BROWNIE POOL PARTY

Lily's Brownie troop minus 1-Taryn didn't make it in the picture for some reason.
Everyone looking at the snake that the lifeguard got out of the pool. YIKES!
Lily and Meghan enjoying their hot dogs.
My little poser. She was great at swimming in her cast. As usual, it didn't slow her down a bit! She wanted to jump off the side but I drew the line there. Kids are so much more adaptable than adults!
Wyatt and his friend Andrew. It works out so well that he is the brother of Anna in Lily's troop. Whenever I have to take him to something, Andrew can come and they can keep each other company. Jeff was out of town tonight, so I'm glad Andrew was able to come. There was actually another older brother and sister there, so they all played together really well.

Lily had her Brownie kick-off party tonight. It was a swimming party and I thought it would be too cold to swim-especially for Lily-she's always cold. It was so dreary and chilly all day, but right before the party the sun came out and it got warmer. Plus the pool is heated to 85 degrees, so they swam the whole 2 hours. They were all so happy to get together again.
The big excitement of the evening was when the kids were yelling that there was a snake in the pool. We all thought they were goofing off, but they were all running out of the pool. Sure enough, when we walked over, there was a snake swimming around in the pool!! It was about 10 inches long and really skinny with stripes. There is a creek and woods all around the pool, so I'm sure that's where it came from. The lifeguard got it out and the kids were all so interested.

HOMETOWN TRAGEDY

Yesterday morning a plane crashed in my hometown of Lexington, Kentucky and killed 49 people. The airport is one that Jeff and I have flown out of many times and is only a couple of miles from my parents' house. Such a tragic story and so close to home. There was a newly married couple going on their honeymoon, a 16 year old girl whose mom was supposed to be flying with her but got bumped from the full flight, a national volunteer of the year for Habitat for Humanity on his way to Mississippi to build homes for displaced hurricane victims. What makes it so tragic is that the pilot was simply on the wrong runway and it was too short for such a large plane. Even worse, the impact likely did not kill many, but the fire is what did, since the plane was full of fuel. Very, very sad.

CHEETAH GIRLS

Lily showing her dance moves.
Savannah, Lily and Emma in their "cool" clothes.
Getting ready for the movie to start.

Last night the local YMCA had a movie night where they showed the new Cheetah Girls 2 movie. Tracee and I took the girls. They had a bouncy house, dancing, pictures, tatoos all in another room before the movie started. They had a lot of fun. It was kind of crazy during the movie-lots of kids were up running around and it was hard to concentrate on the movie, so we left a bit early. I think the most fun they had was the dancing before.
We have kind of a busy day today. Lily's friend Sammy, who is our neighbor is having a birthday party/cookout and my other neighbor is having a party for something she just started selling.

DESPERATE READER

OMG-this was too funny!! I went this morning to check on Wyatt in the shower and THIS is what I found! He had his Harry Potter book propped outside and was sitting in the shower reading it through the glass!! I know exactly how he feels-I cannot put a good book down either!! We took away his Playstation and his TV when school started and it's the best thing we've done--he reads a lot more now! He is on the 4th book in the series and it's the longest-around 750 pages! He was excited to find that his teacher has it in his classroom, too, so he is reading it there when they have free reading time and also at home. I think he may be around pg 100 or so. He has a way to go yet.

BROKEN ARM GIRL

Here is a pic of Lily before school today with her cast. I can't believe how well she's handling it! She hasn't complained about it once and it doesn't stop her from doing anything. Her writing with her left hand is actually pretty darn good! We had her parent night last night and I really love her teacher. I think that's one advantage to new teachers, they bring lots of creative, fresh ideas. She had some really neat ideas and now I'm really excited for the school year. I think Lily will do great in there. Wyatt's parent night went well, too. He loves his teacher and so far he's brought home great grades! He's striving for all A honor roll this year--it'll be tough with the math that he is in-but I know he can do it!

LILY UPDATE

Right after she woke up from her very short nap (see below), Lily was back to her old self. She was craving Chinese food and I promised her she could have anything she wanted today, so we ordered Chinese. It was so yummy and she ate a lot! She is supposed to rest and keep her arm elevated all day, but I had a hard time getting her to do that-she has a hard time staying still. At least she was still for 2 hours or so when we watched The Wizard of Oz together. I really enjoyed just spending the day with her-she is truly one of my favorite people to be around(I'm sure we all feel that way about our kids-but something about Lily-I feel that we are going to have the same close Mother/ Daughter relationship that my mom and I have-and that would make me incredibly happy!) OK-enough sap-sorry-don't know what got into me ;-)
I'm SO tired from getting up at 5 am! Even with the nap I took! I am just NOT a morning person and never will be!!
Well, have a meeting tonight, better go get something done!!

POOR BABY

Lily fell asleep so I was able to get a couple of pics of her casted arm. It's so bright and clean right now--it won't be that way for long! She was able to keep some food down and I'm glad she's sleeping.
I just love those hands-she has the long, beautiful fingers that I never had!

SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

Well, Lily is home from her surgery. It went very well. It only took about 15 minutes and the doctor said it went back into place perfectly and easily. She did have some trouble after the anesthesia. Nothing major, just lots of crying and some throwing up. (We're still dealing with the nausea,actually)Her IV got caught in some blankets(probably her nasty old pink "B" that they let her take in with her) and got pulled out so they weren't able to give her quick pain meds and she was in pain when they brought her to us. The med they had given her took about 30 minutes to take affect. Once it did, though, she wasn't in any pain. Once we get through today, it should be smooth sailing. She has a pink(of course) cast that goes above her elbow for 3 weeks and then she can get a short cast(below the elbow) for 3 more weeks.
She is so brave and is dealing with it so well-much better than I would, I'm sure.
Nothing in the world is worse than seeing your baby in pain. I wish it could have been me instead of her.
She should be able to go back to school tomorrow and doesn't even have to miss the swim party she has next week because her cast is waterproof. She's happy about that.
Well, I should take advantage of a day at home to get some things done! I'll update later!

