Mia's Graduation 2014

Our Niece Mia graduated from high school this year! This was fun because she graduated from the same high school as me, only 21 years later! We all attended her graduation party and ceremony and had a lot of fun.

Mia and her Dad, Anthony

Our super-cute cousin, Lilly, and Olivia in the background

Me with Mia

Water balloon toss!

Mia and her Grandparents

Sarah and her boyfriend, Jon

Stephen and Mia. Mia tells me this is their first photo together!

Shane, Mia and me

Cousins Mia and Izzy

Connor playing

Parker playing with the wind chimes

The graduation ceremony took place at The Nutter Center at Wright State University.

Entering the ceremony (Mia is the third from the left)

Mia in the last row

Captured Mia smiling

Getting excited to get her diploma

She did it!

The class of 2014

The toss of the caps!

Year End Awards

Isabelle received a few year end awards for 5th grade and was on the Honor Roll every quarter. We are very proud of her!

Here's a quick photo of Isabelle with her friend, Daisy, toward the end of the school year.

Planting Our Garden

This year, to go along with our diet of healthier foods and green smoothies, we decided to plant our own garden. Shane got to work right away building the frame, leveling the bed and filling it with the appropriate soils. We decided to try tomatoes, broccoli, mixed peppers, spinach, lettuce, cilantro and basil. We bought some starter plants at Grove City's farmer's market and some seeds and started planting.

Since planting, everything has really grown. We've been able to use cilantro and basil so far.

Swimming Lessons

Seth and Parker took swimming lessons at Big Splash. We have a membership there this summer and it's a great pool! Seth has taken lessons in the past, but at the YMCA. Parker has never had any lessons previously. The boys took swimming lessons here for 2 weeks. Seth's was 4 days each week and Parker's was 2 days. Parker's class was also with Daddy (a parent and child class). The classes were both from 7:30 to 8:15 PM.

Seth's class

Practicing the front stroke

Trying!

The back stroke

Parker and Daddy

Parker loves swimming

Rolling from front to back and over again

These 2 weeks were a lot of fun and both boys really improved! By the end of the 2 weeks, each had been promoted to the next level of swimming lessons! That means  Parker will swim solo in his next class!

Orthodontist

Seth visited the orthodontist for the first time! He has one lower permanent tooth coming in far behind other permanent teeth, so our dentist suggested we have an orthodontist consultation. We found Dr. Hardy in Grove City. We arrived to this great sign:

First we took a tour around the office. While we were there, I saw several teenagers come in for their appointments, and I liked how casual the office staff was with them. This seems like a great office!

The office had sent us a questionnaire for Seth to fill out about himself. It asked things like favorite shows, hobbies, vacation spots. The office assistant and Dr. Hardy talked to Seth about his answers. Next Seth had an initial exam - in a casual setting instead of the "official" orthodontic chair. Seth had a lot of fun spinning this chair around.

While Seth had his exam, Parker got to play with Mr. Potato Head.

Fortunately, Seth is now on the "Rookie Team", which means that he needs no orthodontic treatment at this time. The doctor likes to wait until more permanent teeth are in, which should be around age 12. That way, if treatment is needed, it can be done all in one phase instead of two or more phases. We like that theory! Meanwhile, we will continue to see Dr. Hardy every 9 months so he can see how Seth's teeth are doing.

Ohio University

Our niece, Jessica, is a freshman at Ohio University. Her freshman dorm was Pickering, which is where I lived my freshman year! I couldn't wait to go visit her to reminisce about my time at OU! First, we walked around campus, down Court Street, and saw Shane's old apartment on W. State St.

Seth, Isabelle and Shane

Who is coming and who is going?? Baker Student Center is in the background

South Green

Shane and the kids

Scripps Hall (Diane used to work here)

The Greenery is now called the Over Hang

Shane's old hangouts

The Stadium

The Convo

Shane's old apartment. It was a lot smaller than we remembered, and the grass has been replaced by gravel.

Then we had lunch at Broney's Alumni Grille (this was not here when we were students at OU).

Next we went to Pickering to see Jessica! She lived on the 4th floor, so I got to peek into my old room, #402. It was exactly the same, as was the lobby to the building.

Jessica, Parker, Seth, Isabelle in Jessica's room

The lobby

Carrie and Shannon's old 402-Crew room!

Shane decided to use the lobby's phone.

We haven't changed much, ha!

Maybe we'll get to go back again if any of our kids decide to go to OU for college (fingers crossed)!

Take Your Child To Work Day

This year, Isabelle went with Mom to Take Your Child To Work Day at Patrick Engineering. We are a very small office, so Isabelle was the only child there. She didn't mind, though! She learned from our electrical and civil engineers and from our electrical designer. Just like 2 years ago, she picked Chipotle for lunch.

Isabelle's note to us

Learning about electricity

While at "work", Isabelle worked on her own laptop and got some of her homework done.

 Everyone at Patrick enjoyed having her there!