Megan’s Birthday Party!!!

We were finally able to fit a birthday party for Megan in our busy softball schedule!  Megan hosted a slumber party for four of her friends!

It was nice for us because the girls are at the age where they can entertain themselves for the most part.  We only had to play referee a few times which is a lot less than expected.

After a yummy dinner of hot dogs and mac and cheese, Megan opened her presents and then we had ice cream cake…

Megan received some good presents…

Then they played Just Dance on the Wii.  If you have a Wii I HIGHLY recommend this game.  So much fun for children and adults!

Happy Birthday Sweet Megan! Hard to believe you are 8-years old!!!  Hope you enjoyed your party!!!

Another Chapter…

of life closed for the Allen family this past week.  It was Emily’s last week at Helke Elementary School.  Fourth grade is the final year in elementary school in our school system.  Next year Emily will go to middle school which is a whole new ball game!

This year was very special for Emily.  She had the same two teachers she had in second grade!  We couldn’t have asked for better teachers to have her final year at Helke!

The second to last day of school was the school talent show.  One of Em’s teachers rewrote the words to Black Eye Peas song “I Gotta a Feeling”. The whole blue pod went on stage and sang the song.  It was very cute yet I still managed to shed a few tears.

Here is a sample of the words…

 

I gotta feeling that today’s gonna be a good day,

that today’s gonna be a good day,

that today’s gonna be a good good day

Today’s the day

We’re packing up

I got my grade card

I’m moving up

We’ll go to Morton

We’ll go to Smith

Our time is done here

Let’s move, move on

I know that we’ll have a ball

When we get up to

5^th grade

We’re all movin on

I feel nervous

But I’ll let it go

Let’s go to middle school

And leave Helke behind

I got my gold

Purple too

We’re all for Butler

And middle school

So say goodbye

To what we know

We’ll start all over

And then we’ll do it again

I knew I had better drink a lot of water at lunch to prepare my body for the tears that would be shed later in the afternoon at the 4th grade farewell…

The walked in a single file line to the gym while the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” played in the background.  Once they were all seated the principal made a nice little speech about the class.

(I am totally tearing up typing this 2 days after the fact)

Then the school librarian read the book “Oh! The Places You’ll Go!” By Dr. Suess.  This would be the last time she was able to read to this particular group of kids. Each child was presented with their own copy of the book.

After the story the kids were presented diplomas.  They shook the Principals hand then went down the line and shook hands with all the 4th grade and specials teachers.

There was a slide show of the kids which was mainly pictures pictures taken at Camp Kern but there were a few that were slipped in that were older.  Then came the real tears.  The went up to the stage and sang “We Are the World” to the parents.  So many of the kids were crying and some were actually sobbing.  It was so sweet yet awful at the same time.  Emily was fighting the tears back but didn’t let any out!  As you can imagine I was a mess by this point in the day!!!!

 

Friday was a pretty good day…FIELD DAY!!!!

Ron and I worked field day again.  I think we have done it every year since Em was in 1st grade.  It is always a good time.  This year we worked the putt-putt station!  Right next to us was the Holey Bucket game.  The parents working the Holey Bucket game sent the 4th graders in the particular group over with a big cup of water to dump on either Ron or any particular 4th grader that was playing putt-putt!!!

At the end of the school day the entire student body lined the halls of Helke.  The fourth graders walk through the tunnel of students, teachers, and parents.  This is called the Fourth Grade Clap Out.  I didn’t get any snapshots of the clap out because I was taking video and trying really hard not to cry.  Didn’t work!!!

While the kids were leaving for summer break, Emily actually broke down and started to cry!!!  I was shocked.  Last year she cried the last day because her good friend was moving up to Morton and she would miss her friend.  This year it is because she knows her time as a Roadrunner was coming to an end.

Congratulations Emily Grace!  We  love you soooooo much and are so proud of the young lady you are turning in to.  We know you will make us proud in middle school.  A whole new chapter of life will be starting for us in September!!!

 

P.S. Megan is thrilled she will be “alone” at school next year!  She is hoping the teachers will stop calling her Emily!!!!!

Memorial Day weekend 2010

All I can say is “I’m exhausted”!

Friday Ron and I both got out of work early which is a great way to start a long weekend!  Both girls had a friend stay over so they all entertained themselves playing outside and trading Silly Bandz.

Saturday morning Emily, her friend, and I walked in our first 5K with some of my co-workers and their families.  The 5K was the Freedom Run/Walk/Roll.  The weather was hot but beautiful!  Emily and I walked the 3.1 miles while her friend ended up running ahead with some of my coworkers.  Emily wasn’t a fan of walking so far because there were some hills.  The scenery was beautiful and walking around the Dayton VA campus was very enlightening.  Made us think of the real reason we have a three day weekend and why the day is called Memorial Day.

