3rd Grade

Backpacked stuffed with brand new crayons, markers, and various school supplies,$45. New school outfit (Old Navy) $35. Lunch packed with ham/cheese sandwich and a capri sun, $2. Mom taking my picture every year in front of that tree for the first day of school, priceless.

I'm ready, I'm off!

Doesn't my baby look all grown up!

Getting Old

Here is a conversation I had with Natalie this weekend!

Me: Well, its the end of summer now, and we will be celebrating your birthday next. Gosh, you are going to be 9 years old. You are getting old, Natalie.
Nat: Mom, 9 isn't old; you're not old until you're like 35 or whatever.....
Me: Thanks, for clearing that up Nat!

Yes, I hope you all are laughing right now!

Labor Day

We made it back from camping this weekend. We decided to camp this weeked as a last wha-hoo before school starts. Natalie has been begging all summer to go camping, so as a last treat before school, we gave in and went to Twin Oaks Campground in Wellston, MI. That's about 3 hours Northern Michigan, near Manistee.

Of course we did our usual visit to Na-Tah-Ka for dinner on Saturday night, and Sunday we went into Manistee and got to see "their" beach. I think I appreciate their beach better than ours and that may be because I see ours all the time. It pretty much looks the same as ours, just a bit northerner?

I took quite a bit of pictures, mostly scenery pictures because Natalie made a friend at the campground, and she was gone all the time. I'm glad she had a great time. On the way home from Na-Tah-Ka, we went deer hunting and Anthony finally caught up with the albino deer that rumored lived in some parts. After 3 years of hearing about the rumor, we finally caught them on video. A mama deer, with 2 fawns, one was albino like her, one brown. That was neat to see.

The only bad thing about the weekend, was a moment in the restrooms at the campsite. Ok, I have to get on a high horse for a moment, and speak my mind. This campground is near the pine river, which lots and lots of people love to canoe down. So towards the back of the campground were the tenters/canoers. I believe they put them in back of the campground for reason, it gets loud and party hardy. All weekend, I told myself that these are young, consenting adults, with no responsibilities, who cares if they want to drink and be promiscuous, so be it. UNTIL, a conversation I heard in the women's restroom. Here I am, after my shower, putting on my Kmart clothes, listening to 2 lady's talking while putting on their Clinque makeup. The conversation was basically how they needed to get back home to their KIDS, and spend some time with them before school starts. Here comes my self-righteousness......So parents dump their kids off at the grandparents house for the weekend, in order to spend a weekend getting drunk, possibly some sort of disease, and to canoe? I think this is wrong in so many ways. Such an example these "parents" are giving. Enough on that........off the horse now.......

We have some great scenic pictures, if you like to view them click here
Need to pack lunch for school tomorrow....Yeah!

School Time/Bed Time

Why is it so difficult to make the transition back to school? No more staying up late, and sleeping in. I have been struggling all week with trying to enforce an earlier bed time in order to get back into the routine of early to bed, early to rise again.
It's still light outside, or I'm not tired yet. Can I just have 5 more minutes outside? I'm sure I'm not the only parent who has heard these lines.
My goal is to have this complete transition by next weekend. I could use as many prayers as I can get.

I have decided that this school year, I'm going to be a little more involved with school volunteering and projects. So I have volunteered myself for quite a bit this year, and I'm not sure how I'm going to work this all in. I signed up for the walking program (count the laps around the track that kids do), Thanksgiving feast, accelerated reader program, star cafe, book fair. As you can see, I'm doing my fair share. Ugh, let's hope I don't go loony by winter break!

Natalie is going to continue swim team, diving, and of course, horse riding. Let's fit that all in the mix too. So how many days till next summer?

I'm going to take some advice from a song I love by Trace Adkins:
You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Swimming Benefits

As you all probably figured out by now, Natalie is on the swim team. Having such a difficult school year, I struggled to find her something that she could do, stay healthy, and keep her focused. I needed something that she could say that she did other than "I'm a second grader." Of course, we've tried the normal things, gymnastics, soccer, softball etc. But these sports were good one day, and the next day, who cares attitude. Until swimming......
She's in the pool every day. Of course there has been disadvantages as well, mainly her hair damage, but all in all, who could ask for a better solution for all her issues she was dealing with in her life. So I thought I would do some research as to what swimming really does for your body/mind, this is what I found.

• Promotes physical development


• Develops aerobic endurance and is the most beneficial form of cardiovascular exercise


• Enhances flexibility and promotes muscular development and posture


• Develops superior coordination


• Learn life skills like: Time management, self discipline, sportsmanship


• Teaches how to set and achieve goals


• Swimmers do better in school vs. non-swimmers

You can view Natalie's swimming accomplishments by clicking on her "swim team link"

Our Summer so far

Well, I have to say the summer has been all about Natalie. After the very bad school year we had, this summer certainly has made up for it. To sum it up, she has practiced so hard in her swimming, that it paid off by placing 3rd in freestyle event and 10th over all (out of 35) in the backstroke event.

Then of course we have the diving. She placed 2nd place. This of course wasn't an official meet, but the coach wanted them to see what an event would look like etc.

Next, we have her and Gholli. Those two are finally getting to know each other and the trust and bond grows stronger each lesson. I'm so thankful she has Gholli to come to when she's having a rough day.

Now, this week at the fair, she received the grand champion ribbon for her dish garden entry. AND tonight, she got to meet Corbin Bleau. Of all nights, I forgot my camera, so I had to borrow one. So that picture is coming. I think that pretty much topped off her summer!

I don't remember having summers quite like this. She's a lucky girl.

I'm Back!

My computer part has finally arrived, and I again have Internet access! It's been a rough couple of weeks, but I have endured the pain!

Yesterday was the first day of the county fair, and Natalie made a dish garden to enter for judging. She was so excited, the got the Champion ribbon this year for her efforts, way to go Nat!

We usually spend the whole week at the fair every year, because Anthony works the fair all week long. So if we want to see him, we have to go there to see him. It's very long days for him.
Today is Natalie's diving meet, so the day at the fair will be a bit broken up. I'm secretly happy about that. I'm usually all faired out by Monday afternoon at 3pm!

I'd rather be school shopping!