When the boy cousins get together

This past Monday when the children had off from school, Aunt Maria, Mitch and C.J. came to visit. (My younger brother Tim's wife and sons.) While most of us sat inside where it was warm and dry, Avery, Bryson and Mitch played outside in the rain.
C.J., age five, gets his dimples from Nana, as do the rest of us!
What goes perfect with a rainy day? A large dirt pile, of course!
Bryson and Mitch, (age 8), work hard on their rainy day project.

Lori, like you said, the dirtier you get, the more fun you have!
However, the fun ended when Mitch had to change into someone else's clothes for the ride home! Thanks for coming to visit! Avery said the mud fight he had with Bryson and Mitch was the most fun he's ever had!

Pictures from November's Arcadia Bluegrass Show

Because of Nan Nan's Degenerative Bone Disease, she now sits to play her guitar.

Kenzie and Aunt Carrie compare their ankle braces.

Dale and Kaden share a slice of lemon meringue pie between sets.
Kaden gets to know Cousin Faye.

Umm, Umm, Umm!

During the winter months Dale's Family band puts on Bluegrass shows at the Arcadia Fire Hall. I am in charge of baking two cakes to be sold, along with other foods, during the show. This past weekend I never gave the cakes a thought until I was getting into bed Friday night. With everything else I had planned for Saturday, there just wasn't time for me to bake two cakes. I barely had time for ONE. I was putting my face on, getting ready to leave for the show while my cake cooled on the counter. Brady came into me and said, "Mom, I have bad news. Kaden got into your cake. The good news is, it's good because he took a bite and said, 'Umm, umm, umm!'" To top things off, my glaze turned out to be more like an icing. Not the best looking cake, but I was still able to sell all but the one piece!BTW: Thanks for the recipe Viviane!

Cousin Jennifer's pumpkin roll

Ashton asked me earlier in the day if there would be pumpkin roll at our Thanksgiving meal. I sadly told her no since Jennifer and her family wouldn't be joining us this year. Jennifer always made that as part of our meal. Once we got to Nan Nan and Aunt Bonnie's house and Aunt Bonnie started telling us the dessert menu, Ashton was delightfully surprised to hear that Jennifer had made TWO pumpkin rolls and sent them for us to enjoy. Fortunately for Ashton, there was a whole roll left over, and Aunt Bonnie sent it home with us!
Ashton enjoyed a second and third slice of Cousin Jennifer's pumpkin roll once we got home. Lucky for Brady, she was willing to share two slices with him as well.

Jennifer, do you realize you started a new Eyler Family tradition? Even if you're not at the meal, you're pumpkin roll better be on the table!

Thanksgiving Day tradition

The fight for the turkey skin started years before Brady was born. This Thanksgiving Day battle is an Eyler Family tradition that Brady is now a part of. Brady's main competition this year was Aunt Bonnie. They both hovered over Dale as he carefully carved the turkey, making sure he didn't take any of the skin for himself!
This year Avery and Bryson expressed an interest in getting in on the action. Next year we may need more that one turkey just to have enough skin to go around!

A Small Sample

http://s236.photobucket.com/albums/ff144/geyler/?action=view&current=Arcadia060.flv

For more great Bluegrass Music from the Carroll County Ramblers come to the Arcadia Fire Company activities building Saturday, November 24, 2007. Doors open at 6 pm and the foot stompin' music starts at 7 pm!

Typically how they act

Is it broken?

This evening, just before supper, Brady was sitting on the couch. He got up for a brief moment and when he did, Kenzie took his seat on the couch. When Brady returned he expected his seat back. Instead of asking nicely, he grabbed a hold of Kenzie and pulled her off. She somehow landed with her butt on her ankle. Of course she cried, moaned, groaned and claimed she couldn't walk, etc. The children can be very dramatic at times, so it's often hard to tell if they are truly injured. Kenzie didn't let up and when I took a look at her ankle 15 minutes later, it was indeed swollen and difficult for me to look at. Not only do I not like the site of blood, but grossly swollen ankles as well! Dale called Dr. Rapp, who just so happened to be in the office tonight, and said to bring her right in. From Dr. Rapp's we went to the Hanover Hospital for x-rays. The results were inconclusive. She was told to stay off of it for 48 hours. Dr. Rapp will consult with the radiation doctors and call me sometime tomorrow. Looks like Kenzie's Thanksgiving vacation from school has started early!
Kenzie waits for Dr. Rapp to examine her.

Waiting again. This time for x-rays.

Brady the backhoe boy

Last week Laura, a friend of ours from church, suffered through the death of her beloved horse. She and her husband were struggling to dig a hole in which to bury Myla. Laura stopped by our house to ask for help. We know Heavenly Father sent her our way. We are most likely the only members of our ward that has access to a backhoe. Dale's uncle Jay owns one and was more than happy to let us borrow it. Dale used the backhoe to bury Myla. We then kept the backhoe at our house because Dale needed it to do some clean up left from the installation of our new well this past summer. Brady was anxious to help, and couldn't wait for his turn at the controls!

Boys will be boys

I almost forgot I had these pictures and wanted to blog about them. Two weekends ago we were with Dale at the Arcadia Fire Company as The Carroll County Ramblers put on an indoor Bluegrass show. After the show, as we were taking down the sound system and loading it into the trailer, three of my sons were outside being boys -- running crazy, wrestling, jumping on each other, etc.

At one point Brady said to me, "Hey Mom, watch this! This is how a hillbilly wipes his butt!"

He then jumped a bush, giving himself a nice clean wipe! LOL! That's my boy!

Today's bargain

Hey Dottie, check it out! I got Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bars for $1.29 a box! (No, they're not outdated. The expiration date is April of next year.) The reason for the deal? The boxes are slightly smashed. I don't care if the box isn't perfect, I don't plan on keeping it anyway!I try to keep some kind of bar like this on hand at all times. The children and Dale put them in their lunches. If we're running late in the morning, the kids grab one for breakfast. I always have one in my purse and diaper bag in case Kaden needs a snack. Kaden has become a picky eater, but this is one half nutritious food I can count on him eating. I've never found them this cheap before, not even the generic brands!

Anniversary hike

I have fond memories of hikes Dale and I went on while we were dating. For our fifteenth wedding anniversary we stayed in a cabin near Pine Grove Furnace and hiked the trails in that area. This year we went to the Marry Ann Furnace trail at Codorus State Park. Kassie, not liking to hike anyway, stayed home with Kaden while he napped and the rest of us hiked.




The lake was dry, which made it great for finding shells. The children thought exploring the lake bottom was the best part of our hike.

We had great weather for our hike! I'm ready to do it again!