The Overton Family

Creative Aubrey

2011-11-20T07:56:00.001-05:00

Aubrey is very creative and quite the little artist. She LOVES to draw and color. This is Strawberry Shortcake and I was amazed at how good it was.

Derek came to me in the kitchen and said that I needed to go look at Aubrey in her room. She was roasting a marshmallow over a campfire.

The campfire is a play stick of butter.

The marshmallow is a sock.

The stick is a play spatula.

She is just too cute!

Student of the Month

2011-11-18T07:50:00.001-05:00

Ethan was chosen as Student of the Month for the trait of compassion. The last three years he has always been chosen in October, which coincided with dressing up in Halloween costumes. This year October was not is lucky month, but his class did have a dress down day for selling the most in a fundraiser we had. This is what Mr. Menard wrote about Ethan:
"I am happy to select Ethan Overton as my student of the month for the trait of compassion. Of all the character traits, one of the most important to me personally is compassion. The ability to look at others and see their need for help, and wanting to give them that help goes to the very core of what we try to teach at Imagine...that character and how you treat others is just at important as knowledge. The Dalai Lama has said that, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." This goes along with our push to fill each others bucket because that in turn will fil our own bucket. Ethan is constantly thinking of others and how he can help them, and fill their buckets, and show compassion for them. When we recently got a new student Ethan was the first person that I thought of to show them around the classroom, and to help them feel welcome, because I knew that he would show compassion and help them fit right in, which of course he did.
Recently, his mother told me a story about why Ethan might be tired one morning, and it was because his sister was having a bad night and was in pain, so being the compassionate person that he is, he stayed up extra late to hold her hand, and try to make her feel better. For those reasons, and so many more, I'm happy to announce Ethan Overton as our student of the month for compassion."

As part of their reward for selling fundraiser items, Ethan's class got to throw pies at Mr. Menard.

Aubrey At Dance

2011-11-17T07:45:00.000-05:00

Today was a parent observation, so Ethan and I sat in and watched Aubrey at dance class.

Derek's 38th Birthday

2011-11-16T20:18:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Derek's 38th birthday today. I made him his favorite red velvet cake, but it turned out really ugly. At least it still tasted good.

We got him a keytar, but it was not full keys so he would not really be able to use it much on stage. We decided to resell it on Ebay and buy him a new suit instead.

11/11/11

2011-11-11T22:04:00.002-05:00

We were in NC visiting Nana and Papa and wanted to celebrate 11/11/11. Derek has always been partial to 11:11, so we had been planning to do something on this day. We decided to draw names and get each other 11 things that person likes. Nana of course loved the idea right away.

We opened our gifts at 11:11 of course.

Ethan got a Cheerwine.

Aubrey and her Sweedish Fish.

flavored water packets

Nana and Papa opening their gifts

I got Derek's bag at the dollar store and did not realize it only had one handle on it until I got it home...oh well!

Our tradition of eating at South 21 when we go to the Southern Christmas Show.

Ethan scored a marshmallow gun from the Christmas Show.

Fair

2011-11-05T22:30:00.004-04:00

We had our annual trip to the Volusia County Fair. Ethan was allowed to bring his friend Gage this year so he would not be the only boy. It rained some and we got a little wet, but we still had a good time.

We started out with the World Famous Frisbee Dog Show, and it was actually pretty good.

The fun house is always a hit and running through the spinning barrel at the end.

Waiting in line for the Starship 4000, the favorite ride of last year.

They liked it again!

Bumper cars!

Anxiously awaiting the beloved red velvet funnel cake from last year!

Gage is not so sure about this red velvet funnel cake we keep talking about.

He quickly became a fan!

Ethan and his buddy Gage.

Aubrey being crazy on the Crazy Bus.

Not everyday you turn around and see a Llama behind you.

Aubrey HATED the dragon roller coaster.

Aubrey's favorite ride this year...the Tornado. She had to ride this at least 10 times.
She is showing me "Wow," something she learned at school. She holds up 3 fingers for the W's and her mouth is the O.

Aubrey was afraid of the moving barrel last year and would not do it. The first time through, the man had to stop it for her to go through. The second time, she thought about it and

decided she would go through with Caitlin.

A good time was had by all!

Table Tennis

2011-11-04T22:25:00.000-04:00

You never know what these two will bring back from the store when they go out together. Tonight they came back with this table tennis game and turned our dining room table into a fun activity for the night.

Halloween

2011-11-01T07:33:00.001-04:00

This is a really long post about our Halloween activities.

We went to a fall festival in town, the bounce house is still a hit.

Aubrey with her little ghost, but it was windy and her hair brushed against it and sort of messed it up.

Ethan's spider

Fishing for pumpkins

hay ride

Let the pumpkin carving begin....this only lasted for a few minutes and everyone left me to do the work....happens every year.

Ethan does not like the guts

Love this one of her

Aubrey did enjoy making the dots for her daisy design and did a good job with it.

Ethan's Captain Crunch pumpkin...he saw it on the back of the cereal box

Aubrey is a ghost

Aubrey's daisy pumpkin, however it rotten very quickly and had to be thrown out the next night.

Aubrey chose to be a bee this year and I ordered this cute little basket off of ebay.

I did not look at it close enough, because it came with Georgia on the back of it.

I fixed it with sewing on a black felt patch. I could never find any yellow felt to match, but it was much better.

Aubrey's costume all ready for her to wear to school, she even has matching underwear compliments of Gymboree.

Ethan was Dwight Howard this year. Ready for school!

I dressed up too this year as a cupcake. There is a long story to go along with the costume, but I will leave it at I had to use a bike tire to make the costume look right.

My class made fake blood to celebrate Halloween, it was a hit.

The book to go along with my costume, that was the requirement to wear a costume to school for the day.

Trunk or Treat at church. Aubrey with our friend Brady.

Our trunk

I let Ethan walk around with friends this year, but I still snuck a picture.

This was Aubrey's favorite trunk.

More face painting

The loot! I told Ethan in the future to throw out his candy wrappers out after he eats the candy so I do not know how many pieces he ate. He put the wrappers back in his bucket. He told me he did not know where the trash was and he did not want to litter! We had a very busy, but fun Halloween.

Ear Piercing

2011-10-16T20:44:00.004-04:00

We have been talking for some time about Aubrey getting her ears pierced, but she always would chicken out. Recently she got her first bee sting and realized that getting her ears pierced might not be so bad. I told her it was like a little sting, but only for a second. I believe a girl in her class recently got her ears pierced, so Aubrey was ready. It was an early Christmas present so that she can get earrings for Christmas and will be able to change them out by then.
It tickled getting her ears cleaned and marked.

Trying to hold still....very hard for Aubrey!

Trying extra hard now, as this is the third attempt on this ear to place the dot correctly.

This was right before the scream. I had to hold her in my lap for the second ear, so no pictures were taken. She did really well and was very excited when it was all over.

Showing them off

It is actually difficult to get a straight on shot of both earrings.

Here is a video of the event, compliments of big brother Ethan.

Toe Shoes

2011-10-11T19:18:00.004-04:00

Ethan has joined the running club on Mondays at school and was in need of some running shoes. His tennis shoes are for basketball and he has been begging for "toe shoes." His teacher, Mr. Menard, has some and Ethan has been asking for them. I gave him an amount I was willing to pay for shoes and told him if we could find them for that, he could have them.

He was one happy boy tonight when we found some. They do not look comfortable to me, but he swears they are. Of course, he wanted them so badly he would never tell me that they were not comfortable. He also informed me that his cousin Evan has a pair and anything that he has is cool.

