Rock Gospel Tour

Well, the end of the week long Rock Gospel Tour ended tonight with a final performance given at the church for family, friends and church members. Bethany and Sam had an awesome time this past year and it was really neat for them to share this experience together. This is a middle school group who learned all the songs and coreography all year long and once they go on tour, they also have to set up and break down the set. Bethany told us she was in charge of rolling up the cables. Sam was in charge od setting up and breaking down the risers that they stood on.

At the very end of the show, they told the group to get together for a picture and when they were all ready to say "cheese", the chaperones surprised them by blasting them with silly string !!!! Fun, amazing night. So proud of my kids for spreading the love of Jesus to all the Boys and Girls clubs and churches they performed for this week.

The Boathouse

Last night Steve and I had a nice dinner at The Boathouse, sitting out by the water. It was not crowded, probably due to the fact that a severe thunderstorm producing hail had passed through only 2 hours earlier. but, you can tell by the photos that we had a beautiful evening.

We ordered the Lobster Bake for 2. I made Steve do all the work cracking the lobster!

Such a nice way to end our kid-free weekend!

We still will be kid-free this week, but Steve will be at work, so I have plans to do so many projects that I will never have enough time to finish them all !

Flea Market

Back in the early days of our mariage, Steve and I used to enjoy going to a flea market or visiting antique shops. This weekend, we went to Bellwood Flea Market, about a half hour drive from home. It is a really big flea market that used to be a drive in movie theater. there are vendors that are there every weekend, but there are also plenty of folks who just come for a day or two to sell stuff like a yard sale. There are of interesting things to see, like the guy riding the unicycle ! Steve checked out this guitar, we saw lots of yummy produce, bought a few things and had fun people watching. I wish I would have had my camera out in time to take a picture of the guy I saw pushing a baby stroller with his two pet dogs in it--hilarious!

On the Road

Today I spent all day traveling down Interstate 95and back to take Felicia and Ellie to meet Grandma Rose and Poppy. We always meet at exit 98 in Santee, SC because it is as close to halfway as we can get and amazingly enough, we both ended up getting off the exit at the same time today !!! I followed their car into the McDonald's parking lot , where we ate lunch together. After we ate, we gathered the girls things and transferred them to Grandma and Poppy's car. The girls had a few minutes to play tag in a grassy area behind McDonald's. I even had a chance to take a photo of the four of them before they took off for the Sunshine State ! There were no tears as they headed off, just excitement and giggles from my girls. I know they will have an awesome time at Camp Grandma!

And, yes, I took the picture of South of the Border from the driver seat while cruising back up the interstate !!!

Touring the River City

Tonight we took advantage of the wonderful weather we've been having by taking the family, minus Sam who is out of town with a friend, and one of their BFF's Brooke, to the Richmond City Canal Walk downtown. We started out at Tredegar Ironworks and crossed the pedestrian bridge over to Belle Isle where the girls wanted to climb on the rocks and get in the water even though the water flows much too fast there. We walked the entire 1.25 mile length of the canal walk, stopping at the points of interest and historic sites. The girls had a great time, even Ellie walked most of the way, getting a blister on her foot from her Crocs.

A Boy and his Dog

Since Hollister has joined our family, it has become clear that he prefers me over anyone in the house. He gets the most excited to see me and follows me all over the house, usually staying in whatever room I am in. But next to me, his next favorite person is probably Sam. His tail always wags fast when he sees Sam and Sam takes care of him and plays with him the most after me. Many mornings before school or before we start our day in the summer, Sam takes Hollister out in the neighborhood. It is neat to see this bond between a boy and his dog.

just an ordinary day

Yesterday was just a nothing special,very ordinary kind of day. But, did you ever stop to think about everything you do in one single day? Have you ever made a list? This is what mine from yesterday would look like---


6am-wake up,walk or run
7:45- drive Ellie to summer school
9:00- run errands to get milk,stuff for the kids trips
11:40-leave to pick up Ellie
12:15- pick up Ellie's friend for a playdate
12:30-stop at library to drop off books
Surprise here--found out the library had an apple tree-kids were picking apples off the ground
1:00-3:30- eat lunch, do laundry, pack Sam's bag, help Ellie and her friend clean up etc.
3:30- leave to take Ellie's friend to meet her Mom at her swim lesson
4:00- run a few errands
5:00- Ellie's dance class, neighbor taking Felicia to her swim practice

6:00- head home, make dinner
7:00- eat dinner with the family
7:30- take Felicia to softball practice, Steve works late, Bethany puts Ellie to bed for me and sits at home with her, Sam has been picked up at 4pm to go to the river for a few days with his friend.
8:00- take Hollister for a walk at Felicia's practice
8:45- come home, collapse on sofa !