Em’s friend won 1st place in the girls’ age division.  Emily won 3rd (which means there were only three girls in their age division)!  We were all surprised when they called her name at the medal ceremony!!!

After we returned home after the 5K, we got a lot of yard work done.  Em’s friend went home because Em was going to go to her house that night to spend the night.  Had to give the girls a break from each other!!!!!

Sunday Ron went to the Indy 500 which he has every year since 1993 or so.  I always try to find something fun to do with the girls.  We went to the Cincinnati Zoo!  We enjoy the Cincy Zoo because they have giraffes and you can feed them.  We went with the wife and kids of Ron’s friend whom he goes to the race with.  Again Mother Nature didn’t let us down because the weather was HOT and HUMID!!!

The air conditioner in the van is not working so it was a long hot drive home.  When we pulled in the driveway this is what I found…

Once the girls shook out their sleepiest they wanted to play with the hose.  Along with the neighbor girl, they took turns squirting each other with the hose while the others swung on the swing set.  They had to use their swim goggles to keep the water out of their eyes.  Funny.

We all slept good Sunday night!

Monday was supposed to be our day of rest.  Megan woke up around 5 a.m. with a belly ache.  She was not feeling the best so she spent most of her day laying around.  Poor thing didn’t even eat.  I took Emily to Dicks to buy a bathing suit.  The entire 4th grade at her school is walking to the rec center on Wednesday and she didn’t have a suit that fit.

Emily and I also did Day 1 of The Couch to 5K program.  She was NOT happy about that.  Once we were done I took her home and then went back to the sports complex and did it again by myself.  The second time was hard because I was already hot and tired.

Megan started to feel better around 4:00 p.m.

Ron cooked some chicken on the grill for dinner then we headed out to Helke Park and practiced some softball with the girls.  Now we are having our bedtime snack and I think everyone will be in bed early tonight.

The upcoming week is going to be a busy one.  Lots of softball for both girls, regular games,  make up games and All-Star practices.  Last week of school which means Em’s last week in elementary school.  Going to be a very emotional week!  Stay tuned for lots of posts!!!

Bulletproof

I feel the need to explain the song playing on the blog right now.

I am one who tends to link songs to events in my life.  I can't tell you who the 23rd president of the United States was but I can tell you what song was on the radio one night when my dad and I went to Harts (anyone remember that store) one night to pic some things up!  I mainly remember because he told me to shush up!

Anyway...

Every morning while getting ready for work and school, I put music videos on in my room.  The song Bulletproof by La Roux seems to come on every morning.  It has turned our mornings in to a little dance-a-thon!  If one of the girls are grumpy or whiny this song snaps them out of it!

Megan and I also heard it on the radio on the way to her first softball game in West Milton.  Somewhere around that time frame is when I ran over a squirrel so now every time the song comes on she throws in a "Ka-thunk"!  Gotta love that kid!!!

May 2010

Wow, what a busy month May has been for the Allen Family.  Once I started writing everything we had to do on the calendar I immediately started to stress out.

The month started out Megan’s First Holy Communion.

I had to put this picture on the blog.  The cake center piece was the center piece that was on my First Communion cake and it was on Emily’s too!

There were lots of softball games on the calendar for the month of May but all but two games for each girl were rained out.  Opening day of softball was on May 8th.  It was very cold and windy.   The kids had so many layers on I am surprised they could move.

The 4th graders at Helke visited their respective middle school for next year.  She also had to decide whether or not she wants to be in band or choir next year.  She chose to be in band and will play the flute.

We attended two Dayton Dragon’s games.  The first was Helke night and the second was MVP night.

I was able to go on a field trip with Megan’s class!  The field trip was to Possum Creek.  I was fortunate enough to go on the same trip with Emily when she was in second grade so I wanted to make sure I went with Megan too!

This is a picture of Megan with Rosie!  She was worried Rosie would eat her hair!!!

Both Emily and Megan were selected by their softball coaches to try out for the All-Star team. Both girls received a letter of congratulations from VPR because they BOTH made the teams!!! Hopefully they will play in the same tournaments so Ron and I will be able to catch bits and pieces of each girls games!

We celebrated two birthday’s in May.  Ron was May 19th and Megan was May 21st.  Megan’s party won’t be until the first weekend in June but she was able to open presents from us and eat her birthday dinner at her favorite restaurant…

 

The month was also full of dance recital preparation.  Pictures, in-studio rehearsal, dress rehearsal, and the actual recital!

The month is almost done!  The tough part is over so I can breath a little easy.  Hopefully the girls will get to play a softball game or two!  So far June isn’t looking too bad for us!  Let’s hope it stays that way!