Road Trippin'

Emma and I had our first road trip for her dance competition this past weekend just the two of us.  Her second regional dance competition was in Mason, OH near Kings Island!  So I asked my Mother in law to get Ethan from the bus stop on Friday and Emma and I headed down there around 3:30 pm.  Luckily the weather was nice and it was a little less than 2 hours away!


We checked into our hotel and then headed about 5 minutes away to dinner at O'Charley's.  It was fun to just have some one-on-one time with her.  She is so busy with dance and school, we do not get much of that anymore.  I do not want to miss this time since I know soon enough she will be off to college.  That makes me sad...time goes so fast!

After dinner we headed back and Emma met some other dance friends at the pool and the Moms and I had some wine poolside!  Then off to bed!

The next morning we had a nice breakfast buffet at the hotel courtesy of our dance studio!  Then it was off to the high school to dance!  Emma gets a little nervous right before she goes on stage and then she is fine once she starts dancing.

It was a long day but all of Emma's dance performed really well and placed!  I am so proud of her and all the dancers.  They worked so hard throughout last year and this year on all their dances!  Great job Gen-PAC!

Saturday evening we headed home and the boys were waiting on us!  It was nice for a small getaway but nice to sleep in your own bed.  I do not sleep well in hotels since the beds are usually like sleeping on cement or the neighbors are loud or the heat or air is loud in the room too!

Talent...Talent...Talent!

Both my kids have more talent than I think I did at their ages.  I wish I had that but I do encourage their creative sides and both really excel at it!

Last Friday was very eventful.  Ethan came home from school off the bus with a chipped front tooth.  Needless to say, I was not a happy Mom.  This being said, he was supposed to perform 2 hours from then at his school's talent show.  I called our dentist but they were closed and my dentist was out of town and would need to call another dentist for an emergency.  Luckily, Ethan was not in any pain and the tooth did not turn black or he had any bleeding or sores.  So we decided to leave it alone until next week.

He then performed a cute hip-hop dance to "Watch Me Whip"  at the talent show.  He received so many compliments that he was blushing.  I would consider placing him in hip-hop classes but competitive soccer has taken over and dance is a year-round sport!  So I think he will continue getting his moves from his big sis!

He did get his tooth fixed on Tuesday and good as new!

Then on Tuesday night, Emma sang at her 7th grade winter choir concert.  Very proud of her and her fellow classmates!

Then on Thursday evening, Emma and her fellow Jags were honored for their artwork from the Genoa PTA Reflections program.  Emma turned in a Visual Art piece she was working on in art class earlier in the school year.  She did not place but she was still honored and we were still proud of her!

Love is in the air!

This month has had some changes.  I recently added substitute teaching to my resume!  I taught 4 times at my current school that I am working as a duty aide last week!  I am super excited about this opportunity and hope it continues!

With me teaching 2 half days and 2 full days, our schedules were a little crazy!  Erik has been extremely busy at work so I needed to get it altogether and I did!  Both kids had sports and I had carpools but I premade dinners, snacks and had bags packed in my car!

Friday was Ethan's Valentine's party which I am the room Mom but I was asked to teach 2nd grade all day.  I did but brought all his party items to his class and had wonderful volunteer parents to pick up the slack for me!  I popped in for a few minutes and he was doing just fine without me!

Saturday Emma toured and helped sort at our local food pantry (W.A.R.M.) with our Confirmation group with our church.  She had a great time and really enjoyed helping!  Way to go Messiah Youth!

Sunday was Valentine's Day but Ethan was feeling a little bit under weather so we decided to hang out at home all day.  Erik had to work from home all weekend so I decided to do some cleaning while the kiddos watched tv.  Erik ordered food for us and it was a nice quiet evening!

Since we all had Monday off except Erik, it was more spring cleaning!  I rearranged and organized Ethan's room.  He was feeling better and both kids helped.  I will eventually get to paint his room gray with his OSU bedding!

