Camp Week

I planned a couple of "camps" for the kids this summer to give them a chance to do some things they don't otherwise get a chance to do during the year.

This past week, Samantha had horseback riding camp and Michael had basketball camp. Despite the fact that I felt like I was in the car all morning, it actually worked out well (with Michael in camp from 8-11 and Samantha in camp 10-12).


Michael was excited to talk about the types of passes that he learned about, and about dribbling with both hands, and was excited to share that the kids beat the parents in the game at the end of the week (42-10 I believe was the final score!!). He really had a great time and showed us yet another sport that he enjoys (and plays well). And I was so pleased to see what a great sport he was. Whoever on his team had the ball, he was cheering for them to shoot and score! I was really proud.


Samantha loved her horse camp and has already asked to go back. She rode a pony this week named Nikki. She learned how to take care of Nikki, brush her and give her a bath, as well as putting her saddle on and taking it off. In the riding ring, she learned to control the pony, getting her to start and stop and turn as she wanted. She was even able to trot with a guide and was doing very well at "posting" while the horse was trotting. It was fun to watch her ride and made me nostalgic for when I rode horses at summer camp as a child.

It was a nice week for the kids to have some activities, and I was able to get a few things done around the house, but it will be nice for things to be a little "lower key" this coming week as we really have nothing planned!

Washington Nationals!!

Last year, the DC area got their first professional baseball team in 30 years when the Washington Nationals relocated from Montreal to Washington, DC. With both Mike and I being baseball fans, we were excited to have the team. But, with 3 kids in tow, and many summer days topping 90 degrees with high humidity, there isn't always a great day to go to the game.

Last Friday, I heard a weather report on the radio talking about how perfect the weekend weather was going to be - 80 degrees during the day, 60 degrees at night, with low humidity. I then heard an ad for the Washington Nationals being in town. A few web searches and a couple of phone calls later, we had tickets to the Saturday night game.

Now, last year, we paid for the most inexpensive tickets we could, which were right field seats. The seats were fine, but the way the field is designed (being a former football stadium) the seats were VERY HIGH up because the wall is 50' or 60' before the seats start.


So, we splurged for seats a little lower down - and they were perfect. We looked right down the third base line to home plate. We ended up with front row (of the section) seats on the end of a row, so I had a railing in front for Emma to play with, and a spot on the concrete beside me for her to sit on the ground if she wanted to. While she was clearly happiest when she was actually sitting in one of OUR chairs, we were happy to move her around as we didn't have to pay for her until she is 2 as long as she "sits in our lap".

Well, a great time was had by all DESPITE the loss to the San Diego Padres. The Nationals started the game with a home run hit off the first pitch to the first batter in the bottom of the first, but it went downhill from there!!

But, we had great seats, close parking, and a fun time. Definitely worth the money and warrants a return trip soon!!

Happy Birthday Grandaddy!

(We apologize for the late post)

Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Grandaddy!
Happy Birthday to you!

How old are you? 29?

Dance recital!!

Last weekend, Samantha danced in her 6th dance recital. Each year the recital seems to get better and better - the dances are better, they are more coordinated, the sets are better.

Samantha was in four dances: Ballet, Tap, Jazz, and Lyrical.







Her teacher also added something new this year that I really liked - an opening number that involved her two oldest "competition" groups. The put the dance together in a mere 3 weeks and it really was great - I like to see a full stage with lots of dancers working together.

My limited exposure to dance instructors/choreographers has taught me one thing - dance teachers clearly have a style that they are best at. Samantha's teacher is clearly best at tap - I LOVED the tap dance that Samantha's class did this year and it was clear that the girls had a good time doing the dance.

So, we get about 4 weeks off before the 5-week summer dance camp!

It's BACK down to 80 degrees!!

Well, you would think a statement like that would be made in a conversation about the outside weather. Now that Noah has packed up the ark and the animals are back home, it has gotten hot and steamy outside.

But, unfortunately, that wasn't part of a conversation about the weather - it was part of a conversation about our upper level!! Yes, that's right - it was 88 degrees on the top floor of our house today! Turns out - our air conditioner upstairs hasn't been working since Sunday. Its a good thing that we have the AC for the main floor because otherwise, it would be absolutely miserable in the house.

