Happy Birtrhday Scott!

September is by far our biggest celebration month! Scott's birthday was Tuesday and we celebrated with cake from Cold Stone (YUMMY!). The Buckeye cake - peanut butter ice cream with chocolate cake and a chocolate drizzle over top. No calories in that! After a great dinner, we enjoyed some cake! Max got him some Dremmel bits for Pinewood Derby time and the girls picked out shirts for him. Mia picked out purple - not sure if he'll wear it, but it really is a good color on him. So, happy birthday hon- glad we could celebrate you!

The Big Art Mess

So, we have struggled with our artist - Megan. Gotta love her. She has the most wonderful talent, but for super organized people like myself and her dad, daily we would walk into her room every night to tuck her in, and just shake our heads. These are the pictures of her mess. She wouldn't call it a mess, and many times she would "clean and organize" - but to us it looked the same. Markers everywhere, paper lining the floor, art bags hung on her bed for on the go, and stickers/crayon/marker covering her table.


So, we decided to organize our artist a bit. For her birthday, this was her gift. A new wide art desk with hutch, a huge bulletin board to hang her projects so they aren't all over the floor - and Grandma and Grandpa got her this cool art cubby to go with the desk. After her birthday, while at school I organized (and threw 2 garbage bags out of her room!). She has a drawer for all her paper, crafts, etc. and shelves for the dot paints, markers, and scrapbooks. The top shelf holds Grandpa Johns CD player she listens to all the time! Daddy picked out a new light and lazy susan for her supplies, and underneath her desk is still the plastic bins full of markers, tape and glue sticks (but I can't see them!)

Megan has been so thrilled with her room. She told me she wished school was a 1/2 day so she could sit at her desk all day! And I can say after a whole week - it is still very organized and she's arted every day! And if you're wondering what happened to the little art desk.....since Mia has been coloring on her walls we think it is a good idea to give her a place to color. As soon as it is cleaned up, it will be in her room!

Megan's Birthday Party

Megan hasn't had a party in a few years, so this year we promised her she could have one. After all, she's finally lived in a place long enough to invite friends! So, Daisy scouts, soccer teammates, neighbors and Mia made up a group of girls to celebrate with.

The first thing we did was Noah's Ark came and each girl made their own stuffed animal. It was so much fun for the girls to make (kind of like Build A Bear on wheels). They stuffed their monkeys, rainbow bears, tigers, pandas, and puppies. Megan wanted a panda bear. And of course it was dressed in her favorite color shirt - blue!

After we made animals, we played some games, jumped in the bounce house and ate some cookie cake. A fun time was had by all!

Stuffing their bears

Megan and Mia hard at work Blowing out her birthday candles!
All the girls and their animals!

Happy 7th Birthday Megan!

Happy 7th Birthday to my Megs Legs. I love you!!

Piano Recital

On Sunday, Max and Megan had their piano recital at our neighbor Melinda's house. She has been Max's teacher since last summer, and Megan's since January. She has been so wonderful with the kids. They learn so much about all kinds of muisic, composers, and instruments, and doesn't limit their knowledge to the piano. They even ended the recital with a percussion ensemble piece. I love that! Here is Melinda with her students - Max, Mark (another neighbor), Megan, and Ian (Melinda's son).

Melinda asked earlier in the week if Megan would design the program for the recital. Although some black didn't come through on the copies, you can get the idea below. Megan was so excited that she asked. (Drawing is certainly her thing!) Melinda really put a lot of thought into the event. Although her studio is small, she once had 70 students and taught full time - so she's up for taking more on soon. She says next year we'll be at a recital hall. After the recital, she had lemonade and brownies. A perfect afternoon treat!

Here's a few videos of the performances:

(I uploaded all their songs for Aunt Lori, Uncle Matt, Matthew and Katy - sorry we had to rush off for the event and you couldn't stay!)

Cool Strut - Max

Water Lily and Mister Machine - Megan

Peanut Butter and Jelly - Max

Chocolate Fudge Swirl - Megan

Chinese Classes

Our local Families with Children from China have several classes we can pick from when the kids become of age. Mia is finally able to attend some classes as a preschooler. First we attended Chinese language with Miss Sabrina. She wants the kids to use Chinese with her, and therefore we only go by our Chinese name - Mia's is Ni La from her given name (Fu Ni La). When the teacher said "Who is Ni La?" Mia raised her hand! I'm glad to know she hasn't forgotten, which is why we kept her whole name as part of her American name.

After Chinese language, we headed to Chinese dance. Mia has been wanting to take dance, and honestly for a 3 year old, the classes are outrageously priced. So, this is a great cheap option for us. She will take the class and perform at Chinese New Year in February. Not only does she get to dance, but she's learning about her heritage. Miss Sisi was very patient with everyone who is only 3-4 years old. It's pretty cute to see them all try to dance.

