Raingutter Regatta- Blown Away!

Thursday was Alex's pack meeting for Scouts and the annual Raingutter Regatta! This was his first boat making contest. He really loved painting his boat and decorating it with snakes! He named it "The Death Snakes" and painted it red and black. Too bad the snakes weren't deadly enough...the boat did not perform the way he had hoped, and lost nearly every race! Thankfully Alex was a great sport and laughed while he blew his sail and continued to lose...however...he did win 2 races! We can't win ALL the races- since he beat everyone in the Pinewood Derby, he thought he'd give someone else a chance to win- ha ha!! Just kidding, of course! Congrats to Logan for 1st place- and all the boys for their hard work and talents!
Here are some cute shots of the boys and their toys (boats!):




The girls had fun, too- here is Celeste reading Alex's scout book, and the girls climbing trees:





Alex received his Bobcat advancement in this ceremony too- and he got to carry the US flag! Way to go, Alex!!

Throwback Thursday 10- Back to School

Since this is back to school week for us, and most of you, I thought I would post pictures of me when I was in Elementary School- (I have my middle school and high school ones too, but these are way better- those are far too embarassing!!)

So, here I am in Kindergarten- it is 1980, and in 1st Grade- 1981.

Now here is 2nd Grade - 1982 and 3rd Grade- 1983.


And here I am at Celeste's age- since she really wants to go to school too!

The one thing I remember most about that Kindergarten picture was that I had to sleep in spongy rollers the night before to get those curls! I did that often, and it made my hair super cute!
I don't remember much about the 1st grade picture, except that I was squinting!
2nd grade picture, I loved because I was wearing my favorite dress.
My 3rd grade picture, I hate, so I found the cheerleader one and it is a lot better.
In the pictures of me before I went to school, I was still a blonde, so it reminds me of how Celeste is now. I asked her who the little girl was in the picture, she said, "me!" I said, "no", and she said, "Sissy", and again I said "no, it's Mommy!"
Funny how genetics work! I guess I did pass on a few genes to my kids!

And, They're Off!

Today is the first day of school!! Whoo Hoo!! Very exciting for all of us!! Dana started yesterday, so he isn't the most excited, but the kids were today!!

Leah carefully selected her most favorite outfit for the first day- one she got from Aunt Stephanie for her birthday- and Alex just wanted his Tony Hawk shorts- nothing else really mattered. I sort of chose the shirt for him, and that was not the one he really wanted, but he didn't put up a fight, so I won.

Here they are all ready to go...

Celeste had to be a part of the picture too!


And here they are as we got to school and I dropped them off in their classes- (actually, Alex didn't need me to take him to his room, he is in 3rd grade now-

apparently moms aren't needed :(

Leah has several of her favorite friends from Kindergarten in her class this year and she just loves her new teacher- she is young and really energetic! Alex has the same teacher for 3rd grade that he had for 1st- so he is super happy- she is fantastic!

Leah is in 1st grade- so she goes ALL day!! I packed her lunch this morning, and was just fine...I took her picture, and I was just fine...I walked her to her room and I was just fine! THEN, I hugged her goodbye and told her to have fun and be good, and I would see her at 3:45, and I was NOT fine! I teared up more than I ever thought I would for that! She hugged me fiercely, then let go, and reluctantly, so did I. She is a big girl, and I know that, but I haven't ever not had her for an entire day before- (with the exception of her being with family). I am good now- Celeste and I went to the grocery and hung out together...it is all good now. Soon I will pick them up, and rest assured, I will be really excited for tomorrow!!

Crazy Eight's

Both Katie and Emily tagged me for this, so here goes:

8 things I am passionate about:
1-my kids
2-Dana (notice the ranking order of these 2?! Truth hurts sometimes, ha ha!)
3-college education
4-car seats
5-teaching
6-Ohio State
7-principles
8-shopping, of course

***NOTE***
These are not in any order, but the way they came to me as I was typing!

8 things I want to do before I die:
1-write my kids and future grandkids letters of love(family members, too)
2-travel outside the states
3-travel inside the states
4-finish my M.E.
5-teach again
6-learn Spanish
7-make enough money to be comfortable (if only I played the lottery!)
8-move to another state

8 things I say a lot:
1-"hot mess" - never realized I said it so much until my sister in law pointed it out to me!
2-"seriously"- sarcasm, uh, yeah, I guess
3-"soda" - instead of pop- I am not from the South, either
4-"no way"- just ask my kids
5- "way to go!"
6-"come here!"- another one for the kids, and Dana has heard it a time or two too!
7-"are ya kidding?"
8-"uh, yeah you are"- that applies to them as well.

8 books I have read lately: (this is easy)
1-Twilight
2-Eclipse
3-New Moon
4-Breaking Dawn
5-The Host
6-Kite Runner
7-If life were easy, it wouldn't be so hard.
8-Relief Society Manual (the week I teach!)

8 movies I have seen lately: (this is not so easy, I am not a big watcher these days)
1-New Indiana Jones
2-Hancock
3-Lion King
4-Annie (amphitheatre with Leah)
5-Bee Movie (amphitheatre with Alex and Leah)
6-Surf's Up (amphitheatre with all 3 kids and Dana)
7-The Notebook
8-The Olympics (do they count?!)

