25th Wedding Anniversary!

25 years of loving!  25 years of marriage!  25 years of sticking together through all the tears, laughter and fun!  25 years of much learning about each other.  Learning how to respond when our buttons get pushed.  Learning how to deal with toddler tantrums and getting through all the baby years.  25 years together raising a family.  Remodeling the home we lived in ever since we said "I do!"  We grieved at a loss of one miscarriage and prayed for every single baby we brought into the world!  God has been so good to us!!!!

Mike and I really are best friends!  We love doing life side by side.  Not in the kitchen side by side.  I didn't say that now!  I like a clean house and when Mike goes into the kitchen to make something the burner is turned on high, the oil spritzes everywhere the smoke flies!  It makes my blood pressure rise.  So, side by side to live but not in the kitchen!  We have learned to laugh at our mistakes evidently!  We have deep talks about life and pray together every single day!  Life is hard sometimes and marriage is no exception.  Blending two different people and realizing that we think differently on many things ... it's up to us to get along.  To agree even if we may things differently than our spouse.

We've had many people speak life over us through the years.  At a church marriage retreat weekend, we were randomly picked to be a couple to pray for, ask questions too and it was such good advice and teaching that weekend!  Mike loves our teenagers.  I shy away from any drama.  We make a good balance.

Anniversary trips are high priority for us!  Taking some time with just the two of us is important!  We've traveled to different cities.  When we had little babies, we stayed local.  When we could, we scooted off to the tropics for a few days!  There are so many wonderful places to go see and we hope to go tour Italy in the Spring!

This was years ago in Philadelphia!!!!

 Mike had dealer day on our anniversary this year.  After I took Hadassah out for her birthday treat, I picked up Mike at work and we drove to Lititz!  We stayed at the Hilton in town and ate at the wonderful steak house connected to the hotel.  We grabbed good cup of coffee the next morning, walked through the town a bit, ate lunch and headed back home to our kids before they came home from school!

I bought my first pair of red heels and Mike was trying to put them on for me!

Our wedding day was a cold, snowy, beautiful day!  Friends and family gathered inside my home church and all the servers wore a shiny gold color dress!  It was the best day of our life together!  We drove down to the Philadelphia that night and flew out the next morning to Cancun.  Life was so perfect!

With 25 years of marriage behind us, we are changing.  Slowly changing from brown hair to grays.  We have more wrinkles.  We weigh more.  But we still have sparkling blue and deep brown eyes!  We still love each other, more deeply actually, than we did years ago.  We have learned a lot of life lessons!  Changes always take place when you go against time.  We got married with no cell phones and our children now could not imagine life without smart phones.  Land prices and groceries are way more costly than they were 25 years ago.  We changed churches and the way we dress.  One thing that remains the same is we love Jesus and ask Holy Spirit for guidance in our decisions.  

Being married for 25 years to my very best friend is a gift from God above!!!!  

Cheers to the next 25 years of more love, more time together, more travels, more grand babies more life hand in hand .... together!

Virtual day because of no school.

 No school on Tuesday.  We've had a really long weekend and it's time for the kids to get back to school but not today.  Actually, it's a virtual learning day meaning they need to do school here at home.  They brought a packet home last week in case the snow does really come to us!  So, Ashlyn did her school work on her own but Austin needed some help.  Even after looking up on Youtube how to do fractions, we ended up emailing his teacher and as soon as she gave only a few hints, Austin remembered!  Thank God for good teachers!  Austin Esh, a friend to our Austin, came over to play in the snow for awhile and they made a snow fort and drank ice rootbeer slushes.

Hadassah had a birthday and she was bummed to not go out on Monday for her birthday treat but we got it done on Tuesday when the roads were a lot better!  I took her to Sephora and she got to shop and I paid for  her pickings!  She loves this gift!!!!

Our children are growing up fast and the Petersheim family is just the best!  We love them so much!  Happy Birthday, Hadassah!

Snow storm in January!

We have a snow storm in the forecast and we are excited!  It's so cold here and the snow is gonna fall and blow and stay around for awhile!  To beat the storm, Austin got a haircut that he thinks is rad!  Then I took him to his baseball practice and I just have to smile at him.  He has one legging leg down and one tucked way up just like one of the high school boys does.  I'm sure his coach and friends are wondering what this is all about but I know exactly what's going on in his mind.

We don't do this every time, no, but this time we got McDonalds and New Holland Coffee food afterwards.

I saw the pink reflection of the sun on the wall by the front door and grabbed my camera!  These winter skies are just awesome!!!!

We are walking at the park if we can!  The paths are shoveled this time and it's cold but we walk and chat and get in our exercise!!!!

The sun came up so beautifully and if our snowman could speak, I wonder if it would say, "bring on the snow storm!!!!"

This is little buddy of ours is just the cutest and best baby!  He woke up from his nap so happy to see me!

Our phone weather apps were saying we could get up to 17-20 inches of snow!  Are we really???  The kids all came over on Saturday night to "get snowed in".  Meg and Mel were here too.  We did wake up Sunday morning to snow falling and freezing tempts!

