Construction

It's construction time in the neighborhood (again). Time to play on dirt and rock piles!

April Fool's Day 2016

As for the past few April Fool's days, I created some foods that look like one food but are actually something else. We all like this silly tradition.

Above is "cookies" (mashed potatoes with black beans), "fish sticks" (kit kats with icing and graham crackers) and "sushi" (twinkies with fruit roll ups) .

Above is "seasoned french fries" (apples with cinnamon), "hot dogs" (carrot dogs), and "Kool-aid" (jello).

Parker was not amused that his Kool Aid was actually jello and  he could not drink it

Not posing for a photo

Thumbs up from Seth

Alice in Wonderland

The middle school put on the play, Alice in Wonderland, in March. Isabelle auditioned and was cast as a card! With only about two weeks to go before opening night, Isabelle took over another role, which was a carpenter's daughter (in the original play, this would have been a walrus). She did a wonderful job and is a great actress! The director (Mrs. Penrose) was so impressed with her, that she said she wished she had given Isabelle and bigger role. Hopefully next year she will be able to be in the school play again, because she had a blast!

The slide show before the play

Isabelle as the carpenter's daughter

Isabelle as card #3

The cast

Blue Jackets Games

Back in March, we got to attend two Columbus Blue Jackets games! We were invited by our friends Shannon, Jeff, Brady and Savannah to a game because they had two extra tickets. Seth and I were happy to be able to go to see the Jackets vs. the Penguins (although the Jackets lost).

Shannon and Carrie

About a week and a half later, we were able to get tickets to a game through Shane's work. This time, Seth stayed at home with a sitter. He didn't mind, since he went to the last game :)  We left around 9:00 PM, while the Jackets were losing. However, we later found out that it was a great ending to the game, and the Jackets ended up victorious!

Parker and Carrie

Sporting their OU gear

First Week of Summer Break

This summer, we have a new sitter for the kids, Hannah. She just graduated high school, lives in our neighborhood, and is the daughter of Parker's preschool teacher. Hannah will come to our house three days per week. This first week, they all had a blast! Here are some photos I received while at work.

 The boys at Gantz Park:

Parker's first day of Safety Town (more on that later):

A visit to the pet store:

Dairy Queen ice cream:

Hannah and Seth:

And that's not all! I believe they went to four parks total, stopped for ice cream twice and built a huge fort in the family room. It's going to be a fun and busy summer!!

Jackson Jaguars Basketball 2016

Throughout December and January, we were busy every Tuesday and Thursday attending Jackson Middle School's basketball games where Isabelle was on the cheer squad. For basketball, the 7th grade cheerleaders cheered for the 7th grade games and the 8th graders cheered for 8th graders. They just cheered for the games at home, so it ended up being both boys and girls games. The girls did a GREAT job and the games were a lot of fun to watch. We are happy to announce that Isabelle has made the cheerleading squad again for next year for football (she chose not to try out for basketball)!

Isabelle is 4th from the right

Upward Basketball

Seth played Upward basketball again this past season (January - March). He was on the Wildcats team, and he improved a lot over last year, and even made a basket! He got the ball several times during the games, and really grew as a player. Our next door neighbor, Dylan, was on Seth's team this year.

Last "Me and You" Day

The last day of school for Seth and Isabelle was also the last "Me and You" day for me and Parker. These are the days I am off work and Parker is home with me for the day. We have really enjoyed these days and all the time we got to spend together, just the two of us. Although it was such a busy day with Seth's and Isabelle's school events on their last day, Parker and I managed to have some fun, relaxing time together. We visited two parks (Windsor and Tanglebrook) and went to lunch at Big Boy (Parker's choice).

Just the two of us

Windsor Park

Time for lunch

With Parker starting Kindergarten in the fall, we are really going to miss these days!!

Last Day of 7th Grade and P.R.I.D.E. Award

Isabelle finished up seventh grade at Jackson Middle School! It was a very eventful year, with football and basketball cheerleading, choir, sign language club and the school play. She was also on the Honor Roll each quarter (all A's and B's in her classes). It was also a pretty big year as Isabelle seemed to have grown immensely! She started wearing makeup and contacts instead of glasses.

The first day of 7th grade:

The last day of 7th grade:

The middle school holds an awards assembly on the last day of school. They give out P.R.I.D.E. awards as well as awards for perfect attendance, straight A's, physical fitness (score top 20% in fitness tests) and an Archie Griffith award for athletes.

I received a call from Isabelle's Language Arts teachers, Mrs. Rutan, letting me know that she chose Izzy to receive a P.R.I.D.E. award! These awards are given to students who excel in class, not only with good grades, but also serve as roll models to their peers. Mrs. Rutan was really impressed with Izzy and had many good things to say about her. These awards are kept a secret from the students until the day of the awards.

Parker and I got to attend this awards celebration and Isabelle was quite surprised to see us there!

The students in the stands for the celebration

"The PRIDE assembly. Recognize outstanding achievement. Show gratitude for students who represent Jackson Middle School positively. Share this celebration with everyone."

Language Arts award recipients, including Isabelle

Isabelle receiving her award from Mrs. Rutan

The Language Arts recipients

Us after the awards assembly

Isabelle received a drawstring bag with the logo above, and a card from Mrs. Rutan at the assembly:

Next school year, Isabelle will again be a cheerleader for football (she chose not to cheer for basketball again), in symphonic choir (a choir that goes to competitions) and she made show choir! She is very excited about all three of these accomplishments!

Congratulations to Izzy!!!