Hello.....

I know it has been a long time since I have posted on the blog. It just seems like I have nothing to blog about and when I do think of something I quickly forget! Life around here has been rather uneventful but very busy. The kids are spending their summer break with camps, friends and fun. So I would say they are having a great time. Now that the 4th of July has passed the countdown is on to school in early August.

Prom

Tonight was the Junior/Senior prom. Andrew and Nicholas got together and got dressed before they picked up their dates. It seems like only yesterday the two were in preschool together and tonight they were going to prom. It is hard to be the mom of the boy as the girls did all of the planning. It doesn't help that both boys were not really too concerned with the plans. I am sure they will have a great time.

The neat thing in our town is the parents and community go downtown and watch the kids come to prom and cheer and take photos ~ almost like a red carpet event and lots of flash photography!

Winter Storm

We are in the midst of a HUGE winter storm, along with many other states. This is the current radar shot

 The pink is ICE...yep lots of it!! We did not have school today and I would guess that we won't have school again tomorrow. It would extend the school year but I would rather make up a day than have someone lose a life trying to get to school! This has been an awful winter and it is far from over.....

6 months !

It has been 6 months since I last posted here. I am not exactly sure why but I am going to try to get back to this as it is fun to go back and look at what has been happening in our lives.

Andrew completed another successful cross country season. They won the state meet and went on to the national championships where they placed 3rd. Andrew made All American status by placing 19th at the national meet.

 Christopher's marching band season was successful as well. Their program was very neat and although they did not qualify for the state championship they gave it their all.

Maggie is loving the 5th grade. She has amazing friends and has quite the social life. Her love of reading has not changed and she reads 3 books a week!

Winter Formal 2011

This was a couple of weeks ago and both Andrew and Christopher attended. Andrew went with MacKenzie and Christopher went with Caryn. They all looked so nice and had a great time. It is hard to believe that the current school year is half way over and I will soon have a Senior and Junior in high school. The college search process has begun and it is a daunting task!! 

Caryn and Christopher

The group

MacKenzie and Andrew

The gang

Bathroom Remodel

A few months ago we underwent the task of remodeling the boys' bathroom. We did have someone do the tile work but other than that Tim did the rest. I helped too... I  did the shopping :-} I LOVE how it all came out. I have to say the granite was the best part. It is a remnant piece from what is considered an exotic grade so we saved a lot of money and got something beautiful. We also added a cabinet above the toilet so there is additional storage anda spot to put towels. We plan on getting the same cabinets made for our bathroom when we do that ~ not anytime soon.:

Our day out...

Yesterday Diana and I went on an adventure to Costco and TJ Maxx...yes we are excited by the little things in life. First at TJ Maxx we were on a mission to find REALLY UGLY shoes...there were a lot to select from but not many would fit on our feet...LOL The ones we did try on, while ugly, really don't look too bad in the photos.

Then it was off to Costco...I had to renew my membership so I dropped Tim, hee hee, and added her to the membership. To say she was excited is an understatement!! We always have so much fun when we make the hour drive to get there....needless to say we do a bit of spending $$ too!! The picture really doesn't show how much stuff we really bought...

Summertime....

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh summer! Time for hot days, being lazy and having fun. The weather has been everything from rainy and storms to really hot and humind but I am NOT complaining.

• Andrew is away at runnning camp so it has been quite here this week. He returns on Saturday just in time for Nicholas' birthday party.....I am finding it hard to believe that Nicholas is 17 tomorrow!!
• Christopher has ended the first part of summer band and will have a few weeks off until practice for the fall marching season gets under way.
• Maggie has been having fun running around with the girls in the neighborhood. They had done everything from riding bikes, playing in the sprinklers and lots of water balloons.

Jazz Evening

A couple of weeks ago the Jazz bands at the high school had a jazz and desserts evening and WOW is all I can say. It is amazing to hear how good the bands are...from the beginning group to the senior group. Here are a couple of videos of Christopher in his group.

In the video he is playing the piano, even though you can't see him very well, he is on the far left of the screen ~ just before the bongo player.

