Trick or treat

Last night was trick or treat. The girls wanted to find matching costumes like ketchup and mustard but they settled for Greek Goddesses. They had a blast collecting treats and as always it is never enough candy. They run for 2 hours to see if they can get more than the year before. They achieved their goal and accumulated 5 large bowls of candy. I think Brian enjoys it more than the girls.

another horseback video

This is Sarah during her Flat class that she won first place in.

Horseback Show

This was Sarah's first Hb competition of the year. This was her first time competing in jumping over crossrails. Her first day she was very nervous for jumping but our goal was to finish the course without falling or being disqualified. Our goal was met. That afternoon she placed fourth in the flat class. The next day she placed fourth in jumping and got first place on the flat. The weird part was the lottery draw. The girls draw randomly for which horse they will ride. Sarah got the same horse for jumping( his name was bud) and the same horse for the flat( her name was Star). This is unheard of when you are picking from so many horses. She did great!

more fall pictures

Fall Fun

This past Friday the girls were off of school so we decided to try a new farm for some fall fun. This farm had a giant bouncing pillow and a zip line. Even though it was very cold the girls had a great time. Brian even tried the Zipline. We decided not to buy pumpkins there since they cost 10-30$ depending on the size. This year Emily and Sarah are dressing up as greek goddesses. Here are pictures of our fall fun day and I will post Halloween pictures soon.

Sarah's Middle School Band

Last Month Sarah had the opportunity to play with the high school marching band. The high school invites the middle school band members over to play with them at one football game. I think this is a way for the high school to encourage students to stick with the band. She also played with the band at a middle school football game. She likes band but is a bit frustrated with the music. Because we transferred into the district from private school, she did not get an audition to determine which level of band she would be in. The director just puts these kids in the middle level. She is first chair but still bored. After her fall concert which is this wednesday, we will be talking with the director about getting some harder music for her.

Emily's 10th birthday

Emily had her 10th birthday party last Saturday with all her best friends. She decided to have a Clue mystery party so we turned our house into the clue game. Emily was of course Miss Ruby Scarlette. Since some of the characters in the original game are men we decided to rename the characters as nieces of the originals like violetta plum, olivia collard green, etc. The house became Boddy mansion and we made our own playing cards and game sheets to suit our characters, rooms of our house and new weapons. We used silly weapons like a feather duster, magic wand, jump rope and squirt gun. I asked Sarah and 2 of her friends to be hostesses to help serve our mystery lunch and to play the clue game with them. The items on the menu had mystery names so you really didn't know what you were ordering. All the girls ended up figuring out the menu items. Everyone seemed to have a blast. Emily decided to make her signature ice cream cake for dessert which was gone in no time.

I can't believe my little one is 10 years old and over 5 feet tall. amazing.

vacation continued

We also went to put in bay. The girls had fun at the beach, the candy store was a hit and they enjoyed gem-stone mining at Perry's cave. The thought it was a treat to ride around in a golf cart.

Cedar point vacation

We had a great time at Cedar Point. The girls are dare devils and tried every ride including the dragster. The weather was perfect and we were hoping to go on a Wednesday when the park wasn't busy but I think everyone else had the same idea. The girls only waited 1.5 hours for the large rides.

After Cedar Point, we went to the African safari in port clinton and the girls had a blast feeding the animals from the car. The car is covered in tons of saliva and dirt but it was fun.

Bedroom make overs

The girls decided to re-do their bedrooms. Sarah planned hers out but what she didn't know is that we completed all the work while she was away at camp. She was very surprised to see the new and updated teen room.

Emily also decided on her room colors and decor. She helped paint and manage all the details so we got it just right.

summer

The summer seems to be flying by. We are having a blast this summer and get some work done as well.

We went to Mohican Park, camping with about 12 other families. We decided to rent a cabin and it worked out well although I don't see us going back anytime soon. We just aren't campers.

Brian and I spent a long weekend in Chicago with friends for my upcoming 40th birthday.

Sarah went to camp for a week and greatly enjoyed it. Sarah was also in the Hilliard parade for 4H. She recently presented her 4H project at he Franklin county fair. She got a superior rating. Emily had art camp which she loved.

We have had lots of fun with our friends at the pool, the drive-in movies and berry picking.

We have a trip to cedar point planned for August and a trip to the waterpark here in town. We have already begun to collect all the necessary items for school including back packs.

Sarah is gearing up for a new season of horseback riding and a new school and Emily will begin soccer and art lessons.

End of the school year

Today was the last day of school not only for the summer but also at their current school. The girls will be heading to hilliard schools next year and they are both very excited about that.

Today was the end of the year school awards. We are proud of both of the girls and the accomplishments they achieved. Both girls received honors for having all "A"s all year long. In Emily's grade there were only 7 kids to receive this honor and in Sarah's grade their were only 2. We are the only family to have both girls acheive this honor. Sarah also got a surprise to find out that her creative writing poem received a superior rating and she was 1 of 2 kids in the entire school to have their work published. Sarah received a fifth place in math olympics competition out of 36 kids from other schools. Emily received a superior and an excellent score on her 2 art projects selected for competition.

The girls are ready to move on to their new schools and begin a new challenge. Way to go ladies!!!! Dad and I are super proud of both of you.

Now Sarah is finishing her 4H cooking project so she can enter it into the franklin county fair. She is learning a great deal about cooking. Let's pray we don't set the house on fire. I will keep you posted on how she does. Yeah! the summer is here.

May updates

We have been very busy over the last month.
First off Sarah had her 13th birthday. Yeah!! We had a party at our house with a sleepover. Our plan was to camp out in a tent and watch a movie outside with the projector. Unfortunately it rained all day. The girls still had fun. We officially have a teenager now.



Sarah also had the opportunity to dissect a frog in science class. I helped the class and had a blast. The kids did a great job and no one got nauseous. I realized how much I miss dissection and anatomy.

Emily was chosen to represent her school for third grade in the ACSI Young Authors and Illustrators competition. She wrote a book called "Daddy loves me" with beautiful pictures in it. She won third place among 5 schools for her grade. Way to go Emily!!!

The rest of the month of May will be busy finishing the end of school activities.

The girls will not be attending Cypress school next year so the end of the year will be bitter sweet for them. They are both very excited to attend their new schools.

Easter and Spring break

Howdy! We had a wonderful Easter and we ventured to Cincinnati for a mini 3 day spring break. For Easter, we stayed home instead of traveling. It was rather nice to relax and enjoy the day. While on spring break, we visited museums and the zoo, shopped, saw a movie and swam in the pool. We had a great time.

Art show, Paintball and "The Zone"

well we have been busy this spring. Emily had an art show to attend at Cedarville University. 2 of her art pieces from school were chosen for the art show. She ended up getting a superior and an excellent. Yeah Emily!!

Sarah had the opportunity to play paintball at her best friends birthday party. They had a great time and Sarah really got into competing against the boys.

Lastly, Sarah and I traveled to Michigan for "The Zone" which is the semi-finals for horseback riding. The entire team did poorly thanks to the judging. Last year this same team won Nationals and this year we aren't even qualified to attend nationals. Sarah did well and placed 6th in her category of 12 riders. She had a nice tall horse which she looks lovely on but he spooked very easily and did. I guess the best thing about this show is that the year is over and now we are gearing up to start jumping. Sarah will be competing next year in jumping and on the flat.