Courageous

2011-10-02T14:42:00.001-04:00

This picture of Derek and Aubrey makes my heart happy. Yesterday, we went with a group from church to see the movie Courageous. When we bought the tickets, we did not realize that the movie was PG-13 due to some violence. However, it was an excellent movie. I was not sure how much Aubrey got out of it, but she understood the dancing part to the movie. The little girl in the movie asked her daddy to dance with her to her favorite song outside of the bank in the parking lot. The dad said no, and lets just say lived to regret it. Today while we were waiting for Derek to get home from the second service, Aubrey wanted to put on a fancy dress. This is not uncommon for her. She however insisted on having her dance shoes on too. I said no several times because I just knew they would not make it back into the dance bag for class on Thursday. She was persistent and I finally gave in, with her promising me to put them back in her bag. This is one of those moments, I am glad I gave in. Derek arrived home and ate lunch and I saw him walking out of Aubrey's room in his tshirt and tie around his neck. I gave him a puzzled look to which he explained his odd appearance. Aubrey had gotten a tie and dress shoes for him and had them in her room and asked him to dance with her. After seeing the movie, there was no way that Derek could ever say no to his little princess. I am pretty sure he would have danced with her in the bank parking lot if she had asked. It was a sweet and wonderful moment and of course I made them recreate it so I could capture it forever on camera.

Rock in a Box

2011-10-01T14:20:00.000-04:00

Ethan had a diorama science project to do with a rock. He could put the rock in a natural or unnatural environment. He chose to do a living room and have his rock playing the wii. He painted his box with the leftover paint from our living room. He made me laugh when I was taking this picture becuase he said, "Hey blogger." I asked what he meant and he said I know you are taking this picture so you can blog about it. Yep, sure am! He knows me well.

Convinced him to give me a smile.

Completed project. We used magic foam to make the couch and tables and some non-girly items from Aubrey's doll house. Ethan rejected many items because he considered them too girly.

We found the tv sticker at Micheals and printed out a picture of Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games to put on the tv. We even added a little black bar on the top of the tv as the sensor bar.

The clock was deemed worthy to put into the box and I love the rock family portrait.

The portrait of just his rock.

Chandelier that Derek and Ethan made out of pipe cleaners and hot glue.

The star of the box, his rock who is playing the wii. When we took it into school Mr. Menard touched the wii remote and the arm fell off. It was really funny, so know the arm is just resting by the rock.

10th Anniversary

2011-09-29T14:11:00.000-04:00

Derek and I celebrated our 10th anniversary and he surprised me with 100 roses at school. We were not supposed to get each other anything since we are going to the Holy Land after Christmas to celebrate our anniversary. He did not listen to that and was so sweet to send the flowers. He knows a lady at church who does all the flowers for Easter, so he paid her a visit and then got our friend Marie, the school receptionist in on the event. He asked her to bring her camera to school and take pictures. I think he knew I would want to capture the moment.

The kids in my class were very excited when they all came into the classroom.

We went out to dinner to celebrate as well. I am one blessed woman to have married the wonderful man that I did.

This is the video of the flowers coming into the classroom.

Global 5K

2011-09-18T13:54:00.000-04:00

I went away for the weekend with a friend to the Women of Joy conference in Orlando. While I was away the kids participated in the Global 5K at church. It was to raise funds for missions. They had a really good time. Here is Aubrey crossing the finish line of the kids fun run.

The highlight of the event was the medals.

I got to meet my favorite author, Karen Kingsbury, at the conference. She was signing books, but I had read all of her books and did not think to bring one of the ones I own with me. I did not have her children's books, so I got those and had her sign them. In my excitement over meeting her, I handed her the princess book and asked her to make it out to Ethan and the prince book to Aubrey. I realized it when I was at my seat and looking at them. All I could do was laugh. The kids thought it was pretty funny!

Guitar Lessons

2011-09-15T19:26:00.003-04:00

Ethan had his first guitar lesson today and he was one happy boy! Of course, I had to be the dorky Mom and ask for a picture.

School Picture Day

2011-09-14T19:13:00.005-04:00

Today was picture day at school so we had to wake up extra early to do hair at our house. Aubrey did not want a big bow this time, she wanted a smaller one.

Notice her cute little knee socks. I bought a lot of these last year and she refused to wear them correctly. She would always push them down to her ankles, so I gave up. I was delighted the other night when she came out of her room wearing her knee socks correctly and this year she loves them. Yeah, for the small things in life like cute little knee socks!

We changed out the hairbow for this one today that they were selling at school. I love matching hairbows and Aubrey now has quite the collection of navy and white hair accessories.

Ethan took a bad fall at recess today and found the one little spot of concrete where they play. His elbow is pretty bad and will be sore for a couple of days. It is his writing arm too and he already has sloppy handwriting, so the next fews days of school work could be interesting.

His knee is in better shape, but will still leave a mark for a while.

Here are Derek and Ethan tonight watching videos on his computer. They are funny times when people pass gas and they just think they are hilarious. Some are very funny, but it must be a boy thing. My camera setting was set wrong for the first few pictures, but I just love these pictures of them laughing together.

How can this picture not make you smile?

Tommy Walker Concert

2011-09-10T07:19:00.001-04:00

Derek was at worship conference all week in Orlando and had the opportunity last night to sing in the choir at a benefit concert that Tommy Walker was doing. Some of the members of the worship team joined him as well. The kids and I drove after school to enjoy the concert. It was a small, intimate concert to benefit a charity that Tommy's sister and brother in law run. Derek has always been a big fan of Tommy Walker. He is a worship leader and writes amazing songs. We sing a lot of his songs at church. Derek was in the worst possible place in the choir from our seat to take a picture, but I gave it a valiant effort.

The people all around us were lifting their hands worshipping and I snapped this picture of Aubrey, it was just too precious.

Tommy's father is suffering from Alzheimers, so this year he took up the harmonica as a tribute to him. It was amazing and in fact Ethan's favorite part of the concert

There was a sort break and our friend Darren Petterson grew up with Tommy and was able to introduce him to Derek. I was the crazy wife who asked for a picture. One of the guys who came with Derek to sing is also a big fan and wanted a picture, so I asked Tommy again for another picture. He was kind and gracious to oblige.

It got late and poor Ethan could just not stay awake any longer. Sortly, after this I let him lay his head in my lap, followed by Aubrey. So by the end of the conert I had two sleeping children on my lap. It was a great concert though and glad we made the drive to attend.

When the concert was over, they wanted a group shot. So guess who went and asked Tommy one more time for a picture, yep the dutiful wife. I figured I will never meet him again and it was a small venue, so I asked and again he was happy to do it.

Creativity

2011-08-30T21:17:00.003-04:00

Aubrey had her first Kindergarten project. The are doing gingerbread men for the beginning of school and she had to decorate the gingerbread man any way she wanted. We found a bunch of material and sparkles and had a good time. Aubrey came of up the concepts and I helped with the cutting of the material and the hot glue. I love having a girly girl...this definitely represents Aubrey!

Ethan spent about two hours building this concert out of Legos tonight. He did a great job on the details.

The drummer

The keyboardist and guitar player. He said the guitar was the hardest to try to make. Very impressed with the creativity of my children today.

First Day of School

2011-08-23T18:13:00.005-04:00

We kept up our tradition of cookies on the first day of schook, but this year I put them in their lunchboxes.

I always let the kids choose what they want for breakfast on the first day of school. Ethan chose monkey bread this year. Mom and I made it up the night before and I woke up extra early to get it in the oven so it would be ready in time to get to school.

Ethan and I ready for the first day. Aubrey is stagger entry, so she did not go to school until today.

My big Third grader...where did the time go?

My wonderful assistant Michelle.

Ethan and his buddy Jordan are back in class again this year...four years in a row! We also got the cafeteria back again this year, which was great. Last year it was classrooms.

Derek had these waiting for me when I got home from my first day...he is a keeper!

At open house I locked myslelf out of my room. I did not want to wear a lanyard around my neck beause it bothers me and it would not work with all the necklaces that I enjoy wearing so much. I found this retractable gadget that works perfectly!

Aubrey had her first day today. She chose chocolate chip pancakes for her first day of school breakfast. She was not too happy about being awake at 6:45. I had frozen chocolate chip waffles that I was going to give her, but then I felt bad about making Ethan such a deluxe breakfast the morning before. So, I woke up early and made a batch of pancakes for her. I really do not think she cared. After I took her pictures, she put her head down on the counter. Luckily, she did not get any syrup in her hair and need a shower.

My sweet little Kindergartener! I love how she likes to pose.