I made a big breakfast for everyone and later in the day Matthew made snow ice cream and I made homemade maple marshmallows.
 

It did snow all day long.  My parents went to Florida on Friday night, as they had planned before the snow came and I sent them this photo!  We are enjoying the snow but Florida always sounds great in the winter months!

Before the snow came, Austin had a basketball game and picture day!  Let's go Panthers!

I finished this book!  It's a good read!

I tried to be prepared for the kids on Sunday morning!  I made a breakfast casserole and french toast sticks with sausage links!  The girls brought muffins!

The kids played in the snow in the evening.

And played the bean game in the afternoon.

We watched football together with all the baby snuggles!!!!!  Gunnar is so loved and so cute!

Arie and Ridley were here for the snow in too.  Matt and Daisy went back home in the 12 inches of snow on Sunday night.  Jere and Das stayed one more night because their driveway is not snow friendly!  Monday morning, the boys got to shoveling.  No school.  There is snow everywhere!!!!!  This is how our back porch looks like with a roof over it!!!!

Baby dear got to watch the birds outside my kitchen window before they went back home!

The marshmallows are good and the sushi we made on Sunday was also delicious!

We love it when the children come over!  So many smiles and snuggles!

It was time to get the house cleaned up after everyone left.  Ashlyn's volleyball practice got canceled.  There's no way the snow is going to melt in these freezing temperatures!  We are warm inside reading books, watching hunting YouTube and sipping on hot chocolate!

Snow is a gift from above!  Thank you Jesus!  Snow makes winter a bit more fun!

Snow Tubing and more snow!

Wednesday after school, Austin had a birthday party he was invited to.  By the time he got back home at 8:30 that night, he looked awful.  He did not feel good!  I wasn't sure if it was because of the long day or if he caught a bug.  There is so much sickness going around.  I doctored him up and tucked him into bed.  Thursday morning, he got a bit earlier and took a bath and I hopped he would be better.  He still did not look well.  I told him to get back in his pjs and go sleep.  He rested and went with me to Ladies Bible Study as I spoke about the Bible Recap!  Reading through the Bible in a year can be done and this is a great reading plan to follow!  He was patient and was feeling better later that night!

So, on Friday, I was happy to see him outside and shooting his bow and arrows.  The kids had no school because of teachers in service.  And no school on Monday because of Martin Luther King, JR Day.  It's gonna be a long, relaxing weekend at home!

I love hot chocolate and it's cozy by the fireplace!  I'm trying out some watercolor art and it's the weather for this snowman to get painted!

I decided to get the juicer out this morning because we had citrus that needed to be used up and I just love fresh juice!

The sun is so life giving!  Really!!!  It shines through the trees at the morning park walks!  The sunrises are so pretty on these cold mornings!

Austin's got basketball practice and a book report to finish up.

Finished up!

We were geared for Austin's basketball game on Saturday!  We couldn't wait until we got the call saying it's canceled because of the snow falling outside.  What a disappointment!  What now?  It was gonna be a lazy day lingering around the house or maybe we could do what we said so often ... go snow tubing!

I counted the days until spring and it's only 72 more days!  This ground is snow covered and resting and before we know it, I will be buying seeds and working in the dirt once again!

I actually am loving these winter days!!!!

Austin took a shot at watercolor and painted a cup of hot chocolate.

We called the kids and asked if they want along snow tubing!?!  Jeremiah and Hadassah decided to stay back with Gunnar and Jer wanted to hunt in the snow and they had evening plans.  Matt and Daisy said yes so we all hopped into the Audi and drove to Iron Valley Golf Course to go tubing!

It was a lovely day and not too cold!  This was our first time and we had fun!

After tubing down the hill, you got in line to be pulled back up to the top.

You could ride double so of course Mike and I did!  We stopped half way down so Mike had to get up and give us another good push.  As we started going faster, he grabbed my hood from in front of him and gave me a kiss.  We were moving by then and such a fun ride it was!

And here's the crew!!!!

After a bite to eat from the lodge, we left as the sun was setting over the valley!  What a great time this was!

Daisy, Ashlyn and I went down together once too!

Sunday morning, Mike went down to church to help scrap snow and get the sidewalks salted.  Our road wasn't even plowed yet so the kids and I stayed home and watched church online.  It's time to paint some snowflakes!

We got six more inches of fresh snow and the kids came over to build a snowman!  I feel like I'm getting mooned by a snowman all day long!

Austin made some snow cones and measured six inches of snow!

Gunnar came over while Hadassah went out to clean with her business and these two chowed on waffles in matching pjs and crazy hair!

Austin made a batch of delicious cookies for school tomorrow and we get to enjoy the leftovers!

Why don't you have school today one may ask?  Let's look up the story of Martin Luther King, JR and find out.  The kids weren't that impressed but this is a great story of uniting all people, no matter your skin color!

It's so cold outside today and the kids are back to school!  There is A LOT MORE SNOW in the upcoming forecast!!!!  Stay warm!  Stay dry and enjoy these bright, snowy days!