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The Most Wonderful TIme

These two are now in school. Whhhhheeeeeew! It has been a great summer with lots of fun packed in right at the end. Now I'm ready for school to start.

Both Riley and Stevie are going to all-day school this year. Hallelujah!


I think Natalie and Emma will miss them, but we've always got Henry to entertain them half the day.:)
Here is Riley waiting for her class to go inside.

Here is Stevie doing the same.

Cute story.

Stevie and Riley have the same recess' and after one recess Riley missed her class going inside and was lost. She was crying and Stevie found her and walked her to her classroom, missing his own class going inside. I was so worried that he would ignore her at school. Turns out he's the best big brother Riley could ask for!

Good luck guys!!!

because...it's Natalie!

It has been nearly 2 years since Natalie was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

No, she was not an overweight child.

No, we did not give her too much juice as a baby.

No, she cannot be cured with diet, exercise, medication or anything else.

THERE IS NO CURE.

Therefore we walk.

This was our second year doing a Walk for a Cure for diabetes. Last year we walked with the American Diabetes Association (ADA), this year with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). We go to many functions throughout the year with JDRF and were excited to give back and contribute to the ongoing research to find a cure.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to those who donated. We raised over $500!!!

This morning we arrived at historic Wheeler Farm for the walk. There were literally THOUSANDS of people.

As we waited for the walk to begin, there were several Star Wars characters roaming around, which thrilled my nerdy kids!

I must not be as big a Star Wars buff as I thought. I don't recall which episode has red storm troopers!?

For those of us who considered ourselves too old to take pictures with grown men in costume, there was always Natty to help make us look good!

This year I made matching shirts for all the family that walked with us.

Here's who joined us this year, from left to right:

Steve, Riley, Natalie, Devany, Emma, Stevie, Sara Jane, Grandpa, Clark, Emilie, Sam.

We were missing Grandma, who decided Atlanta would be more fun : (, and Alan, who decided Ohio would be more fun : (. Seriously, we missed you both.

Everyone had loads of energy until the walk started. We started out walking...

Then strolling...

Some went on shoulders...

And some even got carried by back.

Then they got a second wind. Left to right: Sam, Stevie, Steve, Natalie, Riley

Along the way there were posters with the name, age, date of diagnosis, and picture of children with type 1 diabetes. Here was Natalie's!

At the end of the walk, Stevie did a little dance.

The girls then played in the bouncy house.

And then Stevie got to climb (halfway up) the climbing wall.

All in all, it was a fun day and a great cause. Thanks again to everyone who participated and/or donated to helping us find a cure.

We Love You Natalie!!!

Thanksgiving Point

It's finally starting to feel like summer vacation now that school is only 2 weeks away!

At the beginning of summer I promised my kids I would take them on a pony ride. It took me 2 months to make good on it.

Yesterday we went to Thanksgiving Point for the first time in 4 years. I didn't realize how much STUFF there was to do!!! We started at the Childrens Gardens.

There was a sand pit,


A stream that emptied into a small wading pool,

A small playground,

And I didn't even take picutres of the bear cave, the hedge maze, or the super-fun water play area.

Then we went to the Big Gardens and saw the big waterfall. I'm told it's the largest man-made waterfall in the world.

The whole time we were there my kids never stopped asking when it would be time to ride the ponies, so even though I was pooped, we then went over to Farm Country.

Happy Birthday!!!

Our Riley is now 6 years old. Time has gone so fast and yet it seems like she's been in my life forever. I want time to stop and yet I love watching my kids grow up.

Riley had 2 fabulous birthday parties with family and then with friends. She has been planning these parties for the past 2 months!

What girl doesn't love shoes. And Riley is ALL girl!

Hopefully, this will prevent her from breaking my camera again.

She asked for an Ariel cake. This is sort of a cop-out since I used a doll, but I really wanted to do a water themed cake.

Earlier in the day, she hit her knee to her top tooth, knocking it out. That's the little dark spot in her mouth. So she got a present from the tooth fairy for her birthday as well!

Happy Birthday Riley! We love you!!!

Common Problem

I don't normally use this blog for this purpose, but I have a situation that I would like to question my 2 readers about.

I'm not a super social person and never have been. I don't have an endless source of witty comments and engaging conversational skills to dispell every awkward position I find myself in. When I try, I usually find my foot in my mouth or have worded something so wrong that I offend someone. It doesn't help that my everyday vocabulary is something to be envied by most mariners.

However, there are some words/phrases that even I won't use.

I recently found myself in an awkward situation, at least it was awkward to me, when a close friend was in my home and casually took the Lord's name in vain. It caught me off guard because this was someone I knew attended (my) church and did not expect it from them. At first, I was so surprised that I figured I must have heard them wrong. When it happened again, I was so stunned that I froze and had no idea what to say. By now, at least to me, the time to say something kindly like "would you mind using another phrase around my children", has passed and I cannot think of a way to breach the subject again. If/when they say it again, I feel like it is too late, like if I haven't said something already, I should just keep my mouth shut.

The problem is that my kids are hearing it from someone they know and I can't just say, "Oh we don't say those words" like I do for the TV. They know they go to church and believe the same as we do. So, what do I do?

So far...nothing.

Twins

I was called this week to make a cake for twin girls that are coming home from the hospital. Their nursury is in pinks and greens so I not only made them a cake, I made Happy Birthday banners for each of them to match.

I got this far on the cake and loved it so much I was hesitant to add the green.



Luckily I do not always follow my instincts.