Annabelle turned 12!



Mojo and Annabelle's birthday cake. No Mojo didn't get to eat any.





Annabelle, Grace, Riley and Annabelle's friend Maddie.

Cousin Catie and her man Dan!

What's a party without a few video games?
Seth and Randy

It's been a month and I don't where the time has gone, but Annabelle celebrated her 12th birthday along with Mojo's 3rd the end of January. We enjoyed having some family and food to celebrate. Annabelle received her own compound bow with arrows. She was so surprised when we took to the range that morning for what she thought was range time with a leased bow. She's been making good use of her bow in leagues and will compete for FINALS next week and we can't wait to see the tally of the last 4 weeks. She's been in the lead so far! Good Luck Annabelle.

They make me smile

Scott enjoying the sunshine

Scott making his sister laugh





Annabelle laughing at Scott



Annabelle enjoying herself

What can I say, I really enjoy my kids. They make me laugh and smile a lot. They each have their own personality and interact with each other really well. As they get older, I'm happy to hear their thoughts and points of view.  I took most of these pictures at a restaurant when we went out last Friday night to celebrate their mid-term A's.

A little busy.

I've been a bit busy these days. I'm taking classes at night at the local college and I volunteered to be the Homecoming Coordinator for Scott's youth football association. When I signed on, it was suppose to be done by Sept. 1. Of course, once I was confirmed as the coordinator, the homecoming weekend of events was moved, by the Board,  to Sept. 24-26th.  At which point I realized I was going to be very busy for the month of September and celebrating my 16th wedding anniversary at a bonfire rally for the Jr. Warriors of New Lenox!

All in all everything turned out really nice. I had a great group of ladies to work with. Here are a few pictures of things we created to make the rally and homecoming day special for all 248 kids and their families.

Flowers for 8th Grade Moms

Tattoos to show team spirit!

Bags given to all kids.

Schedule of Rally events!

 We made banners for game day and had a sponsor for small footballs that we gave fans on game day. We also, made homemade noise makers, which consists of water bottles filled with pea gravel and decorated  in orange!

We ended up with great weather and won our game!!!

Kind of sounds like a "Sale" ad

Annabelle trying to take Mojo to School with her!







Scott coming home after 1st day of 8th Grade!



It's hard to believe my kids are in 6th and 8th grade. The time has truly gone by so fast. Scott has grown and changed his looks so much, just since April of this year, that I can't believe he's the same kid. In a way he is not. He's developed a cool, calm, presence about himself and loves to be physical.

Annabelle and Scott both have a way of making others smile and have the greatest sense of humor! They both are excellent students and are happy to help out around the house, if they remember that you asked them to! Mark and I are very proud of our kids. They are growing up to be wonderful people.

Football

If you never want to hear your kid say "There's nothing to do", sign them up for football. Since August 2nd, our life has been football everyday. Just like work is daily, it should be no big deal but football doesn't always stick to it's schedule - and if it rains it throws it off even more! If you know me, you know I'm having a bit of a hard time adjusting to the flexibility of time. Last minute time changes is not my cup of tea and I like dinner time with the whole family.

This being said, Scott is enjoying the sport so far. This is his first year playing organized football. He likes playing street football with his friends so he decided to join and wouldn't you know it, none of his friends are on his team, bummer!

The picture with his helmet is his practice uniform and the other is his Game Day uniform. You would think with all this fancy stuff he was in the NFL. Team pictures were Sunday, I'm guessing they schedule these right away so the kids don't look beat up before the season starts. In the first week of practice Scott dropped 5 lbs. I should have did the practices with him!

To make things more exciting I volunteered to be Homecoming Chairman. I thought this was a great idea since you must volunteer and homecoming was scheduled for the last weekend in August. This way it would be out of the way for when I start my classes for Fall semester. WRONG!!! Homecoming was rescheduled for the end of September. Another plan failed. Oh well, I meet with my committee tonight and hope we can get organized before the chaos of school begins. We all start August 23rd.

