Ears Pierced

We took Riley to the Fairfield Commons Mall on the evening of Saturday, June 8th.  Riley loves to eat Chinese at the mall food court.  She says it is her second favorite restaraunt right after Red Lobster.  Ha!  We had dinner.  I have to agree with Riley.  The food at that one particular place is pretty good. 

After dinner, Riley couldn't wait any longer.  She was ready to accomplish what we had come to the mall for in the first place.  We had decided to let Riley get her ears pierced as a part of her 6th birthday present, and she was SO EXCITED.  Once she got into the chair at Claires, I could tell she was a little nervous.  She was very brave though.  She told me later that if she didn't do it, she was afraid I wouldn't take her back until she was at least 10.  Ha!  She did great.  She said afterwards that it hurt, but she never cried.  She was all better within a few minutes.  Once she got a glimpse of her earings in the mirror, I big smile came over her face.  She liked loved them.

Charleston Falls

On Saturday, June 8th, I took Trent, Reed and Riley to Charleston Falls.  Charleston Falls is only 8 miles from our house yet I had never heard of it before.  I saw it on the list of field trips for Reed and Riley's summer camp.  By googling it, I found out it is part of the Miami County Park system.  With nice hiking trails, I thought it definitely looked like a place we would like.  I was right.  We had a lot of fun exploring somewhere new.  I think it will be a great place to go to in the Fall when the leaves are changing. 

Wegerzyn Gardens

On Sunday, June 2nd, Trent, Reed, Riley and I went over to Wegerzyn Gardens to spend a few hours.  Steve was at work, and Cole was suppose to be studying for his final exams.  When I realized that Reed, Riley and I all had blue on, I asked Trent to wear it too.  Surprisingly, he went along with it.  It made for some cute pictures. We had a picnic lunch and explored.  It was a nice, relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

 

Riley's Recital

Riley ended her ballet and tap class with a recital on Saturday, May 11th.  The theme of the recital was "It's a Zoo in Here".  Riley's class was elephants.  Riley wasn't too excited about being an elephant until she got a peek of the costumes a couple of weeks ago.  Once she saw the sparkled leotard, she was sold.  She was definitely the cutest elephant I have ever seen. 

 

Riley completely enjoyed ballet this year.  She looked forward to class every Monday evening.  I thought for sure she would want to do it again next year.  Instead, she says she wants to try gymnastics next year and beauty pageants the year after that.  Ha!  One thing I will never be is a pageant mom.  Gymnastics I can support though.  At least she won't be expecting me to teach her how to do a cartwheel.

Kings Island Kick Off

We had another successful year at Jace's garage sale in New Bremen.  We made $870.  That is the most we ever made.  Didn't expect that considering the weather was rainy and cold.  I took the garage sale leftovers to Once Upon A Child and made another $90 there.  Since the majority of what we sell is the kids clothes and a few toys, I always try to do something for them with some of the money.  This year they wanted season passes to Kings Island again.  We didn't have passes last year but had them the year before.  The kids were excited to go back.

Kings Island opened on Saturday, April 27th.  That day was nice but we purposefully didn't go.  We figured opening day would be crowded.  Steve and Cole had to work yesterday (Saturday, May 4th).  The weather looked nice so the three younger kids and I headed down to Kings Island.

We arrived around 9:30 a.m.  We bought our season passes and were in the park right when they opened at 10:00 a.m.  The lines were really short for the first few hours.  We got a lot of rides in.  We took a break for lunch and rode some more.  Around 4:00, we headed for home.  The park was getting a lot more crowded and we were wore out.  Looking forward to many more fun days at Kings Island this year!

Franklin

Charlie Brown

Snoopy

Lucy

 

 

 

Cole's Confirmation

Cole was confirmed on Thursday, April 25th at St. Christopher Church.  He asked his Grandpa Harold to be his sponsor.  Cole selected Kolbe as his confirmation name after Saint Maximilian Kolbe.

(Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish priest that was imprisoned at the concentration camp in Auschwitz.  Because of his good deeds and prayerful disposition, Kolbe was called "Jesus of Auschwitz" by his fellow prisoners.  In July of 1941, three prisoners escaped from the concentration camp.  As a deterrent for more escapes, the guards chose 10 men to be placed into an underground bunker and starved to death.  When the last man selected cried out that he was worried about his wife and children, Kolbe volunteered to take his place.  He prayed and held mass during the two weeks in the cell while the other men starved to death.  He was the last one alive.  The guards had to inject him with poison which ended his life.  Pope John Paul II canonized Maximillan Kolbe in 1982.)

The Thrill of the Hunt

After losing a lot of the month due to sickness, I felt like I was really behind the eight ball when it came to Easter.  I had to do some last minute, one stop Easter shopping at Wal-Mart. It got the job done.  Egg dying occurred between 8-9 pm on Good Friday.  I was ready to skip it this year.  However,  Reed and Riley really wanted to do it.  I didn't want to let them down. 
Luckily, they were satisfied dying just 18 eggs.

On Holy Saturday, I made some treats to take to Mom and Dad's on Easter.  When Steve got home from work, we went to Smashburger for dinner.  For the past couple of years, Cole, Trent and I have been going to Holy Saturday service.  We changed our plans this year.  The Buckeye basketball team was playing in the NCAA tournament.  They had made it to the Elite Eight, and we didn't want to miss their game.  (Turns out, we should have just gone to church.)  At halftime, we had a backyard, glow in the dark Easter egg hunt.  The kids enjoyed it and ended the night on a sugar high.

The kids woke up on Easter morning and were excited to see what the bunny had left them.  Since we didn't go to mass the night before, we decided to attend the 7am sunrise service.  Even though it was early, we really liked this service.  We decided it may be our new tradition.

After church, we spent a couple of hours at home.  Steve took the kids over to visit his parents while I did some chores.  Around 1:30 pm, we headed up to New Bremen. We enjoyed spending the rest of the day with family.  We had the annual Easter egg hunt and had a fish fry for dinner.  It turned out to be a great Easter.