Happy Halloween

Not much to say but lots of pictures to see... the kids all had a fun Halloween even though (much to Mitchell's dismay) they had school all day on Halloween. Anna insisted on being Tigger which is a costume that I made for Kassie years ago. Lexi opted to wear a favorite princess costume. Mitchell planned to wear his Superman pajamas but when a friend offered this fancy version of Superman including a muscle shirt, the pajamas were toast and he spent the holiday flexing! Kassie decided to spend Halloween as a hippy and thanks to Michelle and Sam she had some really styling pants to match!


Pumpkin carving was a hoot! As usual, Mitchell and Lexi protested about gutting the pumpkins by themselves but Anna dove right in!

Therapy

Although I know that it may sound slightly silly to some, I find the autumn foliage incredible therapeutic so I packed up the kids and headed north to spend the weekend in western PA a few weeks ago. It was getting close to dusk by the time we made it to Bear Town Rocks but the sight of bright reds, oranges, and yellows for as far as your eye can see is incredibly relaxing.

Unfortunately, the enormous rocks that the kids loved climbing made Beth, Kari and I all nervous after the view!

And so it began...

The first day of school came and went on August 27th. Quick admission of guilt? In all the chaos of getting everyone out the door I forgot to take pictures so these are actually the second day of school photos. Middle school bus comes at 7:05am and the elementary bus comes at 8:55am...my morning just keeps going and going!

My big endeavor

After Blake Boleware was diagnosed with leukemia at the end of May, I found myself wishing that I could do something to help out but since I live so far away I was having trouble finding a way to do it. Then in mid-June, I received a brochure from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. LLS helps fund research for leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. as well as providing educational programs and support for patients and families. I went to an informational meeting and signed up to run the Marine Corp Marathon (26.2 miles) to raise money for the Leukemia Society's Team in Training. I have a coach, mentor and staff support helping me to train (physically) and raise the $2500 that I committed to raise. I also have honored teammates to help me remember why I am doing this. My team's honored teammate is Matt (top) who is 3 and just began long term maintenance in July. Personally, I'm doing this for Blake (also 3--bottom), my grandfather--Ralph Hindman, and our friend, Sam who passed away from lymphoma last fall.

I set up my own website to help my friends and family follow me through my training and fundraising. Visit my link to see how I'm doing and while you're there, will you consider making a donation to a terrific cause? (FYI --the site is secure and the donation is tax-deductible.)
http://www.active.com/donate/tntmd/tntmdAClause
Thank you to everyone who has already donated! I'm over 1/3 of the way to my goal!

Arrrrr! Mitchell's Seven!

Mitchell's birthday was on a Wednesday--
Kassie had a softball game in the evening and Maggie was visiting while Beth and Tyler were in Italy so we opted to have his party after school the following Friday.

As it turned out, Kassie had a playoff game that night so it was me and eight seven-year-old boys for a pirate birthday party. We played Island Hopping, searched for treasure, smashed a pirate pinata, and ate a pretty awesome looking pirate ship cake. Then, they had a water balloon fight.

Some of the boys seemed kind of confused by an at home, themed birthday party, but I think in the end everyone had fun.

Farewell to Elementary School

As the school year rolls to an end, Glyndon Elementary School had lots planned for the fifth grade class. Kassie had a speaking part in the play. It was based on the old chorus classic "Dry Bones." The traditional swim party was cancelled due to liability issues so the kids opted for a day at the inner harbor--first the science center and then the aquarium. It was a full day of running the entire perimeter of the harbor and then piling three buses worth of people into two buses. (The other bus died.) Finally, the last day rolled around. the ceremony started at 9:00am. The kids marched into the cafetorium by twos graduation style. One of the teachers sang "Sunrise Sunset" as the principal played a powerpoint presentation of the kids starting with their baby picture and then flashing to a summary of facts about them as fifth graders: height, interests, hobbies, etc. After the ceremony, we stopped in for some pictures with Mr. Hennaut and a few friends: Carla, Melia and Tamar (clockwise from the top.) Off to middle school Kassie!

All good things come to an end...

(sorry, I tried something new with my editing. it didn't work very well so find a pair of reading glasses and I won't do that again.) lol

It's all about the cake!

Matt and I returned from his convention in Orlando on Friday and Anna's birthday was Saturday so we spent her second birthday in Brookville with Mimi and Papa. Lucky for her it rained and the younger kids got quite a kick out of jumping in the puddles.

I'm not sure Anna has any idea what a birthday is about except she LOVES the cake! After her nap she came down the steps and said, "Yay! A birthday cake a Anna!" She proceeded to walk around the house singing happy birthday to herself. Papa received the honor of feeding her birthday cake...particularly funny since Little Miss Independence has been feeding herself since before she could hit her mouth!

Spring Softball

Kassie played softball for Sandymount Recreation Council again this year. It was her third year with Sandymount and fourth total. During the season, she played most positions with her favorites coming in as outfield and (surprisingly) catcher. There were eleven girls on her team although as you can see, Anna thought she was number twelve--joining the girls on the bench, chatting with the coach and several times trying to take the field at the start of an inning! Go Blue Angels!

Get ready...

for an incredible amount of updates. April to August...