Calls to the repairman on Monday (after we confirmed for sure that it indeed was getting hotter and not cooler in the bedroom) yielded us a repair appointment for FRIDAY - I took the 7-9am time slot in hopes that it would be fixed and we could spend the rest of the day cooling the upstairs.

Sunday night was tolerable upstairs, Monday was uncomfortable, yesterday was marginal but LOUD due to the large fan that Mike had placed in the hallway blowing into our room. But, we had been having tropical rains during that time that, for the most part, had kept the temperature a little lower. Tonight is just miserable. We put Emma to bed in the pack-n-play in the basement after her two naps ended with her sweaty and red faced from the heat. So, I'll be sleeping in the basement with her - do you think I need the flannel jammies?

Raining off and on

This weekend has given new meaning to the term "raining off and on". It has rained off and on this weekend - which means, it has rained BUCKETS and BUCKETS of rain for about 30-45 minutes, then it stops an hour, and then it does it again. The weathermen say there is a stationary front over our area that just keeps cycling - and that we could have rain until Thursday.

I won't worry until I see the animals marching down the street two-by-two

More Words!

Emma is adding new words to her vocabulary every day.

Yesterday, she was on our bed and we asked her if she wanted Breakfast, and she said "bre-fes" and went crawling to the end of the bed.

Today, we asked her if she wanted a snack and she said "snac" and laughed and giggled!!

No more pencils, No more books...

Today was the first day of summer vacation. Samantha and Michael had their last day of school yesterday. It was a bittersweet day - Michael had a great year and a great teacher. Samantha had a great teacher but 3rd grade was just a tough year. We were all looking forward to summer break - and have enjoyed that our extra-curricular activites have been winding down for a couple of weeks now.

We will be working on cleaning and organizing the house a little each day, playing some each day, and relaxing each day. Today the kids side of the basement was straightened up and vacuumed. It will probably have to be cleaned like this about 6 times this summer because the kids have not yet learned the art of "putting something away before you get something else out". The kids bedrooms were also cleaned today. The biggest cleaning challenge is, however, MY space. The kitchen and the family room. Among the piles of normal papers and other things that I typically have at my fingertips, I have piles and piles of papers that the kids brought home over the past week or so. I need to sort through them into a "keep schoolwork" pile, a "throw away" pile and a "summer practice" pile. There are just papers everywhere.

But, I'm using the FlyLady approach of decluttering 15 minutes a day. That's about all I can handle right now because there are just so many they are overwhelming. But we'll get there!!

Dancin' Fools

Emma loves to dance. She'll dance to any music she hears, including commercials, openings to shows, and any song that will play on any toy that she has!! She is quite funny when she does it.

Michael loves to dance too!! So, we often put on the "music channel" on the TV and let the kids dance to the music. On this day, they really were enjoying dancing to the music!!


The second video shows that dancing can be exhausting!!

Kindergarten Karnival!

To celebrate the end of the school year, all of the Kindergarten classes at Michael's school held a "Karnival". They used the Kindergarten blacktop right outside their classrooms, and the room moms set up some great "stations" and activities for the kids to do. There were activities such as: penny pitching, bean bag toss, obstacle course, popcorn races, sand dig, face painting, bowling, and crafts.
When asked, Michael loudly proclaimed that the "bowling" activity was his favorite - and somehow, despite his THREE or more trips to that station, I don't have a photo. But, I do have some other great photos that I thought I'd share.

After the activities were done (and the rain clouds were rolling in), the kids got to have a "sugar buffet" (my definition) consisting of bananas topped with "Magic Shell" chocolate, cupcakes, pringles, and juice boxes. Needless to say - the teachers sent all of the kids home quite rarin' to go!!

Kindergarten Show

All of the Kindergarten classes at Little River Elementary put on a great show to commemorate the end of the year. There were 7 Kindergarten classes and the show for the parents on Thursday night was the only time all classes sang together!! All of the kids did great and it was an amazing sea of tie-dyed shirts.



We were worried for a while that Michael wouldn't sing - but his great Kindergarten teacher worked with him and showed him that all of the kids would be singing and it would be just fine if he sang along!! They sang some great songs and sounded like pros. And they all did a wonderful rendition of the Little River school song!!

Film at 11! - UPDATED

I have started adding posts - I am dating them the date of the event, so you will need to scroll down from this post in order to see them!!