Who knew addition!

So when the kids cleaned their rooms, they did their closets too! Scott even labeled the drawers under his desk, so he would keep it organized! The kids are at a great age. They are always thinking and sharing their thinking processes. It's neat to experience them a individuals, because they process information very differently and find their own path to the same end result. It's fascinating to me!

Of course, now that I see the two closets in photos, I just realized that Scott still has the access panel to the attic painted like a window from when they were kids and the smaller closet was "Arthur's Tree House". Yes, the area that is now his desk was once a double wide closet like Annabelle's but boys don't need so much closet space so we made it into a desk area. It works out great for homework but especially for Lego building!

Here's our pile of stuff to get ride of. We had hoped to add our things to Aunt Paula's garage sale, but we may not be able to make the date. Looks like we might have to have our own mini-one!

Our kids are on the Honor Roll!

It comes to no surprise to some, but our kids are once again on the Honor Roll! The first trimester has ended with both having all A's. Of course Scott did just scrap by with a couple of
A-'s.

I was worried that the adjustment to Jr. High would have hurt Scott's chances of achieving this fabulous achievement, but I see I was wrong .... or is the incentive to bomb his sister with water balloons just enough encouragement to keep this kid on the Honor Roll list?

See I notice at mid term that Scott was struggling a bit, so I offered an incentive. They each will get a 5 gallon bucket at the end of the year. For each trimester that they've achieved all A's I will fill a third of the bucket with water balloons so that the two of them can have a water balloon fight against each other. Both of them lite up with such excitement of the prospect of pelting each other that they agreed and the grades kept improving! We've drawn a chart at home and Annabelle couldn't wait to fill in her third! Scott was so surprised that the B+ he had in writing class turned up as an A- on his report card that he called me immediately to share the good news - all A's.

Mark and I are so proud of the two of them. They understand the importance of good grades and that with good grades it will be easier to get into their choice colleges. We are blessed to have such bright kids and hope they continue to work hard at school. At the end of the school year, I will be sure to post pictures of the balloon fight!

First day of school!

Today was the official start of the school year. This year was different, in that the kids are in separate schools, so no races to the building this year. Scott (7th grader) actually gets to take the bus, the first time since kindergarten. Jr. High was no big deal for Scott. He came home all smiles. (I'm waiting for the school to call now! LOL!)

Annabelle (a 5th grader) was a little nervous when we walked to school together, but very pleased with her first day when I picked her up. I don't know if it's just my kids that don't get excited or want super new clothes for school or if it's all kids this generation, but I remember it being the most exciting time of year, needing to buy new outfits to wear and deciding which one to wear first. Oh, wait, Annabelle did wear her new Cubs shirt!

Scott

I think my son is pretty talented and here's my proof. Scott is really into Harry Potter. He has read all the books at least twice and knows every movie like the back of his hand. He has purchased and been given many wands, but this one, he made. I'm serious. He created this wand from paper, a narrow wood rod for support, glue and paint. No joke. I think it looks like he carved it.

(Please note - his head is not deformed - my iPhone camera distorts some objects when you are too close!)

Last Day of School!

The kids are done! Of course today was a waste, since it was only for an hour and a half. Scott and Annabelle rode their bikes and raced home, excited to see me! Actually, I think Annabelle thought I had a special treat for them, but I was there to make sure they were able to get into the house okay, since the garage door has been acting up! Sorry girly.

I'd say they are happy to be on summer break, but will miss their non-neighborhood friends.

Scott

Scott finally got his award at school. We had no idea that it would be an hour and half long. Sorry Grandparents and Aunt Paula! Scott was bored for some of the festivities but he was proud to get his award and we are so proud of him.

Randy and Baseball

My nephew Randy is playing T-ball this year. Of course, the kids are so ready for pitch ball that the teams introduced coach pitch ball a couple weeks early and the kids are loving it!

