Monday work day

 This past Monday I helped my girlfriend continue the task of moving her belongings two houses down.  Her son slept peacefully while we worked.

Kaden and Ellie enjoyed more time playing together outside, even though it was raining!

Again, once I got home I had to take a little nap!  Guess I'm not used to hard work!

Brady had been asking for sweet potato waffles for weeks.  They take so long to make, and I never seemed to have the time!  I know there are quicker, easier waffle recipes, but once you've made them completely from scratch and they taste soooo good, it's hard to make them any differently.  Finally, Monday was the day for Brady's waffles.  We started at 4:30 pm and didn't finish up until after 7 pm.  We have to quadruple the recipe for our family, which gives us some leftovers for quick before-school-breakfasts.

As always, they were delicious!  I'm planning easier meals for the rest of the week!

Did my grandfather really catch a FOX?

My grandfather used to say, "I caught a  FOX!  Not too many men can say that!"  This was usually followed by him laughing at his own little joke.  My grandmother's maiden name was FOX, but was it really?  This week as I continued my task of cleaning out Dad's dresser drawers, I found more family history information.  At the top of one particular genealogical chart I found the name of Christian Fuchs, from which I am a decendent.  I said to my daughter Ashton, "How would you pronouce F-U-C-H-S?"  We threw around different pronunciations.  I then stopped to figure out who this man was in relation to myself.  Turns out he is my Great, Great, Great Grandfather.  On my particular line of the family, the decendents from Christian were all male until it came to my grandmother, meaning this would be my grandmother's maiden name.  What a discovery!  Now Ashton and I knew just how to pronounce F-U-C-H-S...   it's pronounced FOX!  With the Pennsylvania Duch accent of my relatives, the word FOX comes out sounding more like FUX, which makes it all come together and make total sense to me.  I never knew!  Faye, Fern... did you know?  So, in reality, what my grandfather really caught was a FUCHS!

Raymond Stoudt Wagner and Anna Catherine Fox Wagner

Yesterday I found a booklet on the genealogy of the Reber side of my family.  Wonder what I'll discover there?

Mary Had A Lamb



When going through my parent's belongings, I often find it easier to bring some of the items home, and then look through them.  When I find a free minute or two throughout the week, I'll sort through the papers/pictures/letters,etc.  Today I found the following poem in an envelope my mother had marked "keep". 



Just another testament of who my mother was and what she stood for.



Off to Camp!

Wednesday morning Avery and Bryson had to be to the school with their gear for sixth grade camp by 8 am. They'll be spending the next three days camping and learning with their teachers and classmates.
Avery chats with his best buddy Nick (right) while waiting for the day to start.

Loading the trucks for camp.

After saying goodbye to the boys, Kaden and I headed into Hanover. My morning schedule was messed up with 6th grade camp and there was no time to use my Nordic track. Instead, I exercised by pushing Kaden in the stroller up and down the streets of Hanover before stopping to play at a local park.

I decided I'd do a little swinging myself!

It was a very relaxing morning! After leaving the park we drove over to the Revonah Pretzel Factory store where Kaden was given a free pretzel stick. That made his day!

Moving Christina

My girlfriend Christina emailed me the other day and asked if I could help her to move. They found a house two doors down nicer than where they were currently living. I told her that Kaden and I would love to help! Because the new house was so close, we were able to walk everything through the back yards to the new house. Kaden and Ellie (Christina's daughter) helped carry what they could, but after an hour they were ready to just play!
Who needs a car battery when you have Kaden power?

They experienced a little engine trouble along the way!

Another toy without a battery, but that didn't stop them from having fun!

We stopped working just before lunch time. There is still plenty more to do for another day. I was exhausted when I got home from the many trips up and down the steps carrying heavy items. Christina and I joked that we should each loose five pounds after the day's workout! I'm thinking we'll be back another day, which I'm sure Kaden won't mind along as he has Ellie to play with!

