3 years old!

Owen turned 3 yesterday!


We enjoyed a lovely day together as a family ( including Mark since he is out of work right now). We started the day with oatmeal and blueberries - birthday boy's choice. We trickled gifts along throughout the day. We had free ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery (courtesy of their birthday club) after lunch. Birthday dinner was finger foods and we spent the rest of the evening talking to grandparents via skype and enjoying birthday surprises.

This morning felt like the day after Christmas...it was so quiet as the boys played with all the new birthday treasures.

Guitar Heroes

Here in Lancaster, we've been bitten by the Guitar Hero bug. For those who don't know, it is a video game where you get to play the guitar along with both old and new rock songs. If you're good, you "unlock" more songs. If you're not so good, you get booed off the stage and live a lifetime of disappointment. David and I have spent WAY too much time on this thing and are getting better. Here we are at our finest...

Unfortunately, Mom and Dad have not had as much success. They've been booed on both of their VERY brief attempts. Guess they won't be going on tour with the Rolling Stones anytime soon.

David and I are still waiting by the phone for our big break... perhaps this week we'll get a call and be off to see the world by tour bus. Until then, guess we'll keep on rockin'.

First Fondant rose

I had an order this weekend for two cakes for Westminster. The ladies are celebrating the second year of their prayer shawl ministry. One party will be for 12 ladies and the other for 5. The second cake is for five ladies. It measures 4" height x 4" width and 5 " in breadth. It is a yellow butter recipe torte with chocolate frosting inside. Iced with white frosting on the outside then a layer of fondant, then decorated with regular icing writing and a few stars. But, the most fun was constructing my first fondant roses. The cake above has a crazy yarn "ball" with crazy knitting needles and a little knitted sample draped over the side. Not anything very great. Ball was a disappointment. Didn't have the right tip so I did the old improvise thing.

New knitter

Julie is posting this. This is a scarf to go with the sweater. And after only one lesson too. It will get bigger. (no laughing) Thanks for the pattern offer, but she hasn't graduated to reading patterns yet.

Chris at Sports Night

Chris is shaking the hand of the great Orioles pitcher, Tippy Martinez at Sports Night in York, PA. He & Les attended (Sue won tickets for the event). Of course got his autograph too. Tippy is now the pitching coach for the York ball team Revolution. We have a season ticket package & are anxiously awaiting opening day. Looks good eh?

Vintage Barbies

Some of you may recognize these girls. Madeline and Andrew like to set up the Barbies for pictures. Check out the hair. Some are missing hands. They are 20 - 30 years old. All this time they have been hanging out in an old red "train" case I got for my high school
graduation. Mmmmmm. Time to clean out.

Another stress reliever....

Another stress reliever is cakes for me. They put a little change in my pocket too.
She was a birthday cake for a 6 year old who wanted an all white dress and a doll with green eyes.
So there you go. Just learning about fondants.

a sad day in the west

We mourn today for the end of our Christmas bag of dark chocolate Wilbur buds.

We all relate to Audrey's feelings about this matter...


It is a sad day in the west.

Green Bay....forever!

Oh well, you win some. You lose some and some get "cheesed" out!

Green Bay Fan

made with love

The
newest
addition
to our
cold
weather
gear...
lovingly
provided
by
my dear
mother-in-law.

I'm trying

This has been accomplished after much frustration. I've needed input from 2 sources. So, please enjoy the picture.

Blogging 101

Hello everybody. I'm so excited. Here I am blogging. Of course Julie is on the phone talking me through every step. Al says this is going to be a big bill.
So look for exciting things in the future.
Sheila

Winter in Virginia

Yeah - a snow day for Shenandoah County Public Schools in Virginia! I enjoyed my snow day at home with Maxie today, it was a great treat! We were lazy and caught up on a reading and "social phone calls!" Al came home early since he had trouble getting to his stores with the snow and ice. Maxie loved playing with him in the snow. She's so happy that her picture made it on the blog again! Julie

The Plancks Visit The Baseball Hall of Fame

David and his twin brother, Daniel celebrated their 30th birthday last week. The guys are big baseball fans, so Daniel's wife (Leah) and I planned a "surprise" trip to Cooperstown, NY to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Although they guessed the destination of the trip weeks ago, we still had a great time. The weather was good and we practically had the place to ourselves. All in all, it was a sucess! Enjoy some of the better photos from the trip. (The other people in the photos are David's brother, Daniel, and his wife, Leah.) Much love! Kim

christmas in iowa

We headed to Iowa for Christmas this year. It is the first time in a while we have been together on Christmas day. We left a little earlier than we had planned on to get ahead of a snow storm that had begun here in Colorado and to try and beat one that was supposed to hit Iowa the following afternoon. So, we grabbed dinner on the road and headed east. It was the worst trip we have had in a very long time, maybe the worst. About an hour down the road Owen threw up his dinner. Audrey was asleep by 8 but the boys were so excited it was at least 10 before they were out. The storm meant wind and that meant car sickness for me! Around mid-night I couldn't take it anymore and we had to stop so my stomach could settle... that is when the throwing up began. The kids all woke up and stayed awake until around 5am when I finally stopped barfing and we stopped because Mark's highly caffinated beverage had finally worn off and the nervous ticks that came along with it. We were a mess! We were all asleep by around 5:30 and at 6:10 mom called! So, basically, none of us slept (except Audrey) more than 2 hours.

Thankfully, once we arrived (and just as the snow was starting to fall), we forgot it all because we were so glad to be there. Here are just a few pictures of our fun...

Hi Bowman and Co!

Well, we're a little late getting started on the blog, but we'll look at it as being "fashionably late." Things here in Lancaster are going well. We had an uneventful trip to South Carolina for Christmas with David's folks. No photos to share, I'm sorry to say. I did tag along with my Mom and Dad to check out the new place in the woods and on the hill. Here's a photo of them at the front door. The house is coming together nicely. They have windows and doors. No interior walls yet, but I think that will be one of the next steps. It will certainly be weird when they move up there. No more yellow house on the shared driveway. Crazy! Hope all is well with everyone! Love, Kim & David

Christmas Pics from California

One of Chloe's words is puppy. A lot things are puppy, but here are 2 favorites on Xmas morning. Next pic is Chloe & Steve checking out her computer.

First pic is Chloe & Steve at Disney Land where they spent Xmas day.
Second is Chloe, Kelly & Santa at Disney.

They closed the park that day.

New Year's Surprises

Yesterday Ted got a package in the mail from York, PA with all kinds of goodies in it! Thanks to the 3 mystery shoppers. You did a good job! One most curious item was the Frosty the Snowman toilet seat cover - love it! Chris' contribution, The Legend of Bagger Vance, will fill a gap in our time quite nicely. We had some good laughs going through all of the interesting items. Thanks so much for your thoughtfulness!!