FOOTBALL

Wyatt is the one in the yellow with elbow pads--middle of the pic.
Lily ate during pretty much the whole game.
Wyatt---with the elbow pads.
Wyatt is #17--in the huddle.
That's him in the middle. He was against the biggest guy on the other team-who was bigger than him.

Wyatt had his first football game today. They ended up losing 8-0, but he played the whole game and got a tackle. We were proud of him and he was proud of himself also.
I think he will enjoy it more than he thought he would. He's one of the bigger kids this year since it's 3rd and 4th grade and I think that makes a big difference.
Lily is getting ready to go to a sleepover party tonight. Her surgery is Monday morning at 7:30. Please keep her in your prayers that they are able to fix her arm easily and that she has no problems with the anesthesia. I think that's the part I'm most worried about. I hope she's not in a lot of pain afterward, because she's in none now, but I have a feeling she might be. She amazes me, though. Nothing slows her down. Today I looked outside and she was on roller skates-OMG!(of course without permission) She is fearless!

BACK TO SCHOOL :-) AND BROKEN ARM :-(

Lily and her friend Anna that is in her class.
Getting on the bus. Of course, Lily had to be first and, of course, they let her. Emma and Lily.
Lily at her desk.
Wyatt getting off the bus.
Lily getting off the bus.
Ready to go. As opposed to Lily below, Wyatt will still wear whatever I want him to--he picked his own clothes out over the summer-but not sure I quite trust his fashion sense yet for school. He did know exactly what kind of shoes he wanted, though and we had to go to several stores to find them in his size-he loves his new Adidas Superstars(they had to be the red ones!)


My fashion diva. She picked this outfit out at the store and was determined to wear it the first day of school. She even told me exactly how she wanted her hair fixed. Lily and Sam.
The bus stop gang. Michael, Rachel, Sam, Wyatt and Lily.

Well, a lot has happened over the last few days. Lily fell off her bike and broke her arm Sunday night. We took her to the ER and they told us it was a clean break and would need to be casted in a couple of days. So the next morning I made the appointment and her ortho guy(sad that she has an ortho guy) took further x-rays and determined the break was worse than we thought and she needs surgery to straighten it out. It's been a nightmare--and we're still working on it as we speak--trying to get the surgery scheduled, etc.
Anyway, onto more positive stuff---they were so excited about the first day of school. Lily is in no pain and it hasn't slowed her down a bit! The morning went very smoothly and I think they will have a great day!

Rachel and Wyatt in front of their class-they got in the same one again. He got the teacher he wanted so he was excited. I didn't dare try to get a picture of him with his teacher.
Lily with her teacher, Mrs. Radant. She is new to Hinkle Creek and I've heard really great things about her so we are looking forward to a great year.
In front of her room. Her room's theme is space--pretty cool.

These are some pictures from the ice-cream social/meet your teacher night. The kids were both happy with the teachers they got and each had some friends in their class. They are very ready for scholl to start! (And so am I!)

INDIANA STATE FAIR

Lily and Abbey on the train.
Sam, Wyatt and Michael on the train.
The fair train.

Jeff and Lily on a really cute ride. Wyatt rode it, too but I didn't get a good pic of him.
OMG, these piglets were so cute! There were 13 of them and they were only 7 days old. Lily loves pigs and could have stood and watched them all day---even tho the smell was making our eyes water!
Michael and Wyatt.
Lily trying on a hat. It's her.
The gang--minus Ashley and I who were taking the picture. Mimi, Jeff, Michael, Lily, Joe, Abbey, Wyatt and Chris. Oh, Sam is missing, too--hmm-he must be standing by us. There were 11 of us altogether and we managed to keep everyone together. We pretty much followed Mimi. She is the fair expert and knew the best things to see.
Jeff hit the bell and won Lily a stuffed animal---her hero ;-)
Watching some jugglers.
Abbey and Lily on a ride.
Wyatt hit the bell, too and won a prize. He was so proud.

This was a little farm area for kids. It was really cute. I thought Wyatt would think he was too big for it, but he actually enjoyed it.

We went to the State Fair with some of our neighbors tonight. We rode the fair train down which was really neat and so convenient. No hassle with traffic and parking, plus the kids got a big kick out of riding a real train. We were there for about 5 1/2 hours and still didn't see it all-it was huge. It was the first time we have gone. We went for ice-cream afterwards and of course Wyatt ended up having Michael and Sam sleep over. What is it with kids and sleepovers? It sure makes him happy-he told me this was the best day of his life-how funny. They are actually still up now and I probably need to get them settled down! Luckily we have no major plans tomorrow-because I have a feeling they will be tired and grumpy!!!

The kids were dissapointed that they had to miss a back-to school party at their friends' house tonight, but I guess you can't do it all. Harp kids, Wyatt and Lily wished they could have been there-I'm sure it was a great party!

GARDEN BOUNTY

Here is my first crop of tomoatos. They are yummy. There is just nothing that says summer to me like a home grown tomato. Jeff and Wyatt aren't tomato fans, but Lily loves them and she and I have been eating them with about every meal! YUM! I have also gotten one bell pepper from my plants and have many more small ones growing.

TRIP TO THE ZOO

Lily and Emma
Wyatt, Trevor, Lily, Savannah, Emma and Rachel
Isn't he cute?
Trevor and Wyatt
Feeding time for the giraffes. Look at that tongue!!!!

We went to the zoo today with Tracee and the kiddos. We thought we were gonna get rained out, but luckily the weather held out. We enjoyed the day.