~Friday Night Lights

It's high school football time, time to break out the jean jacket and pin on my 'mom button'. Can you smell the popcorn and crisp air? We lost last nights varsity game by a few points, but it was still fun to be there since I haven't been to a HS game in at least 5 years. The kiddos found their friends and were hanging with them, they checked in every now and then--to get money for snacks. The stadium was packed last night. We stood in line for 20 mins just to pay to get in! Good thing we got there 15 mins early sheesh. There was no room in the stands either, but we had a good view from the fence (and cody and his friends had a nice view of the cheerleaders LOL) Thursday night was the pep rally and "meet the teams" at which they introduce every single athlete at the school. We have a small school but I think every kid there must be playing a sport cuz it took quite a while!

The varsity game

Thursday's pep rally

After practice

~For Andrea

Hey Teach, Don't these look like nice clean cut kids? No AC/DC shirts today :-) LOL!!!!!! (and he got to wear those black converse anyways, imagine that!)

Cody has "meet the team" today at the football stadium so he had to dress nice and Courtney just looked cute so I saw a photo op and ran with it :-) Gotta do it when they let me!

This is what he does about 10x before leaving...............................
and yes, he'd kill me if he knew that was on here so, shhhhh!

~Freedom!!!!!!

First day of 5th grade

Freedom......Yes, that means school is back in session :-) I am free to listen to what I want to listen to in the car. I don't have to have an itinerary immediately upon rising every morning. I can shop without spending every last dime on these kids who constantly "need" things. I don't need to have the freezer stocked with ice cream that I "accidentally" eat after the kids go to bed. I can workout uninterrupted. I can think clearly. Courtney's friends aren't calling 25x a day anymore. I don't have to worry about Cody's friends popping by before I've showered or cleaned the house. I don't have to give up the TV so they can play PS3 with those friends. I can watch TV without having my finger on the remote because no one is going to walk in the room during some inappropriate commercial/show. Heck, I can shower with my door open if I want to! Unfortunately I also have to let the dog out myself, take the trash out myself, go shopping without Courtney, the kids aren't here for me to ask what they'd like for dinner, they aren't here to play games with, or make cookies with, they aren't here for me to joke around with, they aren't here for 8 hours solid!!! Wait Cody is actually gone for 11 hours solid!!!! With Cody in football now, I have about 3 hours alone with nortney which is really cool. Man was it quite at my house today. School started today and I cleaned, really well. And no one was there to monitor what I was throwing away from their rooms Heeheehee And no one was here to immediately mess it up again either. So while I'm happy to have them back in school, part of me misses them..................right up until they get home and start fighting again!!!!

Hot & grimy First day of 8th grade football practice

~Toscora Park....it's for big people too LOL

I think Nick and Duane had more fun than the kids
courtney and duane
sarge
LOL jason & nick

Sarges company had a picnic at Tuscora Park this summer. It was so stinking H-O-T that day. Personally to me, it felt like 100, or at least 99, but rumor has it it only got up to the low 90's that day. I think those weathmen L-I-E. It's an adorable little place with an antique Carousel , batting cages, a train, a small (and I do mean small) rollercoaster, (i think Nick went on it at least 20 times LOL) swings, a playground, minature golf, a ferris wheel, a couple of pools, lots of pavillions and picnic tables, an ampitheater area where they have concerts. And the Army had it catered for lunch :-)

~Browns Game

We headed to a Browns game last week, one last hur·rah
before school started. This was the girls on the way to the game...............

A tad bit hyper. They were hamming it up, having a good time being their typical goofy selves.

Now look how 'thrilled' Cody looks to be stuck in the backseat with the knuckleheads..............

Poooooor Cody :( LOL!!!

Then we walked and walked and walked thru downtown for what seems like 3 miles because we parked at the $6 parking garage......

Pretty soon it would be "poor.......all of us" See the dark clouds by the stadium and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? They were about to let loose........

We all went thru the check point and got thru...... except Cora because she had brought a little bag of stuffed animals and her DS with her, so they said she couldn't go in with it and they pointed to a trash can and said she could throw it away then go in. And she protested quite loudly that she was NOT going to throw her precious stuff away. So Duane was going to run the stuff allllll the way back to the car when it started pouring down rain............

So we waited and waited and waited in a dry spot outside the stadium and when it didn't seem like it was ever going to quit, we started the 20 minute walk back to the parking garage in the driving rain (the game was paused) and when we were almost out of Cleveland- the sun came back out! gosh darnit!
But we had fun anyways, we were sopping wet and the girls had a blast splashing in the rain and we got to come home, dry off and watch the game on TV. Which was fine with me because I had a close-up view of brady quinn :-)

the offensive backpack

~VBS

These were my VBS ribbons - my mom saves everything!

Courtney took a couple of her friends with her to VBS this year, which was at my old church, where I went from 1st-12th grade. Where I grew up , got baptised, learned many life lessons, had my first crush, first boyfriend, first time at camp (which was always a blast!) first kiss, Lots of firsts and lots of good memories :- ) On the first day of VBS my old pal Andrea and I decided to stay and explore our old stomping grounds. I hadn't been there since I got married 15 years ago, it was so nice to see people that I grew up with! Andrea did a much better job writing about our jaunt down memory lane than I can, so go read her version HERE (hows that for lazy of me?!) We had fun, and I nearly cried when I saw the wallpaper (did ya read andreas blog yet?!) I wish Jodi had been with us tho ~ that would have made it perfect. We could have raided the church kitchen while our parents were in choir practice like we used to heehee :-)

So...back to this years VBS. The girls had a great time and really enjoyed it every night. Of course the last night was the best because they got to used all the tickets they earned at the festival. The dunking booth, the pony rides, the face painting and the "store" were their favorites. They were sooooo tuckered out that night :-)

no driving for a few more years honey!

court, caryn, cora and weslea

Courtney & Cora after the festival

4th of july

she does love sparklers!
I almost got my whole name in "LOR"

Yes I'm running a bit behind in the blogging department here lately. I'll blame it on the fact that its' summer and that the kiddos are keeping me busy. So here's some very delayed 4th of july. We went to my in-laws to watch the "big" small town parade and have a cookout. Duane finallllllly got the underground dog fence in :) The kids spent the night at Grandma & Grandpas after the parade, saw another parade the next day, duane and I went to see Hancock the met up with the in-laws and kids for fireworks :-) the end.

this lil gal was waiting for candy.....

this was the cutest lil "float" in the parade (it was pulled behind a bigger float). the shower was really working and these girls were having a blast slinging bubbles everywhere. Too cute!!!

The double exposured sparkler 'ghost' picture of courtney