Noah's Baptism

Noah, Andrew, Gene & Holly
The Godparents & Parents - Gene, Andrew, his sister Jamie, Jamie, Noah, Greg & Holly
Jamie, Naomi, Emily, Mom, Dad, Andrew, Gene, HOlly, Noah, Doug, Dana, & Michael
The 5 kids - Andrew, Michael, Naomi, Emily, & Noah

Noah was baptized on Sunday. We went up late Saturday evening due to Michael's last baseball event - and Doug having all his Flicko's franchisees in for the weekend. Sunday morning Noah was baptized at the 8:30 service. Greg did the Baptism - his first official act as a Rev. Andrew spent time going back and forth between all the various family members - I think he enjoyed playing musical people. He calls Noah "daby" - but he is starting to use more words. :) Praise the Lord.

After Church we ate lunch at Gene & Holly's. We also relaxed and enjoyed one another's company. Having both Gene and Holly's family together made for a fun day.

Greg's Ordination

Emily and Naomi having fun in the grass
Emily, Michael & Naomi playing int he grass
Greg, Jamie, Naomi & both sets of parents
Naomi in the pool
Two weekends ago we traveled to Wisconsin for Greg's ordination. What a special service. It is difficult to believe that my little brother is done with school - it seemed like he would never grow up. :) It just means that I am getting old. I am sure Greg will do a great job in the Lord's name. He has a true heart for service and for the Love of the Lord. I can't wait to hear about all of the great things that God will do through both he and Jamie.



We had a great time and enjoyed seeing Naomi crawl around. We stayed in a suite at the Holiday Inn with mom and dad. While there we went swimming with Naomi. This was the first time she had gone swimming.



On that Monday we helped load up a moving van with all the stuff that had been at Jamie's parents for the last 4 years. Then we caravaned to Indy. We visited with Gene, HOlly, Andrew & Noah for a short bit and then headed home. We got home about 10:30 so it was time for bed.

It was a great weekend! Praise the Lord for safe travel and for positive bonding experiences.

Today I took Michael to the zoo and he got to go in the new splash park. It is open to members only on Wednesday mornings, so it was not crowded. Then he enjoyed picking where we went at the zoo. Of course I wanted to go to the Lorikeets - which he does not like. He said, "The Lorikeets and I are not friends, so I do not want to go there." How funny! He is a funny kid.

He then came home and watched The Incredibles. After that we went to Cici's for dinner and then went mini golfing. It was a good time.

Of course Michael was settling today. We had planned on going to Six Flags, but when I checked the tickets, I realized that the free tickets we had were not good until after June 14th. Oops... we had already told him we would go today. The zoo and mini golf were fun, but did not compare with 6 flags. Oh well, we will go there later in the summer and he will have a blast.

We have not heard from Emily, so I assume she is doing well at camp. I am sure we will get a whole ear full when we pick her up on Friday.

off to camp

Emily in front of her caibin for the week.
Emily & her 3 friends from school.
Emily having a horseback ride - she will get to do 4 more rides through the week. The rest will be more involved than this "sampler" at the open house.
Michael riding a horse. We had to bribe him to do it - said no swimming in the lake if he did not ride the horse. He was almost smiling - but he would not admit that he enjoyed it.

Well, today we took Emily to summer camp. She is planning on being there for a week. This is the first time we have taken her anywhere like that and left her. It was harder for me than it was for her. She went with 3 friends from school and had two bunk beds next to one another for the four of them. I am sure she will have a blast.

There was an opening service and open house at the camp today, so we all went for Church and then ate lunch. After lunch we got her registered and settled into her cabin, send both kids on a short pony ride, and then let Michael swim in the lake. Michael was just fascinated by tether ball. He wants to get some for school. I told him to mention it to our principal.

We will go pick her up on Friday and then head to Indy, and then on to Wisconsin for Greg's installation. I am sure we will hear all about camp the whole way there. I am sure Emily will talk, and talk, and talk.

pictures from our st. louis trip

autograph seeing Michael & Emily - they did get an autograph of a pictcher. Michael & Fred Bird - what a dream!!!!
Rain, rain go away - come again another day.
After the rainy game we all went ot Pujols 5 for dinner.

The sea lion show at the St. Louis Zoo
The peacock shows off for its mate. Wow! what a beautiful sight.
Emily and Michael bowling at the bowling hall of fame.
Emily & Michael on the Mark McGuire bench at the St. Louis Cardinal Hall of Fame

new nephew

Gene, HOlly, Andrew & Noah - a happy family:)
Andres, Noah, Michael & Emily - all tackling grandpa! Isn't he a big jungle gym?
Noah smiling and showing off his bright eyes.
The oldest and the youngest cousin.

