JV Cheer

The cheer season has officially begun!  Cheer practice started in July (way too early for me), and our first game was Saturday. 

This year Sadi is on the Junior Varsity team.  It is a big squad made up of 20 girls. 

I thought for sure this year she would not be a "flyer" due to the fact that she is so tall and only one other girl is taller than her.  But look who is once again flying, and loving it!

She has made a lot of new friends this season, but has kept some that have quickly become "besties". 

Hopefully we will get to finally hear that touchdown cheer....although if the first game is any indicator of how we will do, we are in serious trouble.  Good thing we have our cute cheerleaders to watch :/

Back with the Pack

Although school just started this week for Kelsey, she has been back on campus for weeks.  Once again this year she will be working as a Resident Assistant in Peavine Hall.  Due to other obligations, I wasn't a part of move in day this year so I hadn't seen her in a few weeks.  The kids had no school on Friday, so we decided to make a trip to campus and visit her.

She is all settled in her dorm, and is even lucky enough to have her own (very spacious) room.

As soon as you get off of the elevator on her floor you see her bulliten board she made to introduce herself to the residents.  It's pretty cute!

We hung out in her dorm, and took a walk around campus.  It was a nice day, and the lake was even filled.  We were lucky to hit a free barbecue at the Joe.  It seems like there is always free food there when the weather is nice.

We even got a picture with Alphie. Chase was with us too, but I guess he is too cool for pictures now.

It was nice to be able to spend the day with Kelsey, and hear all the exciting things she gets to do this year as a JUNIOR!  I am so proud of this girl and all that she has accomplished.

Nine

A highly anticipated birthday finally arrived at our house this week, Sadi turned 9!  I hate that there was school and we couldn't spend the whole day partying, but we made the best of it.  Normally this girl doesn't like mornings, but she woke up pretty happy.

Her breakfast wish was chocolate chip pancakes.  I used mini m&m's instead, which were a total hit.

There wasn't a lot of time in the morning to relax but she did enjoy opening all her birthday mail before she had to get ready for school.

We made a fun birthday treat to share with the class, and she was really excited to take it to school.

We kept it simple with a little bag of animal crackers, and a funfetti dip. 

While she was at school, there was a animal party taking place in her room (sadly this is not even close to all of the animals she owns.).

Once she got home from school, it was time to start the party.  Her birthday list was constantly changing.  The last list I received consisted of only Shopkins, specifically on her most wanted list was the toilet, and the "mow lawner" (lawnmower).  She was ecstatic to get both and more.

For the past year she has really been adamant about wanting sewing materials, and talks all the time about being a designer.  She has countless sketches of clothes she is going to design when she grows up.  She got a nice sketch book to make even more designs.  If you don't already own one, there is sure to be one in the near future.

She also got a little sewing kit, and some materials to start learning how to sew. 

 

She kept telling me she needed a bag of cotton balls to sew with, so she was excited when she got this big bag...not sure she realized it's not really cotton balls yet.

She also got some earrings and a new dress.  

After presents we hit the road for dinner.  Her choice this year was Sonic.  It was so nice outside, we sat on the patio.  Not sure the last time (if ever) I have been to Sonic.  The kids have been a few times with Uncle David.  I'm not sure they love the food, but they sure love those slushies!

After dinner we took her shopping to spend that money that had been burning a hole in her pocket (you know the money that arrived that day with birthday cards).  She picked out....more Shopkins!

We spent most of the evening playing with Shopkins(which is quickly becoming a small village), and learning how to sew buttons.

We ended the night with no cake, but brownies!  Holy cow where did the time go...

Okay really you didn't think it ended with a brownie do you?  Once we sang and that candle came off, it was loaded up with ice-cream, chocolate syrup, whip cream, and a cherry on top!  Just the way this girl likes it. 

We're so lucky to have this one in a million girl in our family.

Back to School...again.

Monday was back to school, and the end of summer fun for us.  I hate that summer is over.  The kids were excited about seeing their friends (Chase) and about wearing new clothes (Sadi).  I didn't even notice until I was taking their picture they look like they color coordinated.

Our baby started 4th grade!  Seems so weird she is in the upper class hall now.

And our 6th grader who is ready to rule the school (actually he is just excited to leave that school).

Once we packed lunches, binders, and what seemed like a thousand school supplies it was time to get those heavy backpacks to school.

We also made a little something for our teacher's for their first day of school.  Because if you give a teacher a cookie....

Chase wasn't thrilled I wanted to get a picture with his teacher (embarrassing) Miss Schwiesow.  He shot out of there as soon as the bell rang to hang out on the playground with his buddies. 

Sadi will be in Miss Bailey's class this year who was also Chase's 4th grade teacher.  I love her!

Sadi was in no hurry to get rid of me, and begged me to stay when the bell rang.  I think she was feeling a bit nervous. 

