Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Stripes the Caterpillar
This week Rylie found several caterpillars on our milkweed plants. We brought one inside and named him "Stripes." He's been very happily munching through MANY milkweed leaves and should be settling into his chrysalis soon.
Summer 2010
Summer has not been any slower for us! In fact, if anything, we are more busy than ever. Josh is driving almost everywhere now. He even manages the highway just fine - unless it's rush hour. He is looking forward to getting his driver's license next May. I think I might even be ready for it myself! It will be nice to have an extra driver around.
Josh has been fortunate this summer to have been offered a paid internship with a friend's company. He has learned all aspects of the business from cleaning the floors and bathrooms to sitting down with the owner and learning how the business runs to sitting in on phone calls with clients. It's given him a great insight into what it takes to keep a business running and skills that he can apply to any job he has in the future. He's also coaching a Parkour class with the guy that was his own coach. That, along with mowing, going to open gym to practice his own skills, a trip to Florida in June and Indiana in July have kept him very busy. He's anxiously awaiting Not Back To School Camp at the end of August.
Rylie has been... dancing, dancing, singing, acting, dancing and dancing all summer! She still lives and breathes dance. We are currently in the process of finishing the basement as her room/dance studio. The goal is to have it done by her birthday in September. She took part in Legacy's Summerstage drama camp. The performance was Alice in Wonderland. She was "Rose" - one of the snooty flowers in the garden. In between all the dance and drama she's managed to spend a fair amount of time at the pool with various friends as well (which was also a goal for her this summer!). She joined Ballet Legacy (Legacy's ballet performance company) this summer as well, and was just cast in the role of Clara for the Nutcracker Tea Party this December. She will be sharing the role with another dancer as there are 3 performances this year. We are all looking forward to Nutcracker this year!
Ellie has been busy as well. She began the summer with sleep away camp! She LOVED it and can't wait for next summer to go again. At the end of June she too went to Florida and the big news for Ellie is that she turned 10 in July! She celebrated with a tea party/sleepover. Art still is a great love of hers and she can often be found in her art/craft room creating lovely pieces. If she's not there, check the tree out back...if it's not too hot outside she could be there with a good book.
Josh has been fortunate this summer to have been offered a paid internship with a friend's company. He has learned all aspects of the business from cleaning the floors and bathrooms to sitting down with the owner and learning how the business runs to sitting in on phone calls with clients. It's given him a great insight into what it takes to keep a business running and skills that he can apply to any job he has in the future. He's also coaching a Parkour class with the guy that was his own coach. That, along with mowing, going to open gym to practice his own skills, a trip to Florida in June and Indiana in July have kept him very busy. He's anxiously awaiting Not Back To School Camp at the end of August.
Rylie has been... dancing, dancing, singing, acting, dancing and dancing all summer! She still lives and breathes dance. We are currently in the process of finishing the basement as her room/dance studio. The goal is to have it done by her birthday in September. She took part in Legacy's Summerstage drama camp. The performance was Alice in Wonderland. She was "Rose" - one of the snooty flowers in the garden. In between all the dance and drama she's managed to spend a fair amount of time at the pool with various friends as well (which was also a goal for her this summer!). She joined Ballet Legacy (Legacy's ballet performance company) this summer as well, and was just cast in the role of Clara for the Nutcracker Tea Party this December. She will be sharing the role with another dancer as there are 3 performances this year. We are all looking forward to Nutcracker this year!
Ellie has been busy as well. She began the summer with sleep away camp! She LOVED it and can't wait for next summer to go again. At the end of June she too went to Florida and the big news for Ellie is that she turned 10 in July! She celebrated with a tea party/sleepover. Art still is a great love of hers and she can often be found in her art/craft room creating lovely pieces. If she's not there, check the tree out back...if it's not too hot outside she could be there with a good book.
Way Too Long
It's been way too long since I last posted anything. A good indicator of that is when I went to read the blog - my background had disappeared! I found a new one that I really like, and figured it must have been meant for my blog when I saw the "blinkies" that went with it! (They are those changing words on the right hand side of the page - Live, Laugh and Love!)
As always our lives are running at top speed. I'll try to catch up to date in as short a post as possible.
April found us still managing to keep the secret of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary party. Friday April 16th was the big day. All they knew was that we were taking them out to eat that evening. I called them that morning to say that part of our gift to them was a nice get away weekend at a hotel. They started to get a little suspicious at that point but had NO idea of the weekend that was in store! We picked them up at 5:00 and headed to the Hereford House restaurant. We went upstairs to eat and when we entered the dining room, their siblings were there, along with some of their cousins! It was a great surprise and a wonderful evening. We presented them their gift of the memory album and everyone had a nice time eating and visiting. Saturday began with breakfast at the Embassy Suites where everyone was staying. That evening dinner was at Jack Stack barbeque - a Kansas City tradition. Everyone gathered back at the hotel after dinner for visiting and drinks. Sunday morning was brunch at The Bristol - an amazing variety of food! After that, everyone left for the airport and mom and dad were able to head home and begin to catch up on their rest!
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
As always our lives are running at top speed. I'll try to catch up to date in as short a post as possible.
April found us still managing to keep the secret of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary party. Friday April 16th was the big day. All they knew was that we were taking them out to eat that evening. I called them that morning to say that part of our gift to them was a nice get away weekend at a hotel. They started to get a little suspicious at that point but had NO idea of the weekend that was in store! We picked them up at 5:00 and headed to the Hereford House restaurant. We went upstairs to eat and when we entered the dining room, their siblings were there, along with some of their cousins! It was a great surprise and a wonderful evening. We presented them their gift of the memory album and everyone had a nice time eating and visiting. Saturday began with breakfast at the Embassy Suites where everyone was staying. That evening dinner was at Jack Stack barbeque - a Kansas City tradition. Everyone gathered back at the hotel after dinner for visiting and drinks. Sunday morning was brunch at The Bristol - an amazing variety of food! After that, everyone left for the airport and mom and dad were able to head home and begin to catch up on their rest!
Here are some pictures from the weekend:
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tuesday Happiness Project
Today's picture is actually two pictures - I couldn't decide between them, so I chose - both! They are both from this weekend - 63 degrees on the time/temp light on Saturday, and discovering that the tulips are starting to poke through the ground on Sunday! Both of these make me EXTREMELY happy!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Farm field trip
We went to a homeschool family's farm today. They raise prize winning cows (I can't remember the name of them - but I'll find out!) and chickens and live on some wonderful land near the airport. The kids got to see new calves (the newest was a week old), bulls, the heirloom chickens and climb all over haybales. We lucked out - today was 58 degrees and sunny! The wind was a bit cool, but it was so nice to be outside!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Happiness Project
Since I am reading the book by the same name...and one of my goals for 2010 is to take more pictures (with my brand spanking new camera Darren gave me for Christmas!)... it seemed just too perfect to pass up the opportunity to join in Leigh's Happiness Project. The point is to take a picture of something that makes you happy and to post it once a week.
This week it's a shot of our dog, Toby. He makes me crazy, but he makes me so happy too - he's so funny! He does this thing with his eyebrows! And being a basset, he's always got a soulful look. When he was a puppy (we got him at 5 mos old from a rescue group) I wasn't sure he was going to survive to become a "good dog!" He ate anything and everything, he was untrustworthly to the core! But now that he's 4 he's finally "grown up" and is truly a "good dog!"
Year 2010 50+ Reading Challenge
I've taken up the challenge to read 50+ books in 2010. It started Jan 1st so I need to go back and list the books I've already read. I'll create a list on here by the end of the weekend! I'm going to see if any of my kids want to join me in the challenge! It should be fun!
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