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.

Regionals

About 10 days ago, Sarah and I traveled to croton ohio for her regional horse competition. The day was very difficult. Sarah had been chosen to represent her team as the team rider in her class. This is a big honor and she had been preparing for 2 weeks. When we got to the show her coach informed us that she decide to pull Sarah from the team rider spot and give it to someone else. The reasoning she gave was inconsistent with Sarah's performance but what can you do. We were hoping that the coach would look at the objective results of this years standings and not get input from others on the team. Opinions are never accurate. Sarah has more points than anyone in her class. I felt that this decision to switch riders on the day of competition was unfair to both riders. Anyway, the entire team didn't perform well and the judge was rather harsh. At the end of the day, Sarah did not qualify as an individual rider for the next event, The Zone. Only 3 girls from our team of 40 qualified. The high school and middle school teams both qualified for The Zone. The Zone will be held on April 4-5 in Albion Michigan. Sarah has been selected as team rider to go to this show. We are hoping it is because of her skill and not because of the other girl declining to go.
When this season is over we will need to make a decision as to whether or not we will be continuing with horseback riding. Sarah loves horses so this will be difficult for her.
We have decided to sign her up for 4H. I hope this is not a mistake. This year she is doing a food project and possibly going to the fair. Next year, we might lease a horse and show him at the fair.
Emily has finished upwards basketball and enjoyed it. We are now signing her up for art lessons at a studio.
We are all quite busy right now. I am working 4 days a week to cover a maternity leave. Brian is still working hard and is very busy at work. We are all looking forward to this summer.

Finished

Well, Brian bought me a 3000 piece puzzle for my birthday. We started the puzzle on Christmas day and finally finished. We love to work on puzzles throughout the cold winter months but this one was huge. It took up all the dining room table even with the extension. Here is a picture of the finished result.

The girls are doing well. Sarah just finished with Cheer leading. Emily is still playing basketball. We are gearing up for Sarah's next horse compettion which will be regionals and nationals. We are praying that she does well.