Last Day of School!!!

Yea!!! The last day of school is finally here! Mitchell and Amelia both had end of year parties today and had a lot of fun. Amelia's party was outside and was a cookout for the whole 3rd grade (the 5th grade cookout was on Thursday). They had so much fun just hanging out, eating and playing games with water balloons! The 5th grade parties are also very fun for them. Each pod (which is 5 classes) has its own party and it looks more like a big block party. All of the students are all over the pod in whatever classroom they want to be in. They got to eat pizza and just hang out for the last time together (they will be split up between 2 middle schools next year). The last picture is of Mitchell and his "brick". His science teacher (and homeroom teacher) Mr. Julian told his students at the beginning of the year that if they made an "A" on every single test this year and kept an "A" average in the class that they could paing their own brick in his classroom. Only seven students got a "brick" and Mitchell was one of them! We were so proud of him! He painted his brick with a Clemson theme... go Tigers! Now that we are done with school for the year we can focus on all of the fun we will have this summer!

Softball party

Amelia had her end of season softball party tonight at a local pizza place... always a wild scene when you get a large group of little girls together! They had a great time and were so excited to receive trophies from their very sweet coach! Amelia has loved playing softball and had a great group of girls to play with this season. She can't wait to play more!

Awards!

We got to attend 2 awards days at OCES for Amelia and Mitchell this week. They both have had excellent years which was reflected by the awards that they received. They received 3 or 4 awards each and we could not have been prouder of them!

A special Clemson weekend!

Amelia and I just had a wonderful weekend together at the 10th annual "Take Your Daughter To Clemson" weekend. We got to stay in the nice Stadium Suites dorm and had some really nice suite mates... Amelia loved staying in the dorm room! We got to do a lot of fun activities on Saturday like take a tour of the athletic facilities, learn about monarch butterflies (which was very fun for the girls!), learn some new math created at Clemson, climb a rock wall, go cosmic bowling, eat ice cream... whew! It did not take us long to fall asleep that night! On Sunday we had a nice breakfast in one of the stadium suites, then we all headed over to the famous "hill" (have you ever heard of the "most exciting 25 seconds in football?). After touching the famous "Howard's Rock" the parents got to run down the hill first. Then it was the daughter's turn! They had the best time running down that hill! It was about as exciting for the parents to watch our daughters of all ages running down the hill as it is to watch the football team... and definitely more special! Then we got to run all over the field (Amelia and I ran a 100 yard touchdown) and have our picture made with the Tiger. Needless to say it was a very special weekend to share with Amelia at our "Dear Old Clemson". We plan to attend again next year!

Strawberry time!!

Every Spring we go to Washington Farms to pick strawberries. We finally found and afternoon that was free to go! Amelia has been with me to pick every year since we moved to Athens, but this was Mitchell's first time. We all three got a bucket and went to work! Amelia eats about as many strawberries as she puts in her bucket (these strawberries are great right off of the vine!). With such great helpers it didn't take us very long to gather our three buckets! I have now made a batch of strawberry jam, put several bags of cut up strawberries in the freezer, and of course put a bunch in the fridge to eat! YUM!!

Trophy time!

Mitchell's regular baseball season has come to an end! He has had lots of fun playing for the Yankees... his first major league experience. Playoffs will start on Monday. The team got together at Cici's Pizza after tonight's game for dinner and to celebrate the season. And Mitchell got another cool trophy to add to his collection!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day for me was lots of fun! Amelia woke me up early and sent me on a scavenger hunt with clues leading me to the next place... all the way to some gifts! She had made me a beautiful blue trinket box, a flower with "coupons" that I can redeem and a card. After a pancake breakfast together we went to church. Dave and the kids took me to Carrabas for lunch, then off to my surprise. We got a laptop computer! They surprised me by taking me to the store to help pick it out (Amelia wanted the pink one, but as you can see we got the normal black one!). It was a very cool surprise! Later that night we went to a friends' house for dinner... we definitely ate well today!

I am so happy and thankful every day to be a mother to two wonderful children. It is truly one of the best jobs in the world!! I feel like I had some great role models to help prepare me for this job... my mother and my grandmothers. What better teachers could there be?