Giving Blood

Last night was Felicia's last swim meet, which was memorable in itself because we swam against Woodlake where we have friends we know so it was exciting and fun. Also Felicia ended up placing 3rd in two of her events and first in her backstroke event !
We had pouring down rain which delayed the start of the meet for almost an hour, so we didn't get home until after 10pm. During the delayed part, there was an announcement that the Virginia Blood Services mobile was out in the parking lot doing a blood drive. I had been wanting to give blood recently but the opportunities arose when I had other things scheduled. One time I even pulled into a parking lot where they had a blood drive advertised on the radio and I just happened to be in the area, but I was told the wait would be about an hour and I had my three girls and their friend with me, so I didn't think that would be good.
Last night turned out to be great timing because I was one of the last ones to walk in the Bloodmobile. I had to answer lots of questions, but after that I enjoyed chatting with the nurses while they prepped me for the donation. I warned them I was a "bleeder", remembering this from my pregnancy days when the doctors ordered blood tests often. Well, she inserted that needle and the blood spurted out all over my shirt ! She was surprised and I jokingly said"I TOLD you I was a bleeder!" She told me my vein was right under my skin, not deeper like some people's and she she even remarked how fast my blood filled up the bag. I guess that's a good thing ? She felt so bad that she gave me 2 shirts and tons of snacks like Fig Newtons, bags of pretzels,goldfish,cookies, peanuts. I was happy to be a blood donor and even happier that the swim meet had finally started by the time I was finished !

Girls Day Out

Yesterday Bethany and I went to Short Pump Towne Center, a big outdoor shopping mall, with a friend of mine and her daughter, who happens to be one of Bethany's best friends. Last summer we did this with the girls as a "Back to School" shopping trip. This year, we had to arrange it a bit earlier because between our two schedules, this was the ONLY weekend before school starts in Sept. that it would work out. We ate lunch first at Firebirds, then shopped at all the stores the girls wanted to go in, which included American Eagle, Abercrombie, Hollister, Claire's among others. Bethany bought a new sundress, shorts, a halter type top for $3.00!!, and some items from Bath and Body Works. We had a really nice day together.

My Classroom

This past week, Bethany and I went in to my new classroom that I will be teaching in at New Life Preschool to clean out the cabinets and to see how many pieces of furniture are in the room and how I might want to arrange it. This is how it looks during the summer.The room has a Bee border around the room and cute bumblebee valance on the window, so we are the Busy Bees in our class. Bethany enjoyed seeing all the art supplies in the room --she loves art.

Sunflowers

You'll never believe where these sunflowers came from! Dollar Tree! Steve brought home about 5 of these potted sunflower plants, so vibrant and beautiful, to plant in our back yard. Who knew you could even buy plants at the Dollar Tree ???

What can you get for $10.00 ?

