Happy 4th of July!

Okay, if you checked our blog for the 4th of July post and didn't see it.   You are not loosing your mind.   I just posted this on Monday, July 6th.   Sorry just a little behind.   I am sitting here looking out our south window watching the clouds roll in.  We are in for a thunder and lightening kind of night.   Hope we just get that and no wind or other things with it.

Fourth of July we were in Lebo early for a swim meet.  I know, we all thought it was silly to have it on a holiday too.   There were quite a few more there than we were expecting and the swim meets help the small towns bring in money to help keep the pools open for the kids.  

The girls were excited that they would have better chances at winning and we came home with quite a few ribbons!   We are proud of them no matter what color the ribbons are.

The meet was over by noon and we stopped to buy a few fireworks.  Then we were home to shower and off to Overbrook for their annual fireworks.   It was the perfect weather for the 4th, it actually felt a little chilly to me after the sun went down. 

As usual, the fireworks did not disappoint us.   But Zora was not happy to sit all morning at the swim meet. 

Happy 4th to all and thank you to those who serve and protect us!

Summertime!

School was out on May 12th and we picked up the pace from there on out.   Zora and Jordis have been playing volleyball on Monday mornings.   They had 4 games on Monday nights.   We missed the first Monday because we were in Kansas City saying goodbye to Iris, Yoyo and Ava.   Last Monday Mom missed the game which was in West Franklin, due to work.   However, this Monday the game is here in Carbondale and I will be able to go!   Plus Carbondale has air conditioning which the last gym did  not have.   Both girls are getting better at volleyball.   Serving is the hardest for both of them but they have been hanging in there practicing and I think they will get better the more they play.

Overbrook Swim Team has been practicing since the first week of June.  Their first meet is at Lyndon on the 27th.   Jordis has two sisters and a special friend who have joined her this year.  Tessa and Kendalan are both swimming and their friend Haven is also on the team.   Mom is looking forward to watching them all have a successful year.   The first two weeks were a test to see just how dedicated they really were to be on the team.   It was cool and the water had not warmed up much.  So they were getting out of the water with their teeth chattering and their poor lips and fingers were blue.   But it has made them stronger and more ready for winning!  No these photos are not from swim practice but you get the idea that playing in water is fun :)

RaeAnne has been keeping busy being in drivers education!  She has her instruction permit now and can drive with a licensed driver at her side.  Dad has been doing a lot of that because Mom doesn't have nerves of steel, but today I took a chance and she drove me home from Overbrook.  Other than having her keep the vehicle more toward the center of the line, opposed to driving too close to the ditch she is getting better.   She still put a few more gray hairs on my head!

We were very sad to see Iris, Ava and Yoyo go back to China.   They have been a joy to get to know and it just seemed like time flew by while they were here.   We hope to see some of them again as they are planning on coming back to the USA in the near future.  And who knows?  We may make it to China in the near future!   We picked them up from the Kansas City airport, they took us out to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and then we took them back to the airport.

And I almost forgot...we celebrated Kendalan's 10th birthday April 24th.  Double Digits!  Our baby girl is growing up.  Doesn't seem possible that she has been with us 9 years now, of course she will never let us forget it :)   She will be a 5th grader this coming fall.  School will start August 25th.  Just two more months and they will have to put their noses back to the grindstone.

In the meantime, we are having a great summer so far.   We have reservations in South Dakota this July.  We will be traveling across S.D. to see Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug, The Corn Palace, and hope to sneak over to Wyoming to see Devil's Tower!   What a trip!  Our special friend will be going with us there too!  :)

Mother's Day was nice.   I had worked several days in a row, so I was tired but the girls made it fun as usual and they didn't disappointment me for a gift.   They are the Awesome ones!  I can't imagine our lives without them.

How could I forget that today is Father's Day!  Nicholas drove down from Manhattan to take Mark out to lunch.  Big Brother also asked RaeAnne to go back to Manhattan with him and spend the week with Shelby and him.   RaeAnne packed up all her stuff and told us goodbye!   I hope she has a great time!   I took the girls out driving around to find a wheat field to get their photo in.   We finally found the perfect one by Vassaar.   Then we all went to Red Robin "Yum!" to have supper.   We filled ourselves to the stuffed category after eating three helpings of their never ending FF.

Extra bonus for good grades.

One of Zora's classes had a bonus the kids could sign up for.   If they could improve their grades by the number they chose, they would get to do something fun.   Zora decided to try her hardest to bring her score from an 86% to a 92%   They were busy working on accomplishing this goal.   Then they found out that if they attained their goal they would be able to go fly in a small plane!

We were really proud to find out that she had met her goal!   So on an overcast day the students in her class who had improved their grades were taken to Billard Field Airport North of Topeka for their surprise.   It was the chance to go up in a small airplane and even take over the control stick and fly if they wanted too!   Zora decided that she didn't want to control the plane but she did have a great time flying over Topeka and they even flew down over their school in Carbondale and over our house just south of Topeka.

This is one of the extra things that a small school can give as a bonus.   Unfortunately with all the cuts the school has having to make, this might be one of the things that will be cut and not offered again.

Run, jump, go Zora go!!

Zora has been doing really well in track.   Her strongest race is the 75 meter hurdles.   She pretty much flies over the hurdles.   She has come in second twice and fourth once.   I am really proud of her as this is the first time she has tried out for track and it just seems to come to her naturally.

Her coach also has her running the 4x100 medley and then the 1 mile run.  She doesn't do too bad on the medley but it just completely wears her out doing the 1 mile run.   Then it seems like right after she runs the 1 mile she has to do her hurdles.   So after the second time running the 1 mile she asked her coach if she could drop the 1 mile.

Two of  her friends were messing around at the track meet in Holton.   I was visiting with Liberty's Mom Nicole when Liberty asked me how to spell "Hacked."   It was then we figured out what was going on.   It was pretty funny.   At least they didn't embarrass her complelely.   I had to take a photo of the two girls who were punking her.

I hope she will go out for track again next year.  Especially as her friend, Alyssa, will be in High School next year and give Zora a real good chance to win some of the races!!   Go Zora Go!!

Jordis received her T-shirt quilt!

I have been having the girls' toddler and old T-shirts turned into quilts.   I really didn't want to garage sale all the shirts and I had heard about T-shirt quilts.   Then I read an ad in the back of a magazine one day and checked out their website.   www.campusquilt.com   They make several sizes of quilts and they also use baby clothes, ties and other apparels of clothing.   So of the girls' T-shirts were so small we put them four in a corner.  I have used T-shirts from the different schools they have gone to, camps, and just shirts that were among their favorites.

Jordis' quilt arrived this past week.   I laid it out on our bed so she could see the whole thing.   It turned out really nice.   I have since learned that sewing these quilts is not too hard to do.  I will go ahead and send Tessa's into the same company and then the next one I will make myself!

Anyway Jordis was very happy with the finished product!

Zora the track star!!

Zora has been doing great at her track meets!   She does the 75 meter hurdles for the 7th grade and she runs several medleys and was running the 2 mile until she begged her coach to take her off it.  It was exhausting her.  

Her strong spot is the hurdles.   She flys over them.   She has won 2nd place several times and 4th place once.   Not too bad especially as one of her classmates is a very strong runner.

I have made it to three of her meets.   First one was in Osawatomie, second was their home meet at Santa Fe Trail High School and I went to one yesterday at Holton High School.

She is having fun meeting people at the meets.  She remembers some of them from Volleyball.   I think it is great that she has set her goal and is sticking with it.   We are very proud of her!   I love standing by the field yelling,   "Go Zora Go!!"