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!!

"Dear Edwina" weekend!

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!

Birthday!

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!

Hanging Out

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!

The Cruise!!

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!

Not all vacations are perfect, though... Amelia's UTI came back and she started running a fever at the end of the week (we just kept her dosed up on Advil and Tylenol and she felt fine) and she also got to experience a very small jellyfish sting... and Mitchell decided to see if the lifeguards were paying close enough attention at the Flow Rider when he got caught underwater in the roughest part of the water flow--he was stuck under the dividing net-- (the lifeguards WERE, in fact, on their toes and responded more quickly then we could have hoped for... Mitchell was fine, but a little shaken up). The good news is that Mitchell got right back on the Flow Rider that same day!

We had a blast every day... and we are ready to go back!!

Amelia's 10th Birthday

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!

Yesterday Amelia celebrated with 6 of her friends by taking them to Helen for tubing down the Chattahoochee... they all had so much fun! Thank goodness the weather held out for us... it turned into a beautiful sunny day after driving through black skies and very heavy rain! After tubing we all came back to our house for pizza, cake and presents.... what a fun day!

Camp Sunshine

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!

Our Trip to Indiana

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!

Mitchell's 12th Birthday

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!

Mitchell also celebrated with family on his actual birthday, June 10th with dinner, cake, and presents! Mitchell's biggest surprise came when he opened one present.... the game of Life. I attached a note to the box that said "In real life you don't always get everything that you want... But... sometimes life can be full of surprises!" At this time something in the game box started to ring... Mitchell's new cell phone! He had NO idea we were giving him one and he was SO excited!!

Swim Team

What a busy and fun summer so far... now it's time to play catch-up once again! I'll start with the swim team... Mitchell and Amelia really enjoyed their 6th season with the Barracudas! Both did a great job with moving up an age group and most of all had a blast during the whole season. The season ended on June 27th with the county meet where the Barracudas came in 2nd place! We were proud of all of them!

Locks of Love

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!