I hate how the news has started to "advertise" their news articles throughout the day saying "Check out the News at 11!" Well, I'm going to do the same to you.

We've been busy the past week or so. The good news is that means I have a lot to talk about. The bad news is that I haven't had much time to do so. So, in the spirit of "Film at 11", I hope to blog about some of the following topics in the next day or so:
- Memorial Day at Smith Mountain Lake
- Michael's end of season T-ball party
- South Riding Festival
- Samantha's Field Day
- Emma's newest adventures

And, if I don't get shaking soon, I'll have to add an upcoming event to the list:
- Michael's Kindergarten Show

3rd grade Field Day

(I will start with another apology for the delay - the blog web site was having problems yesterday)

Samantha participated in the annual Little River Field Day on Tuesday. All of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes participated. As a class, they rotated between about 18 different stations, competing in a variety of team and individual activities. Many involve water!!

The class dressed all in red - which made it easy to find them out in the "ocean" of kids all over the blacktop and playing field at the school.

(L) Samantha throws water out of a "scoop" to a friend about 10 feet away, in hopes that friend can "catch" the water and put it in a bucket - takes a LONG time to fill that bucket.
(R) Samantha receives the baton from her teammate in the 7-man relay

I have helped out in previous years - this year I decided to just rotate around with the class and take photos and help out when necessary. It was a really nice day and I enjoyed going out and watching the kids have a good time and compete in the various events.

Great season Michael!!

Michael just completed his second T-ball season. He played his last game against the Red Sox and then, after the game, his team all went to McDonalds for a little "end of year" party. Imagine 12 4-and-5-year-olds descending on McDonalds on a good day - well, it was busy on Saturday, so that added to the confusion.

All the kids had a good time with their happy meals and ice cream, and they each received their photos (and trophies to arrive later) and we all thanked Coach Steve with a gift certificate to a local restaurant - because after demonstrating all the patience he had with this team of kids, he NEEDS a night away with just his wife!!

Memorial Day at Smith Mountain Lake

(I set the date back on this post so that the next few posts show up on the approximate date they occured)

In our family, traditions often just happen. Once we do things once or twice, they all of a sudden have become a "tradition". One of our traditions is to go to Nancy's parents house at Smith Mountain Lake over Memorial Day. We don't make it as often as we like because its a 4 hour drive from home; so the extended Memorial Day weekend makes it easier. Its also right after Michael's birthday so we frequently use that weekend to celebrate Michael's birthday with Granny and Granddaddy. This weekend was no different.

Granny and Grandaddy gave Michael his first set of REAL Golf Clubs. To date, he has had toy and plastic golf clubs; but these are real clubs, just kid's sized. Michael spent a good part of the next days in the yard hitting "wiffle ball" golf balls. With a little practice and instruction, I think he will become QUITE GOOD. But then again, Michael seems to excel at most sports he plays.

Another favorite activity is going out on Granddaddy's boat. Emma got to enjoy this for the first time this year. And there was no turning back. Emma LOVED going out on the boat and didn't want anybody messing with her experience. She stood at the front of the boat with her hands on the railing and watched the water and let the air blow in her face. She really had a great time.


The kids also enjoy going in the water at the lake. Nancy didn't think it was going to be warm enough for swimming, but it turned out to be quite warm. Samantha was fortunate to be able to borrow a suit from some girls whose parents have a house two doors down; Michael, however, had to be convinced that it was ok to swim in his shorts (like a bathing suit is really any different). They had a great time swimming and playing in the water!!

We came home late Sunday night to avoid the traffic coming home on Monday. The kids enjoyed playing outside on this last day of the weekend. Emma LOVES to swing while Samantha and Michael are playing. It was still hot at our house on Monday, so we pulled out the sprinkler and let them run through it to cool off!!


It was a nice relaxing weekend!

Dance competition

This past weekend, Samantha's dance classes competed in the Starbound Dance Competition in Salisbury, MD. After her soccer game on Saturday, we packed up the car and drove 3 hours to Salisbury, checked into the hotel, and relaxed a little before heading over to the Salisbury Civic Center for the competition.

Their first dance was their ballet dance. It was called "Fool" and they earned a "Gold" score for their performance.



Their next dance was their jazz dance. The costumes for this dance were really great and the black jazz shoes (spray painted at the last minute the night before) fit the costume beautifully. The jazz dance was performed to Body Language and their earned a "Gold" score for their performance.