Holly and Gene were blessed with a new baby boy on Thursday, May 31. Noah Abram was born at 5:15 weighing 7 lbs. 14 oz. He was 21 inches long. We went to Indy last night and were able to see him today. He is a cutie. We took some pictures and here they are. Holly, Gene, and Noah will go home tomorrow. I am sure Andrew will be glad to be back home (although he enjoyed his time with grandma and grandpa).

Andrew really missed his mommy and daddy. At lunch today he called me mommy a few times - I look enough like Holly that I reminded him of mommy.

We will see him again in two weeks when we got up for Baptism.

SCHOOL IS OUT!!!

Friday was our last day of school. Now I am the parent of a 1st grader and a 4th grader. Wow! The real work now begins. Fourth grade is a big transition year and first grade is the beginning of more structure. Wow! It will be a year of change for us.

We celebrated by going camping to St. Louis. We arrived at our campsite about 10:00. We got set up and had a restful night of sleep - listening to drag racing and then rain. We discovered over night that the water proofing we did on the camper was not quite right. The bunk ends were wet and anything that touched them was wet (pillows, sleeping bags, air mattresses...).

Saturday morning we headed to downtown to get first pitch tickets for the Cardinal game after a breakfast of scrambled eggs & bacon. We got ticket vouchers and then headed to the zoo. We had a great time seeing active animals - highlights were the polar bear swimming and then crawling around, a bear standing on it's hind legs, monkeys jumping and leaping, snakes crawling all around, and peacocks who were courting and showing off their feathers. Wow! What a day. After a quick lunch in the car we headed to the St. Louis Cardinal hall of fame & bowling hall of fame. Michael said he could not remember going there - so we planned another trip there - but once we got into the hall of fame he said, "oh, this is what you meant. I remember being here. " Oh well, we had fun and I scored a 125 game in bowling :) Wow! I have not done that well in along time. I even got two strikes :) AFter the hall of fame we grabbed an early dinner at Hardees and then got in line for first pitch tickets. Wow! We got great tickets - section 160 & section 235.

Sunday morning we had a breakfast of pancakes & beef sausage patties. We elft to go to the stadium after adding some tarps to our camper. The kids got an autograph, made 3 Cardinal crafts, got Cardinal popsicles, & walked around the stadium before the game. It started raining - pouring actually - during the game so there was a rain delay. Luckily we got ponchos and had brought them along - we needed them. The kids were intrigued with the tarp and the work doen to get the field protected. They started to panic when lightning hit a building across from the stadium - but cheered when it cleared off long enough to finish the game. After the game we headed to Pujols 5 for dinner. We enjoyed the items which Albert Pujols had collected over his baseball career. Then we headed back to the campground for a game of Life.

Monday morning we got up and ate a breakfast of pork steak & french toast. Cooking on a camping stove is kind of fun. AFter packing up we hit the road for home. Then the work began - drying out stuff & getting things washed. I headed off to a laundramat with the sleeping bags and pillows while we opened the camper and draped tarps in the backyard to dry.

Today it was back to school for teacher's meetings. We met this morning and I worked on report cards & permanent records in the afternoon. I got them done. Now the work of cleaning and sorting begins.

I will post pictures later - just wanted to recap before I forgot everything!

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. I salute all those who have served our country.

The Countdown is On

Wow! It is difficult to believe that we only have 3 1/2 more days of school. Today I spent quite a bit of time in the computer lab with my 1st graders - helping them finish up a project about animal classification. They created books about all the 5 vertibrae animal groups - mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish & birds. It was a fun project as the kids researched animals, recorded their research, and then produced a project on the computer. Quite involved - but they enjoyed it. I am pretty much done with all the subject matter that I will teach - am just getting some "extra" stuff in science in to kill time. Summer is near!!!! Sleeping in is near!!!! Having a flexible schedule is almost here!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!

Time travels quickly

Wow! It is difficult to believe that next week is the last week of the 2006-2007 school year. It will be the last week of being a teacher of this class of 20. It will be the last week of being a mother to a kindergartener and a third grader. Never again will I have the same opportunities that I had this year. Wow! It has gone by so quickly - and summer is just around the corner.

Wow! This summer will be a full one - here is what we know of our summer plans

* Camping in St. Louis Memoria Day Weekend
* Michael's baseball games
* Emily going to summer camp
* Going to Wisconsin for Greg's ordination
* Going to Indiana for Andrew's baptism
* Doug and Michael going to father/son camp
* Emily going to fashion camp at a local mall
* the kids and I going with mom to the farm
* going to visit Craig, Amber, & Amelia for a weekend
* going to Cincinati to watch the Cardinals play the Reds
* a few days of VBS (as we will leave the week of)
* going to Texas to see Doug's mom as well as be there for cousin John's wedding
* visiting in Arkansas with dear friends

Wow - and that will just be June & July. I think I got everything, but may have missed an item or two.

