Grandma B's

The girls and I had soooo much fun in Illinois this year!  We stayed for 2 weeks which was nice in itself. We didn't have to rush around to visit everyone and try to fit everything we wanted to do in a week. We had many "mini" vacations within our visit, too.  We took an over night trip to The Lost Island Waterpark in Waterloo, IA. It was great fun and now that the girls are older they were more willing to try different things. We spent a night with Aunt Becky swimming in her pool and a night with Aunt Jane just hanging out. Lots of time with Grandma B and everyone else enjoying good food, good company and lots of fun making memories :)

Dance Recital

This year Emma and Taylor both performed in the annual Perrysburg Performing Arts dance recital. Taylor performed 2 nights in a hip hop routine and Emma one night doing her tap performance. I am so proud of both of them. They have both taken dance for the past 9 months working toward this big night. This years dance theme was We The People with most songs based on a patriotic theme. Taylor's best friend Ashley also performed in the same hip hop dance routine. Both girls are taking a break from dance for the summer but Taylor is anxious to get back to hip hop dancing in the fall after school starts.

Happy 7th Birthday Emma & Ella

Wow! My babies are 7 years old. It is so cliche to say but time truly does fly. They will be starting 1st grade this fall. They have the most unique love hate relationship with such different personalities. Emma is very talkative, outgoing, persistent, stubborn, smart little girl...just like her mommy. Ella, on the other hand, is very fun loving, carefree, lovable, shy...just like her daddy. This year, the girls celebrated their birthday with dinner out at Max & Erma's followed by watching the movie Marmaduke. They got power motor scooters from Nana and roller blades from us. Watch out...they are both hell on wheels! Their birthday party was very different this year. Instead of a big at home blow out, we had Heros  http://www.herostoledo.com/ host the party. It is an indoor play area with inflatables, carnival games, pizza, cupcakes and much more. They do all the work right down to keeping track of what gifts came from who. All we had to do was show up with the camera, have fun and write the check. The girls had such great fun with a mix of family and friends. Thanks to you all for making their day so special.

For Sale

This year, Heather and I decided to open our annual garage sale on Thursday instead of Friday. It was a work in progress but it seemed to be worth it. The kids: Emma, Ella, Taylor, Ashley and Tanner had a bake sale stand with rice krispy treats, cookies, chips, bottled water and lemonade for sale with all proceeds going to help the tornado victims from the June 5th tornadoes that hit Northwest, OH. It was definitely worth their time! Many people simply made donations and $171 was raised over the 3 day sale. I am sooooo proud of them and they are already asking what they can raise money for next year.