I loved these shoes so much that I bought the next size up too. In the store, they seemed to fit just fine. However now Aubrey is complaining that the straps keep coming undone. Amazingly, she did not complain to her teacher at all today about them. When I asked her about it, she said "I just fixed them myself." What a great idea!

Aubrey and Mommy...Daddy opted to stay in bed and not partake in a picture.

Her cute new backpack. If I needed one, I would have chosen this one too.

Outside her classroom

Aubrey with Mrs. Ramage

I snuck in while my kids were at PE and got this shot of them lining up.

Both kids had great days at school so we went to Bruster's to celebrate.

Open House

2011-08-20T20:56:00.003-04:00

Derek did an awesome job taking the kids to their classes today at Open House, while I was in my own classroom. He even filled out all of Aubrey's forms and bought Spirit Day t-shirts in the very crowded and crazy cafeteria. Aubrey in her classroom, such a big girl going to Kindergarten this year!

Of course, she made a friend already! She knows several of the kids her class from the various preschools she has attended.

Her teacher Mrs. Ramage. We just love Mrs. Ramage. I taught with her the second half of the year when I did Kindergarten and she was also Ethan's teacher. She is amazing!

Ethan at his big 3rd grade desk. It was a strange moment for me to write grade 3 in his paperwork today. It was also funny filling out the same stuff for him that all the parents in my class are filling out. I was tempted to write my school phone extension on the phone numbers, but I did not. It will be great having him next door to me this year.

His wonderful teacher Mr. Menard. Ethan had him for first grade and we are lucky enough to have him again this year. He is amazing too! I am excited to be working with him this year as he is not only a co-worker or Ethan's teacher, but he is also now a friend. He is just a great guy and we love him. It is going to be a great year for both kids...so excited for them!

I was really happy with the Skrinky Dinks that my class made today. They were a hit. We tried one in the toaster oven and it started to smoke and we really did not want to set off the fire alarm and everyone have to evacuate, so I decided to shrink them at home in the oven.

I was already the first teacher to get locked out of my room. I am terrible at keeping my key on me. I had it around my wrist and put it on my desk and carried something else out instead. Last year I was in a pod and when I locked myself out I could just go in another teachers door in my pod. Not so this year, this could be a challenge. I was told I could get another key. I may have to get several and give them to the teachers around me. At least a master key was easy to access and I was easily let back into my room.

My Classroom is Ready

2011-08-19T19:48:00.003-04:00

It has been a long week and lots of hard work, but my classroom is finally ready for Open House in the morning. I am in the new building at our school. For four days, the air did not work in my room, so that was fun. I had lots of help and am very thankful for all those who helped me get my room finished.

Baskets waiting for all those supplies the kids will bring in.

The desks are really nice, but they are big and it was quite a challenge to make the most use of the space. So thankful that Derek took the day off to help me figure this out on Thursday.

We did not have any cubbies in the new building, so I stole them from the kids rooms at home. These cubbies have had many homes. They started out in the bonus room of our first house in NC and ran along one whole wall of our bonus room. There were several other pieces with it and now they are all scattered to different places.

Behavior chart

The shrinky dink lunch choices are my favorite part of the room! My assistant did a great job on the picture of me too on the Spotlight piece on the door.

Camp

2011-08-07T20:15:00.000-04:00

The kids and I headed off to Word of Life camp with other kids from church. Marie got the girls matching shirts for the big first day.

Ethan in his cabin. Aubrey and I stayed in the conference center with the other chaperones. The kids had counselors that stayed in their cabins

Aubrey sat with the girls the first night, until she got scared by the pretend guns. It was a wild west theme this year.

The climbing wall was a big hit with the kids and I did it on the second day. I made it to the top but is was not easy at all. My legs were shaking by the time on got to the top.

Coming down the zip line.

Aubrey got to got to a little class during the Bible times and many other times throughout the day. She loved it! Here she is in the one skirt I packed her. She was sad I did not pack more skirts and dresses and I told her it was camp, she should wear shorts...silly girl.

She had a dinousar theme.

Aubrey's little group walking to the pool, they were so cute.

Night time swim

and all you can eat pizza for $5. Ethan ate 6 slices, minus the crust.

The snack shack is always a hit.

This was a team building activity and they were told to stand by one of the holes in the rope. Ethan chose one of the biggest ones because he said he saw another group doing it and knew they had to get through their hole without touching the rope. He had one of the easiest ones, smart kid.

Paint ball

Aubrey on the water slide with the big girls from our church. She loved it!

Ethan doing his devotions in his cabin.

Derek got me this Angry Bird shirt since I would not be able to play it on his phone while I was at camp. It was a big hit with the kids...I felt very cool!

Aubrey swimming with one of her friends she made in her class. She also learned to swim without her floaties while at camp. See the video at the end of this very long post.

Aubrey made his hat in the craft area with some money Nana sent her in a card.

She loves a good pose

Ethan playing with one of the counselors in the pool.

Ethan's cabin finally had their turn at the climbing wall the last day of camp. He was all ready to go and they had to shut it down due to lightning. We did get a really bad storm, but it was the only one all week. Ethan and his two buddies, Gage and Tate were sad that they closed the climbing wall, but the guy in charge of it took their names and told them they could be the first ones to climb after the evening session. Right after the session was over, we ran to the wall, only to find out they were not going to open it because it was too late. The boys were devestated. His friends dad and myself tried to console them and tell them it would be okay and we managed to get them to be somewhat optimistic. We were heading down to their cabin for the pizza party they won for being the cleanest cabin of the week, when the guy in charge came and found us. He told us that he would open it just for the boys since he promised them and he was going to stick to his word. It was an awesome example to the boys about staying true to your word. They were beyond thrilled!

Ethan climbing the rock wall.

Ethan, Tate and Gage at the top

Ethan getting ready to go down the zip line. It was very hard to get pictures in the dark, but he loved it.

Cleanest cabin award

Pizza party in their cabin

Aubrey even got a piece. She was a trooper this last night, as we kept her out until about 10:30 and she was one tired little girl.

Ethan's New Hat

2011-07-31T14:00:00.003-04:00

Ethan has been wanting one of these hats like Toby Mac has for some time now. He has tried on several and they either did not fit or were more money than I was willing to pay. He found this one the other day at Target and it was a winner. We are starting a new phase with him where he has an opinion of what he wants to wear and what he thinks is cool.
This is the second picture I got of him this morning, after threatening to take the hat back if he would not smile for a picture.

This was the first one that totally describes his attitude- I do not want you to take my picture and I am not going to be happy about it. Oh, the joys! He did get lots of compliments on his hat at church though.

Family Pictures

2011-07-29T18:55:00.004-04:00

While we were in NC this summer visiting Derek's parents we had our pictures taken. We have known Amory since before we were married and she has become quite the talented photographer. Here are some of the great pictures she captured of our famliy.

Hard to believe we will be married for 10 years in September, the time has flown by!

Love, love, love this picture of Ethan!

This one is cute of Aubrey too, but I think the next one of her is my favorite. It really captures her personality. By the way, she was quite the little poser during our photo shoot.

Cakes

2011-07-29T17:53:00.004-04:00

I recently did a few cakes for some friends. One wanted a camera, so she sent me a picture of what her girls' camera looked like. I had to freeze the cake ahead of time, so the fondant bubbled a little, but all in all I was happy with the final product.

This plate was the inspiration for the other cake.

This was the final product. I do enjoy doing them, but when school starts up again I will not be able to do as many. It will be my summer hobby.

Day At Home

2011-07-19T13:24:00.005-04:00

I promised the kids today that we could stay home all day and not have to run any errands or go anywhere. Here is what they are up to today
They built a fort! There is just something wonderful about being able to do whatever you want to do and not have to rush to get somewhere. They made this fort all by themselves. They are into forts right now. Yesterday they built one in our closet and slept in it last night. Today, they made one out of Ethan's bunk bed.

This is the security camera...it is too cute! I walked in with some of Ethan's laundry and they started making alarm noises when I opened the door. I must say that it is nice having them get along so well and they have been playing for hours together.

I believe Ethan used a whole roll of painter's tape to make the fort...oh well, relatively cheap entertainment.