I guess I know what my fall will be filled with - scrapbooking the summer. I better catch up from the spring so I can stay current as I will have lots to scrap about.

Have a great weekend! Doug and I are going to the races tomorrow with two couples. The kids are going to be with one of the couple's kids so they should have fun. Don't plan on betting much - but just have a lot of fun and social time.

How do you keep 20 little first graders quiet during the last two weeks of school?

loose your voice

It is true!!!! I could talk a little today, but on Monday and Tuesday I could not talk. My allergies are hitting me about 2 months later than normal. I usually loose my voice a day or two in March, but this year due to a weird frost, my allergies are hitting now. I finally found some musinix D (not sure how to spell it) which seems to be helping on top of claritin. It is amazing how quiet the kids are when the teacher has to whisper and use hand signals.

Too bad it is not working well with Emily and Michael. Althought they have answered me in whispers, they are both wired tonight. :) At least they are outside playing for the moment.

Happy Spring!!!

Birthday Party

Well, Emily had a successful birthday party with 10 girls. All of them made some great jewlery - their personalities really showed through their creations. Emily made a blue, white & pink bracelet and earing set. It is very nice. She also got some great gifts. She got two webkinz and spent time after her party and some time this evening checking out their website. I sat with her and explored with her so I would know more about what they are.

If you don't know - they are stuffed animals that come with a code to create an online account. Then the animals play on the webkinz website. The child is responsible for feeding, clothing, creating a shelter, and checking on the health of their webkin pets. When one buys a webkinz, you are given 2000 in webkinz bucks. More can be earned by playing games on the website. The money is spent by buying clothes, furniture, rooms, ... It seems like a very addicting thing. You can send webkinz mail to other webkinz owners - if you know their username, as well as visiting chatrooms. Parents have the option of locking out the chatrooms - which we did. I have a feeling we will have to limit her to the amount of time spent playing with the webkinz site.

In addition, she got crafts, movies, books, a gift card, a travel desk :), bath stuff, and other girlie things. She did get a animal DVD game which looks really neat - will have to try that one out as a family I think.

Michael went to play with two buddies who have sisters in Emily's class - so he did not have to experience the party - making jewlery was not up his alley.

All in all it was a great party! I will load pictures later, as I can't hook up our camera right now as we had to redo our whole computer and I do not have the camera software loaded yet.

Again, Happy Mother's Day!

Good Morning

Well. today is Saturday. Emily and I am preparing for her 9th birthday party. We picked up her cake from Kroger. We also picked up drinks, ice cream, and candles. We already had the goodie bags created and the napkins/plates/spoons/forks bought. At 2:00 10 girls will gather to create jewlery at a jewlery shop. It should be a good time. Something different. Will see if she gets what she wants from her friends. All she really wants is a Webkin. She does not have one of these "hot" items yet - and she really wants one as most of the other girls in 3rd grade have at least one. Will let you know later.

Michael is with Doug working on the camper. Right now the camper is at Doug's bosses house - so there is more room. They had to work on the lights and Michael went along to help. He loves being at Bills's house as there is lots of grass to run around on.

Last night I went to scrapbooking night at Church. There were only 2 of us, but we both spent a lot of time talking and solving all the world's problems. I did get about 10 pages done - so I was productive as well.

Have a great day and to all you mothers - Happy Mother's Day!

4 wheelers

Today we went to Doug's bosses house. He has a whole group of 4 wheelers set for kids to ride. Emily and Michael went for rides on them. They had a blast. Emily did make a quick turn and tip it over once - luckily it landed next to her and not on top of her. Both kids can't wait to go back and ride again. Bill has some trails out behind his house that he has built for his grandkids. Next time they hope to go on the trails. I did not have my camera along, so I don't have pictures, but they had a great time! They both felt so grown up.

Derby Day Activities at School

Michael marking his spot in the balloon drop
Emily in the run for the rose
Emily and Michael with some classmates

We had our annual Derby Day at school. Emily did the Run for the Rose (wine glass relay). Michael did the balloon race drop (using bean bags). It was indoors due to the weather - rain, rain, and more rain.

Oak's Day Lillies

Last night we went to view the Oak's Day lillies. It sure smelled and looked beautiful. The kids got two horse pins which they added to their collection of Derby pins. Tomorrow we will watch the Oaks race and see the winner get these lillies.

9 year old

Wow! It is hard to believe that we have a 9 year old. Kind of scary - makes a person feel old to know that she is 1/2 way to being able to vote, and over 1/2 way to being able to drive. Kind of scary to think of how much technology has changed in just 9 years. Scanners & e-mail were just coming out into homes when Emily was born. We spent time sending voice clips to grandmas and grandpas when she began to babble. Now there are blogs, places to post videos, cell phones, ipods, blackberries, laptop computers... Wow! Just imagine what will be there in another 9 years.