Yesterday afternoon, the older kids and I picked up Ellie from her summer school program and went to the library first , then to Barnes and Noble so Sam could spend a gift card there he had gotten for his birthday. He found the third book in a series he's been reading and then bought the first one even though he's read it so he could own the complete set (he has the 2nd one already). We arrived at Target last, Sam eager to spend his birthday money/gift cards on something special and the girls excited about $10.00 that they had received from their great grandmother. Sam knew exactly what he was buying, had researched it and compared with other game systems etc., knew the exact price and understood that after he paid using his three gift cards and cash, he's have $6.00 left over. He bought a Nintendo DS I, which is the updated version of the DS. It has a camera in it and internet capabilities and other stuff I haven't seen yet.He was very excited about it.
The girls had their $10.00 each (Bethany has other money, but is going on a special shopping day with me and one of her best friends on Sunday and didn't want to spend any of that). So through the aisles we went, in search of the greatest things $10.00 could buy. ellie chose a storybook with stickers in it for $5.00, a pack of gum for $1.00, then spent $2.00 on an Icee and Popcorn at the snack bar. She brought home $2.00. Bethany was going to buy a new paperback book in the series she's been reading, but thought she only had brought $5.00 instead of 10, so she didn't have enough. She founf the other 5 later, but she actually didn't buy anything except a Strawberry Smoothie on sale for $1.00 and Popcorn for $1.00 at the snack bar.
Felicia was the funniest because she spent every cent of that $10.00(actually she only had $9.00 because she had spent $1.00 the day before), in the end, counting out pennies to give to the snack bar attendant for her popcorn. She bought a $5.00 DVD (Cheaper by the Dozen), $1.99 for a 3-pack of gum, the rest spent on an Icee and Popcorn. We were all laughing as she made her way up to the snack bar with about 30 pennies and other change bulging in her hands, dropping coins here and there, but she got her last item and was happy. Everyone left Target a Happy Camper. I wish I had brought my camera, but didn't have it with me in my purse, so I couldn't capture that moment. I considered it a true success of a trip because nobody complained, everyone left in a good mood !!!!!

bathtub antics

My girls every once in a while love to take a bath with their bathing suits on in my jacuzzi bathtub. When it is filled, it is up to Ellie's neck! they swim in there and bring in theri Polly Pockets etc. This night they were entertaining Hollister as well and scooping up water on the edge of the bathtub for him to drink. Silly sisters!

Water Country

For my birthday, my girlfriends and I spent the day at Water Country together. It was a great day, perfect weather (until we were leaving)and not very crowded ! We were able to do all the attractions while we were there and were looking forward to finishing up the day with a funnel cake snack, but then a big thunderstorm was rolling in. We ended up out in the car, waiting out the traffic, and then decided to go back in the park just to get the funnel cake and bring it back to the car to eat !!!! On the way home in the evening, we stopped in Carytown to eat dinner at The Baker's Crust, one of my favorite Richmond restaurants. What a fun day !

Happy Birthday Sam!!

Sam is 12 today ! He arrived home from his two week stay in Pennsylvania and leaped into Birthday activities with his best friend Alex. Steve took them to see Transformers 2 at the movies, followed by dinner with the family at Buffalo Wild Wings, then onto 7-11 for free Slurpee Day, only they had run out of cups for the free slurpees since it was already 7:30pm. It's always been a tradition in our family to get the free Slurpees every year on Sam's Birthday, but this year we didn't get to enjoy one. We headed home to eat cake and open presents. The girls are happy to have Sam back, even if the older ones won't admit it!
The Journey song was added to my playlist for Sam--it's one of his favorite songs.

Work of Art

It's been a while since I spent some girlfriend time with my friend Susan, so I was so excited to go out Friday evening with her. We went to Work of Art to paint pottery. The only time I had ever been to Work of Art, it was to bring my kids for birthday parties. I decided to make a "special Day" plate for our family. Whenever one of us has a birthday or other special event, that person will get their meal or dessert served on the special plate. It was fun to choose the colors and design and we just talked and laughed while the time flew by fast!!! I'm so glad we got to do that and we'll get our finished product back in a week. After the pottery, we headed to Ritas for a cool treat.

Wildlife Walk

Well, I didn't intend to take a wildlife walk this morning, but I went into the adjoining neighborhood to walk Hollister this morning around 6am and we crossed paths with rabbits at two different locations and then a deer ran right in front of us, stopped and stared at us in the road for about 6-8 seconds, then darted across to the other side, through a backyard. I was looking for others possibly following the first one, but didn't see any more. Still, very cool that it was so close to us. We usually only see deer at night while driving on the roads near our neighborhood.

swim meet

Last night was Felicia's third meet and every week she is steadily improving her times. She has made a friend on the team so she likes to pal around with her in between events and they each wrote on the other's backs with Sharpie. (most of the swimmers do this). Last night she only swam two events, the freestyle and the backstroke. It was also her first night wearing a swim cap--wow, are those a bugger to get on! I was able to get some close ups because at this meet we were able to be right at the end of the lane when they turned. In fact, as Felicia turned during the backstroke, I yelled to her and she was smiling; I think I broke her concentration!