Peace Out, School!

This past Thursday was the last day of school.  I had two happy kids!  Well, Addyson had mixed feelings about it being the end of the year.  She had a pretty amazing teacher this year, Mrs. Lyon.  They built a really need relationship and I know it's one that Adyson will always treasure.  They exchanged an email the last week of school and it brought tears to my eyes;

Hey Mrs. Lyon! This is Addy just FYI. I just wanted to tell you I'm so thankful for you and all you have done for me. So- thank you! I don't want to sound cheesy- because every kid says it-but you are so amazing! I will never EVER forget you or this year. You helped me understand everything, and helped me deal with some people (you know who) that I would have not been patience with without you. I hope we can be pen pals/email pals! I will always keep you posted! :) I hope someday you will be able to watch Star Wars! LOL! Anyway, I won't be that annoying person that always emails you- but I will definitely keep in touch. I hope you never change and stay great! Thanks again! I will miss you so so much!


                                                        Your Student,
                                         Addyson Johnson 

Hey Addyson,

I have to tell you that you always make me smile and really seem to know when I need a pick me up!  (Even in the most unusual times) After sitting at a long storm delayed tough track meet tonight, I thought I had better check my email...there you are :).  I should be thanking you!  I think you helped me this year more than I could have ever helped you. I almost cried and laughed at the same time. Never hesitate to email me.  I hope we can stay in touch for years to come.  I am excited to see the wonderful things you are going to do. Always know that my door is open for you and that no matter where you are, your google drive is instantaneous! To think that you could ever be cheese made me chuckle out loud:)). 

You have to promise me that you will stay the same and continue to work hard.  You are an impressive young lady...don't ever forget it and don't be afraid to show it :)

Your teacher always, 
Mrs. Lyon

I mean wow!  I never had a teacher like this, she's one in a Million, and I hope Lane gets to experience teacher like Mrs. Lyon at some point in her life.

I told the girls they could each have a friend spend the night the last at of school.  Addyson had Regan over and Lane had Eliza.  Both really sweet girls so I knew there'd be no issues.  Haha. The girls played kickball, hung in their rooms, we did personal pizzas for dinner, Spa time after they ate, they ran around the yard after dark, watched movies, played Rock Band, then everyone crashed before Midnight.  The next day Liza needed to get home fairly early, but Regan stayed with us most of the day while her Mom worked. I took the girls to see Tomorrowland and I think it was one of the worst movies I'd seen.  The girls thought it was fine, but it was boring and the storyline was pretty odd.  

Can't believe yet another school year has passed.  After I put the girls on the bus the last day I cried.  Not unusual for me lately, but it just stung knowing that these girls aren't getting any younger.  Fifth grade and second grade, my little ones are growing so fast...so proud of them for all that they accomplished this year!

Westside Market and Melt

One of the places we haven't been since living in Ohio is the Westside Market in Ohio City near downtown.  It's really old, been there since the 1800's, and is full of vendors that bring their local, fresh foods to sell.  There were people selling produce, cheese, pastries, meat, flowers, and I'm sure things we didn't see.  Tons of people were there walking around, probably because it was a Saturday.  We ended up getting some dried pineapples and strawberries, some cupcakes and truffles and some grapes.  So glad we got to finally go because I've been curious about it for a while.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant called Melt in Independence for lunch.  Can't believe I didn't take a picture of our sandwiches, but this place basically makes grilled cheeses and stuffs them with anything imaginable.  I got the Backyard BBQ that had shredded beef on it with onion rings, Ryan got a Monte Cristo and Addyson a plain grilled cheese.  So much food, and a place we probably shouldn't eat at too often!  But it was still really good.

And that was how we spent our first Saturday of the Summer!

Tomatoes and IPads

Such a beautiful Ohio day today!  Couldn't get enough of being outside.  And I love the days when I know it's only a high of 70 so I can shut the heat or A/C off and open up all the windows in the house.  So nice.

We ran errands and while we were out we stopped and picked up a hanging basket of flowers and a tomato plant.  I'm so excited at the idea of growing my own food!  If all goes, or should I say grows right, we'll be eating fresh tomatoes by my birthday.  I'm excited!

Then this afternoon we took Addyson to buy her very own iPad Mini.  She's been saving up her money for a while, so Ryan and I decided to match what she has saved and got her one.  She's made the Honor Roll at school every six weeks this year at school so she was very deserving.  She was thrilled to say the least!  Can't believe she's approaching fifth grade this Fall.  Time is not slowing down at all.

First Grade Field Day

Delaney's first field day was this morning at school, she had so much fun!  Addyson's field day was Tuesday, but I couldn't go, and plus I'd been to so many of hers that I felt like it was ok to miss.  She seemed fine with it.  

Lane's events were the three legged race, hula hoop relay and another running relay.  It was so fun to see her and her friends laughing and cheering each other on.  Weather was a bit chilly so it was odd being in long sleeves and boots on field day.  Only in Ohio!

Speech Contest

On Monday, Addyson gave a speech at school about The Alamo and she did awesome!  

There was a contest open to fourth and fifth graders, and they had to choose a monument to talk about.  She needed to talk for 1.5 to 2 minutes.  She wrote just enough to use her time and she spoke loud and clear for everyone to hear.  She was pretty nervous the day before and the morning of, but her delivery was perfect.  She spoke in front of the entire fourth and fifth grade classes, and the parents of the participants so I was proud of her.  Took lots of guts!  

Mother's Day 2015

Another sweet Mother's Day in the books!

We have 9:00 church this year so there was no sleeping in.  It was ok though because I woke up to some really great homemade gifts from kiddos.  Addyson made me a scrapbook with some sweet pictures of her and me, and she wrote some nice things along with some drawings.  Laney made me some pictures and filled out a cute survey about me.  Ryan and the girls gave me some of my favorite Malley's chocolate, I got a nap in, Ryan made dinner and cleaned up after.  Pretty perfect Mother's Day this year!

Mother's Day Treats

Ryan told me the other day that he needed to pick up Hershey bars for all of the ladies at church for Mother's Day.  Bishop Withers did it last year, but this year he asked Ryan to do it.  He also needed to wrap each bar, 73 in all, in a piece of paper with some sweet sayings about Moms.  He took on the job without complaint and I think was even happy to do it.  Proud of my guy for sure!

Kalahari

Kalahari is an indoor water park about an hour from us that we've been trying to get to for a while now.  Weekends are pretty busy there, so we decided to let the girls skip school last Friday and go up, then spent the night and came home Saturday.  It was a good time with some serious water slides.  There were a few slides that made the girls nervous, and we figured out the common theme.  Both the slides they didn't like we're enclosed, guess they didn't like not being able to see what was coming up next.  They ended up having a favorite called the Zip Coaster that was a cross between a water slide and a roller coaster.  It had a conveyor belt that helped to speed things up, with some little dips.  I'm glad we got to go, it was definitely a fun time!