May 26, 2012

I can't believe it!  Calleigh's graduation day!  What a special time for all of us; friends and family came and added surprise to her day.  I have a graduation album where I have designated a section for each of the kids that I will be using for the many photos from today.

May 25, 2012

Mother brought Calleigh amazing pink roses and gave her this "granddaughter" bracelet as pre-graduation gifts.

Calleigh reached a goal I did not know she had set for herself.  Her goal was to finish writing her  book before graduation.  Tomorrow is graduation and she printed the last page tonight at 9:30.  She wrote over 10,000 words in the last two days!

May 24, 2012

The sunroom is finally finished!  Riley spent a lot of the afternoon reading in the comfy chair.

May 23, 2012

Today we saw our last play for our Shakespeare class.  I had never seen Merchant of Venice.  As always, Cincinnati Shakespeare Company did a great job, the set was especially awesome for this play.

Mother always brings the girls flowers for their spring KCC concert and it is always so hard to stow them under the seats that she gave Calleigh her pretty roses before the concert.

Calleigh and Concert Choir Director, Dr. Natalie DeHorn--I can't believe this is Calleigh's last KCC concert!  What a wonderful experience it has  been for our daughters.

May 22, 2012

Hobbes looked too sweet napping on our front porch.  He is fifteen years old!  I think the sun feels good on his old bones.

May 21, 2012

Today was California Achievement Test day at homeschool co-op and therefore the last co-op of the year.  It was very strange for me to have to order only one test this year.  Sad for me, cool for Calleigh.

May 20, 2012

"Impact Weekend" was this weekend at our church, and surely all who heard these two pastors speak were impacted by what they shared from God's Word.  What a blessing!

May 19, 2012

We did it!  We completed Hadley and Daniel's wedding invitations.  We arrived at the Gammies' house at 10 a.m. and left at 10:30 p.m., but the invitations are finished.  Different people pitched in throughout the day.  Michelle helped most of the time so I am not sure why she is not in the photo, and Jennifer worked with us until the ill-effects of a bad case of poison ivy got the better of her.  Daniel made the registery inserts to combine all the information onto one insert.  He even added a pretty graphic--what a guy!

May 18, 2012

Our cat, Hobbes, has such an easy life.  I wish I could relax this much without falling asleep.  He is one spoiled kitty!

May 17, 2012

Education Day at Kings Island.  Twelve kids and ten adults--we were quite a group and had a great time on this absolutely beautiful day!

Riley thought he would be too tall and was nervous that they would not let him ride Delirium, but he was just at the line so it wasn't a problem.

Riley and Skyeler--the tall and the short of it.  Riley slouched a little to get his shirt even with the sign.

I know with the Kings Island photos it has been a full day, but I had to record these two soccer photos. "Why?" you ask.  These must be recorded because after 12 years of spring and fall soccer, this is Calleigh's last soccer game.  I am having a hard time with this fact, it makes me so sad to see something we have enjoyed so much come to an end.  She is a great player and we have been so proud of her throughout these years.

May 16, 2012

A few flowers (plus the fern from Hadley and Daniel) that Greg, Calleigh and I bought.  I love red geraniums!

May 15, 2012

The directions for "Project 365"or "Project Life" recommended that you not take too many photos of the same type, i.e. lots of photos of your pet, but to try for something different each day.  I have worked diligently at taking photos of all aspects of my daily life.  However, it is soccer season and I am a soccer mom and spend every Tuesday and Thursday at the soccer field and therefore have many photos of Calleigh playing soccer.  This is my life.

The top photo shows Calleigh taking a dive after being shoved--hard.  This opposing team plays mean and dirty and yet we beat them both games by several points.

May 14, 2012

My entire day was spent painting trim and edging.  I am soooo sore!  It feels like I will never finish.

May 13, 2012

I always seem to take our official Mother's Day photos at the Ladies' Banquet and then forget to take any on Mother's Day, this year was no exception.  After church we ran in Walmart to pick out paint for the sunroom.  This is the color Hadley and I picked out--Dancing Leaves.  I told Greg I did not want him cooking for me on Mother's Day, I wanted him painting for me.

We did pick up pizza from Cousin Vinny's, a personal favorite of mine, and I did receive nice gifts.  Mother bought me a new pair of shoes, and stuff from Bath & Body in one of my favorite scents, Country Chic.  Calleigh gave me my gift early.  We had been to the Secret Garden and she bought me an old window to use for a project I have in mind.  Riley and Greg also gave me Bath & Body products.  Hadley and Daniel bought me a lovely fern for the backyard.

