Weekend in review

The girls went to a Cincinnati Reds game today with their Grandma and Grandpa Allen. They both wore their Reds Heads shirts! Today was Build-a-Bear day at the game!

While the girls were at their game, Ron and I painted Emily's room. On Emily's 9th birthday (Oct. 2008) we gave her a certificate to get her room painted. We gave her a choice of 5 colors and she picked lime green! One of the stipulations was she had to keep her room clean for one month.

10 months later, we finally painted her room...Please keep in mind I still have organizing and arranging to do. The curtains are also wrinkled, I will iron them later this week! I also have stuff to hang up on the walls. I will post pics as the room gets updated!

This is the closet we no longer use as a closet.

On a different note, here are two pics of my pepper and tomato plants! We have gotten many tomatos and several peppers and they are yummo!

The weather was beautiful this weekend and the girls took advantage of it by playing outside. A lot of time was spent in the sandbox.

They were having so much fun, Daisy wanted to join them!

First day of school

Today is the girls first day of school! They both were looking forward to going back. Megan was up at 6:00 a.m. and dressed by 6:30.

Megan has already gone through the lunch calendar for the month and checked off the days she is packing. Only 12 days, much better than last year. Megan also announced I am "allowed" to pack peanut butter sandwiches for her instead of hot soup in a thermos. I can also pack the square pieces of ham like Debbie (our sitter) gets, if we can find it.

Emily is in 4th grade this year. Her last year in elementary school. It is very hard for me to believe she will be 10 years old in two months. Fourth grade "rules" the school! They are the oldest and the coolest kids (or at least they think they are). Emily's has two teachers this year. One of them works in the morning and the other takes over in the afternoon. The teachers happen to be the same teachers Emily had in second grade. They are wonderful and we are all excited!

Megan is in 2nd grade. There is a big difference in Megan's confidence between first grade and second grade. She now know what to expect. Megan thinks she is very lucky this year because she knows a lot of the 4th graders and they will say hi to her when they see her!!! It's funny how the kids think! Megan's excited about her teacher too! I have not had any experience with Megan's teacher but her reputation is she is a very caring and loving teacher. We are excited to get to know Megan's teacher and see how Megan's knowledge grows!

I promised the girls if they got up and ready this morning without any issues I would take them to Pizza Hut for dinner to use their book it coupons from last year. The coupons are for a free personal pan pizza. The bribe worked because they were both angels!!! They didn't even complain too much when they had to pose for the yearly first day of school pictures in front of the tree out front!! We each had a personal pan pizza for dinner!

Here are some pics in random order...

Waiting at the bus stop. Thank you Debbie for taking this pic!

Off to school we go!

Emily said she had a perfect first day of school! Can't wait to hear about day #2!

One last Hoorah!

Ron planned a last minute last of summer trip for all of us. We drove to Akron, Ohio and went to some National Pro Fast pitch Tournament games. We left on Saturday morning. We arrived in Akron just in time to watch Jennie Finch pitch.

After the first game we were able to get autographs and pictures with Jennie Finch. She was so gracious and nice.

The stadium was very cute. We had great seats and the players walked around freely and signed autographs and posed for pictures for anyone who asked. We were also lucky enough to meet Coach Candrea who was the coach of TEAM USA in the 2004 Olympics.

We spent the night in a local hotel and after the games on Saturday night, the girls swam in the hotel pool!

Cat Osterman

Jennie Finch


The girls with Cat Osterman

Caoch Candrea, Meg, Em, and Crystl Bustos

Meg and Jennie Finch

Em and Jennie Finch

Emily with Crystl Bustos

The games were fun. Emily was chosen to play a game called "Finish the lyric". She had to finish the line to "Life is a Highway". She won tickets to Laser Tag in Akron.

The girls enjoyed every minute of the games and were in complete awe of the professional players. Emily hasn't put a softball down since we got home!

Columbus Zoo

Today we surprised the girls with a last minute trip to the Columbus Zoo. My parents and brother met us at the zoo. It was extremely hot today but thankfully there was a decent breeze.

Here are a few pictures of our day...

This picture was through the glass so it is blurry...

What's a day at the zoo without a Gorilla?

The girls at a misting station...

Sleeping Koala! So cute...

Girls taking pictures of the penguins...

The main reason we went to the zoo was to see this little guy and his mom...

Miss Emily and her favorite animal...

Me and my girls...

Posers...

Just about a year ago...

Let me start at the beginning. When the girls were younger, I needed all the advice I could get on being a parent. I often went to a popular parenting magazine's website and referenced the message boards for advice. After being a lurker for a few months, I signed up and started asking my own questions and giving a few answers when I had the same experience as the other mom. I noticed a lot of moms had the same type of questions I had. Eventually, I formed a bond with a few of the ladies who were on the boards.

We left the message boards and continued to email and call each other. Last summer we decided emails and telephone conversations weren't cutting it, we needed to meet. Luckily all our husband's were on board with this meeting, even though I am sure they all thought we were crazy going to a big city to meet people we have never before met in person!

Soooooo.....

I flew here...

To meet these ladies...

We swam in this pool...

And the entertainment highlight of the weekend was seeing this...

I will admit, I was a little nervous about meeting these "chicks" for the first time but once I got my first hugs from Kari and Lee Anne, my nerves were calmed! Then Kirsten's plane showed up and it was like we had all known each other for years!

There was never a dull moment. The first night we ate dinner at PF Changs then walked around the city for awhile. Then we went back to our rooms and chatted until we couldn't chat anymore.

The second day we did the touristy things. Went to Navy Pier, took a boat tour, shopped, went to the American Girl Doll store, swam in the roof top pool of our hotel, had dinner then went to the theater to see Wicked!

The weekend wasn't long enough. Lots of talking, laughing and getting to know each other better. We vowed to take a Chick trip every summer until we are old and grey!!! We were even going to get t-shirts made of the places we visit together!!!

This year due to all our busy schedules, we could not get together and we are all very disappointed. This means next summer's trip is going to be the best one yet!

I love my chicks and am so thankful they are in my lives!!! I know they are always there for me and I am always there for them!!!

Love you chicks!!!

Water gun fights and look what I am growing

This year I planted some tomato and pepper plants!! Not sure what kind of tomato and peppers they are, guess we will find out. I am so excited I haven't killed the plants yet!!!! Here is what they look like as of today!!!

the girls also decided to have water gun fights today. Here are a few pics of the fun!

Ah, she got me!

Stick'em up!