I loved hearing all about their first day when they came home.  Chase surprised me by telling me for a good 30 minutes about his day, and how awesome/fun his teacher is (the teacher he didn't want because he thought she was mean).  Typical Sadi came home and said "We pretty much just went over rules ALL. DAY. LONG. Blah, blah, blah".  If you know Sadi you can totally hear her annoyance in this = translation, it was a good day.

Work Hard - Play Hard

The second day of vacation my brother had planned a work day for all of us to help out my parents with some projects.  My sister offered to make everyone breakfast at her house so, the day started early and we stuffed ourselves on her delicious crepes.

We all got to work doing different jobs.  There was lots of weeding!  Tori and Sadi pruned the rose bushes...poor Tori had just been poked by a thorn when I snapped this picture.

Matt programed their new car, and then set to work to help my brother David replace a new toilet.

Kelsey's first job was cleaning out the garage.

Chase was not feeling the "vacation" in this, and bounced around from job to job.  I think the longest work he did was with Nathan digging up these trees from the garden.

Once the toilet was done, it was back outside for Matt where he cleaned out the gutters, and helped with the weeding in the backyard.

After all that work, we were all pretty sweaty, and hungry!  The little kids wanted to stay and play at Aunt Susie's house with her grand babies while Matt, Kelsey, and I headed out to refuel.  We quickly decided on Arctic Circle, since it is the only time we get our fry sauce and lime rickey fix (it did not disappoint).

After lunch, we had a little time before our family would be getting together for the evening.  I had been thinking about one of my best friends parents from high school (my friend now lives in Montana, but her parents still live a few streets from my parents.).  I haven't seen her in a few years, but knew her Mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the first of the year.  I spent so much of my high school years at her house and I really wanted to go by and see her.  I picked up some flowers and decided to drop in on them.  She is still fighting, and had just had her feeding tube removed a few house before I arrived.  It was so good to see her, and I hope I get the chance to see her again.

That night we all got together again for dinner, and more family time.  These 3 girls quickly bonded, and were pretty inseparable.

The older cousins busted out a card game, while the parents visited. 

We always wish we had more time to visit and be together, but like all vacations it quickly came to an end.  We're glad we were able to make the trip, and make some lasting memories.

Water Day

The first day of vacation our family had planned to go to a water park.  Not everyone could go to the water park, due to work/school obligations.  Soon after arriving we quickly got the impression my parents were feeling left out of the days activities, so we invited them to go to the new aquarium instead.  My Dad was really excited to get out of the house.

We told him we would take turns pushing him around in a wheelchair which is just what we did.  He even got up and walked a little himself.  My sister Susan and her daughter Tori also came along which made it even more fun.

We quickly fell in love with this new/improved aquarium.  All the kids were able to get up close and personal with all the fish.

They have several different touch pools where you can touch anything from starfish to stingrays.

Besides the HUGE shark tank, I think by far our favorite exhibit was the penguins.  This is Sadi's favorite animal, and she was in heaven watching these guys.

There were 3 baby penguins, all of different ages within the exhibit but they were sleeping most the time we were there.

These guys are just so funny waddling around.  We especially enjoyed watching one particular penguin waddle back and forth trying to figure out how to get down off a ledge.

I liked watching these two have the longest staring contest I have ever seen. 

In the Asia habitat we found some slimy creatures.  Kelsey tested her kissing skills on the frog to see if he would turn into a prince....

Where there's a jungle, there's bound to be a bridge...

Now this, is a funny exhibit that I was happy they had not taken away from the old aquarium (the electric eel fish).  If you see this, you have to take a seat and watch how funny people are when they try it.  Matt is pretty strong and can hold on for a long time.

I teased the kids and told them it wasn't even turned on.  Sadi gave it a try....she was not happy about my little "bluff".

We visited the arctic, and ran across Shamu's friends.

 

We had a "whaley" good time.  Of course we had to visit the gift shop (you actually have to walk through it to exit....well played marketing dept., well played).  So, we left with a few new critters to take care of.

Later that night, it was time for a family barbecue in Susan's backyard.  We also had a salsa contest, which was fun to try each family's salsa.  Mine came in second (I believe only because some thought it too hot...wimps).  Each family was asked to bring a game to play, however we were the only one's to actually bring one.  We played the "not so new newly wed game" with the adults. 

It was really fun, and we played well into the dark.  It was fun to see how well the spouses new each other.  (Since I was playing I enlisted others to take photo's for me, this was the best I got)

We had some pretty revealing answers,

and we all had some really good laughs.

Luckie had a few moments of explaining to do....

It was fun to have my parents participating as well.

Matt and I didn't win, but we did okay. 

My brother David and his wife Santina won.  I bought the winners a gift card for DQ ice-cream, and all the losers got a little extra love for the night (Hershey kisses).