Prom 2013

Lauren out did herself this year with prom, I guess since she's a senior and it's her last.  She spent tons of money (and part of mine!) on her dress, which is beautiful and went to get her hair done in an updo.  She does look beautiful doesn't she?  Here she is with her date, Austin.  He bought her a wrist corsage like she wanted.

Lots and lots of family came down to see her.  Here's Pop Pop with Megan and Kristin.

The prom couple posing with Zach, Megan and Kristin.

The prom couple with Lauren's grandparents.

The prom couple with Paul and I.

The prom couple with Ilene and Jordan.

Lauren and her best friend Madison.

The prom couple with Kelly.  Geez!  You would think we were at a wedding.

Austin's parents were there too I just didn't post a picture because I don't know if they would want to be on here.  Austin however doesn't get a choice since he's in almost every picture with Lauren!

Cutie pie Jordan enjoying sitting on the grass.  It was an absolutely beautiful day!

A closer up look at Lauren's updo and her earrings.  She picked out 2 pair and didn't decide which one to wear until minutes before coming downstairs.

Our house was the house everyone was meeting at.  Lauren had asked me if it was okay if she had some friends over for pictures but I never dreamed at how many would come!  Her friends start to arrive and we begin pictures.  Six couples so far, not bad.

Okay now we're up to 8 couples which equals 16 people.  Doable for pictures.  Of course I'm only getting the girls in all of these shots.

I could post a lot more pictures as the group grows but I think I'll skip all of that and go to the end result.  14 couples on my front lawn or 28 kids.  Lauren and Austin are in the middle of the line.

A closer up picture of Lauren and Austin.

What you don't see, and I really wish I had thought to take a picture of, was everyone that was there to take pictures.  Not only my family but all 28 of those kids' families.  Plus the line of cars that were parked on the street both ways and on each side for as far as you could see.  It was crazy! 

After the group picture taking was over I took one more picture of Lauren and Austin by our neighbor's tree (which happens to be in our yard by the way).

Then off they went.  Wow!  That was a crazy 30 to 45 minutes!  Out of all the girls that I saw I do think that Lauren was the most beautiful and that her prom gown was the most gorgeous.  Of course, I might be a little biased  :)

Crazy Kind of Day

In a perfect world there would only be one event per day.  Two events in a day are doable but it starts to add a little stress into your life.  Three events in a day is just crazy but that's what we had going on today.  It was a crazy kind of day.  First, Zach had an 11:00 t-ball game that I had to take him to because Paul was running a men's softball tournament.  No big deal, I would have gone to watch Zach play anyway so why not be the one to take him.  Then after making a quick stop home so Zach could change we headed to Paul's tournament to hang out with him.  The kids like to go because they can relax and play.

Lauren was recruited to help at the snack bar this year.  She looks so excited to do it doesn't she?

This is the real reason we go to the tournament, free lunch!  Since Paul buys all the food for the snack bar we get to eat for free.  Of course we're just eating his profits.

We spent a couple of hours there and then headed to Jordan and Lehlan's birthday parties which was right down the street.

 

We stayed for about half of the party but then had to leave because Lauren had to go to work. 
Even though it was a crazy day it was a lot of fun.

The Fox is Back

This time I spotted the fox sitting in our backyard.  By the time I ran and got the camera the fox was up and moving.

Then proceeded to sit and scoot its butt down our hill.  Ewww!  Now we have fox butt on our yard.

It didn't like that I came out on the deck for a better picture so it ran to the bottom of the hill and into our neighbor's yard behind us.

The good thing is it runs from people.  I can't believe that it's roaming our neighborhood during the day.

Last High School Season for Soccer

The soccer season has started again and I can't believe this will be the last year I get to see Lauren play soccer.  There are 7 seniors on the team and Lauren got picked to be one of two captains.  We kind of figured she was going to since she's been a starter on varsity all 4 years but you never quite know for sure.  So here's some pictures from her first few games:

This doesn't happen for every game but at this one the starting players were announced.  Her name had just been called.

They line up in the middle of the field, slapping hands as each player announced comes out.

Then stand at attention, holding hands, while the National Anthem is played.  I love when they announce the players.

Here's Lauren doing one of her captain duties.  Before the game and after half time she gives a little pep talk and starts the cheer.

Another one of Lauren's duties as captain is to be a part of the coin toss at the beginning of a game.