Father Daughter Dance

Maggie and Tim just left for the father/daughter dance at her school. To say she was excited is an understatement!! She was so excited to get her hair done and the pretty flowers that daddy got for her. I am sure they will have a great night.

A Long Time...

It has been quite a long time since there was an update. Track season is here so Andrew is very busy with that. Christopher is busy with the jazz band and competitions. Maggie is busy with school and music too!!

This video is from a race this past Friday night. Andrew ran a personal best mile time of 4:22!! We are so very proud of him and his accomplishments.

Championship Ring Ceremony

Tonight was the night the cross country team received their championship rings. The team has been waiting 3 months for the rings to arrive and the night was FINALLY here! The kids were introduced at half time of the basketball game. The kids has HUGE smiles on their faces and seemed to enjoy the evening. We are so very proud of them all. They are really nice rings...Andrew's is a big too big so we may need to send it in to be resized. The nice thing is they get lifetime resizing :-)

It's a SNOW day....

School was cancelled today due to an impeding snow storm. So far, the snow hasn't arrived but it has rained A LOT! It appears the snow will now hit overnight and dump the heavy snow. We will have to wait and see. Andrew is disappointed as tonight they were to receive their cross country championship rings. It has been rescheduled to tomorrow night....we will wait and see.

Quick Update

Things around our home have been busy and rather ordinary:-) We are in the midst of a remodel of the boys' bathroom and it is moving slowly but progress is being made. I really should be taking some photos of the project but am just not motivated to do so.

Andrew and I have both been sick with winter colds and it is not fun.....luckily eveyone else is staying healthy.

Tim bought himself a project car. Although it is in good condition he intends on restoring most of it. He has always had an interest in cars and I knew it was only a matter of WHEN not IF he bought something for this purpose. He bought a 1960 Triumph TR3...he actually found it locally via someone at work. Tim called the owner and asked if he would be interested in selling the car and well...you see what happened.

Winter Formal 2010

The winter formal was a week ago and both boys had a great time!
The girl with Andrew was his date :-} The girl with Chris is his friend, not his date, his group all went stag!

Snow Day

It is our first snow day of the year! At the moment there is not that much snow on the ground (about an inch) but the school system is being proactive as we are expecting 6 inches :-} Since I grew up in the snowbelt of Cleveland I have to chuckle but a day home is nice too!

Happy New Year...{ a few hours early}

It is always exciting to think about what the new year will bring and what new adventures are ahead for our family and friends.

The holiday season has gone by so very quickly, in fact, all of 2009 seems to have blown by.

I wish everyone a very happy and blessed 2010!

Happy Holidays

Just a quick note for a brief update on what we have been up to. The kids are all very busy with school and their various activities. Andrew received his drivers license this fall so it has been great sending him to collect Maggie or Chris from their assorted activities. I am busy finishing up with the Christmas shopping and looking forward to some time at home relaxing and doing nothing ~does that even exist??

Time for it to END...

This was started on our overseas assigment as a way to keep family and friends updated on our lives. Now that we are back home and it is much easier to keep in touch .....the blog is going silent. It seems like I never post anymore and while it has been fun ~ it is time to put this into retirement.

Going To State

Saturday was very busy in our house but a GREAT very busy. We started the day at the cross country semi state meet where Andrew and the boys team WON the meet and will advance to the STATE meet next weekend. Andrew set a new PR with a time of :15.46 for the 5K.

We then went to the semi state band competition where Christopher was performing. The band ALSO advanced to the state meet next weekend. SO we will be quite busy again next week but we are excited to see what great things happen next.

District Band Competition

Today was the district competition for band! It was a COLD and WINDY afternoon but there was a lot of great music. Here is a video of part of the band's performance. The show is called the 'Heist' and is based on the movie the Thomas Crown Affair. The music was created just for the band and has been great to see it evolve from band camp this summer. The band earned a Gold rating and will advance to the regional competition in a couple of weeks. They also won best music, best visual and best general effect.** Chris plays the bass drum and he is the last on the far right!