Their last dance was their tap dance, performed to "Ring My Bell". They earned High Gold for their performance and 5th place in the junior level overall for the entire competition - all performances from groups 12 and under. These costumes are neat because the girls were paired off by color and there were multiple colors on the floor!



After the competition was over and all of the awards were presented, we went back to the hotel. And then, in the small world category, I met a man at the hotel pool who happens to coach the Lacrosse team at a college in my hometown. His family lives not far from my parents. And, to top it off, his daughter takes dance from Lynn Hampton at the Ardell Stone School of Dance, where I studied dance for 11 years with her mother, Ardell Stone. I attended High School with Lynn. And, this man's wife was a former French teacher at Cave Spring High School, my alma mater, and chaperoned the French Club's Quebec trip I went on my Senior Year. She remembered me as soon as her husband mentioned my name - very small world.

The long wait is FINALLY over!!

We picked up our new car today. We have been waiting anxiously since the beginning of March when we decided that it was time to sell our 12-year-old Acura Legend and buy a new car. We decided on the Hybrid Camry due to the stop-and-go traffic Mike sits in to working - thinking that we can at least save on gas!!

When we decided to buy a Camry Hybrid, the cars hadn't even started rolling off the production line yet. They finally have, and after a couple of "false starts" on the delivery date, it finally arrived this morning.

We are quite excited - its been 5 years since we bought a new vehicle (the Town and Country minivan) and 12 years since a new sedan - so this is quite nice!!

Emma is too smart for her own good!

For a little background - Emma spends a lot of time in her playyard. It takes up about 1/3 of our family room, but its contained and has all of her toys so I don't have to worry about her getting hurt or roaming the house, and she loves to play in her yard.

Anyway, we have two books of puzzles. She has managed to pull most of the pieces out of the books. Just this morning, I cleaned up her yard and took all of the puzzle pieces and the books and put them on the coffee table.

I put Emma in her yard after picking up Michael from school. As I am on the phone, I look over to watch her pushing the wall of her yard and walking towards the coffee table - she has figured out if she pushes hard enough, she can actually move her yard around the room - she has now moved it close enough to the coffee table to pick up the pieces of puzzle and throw them back into her yard.

Like I said - too smart for her own good!

Emma's favorite words!

There are three words that are sure to bring a smile to Emma's face every time she hears them. Her face lights up and she gets a big smile on her face and giggles:

- Samantha

- Michael

- Lunch!!

Piano and Party! That was our weekend!

We had a crazy weekend. It consisted of the kids piano recital on Friday night, a t-ball and a soccer game on Saturday (with t-ball team pictures squeezed in-between) and a birthday party for Michael in the afternoon.




The piano recital was nice. If you take out the uncomfortable church pews and the freezing cold temperature, it was really great. Samantha and Michael both did a great job. Each child went up when it was their turn and introduced themselves, told how long they had been playing and then introduced their songs. Everyone, that is, except Michael. Michael got shy when it was his turn to announce his name and songs, so finally the teacher announced it for him. He got flustered one time during his song, but recouped and then they were both perfect. Both of Samantha's songs were perfect too and she looked very beautiful in her new dress.




This is a photo of Samantha and Michael with their piano teacher, Miss Madeline!!









Then on Saturday we had Michael's birthday party. His actual birthday isn't until this coming weekend, but since we have an out-of-town dance competition, we celebrated with his friends this weekend. We rented a "jungle themed" moon bounce and had kids over for bouncing, hot dogs and cake!! It was quite rowdy with all of the kids bouncing in the moon bounce. They had a great time and we had perfect weather for the party!!

The curses of Spring!

I love Spring. Winter makes me depressed, so the warm weather, bright sun, green grass and trees, beautiful flowers - they all just wake me up and give me energy. But with all those wonderful things come the curses - the allergies. I can just LOOK at a bloom on a tree and my sinus pressure will increase. I have no idea what I'm allergic too - and a trip to the allergist last season was less than enlightening. But, the allergies have gotten me nontheless. I am on day 2 of the sinus headache that won't go away. Despite the antihistamine, decongestant, and pain killers. Nothing is working - even sleep didn't take it away. UGH!!

Is it too early to wish for summer and 90 degree weather - just so I don't have to suffer allergies!