After my yummy pizza, Riley, Calleigh and I watched Iron Man and I took  a nap.  All in all it was a nice relaxing day.

May 12, 2012

Tonight was our church's annual Ladies' Banquet.  The theme was the many different "hats" that we as women wear, therefore, we were asked to wear a hat.  This is a photo of Hadley, Mother, Calleigh and I.

The meal, serving, and most importantly, the clean-up are all done by our men.  What a treat this special evening is for us all.

Our four senior girls, Victoria, Skyeler, Elizabeth and Calleigh, were asked to be our "Guest Speakers".  They were asked to speak on a woman in the Bible who inspired them or from whom they had learned a lot from.  Victoria chose Martha, Skyeler chose Rebecca, Elizabeth picked the woman at the well, and Calleigh talked about Leah.  They all did a wonderful, heart-touching presentation.  We are so proud of these Godly young women.

May 11, 2012

Elizabeth, Calleigh, Riley, Skyeler, and Victoria

Prom 2012

Riley and his Girls



These are just a few shots we took before they left for the prom.  They will have dinner and dancing and then there is an after prom party with bowling and pizza.  Riley is having fun already!

May 10, 2012

Ironing--a household task I don't enjoy and tend to put off (which is why I spent so much time having to do it!).  I worked on my pile for 4 1/2 hours and am still not finished.  More to do tomorrow, plus prom clothes too!

May 9, 2012

Calleigh, Riley, Mother and I went shopping today.  We went to several thrift and consignment shops, Hobby Lobby, Men's Warehouse, and David's Bridal.  We found several graduation gifts as well as pants for Riley and a dress for Calleigh to wear to the prom.  We enjoyed a speedy lunch of Chick-Fil-A.  We arrived home tired but with several tasks accomplished.

May 8, 2012

After Calleigh's soccer game, Mother treated us to Chinese food for dinner from our favorite carry-out place, Dragon City.  Some of our favorites are chicken fried rice, egg rolls and crab rangoon.  So yummy!

May 7, 2012

Today closes another chapter in our homeschooling adventure, it is Sharon's last co-op day.  For the many years that we have gone to homeschool co-op every other Monday, Sharon and her kids have picked us up and we have ridden together.  Sometimes the car has been so full of school stuff and kids that we have barely managed to fit it all.  Next year Riley and I will be going to co-op by ourselves, it seems too strange to contemplate.  The "lasts" are slipping by so fast and there are so many of them it is hard to savor each one.


Hadley, Jess and Daniel studying on our front porch on this lovely day.  We enjoyed having their company this evening and at dinner. Jess is a piano major, so she and Hadley have several of the same classes. I am so glad Hadley found Jess for a friend.  It has been great for her to have a friend in some of her classes or just to have coffee or lunch with while at Sinclair.

May 6, 2012

Greg spotted these fairy houses (toadstools to those of you with no imagination) this afternoon by the stump of our old crabapple tree.  These are the first ones we have seen so far this spring.  Fairies live in underground houses during the winter and wait until the weather is sunny and warm before building their summer homes.

May 5, 2012



We failed to get a photo of the finished product at the banquet last night.  I did want proof that I  managed to complete a project in four days!

May 4, 2012

Calleigh, Elizabeth, Jennifer, Skyeler, and Victoria

Tonight was the PEACH Class of 2012 Senior Banquet.  These are a few of the shots from our special evening.  The first is a photo of Greg and I with our beautiful girl and the next is Calleigh with her friends.  The final photo is Calleigh giving me a thank-you hug for her blessing--yes, I did get it completed and since Calleigh loves most anything Irish, I think she really liked it.

May 3, 2012

While I am disgusted about the mess these beautiful birds leave all over parking lots and sidewalks, I could not resist snapping this shot of these two with their adorable babies.  I had just come from the doctor after having to have blood work done (a process which required three tries and two nurses to accomplish) and these little balls of yellow fluff cheered me up and made me smile.

May 2, 2012

My friend, Angel, jokes about not knowing that 6 o'clock happens twice a day. She does not enjoy early morning hours and avoids them if she can. I generally tend to avoid hours after 11 p.m.  However, since my brilliant idea of yesterday I experienced the first 1:30 of the day (I guess this would technically make this Thursday's photo not Wednesday night's shot, but it was still part of my Wednesday).  The picture is blurry which is not surprising as this is how I was seeing things at this time of the night/morning.