OYSP Spring Showcase

Amelia had two performances in the Oconee Youth School of Performance Spring Showcase this weekend... the ending to our crazy week! The show was great and of course Amelia was the star of the show! She really enjoys her classes at OYSP and is already planning what she wants to do there next year. Amelia's musical theatre class did a number to some songs from "Grease" which was really cute! Her tap class did a dance that had both tap and jumproping in it! It was great and Amelia got to show off her jumproping skills. After the show we all had a wonderful dinner at Last Resort Grill in downtown Athens, topped off with some of their famous yummy desserts!

3rd Grade Musical!

Amelia's 3rd grade musical was tonight at the Oconee Civic Center. The performance was very cute... "A Froggy Day In Lindentown". It's always amazing how their music teacher can organize over 200 students into a production like this! Amelia was thrilled to have a small singing solo in the musical, and she did an awesome job! The end of school is getting closer!!

Crazy week!

This is a week full of activities with all of us going in different directions and enlisting some greatly appreciated help from Granddad and Grandmama! Amelia's recital is this weekend so she has had dress rehearsal 3 afternoons this week, our last Wednesday night church activities were last night, Mitchell has 2 baseball games, Amelia has a softball game, and Amelia also has her 3rd grade musical at the Civic Center tonight... whew!! Both kids also have field day tomorrow all day where I am helping out. Thank goodness the year is winding down... it always gets a little crazy during the last few weeks of school. It is all fun, though! These pictures are from Amelia's dress rehearsal days. She now insists on putting on her own makeup and wants no help from me... they grow up so fast!

Children's Worship Sunday!

Today was a special day at church... the children (ages 5-11) took over the service and did everything! They have been working so hard preparing for this day and it showed! Amelia read some scripture, sang and took up offering. Mitchell did part of the sermon time, sang and took up offering also. The theme of the service was "My family, my church". The four children (including Mitchell) who did parts of the sermon time were supposed to speak on what family was to them and why the church was special to them. Out of the same theme came very different speeches, all very touching. One of the common things said, though, was how much their church friends meant to them... it's good knowing that Mitchell and Amelia will be with a wonderful group of children all the way through youth! Another very special thing that happened today was that Mama and Daddy joined our church! They moved to Watkinsville about 2 1/2 months ago and had been visiting our church for a while. We are all so happy that they decided to become members! How especially wonderful for Mitchell and Amelia to share their church experience with their Grandparents!

Relay For Life Night!

Most of you have heard of Relay For Life... an all night event (and months of work before!) that raises money for cancer research. This was our second year to go to our county's Relay event... what an amazing night! It's like a big carnival with good food, fun games and lots of friends. This year was even more special to us because Sam Haygood was the honorary chairman. Sam's family goes to our church so we have known them for a few years now. When Sam was diagnosed with cancer about a year ago I had the pleasure of taking care of him in the hospital when he was in for treatments. This way I got to know this amazing family even better, and what a wonderful experience it has been. Sam is doing great now and will be getting married in September! Several of Sam's friends and family were at the Relay to support him. The night started out with the survivor lap around the track. It's amazing how many people we know who are cancer survivors, including our good friend and neighbor Jacy Rojewski. The survivor lap is followed by the caregivers' lap, then the team lap. Then someone from each team walks on the track for the entire night until 8am Saturday. Mitchell and Amelia had a great time this year. We gave them walkie talkies and money and sent them on their way (it's nice knowing that there are still a few safe places in this world!). Right before we headed home the luminary service took place. They light all of the luminaries (including the ones in the stands that read the word "HOPE") and a bagpipe player walked the track playing "Amazing Grace" while the whole stadium fell silent. It is a time for reflection and a truly touching moment. After this we took some tired children home for the night!

Softball Time!

Time to play catch up again! Amelia has had a great softball season this Spring and so much fun! She knew a few of the girls on her team and also made some new friends. The games are very relaxed at this age and they just let the girls have fun while learning the basics of the game. Amelia has done very well batting this year and had not had to use the tee yet! I think that this is a sport that Amelia will want to continue through the years... but we'll see!