Amelia's Voice Recital

Amelia had her 3rd voice recital this past Saturday night at Oconee Youth School of Performance. One of the songs she sang was "Notice Me Horton" from Seussical the Musical. She did a fabulous job and we were so proud of her!

Christmas before Christmas!

This past weekend we had a Christmas celebration with my sister's family here in Watkinsville at my parent's house. We got to open presents, eat a wonderful dinner, and spend time with each other. We all love these family times during the Christmas season!!

Church Christmas Banquet

December 16th was the annual Christmas banquet at First Baptist Athens. Once again the children of the church did a wonderful job of entertaining us with their special musical called "The Christmas Lamb". They did a great job singing and their costumes were adorable! Amelia was a brightly colored tucan. Mitchell helped the youth group with the serving of dinner after the show... they looked very festive in their Santa hats! It's a great way to celebrate during the hectic season!

5th Grade Musical

Amelia's 5th grade class at OCES put on their annual musical for an auditorium full of proud parents. The musical was titled "Snowbiz!" and was so cute... we really have a bunch of talented kids... and one very hard working music teacher! Way to go 5th grade!

First Friday

Several weeks ago Amelia and her friends Isabella and Merritt came to us with an idea.... they wanted to sell hot chocolate and cookies at Watkinsville's monthly First Friday celebration (which in December was also the Christmas tree lighting ceremony) and use it to purchase things like medical supplies and animals for World Vision and Samaritan's Purse. They had every detail planned out and followed through on everything.... after some sleepovers and lots of hard work! That Friday night we set up their table downtown and they did the rest.... they were even interviewed by our 2 local newspapers! They (and their parents) braved the very cold temperatures, and at the end of the night they had raised $100!! Needless to say we were so proud of them!!

Thanksgiving

Well, this year we enjoyed our very last Thanksgiving feast at school... sort of bittersweet! We will miss the fun time, but not so much the food! Thanksgiving week we spent in NC between Greensboro and Winston Salem. As we did 2 years ago, we used my sister's vacant home as our personal hotel for Dave's family. Dave's Dad doesn't have the space anymore to have us all, so that gives us a place where we can hang out and be together when we were not visiting with Ann. Ann continues to do well, although we can see her memory slipping a little more each time we see her. We had a wonderful time visiting with her and Russ over the break as well as some of Dave's siblings and their families!

Girl's weekend!

The weekend before Thanksgiving I went to Greenville, SC to do some Christmas shopping with my best friend Angie. We had a very fun time together and got a lot done! Friday night we just went out to dinner and caught up with each other. Saturday we got busy and shopped ALL DAY!! We did take a dinner break at PF Chang's for some cosmos, great food, and to watch Clemson football on the TV there. After a good night's sleep we had breakfast at Starbuck's and shopped a little more until I had to leave. We had so much fun that we have decided to make this weekend a yearly tradition!

Champs

OCES 5th graders are involved in a program every year called CHAMPS (Choosing Health Activities and Methods Promoting Safety). It is a wonderful program and the kids learn a lot! They also have to write an essay about a subject of their choosing and they are entered into a contest judged by our local police dept. Amelia wrote about internet safety... and won 1st place in her class!! She received her prizes at the Champs graduation and we were so proud of her!

Operation Christmas Child

The Mission Kids groups participated again in the packing of shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child... a great lesson for all of our kids! Adults in the church "adopted" our children and helped them purchase items and pack their boxes... it was a wonderful way to have the different generations interact with each other!

Jake's Birthday

Jake (our sweet chocolate moose) turned 2 years old on November 14th, and of course we celebrated! Jake and Bailey enjoyed some doggy ice cream and Jake got a new toy to play with... a moose!

Homecoming

Clemson's Homecoming game was on Halloween day this year... fun! We stayed in the same cabins this year with our good friends the Wilsons and the Kellys and had a wonderful time catching up. Despite the rainy weather we were able to tailgate and attend the game... it finally stopped raining at half time! We look forward to this weekend every year!

Catching Up!!

Our church once again had a very fun Fall Festival night with lots of great activities for the kids (and adults)! There was a cake walk, games, Bingo, a hot dog and chili supper, and trunk-or-treating at the end of the night. There was also a chili cook-off for the adults, and guess what? Dave's chili recipe won for best all around chili!! We went home happy with cakes, lots of candy, and a new ladle (the prize for the best chili)!

Lazy pets

With it being cooler outside we have had some lazy dogs and cat around here! Who exactly does the sofa belong to anyway? One morning recently we found Bailey and Jake snuggling together on the chair and covered them with a blanket... they loved it! They're not too spoiled, are they?

Webcam chatting!

Recently Amelia spent the night with her friend Isabella, and Isabella happened to get sick on Saturday morning. So... we went right over to pick up Amelia and bring her home. After getting her home, Amelia was so sad that she couldn't spend the rest of her time with Isabella... and Isabella cried when Amelia had to go! Dave taught Amelia how to set up the video chat on gmail, and Amelia "invited" Isabella on... you should have heard the girls when their faces appeared on each others' screens! I have never heard such happiness in my life! Their day was made and they pretty much spent the rest of the day "chatting" with each other... thank goodness for technology!

