Stampede in the Park

Stampede in the Park is a race amongst all the elementary schools in the District, grades 4-6th.  Not all kids in that grade level can go.  You must be elible by running the mile under a certain time.  That is why only 3-4 students from each grade level was allowed to go (yay Nathan!)  The kids compete in their grade level and with the same gender.  The race is held at Waynesville park.  They run a mile, and the kids just have a fun morning.  Nathan ran in Heat 2 of the 5th grade boys.  There were about 40 boys running in his heat and he came in at an impressive 13th!

First lap:

Second lap:

The 4-6th graders who qualified to race:

Book Signing

One of my favorite authors of all time is Diana Gabaldon.  She is the author of the Outlander Series.  There are 7 books in total, plus she is working on book 8.  She has written other books as well.  She decided to turn her first book, Outlander, and come up with a graphic novel.  I am not a fan of graphic novels.  To me, they are adult comic books.  But then I saw that she was doing a book signing for her graphic novel in Kansas City:  a mere four hours away!  So then of course, I bought the graphic novel and headed up to KC to here her talk and sign books!  It was great (except for the 4 hour drive back at 9:00 pm.  I was actually hallucination as I was driving, I was so tired!)

Tiger Pride

Sheesh...we have *only* lived here for 5 years and have never went to a High School football game!  With Justin being in middle school now, it seems closer and closer (gulp). We went to see they Waynesville Tigers play against the city of Lebanon. It was fun and brought back a lot of memories: I LOVED going to my high school football games (go Falcons!). I have the feeling we will be going to a lot in the future....

In Loving Memory: Jon's Mom, Paula

Paula I. Abresch

September 16, 1927-September 10, 2010

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

where there is injury,pardon;

where there is doubt, faith;

where there is despair, hope;

where there is darkness, light;

and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek

to be consoled as to console;

to be understood as to understand;

to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Happy, Happy Birthday!

We surpised Jon with a birthday party when he came home from work.  Hope you had a great "29th"!

**no peeking!**

Happy Anniversary!

Seventeen years....what more can you say?  :)

End of Summer Activities

Schools back in session and just a few more fun activities before the summer comes to an end.  All 3 boys are taking gymnastics right now.  They are really enjoying it and getting stronger to boot.  Justin is also taking tennis again.  He needs to be in more of an advanced class because this one caters really to beginners.  He is actually really good at it.  Sorry the pics came out terrible:

Owen practicing also:

Nathan and his friend Daniel also hang out while their brothers practice:

Then we have the end of summer reading celebration that I have blogged about for like 2-3 years in a row.  They give out reading awards, play games, have contests, food, drinks...and of course, the dueling firetrucks that basically just spray down kids in a parking lot.  The kids still enjoy it every year.

Jon always taking "flattering" shots of me and/or my friends.   Me and Erin :)

First Day of School

It's back again....the first day.  One of the worst days of the year, in my opinion.  Those who follow my blog know how much I would rather my boys stay home with me and have relaxing days just swimming and going on small day trips.  This year is extra hard with the boys going to two different schools for the first time :(.  Justin is in 7th grade (tear) and going to Waynesville Middle School, and Nathan is in 5th grade going to Wood Elementary School.  Scary.  At least I still have Owen with me :)  He doesn't start kindergarten until the fall of 2012. Here is Justin all ready to go:

Here is Nathan (sad to report he wouldn't let me take pics inside his classroom this year--to embarrassing)

And Owen took over the camera on the way home from dropping of Nathan and took about 40 pics but here are a few highlights

Jellystone Park!

We decided to have one more little vacation before the boys head back to school next Thursday, the 12th (so early)! so on Monday, we went to Jellystone Park!  It is a campsite with lots of fun activities to do.  The first 2 days, the boys swam, played mini golf, did crafts, cooked smores, and rode the Yogi Train.  Yogi came to our campsite and said goodnight to the boys and read a poem to Owen.  The next days we went to 6 Flags and the Saint Louis Science Center.  They have a real cool exhibit right now called Real Pirates.  We were not allowed to take photos of the exhibit but you can read more about it here:
http://www.slsc.org/WhatToDo/RealPirates.aspx
We are sure sad to see the summer end :(