THIRTEEN, AT LAST!!!

This is what Emily has been saying! Jason and I aren't too thrilled with the fact that our little girl is now a teenager but time moves on and we knew it would be here sooner than we wanted.

This past Friday Emily had over six of her good friends for a slumber party. They put on a fashion show for one of the other mothers and I and then had fun watching movies, eating snacks and talking till the wee hours of the morning. On the Saturday evening we had a family dinner, for those who could make it. Emily got her scrapbook of letters that I (with the help of MANY) had been working on for more than two months. She didn't say much but the fact that she had a hard time putting it down I took as a compliment. I'll include photos of the events for all to enjoy.

Emily with her friends

Fashion girls!

Emily with her scrapbook

Unfortunately, Jason had to miss all of these fun event because he was taking a six part national balancing certification test in Phoenix, AZ. He came home exhausted, it took him 14 hours of airplane rides and trying to stay awake in airports before he got into Dayton on Sunday morning.

I had to include this picture of a double headed dandelion that Emily found this past week. Isn't it cool?!

The second of two posts!!!

I have two posts today, trying to make up for lost time, so don't forget to scroll down and check out the previous post!



On Thursday April 17th, Emily was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society (the Junior High version of the National Honor Society). Unlike the inductions at Deer Park, the kids knew if they got in (after filling out an application and having maintained a 3.5 GPA for two trimesters). There were 75 that were inducted in her class!! The vice principal appologized that he didn't know many of the kids but they were the ones that he never had to deal with and for that he was not sorry! After having their names read each one went up and received their certificate, card, and a flower and then signed a book to include their names with the others of the past who were a part of the NJHS. The guest speaker was Sheree Paolello, a News 5 anchor. She tried to inspire the kids by telling them of hometown heroes that shared some of the same characteristics that the NJHS upholds. She did a great job and supposedly we made it on the news that night, I don't know because I didn't stay up that late! We're very proud of Emily and expect that this will be one of the first of many accomplishment for her.






I can't leave out David in these new posts. I'll start by sharing that as I was sitting at the computer recently, David and Ella were eating breakfast and having a conversation. I am usually not paying much attention but did hear Ella say in an exasperated voice, "David, you can't marry me, you'll have to find another beautiful woman." I immediately got on my email and sent that off to our family. I hope you find it amusing too!

Also, David was playing with Ella recently and decided he was so tired that he would go ahead and make himself a bed amongst all the toys. We are phasing out his nap and well, he took it upon himself to give himself one, the result is below, Enjoy!! Till next time!

Soccer Season has begun

I know it's been just about a month since our last post and someone told me they were getting the "blog blues" since nothing had been updated lately. Sooooo... if you'll note there are two new posts today!

Emily and Ella started practicing, after many delays (snow and flooding included) and had their first games the beginning of this month. I can't remember what number of season this is for Emily, six I think, and it's Ella's first season of soccer. Currently their standings are as follows, Ella's team has won all 4 of their games whereas Emily's team lost their first two and won their last game (3 games total).





Having said that this is Ella's first season of soccer if you combine that with her personality what
you result with is an interesting game, if you're watching Ella. I'm not sure it's been explained to her what all the positions do and how they do it. She does understand that there is no touching the ball, with the few exceptions, and that the point of the game is to get the ball in the opponents goal (but that's about it). I don't have many doubts that this will be her first and last season of soccer, at least for a while. We did not force Ella to play, we just asked when we saw the sign ups and she said she'd like to play, soooo here we are!





Emily really seems to enjoy her team this year and does a wonderful job on the field. The coach has recognized that she has stamina in running (thanks to cross country combined with it being in her genetic make up) and has her playing midfield most of the time. Her skills continue to improve along with her confidence on the field. Maybe I should get Emily to privately tutor Ella? Anyway, here are some photos of her on the field too. Enjoy!

Spring has sprung!

Hello all! We hope you are enjoying the fact that it is now springtime! We've had some fun times recently and wanted to share them with you. First of all last week we had a visitor in Jason's barn! Jason came inside and told us there was a raccoon that had made himself comfortable up in the rafters. We all trekked outside for a look and an attempt to get him out of the barn. Kubi was thrilled to have an actual animal cornered and was going nuts!! Jason tried very hard to get the raccoon down but he wasn't budging so we decided to just leave him alone and let him come down by himself, he eventually did at some point!

Here we are coloring easter eggs!

Next, Sunday March 23rd was not only Easter but David's 4th birthday! It's the only time David will have a birthday on Easter since the next time it will happen is not for 220 years!! We took advantage of the fact and did a combonation celebration! We had 19 people over and had a wonderful time! The kids did an Easter egg hunt, we all enjoyed a delicious dinner together and then of course David got to celebrate his birthday with presents and cake!

This week is also spring break for the kids and so we're just taking it easy. We visited a nearby park recently that we had never visited and decided we really like it and will visit it often from now on. Here's a photo from that recent adventure.

Don't forget to reflect upon this Easter and spring season and give God the glory for all that He has done for us and for the new beginnings He offers to us!

Cincinnati Weather

What a difference five days makes in Cincinnati! Last Saturday we were trekking around in twelve plus inches of snow and today David and I discovered our first crocuses blooming! One thing can be said about Cincinnati, the weather is never dull! Enjoy some recent picutres below!

Emily and Kubi enjoying the snow!

We could barely open the back door because of a snow drift!

Alison and Emily were the only ones who enjoyed the snow

(everyone else stayed inside and slept)!

David discovering our first crocuses of the season!

Spring beauty!

Good times in New York

This past weekend we took a trip up to Panama, New York to see our friends the Apthorpe family! We had an awesome time just relaxing and spending time with them. It's wonderful to have friends that you can just hang out with and enjoy their company, and let the kids play and have very little fighting. Nothing too thrilling occurred during our visit but the kids played, we all went sledding, and Ella and Matthew got "married". Emily was the officiant at the wedding and "pretendly" married the happy couple. Jason meanwhile was sleeping on the couch and Clint had on a rainbow clown wig. I will try and include the video of the ceremony so that you can watch, for those of you who missed the joyous occasion.

Ella and Claire looking like a Carter's advertisement

Jason gathering his courage for a trip down the hill!

Clint giving Jennie and Alison a push ..... WHEEEE!!!

The "marriage" ceremony

The happy couple!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Hello! We hope that your Valentine's Day was enjoyable. Thought we'd share some pictures about what's been going on around here!

Ella had to bring in a box for Valentine's Day for her valentines and so she and Daddy got to work. Daddy made her a heart shaped box out of cardboard and then Ella and I ran to Jo Ann's to get some felt to cover it. Below is the final product being held by Ella just before she went to school on Valentine's Day!



Emily had a Valentine's dance for junior high on Friday night and all the kids dressed up. I got to chaperone (Emily wasn't too thrilled when she found this was going to happen). As you see she look beautiful! We spent 1 1/2 hours doing her hair, it's soooooo straight it's almost impossible to get it to hold a curl without a lot of product! I was about to take my first picture of Emily when it hit me how much like me she looked! I knew she looked like me but this was almost scarry, looking at myself years ago! After getting over this shock we were off to the dance. I behaved myself and pretended I didn't even know Emily unless acknowledged by her first. It was interesting to watch the kids, only a few of them actually danced, the rest just socialized.

Emily and I came home to find Jason playing with a couple of his friends. They were playing some type of rock band game and Emily and I couldn't help but laugh! Here's a picture of the awesome rock stars!!

I have to throw in a picture of David too. He was recently playing with playdough but had decided earlier to try out some "long hair". The result is below!

Yes, that is pantyhose on his head!