I snuck my camera into the fort, and grabbed a picture of them. They are watching a movie on the portable DVD player. Now, to just get the mess all cleaned up before Daddy gets home!

I saw this Smart Shopper in SkyMall and thought it was really neat. I found it on Amazon for only about $20, compared to the $70 in SkyMall. It is an electronic grocery list. When you need something from the store, you just say it into the device and it stores it for you until you print the list. The best part is that is organizes all the items you need into categories! I think this will say me a lot of time when school starts up again.

More Lake Pictures

2011-07-05T20:50:00.016-04:00

Ethan loves to play croquet.

Ethan started out his skiing adventure on the ski sled, which we affectionately call the "orange board."

Aubrey on the orange board. She started out just sitting on it to get used to it. When she came by the house I told her to stand up. Well, she did, but did not hold on to the handle so she just fell off. We got a good laugh and I made sure to instruct her to hold on to the handle next time when she stood up.

Finally getting it right and standing up.

Grandpa, Uncle Keith, Ethan and Aubrey went out for an early fishing trip.

I did a little skiing too.

Ethan showed a lot of determination trying to ski. He kept trying and trying.

He had it, but fell pretty quickly. There is video of him at the end of the post.

4th of July, anyone? Could she get any cuter?

Evan made Ethan a milkshake for doing so well skiing. He made Aubrey one too. Ethan says that Ethan makes the best milkshakes.

Buried in the sandbox

Garrett getting into the festive mood with the kids.

Decorating the boat for the boat parade.

Heading out for the boat parade. Sadly, there was a boating accident where someone drowned and they had to search for the body so the boat parade was cancelled. We later found out that the boat hit a wave and tipped over. We are still waiting to hear the whole story of how it happened. There have been very few accidents on the lake.

We had a house full with 21 people! It rained just for a little while, so we did some Wii Dance Party Kids. Aubrey got almost everyone to do it, who can resist her!

Celebrating Aunt Laura's and Pam's birthdays.

Uncle Will took a turn on the hot doggie with Adam, Evan and the kids.

Aubrey swimming with Aunt Laura

Uncle Will's turn. Aubrey is part fish, because she just loved being in the water. She would take turns swimming with whoever was willing.

Throwing the football with Uncle Keith.

Ethan caught a fish and Grandpa cleaned it and Great Grandma cooked it.

Playing Candyland

Daddy joined us!

Family kayak trip

Not the easiest thing to do, having Aubrey with me made it hard to balance.

Derek caught a fish and he was trying to show it to me when it jumped out of his hands. I love his facial expression!

That is better, but not nearly as funny.

Having lots of fun on the white board. It is amazing how much fun can be had on a piece of floating foam.

Ethan taking Aunt Kelly down!

Aubrey got to be a pro at standing on the orange board. There is a video of her at the end of the post.

Evan helping Ethan in the water with his skis. Garrett helped another time and both were so patient with him. Putting the skis on in the middle of the lake is not an easy task. Hearing his foot slide into the boot of the ski is a wonderful sound!

And he is down!

How many people can you get on the white board?

We take the white board very seriously and it is fend for yourself when you are on it.

Adam and Evan are so silly! Can you tell we enjoy the white board?

Now it is a slide!
Aubrey and Aunt Kelly watching Max and Ruby, Aunt Kelly's favorite.

Family hot doggie ride.
Derek and Aubrey on the tube. He said it was more of a pleasure cruise since Aubrey does not like to go too fast.

Ethan and I did not have a pleasure cruise ride!

Aubrey on the orange board. Note: It is not easy to video on a moving boat!

Ethan Skiing

The Lake

2011-06-30T20:40:00.006-04:00

The kids and I arrived in Michigan for our annual trip over the Fourth of July. Derek could not get away from work for the whole time, so he will be joining us on Monday. The kids did not waste anytime getting into the lake yesterday afternoon when we got here.
Aunt Pam brought out a big bag of Lego's that Ethan has really enjoyed. When he was talking to Derek on the phone he said, "There are a ton of Legos, like 459." We laughed at the strange number he gave. I have been tempted to count them, but probably will not do it.

Aubrey and Great Grandma playing with Barbies. Some of the clothes are vintage and fun to play with. We have decided however, that Barbie clothes could be a little easier to put on.

Grandpa took the kids out on the jet ski.

They did not waste any time getting the favored white board out to play on.

Grandpa took Aubrey out in the little boat while Ethan and I were kayaking.

This was Ethan's first time doing the kayak. He did a great job! The water was so smooth and there were not many boats out since it is a weekday, so it was a great time to try it out.

Aubrey really wanted to jump off the boat, so when they got closer to shore she got to do her jump.

They did not waste any time jumping off the dock. Ethan doing a nice backwards jump.

We are here until next Thursday, so there will be many more pictures to come.

Trip to Nana and Papa's

2011-06-27T20:11:00.005-04:00

We rented a car for our trip up to see Nana and Papa and the trunk was huge. The kids had fun climbing inside of it.

Giving Derek his Father's Day present before he went to church. He is a wonderful father and we are very blessed to have him in our lives.

We saw this at a friend's house and the kids wanted to get him one for his office. It swings and makes patterns in the sand.

We took a cake with us to NC.

Playing Connect Four, Ethan's new favorite game.

Derek and Ethan on the roof cutting down limbs for Papa.

I was sad this was dark, but it is still a cute picture. They worked so hard cutting down all the limbs and dragging them to the curb. They ran to door to see the guys picking them up.

First day of princess camp- Sleeping Beauty Day

First day of Robot camp for Ethan. I did not torture him and take his picture each day!

Day Two- Snow White

Day Three- Ariel This is her swimming pose.

Ethan showing us one of the things he made at camp. It is a little bug that lights up.

Day Four- Pocahontas
Now, she is not a very popular princess because even the Disney store in the mall did not have anything except a pair of long sleeve pajamas with her on it. I thought it would be okay for Aubrey to just wear a princess tshirt on this day. Uh, no...she really wanted to look more like Pocahontas. So, we created this outfit for her. Thanks to the Target for shirt and the dollar store after a few hours and much creativity from all involved, she had a costume. Of course this was her favorite one. She woke up so excited saying "Pocahontas Day" to everyone.

Ethan made a game where you have to try to get little thing through the wire without touching it or the light will go off. It was very cool.

She made this headband and got paint all over her arm. She would also not stop making and Indian sound when she came home.

Day Five- Cinderella

We were invited to attend a little ceremony at the close of camp. She had a crown waiting for me to wear.

She was one excited little girl!

Performing her dance.

Papa and Nana watching her dance

This is where they announced her name and she walked down waving. Not one bit shy!

She got to choose someone to dance with and Papa was the lucky one!

Daddy takes a turn with the crown.

Enjoying a cupcake

Aunt Joy took the day off and came too.

Aubrey and one of her teachers from camp.

Papa and Ethan trying to get his robot to work. He was not finished with it when we picked him up and his teachers told them it was really easy to finish. Well, not so much. We decided we better go back over and get the teacher to help while she was still there. She was able to get it to work, but it took her a little while too. Glad we went back.

Ethan with his working robot.

The Kangaroo gas stations have a promotion for the summer with a refillable cup for both icees and soda. We did not pick the cups up right away and a week later, they were all gone. We kept checking all of the stations to see if they had any cups. Our friend Marie came to the rescue and secured two cups for us while we were in NC. The kids were beyond thrilled and we have filled them up each day!

The kids and I are heading to MI on Wednesday and Derek will not be joining us until Monday, so I thought I would be a nice wife and leave some meals for him to eat while we are away.
Baked Ziti, Chicken pot pie and Meatloaf.

They put the harnesses on the guinea pigs and were taking them for a little walk in the bathroom.

Is this not the perfect summer cupcake? Derek had seen it in a magazine and asked me to make them sometime.

Aubrey's Haircut

2011-06-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

Aubrey decided she wanted to get her hair cut. I made sure to ask several times because she loves her long hair. She kept saying yes, so we went for it. Here are the before pictures.

And drumroll...

The new style. I am still surprised she wanted it done, but she loves it.

Beads and Beach

2011-06-15T12:58:00.001-04:00

We have a big bucket of the little beads that you put on a shape and then iron them. I am not sure what they are really called, but the kids have been enjoying them the last few days.

