Grease Fest!

Mt. Zion has started a new Back-To-School tradition. They hold Grease Fest at Fletcher Park one night in August. The Poms team teaches the girls a little dance routine, they have hula-hoop contest, a costume contest, a pep rally with bonfire and then they show the movie Grease at Dusk. The girls think its a great time. They get to dance, play with friends, and most importantly, eat hot dogs and snow cones. We always have a great time...and one of these years we will stick around for the movie!

First Day of School, 2016

And here we go...
I know I've been saying for weeks that I can't wait for the kids to start school. By the end of the summer break they are sick of one another, fighting non-stop and pretty much driving me crazy!!! But the truth is...sometimes, not all the time, I miss them when they are gone ALL DAY LONG!

Daddy stayed home to help see them off to school. He even made them First Day of School pancakes. We headed outside to snap a few pics. The girls were having too much fun with the "bus". They wanted to act like they were crazy bus drivers. Then we headed to the bus stop, to meet up with the not-so-crazy bus driver.

Kiersten is back at McGaughey this year, and has Mrs. Weirman for 1st grade. Leah is back at Grade School this year, and has Mrs. Swartz for 3rd grade. Next year I will have 3 girls in 3 different schools. I hope they have a great year!

Old Friends, New Friends

This past week we got to enjoy some great fun with an old friend...well, an old friend for me, and new friends for the girls. My friend Jon, came home from Virginia with his wife, Alison and his two girls, Natalie and Katherine to mourn the loss of his father. Joe was a teacher in Charleston when I was growing up, and Jon and I had been good friends for many years. So while I was excited to see him and his family, I wish it could have been under better circumstances.

Our oldest daughters had met once before...we were home for Leah's first Christmas, so December 2008. Jon's daughter, Katherine was about 18 months old at the time. This time was a lot more fun! We went to lunch at Burger King in Mattoon and then headed to Lytle Pool. We had never been there before, but it was perfect. They had a play area, slides, diving boards...while I thought that we would only stay an hour or two we ended up staying for 4.5 hours. The kids had a wonderful time, but more importantly, Jon and I had a great day catching up! Makes me wish I could connect with old friends more often!

James and the Giant Peach!

We are wrapping up our summer the same was we always do...one last trip to the Children's series at The Little Theater on the Square. This month they are performing James and the Giant Peach. It was good, the shows always are, but I think the storyline was a little too grown up for our little ones. It was better suited for Macy and Leah. Never the less, we had a great time. You can tell that the girls weren't that into the story, because they didn't even ask to get pictures with any of the cast. Maybe next time.

Too Many Tomatoes

Too Many Tomatoes is right...and ironically the name of a children's book that we read! Mitch and the girls picked all these tomatoes on Friday. That's just the first round...we will end up with probably 3 times that many. So what else was there to do on Sunday but get to saucing! Actually Mitch did all the work...he's pretty great that way. While I did the laundry, and the ironing and a few other household chores. By 10PM on Sunday night we had 3 dozen jars of pizza sauce and easily 4 dozen jars of salsa. Up this weekend will be marinara. My storage closet has quickly filled up with canned goods from the garden...beets, pickles, beans and now all this. I'm not complaining. Bring on the goodness!

John Deere Green

Well it happened. Mitch decided that because the 8 year old neighbor BOY uses the riding lawn mower, Leah was ready to use the riding lawn mower. So he went out and worked with her a bit, and then he let her take over on her own. She thought it was great. She had to sit on the edge of the seat to reach the pedals but she got the job done. I think I was 9 when I mowed for the first time on 20th street. And I clipped the garage and took off a bit of siding. So I think the next time I gave it a try I was 12 and we lived on Deerfield with a HUGE yard. I liked it at first and then quickly began to hate the job. We'll see how long Leah lasts!!!