Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Busyness Keeps (us) Going ......

Our June had a lot of running around, mostly the winding down of activities, and we even squeezed in a birthday with Father's Day. Emily finished up dance classes for the summer but not without a stumble this year. When you send your daughter to dance you imagine that she is learning grace, poise, and balance. This year Emily tested all those things, being over eager going to class one day, only a couple of weeks before the recital, this is what I was greeted with when I picked her up two hours later......not smiling though.
She was running up the concrete steps, tripped and scrapped both shins! Big Ouch! (Did I mention grace and balance?) She was trying not to limp when she walked, being very brave. It was worse than it looks and but Sp*ngeBob helps! She needed about 5 of those little strips to cover each scrape! Thankfully her tights covered them nicely as part of her costume. Here is one of her costumes for the show,
Pardon the background.....It was the best place to show off the costume. She is trying to be serious here; in this dance routine, the girls were to be serious, and not smile, but I kept making her giggle. She wore another outfit, totally black, very sequined and looked great on her, those pictures didn't turn out so well. I have helped out as a backstage mom for several years. So loaded with my bag of tricks, hairspray, every color of bobbie pins known to mankind, double sided tape, more bandaids, snacks and juice, I help the girls change costumes, hair pieces, and help keep them in the right order for the show. It is absolutely amazing! These girls dance in several numbers, having to change multiple times, and remember all the steps for each one. The best part is watching the younger girls look up to and learn from the older ones, and watch each one grow with confidence in them selves. I love being back there!! So much and energy and FUN !!












Dress rehearsal before the show. The theme was All Creatures Big and Small, so alot of animal prints. Reviewing places with our teacher. And this was her other teacher for jazz class - they could be sisters! Teacher M was also adopted from Korea as a little girl - another great connection! Needless to say the show was wonderful and all the girls, even the littlest ones who are sooo cute in their little tu-tu's had a great time. We start that all over again in September!


I can't forget my bestest guys..........Adam finished up his last year of baseball and tennis (for school). Adam is my hardest person to take a picture of, he doesn't like it. But while he was on the field I got him!



He looks very grown up and professional here. Oh my. It's hard to admit, but I have to look UP to see him eye to eye! He will always be my little boy playing with hotwheels on the kitchen floor, panicked when they roll under the refrigerator! Ahhh, memories. Here's my drama, lately he's looking at another type of car, this time ALOT bigger. I can't believe this part......driver's permit !! I want the hotwheels back !! (heavy sigh)

I had to face facts when his birthday came and he proudly reminded me of his new right of passage. Adam can get his driver's permit this summer. I'm still in denial!!! Probably will be until he comes home from the motor vehicle agency with the permit in hand. I know those hotwheels are in the attic somewhere, I might need them! Therapy. We had family and friends over for his favorite, ice cream cake. Mmmm, it was good too!


June brings Father's Day so I had Emily grab Chris, hoping for a group shot but Adam darted away again. Boys. I just love this picture.........

Our June ended in a very special way, compliments of the owner of the company I work for. He owns a very large boat, 70 feet of largeness. Each summer he has a few 'employee trips' and we get to bring spouses or friends along for the ride. Our evening takes place in New York Harbor. The whole night you are waited on by the crew and the staff, serving awesome food and drinks. I haven't been on this trip for many, many years and it is awesome each time! The weather was perfect, so was the company and no complaints were heard.













New York Harbor, just before the sun was setting. The captain actually took us right up to Ellis Island and the Statute of Liberty. It was sad not seeing the Twin Towers, but said a prayer for the lives lost that sad day.



Yep, going UNDER the Brooklyn Bridge as we head up the East River.













Looking down from the tower, taking a picture of Chris.......it was so cool to be up that high, the view was great!!

This was probably my favorite picture of the evening...........




Terry and Chris caught having a great time!!

In July we took a few road trips for vacation - More fun !!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Busyness Overload!

I promised myself that I would do my chores before I went online tonight, and well, I just couldn't wait......I can mop the kitchen floor and clean bathrooms tomorrow, right ? Who's looking anyway? Right now everyone is in bed! I have been a good parent, good cleaning lady, cook and chauffeur but a very bad blogger. I checked a couple of blogs and found so much good news ~ I can't stay away too long ever again!
First, lets update our adoption.........ummm, sorry , no news. We are still waiting. Some days are easier than others, the kids keep me busy, but there are a few days that hit kinda hard. My only way to look at it is that I am holding the winning lottery ticket with just the right numbers on it, but no one calls my numbers yet. I am still holding my ticket, check my numbers (email) everyday and wait. It's just not our turn yet. But when they do call that magic set of numbers (preferably my cell phone) I'm sure any one west of the Delaware River will know!!
On to our busyness.......I can honestly say that I am very glad that summer is here! The end of the school year just about kicked my butt and I'm not in school anymore. The kids got a couple of big projects (each) and I felt like I was at the craft store every couple of days. But I can say proudly (yep, I'm gonna brag abit) that both kids finished with all A's in all their classes. Emily is in enrichment classes and they follow the same course line, but more in depth. Adam took three honors classes and really worked hard the past two marking periods for finals. This is a picture of Emily's 3-D plant cell, ariel view. Lots of clay (no playdough permitted), Styrofoam and each part labeled, yes, her grade was an A. This is seventh grade science class. I can tell you that as a parent, projects are a lot more fun!
OK, it's still late May, for the purpose of this post anyway and we also had three band concerts (all in two weeks), and anniversary, and a few birthdays. Emily had one concert, at school, and she plays the clarinet in the school band. I couldn't get the camera to cooperate that night, but it was good. Catchy tunes, current songs, and a cool slide show of the graduating 8th graders.

Our anniversary fell on a Thursday this year, so my wonderful husband wanted to take me out to dinner and a show. He is soo thoughtful, and an awesome Dad. who could turn him down, right ?

Well here is dinner .........









And here was our show........ Although he had the best intentions, the family and kids took priority. We did go out later that weekend for an awesome meal, grownup talk and indulged in too much dessert, so we walked it off in a kid free (no 'I'm bored' stories) trip to L*wes, talking about more outside plans. Not very romantic, but it works for us.
Our next concert was for Adam at the high school and that was .....interesting. I'm not a music buff, but the music they played was involved, and seemed hard. But it was good, really good!!
Adam plays the French Horn and the Alto Sax. Doesn't he look handsome ?? I'm a little partial, I know, Mom's privilege! :-)

Our next concert was at the Camden Riversharks game - the middle school band had the honor to play the National Anthem at opening ceremonies. Parents weren't permitted on this trip, (I would have loved to watch too ) and the school will not publicly release the pictures. I tried to add the link for the Riversharks, but it is not working for me tonight. Our band director said the kids did a fantastic job and maybe invited to play again at another game.

To wrap up our running, my neice and nephew (twins) celebrated their 4th birthday with a chilly pool party and cake! On Memorial Day ! Cool birthday huh ?

All of this fun combined with the regular Mom jobs. And June was jumping even more than May.......... :-)