Amelia was in 4 performances of "Dear Edwina" this past weekend... whew! The musical featured kids from 1st grade through 8th grade and was very cute! We were very proud of Amelia's performance as a neighborhood kid... this was her 10th musical with Oconee Youth Playhouse!
Even though my actual birthday is July 27th I have gotten to enjoy a few days of celebration this past week! Dave and I went out to the Hilltop Grille in Athens one night last week and listened to the live music on the patio during our wonderful dinner... it was lots of fun and we can't wait to go back on another Thursday night soon with even more friends! I also got to celebrate with my family on Sunday with a great lunch of steak... and Cecilia's chocolate cake (the best cakes in Athens)!! Turning another year older was a lot more fun with friends and family!
We have been on the go a lot this summer... but we did enjoy just hanging out at home with friends on many days! One recent afternoon Mitchell enjoyed a poker game with Dave while Amelia and her friend Isabella baked cupcakes for us all... Yum!
WOW!!! What an amazing vacation! My parents, our family, and my sister's family all went on a 7 night cruise on Royal Caribbean to St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and the Bahamas... thanks to my parents' wonderful treat to us all! This was the first vacation that we have all taken together and I can say that it has provided us all with TONS of wonderful memories! We had some really fun excursions... a bike ride in St. Thomas, snorkeling tour on an awesome catamaran boat in St. Maarten, parasailing in the Bahamas... and 3 wonderful and relaxing days at sea to explore our great ship! We all gathered each night for dinner and most of us attended the great shows that followed. Mitchell and Amelia discovered just how great room service is... Mitchell and Brandon had room service about 2 times a day for breakfast and a midnight snack of pizza and cookies! Mitchell loved his independence on the ship... we hardly saw him when we were at sea until dinner... he shared a cabin with Blake and Brandon and they had full run of the ship. We also got to celebrate Blake's 18th birthday on the cruise... a special time! 
Amelia has had a few days of celebrating her 10th! On June 26th we took her to Mirko's for dinner per her request... yum! On the 27th we celebrated more with cake and presents. She was thrilled with our gift to her... a girl's weekend away in January when "Wicked" is playing at the Peace Center in Greenville! Amelia, me and my mama will go on this girls trip and we are all looking forward to it! We are even getting to go backstage for a tour!
Every summer Dave and I spend 1 week with children with cancer at Camp Sunshine. It is by far one of the most rewarding and special weeks of our year! As another counselor put it "How can you be so exhausted and recharged all at the same time?"... but that is exactly the way you feel there! These kids teach us so many lessons about life that we can't teach them! We are very fortunate to be able to volunteer here every year!
On June 11th we made our annual trip to the Branham farm in Indiana... a trip all of us look forward to every year! Dave's mother was one of 9 children, so that makes for lots of Aunts, Uncles, and cousins (and now cousins' children)! Most of the family lives very close to the family farm and we all gather for a long weekend together of relaxing, catching up, eating lots of yummy food, tractor rides, hay rides, four wheeling, seeing the horses, cows and goats, swimming, playing in the barn and climbing up to the hay loft... just lots of fun!! Everyone leaves the weekend tired, happy, and full!
We can safely say that Mitchell had an AWESOME 12th birthday! He started his celebration a week early on June 3rd by taking 3 of his friends to Stone Mountain Park for the day. We all had a fun day there doing the new Sky Hike, seeing the 4D movie, the Red Barn, climbing the mountain and taking in the view, and ending the day with a picnic dinner on the lawn before the laser show... what a fun day! 
You've probably noticed that Amelia has changed quite a bit in the last few posts here. She had 10 inches cut off of her hair for Locks of Love! This is her 2nd time donating to this wonderful organization and we are very proud of her! 
May 20th was awards day at Oconee County Elem. School. Amelia received awards for Battle of the Books (being one of the top 4 teams), Continental Math League, and for making all A's this year! We are so proud of Amelia!
Last weekend Amelia and I attended our 2nd "Bring Your Daughter To Clemson" weekend. Luckily, the weather held out for us and we only got a light sprinkle of rain a few times throughout the weekend. They kept us busy with lots of fun activities including a tour of the greenhouses, tour of the Geology museum, a fun chemistry lab, yoga class, bowling, and a door decorating contest! We also spared some time for Clemson shopping and ice cream! Amelia gets to experience the dorm life while we are there... I think that she will love college!
Every Spring we go to Washington Farms to pick strawberries... some of the best you'll ever eat! Amelia especially loves to pick them and eats as many as she places into her bucket! I also made jam with some of them... some to keep and some to give away. We love them!
May 12th was Oconee County Middle School awards night and Mitchell received an award for making all A's in every class that he took this year... there were only 31 of these awards out of over 200 students in the 6th grade class! We are very proud of Mitchell for this accomplishment!!
I had a wonderful Mother's Day! We celebrated with my Mama on Saturday night at dinner and gave her gifts... Dave and I are so blessed to have such wonderful Moms! Sunday I enjoyed spending the day with my family. The day started out with a pancake breakfast then church together. After lunch we all went to the pool for the afternoon and played and relaxed... we enjoyed the sunshine! I was served a very special dinner of steak, shrimp, zucchini, squash and corn... all from the grill... YUM!! I am very blessed to have such a great husband and children and I loved spending the whole day with them!
Amelia had a busy weekend with her spring recital... she performed on Friday night and Saturday afternoon and even managed to sneak in a softball game on Saturday morning! She performed very well and we all went out for dinner and icecream after the show to celebrate... we are proud of Amelia!
Friday was field day at Amelia's school... or "concrete day" as the kids called it since there aren't any large grassy areas at this new school to play on! Despite the day starting out misty and gray they were able to participate in all of the games and had a great day... Amelia came home tired!
Mitchell's class did research projects on different careers and Mitchell chose to interview his great Uncle George who was an Air Force pilot for over 30 years... what an interesting career! Uncle George also came to Mitchell's school to speak to his class about being a pilot... the kids loved it! Mitchell really appreciates the time that George spent helping him!
Mitchell's baseball team has been having a great season... only 2 losses out of 11 games! Mitchell has turned into quite the player! Tonight he had some wonderful hits and even got to do some pitching for the first time... we are very proud of him!
Amelia's spring recital is this weekend! It is a great show with some very talented kids (although it can get a bit long)! Amelia and her friend Merritt had their dress rehearsal today and looked beautiful in their costumes... we can't wait to see the real show!
Today at our church was Children's Sunday where the children run the entire service... always a wonderful Sunday! Amelia had a great solo in one of the songs that her choir sang and I thought that everyone would enjoy hearing it!
