Choir Boy

Max sang in church yesterday during the 8am mass.  Too cute!  Too bad Max is smaller than the other kids...he is hiding between them and was hard to see at times!

Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween!  The evening is about over and the kids are already planning on what they want to dress up as for next year!

We carved our pumpkin...

We had a party at school...

We made mama happy by posing for pictures...

We surprised Suzy and her husband Rob...

We counted our candy...

And Noah said to hell with that and dumped his out...

Halloween Dance

At Leah's dance studio the kids put on a little Halloween show during their normal class time.  The kids all dressed up in the Halloween costumes and performed a dance that they have learned in less than a month!  Enjoy!

Food Allergy Walk a Success!

Yesterday was a beautiful day to support and celebrate people who live with food allergies...especially my favorite food allergy kid, MAX!

This was the third year of the FARE Food Allergy Walk in Cincinnati and the first year for us to participate.  Crazy to think that the first year of the walk was when Max was first diagnosed with severe food allergies...peanuts and eggs.  We are so fortunate that we have been able to cross peanuts off the list!

Our team this year was small yet mighty, just like Max!  Pat's parents were in town and our friend Annie, who has a laundry list of food allergies herself, and her son Wesley, allergic to fish, also joined us.  My parents were with us in spirit and wore their shirts proudly!

Photo by Annie Anglin

Photo by Connie Naylor

Photo by Tom Lindsey

Photo by Donna Lindsey

Leah and Max had a great time sliding down the bouncing slide while we waited for the walk to start.  Max was able to sign a banner and we 'tried' to get some pictures.  The walk took place at the International Friendship Park along the Ohio River.  It was such a pretty path to walk along.  I was even able to get a nice picture of Leah.

Our day would not be complete without a little drama...the boys ended up at Urgent Care for an upper respiratory infection and Noah was also diagnosed with pink eye!

Small yet mighty, Max's Maniacs enjoyed the day.  We hope our team can grow next year!

Happy 34th, Pat!

Today is Pat's 34th birthday, but because we will not be home all together until 8:30 tonight, we celebrated a day early.

Noah and Max helped me make Daddy's cake while Leah was at the marching band show with Hippa.  Memaw made sure that the spoons did not turn into swords!

Since Pat's favorite cake is cherry cheesecake I make two different goodies.  The cheesecake for Pat and anyone else that will eat it (aka the adults) and cupcakes for the kids (mainly because if Max ate cheesecake, we would probably end up at Childrens' for all the vomiting that would take place since it is loaded with eggs!)

Max is really eyeing those cupcakes!

We sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed dessert for breakfast!

Happy Birthday Pat!

Five Years of Betty's Bunch

Yesterday our little family gathered at the Wetherington Golf and Country Club in West Chester to Walk to End Alzheimer's.  This was our fifth year walking together as Betty's Bunch in honor and memory of my Grandma Snow.

We had shirts made our second year, but I decided they needed to be spruced up a bit this year.  I love the result!  Special thanks to Moonshine Printing in Oxford for creating our new shirts!

A special thanks to many friends and family, including Tom and Donna Lindsey, Dawn Hofherr, Becky Kuritz, Kathy Jaynes, Larry Snow, Christine Birhanzl, Mary Jo Wilhelm and a few others who wish to remain anonymous, who made monetary donations to the Alzheimer's Association in the name of Betty's Bunch.  I appreciate the donations!  We surpassed our goal of $500 this year!  I would love it even more if our little group of seven can grow next year!  We have a great time walking and sharing stories of Grandma Snow!  Mark your calendars NOW for September 12, 2015!

Walk to End Alzheimer's

This September my family and I will be participating in the annual Alzheimer Walk.  We walk in memory of my Grandma Snow, who passed away 15 years ago from this awful disease.  Please consider donating or joining our team, Betty's Bunch.  Click HERE to support finding a cure for Alzheimer's.

First Day of School #3

This past week, both Leah and I headed back to school!

Leah had her first day of First Grade on Wednesday.  We met her teacher, Mrs. Clemmons, Tuesday night at Open House.  Leah found her desk and was amazed by all of the workbooks and journals inside!  She was excited to put her box of school supplies in her desk.  We learned that each day she would have a different 'special': library, gym, music, art and computer.  On her first day, she had gym!  She came home with lots to tell.  Her favorite parts of the day were sitting at her own desk, eating lunch in the cafeteria and gym class.  She said she loved her teacher and is excited about the upcoming year!

I started my 14th year of teaching on Wednesday.  I can't believe it is year number 14!  Time is flying by!  This year I am teaching Math 2, Math 3 and Advanced Precalculus.

On the first day I usually plan some sort of activity for the kids to complete.  This year it was the Marshmallow Challenge.  I found the activity on Pinterest.  Students worked in groups of 4 and were given 20 pieces of dried spaghetti, 1 meter of string, 1 meter of tape and 1marshmallow.  Students were given 18 minutes to construct a tower as high as possible that would hold the marshmallow at the top.  Here are some of the various towers, and one that had a good effort :-)

And here is the winner at 68 centimeters!

Looking forward to a good 2014-2015 school year!

This Is What Happens...

When Noah takes Pat's iPhone and the camera function is on!