They leave little beads everywhere.

And it can be frustrating when you work hard on something and then you knock it and mess it up before it gets ironed. But all in all it has been fun and the kids have spent hours playing with them.

It is still very smokey because of all the fires burning, but we decided to head to the beach today. We met up with Ethan's teacher and her kids for some play time.

Digging a really big hole.

Some boy caught a fish for them. Sadly, I would not let him come home with us.

Jacksonville Zoo

2011-06-13T18:14:00.003-04:00

What to do on our first day of summer vacation...stay home and relax? Not us, we headed to the zoo. It was $2 admission day, so we decided to take advantage. We got there early since we knew it would be a hot day. The elephant was really neat to watch while he was eating and drinking the water. Not the best picture because Aubrey said the sun was in her eyes.

Aubrey feeding the giraffe. She did really well and was not scared at all. Ethan opted out for some reason.

The best part of the day was the Shave Ice. This was the whole reason Ethan was excited about going to the zoo. He remembered these from when Derek took him a couple of years ago.

We watched the penguin feeding and learned something new about penguins. Did you know that you can not physically tell if a penguin is male or female? A blood test is the only way to know. That was my "learn something new each day" moment today. The kids really liked the monkeys, but I did not get any pictures of them.

We had a nice time and stayed for a couple of hours before it was way too hot. The temperature in our car on the way home was 95.

This and That

2011-06-12T12:30:00.003-04:00

Kraft recently came out with some fun new marshmallow flavors. I had been wanting to make some rice krispies with the new flavors. We were having a retirement lunch at school and were asked to bring a dessert or drink. Well, of course I do not waste a chance to bring a dessert and thought this would be the perfect time to try these out. Not to mention they were super easy to make!

I made Cinnamon Bun and Chocolate Mint ones. They were good and not too strong on the flavor.

School is out for the summer! Most of my Kindergartners left on Tuesday morning after our celebration, but I still had a few of them that helped me clean and pack up my room. Aubrey loved the freedom to come from her pre-k room to my room, as both classes were not really doing anything of the academic sort. Here she is with one of my students and a friend from her class. Aren't our floors lovely? The painted floors did not hold up well to chairs and tables being moved. They are supposed to be redone over the summer.

We have a very acrobatic squirrel who liked to visit our bird feeder. It was unreal. We just stayed there and watched him hand upside down and then go back up to get food. Our neighbor even noticed his unique style of getting food.

As mentioned before, Aubrey loves to match me. She was so excited when we found these dresses at Target. It is rare to find exactly matching things in both our sizes. They were a little expensive (for me) so we waited and they went on clearance this week, so we grabbed them. She loved wearing them to church today. However, I was working in the cafe and had an apron on most of time so not as many people noticed. Those who did got a big grin from Aubrey!

Aubrey's Pre-K Graduation

2011-06-08T21:16:00.009-04:00

Our sweet Aubrey graduated from Preschool today. She was one excited little girl. Her teachers did a wonderful job and they have been practicing and getting excited about it for a long time.

Check out her tassel, there is a funny story to go with it. Notice how nice and full it is in this pictures. Well, later on you will notice it is not so full. On Monday, her teacher showed me her hat and it had one sad little string on it. Somebody had been playing with it during the practices and all but one little strand had come off. It was so pitiful looking. Luckily, her teacher had found a few stray strands on the floor and we were able to tie them on. Silly little girl always playing with stuff. You will notice in the videos that she is playing with her necklace too.

Marching in

They sang several songs for us.

Her baby picture on the screen

Getting her diploma, it was sort of hard to get a good shot.

Playing with her necklace while the other students are getting their diplomas.

Hats off!

So proud of our little graduate. She was so excited for today. She woke up early so she could take a shower and I could make her hair look pretty. We even put on her perfume and some clear lip gloss for the occasion.

Pictures with Daddy and Mommy. Ethan was there too, but declined a picture and wanted to go back to class.

Getting a Preschool Graduate pin from Ms. Tiffany. She was so proud of that pin. Later, she changed out of her dress and wanted me to make sure to put her pin back on her.

You can not have a graduation without snacks. Daddy is trying to keep her dress as clean as possible. Aubrey actually did really well, as she in normally pretty messy. She tried really hard not to get blue icing all over her dress.

I had seen these cute little graduation cookies before and just had to make them. Everything is premade, so I thought it would be done super fast. Well, those silly tassels out of fruit roll ups took me forever to do. Oh well, they were really cute!

Ethan's 2nd Grade Fiesta

2011-06-07T21:08:00.000-04:00

Ethan had a Fiesta celebration at school today. He recited a poem about good character.

Receiving his A Honor Roll Certificate- way to go Ethan! His class earned the privilege of having dress down days this week for having 100% participation in the Fun Run.

They got sombreros, had tacos and a pinata. A great end to 2nd grade and now onto 3rd! I can't believe we will soon have a 3rd grader. I will be teaching third grade next year, so that should be fun! No, Ethan will not be in my class. His teacher from first grade is moving up, so Ethan will have Mr. Menard again.

Aubrey's Dance Recital

2011-06-05T21:59:00.006-04:00

Aubrey all ready for her big night!

The four little girls in her class did their dance to Broadway Baby.

Finale with all the dancers

She was to wear something like she was going on vacation. We went the tropical route like many others.

Aubrey loves to chew on things right now. I captured her chewing on her shirt during the performance. This has me stumped as to why she is doing this now. She never sucked her thumb or a pacifier, but now she puts everything in her mouth!

When I went backstage to pick her up she asked me, "Is this the night I get my flowers?" She remembered that from last year. Ethan helped me pick them out after we dropped her off early at the theater. He chose pink roses because pink is her favorite. He however let Daddy do the honors of giving them to her.

Just love this picture!

Pam and Dave came to her show

So did Ms. Anne

Another great memory for our family.

I was up in the balcony on rehearsal night to take this so it is not that great because I was so far away, but you get the idea of her program. We will get the professional one sometime this summer.

Turtles

2011-06-04T21:42:00.000-04:00

On Thursday night, Ethan's turtle Roper of four years had a tragic accident. He got stuck between this coral and the side of the tank and drowned. We had a nice little burial service in our backyard. As we were walking back inside, Aubrey stated "Well, now we have two pets that have died." She was refering to our guinea pig who died over Christmas. She said it in such a matter of fact way, we could not help but laugh. It seemed to cheer Ethan up some too.

Today, Derek and Ethan went to Daytona to find a new turtle. They could not find a big one like Roper, so they got four little ones instead. Here Ethan is putting them inside the tank. Notice the new rock that does not leave any room for any more accidental deaths.

They are very cute and low maintence....my kind of pet!

Ethan named them:

Chase- just because he likes that name

Stan- for Stan VanGundy of the Orlando Magic

Alexander- for his middle name

Roper- well, for Roper who died

Sleepover

2011-06-04T21:39:00.001-04:00

This is what Aubrey's room looked like after our friends girls spent the night last night. Derek said we needed to call FEMA in to clean it up. I could not even find the girls clothes to pack them back up in their bags. I decided to just start all over and use it as an opportunity to clean out and reorganize Aubrey's room.

Two hours later....

Ethan's Fun Run

2011-06-03T21:29:00.000-04:00

Ethan had a Fun Run at school in place of Field Day due to the construction of the new building on campus. He asked for pledges for how many laps he could do to raise money for another bus. The most you could do was 8 laps which equalled a 5K. There were different obstacles and things to do on each lap. I was out there with my class, so I was able to run with him some.

They were afraid they might run out of ice pops, so you could not get one on each lap. However, since I was a teacher, they would always give me one. I would eat half and then give the other half to Ethan. Not a bad little system we had going.

He was soaked by the end. I think his shoes are still drying. Some of my class just played in the water the whole time!

It was a lot of fun and Ethan did all 8 laps! He actually did 9, but you could only count 8. They would mark the sleeve of your shirt for each lap. Thanks to the support of many relatives, Ethan raised $160 for the school.