Seeing Randy growing up has been such a joy. He's a fun, sweet kid. It's great to see him in training for the White Sox, even though I wish it was for the Cubs!

Catching Up!

I have been a bit busy at work these past few weeks and have not had a chance to update my blog! So this entry will hopefully catch everyone up on recent happenings!

Grace came over for a cousins sleepover a couple weeks back. We had a lot of fun too. The kids made their own pizza's, played outside, played with the Mojo, watched the movie "Hotel for Dogs" and then slept in the family room. The next morning we had a pancake breakfast and Grace, who was worn out, layed with Scott while he played video games in the basement. I don't understand why every time I take my children's pictures these days that they insist on opening their mouths!

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My nephew, Randy, graduated from preschool! He's in the back row, on the end, closest to us. (Sorry the picture is so bad - I left my camera in the truck and only had my Iphone to take the photo with). The graduation program was really cute and Randy made us so proud when he was asked to hold the flag for the pledge of allegiance!

Presidential Award

Every parent encourages their children to do well in school. Mark and I have been blessed to have two very intelligent children who actually are doing well in school. Scott recently gave me an invitation from the school inviting his parents to an awards ceremony, where our son, will be getting the President's Award for Education Excellence. I can not express enough how proud I am of Scott. I actually had tears of joy when I read the invite. We can only hope that Scott continues his academic success. Scott will be in good company on awards night too, because his good friend Jacob also will be receiving this award. Below is the description of the award per the District Handbook.

Sketching

Scott has become quite the sketcher these days. I thought I would share these two. He's only 11 and really likes to draw. If you are interested in seeing more Mojo sketches check out his blog at www.mojosspot.blogspot.com or click on the Mojo link to the right on our blog sight www.priespage.blogspot.com

Cookies!!!

We make cookies probably more than we should in our house. So much so, that Annabelle is becoming a master at making them. And Scott, a master at tasting them! Many of our family and friends ask me often, what's the secret to your cookies? I reply Toll-House and they never believe me. Annabelle now knows the secret to making great chocolate chip cookies.

Sorry, if you thought these cookies were for you! This batch was made for my cousin Theresa and Bill for the birth of their newest addition, Mya and for the tech guy at work who cleaned up all the clitches on my computer for me! Maybe the next batch will be for you!!!

MATH?

Math these days is a little different from when I was in school. Scott drew this Fred Flinstone in Math class! Yep, MATH not Art ? It was a graph assignment (?). Whatever, it is still a cool piece of art.

Annabelle and Mojo are best buds these days. They are usually together all the time!

Sheltered

My kids are very bright, but at times I realize that I've sheltered them too much. Take today for instance. My kids were taking the ISAT's at school and the school waived the "No gum" policy for these tests. The theory is, that kids concentrate better when taking a test if they are chewing gum. Why they don't let them chew gum for all their learning then is beyond me. Anyway, my kids asked me to buy them some gum before going to school. I decided I would allow it, even though I'm against gum chewing after seeing my sister suffer with TMJ and the surgeries that went along with it. So I picked up a pack of Extra gum for each of them. Mind you, each pack has 15 pieces in it.

Later in the day, I went and picked the kids up from school and guess what I heard on the way home? "Mom, we need some more gum for tomorrow's testing". I was not really surprised, since I assumed they gave some to friends. Well, the some was three pieces and the rest.... well chewed by them. Since my kids have only chewed gum one other time. Yes, I said one other time. They didn't understand the concept of chewing a piece of gum for a fair amount of time before disgarding it. Thankfully they remembered the disgarding part!!!

I guess they really have been sheltered!

weekend

This weekend included a trip to the Bass Pro Shop. Why the children and I went along with Mark is beyond me but it ended up being entertaining. Of course, life with my children always seems to be entertaining these days.

OH NO- A bear!!! Run!! No just stand there and pose for Mom.

Scott was feeling a little love from the boat seats. You know having a camera on your phone is very fun!