Emma's room was next to clean out and organize.  We could not rearrange any of her furniture since she has a bed, desk, vanity and her huge dresser.  However her room will be painted with new bedding she received from Christmas too!

Today was a snow day so we all slept in (except Erik who had to go to work), and I had to go to the dentist for 2 cracked molars that needed fillings.  Now I am a mean Mom who is going to have them actually do some work!  Emma has a math snow packet to work on, Ethan can work on his reading app, and math website and me back to cleaning!

Tonight Emma has a Reflections ceremony at her school for her art work.  She did not place but they are still honoring all participants which she could not be more thrilled! Then she is off to go to dance class!

Some fun in January!

Ethan has been having some fun this month with our church!  I am so thankful for our wonderful Children's Pastor, Pam.  She is wonderful and always thinks of fun ways to get the elementary kids together and share fun times and fellowship!

Ethan and Emma attended our churches, Winter Bash at the Westerville Rec Center on Jan. 10th.  Emma hung out with some friends and Ethan invited his best friend, Dom to swim with him.  Fun times had by all!

This past Friday, Ethan bowled at Star Lanes with his 3rd-5th grade church friends and Emma and I chaperoned.  Well really me....Emma decided to win some points for Ethan and her to win prizes...while he was bowling!  Again fun times...plus he did not want to leave!

Then this morning, Ethan volunteered to acolyte at church.  He has been asking for a couple of months so now it is his turn.  He had a crash course right before service and his partner did not show, so he did it all by himself.  Very proud of him!  He told me he wants to do it again.  Good thing because he will do it again on Valentine's Day!

Left 2015 with a bang!

It has been a great almost 2 1/2 weeks off with my family!  Even though Erik's foot is still healing with still had a wonderful Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, NYE and lots of friends and family time together!  I hope everyone did as well.  Here's to a wonderful 2016!


This is our Christmas Eve service at our church!  Ethan did extremely well and we also drove around downtown Columbus to see lights and a few in Westerville!

Christmas morning with Santa coming to our house, Christmas breakfast with the Turner family, Christmas again at our house with the Kyre's and spent the evening with Uncle Steve's house celebrating his birthday!

On NYE, we went to House of Japan for dinner and then Emma went over to a friend's house (Josie) and her brother (Warren) came over to our house for a few hours.  The kids had a great time and we rang in the new year with noise makers!

We did have some fun as well during break, with a family & friend movie to see Star Wars, Skyzone visit and Emma went to the mall with her friend Josie!  Sad to see our mini break go, but it is back to our normal schedule of work, school, dance & soccer!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas....

This past week has been extremely busy...since Erik has had his foot surgery and me getting into a car accident....life still goes on.  I did find a new car and Erik is out of a cast and into a boot.

Last Friday Ethan had his winter school party for 3rd grade.  I am so thankful to have such great volunteer parents to help me plan these.  The kids looked like they had a great time!

Friday evening the kids and I baked and decorated Christmas cookies.  Well more like I baked and they decorated!

Saturday morning Emma and I volunteered at the Christmas Store for the Church of all people with our church, Church of the Messiah, helping families in need receive clothes, toys, etc for their children for Christmas.

Saturday evening my parents, sister, niece, nephew, nephew's girl friend and great niece came over to celebrate Christmas with us.  Fun times had by all!

Catching up....

It seems that November and now December has flown by!  So here are some highlights from November including 2 Thanksgiving dinners!  Ethan's school had a pancake breakfast, he won a limo ride with his classmates and his principal for selling many cookie dough items for his school fundraiser and our Thanksgiving meals!

December is as just busy!    Emma has had a busy month with dancing for Tween Brands (Justice) for the annual holiday party which is private so we were not able to take pics.  Also she danced for the Rickenbacher employees for their holiday party and we saw our cousins The Stephens!  Then of course Emma danced all last weekend in her Westerville Christmas Spectacular with her dance studio.  Finally last night she sang at her first choir concert with Genoa Middle School.  I don't know how she does it, but she keeps it altogether!