A Different Side of Aubrey

2011-06-02T21:23:00.000-04:00

When the kids came home from school today they went right into Ethan's room and were quiet for a few minutes. Then Aubrey comes running out in Ethan's clothes. It was so funny to see her look this way, as she is usually all princess. I quickly had Derek get a few pictures while I was fixing dinner.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-29T15:06:00.005-04:00

In honor of Memorial Day weekend, the kids are playing military. It is actually very cute. They got dressed all by themselves. Ethan gave Aubrey his camo shirt to wear. Ethan was very concerened when I wanted to take his picture that I would put it on Facebook, so I promised I wouldn't. The blog however counts.

You can not really tell by this picture, but our kitchen chairs were in need of recovering. I think Derek covered these when we first got married, so that was almost 10 years ago. The kids have been hard on them.

We did some shopping in Daytona today before hitting the beach (I forgot my camera) and were in luck with a sale at JoAnn Fabrics.

Derek recovering the chairs.

The finished product!

Random Things

2011-05-29T13:50:00.004-04:00

Derek made some wonderful chocolate covered strawberries and he made the kids wear bibs to eat them!

This just cracked me up when I was the picture! This could be some serious blackmail for Ethan down the road.

I made some graduation cakes for two girls at our church. They wanted individual cakes, an owl and a duck. The owl was my first time really using fondant.

I also made vanilla and chocolate sheet cakes for the guests to enjoy.

While I was laboring in the kitchen, Derek was laboring in the garage. Our garage needed a major cleaning out! We can now fit a car inside. We will see how long it lasts....my guess is a week.

My Kindergarten class went on a field trip and I got to hold a baby alligator. Notice his mouth is taped shut. I got a picture of all my kids holding him. He is about a year and a half old and will grow to be about 13 feet. It was a very interesting field trip.

New Pool

2011-05-27T13:44:00.000-04:00

Derek brought back a new pool from his trip to NC. He got it at Big Lots for $35 and it was well worth it. The kids just love it and will spend hours in it.

Derek bought this little canoe at Walmart and Ethan was so funny inside it. It is a popular item in the pool. Derek told them it was $8, so they are saving their money to buy another one.

Girl Time

2011-05-20T19:51:00.002-04:00

Papa had his appendix rupture and had to have surgery, so Derek and Ethan went up to help out. He is home from the hospital and recovering. This left Aubrey and I with a few days of girl time. She was very excited to sleep in the bed with me!

Chocolate chip pancakes that would not be complete without whipped cream.

We went out to dinner with Ms. Anne. Aubrey chose our outfits. She wanted to take a purse and carry it like I hold mine. Such a sweet age!

She loves to bake with me, so we made some S'mores cookies. I taught her how to pack brown sugar into the measuring cup.

Crushing some graham crackers

First attempt...not so good. I would classify myself as a pretty good baker. So when I did not think the cookies looked done, I put them in for another two minutes. Bad idea- the marshmallows went EVERYWHERE and were a big gooey mess. When the recipe says two minutes for the marshmallows, it means it.

Second attempt- much better. These are my new favorite cookies. I made them for my parent helpers at school and also for our Life Group and they were a big hit. Here is the recipe:
S'mores Cookies
adapted from Make and Bake
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 dash of cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of Hershey bar into each cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies

Aubrey is graduating from preschool and it is quite the event. She is very excited, as they have been practicing for it and talking about it for some time. She has a blue hat and insisted that she needed a blue dress to go with the hat. However, it had to be a fancy dress, because her teacher said they could wear a fancy dress. Aubrey picked up on that right away, as this princess never misses an opportunity to dress up fancy. So, we hit the stores looking for a dress to her specifications and my price range. Remember, we live in a small town, so our options are limited.

We found this bargain at Target. It was on clearance for $12. She loved it and so did the lady in the dressing room. She was in all her princess glory, but one problem..it was white and not blue.

I got the brilliant idea to dye it. And so the process began....

This was the color we were going for to match her hat. I thought I would mix royal blue and navy blue together to get that color. Well...not so much.

We got a lovely shade of purple! It was a beautiful dress, but Aubrey still really wanted blue. So, I tried two more navy packets of dye. Nope, just a deeper shade of purple. I then bought the stuff to remove the color and just did blue dye. Drum roll please....we have

a blue dress! Not quite the shade we were going for, but blue none the less. Aubrey was happy, so I was happy. However, there was still one slight problem. The tulle on the skirt was still in the purple family and it still gave the overall appearance of a purple dress. So, the dress saga continues.

I cut off the tulle and a back part of the dress and replaced it with a pretty sparkle ribbon we found. That was another requirement for the dress, it had to sparkle. Now, I am not a seamstress by any means. About four hours later, the dress was completed! The inside of the dress looks pretty sad from my hand sewing, but the outside looks good so that is all that really matters.

I even lined the bow to the dress with the ribbon. However, I sewed closed the last button hole by accident, so I replaced it with a hook instead. I even made a matching headband with the leftover materials. A friend recently told me that "love is in the details," and that was so true for this dress. I lost track of how much money I actually spent on all the dye and ribbon and probably would have been better off just buying a dress online! Oh well, it is finished and in plenty of time for her graduation.

Aubrey had her last soccer game and actually went after the ball some. She almost scored, but just missed

This was her favorite part of soccer. She would run really far back and then come running and kick the ball.

Pizza party after the game.

Aubry kissing her trophy like her coach told her to do. Ethan missed his last game, but I got his trophy for him. He was sort of bummed that he did not score this season, but he really improved a lot from last year. He is a better defender, so he does not get the chance to score that much. We will see if we play soccer again next year. Basketball is his first love. Aubrey will probably stick to dance and cheering for Upward. She was much more into the social part of soccer than actually playing, so we will see how next year pans out. But for this year, soccer season was fun and has come to an end.

Q and U Wedding

2011-05-08T19:47:00.002-04:00

The letters Q and U got married in my class on Friday. I made my first wedding cake for the big event. I also made my first balloon arch, with the help of a parent. Ethan did this when he was in Kindergarten and I thought it was so cute I just had to do it with my class.

Aubrey came and joined us for the festivities. Here she is dancing at the "reception."

Here is a link to my school blog that has even more pictures.

http://b3ll3riv3j.wordpress.com/

Grandma's Visit

2011-05-08T19:34:00.003-04:00

Grandma came in town to help me with the Q and U wedding in my classroom. Grandpa got a job assignment and could not make this trip. We gave Grandma her mother's day gift a little early.

We got her some long necklaces that she was wanting.

In classic Aubrey fashion, she tripped going into Kohl's to pick out the necklaces and scraped her knees up pretty badly. They were bleeding and she was crying, but I was determined to get the necklaces.

Much happier after we got home and put some bandaids on them.

Small silly things excite me and this was one of them. I saw these at the store and just had to get them. How fun!

Great excuse to make smores!

We had game day at school after the wedding on Friday and Mom was playing with some of the kids. She really enjoyed coming in and helping and I sure enjoyed the help!

Animal Kingdom

2011-04-29T18:31:00.001-04:00

We took the day off of school and went to Animal Kingdom. We thought this porcupine was really neat.

Aubrey really liked brushing the goat at the petting zoo area.

Grandma was in town and able to go with us for a special treat.

The Lion King show was very good.

Aubrey talking to Pocahontas

We had a great time and saw lots of animals on the safari. We had a special needs young adult behind us on the safari that had multiple voices and conversations with himself. That was a new one for us, but a great lesson for the kids in how God makes some people different.

The highlight of the trip was leaving our backpack on one of the rides. We were in a hurry to get to one more thing before the park closed and did not realize it until it was time to leave. Of course, it had our car keys in it! We waited awhile at Lost and Found for the items to come in from that ride, but thankfully, our backpack was there!

Easter

2011-04-24T19:20:00.012-04:00

Derek's sister Melody and the three cousins came to join us for Easter. They live in DE, but are in Tampa for Spring Break. We do not get to see them that much, so it was a real treat. The kids had a lot of fun together. Aubrey and Gabriella snuggling on the couch watching a movie.

The three boys about to get into mischief.

Aubrey and Gab ready for church

Ethan, Caleb and Noah

The best group shot we could get, but not to bad.

