August 2016

Summer is almost over.
It's flown by way too fast.

Just as the 'kids' cooked lunch for me on Mother's Day, they also cooked for David on Father's Day.


We went on our annual 'Girls Trip' in June.
It was a little different this year.
Instead of a Beach Trip, we went to Colonial Williamsburg.
We had fun and learned some things, and although the most important part was being together - I think we all missed the beach a little.





In July, we went on our 'Family Trip'.
We went to the St. Louis area.
We ended up there due to the process of elimination in finding a place to stay in Mom's timeshare that met all of our requirements.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by all we found to do in the area.

Our resort was super nice.
We played putt-putt golf, went swimming, went fishing, and played 'real' golf.
Of course we went up in the famous Arch.
We went to the caverns that Jesse James used as a hide-out.
We went zip lining.
Grants Farm is the ancestral home of the Busch family. We spent a pleasant (and hot) day there. We saw animals, animal shows, rode a camel, sampled the wares, and saw the famous Clydesdale horses.
We went to Purina Farms and saw some amazing dogs.
The 'big kids' stopped at the Corvette Museum on the way, and then spent a day a Six Flags and toured the AB Brewery.
We went to Union Station - saw the light show on the ceiling, tested the 'Whispering Arches' and completed a scavenger hunt.
We spent some time at a park - played on the playground and strolled thru a museum there.
We had a great week, but we missed Ryan and Shondale.









However - I think the biggest surprise of all and one of the best days we had, was at the City Museum!
Now, the name 'museum' is VERY misleading in this instance.
It is NOT a museum in the way most people (myself included) normally imagine a museum.
It's in an old shoe factory and is a city block big and 10 stories high.
The best description I can give is - a huge, jungle gym / playground for all ages.
I've never seen (or imagined) anything like it.
If ever in the area - I highly recommend it.






We came home from vacation and went straight into Bible School.


We ended that week with a church trip to the Creation Museum.
It wasn't quite what I expected, but it was still a nice day with family and friends.
And Leila got to do a 'free fall' while we were there.


Summer is winding down.
The kids (Darrell and Leila) will soon be back in school.
I'm not ready for summer to be over.

Spring 2016

The first half of 2016 has been rather uneventful.

Leila got glasses.
Although both eyes needed them, one eye is significantly worse than the other.
She has 2 pair - just in case anything happens to one of them.
This turned out to be a very wise decision when less than a month after getting them - a little boy ran into her on the playground and her glasses got bent.
At least she had the others to wear until we could get those fixed.

Leila decided that soccer just may not be her thing, and elected not to play spring soccer this year.
She went back to gymnastics - which she LOVES.
She is driving me nuts doing flips and cartwheels and such all over the house though.

Mom and I went on a weekend trip to the Greenbrier in March.
It was fancy and grand and beautiful, but there are spots where you can definitely see its age too.
Still, it's a place to feel pampered.
Next time - I plan to have one of their famous 'baths'.




Easter was early this year.
Our town had its first ever 'Easter Parade'.
There were floats depicting Jesus's life from birth thru the resurrection.
Our church had the scene where Mary washes Jesus's feet.
And much to Leila's joy - the kids were able to ride in the back of the truck pulling the float!
The rainy / drizzly weather certainly didn't dampen the spirit of the day.


Easter Sunday started bright and early with Sunrise service and breakfast (which our Sunday School class cooked), followed by church, Easter dinner and then a much needed nap.





The 'kids' all cooked lunch for me for Mother's Day at Austin and Casey's house.
I felt very special indeed.


Leila has finished 2nd grade.
Darrell finished his first year at Marshall. He started working at a bank this week for the summer.
Austin just turned 23!
Summer is now here.
Where has time gone?

Christmas 2015

I love Christmas season.
Oddly enough, it didn't seem as busy and hectic this year as normal.
Maybe because Leila was the only one at home, and she didn't have any extracurricular activities going on at the time.
That's not to say I had all my Christmas stuff done early - I didn't.
Leila has had more doctor appointments lately than normal, and I've been trying to work as much as possible lately.
I didn't even start Christmas baking until the week of Christmas - but it all got done, just like it always does.

Just a few pictures from the season.

Putting up the tree

Santa

School Program

Church Program

Christmas Sunday

Cookies for Santa

Christmas Morning


Once Christmas was over, it was time to clean up and get ready for our annual New Year's Eve Party.
We love our group that gets together every year to send out the old and welcome in the new with games, fun, friendship and of course, food.

Leila and I were ready for the party in our new matching shirts, but everyone needed a nap the next day - even Mousey.

Fall 2015

Fall sped by with our usual activities.

Darrell settled in at Marshall and is loving college life.
He's taking classes, and working part-time.
He got a job as a life guard at the rec center on campus. It works out great for him because the rec center is right next door to his dorm.
He also joined a fraternity. He assures me it's more of an 'academic' one, rather than a 'party' one though - Kappa Alpha.
He's such a social person, I knew it was only a matter of time.


Leila's doing well as a big 2nd grader.

Leila choose not to do ballet this year - which makes me sad, because I love to watch her in it and I think she's very good.
I also know that I can't make her do something like that if her heart isn't in it.
I hope she'll miss it and want to go back next year - but so far, she doesn't.

She cheered again this year. She does love that.
This was her 3rd year cheering.
I'm glad she's found something that she does really like, but I must say that I'm not much of a personal fan of 'outdoor sports', and some of those football games got pretty cold.
Leila was fine - but I thought I was going to freeze.


In Oct, we took a weekend trip to Amish Country with some friends.
I've been wanting to go for quite some time, but we just haven't been able to work it out until now.
David didn't realize just how much is there to do and see.
Now he's much more willing to go back again.
We went to a carving museum that was absolutely amazing, and an Amish comedy theater - plus we had some great food.



The end of the month brought Halloween, of course, and both Darrell (19) and Leila's (8) birthdays.


For Leila's birthday, I let her miss school.
We went to breakfast with 'the girls' and then spent the day - just her and I, shopping at the mall.

We didn't get to stay ALL day though, because we had to get home and get ready for Trick-or-Treat that night.

Darrell didn't come home for his actual birthday.
He had just been home the weekend before to go to Amish Country with us, so he decided to stay in Huntington.
The lure of a home Marshall football game AND Halloween night was just great to miss in comparison to spending the weekend with us.

We went to the traveling version of 'The Price is Right' in Nov.
TPIR is one of David's favorite shows, and Leila used to say that she wanted to be a Price is Right model when she grows up - so when I saw tickets going on sale, I knew we had to go.
It was a fun night out, and I'm glad we went - although it would have been so much better had we gotten on stage and won something.


We rounded out Nov with Thanksgiving and a full house.