Report Cards and Red Ribbon Week

Lots of excitement this week, as both kids' schools celebrated Red Ribbon Week against drugs. Here was G's lineup:
Monday-Peace Out to Drugs - dress 60s and 70s-she wore a tie-dyed shirt, peace necklace, flare jeans, a vest, and bandanna.
Tuesday-Join the Fight Against Drugs-camo-she won a prize for best outfit, any doubts?!?
Wednesday-Paws-itively Drug Free-Wampus Cat colors-wore her shirt from her bday party.
Thursday-Our School Rocks-dress like a rock star-she went for the skateboard/Fergie look.
Friday-Being Drug Free is No Sweat-wear sweats or PJs-of course, she wore PJs.

All of Gray's teachers had wonderful things to say about her - great student, hard worker, extremely well behaved and polite. Several of them would like to hear her voice in class more. :) She came out with all As and 1 high B in math - so proud! Her language arts teacher shared a story that she wrote in class that was hilarious. The gist of it was...asking her mom for something special, but instead she asked her dad, because once he sees her pretty brown eyes and tiny cute nose, he cannot say no to anything!

Here was J's lineup:
Monday-PJs
Tuesday-favorite hat
Wednesday-wear something from another country
Thursday-jersey or team shirt
Friday-wear RED

Ms. Thone wants to adopt Jack. She loves his sense of humor, is a good friend to all, and is a terrific, engaged student. He is above grade level in reading skills, Advanced in math, and had all Es for Excellent in all other subject matters and behaviors, except for a Good in art. (sorry Nana - we'll work on that one). Ms. Thone said the other day she was having a difficult time with a particular student and was getting frustrated. She stood up to take a break and passed by Jack's table. Jack looked at her and said "I will pray for you." She said she can always count on Jack to bring a smile to her face! I loved that.

Stay tuned for Halloween pictures!
Pete - Paulie Walnuts from The Sopranos
Denise - Cruella De'Vil
Gracie - Candy Corn Witch
Jackson - Willy Wonka

GraceCat does the IM

So...after we finished with the water station at the half marathon, we headed down to Jacksonville for the second swim meet of the season. This was G's first meet getting moved up to the 11/12 year old division. Her goals were to drop time in 3 events, and to swim the 100 yard individual medley for the first time in competition. She was so proud of herself that she reached all of her goals! Swimming the IM was HUGE, as she has never swum the butterfly stroke in ANY meet since she started swimming. This is by far the hardest stroke and takes the most strength and energy, especially when you are tiny little G with your barely 60 pound frame. She has been scared for 3 years that she 'looks stupid' doing this stroke, but you can clearly see in the video that she looks great! (butterfly is the first stroke in the IM).



More rain today...D

Proud of you, Ashton!

Our former babysitter, and 'big sister,' got to spend the night with us last night! And why? Because she got up early this morning and ran the Conway 1/2 marathon through town to benefit the Soaring Wings Ranch. Gracie and I shot some footage of her coming into the AquaKids-sponsored water station at mile 6, right in front of Gray's school. Gray and many of her teammates volunteered to hand out Gatorade, water, and GU (some kind of high-caffeine concentrated gel that runners squeeze into their mouths while they run). It was a beautiful morning and we were so proud of Ashton's accomplishment, and proud to be cheering her on! When you watch the video, you will hear my not-so-words-of-widsom advice on dealing with her blisters. And you will have to endure my yelling. I got a little excited. :)

Love you, Ashtie! You rock!...D

Happy, Happy Birthday, Gray-Gray!

So Saturday afternoon was spent with Pete on his deer lease, trying out their new tent blind. A few does spotted, but no shots fired. At one point, Pete was scouting on the scope and turned around to find Gracie putting the finishing touches on her new press-on fingernails.

And today was her day! It is so hard to believe she is 11 - an official tween! To my precious Grace Renee - you are my sweet and feisty, athletic and intelligent ball of fire! I love you to the moon and back...Love, Mommy

8 Girls = FUN!

We officially survived last night's birthday bash for Miss Grace! We all had a great time with a FANTASTIC group of girls. The 5:00 hour was for pizza, chips, M&Ms, and the handing out of party favors - Wampus Cat tshirts with their names on the back. The 6:00 hour was for nail salon (Gracie set up a salon in our foyer), hair and makeup, and dancing. Then we were off to the game at 7:00. The Wampus Cats lost pretty bad, but no one seemed to care too much. Thanks Madison, Kelsey, Alexa, Natalie, Abbi, Sarah-Grace, and Hannah - you guys are the best!!!!

Showin' Up

A certain 10 year old girl who lives in my house decided to 'show up' for her first 2009 short course swim meet this morning.

We started the morning with 50 yard freestyle - she dropped 4.5 seconds from her fastest time and won the heat. Next up was 50 yard backstroke, taking off a whopping 9 seconds from her fastest time. Third, the fan favorite, was her 50 yard breaststroke, where she dropped 5.5 seconds and again won the heat. This was her best race today - at the end of the first length, she was 4th coming off of the wall on her flip turn. I was very nervous, biting my nails, standing next to Coach Herb, yelling at her to get going. Coach Herb calmly says in my ear, "she's about to turn it on." Her coaching kicked in, and turn it on she did. She ended up winning the heat by two body lengths. It was pretty sweet. Her final heat winner of the day was her 100 yard freestyle, where she went from a 1:40:31 to a 1:29:99. She was pretty pumped up! Way to go Gray Gray!

Catching up

1. Pete on his horse from the big elk trip. He came home with a huge case of 'saddle sore', but had the BEST time!
2. Gracie has her first short course swim meet coming up this weekend. Go AquaKids!
3. Someone also has a birthday coming up! Her celebration this year will be a TailGate pizza party at our house, and then heading over to watch the Wampus Cats football game on Friday, October 16th. She is inviting 7 girls and we got them each a Cats tshirt with their name on the back. Nails and faces will also be painted in school colors!
4. Violin report - Jack has mastered straight Twinkle Twinkle! He will soon be moving onto note reading and a second group class every week.
5. We had a neighborhood yard sale on Saturday morning. Our family goal was to raise enough money to get a two screen DVD player for my Yukon. We met our goal and got rid of some junk as well. Someone offered to buy Daisy...tempting. The kids sold donuts and lemonade.
6. A VERY belated thank you to the entire Dirienzo family for the get well banner! The kids LOVED it, and we had it hanging in our living room by the fireplace until yesterday! You guys are the best!
have a great week everyone...D