3 Year Old Preschool

Mia started preschool today. I can not believe she's big enough to start preschool already! Although she attended before (more in a Mother's Day Out mode) she was SO ready to go back. She misses the big kids and wanted to know when she would start at "my school". She will go 3 days this year. We have such a great school I know she'll do great!

Mia had a great 1st day and the best part for me was what she said driving home. After telling me about her new friends (but no names of course!) and about what they did, she said "Mommy - I love you because you're my best Mommy". I think she actually missed me!

Daddy stayed home and took her too - a big treat!

Showing us her backpack

She seems all grown up!

Her favorite moves! She's definitely our dancing queen.
When we got to school - such a cute sign - with ladybugs! And here she is with Miss Kim - her teacher for the year. Her assistant teacher is a very proud grandma with 2 adopted granddaughters from China. (one coming home in 5 weeks!) Mia is very lucky to have her in the classroom!

Labor Day Campout

Remember the tent? Well, we decided to put it to good use this weekend. The weather has been perfect around here for fall. 70's during the day and 50's at night. Great camping weather! So, we picked a night that we wouldn't care if we were tired or not - glad we did. Most of us are exhausted. And we only camped in the backyard!



Our evening started out with putting up the tent. Everyone is old enough to help and worked together to put it up. All the kids are helpers - which Mom and Dad appreciate! Mia thought she still needed to wear her dress to camp in. Fortunately I changed her mind later!





Taking a break from tent building, Megan managed to catch a moth on a stick. She was so excited to catch it - I know. It is the little things!

Max taught Mia how to cook hot dogs over a fire. (While Mom and Dad had brats off the grill) She was so proud to cook her own hot dog and when she ate it said - "It's perfect for me". Megan set the table and made sure everyone had enough supplies for smores!

Next up was Smores for dessert. Max tried to master the art of browning the marshmallows, but ended up getting them black most of the time! But, we had double chocolate ones, double marshmallow ones, and ate so many we were all stuffed!

Now here is Mia. I think the picture of her smores face is self-explanatory. After all the marshmallows were in her hair, on her glasses and all over her face!

After dinner we set up the air mattresses and got ready for bed. We played a friendly game of UNO..and of course Mom won. She's the UNO queen and hardly every loses. Although Max has beat her a few times!

And UNO was followed by a good night story. Megan wanted to read us "Henry and Mudge- The Big Sleepover". It was a perfect ending to the night. Now the night wasn't so great. Crickets, trains, bathroom trips, sprinkler systems going off, a gun shot at 2am, and a sinking air mattress made my bedtime 5:45 am..yes that is right, I went to bed this morning! No one else slept the best either and the only ones who stayed in the tent were Daddy and Mia. They get extra smores next time!

Go Bucks!

Max and Scott headed to the game on Saturday, after my parents couldn't use their tickets. Thanks Mom and Dad - they had a great time, and Max yelled at the refs for you :)!

Here's the O-H-I-O

Here's TBDBITL (The Best Damn Band in the Land). Once upon a time Scott and I would march with them. For those that don't know, we met in band, so it always brings back memories. Since being Alumni - we've only marched once. They have to continue the schedule of band years ago - getting up at 5:00am to march just doesn't agree with us!

On Alumni day, they do 4 script Ohio's. No one usually dots an I except band members. Only a select few (like Bob Hope) have dotted. This year John Glenn, along with his wife, dotted the I. A great man and a great honor too!

It was a close game, but at least we won. A win is a WIN! Here's to another season of football!

First Week of September

I'm going to warn you there are a lot of pictures, as we've had a very busy week! (and I'm sure it won't slow down anytime soon!)

HAPPY 14th Anniversary!!

Scott and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary on Wednesday. This was the last picture taken of us - Max took it on vacation back in April. Not the best, but it will do for now! Thanks for the last 14 years, honey!


Mia's Playdate!
With the big kids in school, and her preschool not starting yet, Mia has been a little bored at home. So, Mia had her friend Molly over this week. We had so much fun giving her mom Teri a much needed break. They played so well together and loved every minute - bubbles, sidewalk chalk, bikes and scooters! Who wouldn't have fun with that?

Gymnastics!

The girls wanted to do gymnastics again, and I was lucky enough to find class times together. Megan is in a basic elementary age class which is great since she can do the big bars, trampolines, balance beams, etc. She loved the fact that they let them use "chalk" for the bars. Mia is still in the little kids section, but she had fun too. Mia's favorite thing is the rings. I think she ran straight to them the minute the teacher said go! Hope they continue to have fun the next 8 weeks!