Vacationing at home?

Your probably asking yourself, what is that supposed to mean. Well, we’d planned to head out of town for the weekend, but due to our home selling woes we instead took a vacation exactly 3.1 miles from our house to downtown Lincoln. We had a very nice stay at Embassey Suites, parked for free, and visited downtown Lincoln for 2 days.

We swam lots, ate lots, and had nothing to do (which is just how we liked it.) The highlight of the trip was enjoyment of each other with no other distractions. We caught some other fun photos along the way.

Happy 4th Birthday!

Ryan officially turned 4 on July, 25th! He was so awed by the “kinata” (Ryan’s pronounciation of pinata) at cousin Peter’s birthday last Sat. that we just knew we had to have one for his party this year. Since our house is the neighborhood hang out we invited all of the kids regardless of age (imagine eleven kids ages 4-12) so it was a bit of a wild party, as far as kid parties go. The slip and slide was a hit, especially with the big boys and the pinata exciting for everyone, nothing more exciting than a child recklessly swinging a baseball bat! We had a great time and I’m sure the neighbors enjoyed their peaceful meal/evening. More party pics.

Relay for Life

On Friday, July 21st we embarked on our second Relay for Life walk. We raised over $100.00 for Cancer research and walked in honor of a good friend who was just diagnosed and in memory of my mom who has been gone a little of two years. The kids had a great time looking for grandma’s luminaria, playing with Alyssa and Dalton Hellwege, and eating kettle corn. I appreciated spending time with several friends who’ve also lost their mothers. The luminaria lighting ceremony is always a tear jerker, especially when they played Heaven Was Needing a Hero by Jo Dee Messina. Overall we had great weather, great cause and great company, it was a good night. Relay photos

Girls Day Out

Another successful scrapbooking day……… for those of you who appreciate it, 15 pages plus a mini-scrapbook completed in 15 hours AND we stopped for lunch, dinner and of course (window) shopping! It was a lot of fun-haven’t laughed so hard in months thanks to Heather, Amy B., Lenita, Sara, Angie and Kristi. Oh, and extra special thanks to Andrew (the source of awesome stories/photos) and Todd for providing me a whole day off. I’m looking forward to Oct. 6th, when I can do it all over again!

Fifth Grade Promotion

Tonight we attended Emily’s official promotion to junior high. The entire gym was packed and things went very well. I offered my time and talent to produce the 500 printed programs for the evening. The Belmont staff are quite tremendous, as every teacher that Emily had throughout her short career was very caring and highly interested in her learning and well being.

Mrs. Ehrlich (Cox) finished off Emily’s transition year in an astounding way. Her common theme is to encourage wise decision making in anything that they do, and to put forth as much effort as possible. Also pictured are a couple of Emily’s friends that she has grown to know over the last 2 years.

It’s kind of nice to be back from my blogging hiatus, though it has been a tough road to get back. After showing Amy the ropes, she never looked back, as a matter of fact we’ve been fighting over who gets the day’s post.

Exceptionally Photogenic?

For years and years (6 years, 4 months, 1 day -to be exact), Eric has rarely looked at the camera for a picture. Well, today during our zoo trip, I got great pictures of him and even captured his joyful personality. In fact you can almost hear his contagious giggle in a few of them!

I also caught great pictures of Emily and Ryan. Trevor tended to be silly and not too cooperative, thank goodness for the cropping feature! Anyway, after catching such great photos today, I’ve decided if I tire of teaching… photography may be my alternate calling but then again, perhaps they were all just exceptionally photogenic today.

Memorial Day

Well, according to the weather reports, we were supposed to have cool, rainy weather…….. I packed appropriately only to be thoroughly surprised by warm, sunny days! Not that I’m complaining!

Usually the meal planning/cooking falls to Lisa and I, but this weekend, my dad took the initiative and provided an 11 lb. prime rib and all the fixings. He even arranged to have it cooked by the local restaurant, so our gentle teasing about the guys planning/cooking a meal have been heard… it was great! We still need to figure out what he’s (dad) done to the cleaning lady, since she’s obviously quit!

We missed Matthew and Abby (who stayed with their other parents) but the kids had a great time anyway boating, feeding the geese and being “marathon fisher people” I believe that they went through 8 dozen worms in 3 days? Partly due to Eric granting a few their freedom when he began to feel sorry for them (he felt even worse when I told him that dumping them in the water wasn’t exactly freedom). Most importantly, it was fun to be together as a family again, hanging out with my “twin” (though ten years apart) sister. Can’t wait until the 4th! Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Future Track Star?

It so appears that I’m taking over this blog……Todd seems to have found Warcraft again. Too bad that I haven’t been “fully trained” so please bear with me as I experiment!

Head coaching for South Lincoln Track Club’s Teddy Bear group again this year. This Spring our numbers are down from 178 two & three year olds, to JUST 132 three year olds. I’m definitely thinking the decision to cut the two year old program was a wise decision. So…it’s teach all day, cook dinner, herd the troops out and take charge of the “music and movement” component of track club…. I consider it free Jazzercise, and of course there is the nearly completed house. Once again, proof that I thrive on stress!

Ryan is in his last year with us in the Teddy Bear group, but by the looks of it, he’s on the road to fame! Guess sprinting while pregnant may pay off down the road when he earns a scholarship to the U. He’s so into this track thing that he asks me each morning if it’s a track day…. Carl Lewis watch out!

Slightly Competitive?

What started out as a friendly game of horse with her mother, gradually escalated into a full blown (competitive) basketball event. As the saying goes, it’s all fun and games until someone get hurt….. Emily insisted on wearing her airwalks (crocs) and ended up impaling her foot, shirt and chest on our realty (flyer) post, which incidentally is EMPTY (hint..hint..Jim). Anyway, she’s such a tough cookie that she just laid there laughing. Like mother, like daughter…. I’ll take credit for passing on that gene!

Confirmation Journey

Emily completed her journey to receive Confirmation last Thursday. We are so proud of her and she did great this year. All the grandparents gathered together for a nice evening. As usual we had the regular family photo session as part of our activities.

Mom also sent a great photo of the kids. Definitely one of the best this year.