Good Times with the Family

       Michael playing with the girls, they sure love him!
     Rowan in her tutu that Dacia brought her, she didn't want to take it off, all girl!
   The kids all went into Philly while I was at school, look at the good times I missed!
   Our "Christmas Dinner" on Jan. 7th with all my kids, Diane, DP, Lisa, Ethan, and Grandma.
Diane and Ethan!
       Jess opening her mission call, Argentina, Resistencia Mission.
          Tim coming off the plane after 2 years!  Welcome Home!!!
Well, it's been a busy and exciting month since I last posted.  I had lots of activities at school with Interact before Christmas which kept me busy up to the break.  Wonderful Christmas eve as always at the AhPings and the rest of my break I was basically getting ready for my real celebrations in January.  On Jan. 6th everyone flew home to greet Tim, coming home from his mission.  The next day our family celebrated Christmas and spent a great day together.  Then we had other family members come home, DP & Lisa moved back to Jersey, Merry came, Lynne, Dacia & the girls drove in from Chicago, and Michael came all the way from Cherry Hill.  We had a welcome home party on Friday.  Before the party, Jess received her mission call to the Argentina, Resistencia Mission.  She reports to the MTC on March 18th.  Tim had his homecoming in church on Sunday and the whole family was there.  We filled up 4 or 5 of the short rows, it was nice to see all that family in church.  We had a big family dinner at the house afterwards and watched the Eagles game and just relaxed.  Julianne, Justin, and Rowan had to go back on Tuesday morning, so me and the kids went out to dinner at Bahama Breeze for Tim's 23rd birthday the night before.  Tim got a new iphone, so he was happy.  The rest of the week was spent getting ready for Monzo madness.  That took place at the high school on the 16th-17th.  My kids came over and Diane & DP for the presentation at the beginning of the event.  We had a representative from national ALS come to accept a check.  We made a big check to present in the picture for $24,000.00.  MJ actually participated in the marathon and did the whole thing, so he and I are still recuperating from the long weekend.  He actually went and played a church basketball game right after the dance marathon and they won.  Last night we went to Friendly's to dinner and Jess and I went out for a few last minute things before she went back to Utah today.  Now hopefully things will slow down a little so that I can catch up on school work and pay some attention to my student teacher that I just got.  It has been a sweep of exciting and rewarding experiences, some of the blessings from trying to stay strong.  It is the best feeling to see your children doing good things, makes the hard times worth it!