Road Trip!

The girls are on the road again! Last summer we made some memories at Papa & Granny's house in Kentucky. This year Granny wanted us to take a trip to the beach. Dan, Glen, and Dad gave us the green light and off we went. North Myrtle Beach. Granny, Cheryl, me and four Yahoo's :) Honestly, I'm not sure that South Carolina will ever be the same. Last night we met up in Wytheville, VA and partied at the hotel pool. It's was loud and busy ... that means the younger yahoo's loved it. Skyeler, smart child, stayed in the room for some peace and quiet.

You Gotta Have Friends

Skyeler and her friends at the end of a long, hard day ... hair appointments, hanging out, and catching a movie ("Letters to Juliet"). The best way to unwind ... in the hammock with a bowlful of cookie dough :)

July 4th

We celebrated the Fourth of July both on the 3rd and the 4th this year. Dan had made homemade smoke bombs in co-op earlier in the year and the girls couldn't wait to have him make "homemade" fireworks for the 4th. They did that Saturday the 3rd and Aly was beside herself waiting for it to get dark. I think the Fourth of July is her 2nd favorite holiday :) Dan combined the homemade ones with a couple of Roman Candles and some sparklers. Someone in the neighborhood was setting off bigger fireworks and we got to see those as well. After much deliberation, we decided on Sunday the 4th to go and see the big fireworks show at the park in town. It was crazy crowded, but it had been awhile since Aly had seen some. We were practically underneath them! The fireworks were amazing and we all enjoyed the evening.

Aly and her Sparkler

Dan's homemade smoke bomb

One of the neighborhood fireworks, pretty impressive

Dueling Sparklers! Ok, so the picture is blurry, but it kind of looks cool anyway!

Catching Up

Well, it's been a little while since I have updated the blog. May was kind of crazy as me and the girls passed around a nasty cold bug. We finished up our co-op year mid-May and had testing two weeks later. The girls both did well on their testing. Skyeler had a bit of a rough start to June. She developed a staph infection on her wrist and we made numerous trips to the doctor and one to the children's hospital. In the midst of her drama we celebrated Dan's 40th birthday (wow! that feels weird to type) and had our Homeschool Showcase. Aly also attended camp for the first time and had a ball! We have spent the rest of June recuperating :)

Here are some pictures from our Homeschool Showcase.

Skyeler was barely well enough to work on her presentation board. She is feeling a bit puny in this picture. She is wearing one of her big accomplishments of the co-op year. The skirt she made herself in sewing class! She was very proud of herself and enjoyed making the skirt (making a shirt was not so fun, she hasn't worn it yet LOL). Aly was upset that she didn't have a skirt to wear to showcase (Elizabeth and Tori were also wearing the skirts they made) so Skyeler had compassion on her little sister and made her a skirt to wear too. You can see the skirt she made Aly in the pictures below.

Max & Nina joined us for the showcase. Babette had prepared a couple songs for them to sing (Babette teaches music class at co-op). It was so enjoyable!


Here is Aly with her presentation board and table. She had so much to showcase that we couldn't really get it all on the table :)

I was so thankful that Doug took the pictures for showcase. Usually that is my job, but with Skye sick that weekend, I was pretty much frazzled.

The camp that Aly attended also took pictures and posted them for the parents to view. Aly really had a blast. Skyeler got to work the last day of camp with her sister. Aly got to ride horses and do some ground work with them, she climbed the rock wall and did some archery and lots of other things. They also had a zip line. The camp director's wife said she was praying that the harness held when Aly went down. The next week when they sent out the email that the pictures were ready, I saw why. This was the picture that accompanied the email to everyone ...

Yep, that's my daughter. A professional photographer took this picture. Upside down, flying down the zip line ... she does NOT get those genes from me!

Skye's Up-Do

Two weeks ago our church had its annual Ladies Banquet. Skyeler and her friends planned to go to the salon and get a fancy hairdo for the occasion. Unfortunately, I came down with a horrible cold the day before and we were not able to attend the banquet. Skye still went and got her hair done. I was going to wait till Sharon shared the pictures she took at the salon before posting, but I haven't got them yet so I'm going to go ahead and share anyway.

She's just beautiful :)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Ok, so I'm not posting this on my actual birthday. On my birthday (Wednesday) I took Skyeler to her first training of the year at the camp, brought her home and put her to bed (because she had caught the same cold that Aly had), cleaned up and disinfected so Dan wouldn't catch it when he got back from his trip, and then went to church to help Pastor Wes and Peggy pack up their moving van. We had already decided to celebrate on Thursday since Dan was getting back too late to celebrate Wednesday. Sharon and I spent some time walking the nature trails and sitting by the lake at the camp, which was a nice way to spend some of my birthday. Although a water snake invaded the peace and quiet by sticking his little head up in the lake right in front of me. Eek!

Dan surprised me by bringing home some birthday presents. Vera Bradley stuff! I was so surprised :) I do LOVE surprises :) Dan took the day off on Thursday and Aly pestered him till he took her out to get me a birthday present. If you know Aly, you know she has a one-track mind :) She had an idea of what she wanted to get me and wouldn't rest till she got it. I was thrilled with my Twilight books! She read my reading journal and knew which books I liked best! We went out to lunch at Red Lobster and got my ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. All in all a wonderful day! I enjoyed the time spent with Dan and the girls.


I'll have to take a picture of my Vera Bradley stuff: a large cosmetic bag and a curling iron cover for my hair straightener, and a mini hipster.


Here's Aly and me with the presents she got me...

Math & Science Days at Kings Island

Every year Kings Island has Math & Science Days. Our co-op group decided to go this year. What a fun field trip! Aly was beside herself with excitement. This was the first amusement park trip where she was 48". That's tall enough to get on the big rides. :) Unfortunately, she was down with a horrible cold the three days prior and went still a little sick. Lucky for her, the adrenaline rush kept her going for most of the day.

I will get more pictures later, Doug took his big camera with him and took a lot of photos, but I did take a couple with Aly's little point and shoot (bad quality) and thought I would go ahead and post them.

I rode the smaller water log ride in Planet Snoopy land multiple times with the little kids. Max and Nina, who found out that they really didn't like roller coasters, LOVED this ride. It was fun and we didn't get too wet.

The mini drop tower in Planet Snoopy. Max hated this ride. Aly loves it.

The big water ride in the park. Dan, Tori, Tommy, and Skyeler agreed to get on it with the four little kids. They were pretty excited the first time, nobody got totally drenched. The littles talked them into "just one more time" and then they ALL got drenched. It was a beautiful day, though, and they all dried quickly.