First Day of School Photos

Here are the photos from Emily and Ella's first day of school. They've now been in for a week but I'm still waiting for things to fall into a routine again.

Also added is a picture of Jason on his way to his first official indoor soccer game. The game he played before "doesn't count", because he went not knowing if he would play or not. On this day though, he went with the intention of playing and did so and his team won!!!

August Action

We've been busy starting to ease back into the school season. School hasn't actually started yet (that's this Monday) but Emily has started back to cross country and we had Open Houses to attend this week. I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine, but I can't say the same for the kids.

Emily has had two CC meets already. She wasn't too eaget to start the season, knowing what hard work lay ahead, but with some insistance from her parents she has trudged through and is again enjoying running. Her first meet was on Thursday at Goshen (a practice meet). The second was today at Wilmington. We can definetly see an improvement in Emily's times compared to last year. At Wilmington last year she had a time of 17:50, and this year she timed at 16:39!!

David was busy cheering "GO LITTLE IAMI!"

(not mispelled, it's what he said)

Emily running at Goshen

Emily's cheering section at Wilmington

Emily coming down the shoot (finish) at Wilmington

Jason had a first this past week. He played in his first soccer game since he broke his leg in December. He played a total of 11 min of the game after deciding that the level of play didn't look that rough. I'm very proud of him for going back out onto the field and facing his own giant of possible reinjury. Jason did say he was worn out afterwards and the next day his legs were talking to him.



Also last weekend we went away for a few days and spend time with the Apthorpe family. We met in Columbus and the next day went to Mohican State park where we camped for three days and two nights. We had a great time of relaxation and fun enjoying one another's company. We checked out the Amish country this past Monday and then on Tuesday headed back home after doing some hiking.

All the kids after the hike!

Hope all is well with you and I'm sure I'll have another post soon to report on the first day of school!!

Concrete

The Crew

Well, it's done! The new patio and walkway have been poured and are busy drying. Jason and friends spent Saturday morning working on the pour. There seemed to be only one flaw to the plan. The concrete truck was just shy of enough concrete for the whole project. My dad had to run to the hardware store and buy 10 bags of concrete and the last two feet of the front walkway had to be done by hand. I must say that the guys did an excellent job. Ella, David and Nataliya were able to get on in the action when they rode the bull float (a tool they use to smooth the top of the concrete). They needed extra weight on top of the bull float and so had each of the kids take a turn (there is a picture below of David riding the float). There is a wonderful feeling when you get such a big project done yourself and saved a lot of money at the same time! Jason spend part of Sunday cutting the concrete (so it doesn't crack) and then taking down the forms. We expect it to be in business for real use by this next weekend. Now, my next task is to find a nice patio set! I'm including photo and a video of the project, enjoy!

A special thank you goes out to my dad who was the photographer and videographer for the day!

David riding the bull float

Jason putting on the brush finish

The finished product!

Wide view of the patio

P.S. For those of you wondering, Emily and I had a wonderful weekend getaway. We had a time of discussing all types of topics that she as a teenager will be facing and how to deal with them. We spent our time talking, shopping, eating, watching "Get Smart" and tried out Kings Island but then decided it was too crowded!

Eventful Week

Isn't funny that sometimes in your life there is absolutely nothing going on and then all of a sudden several things happen that hold significance for you? Well this week has been and will continue to be one of those times. Three exciting events happened for us in the past few days.

#1 Ella turned 7 and had her birthday party

Her mouse cake

#2 Emily got her braces off

#3 Alison and kids visited the Creation Museum

The continuation of this exciting time is this weekend with a special get away time for Emily and Alison and then the eventful pouring of the patio on Saturday. These may not be the highlights of our lives but they're exciting none the less. I'll post again soon with photos of this weekend's events!

Expansion!

I apologize for not posting for a while. I've had my mind on other things, namely our new expansions. I know they sound thrilling, and for me it is, but what I am referring to is the expansion of my garden and a new patio on the back of the house!

I had hit the maximum capacity of my current garden this year (only took 3 years). Because of this fact I was able to get my handyman (i.e. Jason) to extend the borders of my existing garden. This may not thrill most of you but to me who has very nearly an obsession with flowers, this was sooooooo exciting. Of course, with the new garden expansion I couldn't leave the space empty so I had to hit the local garden centers to fill up the space with perennials. I'll include a link to some photos for you!

Now onto the patio. This is something that Jason and I have been pondering for a while now. We got a few quotes last year and this spring but decided it was just a little too far out of our price range. That was until Uncle Sam decided to give us a lovely rebate check! Even with this extra money we would have had to get some extra funding so Jason looked into what it would take to do the project ourselves. Lucky me, after conferring with some friends who know concrete, he decided that we could do it ourselves within the budget that the US government had given us. So while everyone else was enjoying their AC this weekend Jason and I were outside sweating while digging, forming, staking, shoveling gravel and much more in the more than 90 degree heat. All that is really left to do is to get the concrete poured, I believe that the target date is Saturday August 2nd.

Click here for pics of garden and patio expansions

P.S. Here are some recent flower photos I took!

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth on Bee Balm

Back from the Outer Banks

We spent two leisurely weeks in Nags Head this year. Mimi, Boppy, myself and the kids were there the entire time with Jason and Thom for just over a week and Carolyn, Scott, and the boys for only four days. We didn't do a whole lot this year, besides reading. We went to the beach each day for about 2 1/2 hours, went to the aquarium, toured two lighthouses, shopped (of course), and went putt-putting. There weren't any exciting incidents, thank goodness, besides some smoke from inland fires (depending on the wind). Ella and David did make friends with two children from across the street who are permanent residents of the island. Not much else to say so I'll post some pictures. Email me if you want to see all 344 photos and I'll send you the link to our Kodak Gallery with our Outer Banks 2008 photo album. Enjoy!

Patting the stingrays at the NC Aquarium

My favorite photo of Emily (she's grown up, huh?)

Fun in the sun

While visiting Currituck lighthouse

My favorite photo of David

We are empty nesters

We knew the day would come and it finally arrived on Saturday May 31st. We went to go peak in at the babies and they were gone!!! I had been wondering myself how in the world they would be able to fly up out of their nest but they figured it out somehow.

Last picture of the babies taken on Thursday May 29th

Now we'll have to find something else to do with our time!