Fall Break

Mitchell and Amelia were out of school for 3 days recently for their fall break, so we decided to stay local and do fun things around here. Dave, Mitchell, Daddy and I played golf on the first day and had a beautiful day on the course! While we were golfing Amelia "took" my Mama to the mall for a little shopping spree at Justice and Claire's... and came home with multiple purchases! On Friday we went to Washington Farms pumpkin patch and corn maze and had a fun afternoon there. The corn maze was challenging and fun, we all had fun shooting corn cobs at targets and sling shotting pumpkins into a pond! We picked out several great pumpkins and watched the pig races, too. Another fun break.... we are already looking forward to the next one!

Happy Birthday Bailey!

Bailey turned 4 years old on Sept. 21! She celebrated with Jake by sharing doggie icecream with him, and made sure that Callie had some cat milk for the party. She got a stuffed squirrel as a present and loves it! I think that she had a fun time!

Happy Birthday Dave!

This past Friday night we finally celebrated Dave's birthday with family (his actual Bday was on the 16th). We had a wonderful dinner of pot roast, which was Dave's request, and had Oreo Delight for his birthday cake... yum! Mama and Daddy came over to help us celebrate and we had a nice time together!

Weekend in Clemson

This past weekend we celebrated Dave's birthday in Clemson, SC. We had given him a night away with all of us at the Martin Inn at Clemson's Walker Golf Course. Dave and Mitchell played a round of golf on Saturday afternoon while Amelia and I spent the afternoon relaxing at the pool. Then we spent the evening with our dear friends Neil and Denise Burton grilling out steaks, catching up, and celebrating Dave's 42nd! All of our kids had a blast playing outside together with other neighborhood kids while we watched the Georgia football game on TV. On Sunday morning we got to sleep in a little, then had a wonderful breakfast on our suite's patio overlooking beautiful Lake Hartwell. After breakfast we played some tennis, then packed up and headed home. It was a perfect weekend of quality time together and with great friends!

Clown Makeovers!

This past Friday Amelia had her friend Isabella over to play for a while. After dinner they decided to paint their toenails and do clown makeovers! They were so funny to watch because they giggled their way through the makeovers... and check out the results! They had so much fun!

Labor Day weekend

Last weekend we traveled to Myrtle Beach, SC for a long relaxing weekend. We stayed at the Lakewood Campground Resort in my parents wonderful camper and had a great time! The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed playing on the beach, riding the waves, searching for shells and sharks' teeth, swimming in the pool, water wars (a really fun game at the campground), riding down the HUGE inflatable slide, and playing putt putt... we also ate very well! It was great because we were on no particular schedule and stayed up late playing games and slept later in the mornings. Just what we needed to officially end our summer!

OYP Gala

Sunday night we attended the Oconee Youth Playhouse's annual Gala, which is a fundraiser event for them. At the Gala the students perform numbers from this year's upcoming shows... this year they will be doing Grease, Children of Eden, and Children's Letters to God! They also recognized the kids who have done 5 or more plays, and 10 or more plays with OYP... Amelia has now done 9 plays, so she was recognized and received a star! When you have done 10 or more you get a star on the "Wall of Fame" at OYP! One more to go, Amelia!

Sad moment for Mom

Ever since Amelia had enough hair to hold a bow she has worn one in her hair... all colors, all sizes... her hair was almost always up in a bow! I guess almost 2 years ago she stopped wearing the bows and graduated to more mature things for her hair... I really missed those bows! She was even known in her classrooms for wearing the bows, and it was mentioned a few times in classroom memory books.

Last night Amelia was cleaning her room and called me in to show off her hard work... especially in one particular drawer where the bows used to be. I say "used to be" because she has decided that she no longer needs a drawer full of bows and had a huge pile of them on the floor to give away! It's pretty funny explaining to your 10 year old why you are getting all teary about a pile of bows on the floor... Amelia is really growing up and we have officially come to the end of a very sweet stage in her life!

Fun Wednesday!

Wednesday was a big day for Mitchell and Amelia for different reasons. First... Mitchell got his braces off! He was so excited to have them off for a while (official end of phase 1) and we celebrated with lunch at Chick-Fil-A before heading back to school. Also... this week was the kickoff for Wednesday night church activities and our church had a talent show. People of ALL ages participated in the show... Amelia and her friend, Elli, sang the song "Oh you can't get to heaven... on roller skates... cause you might roll by those pearly gates...!" They wore their skates while singing the song (accompanied by Elli's dad on guitar) and they looked adorable! A great day for the Graves!

Camping!

This past weekend we took a break from the busy start of school to enjoy some fun and nature! We met the Wilsons at Trackrock Campground in the North GA mountains for 2 nights of camping. The weather was absolutely perfect with highs in the low 80's and the lows in the 60's at night... perfect for tent camping! We all had fun exploring the campground, hiking, eating (food is always better outside!), playing games, riding bikes, and swimming... as well as lots of catching up with great friends! It was just what we all needed!

School!

We now have the first 3 days of school behind us... only 177 more to go! Amelia had a great first day of school... she discovered that she is going to be in classes with many of her good friends and has already made some new friends, also. She is very excited about her 5th grade year! The first day of school did not exactly go as planned for Mitchell. He had been fighting sickness all week and his fever did not go away in time to attend the first day... he was SO disappointed! HIS first day went great, though... he has classes with many of his friends and likes all of his teachers... a great start to 7th grade! We hope for 177 more wonderful days for both of them!

Tennis weekend!

Mitchell's tennis team went to Macon this past weekend for the USTA junior state championship tournament. Although they didn't win all of their matches they all played very well and we were very proud of all of them!!