Molly's 7th Birthday

Molly had a wonderful 7th birthday party!  She loved her swim party at the rec centers so much last year, we decided to have her birthday party there again.  You can tell the kids are a year older.  Last year they were all running around the room, chasing each other full of energy.  This year it was a much calmer atmosphere.  The kids were so pleasant and everyone meshed so well.  When the kids got there they had a bean bag toss.  Then we had pizza and Molly opened her gifts.  Molly loved all her gifts.  We sang happy birthday to the birthday girl and had cake and ice cream.  Finally we got to the best part, swimming!  Everyone spent lots of time on the big slide and the diving board.  Molly had so much fun with her friends.  We were really happy to have Aunt Patty, Aunt Tina, A.J. and Aurora there to share Molly's special day.  Molly is changing and growing so much.  She looks so grown up with her short hair cut and glasses!  Molly was and always is the life of the party.  On her actual birthday we celebrated at Olive Garden.  She finally got her own motor scooter.  She's really is a big kid now!

Pennies for a Purpose

Molly participated in the Fitness Challenge to raise money for her school.  Duane volunteered for the special event and Mallory and I were there to cheer her on.  She did a great job!  Molly's class was learning about the life of Martin Luther King and all that he did to help people and spread love and kindness.  They decided to follow in his footsteps.  Each child in Molly's neighborhood, consisting of 6 classes, decided to earn 100 pennies by doing good deeds and chores at home.  Together they voted on a local charity to donate the money they raised.  They decided on a local food pantry.  The students also collected food for the pantry.  To celebrate love and kindness her neighborhood had a special program.  They sang and used sign language to share the songs and we watched a slide show.  I didn't have a dry eye during the whole performance.  They sang, All you Need is Love, Imagine, What a Wonderful World to name a few.  After the performance we walked around the halls and looked at many wonderful projects that Molly had been working on.  It was a beautiful night and another time for me to appreciate what a wonderful place Molly goes each day to learn and grow!

CUSA U10 Black Winter Season

Madison kicked off the indoor soccer session with the CUSA banquet.  We had many reasons to be proud!  Her team finished second in their division.  Madison met her skills goals.  Her coach was names coach of the year in all of central and western Ohio and one of her assistant coaches was named CUSA's assistant coach of the year.  If they could have given two of those awards her dad would have had one too.  They had several older players speak of their experiences and give advice to the younger players.  The basic messages were to sieze the moment because you can't get it back and play happy because that's what it's all about.  Wise words for young men and women.  Madison's theme for the upcoming season is to play happy.  She is a passionate player and sometimes that gets in the way of her having a good time.  As she grows and matures I know she'll find a balance.  The kids started indoor soccer and they were out of shape!  In their defense it's not easy to run for 40 minutes straight and give it your all the whole time.  Especially when your stuck inside most of the winter!  It's putting the idea of "playing happy" to the test for Madison.  Duane wrote it all over her soccer ball to remind her.  Hopefully things will come back together for her team as the indoor session progresses.  At a minimum it will help get them in shape for the spring season.

Madison's 10th Birthday

Madison is in the double digits now!  10 years old!  I wish I could freeze time.  It's going so fast!  She decided to have a birthday at Twigs Gymnastics this year.  She wanted do something that boys and girls would enjoy.  That was a tough pill for her father to swallow:)  The kids spent an hour in the gym on the equipment.  There were lots of smiles all around.  Afterwards Madison opened her gifts and everyone had cake and ice cream.  It was a great party!  On her actually birthday Duane put a birthday sign in the yard and I woke her up dancing to her special birthday CD like we do every year.  Although it's hard to imagine, I can see myself doing this when she's 18!  That morning she took Krispy Creme doughnuts to school for her birthday treat.  She wanted to have her birthday dinner at Carabas.  It's funny how her taste for food is evolving.  She wanted to go there because she likes dipping the bread in the olive oil and seasoning.  She even got a free birthday desert which was out of this world!  We gave her a remote control helicopter and a new pair of Heely's.  Her sisters gave her an American Girl outfit and an extra remote for the Wii.  She was thrilled with all of her gifts.  I love the opportunity to make the girls feel like they are the most important kid on the Earth on their birthdays.  I cherish the looks on their faces!

Winter Fun!

January began with a stressful time for our family.  Uncle Mike suffered a major heart attack on their way to spend the winter in the Florida Keys.  Luckily they were stopped for the night.  Barb saved his life by giving him CPR.  We couldn't bare the thought of Barb being a lone so far from home during such a difficult time, so without little thought or discussion Duane headed to Virginia to be with them.  He knew where he needed to be. The next few days were treacherous.  Mike suffered two more arrests but after two procedures was on his way to recovery.  For days we didn't know if he would be able to make a full recovery, but weeks later he was walking 30 minutes each day on the beach.  Thank God!  The power  of prayer is amazing!  Madison participated in Jump Rope for Your Heart at school in Mike's honor.  We are so grateful for how things turned out for Uncle Mike.

