Happy Birthday, Zachary!

Zachary is eleven today, on two-eleven-eleven (2011)! Birthday plans: dinner out tonight, roller skating tomorrow with friends, and a family gathering on Sunday. Have a great birthday weekend, Zach!

February Fun

So far, February has brought lots of snow, missed school days, and extracurricular activities galore.

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Zachary will turn 11 on 2/11/11! We brought him home from the hospital on Valentine's Day 11 years ago. His recent activities include indoor soccer, basketball, and band (baritone).

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Lauren has been playing indoor soccer and continues with dance (ballet/jazz/tap) and baton. She is also in the middle of selling Girl Scout cookies!

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We recently booked a summer vacation to Hilton Head, SC. We must be ready to move on to warmer weather if we're already looking ahead to summer!

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Last, but certainly not least, we closed on our old house! It is officially sold after eight months on the market.

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Stay warm!!

The last little bit of summer

Our latest news...

* Lauren is enjoying 1st grade at her new school. She is in a new Daisy Girl Scout troop, along with several other girls in her class. Lauren is playing soccer for the first time this year and will soon be enrolling in a dance class. She has done ballet and gymnastics for a couple years and would like to try a combo of ballet, jazz, and tap.

* Zachary is in 5th grade and is getting ready to start band. He has decided to play the trumpet! He is doing well in his 6th year of soccer. His favorite position is goalie and he and Lauren have spent hours practicing in our yard. He already knew a few kids in his class when he started at his new school so he has had a great start.

* We had some friends over from our old neighborhood this past weekend. Even though the air was a little chilly, we made good use of the pool, trampoline, and the badminton set. We cooked on the grill and David made some delicious beef brisket on the smoker!

* We got the sailboats, canoe, and paddleboat put away at the lake yesterday. The speedboat is still out so Zachary and his cousins took a few trips around the lake on the kneeboard.

* We have most of the house unpacked but there are still some boxes that have yet to make it to a permanent space. Our painting projects are much closer to completion. The remaining rooms are the guest bedroom and bathroom and another bedroom that we'll make into an office. We'll eventually get to the basement but that's not as high a priority!

* It looks like the constant raining of leaves from the woods into the pool may be our sign that pool season is coming to an end. I'm sure Z and L will be swimming as much as possible in the next couple weeks before we get the cover on!

New House!

No post since Christmas time = busy! We've moved into a new house about a mile or two from our old house. We're in the midst of unpacking boxes and getting things settled. Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures soon. Our home phone number and cell phone numbers are the same as they were in the old house. If you need our new address, please email me. Enjoy the summer!

Happy Holidays!

October Update

Fall and H1N1 are in the air! Ah, maybe that's not such a good combination. Anyway, as usual, we've been incredibly busy lately. Here's what we've been up to...

David - celebrated a birthday last week, has been playing his new Tiger Woods 2010 Wii game a lot since his birthday, and will soon be coaching Zachary's basketball team.

Michelle - has had an incredibly busy work schedule lately, seeing lots of kids with H1N1, filled in for the pediatrician in Huntington again, and will be helping in Lauren's class this week during the Halloween/Fall party.

Zachary - finished soccer season, had a great grade card, is getting ready to start basketball season, started piano lessons, is learning to play the recorder at school, and is anxiously awaiting upcoming trips to a Colts game and the IU vs. Purdue football game.

Lauren - got her first kindergarten grade card with sparkling results, started ballet lessons, continues with gymnastics, and just joined a Daisies (Girl Scouts) troop. We are celebrating her sixth birthday next weekend!

Happy Fall!

Happy Labor Day!

School has been underway for a few weeks now. What happened to the days when school started after Labor Day?

Zachary is enjoying fourth grade. He still loves math, science, reading, spelling...looks like he just likes school in general! He has also been playing fall baseball and soccer on the weekends. Lauren has been enthusiastic about her kindergarten homework. Each Monday they take home a letter worksheet that they need to complete and return by Friday. She has been finishing her worksheet as soon as she gets home Monday evenings! Since I have Fridays off, I'll be helping in Lauren's classroom one Friday a month. Kindergarten is half-day, so she rides the bus to her daycare Mondays through Thursdays. She is still doing gymnastics once a week at her daycare.

Now that school has started, I'm glad to say that the number of sports and school physicals on my schedule has decreased. That leaves much more room for well baby checks and sick appointments. I'm sure that, by the time winter is over, I'll be tired of looking at infected ears and red throats and will be looking forward to seeing healthy kids again!

We just got back from a long weekend trip to Chicago. We went to the Museum of Science and Industry, where we saw the traveling Harry Potter exhibit. The exhibit had movie props and costumes, including wands, brooms, robes, Quidditch hoops, Harry's four-poster Hogwarts bed, and Hagrid's furniture. We also went to the Hershey store, Ghiradelli's, American Girl, the Cheesecake Factory, McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, and Mike Ditka's restaurant. David, Zachary and Lauren even let me go to Saks Fifth Avenue, Coach, and Ann Taylor! ;-) Our final stop of the Chicago trip was the Adler Planetarium. It was pretty interesting, but I prefer the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium. We watched a 23-minute Sesame Street show about stars while we were at the Planetarium. Afterwards, Lauren informed me that she is "waaaaaay too old for Elmo."

We spent a rainy day at the lake today getting some of the outdoor "stuff" put away. The sailboats, paddle boat, and the canoe are packed up for the winter. We left the speedboat out so we could take a few more rides in the next couple of weeks. It's always kind of sad to pack up the lake toys for the winter, but before we know it we'll be getting it all out again next summer!

Hope everyone had a nice Labor Day weekend! Enjoy the short work/school week!