New Beginnings

It's new beginnings for all three of my babies. Georgie started 11th grade this year, Jacob 2nd grade and Gracie has been moved up from the "Bears" room to the "Lions" room at the Child Development Center which will prepare her for kindergarten next year. All in all, the first morning of school went much smoother than I thought it would go. I made sure to be up bright and early just in case I had any temper-tantrums to deal with. Georgie is perfectly capable of getting himself up, ready and out the door in the mornings, but it's the mother in me that feels she needs to check on him and make sure he is awake and ready for his "first day of school morning pictures" - Yes, I have this thing with preserving moments and the first day of school is always a very big deal "for me". Georgie is a trooper and never complains about the picture taking though. Jake was up early eating his huge bowl of cereal, getting dressed, brushing his teeth and moaning and groaning "do I have to go to school". "Yes, Jacob, it's the law - you have to go to school". Now for Gracie - never a dull moment in the house when it comes to Gracie because she wants to sleep in, watch Curious George and Clifford and then wants "me" to get her dressed at her leisure. Just her being lazy of course, so I assist her with getting dressed as long as she does not give me attitude when it comes to brushing her teeth and doing her hair. She is very stubborn, I am not quite sure where she gets that from (hee hee). Georgie left rather early for school and I walked Jacob to the bus stop for picture taking with the "bus stop crowd" - I watched him get on the bus, sit down, look out the window with his beautiful blue eyes as he waved to me and worded "I love you" to me as the bus drove away. God, I love being a mom!

Another Successful Fundraiser

We had another fundraiser at Friendly's this month which was very successful thanks to my family, friends and co-workers that came out to support the Harrisburg Hikers. I attached a picture of my buddy Laurraine and her husband David who came out and surprised me. I don't get to see Laurraine too often so when I do get to see her it puts an instant smile on my face. I also had to include a photo of me and my babies (Jacob and Gracie).

The Start of Another School Year

It's hard to believe that summer is just about over and the boys are both starting school back up next week. Georgie will be in 11th grade and Jake is going into 2nd grade and lets not forget about Miss Gracie who has moved up from the "Bears" room to the "Lions" room at daycare which will be getting her ready for kindergarten next year. I plan on taking the kids to Hershey Park on Labor Day (it's going to be mobbed). I promised Jacob if he completed his summer reading program that I would treat him to a day at Hershey Park (a little incentive) and he read over and beyond the amount of books he was suppose to read. I am happy I kept on top of his reading over the summer.
I find that even though summer is short, it's a struggle the first two months of school to not only get the kids back in a routine but to get them back into the groove of learning things that they struggled with the year before. I had Jake attend reading camp at the local library and when reading camp was over he continued to read daily at home. Jake is good and ready to start school back up and he will be where he needs to be with his reading - I am confident he will do just fine. Gracie starts her dancing classes back up next month and I am also checking into swimming for both Gracie and Jake for the fall. There is not too much else to report on. George (my husband) has been hitting the treadmill these days and I am still training for the Breast Cancer Walk which is fast approaching. Life is good, no complaints. (The pictures included in this post are pictures taken at a family wedding we recently attended back home in Altoona, PA - they are the most recent pictures of my three kids).

Lions Tigers & Bears "Oh My"

We recently attended the "End of the Summer Bash" at Gracie's daycare center (Child Development Center). It was a farewell to Ms. Gina, who was with the center directorfor eight years and is moving on to another position out of state. Jacob along with Gracie and her friends from various different rooms at the center (Lions, Tigers, Bears, Kittens, Racoons etc.) all seemed to have a blast eating all the delicious home-made food and desserts, playing in the sandbox and on the swings, dancing and just having a wonderful time with each other. Gracie recently graduated from the "Bears" room to the "Lions" room which will prepare her for kindergarten next year. I cannot believe that this time next year my baby girl will be in kindergarten but most of all I cannot believe I will NO LONGER HAVE TO MAKE DAYCARE PAYMENTS FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE - WAHOOOOOO.

Bears Room Buddies

This past Sunday we went to a birthday party at Red Robin and Gracie ran into one of her daycare buddies (Hallie). The girls spend a lot of time together in the "Bears Room" (their assigned class). This will be their last year together since both girls start kindergarten next year. Wahooo....no more daycare payments!

Early Mornings

I have been getting up at 5:15 a.m. these days to get some training in for the 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk. I go over to the local park (Adams Ricci) and I am normally there when it is still dark, but I get to watch the sun rise and what a beautiful view it is. I really enjoy having that time to myself and it's a wonderful way to start of the day.

Wii Wee

I finally decided to go and purchase a Wii this weekend for Jacob. With an accumulation of his birthday money and money from mommy and daddy - Jacob now has his own brand new Wii. What a nightmare that purchase has turned out to be! Jacob and Grace don't get along as it is - can you even imagine the two of them playing with the Wii together? All I hear from my bedroom is yelling, screaming, crying etc. Even when Jacob is playing by himself he is crying and screaming because apparently the "game system" is cheating??? Huh? I finally had to tell my husband to shut the Wii down last night because it was just out of control in the house. I know it upset my husband because he is just as hooked to that game system as the kids are. Hmm...not sure if this was such a smart purchase afterall.

Live, Collective Soul, Blue's Travelers Concert

Well I went to the Live, Collective Soul and Blue's Travlers concert on Friday (August 1) night. My friend (Amy) and I first went to dinner at Applebees, which was horrible, and we headed to the Giant Center around 6:00 p.m. The concert started at 6:30 p.m. with the Blue's Travelers opening the concert. Well, I only knew two of their songs, each song they did play was an average of 15 minutes long (just shoot me, ok). Next was Collective Soul - wait wait....and yes, that's what we did was wait about an hour for the band to make their grand appearance. Apparently they had a tire blow out on their way to the Giant Center. Unfortunately, they did not do a sounds check because although the songs were good songs they sounded all muffled and distored. Now for the grand finale - I own about ONE Live CD so I know like a whole FOUR songs that the band sings with my favorite being "Lightening Crashes". Well Live played an ungodly amout of songs - at least 10 to 12 and then they said goodnight and left the stage. Dahh...I knew they were coming back out - they still did not play their all time number one hit "Lightening Crashes". Well....they come out and played on and on and on again - I was fuming!!! So I finally lost my patience (around 11:00 p.m.) and told Amy we were out of there. So...no, I did not even hear the one song I was dying to hear. Needlesstosay, I was at the Giant Center 5 hours for a concert that was all but sad and the attendance was just pitiful. Hey, the tickets were free - thank GOD. If Amy and I did not have to get up at 5:30 and walk 14 miles I might have stuck it out until the bitter end. Fortunately we had good company and we got to spend some time with some friends/co-workers (Lori, Doug, Deb and Don).