In search of discounts

Last Saturday on my way to Dad's house from church (had to drop the three older boys off at church for a bike hike before going to Dad's), I passed the exit sign for Mark's Discount Groceries. I didn't have time to find the entrance and visit the store. Today I decided Kaden and I would go check it out, and am I ever glad we did! First we stopped at the Winter Garden Retail Store in New Oxford. I'd never been there before and wanted to check that out too. After buying three pounds of Dutch Potato Salad, we headed for Mark's. It was far larger than I expected, and had fresh produce, refrigerated and frozen foods along with just about any other food you could think of! I love a good bargain on food, and a good bargain on food is what I got! Fiber One bars, Quaker True Delight bars and Nature Valley Yogurt bars were only .99 cents a box. (I like these for the kid's lunches) I also paid .99 cents for Chi-Chi's wheat wheat tortillas and for 6 ounce bags of Ocean Spray Crainsins. The three pack bags of sugar free gum that the kids like was also .99 cents! (Trident, Stride, etc.) I also got bargains on toilet paper, shredded cheese, apples, chocolate milk, yogurt and much much more!
On my way out I passed the sign that I had seen on Saturday. I will definitely be back! I've found a new favorite place to shop!

What are YOU keeping?

Yesterday I worked alone for several hours at Dad's house cleaning and organizing. Mike and his son Joey came after lunch and we continued our task of going through Mom and Dad's belongings. Dad kept many things that I wouldn't have thought to keep. I found all of his expired driver's registration cards, his old college notebooks and empty envelopes addressed to him with no letter inside. Among his things I also found Valentines my father kept from his early childhood days. Some were in an old scrapbook and some were laying loose. They were neat to see, read, touch, knowing they meant enough to my father that he kept them for well over sixty years. Now what do we do with them? We just can't keep everything. What is worth keeping and what isn't?
There have been several items I'm so glad Mom and Dad kept: old letters that testify of their character, letters that express their love for one another, letters that have taught me more about my grandparents, death certificates, birth certificates, papers with the names and birth dates of my ancestors, obituaries of relatives I didn't remember, etc. This experience has changed the way I look at my own belongings. What am I keeping? Is it marked with a date, names, places, my feelings, etc? I came across a notebook style calendar that my father wrote in, sort of like a journal. The problem is, he left out details, too many details. On one day he writes, "Best day ever!" which left me thinking, what happened? Mike and I tried to piece together the story based on other comments he made days before and days after this entry, and also based on the date. We can only guess of what brought him so much happiness on that one day in the Spring of 1996.

Next Saturday there will be more treasures to find and ponder over. In the meantime, I'll continue to try properly preserving treasures for my own children to find one day.

What are YOU keeping?

Wecome Lexie!

We have a new young woman that has moved into our ward. Alexis, ("Lexie") was in our ward years ago and is now back, and we're so glad to have her! Last night as part of our Wednesday night activity we drove to her house and presented her with a goody basket and welcome notes from each girl. Lexie will need a ride to the church Wednesday nights, so hopefully I can start to arrange that. I don't think it will be long before Lexie gets reacquainted with us and feels like she's part of the group.Welcome Lexie! We love you!

Saturday's projects

This past Saturday was another work day at Mom and Dad's house. Mike and I arrived in the morning. I worked on cleaning out the toy closet while Mike went through desk drawers. We later sat down together to go over some financial papers. Tim and Dave came early in the afternoon. Tim had his boys with him and they started tearing down two bushes in the front yard. The bigger these bushes got, the more difficult it was to back out of the driveway. They're gone now! The only thing Tim didn't bargain for was the underground bees nest next to the one bush! CJ got a racket of some kind and was killing the bees with that. Sure hope he didn't get stung! At this point I had to leave. We'll all be back this coming Saturday too. I'm not sure if I'll tackle the kitchen or one of the filing cabnets.

Labor Day 2010

Each year our church holds a picnic on Memorial Day and Labor Day. Dale hasn't attended one of these picnics in years. It's always just me and the kids, but this year he decided to leave his work behind and join us. I should have taken his picture to prove he was actually there!Bishop Baughman (center) was king of the grill, doing hot dogs, hamburgers and corn.
Kassie had a great time taking care of her "Ginger Baby"! Little Jacob is so adorable and Kassie just loves his red hair!

Kenzie and her friend Kira hang out inside the church building.

Kassie declares she wants a ginger baby of her own one day... just a warning to all you red-headed LDS youth!