Derek left at 6:00am for the sunrise service, so he is missing in the before church picture.

We introduced the cousins into my Grandma's tradition of string. They were one excited group.

They wind their color of string all around the house until they find their Easter basket.

Ethan got stuck at the door handle and needed a little help from Aunt Melody.

Ethan found his basket! He got Peeps and a Lego set.

Aubrey found her basket.

A Barbie with a bike.

Playing Barbies together.

Boy playing basketball- Ethan sure liked having someone to play basketball with him.

Derek got home from the second service and we were able to get our family shot.

After lunch, the kids did an egg hunt. We had to do it inside so the chocolate would not melt in the eggs.

I think I see one under the table.

These were some serious egg hunters. Again the enthusiasm for hunting the eggs was very high!

Checking out their loot.Hersey kisses

Want to see it?

Trading their candy

Having some fun with Wii Dance

Took a spontaneous trip to the beach. This was our first trip of the year.

Ethan and Noah boogie boarding

We sure had a great time!

Ethan's 8th Birthday

2011-04-21T19:25:00.009-04:00

We celebrated Ethan's birthday yesterday. He is a big Magic fan, so that was the theme of the day. I made him a Magic cake the night before. I thought it would be easy, but it was much harder and time consuming than I thought. Icing a ball in not the easiest task.

Ethan loves to wake up to balloons in his room on his birthday, so at 10pm I was blowing these guys up. Derek even bought Magic colors when he picked them at the store.

Derek really loves Ethan because he work up at 6:50am so that Ethan could open his presents before school. Derek does not wake up early, so this was a big sacrifice for him.

Aubrey picked out a BeyBlade for Ethan.

First item up, some Orlando Magic shorts to go with his jersey.

An Orlando Magic backpack. This is made out of jersery material. It was a big hit at school.

He got the frog habitat he has wanted since Christmas. We ordered our tadpoles today.

This was from Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Keith and Aunt Kelly. When I told him who it was from he said, "This must be expensive." I think he meant because it was from all of them and it was a small package. We got a good laught though!

Magic lounging shorts

This was supposed to be the long sleeve shirt that the players wear at the beginning of the games, but the wrong one was sent. We got an adult small instead. The store is sending us a new one.

He also got warm up pants. Ethan loves to wear layers of all the Magic clothes he has while watching the games and take them off like the players do as the game goes on. Now he will have all the appropriate layers.

Ethan picked out this cake at Target of a basketball court for celebrating his birthday at school. He had lots of fun playing with the little men at dinner.

Ethan had a soccer game and then chose to go to Red Lobster for his birthday dinner. He is a little sweaty still from his soccer game.

We were pretty worn out by the end of the day...but still needed to get home to have cake.

Ethan took a shower first, that is why his hair is wet.

He had a few minutes to put on his new Magic clothes and play his new Wii game before bed.

We came home from school today and a package was waiting at the door.

The J.J. Redick jersey he has been asking for came from Aunt Laura and Uncle Will today. He was one excited boy!

Do you think he likes the Orlando Magic?

Toby Mac Concert

2011-04-14T19:11:00.000-04:00

Derek took Ethan to see Toby Mac as part of his birthday present. We asked Ethan what he would like to do for his birthday instead of having a party. A lot of his friends do not have parties anymore. He said he would like to go see Toby Mac, his favorite artist.

He did not know that we got the VIP tickets (they were not a whole lot more) and he was able to go to a special Q and A time with Toby Mac before the concert.

His VIP bracelet

The sweatband he bought as his souvenir

Waiting for the concert to start in the 8th row.

Ethan loved it and the highlight of the night was when he got a high five from Toby.

Aubrey got her costume for her recital at dance. When I told her I wanted to take her picture, this was her pose....too cute!

Ethan's Birthday Part 1

2011-04-10T19:39:00.001-04:00

Since Nana and Papa were in town, Ethan got to start celebrating his birthday a little early with presents from them. He wanted some BeyBlades, but they were hard to find. Target was all out and has been for a couple of weeks. We got lucky and got a few at Walmart.

Nana found him a Gators Jersey

They found this search and find on clearance for $5. Everyone's first reaction when they see it is that it is a bird feeder. My Grandma has one, so Derek knew what it was and told her to get the beach one for Ethan. There is a checklist and you shake it around and try to find the items. It is very addicting!

The newest Lego house to add to his collection.

Giving them thank you hugs.

So Aubrey does not feel left out, she got a present too. It was a Ken Barbie doll that will go with her swimming pool.

Ethan introduced me to the world of BeyBlades. They are pretty fun.

The last one still spinning wins.

While Derek was a church Saturday night I recuited some help in coloring examples for my Kindergarteners. Papa said he had not colored since he was probably Aubrey's age. They were good sports and it got the work done a lot faster.

Papa joined in and danced to the Wii Kids Dance Party. He did it twice, so I think he liked it!

The completed Lego House

This is my favorite part of it...just so cute!

More Soccer

2011-04-09T15:42:00.007-04:00

I promised more pictures of Ethan playing soccer, so here they are. Aubrey's game was postponed today since her coach could not be there. We are hoping it will be Tuesday since Nana and Papa are in town to see them play.

He almost scored on this one

Aubrey and Nana doing the bridge after the game.

Aubrey put on her uniform when we got home and they were playing in the backyard. Ethan had a hat on and Aubrey said she wanted a hat too. She came back outside with an Easter hat on! She is so funny.

At lunch today Ethan said the old faithful blessing of "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for our food." After he finished Aubrey asked me, "Mom why does it have lettuce in it?" I replied "Aubrey, your pizza does not have lettuce in it." She said, "No, the prayer." She thought the "Let us" in the prayer was "lettuce." We laughed so hard. She sure keeps us laughing at our house. After thinking about it, she had a very good point- it does sound just like lettuce.

Ethan's Spiritual Birthday

2011-04-08T20:23:00.003-04:00

A year ago today, Ethan accepted Christ. I am so glad that we wrote it down in his Bible, because a lot of people do not end up remembering the exact date they accepted Christ. I knew it was right around his real birthday, but Ethan was the one who brought the subject up with us. It was awesome that he was proud of it and that it was an important enough event that he wanted to remind us about it. That is how it should be when you accept Jesus as your Savior. We wanted to do something to celebrate, but we also knew we had to be careful. We did not want Aubrey or others to think that they would get presents or material things for accepting Christ. The change in your life is gift enough, and I can not think of a great gift. We decided on a simple cake to celebrate the day. Ethan picked out the flavor and wanted blue sprinkles. Nana and Papa are in town, so they got to help us celebrate.

I wanted to throw in the sweet pictures from last year.

So glad I wrote it in his Bible. Now, as long as he does not lose his Bible we should always be able to remember it! One thing I do love about blogging is that I can always look back on the blog and check too.

Spring Break Part 2

2011-04-03T14:32:00.006-04:00

Wednesday we headed down to Disney for a few days. On Wednesday we went to Epcot and got just a little wet a few times. Here the kids did different things in front of a screen and then they were in their own video games. It was pretty neat.

They loved sampling the different Coke flavors around the World. Last time we came, this activity closed before we were able to enjoy it. My kids love samples at stores, so this was right up their alley.

Aubrey would not leave until she sampled every one. She later said that this was her favorite thing we did that day.

There was a special picture spot for only people with a Disney Visa. That was us, so we enjoyed a little photo perk.

You can not go to Disney and not get a Mickey ice cream. I love these pictures of Aubrey enjoying hers.

Oh yeah, it was that good! After this picture she said she was full and did not want anymore. Good girl to stop when you are full, I wish I could learn that lesson!

Ethan went for the popsicle option. He ate the whole thing by the way.

Thursday we ventured to Hollywood Studios. We were the first ones on Tower of Terror. All we told the kids was that is would drop some. I know, mean parents. They basically hated it. The next day Ethan said he might try it again, but he was sure not wanting to try it again while we were still there. Ethan did however LOVE the Rockin Roller Coaster. That was his favorite ride this visit. He rode it twice since Derek and I had to switch out because Aubrey was not tall enough for this ride.

These pictures pretty much summed up our day...wet and living in our ponchos! We made the best of it and still had a good time.

