reply. He has been going non-stop from 7-2 each day. He's worn out. Truly today we can celebrate because we have no where to be, nothing to do, and the humidity is lifting. We may camp out back tonight since we haven't had a chance to do that this summer.

It feels as if we are in a holding pattern. School does not start for us until September 8. As all of the back to school ads and items are disappearing from the stores, it seems strange that we won't even know what many of the boys need until the first week of September. It's time for transition, for schedules, for routine. I'm winging it for the next two weeks!

Celebration

We had such a wonderful time for our anniversary. My parents sent us that beautiful bouquet of flowers. We got to dress up and drive to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains to the Inn at Little Washington. Because we were about an hour early, we strolled through the quaint town. It was first surveyed by George Washington in 1729, I believe. There are old houses and gardens and little out buildings there. It's a nice little town. We walked through the Inn shops across the street from the Inn, and discovered a book called 1001 Places You Must Visit Before You Die. The Inn at Little Washington was in the book! We can cross that one off the list. The Inn is run by a world-renowned chef, Patrick O'Connell. We were treated so well. We sampled about 7 tastes of things on the menu while we were waiting. The menus are printed each day, and the top of ours said Happy Anniversary to the Fultons. We got to keep them as a keepsake. I'm so glad, because I could never remember all that I ate. It was a three course meal with dessert at the end. We had things like "Fricassee of Maine Lobster with Potato Gnocchi, Green Grapes and Curried Walnuts," and Prosciutto Wrapped, Pan Roasted Loin of Pennsylvania Veal with Spinach Raviolini and Parmesan Broth." It really was fabulous. I didn't think I would be able to eat all of it, but the portions are smallish, so I managed. As we left, they gave us each the little paper replica of the Inn filled with cookies and candies. We strolled through the gardens and enjoyed the rest of the evening. What a great experience! Thanks Honey! I just wish I would have remembered my camera.

20 Really?

So, what were you doing 20 years ago tonight? I was at my wedding rehearsal! then a wonderful dinner at Casa de Salucci's in downtown Newton Falls. My mom cried through the rehearsal. I was directing the action. Chris, my dear friend Suzanne and I went back to my house to talk and laugh with my family. They left me around midnight, when Chris was officially kicked out. I couldn't sleep most of the night. Neither could Tabby, my cat. She new something was wrong. We finally settled down on the living room floor about 3 am, Tabby and me. The next day was a blur of hair, make-up, friends, dresses and HEAT. One of my favorite pictures is of me sitting in the dressing room with a fan under my dress. One of my least favorite is my dad being too unwell to walk me down the aisle, but my grandpa stepped in so I did't have to go alone. I still remember him saying, out of the corner of his mouth, "slow down." The funniest memory is of my brother Phil quietly leaving the ceremony to lose his cookies in the hall (that wasn't the funny part) and then 1)one of my uncles who was "helping" my dad had to clean it up, 2)Phil swept in as the recessional was playing and walked his lady out of the church, 3)one of the groomsmen on the cake had fallen over when we got to the reception,
representing Phil's exit, and 4)my mom telling how she just took everything in during the ceremony, but didn't notice that Phil had been gone at all when it had been about 30 minutes.
I loved almost everything about that day. I felt like Cinderella, or Eliza Doolittle (I could have danced all night). And today I'm still living "happily ever after." Happy 20 Honey! I love you.

Goings on

Ginger Grandma treats her like a baby, and she doesn't seem to mind.

I thought that I would get some rest and relax and enjoy the summer after camp. HMMM. That hasn't happened. It seems like all I do is run. From orthodontist to dentist to drama practice for church..... on and on it goes. My goals for the fall are a. learn to say "no" and mean it; b. don't schedule more than one day of appointments durning a week; and c. find out what needs to "go" from the schedule. I am contemplating working this fall subbing, and Chris reminded me this week that I would probably be home MORE if I were working than I have been the last week.

We added a new member to our family. When my parents were here, we took a walk at the park, and as we headed back to the van, this little thing just ran right over to me and started purring. Her tail curls up over her body. It's the strangest thing. The boys have asked and asked for a kitten. The answer has always been no, but when we did get one, it would have to be orange. She is precious. Even Chris likes her a little. He is the only one up early, and she sits on his desk while he works until someone else gets up. She has gone through a series of names--Blossom (Orange Blossom Special), Marmelade, Pumpkin, Willow (we found her at Willowmere Park), and now she's Ginger. I think this one will stick. I forgot how much fun kittens are.

Student Life Camp

Stafford Crossing students My Family Life Group

My seat-mate all week

I'm still recovering from Student Life Camp last week. These are the students in whose lives I got to share for 5 days. It was an amazing, hard, wonderful experience. Half way through the week, when there were more hard things to deal with, I was moaning to God about it. I felt like He was reminding me that I did say I wanted to go on a mission trip and not a retreat. From the moment we got there, there were challenges and things that just didn't happen the way they should have. I had planned on working on my Bible study and reading some while I was there. I found out just a week before that I would be leading a small group all week. When I got to camp, it was evident that I was expected to spend most of my time with my group--even their rec time. Then free time was spent with our own kids from our church. There was no time to study or prepare (aside from sacrificing some of the scant 6 hours of sleep allotted for each night). Despite these upheavals and more, the week was worth the work. I was moved. I hope I was changed. I was challenged to live my life fully for Christ according to His directions in the Bible. I was really challenged to care for the poor and to not shut my ears to the needs around me. I hope that Ben was changed as well. He decided to sponsor a boy from Thailand through Compassion International. The speaker was great--David Nasser, and the band was even better--Unhindered. The best thing was that I got to pray with a student who wanted to give his life to Jesus and become a Christian. I can't describe how that felt except to say that it was worth it all. I am hoping that maybe Chris can go next year, too. Maybe we'll even do Mission Camp instead. It's hard to be home. I really like who I was there. I'm trying to find that here.