We have had your typical Ohio weather this winter.  This year our snow days were cut from 5 to 3 so we are going to have at least one day to make up.  In February we had a nasty ice storm.  It was a wild night.  The trees were covered with ice and there were high winds.  All night long you could hear the wind howl, branches snapping, transformers blowing and ice and branches hitting the houses.  We were lucky to have power.  Our friends across the street lost theirs for a few days.  We stayed in our pjs, built forts, watched movies and baked cookies on our snow days.  All of our favorite snow day rituals.  The girls spent a little time outside sledding and playing in the snow.  But the temps were pretty unbearable.  I had my fill of winter weather early on.  It's amazing how much winter can impact your mood.  The girls had their first adventure ice skating.  When I first came up with the idea I thought I must be crazy.  But the girls all did surprisingly well.  Of course Mallory needed lots of support, but she was a trooper and had improved a lot in a short time.  Molly held her own and Madison was a naturally.  We had so much fun!  We made a trip to the rec center for an afternoon of swimming.  The girls miss being in the water on a regular basis in the winter.  The girls and I went for afternoon tea at our favorite tea shop, Central Perk on Martin Luther King day.  We had a lovely afternoon together.  We had a little scare on a rainy winter evening.  I settled in for the night and started having severe stomach pains.  I wasn't sure what it was so we decided to go to the ER.  Thank goodness for a good friends Lisa and Rosanna.  They were there to help with the kids.  After a day in the hospital and several test they decided it was the flu.  I was really surprised with the diagnosis.  After some research and another episode of stomach pains, I suspect that it may have been a reaction to an antibiotic I was taking.  I continued to volunteer in the girls classrooms and they participated in their regular activities.  A few days later I was feeling much better so we took a trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center.  The kids really love it there.  We walked past a large tub of water and sand that was used to show how erosion works.  Mallory dipped her hand in the water and made the sign of the cross.  That girl is hilarious!  We all watched the Omni Max movie Hubble.  It was awesome! Madison played a season of indoor soccer and Duane coached her team.  We're looking forward to outdoor soccer and warmer weather!   I continued to volunteer in the girls classrooms.  I did a literature circle group with Madison and some kids in her class.  It is so refreshing to have in depth discussions with kids that are old enough to really delve into a good book.  I enjoy my time in Molly's class too.  

Happy Holidays

Every year the holidays seem to get busier and busier.  This year was no exception.  We were blessed with good health throughout the holiday season.  After Thanksgiving we put out all the decorations.  A week and a half later when went to our favorite Christmas tree seller.  We kicked off our holiday activities with Molly's winter carnival.  Duane and I signed up to split a two hour volunteer shift.  Duane went first and was assigned the cotton candy making station.  I went back to check on him and he was covered from head to toe with cotton candy.  I decided to make myself scarce with the kids to go play games and do crafts when it was time for shift change.  He was doing such a good job I didn't want to interrupt the fun;)  I am embarrassed to say that until this year Mallory had not sat on Santa's lap.  So we had to fix that this year.  She and I had a special afternoon together at the mall seeing Santa, riding the Christmas train and playing in the play area.  I joined her for a special holiday lunch at her school on another afternoon.  Aunt Susan came to town to take the girls to the Nutcracker.  She surprised Molly at her class holiday party the day she got here.  Molly was thrilled to have her there.  It was Duane and Mallory's first time seeing the Nutcracker.  They all looked beautiful in their Christmas outfits and even got to sit on Santa's lap.  Since she was here to watch the girls Duane and I were able to go to my staff Christmas party and sneak away for the night to use up our free nights stay at the Hueston Woods Lodge.  We had dinner at a romantic little Italian restaurant with fantastic food in Oxford and enjoyed the night in a beautiful sweet overlooking the snow covered lake.  It was wonderful to get a way and take a break from the hustle and bustle.  We made it to Woodland Lights the night before Christmas Eve 20 minutes before they stopped letting people in for the night.  It was a cold, crisp night with snow on the ground.  The girls had just enough time to ride a few rides and see Santa again.  Then we took our time walking through and looking at the beautiful lights.  We were the last ones to leave.  It was a special night.  We did lots of baking cookies and cooking our special dishes the days before Christmas.  We went to Christmas Eve mass and came home to share our favorite meal.  We wrote notes to Santa, read Christmas stories, put out the milk and cookies and spread some reindeer food in the yard.  We were awoken around 8:00 to little monkeys jumping on our bed.  They barely let us light the fire and put on a cup of coffee.  Then in record time they opened up their gifts.  Madison was excited to get her very own digital camera that also records videos.  Molly loved her spy kit and Mallory was thrilled to get the elephant game that she had been asking for.  They all three got  a new mini-trampoline and a gymnastics mat.  We ate breakfast casserole and spent the rest of the day in our jammies, playing with toys and watching Christmas movies.  It was a perfect Christmas!  The next day we all went to see Tangled, loved by all and spent the day packing up and running a few errands.  We celebrated Mammaw's birthday with the family the next day in Massillon.  It was a whirl wind trip with lots of visiting with family and friends.  The day after we got home we spent the evening catching up with the Oakes.  For our third year we rang in the New Year with the Cloyds.  We hosted this year.  The kids played great together and the grown ups had lots of laughs.  It was a great end to 2010 and ring in 2011.  We are blessed with a loving family, a happy home, wonderful friends, good health and many more blessings to come in the new year!