How I Spent My Summer Vacation

When my children returned to school this week they were faced with the age old question, "What did you do this Summer?" Ella's teacher even made answering this question an assignment from which the class is going to make a book.

As I sat looking over my files of pictures tonight I was reflecting on all I had done this summer. While my blog has served the purpose of recording most of the activities my family was involved in over the last three months, I did notice a few pictures of things I forgot to tell you about.

As the Summer comes to an end won't you take a look at these.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation 2008

I carted around my children.

In doing so, I came to the realization that Marley needed a new nickname. I started calling her the "Multi-tasker". Every time I was rounding up the kids to get into the car, I had to wait for Marley to run and get something. She can not ride idly in the car. She always has to be doing something. It used to be that she would grab a book. Then she started grabbing two or three books. Then she started playing with a deck of cards. By the end of the summer we had to deal with this. This is Marley doing a 100 piece puzzle on the ride to my mother's house. For those of you who don't know, my mother lives 3/4 of one mile from my house. It takes us exactly three minutes to get there. My Multi-tasker can not waste three minutes.

I completely missed posting about the High School Musical Theater Camp the girls attended at EPAC. It is hard to get any pictures in the dark theater.
But I got some behind the scenes. Ella made lots of friends.


This is Marley and Tori waiting to get their certificates at the end of their show. Tori joined us all the way from Philly for the second week of camp. She is the daughter of a girl I grew up with in my church. It was nice to get to know Tori more and have her become friends with my daughters. She is promising to come back next year.

This is the praying bunny we found in our front yard one Sunday morning. He sat there for a really long time. He appeared to be praying. Honest to God. Too cute!
This is the Diaper Cake my sister and I made for our cousin Tasha's baby shower. Isn't this cool? It was so much fun.
Marley in front of the Hanover Public library.

She posed for this picture as we walked to the Dutch Days Festival. Marley and I were able to enjoy this day together while Ray and Ella were busy with other plans. It fact, it is the day she decided to start scrapbooking and we worked for two solid days getting her books started. I just love how this picture turned out. It just captured the fun moment we were sharing.

My presence was often requested at performances that my girls were conducting. They would practice for hours and then I got to watch the shows. This was the last show of the summer.

The fashion show by Marley, Ella and Madi.

This one was set to music.
and went on for a long time
in fact my camera batteries died during this fashion show
but not before this beauty came down the run way.

It went on for so long that by the time it was over, we were all very hungry and I needed to make lunch quickly so we could get to the pool in time to meet our friends. Lunch is never easy at my house. This day I had four people to feed and I was insisting on something healthy. Everyone had to have some fruit. As each person gave my their choice, I was rapidly washing the fruit and placing it on the cutting board. I turned off the faucet and turned to find this staring back at me. Now this is what I call a Happy Lunch. I had to stop and snap a photo.

Over all , it was a really good summer.
Hope yours was too. Wishing you good health and much happiness.
Happy Labor Day!

Time to get back to work!

The First Day

August 27, 2008

My baby Ella is ready to start her first day in

Mrs. Smith's first grade class.

Marley is starting third grade in Mrs. Smith's class

That's right. Both of their teachers are named

Mrs. Smith.

Ella has Mrs. Amanda Smith. Marley has Mrs. Nancy Smith. They also were given the same class number ( #4 ) and the exact same specials schedule where they have gym, library, music and art on the same day of the week. I have mixed feelings on whether this is going to confuse me or simplify my life. I already filled out one of Ella's papers thinking it was for Marley.

They were excited to go, but a little hesitant as we stepped out the front door.

Walking with her new backpack,

Ella is on her way to spending her first full day at school.

Last year she begged to stay all day when her AM kindergarten dismissed at lunch time. Has it really been a whole year since I had to explain to her that next year she can stay all day?

I was thinking what this sign was saying.

How do you STOP them from growing so fast?

Almost there.

I gave them each a hug and a kiss at the front door. Surprisingly, there were no tears this year. Not even from me.The last shot before I walked home .......alone for the first time in a long time.

Big Fish

This is Marley, Kali and Maddy sitting at a lake.

It happens to be the lake at Cunningham State Park

near Thurmont, Maryland.

We went here on Tuesday for a play date with Kali,

her brother Xander and

my college gal pal Betsy.

Betsy is far more outdoorsy than I.

But I can enjoy a day in the natural elements.

The kids enjoyed swimming with unknown creatures

in the disgusting lake

while I watched from the blanket.

Seriously, I do enjoy the outdoors.

Then Xander suggested we go fishing down stream.

The thought did not excite me,

but the rest of the gang was into it.

I went along.

I can recall having fished three times

in my entire life.

Including this time.

That means I fish once every 1.3 decades

...on average.

That is how much I love this kind of fishing.

Now if we were talking PHISHING

.....that's much different.

That I will do much more willingly.

This fishing involved digging worms out of mud

Cutting them into smaller pieces with a pocket knife

Which Marley took full control over.....Yuck!

Not sure why this surprised me.

