Last Day of School - Emily

Emily's last day at North Glendale was bittersweet. While She enjoyed her 4 years there, I think she's ready to move on. She started there in 2nd grade, which was hard for her being shy. Emily's ready for Nipher Middle School and the influx of new kids! Kids that will be new to her AND her NG classmates.

Here's a few fun pictures from the last day at NG this year:

Emily and her teacher, Laura Sammon. One of two teacher that had the biggest impact on Emily as a student. We adore her! GREAT teacher!

The other teacher - Jane Fairbanks. Both she and Laura believed in Emily and helped her to believe in herself. You'd better believe when Adam gets to 4th grade, I will be BEGGING the principal for Mrs. Fairbanks!

Last day of school at NG means the Annual Talent Show!

Emily played Hedwig's Theme from Harry Potter. Well done Emily!

Group shot after school dismissed!

Blogging Status!

Blogging hasn't been at the top of our to-do list, but now that summer has arrived, hopefully lazy (and hot!) summer days will translate into more blogging! Blogs probably won't be in chronological order, but if you read this, you probably know us and won't care. Be back in a minute with a new post!

Easter 2011

Emily and Adam - making the best of a rainy Easter day!

And a bonus picture - coloring eggs!

Easters Past

A look back at two past Easters :

Emily's first Easter - we were newbie parents - only about a month in on our incredible journey as parents, so we weren't into taking pictures to mark occasions like we currently do! But these two pictures on Easter morning are precious!

Adam's First Easter - we spent the weekend in Chicago with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Shawn before going to Indiana to celebrate with the Kreidlers.

Coloring Eggs

Hunting Eggs at Uncle Jeff and Aunt Shawn's house!

Celebrating with the cousins!

Five For Friday

Hi All! Five For Friday is back. HERE. WE. GO!

1. Sorry we've been AWOL. Spring break happened and then two busy weeks with the kidlets and half marathons. Then, Girl Scout Camping. Finally, I think things are calming down somewhat, but then I remember that baseball is in full swing as is Emily's Spring basketball season!

2. Speaking of basketball, Emily's team has undergone another reinvention. Only 5 girls came back for the Spring season. The team also underwent coaching change. Things are going well, but Emily's first game was cancelled because of weather. I'm guessing that the Sports Center didn't want all those girls and families in their facility when tornado-producing weather rolled through St. Louis! Hopefully the Shock will be able to play this coming week!

3. Half Marathon reports: Paul paced me to a new PR on 4/2 in Springfield, IL -2:15:39. Extremely happy with that, although I wish I could have cut off those 39 seconds! I should have tied my shoes better - that was at least 20 seconds lost! But, I was thrilled with the new PR and it was awesome to run with Paul. Since he's so much faster than me, it's not something we do often.

The second Half was at home in St. Louis. It was such a fun weekend! It was the first half for some of our friends - Artie, Michele, Jen and Jeremy. This half was HOT, but we all made it and lived to run another day. We were also joined that weekend by my mom. Additionally, the kids ran in the Read, Right and Run race at Forest Park on Saturday. Eily covered just shy of a mile in 8:01! Holy crap, she's fast! Adam had a smile on his face from the moment he started his run.

4. Our next half - May 21st in Indianapolis with my college roommate Lisa. Paul will shoot for his PR at Geist and Lisa and I will enjoy a good 2+ hours of running, laughing, and enjoying each other's company.

5. Easter weekend - this is a weekend for family; however, since we live 5+ hours away from the nearest relative, we just celebrate the weekend with the four of us. We're debating options for the weekend - Six Flags, Movie, donuts, lunch. We just need to sit tight and see what Mother Nature is going to give us before deciding on our family activities. The weekend is going to start off with Emily having a sleepover here with a friend and pizza. Not too shabby!

Hope you enjoyed this week's version of Five for Friday. hopefully I'll be able to get back to blogging more! Since Paul's computer is currently "sleeping", you peeps are getting any pictures today!

Happy 11th Birthday to our best girl, Emily

Emily -

This post is late, but not because I forgot your birthday! Art Shows, Open Houses, Teacher Conferences and things of that nature got in the way.

You are such a great, young lady. It kills me to call you a "young lady" but there's no way else to describe you at this point in your life. You are no longer that chubby cheeked, curly headed little girl who loved to blow bubbles out in the driveway.

You are no longer the little girl who loved to cuddle for hours with any family member. (Although, you still do like a good cuddle!)

You are no longer the little girl that people could easily pick up!

You are no longer our petite ballerina dancer.

What are you -

You are our tall, blond-haired young lady who has a great heart. You are tall and graceful.

You are our tall basketball player! (Go Shock!)

You are still our beautiful dancer.

You are a lover of all animals - but especially our Emmy Dog!

You are a great friend to those who respect you enough to be a great friend back.

You are a lover of little kids, and they love you!

You are a great big sister who loves her brother unconditionally. You put up with all his Star Wars babble. When we ask you to help us out and watch/play with you, you jump in with all you have.

You are a great daughter.

We love you.

Happy 11th Birthday, Emily!