We went back to the hotel and cleaned up and went out to dinner. There was a man at the restaurant making balloon animals. He told the kids he could make any animal, so they asked for guinea pigs. Aren't they cute?Derek is silly and wanted me to take his picture at our hotel. This picture was by the elevator and he was wanting to do this the whole time.

Friday the weather was beautiful for our day at Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, everyone else wanted to take advantage of the nice day and it was packed! We even had to wait in line for the Swiss Family Robinson tree house for like 15 minutes and then walk through in a very slow moving line. What?? Nobody does the tree house! That was the final straw and we decided to pack it in for the day. The kids did have a good time though. Aubrey did not really care for Space Mountain, but she did it. Ethan loved both Space and Splash Mountains. Here they are playing at Tom Sawyer Island. I think they would have played pirates all day there and had just a grand time. I think they loved the freedom of playing and running around after standing in lines so much.

We got back to our hotel around 5:00 and let the kids swim for awhile. They had been dying to get into the pool, but the weather would not cooperate.

Derek's sister Melody and her husband Barry were in Tampa without the kids, so they met up with us for breakfast on Saturday. They live in Delaware and we do not get to see them that often so it was a nice treat.

We had a great spring break and today I am catching up on laundry and stuff for a smooth week back to school.

Spring Break

2011-03-29T14:51:00.005-04:00

Today was the first day of Spring Break and we are taking it easy. We ventured out to a new park. It was sort of small and a little wet from the rain.

We went over to another park that was not as wet. The kids had fun playing and I got to do some reading.

We stopped at the gas station to get Icees before eating lunch with Derek at church. Ethan really likes the coconut flavored one at the RaceTrack. The last two times we have stopped, that particular one was not working. If the consistency is not correct, the red light it on and it needs to be mixed up before you can use it. Ethan was excited that his flavor was working today! My favorite flavor however, was not working. You can't win them all.

Ethan has been playing some Wii and relaxing around the house.

Aubrey has watched lots of TV in our bed (this is a treat for her) and been playing in her room. She loves to put on her fancy dresses and can destroy her room in no time. We are going to Disney tomorrow, so we wanted to have some down time to relax before the busyness of Disney.

First Soccer Game

2011-03-27T08:20:00.006-04:00

The one and only picture we got of Ethan and he played the whole game...oops! I will add that his game was at 8:00 am and it was pretty cool still. Aubrey and I were bundled up under a blanket. Promise more pictures next game.

Aubrey waiting with her team for her game to start.

Attractive

Ready to being playing...they play 3 on 3 in her age group.

Aubrey got to kick it off...one of the few times she actually touched the ball.

The oranges at half time were the best part. Why will my kids eat oranges at soccer games, but not at home??

One tired out little girl fell asleep on the way home.

Ethan took a picture of this huge turtle that was in our yard. Someone spray painted his shell.

Soccer Begins

2011-03-23T17:54:00.002-04:00

Soccer season has begun. Ethan and Aubrey are both playing this year and they both have practice on Wednesday nights. Our Wednesdays just became TOTALLY insane! Here is a snapshot of what will be our Wendesdays for some time. I can leave school at 3:30. Aubrey has to be at dance from 4:00-5:00. Ethan has soccer practice across town from dance from 5:00-6:00. Aubrey has soccer practice from 5:30-6:15. We have to pick up Ethan's friend and get them to church (again across town) by 6:45. Derek and I will be doing lots of driving and some tag teaming for sure. I have staff meetings once a month on Wednesdays after school, but we will just cross that bridge when we get to it. At least we get it all over with in one day!

Ethan streching with his team.

Aubrey did not go to dance since she was still not 100% better. Since her first soccer game in Saturday and she has never played before I really wanted her to try to make it to practice. She was dragging for sure and coughing a lot.

Taking a lap around the field

Can you tell she is dragging....she would not normally be the last one. This girl has lots of energy!

I was a bad Mom and did not have a soccer ball for her. For one thing I did not know what size she needed and it was just enough to get to practice with all our sickness this week. Here she is telling Coach she does not have a ball. I must clarify that there were 7 children who did not have balls and Coach only had 6 extra ones. Again, Aubrey was dragging and slow on the draw to get a ball. At least she looked cute in her little soccer clothes. Three other girls at the fields had the same cute little soccer shorts from Kohls. I must get some Mom points for that:)

Aubrey just walking around without a ball....it was pretty pathetic. After a few minutes Coach had his daughter give her ball to Aubrey.

Now she has a ball. And yes, we got her one that night so she will have one at practice from now on.

Not sure what she is supposed to be doing...poor little thing was so out of it.

We have our first games on Saturday, so I will be sure to take more pictures!

Sick Aubrey

2011-03-22T20:39:00.002-04:00

Aubrey has been sick since Saturday and was so pathetic just lying around moaning. Last night she finally started to feel better. She got all dressed up by herself. She even put her heels on, complete with Barbie stickers. I took her to the doctor today and she does have an ear infection. Hopefully, she will be able to go back to school today. I woke up this morning with a sinus infection and Derek has a nasty cold and cough. We were a pretty sad bunch today lying around the house. Ethan is the only well one and I must say he was just wonderful this morning. He got ready all by himself and even helped Aubrey get dressed for her doctor appointment. The medicine has kicked in for me and my sinus pressure is much more bearable now. Derek had to go to rehearsal tonight, so we will see how he is fairing when he gets home. At least we got the sickness over before Spring Break next week!

Stars On Ice

2011-03-20T20:29:00.000-04:00

We were blessed with tickets from a friend to Smuckers Stars On Ice. The best part is that they were third row tickets. Aubrey has been sick all weekend so Derek stayed home with her and Ethan and I headed to the Amway Center for the show. Ethan posing under Dwight Howard with his ice cream. We were walking to the Amway Center and Ethan said, "I wish Grandpa was with us because he would buy me ice cream." We laughed and called Grandpa and then I bought the deprived kid some ice cream

There was a cool sign in the floor at the floor seat entrance that Ethan wanted to get a picture by it.

The show was really great and here are some pictures from the show.

Not the best picture, but Ethan was impressed how they do not get cut by the skates during moves like this one.

We left right after the finale ended, so we could relieve Derek from Aubrey sick duty. Ethan ended up standing right by the ice and the performers were skating by and I convinced him to stick his hand out like some of the others were doing. He was able to get high fives from about half the cast. That was very neat!

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-17T20:51:00.000-04:00

Since we are a uniform school, the kids were able to add green to their uniform for St. Patrick's Day. Aubrey made this cute little hat at school. When she was on the phone talking to Nana I asked her why she made the hat today. She said she made it for "green day." She is always making us smile.

Silly girl!

Ethan wore a Kermit hat I found and Aubrey wore some green leggings and a hair bow that I made for her.

Baking

2011-03-13T20:41:00.000-04:00

I was able to do some baking over the weekend. A sweet grandfather at our church asked me if I would make a cake for his grandaughter for her birthday. It was so sweet because he gave me a sketch he made of what he would like. He wanted half Girl Scouts and half soccer. He wanted the border to be both paint brushes and music notes because those are all the things she likes. This was my final product.

My Aunt Judy sent me a recipe for Red Velvet cake balls inside a chocolate chip cookie. We were having a dinner with our Life Group on Monday, so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to make these. They were yummy!

My Birthday

2011-03-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

Derek surprised me for my birthday with an edible arrangement.

He also cooked a great dinner and invited friends over to eat and play cards with us. Becky even made me a cake, which was a real treat!

Erin was in Orlando for Spring Break so the kids and I spent the day in Orlando with her. The kids sure did like swimming at her hotel. This was a giant computer keypad they could run on.

Swimming with Erin

Ethan and Aubrey wanted to pose with the giant Mr. and Mrs. Potato Heads.

Cake

2011-02-24T19:37:00.002-05:00

This was a cake I was asked to do for a girl at church for her Sweet Sixteen. The top picture was the final product and the bottom picture was the inspiration picture she gave me. She wanted the colors changed a little. The blue is more of a teal, but does not look that way in the picture. She was very happy with her cake and it was really fun to do.