Aaronica's Day

I'm a week behind in blogging, and I'm blaming Dale! He worked with his new cell phone trying to download pictures from it onto the computer. Ever since then I have not been able to download pictures from my camera in the same way. I want it the way it was: plug in my camera, one click of the mouse and all my pictures go right into all the right places. It is no longer working that way, but I suppose I'll manage!My dear friend Aaronica, that I've known since her birth, was married six months ago in a very small ceremony. Last Sunday, on her sixth month anniversary, she had a small celebration and an opportunity for us to meet her husband Dave. Her sister Dawn made the most delicious cake! When Aaronica asked me to take extra cake home with me, she didn't have to ask twice!
Dave and Aaronica

Aaronica's other sister, Teresa, also recently got married. We met George that night too.

Kenzie enjoyed playing with Dawn's son, Monte.

Kassie chats with Teresa and Dawn while they cut and serve the cake. Dawn is expecting her second child next month.

It was good to see and visit with the Hoffman girls again! I used to babysit them, now they're having children of their own! This is the same family that introduced me to Dale and also helped me learn about the Church.

After we left that night Kaden cried for a good fifteen minutes going down the road saying, "I don't want to leave! I don't want to leave!" I think there should be another party after Dawn has her baby so we have an excuse to get together again real soon!

Annual Wagner Family Picnic

Each year around this time my brothers and I get together with our families for a picnic. This year is was held Saturday, September 4, 2010. In the past we held these picnics at Tim and Maria's house, but this year we decided on one last picnic at Mom and Dad's house before we sell it.One of the things I brought is a Pennsylvania Dutch favorite: Shoo Fly pies!
Tim brought his grill from home. Tim has been master of the grill at all of our picnics! Dave lends him a hand while Dale supervises!

CJ has become quite the chef! He now owns some of Nana's cookbooks and has been trying recipes from them. In one cookbook Nana had written "good" next to this bar recipe, so CJ decided to give it a try. They were delicious!

Kenzie hangs from the rings at Nana and Pappy's house. When I told my kids I could do the same thing, they didn't believe me.

I had to prove myself to them! Since is has been several years since I've done it, I had Dale close by as my spotter.

Brady and Kaden play out it what used to be Pappy's garden.

Mitch and CJ do some kind of jump flip off the swings. I had a pic of CJ too, but for whatever reason, it didn't post.

During our time together we had several good laughs. This was one of them: Mitch giving Brady a ride on his bike!

Part of the days entertainment, and reason for more laughs was Uncle Timmy reliving his high school track days as a shot put and discus thrower.

Uncle Tim then gave lessons to some of the boys.

It's looking like Brady will inherit one of Pappy's most prized processions: His 1986 Ford Ranger truck.

Uncle Tim shows Brady the engine.

Apparently there is a leak in the fuel line. Tim shows Brady where it is and assures him it's an easy fix.

I wanted these videos to post in order of where they belonged in the story, but they had a mind of their own!

Before everyone left the grandchildren picked out toys from Nana's toy closet that they wanted to keep. I'll box up the rest and get them ready for auction.

It was an enjoyable day! We were there for just over four hours. It will be hard to see our childhood home sell when the time comes. So many memories are in those walls. Our next family home together will be on high... a mansion. Our parents wait for us there.

Extended vacation

The children had off school Friday for an extended Labor Day weekend. After taking care of some chores and overdue phone calls, I took the three youngest boys to rent a few movies and to pick up pizza for lunch. The movies and pizza were a splurge.

Jerry and Sal's has become a new favorite.

We rented six movies. Avery and Bryson picked out Iron Man, The Spy Next Door, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Terminator Salvation. Kaden picked out two he had already viewed before, but just had to see again, Bolt and Aliens in the Attic. I'm not a big movie watcher, so did not watch any of these. I did however, finally get to view a movie I had been wanting to see: The Blind Side. I borrowed it from my SIL Bonnie. It was well worth the time. The next movie I'd like to see is Fireproof, which I actually bought used for $4.00 at the place we rented the other six. It will likely be weeks, or even months before I can get around to seeing it. I feel a bit of guilt sitting down for that length of time in front of the tube!