We celebrated Emily's birthday by going to a favorite restraunt - Fiesta Mexicana. After dinner we opened presents and had some cake. Then she watched a short movie and got ready for bed. She had taken horse cookies to school for a class snack as her birthday always falls during Derby week. We will have her party with all the girls in her class next Saturday. She is going to have a jewelery making party. Should be a fun time.

Author visitor

On Tuesday, May 1 Cathryn Coquet the author of Little Freddie Goes to the Derby came to our school to speak to the 1 - 5th graders about writing books and horses. What an awesome experience to get books autographed by the author and actually meet an author.

Parade Preview

Getting Derby Princess autographs
Emily in front of the Care Bear balloon
Emily and Michael in their Derby hats by the "Mad Hatter"

We attended the Pegasus Parade Preview. It was a time to see the floats and balloons which would be in the Derby Pegasus Parade. Getting the Derby Princesses autographs, creating derby hats with the "Mad Hatter", and picking up all kinds of "prizes" created a memorable evening.

Camping & new camper

Emily, her junk skeleton, and the new camper

Michael & Emily in front of a really big tree we found while hiking

We tried out our "new" camper (it is a 1971 camper - so it is older than I am) on the 28th of April. We got it on ebay, quite a deal. We did do a little work on it, but still got a good deal. We went to a park just south about 30 minutes. There were some awesome hiking trails. One lead to a stream, waterfall, and a cave. We plan on visiting that park again for a camping trip, and exploring the park more thouroughly.

While we were there Emily and I worked on a science project - her junk skeleton.

Balloon Glow

Michael and I attended the annual Derby Festival Balloon Glow. He loved all the balloons. A football balloon, the Energizer bunny, and the cow jumped over the moon balloons were his favorite ones. He also enjoyed collecting balloon lapel pins & trading cards. It was a fun time for mom and Michael to be together.

Spring Sing

Whew! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activitiy. Let me start with a few photos of the Spring Sing. Michael was in the musical entitled BUGZ. I organized and created the costumes for 70 preschool - 2nd grade students. Quite an undertaking. It turned out cute and fun. Emily's choir presented a contata entitled The Three Trees. She was part of tree number 3. She also played in the band. It was a great night.

Thunder over Louisville

Michael in front of the Air Force Nascar
Emily trying on army gear
Thunder fireworks over the river
more fireworks

Yesterday was Thunder over Louisville. We went downtown around 10:00 and walked around the riverfront which was full of people holding down their plot of land. Caution tape marked off spots which were created by people. It is amazing what some people will cart down for the day - tents, tarps, chairs, coolers, grills, umbrellas... There were military exibits and one large on from Ford which we explored before heading to the car to eat a picnic lunch. After lunch we headed into Slugger Field for the day. We watched the Bats game as well as the air show from the stadium. We met up with our friends the Larkins so the kids could play together during the day. About 8:45 we went back to our seats and had to kick people out of them so we could watch the fireworks from seats. It was good we had seats good for viewing as michael was exhausted. He did not make it through the 30 mintue firework display. There were some awesome fireworks which we had not ever seen before - hearts, stars, circles that had bursts of color coming out of them... Wow! It was incredible. Michael sat on my lap and dozed off and on. Emily of course was wide awake and loved the fireworks. We left the stadium by 10:00 and were home by 10:40. wow! We have got a great plan figured out which has worked for 3 years! Others take hourse to get home. On the news it said they took 31/2 hours to clear out downtown. AFter getting the kids into bed we watched the fireworks replay on the local station. Wow! Although it was good on TV, I was sure glad we had seem them live.

Emily just woke up at 8:30, while Michael is still sleeping. I should have gone to early church as choir was sining, but since I have to play flute in late church and the kids were exausted, I opted to only go to late service. Hopefully they can all rest today so they can be back to school tomorrow with lots of energy.

YEAH God! NO RAIN

Just wanted to say that today it was supposed to rain and it did not rain during the school day. Praise the Lord for little things like a inaccurate weather forecast. Getting outside for recess is an important thing to a first grade teacher. Thank you God for good weather!

Emily has discovered a new author - Andrew Clements. He has some great middle grade books. I hope to read some of his older grade books, I am sure they are good also as his middle grade books are wonderful. If you are looking for books for any 3 - 5th grade child check out his website. http://www.andrewclements.com/

baseball

Tonight Michael had a game. It was the Cubs (Michael's team) against the Reds. On Saturday Doug, Michael & Craig saw the Cubs play the Reds. It was kind of a replay of the game. Of course this one was not so cold.