8 bloggers I tag:(come on'- you know you want to play too!)
1-Annie
2-Esther
3-Liza
4-Laura
5-Tina
6-Lisa
7-Joy
8-Hannah

I'm the life of the party...

So this year, since we just got back from vacation, my 33rd birthday sort of just came and went without much hoopla. I am not saying that because I feel sad about that- it's just that's the way it was. It was the 12th, and so much happened on Monday after vacation, that Tuesday just sort of came too fast. On Monday, I had to buy the new washer (which, although was a hassle, is a great new appliance!!) I love it and had tons of laundry to catch up on. So, I did laundry on my birthday, and all the mom things I normally do anyway. Do not get me wrong, I do not feel bad or let down about it- really, I got to chat with Tina for a long time, and that started my birthday out right! My mom called bright and early to wish me a happy birthday, and my dad called later to sing. Sean called in the afternoon, and so did several friends- it was very nice. Suzanne stopped by with a new necklace- check it out in the photo- so cute!! She has great taste. My parents gave me money, always a good gift, and Dana gave me a day out by myself to do with whatever I wanted. So, Wednesday, I got a massage, a smoothie and a full day of shopping alone- seriously, that was THE perfect gift.

I got a call from Tiffany, my friend from New York to say she was in town, and wanted to go to dinner. This was perfect, actually, because we didn't have any plans as a family- since we had just eaten out for an entire week, and the thought of taking the kids out to dinner AGAIN didn't sound too appetizing for Dana or I. So, this would work out very nicely!

Bonnie, Tiffany, Alexa and I headed to dinner at Brio and then for ice cream at Graeters- it was a really fun evening and I enjoyed every minute of it! Thanks to my girlfriends for whisking me away for a late night with them- they made my day! While we were out at the shopping center, I bought myself cute nail polish, and a new necklace- what do you think? These have been my summer colors- can't get enough of them!
Oh, I almost always get new shoes for my birthday, so these are my new pick- they are very fun!

Here's my sweet washer- I am very happy with it- it looks perfect next to my new dryer! It has more features than I am sure to ever use, but it is heavy duty, and gets my clothes so clean!


Oh, and when I got home, late, I found Breyers slow churned mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer, compliments of my children, who spent their own money to buy it and beautiful homemade cards from those I love the most.

It indeed was a great birthday!

Throwback Thursday 9- Myrtle Beach 1985

I was 9, and it was the 4th of July week at the beach. My family went to Myrtle Beach every year for years this exact week. It was my brother's birthday, therefore, vacation time! I won't mention that my birthday is in the summer, but somehow we were always home for mine- no jealousy there...can you tell?!
We always stayed in the same place year after year there- the Swamp Fox- funny name, but a great place- lots of fun things going on, and our room looked out to the pool, on the first floor. It was perfect- we reserved it because of it's location! Funny how we have continued that trend now as we have taken our family to the same location for 2 years. Great traditions started with my parents for us all these years ago.
I remember our vacations to the beach- with fireworks we set off on the beach for Independence Day, and Sean's birthday, too! I remember playing pool games with fun "college-aged" kids who worked there in the summer. My one most replayed memory is that for years, I wouldn't get in the deep end of the pool. I knew how to swim, but my brother had always teased me that sharks came out of the drain hole in the deep end. I so believed him, in some irrational way. Those fears just stayed with me, and for years I would just hang out where I could touch!! funny, huh?! I remember that it was the day before we left one year that I finally decided to swim a lot. My parents reminded us that we were leaving the next day and I said I wasn't going home! I had finally started to have fun, and I didn't want to go. Of course we did, but I felt like I had conquered my fears of the sharks in the pools!
I love the beach, no surprise there. I am thankful for the memories my parents created for me as a child on vacations. I love that we are trying to do that for our kids, too. I hope they have fond memories of our trips there, but more importantly, I hope they don't tease each other about pool sharks!! So far, so good!

Saying Hello and Goodbye to those we love...

On our way home Saturday from the beach, we stopped to visit Esther and Jeremy- they live only about 3 hours from there, so it was perfect! We got there around 4:30pm, and the kids were instantly all over each other- they haven't seen one another in over a year, so this was a great greeting!! We had such fun- I finally got to meet and hold baby Evey- she is just so precious and wonderful-- I didn't ever want to put her down. Esther and Jeremy are so generous,- they grilled out tons of food for us and then Jeremy built a campfire and we had smores- we were loving it!!
Here are some fun pics of all the crazies together!!

They are so cute- Isaac and Alex and Leah and Ethan- they love each other so much!!

These boys can seriously jam to Rock Band!!

Here eyes just sparkle- so gorgeous, and she is just lovely, too!

Eating Smore's- they are loving it!

They were so nice and even let us stay the night!! That broke up our trip, so that on Sunday, we would only have around 9 hours to drive- that was so nice!! Here we are saying goodbye- but this time it won't be a year before we see them again! Thank you, Es, Jeremy, Isaac, Ethan and Evey- we love you more than you know!! Can't wait to see you soon!!

I love how lovey Ethan is- check out his hand on Leah's waist- it is sooooo cute!

Celeste hugs Uncle Jeremy goodbye- she hugged everyone- she is just a lovey too!

Their hous is so amazing, this is just part of the yard- they have so much and Dana could hardly stop talking about how wonderful it was- we had a really great time!