Doesn't she look pampered?  She's getting one of her team mates to stretch her leg for her. 

I guess it didn't work because she came out injured!

Whatever she did it didn't last because she was back playing/practicing the next day.  If we can only make it through one season without anything major happening it would be a miracle. 

Zach's Timeline

I remember this project from when the girls were in first grade!  You have to start from when you were born and for every year write something that was important to them or a milestone.  Then either illustrate it or use pictures.

He picked out the following for each year:

• 2006   Zachary is born
• 2007   Zachary's 1st steps
• 2008   Zachary's 1st Hershey Park ride
• 2009   Zachary's first day of preschool
• 2010   Zachary's 1st Nascar race
• 2011   Zachary gets his tonsils out
• 2012   Zachary starts t-ball
• 2013   Zachary's most recent bump!

When he brought it home I put it in his box of stuff I save.  I believe I've saved all the girls' too.  One of these days I'll have to sort through everything, find them and put them all together.  That will be a future blog post, like, in about, 10 years!

Little League Opening Day

What a long day opening day is.  The kids have to be there at 9:00 but the opening ceremony doesn't start until 10:00.  Then that takes forever because there are so many teams. Way too long for an antsy Zach, good thing he was Paul's problem!   Zach was on the Mets again this year and Paul volunteered to help coach.  

His first game wasn't until 5:30.  That's probably why today was such a long day!  I made it to his game late because Kristin had her district band concert at 3:30 so when Kristin and I got there we just stood by the outfield fence and watched him.  Of course I had to take pictures.

This is what he was doing when it wasn't his turn to bat.

Paul was coaching 3rd base and I thought he saw Kristin and I standing there.  After all, he did look right at my camera but he said when he got home that he had no idea that we were there.

So that starts the season for t-ball with many more games to come. 

District Band Concert

Kristin played in the District Band Concert today which just means that all 3 high schools from our district came together to play.  Here's the one and only picture I took of Kristin and her friend.

I took some video of some of the songs they played.  Just a warning, you cannot see Kristin at all.  I just put the videos on here if you want to hear how 3 schools together sound.  

 

 

 

Spring Time in the Park

I love going to Hershey Park in the spring, the lines are usually shorter, it's not as hot as the summer and it's a lot cheaper!  The downside at going in the spring is that there are few water rides up and running and the ones that are, like the flume, we avoid.

 

As always, the first ride we head to is Fahrenheit since that line can get long.  Here's the picture I took of Megan, Kristin, Paul and Lauren.  Like how I kept the "Please, no personal cameras" in the picture?  Yet another advantage to having a tall husband, he can block the view of the park employees for me!

We had to let Zach do something so onto the Fun Slide.  Zach raced Paul...

...and Kristin raced Lauren.

I used to love this ride when I was younger but I can't do spinny things anymore.  Well, I can, it's just better if I don't!  So instead I enjoyed watching our kids go round and round.

Most rides we could just walk right on.  Zach was actually tall enough this year that he could have rode quite a few roller coasters but he chose to only go on one, the Wild Mouse.  Not the best starter roller coaster in my opinion, the ride is too jerky.  The funny thing is he rode The Sooperdooperlooper last year but flat out refused to ride it this year.  I know it took us forever to get Lauren to ride roller coasters but I'm hoping it won't take quite as long for Zach.  How cool would it be for all 6 of us to ride together?  I can't wait for the day.

We took a break and ate the lunch we brought and also posed for a picture.

Then headed back into the park for some more rides.

This was taken on the Kissing Tower.  See how Zach is holding onto Lauren?  That's because when he asked me what that ride did I told him it spins and goes up and then suddenly drops.  He wasn't sure if I was kidding or not.  Yeah I know, mean mom.

It's not Hershey Park if we don't drive the old cars.  It's always the old cars too, never the race cars.  This time Megan rode with Lauren...

Paul rode with Zachary...

And I rode with Kristin.  Of course I don't have any pictures of that since I'm the one taking the pictures.

The girls and Paul wanted to ride another roller coaster so Zach and I went and got Dippin' Dots.

We always visit Chocolate World and go on their free ride.  Lately we've been buying the picture they take.  Here's this years:

I don't know if we'll get to go back to Hershey Park again this summer or not.  If not, this trip was fun and we hope to at least go again next spring.