Happy Birthday to Samuel!!

On St. Patrick's Day, Samuel turned 4 years old. This year he lucked out by having two parties. The first was celebrated at Bob's parent's house with his cousins.

Since Bob was not able to be there for that party, we had a second one for him at home. In spite of Jack's Miami Dolphin influence, Samuel still opted for a Steelers cake.

One of his favorite gifts this year is the dinosaur puzzle he got from a neighbor.

Turning 4 has been an exciting thing for Samuel. He has always for the most part been an easy going kind of kid. He just goes with the flow. He's never in a hurry, but takes his time to enjoy life. This has its pros and cons. The pro is that he's usually content doing whatever he finds to do and does is so slowly that it occupies him for a long time. The con to this is that he only gets in two bites of dinner before everyone else has left the table.

Emily is the exact opposite. I had gotten spoiled by the fact that she got herself dressed by the age of 2! This last month I have used Samuel's approaching birthday as a reason to motivate him to do certain key life tasks, such as dressing himself, putting on his own shoes, buckling his own seat belt, and getting rid of his precious blankey (I'm not ready for the last one simply because I'm not ready for him to be so grown up, but Dad is pushing it, so I'll go with it)

And he has conquered all of those tasks!! And he is quite proud of himself!! He is growing up to be a fun little boy. I just wish he would grow as slowly as he does everything else in life!

Girl's Weekend!!

A girl must not go too long without the occasional girl's weekend. It does a woman good. Six of my girlfriends (mostly all from the Pittsburgh area) came out to Danville, PA for a girl's weekend. I know that Danville, PA isn't the most hoppin' place in the world, but in the end I don't think it mattered much if we were in the Bahamas or Danville (well okay, maybe a little). We still were able to shop, drink a little wine, catch up, and laugh our heads off until the wee hours of the morning.

The following weekend the men had a guys weekend at a camp out in the middle of nowhere. Somehow going a few days with no signs of civilization, no running water, a few cases of beer, and being able to pee out with nature makes your manhood come alive. It doesn't appeal much to me, but whatever!!

Bob and I both came away from our weekends giving thanks for great Christian friendship...what a blessing!!