Pool Party

Ellie could hardly stand to wait for her party once she had celebrated her birthday last week. We originally had it scheduled for June 12th, but a spot opened up on the Holiday Weekend and even though some of her best friends couldn't make it, she still wanted to go ahead and have it. We picked a great day to be IN the pool (sunny, humid and 95 degrees), but if you were NOT swimming, it was dreadfully hot. Isolated thunderstorms were forecasted for the day as well, but we had blue skies and sun until right after the party ended.

It's hard to get good shots of 10 kids all playing in the pool at the same time --- I gave up.
friends
Her cake was made by my co-teacher at the preschool. Ellie loves Fancy Nancy books, so this is a crown with the wors Ooh La La written on it and a picture of Fancy Nancy on the one side. The number 6 cake was Ellie's own little cake to eat.
Ellie had some tricky candles that didn't blow out right away -- keep blowing, girl !!
After swimming for almost and hour and a half, the kids were hungry for snacks and cake !
Ellie with her tiara -- always a princess! She loved her party at the pool!

Some of the kids with their funny glasses on !

Flying Squirrels

Last night we went to a Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball game. That is Richmond's new team. The Philly Fanatic was there ! I grew up as a fan of the Philadelphia Phillies, living in PA, so it was great to see him at our game with our mascot, Nutzy.

Here we are in the stands befroe the game. We sat with friends from our neighborhood who also went.
The Squirrels ended up winning the game, 7-3. It is always fun to go to the game if your team wins!!
We enjoyed a fireworks show after the game was over. Very cool !

The funnest part for Felicia was geting to run the bases at the end of the game. Sam did this as well.

Awesome Art

Bethany has been bringing home a lot of her artwork from this past year in school. This is her latest, which was on display in the library for a while. Ellie tried to take a bite !

She's Six !!

Well, my computer has been acting crazy the past weeks and now when I try to upload photos to my blog, it uploads without showing me the photos in the file, just their numbers, so it is a surprise as to which photos are selected !! Ellie celebrated her 6th birthday on Friday . She wanted to eat at Chik-Fil-A for her birthday dinner, so we went out, then returned home to open presents. She is looking forward to having a pool party with her friends in a few weeks.

Yard Sales !!

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday morning during the spring and fall months is to go out to yard sales. I have found many things over the years that have saved me a lot of money and I just love the thrill of the hunt! This past weekend, i took pictures of some of my finds. Not pictured is the great Black and Decker electric shrub/tree trimmer I got for Steve, still in the original box, barely used for $15.00. Shown above, I got these books for Ellie at my first stop, only a nickel a piece !
It doesn't show well here, but the vase with the reeds goes well on my mantle and it was only a dollar


Cute lamp for Bethany's room for only a dollar !
One of my favorite things to find is name brand clothes for the kids. Here I found American Eagle and Aeropostale tops for Bethany and Felicia for 25 and 50 cents each ! At a different sale I scored an armful of Gymboree brand clothes for Ellie, including 2 winter coats !
Brand New skate shoes for Sam in his next size up, $5.00
An extra guitar for their Guitar Hero game, $4.00

My biggest deal of that day was these Sperry Topsider shoes I found at the last one I went to. They were brand new, in Felicia's size (well, she'll grow into them by fall), the shoes all the kids want right now and cost between $60 and 80.00 new in the store. I got them for 50 cents !!! I love how good it feels to save so mcuh money by shopping this way ! Can't wait til next week !

Dominion Riverrock Festival

This was an event I read about online, but hadn't thought much about until a friend said she was going to take her kids there and I thought "Why Not?" The festival was having a lot of cool events to watch, like Air Dogs, which had dogs jumping in a pool to chase a ball, competing to see which dog could jump the highest and furthest. While we were watching, not very many of the dogs wanted to jump, though. They also had kayakers, who went down a long ramp, then did tricks in the air and had to land in this pool area in the river. The best one we saw was the freestyle bikes trick riding.There were a bunch of ramps set up for them to ride up and down and they'd do all kinds of tricks in the air. The kids really liked those.





Even though it was hot, any good festival has to include a funnel cake !! Here is the one we got , being devoured by the kids, the only pictures I really got of them at the whole event !

Busch Gardens Field Trip

What a great day we had at Busch Gardens last Friday. We rode in Coach buses, not school buses, it was pretty QUIET on the bus, which is amazing, and I was able to sit up front !! The kids, of course, all sat in the back, the parents sat together near the front. The weather was perfect, blue skies and about 80 degrees. Felicia was tall enough to ride most everything, but was a half inch too short for the two biggest roller coasters, which she was upset about.We arrived at the park before it opened and we left at 5:30. The time went really fast, but we were so happy to have that special day and the great memories they'll have from their 5th grade field trip. As a project, they need to put together a photo journal including specific photos they were asked to take at the park.

SOFTBALL !!!

It is Felicia's favorite time of the year -- softball season ! Mom loves it too. We've played about 7 games so far and our Bulldog 10U Fastpitch team is undefeated ! We have really great girls on the team who love the game and have fun out on the field together. Our pitcher became injured last weekend, so this week Felicia has pitched in the last two games. Tonight she struck 3 girls out in one inning ! She is new to fast-pitching, so needs to practice if she wants to improve, but I was so proud of her out there tonight, never afraid to try something new !!

Derby Party

Getting ready to head out to the Derby Party, in honor of The Kentucky Derby, on May 1st, 2010.We had a great time with friends at this very creative party. I was blown away by the amazing attention to detail given in planning this party. It was a treat to attend this event !
When we arrived, we were given name tags and directed to the betting board, placing bets on the actual race.Steve places his $$ on Devil May Care.
There was great food, fabulous decor with horse themed items and roses everywhere ! They even had official Kentucky Derby merchandise door prizes. Steve walked away with a T-shirt !
The hosts had hired a casino company to come to their home and they brought horses on stands, a racetrack, a wagering booth and funny money and chips to play with. It was quite entertaining, since after the first race moving the horses, people decided to stand in place of the horses !! All of the horses we bet on were actually "ourselves" since we were given a nametag upon entering the party with our real name and an original "horse name". Our very clever hosts had given us our names. Mine was "Kimpossible" !
Steve places his bets.
getting ready to watch the big race !
A photo taken of Churchill Downs on the big screen Tv.
There was a hat contest, too ! My hat was purchased at a thrift shop, then adorned with flowers and ribbon bought at Michael's craft store using my trusty hot glue gun !
Here was the last race, with everyone "jockeying" for position -- I know, bad pun, but i just couldn't resist.

The big winner of the night was my friend Kathy, who scored $100.00 wagering on Super Saver, who placed first at Churchill Downs !