This is the same kid who took much interest

in her dead pet fish

Checking to make sure it didn't have a pulse

before she put it in a make shift coffin.

Remember?

Marely told everyone the story of how a worm once

laid baby worms

right on her hand.....Yuck!

I had tried to put that memory out of my head.

Why are my girls

who have no brothers

willing to touch such things?

We baited hooks by piercing the worms.

More yuck.

We Casted our lines.

Ella impressed me with how quickly she mastered this task.

Betsy gave her one brief lesson and

then she was on her own.

Waiting for a fish to bite.

Marley had great patience for this.
Kali caught the first one.

Marley was so happy to get the next one.
Xander's fish.

Honestly, he is not going to throw it

The sun was in his eyes while I was trying to get the picture.

And then I got the BIG ONE.

I really was proud of myself.

And I impressed the kiddos with my skills.

That look on my face is me thinking about

having to touch the seaweed

and get the hook out of his mouth.

But it all went well.

I was able to do it.

Then I threw him back in

......literally.

So, my experienced fishing friend

explained to me how to gently place them back in.

Ooops.

I'll know better next time.

Sorry fishy.

Thank you Betsy for the invite to join your family at the lake.

We'll have to do this again sometime.

I should be ready Summer of 2018.

Just kidding.

It was really fun.

Hannah heads home

As promised in an earlier post, here are some more photos of the fun activities we enjoyed with my niece Hannah while she was visiting with us.

Singing in the rain!
Buckle up. Let's go for a test drive in Aunt Angie's new car.
School yard fun. Crafts at the Summer Rec program.
Stopped by to check out the Webkinz selection at my mom's place. Hannah liked this one the best. So, of course Aunt Angie had to get it for her. She took it home as a nice reminder of her time with us.

Fun at the Littlestown Pool.
Hersheypark. We were so busy running from ride to ride this year we hardly took any pictures. The girls have definitely graduated from the baby rides. We are all into roller coasters and spinning now. Hannah has a great story to tell about getting trapped on the CLAW!
Omi bought everyone a new shirt for school.
One more hug before you go!

Saying good-bye on the big screen made possible by Star Station.

They love that toy.

We had another great summer visit with Hannah. Inevitably, the time came when we were forced to say our good-byes. She took a flight back to the deep south on Sunday. We love you Hannah. We miss you already. Can't wait to see you again next summer....or sooner if it is possible.

Bubble Angel

My darling Ella loves to dress up. She loves to dress up and sing. She loves to dress up and sing and have me watch. She loves to dress up, sing for her audience and she likes to have it documented in video or photography. This routine is an everyday occurrence around our house.

This summer Ella has learned to use the boom box all by herself. I often find her in the garage with the box dancing and singing. Normally there is a scooter, bicycle or umbrella being used as a prop in her performance. She is constantly performing whether she has an audience or not. In fact, this very morning I was awaken to the sound of the garage door going up and the High School Musical soundtrack blaring at 7am. I came downstairs to find Ella in her pajamas belting out "We're All In This Together" while riding her scooter around in circles alone in the driveway.

Tonight she was at it again. In the garage she found the Gazillion Bubble Machine which makes (you guessed it) a gazillion bubbles. Ella requested my presence at her performance and instructed me to bring my camera and join her on the patio. I decided this was a night the dinner dishes could wait and I headed out to watch her sing. Check out these photos.


God bless my little angel. She looked just heavenly singing on this beautiful summer evening. I just adore these photos of the wonderfully crisp blue sky, the bubbles sailing in the breeze and my precious baby girl.

It was at her request that I was able to stop, relax and enjoy.

We ended up spending the entire night outside on the patio. We even took the time to build a fire in the pit. Because of Ella we sat around listening to the radio, roasting marshmellows by the fire and watching the full moon. Isn't this what summer is all about? In just 12 short days we will all be back in school and our schedules will be as busy as ever. Thank you Ella for the reminder to stop and smell the roses....or pop the bubbles. And thank the Lord for Ella. She can be such a Godsend.

Live Concert at Hershey

One of my sister's favorite bands is LIVE! Many years ago when she was in high school, she and her friends would travel to York to see them before they "made it BIG". Last month I discovered LIVE was coming home to play at Hershey Park (along with Collective Soul and another band I happen to like, Blues Traveler). The concert was a mere 15 days after Kim's birthday. I thought tickets to this concert would be the perfect birthday gift for my sis. I bought two tickets.

Kim was very surprised to get the tickets. I was very relieved that she didn't pick someone else to use the second ticket.

The first road trip in my new car was to this concert. Thanks Mom for watching the kids so we could get away early in the day.
The pictures captured by my out dated camera aren't great. But here they are. I only have pictures of LIVE. According to the signage in the venue, digital recording was prohibited. I felt compelled to follow the rules during the Blues Traveler performance. When Collective Soul took the stage (by the way, THEY ROCK! I was so surprised!) I tried to take a few shots but they didn't turn out. When Ed K. started loosing his shirt during the last set, I started snapping away. Kim and I watched in complete amazement as Ed seemed to loose another button on his shirt at the end of each song.

This is what you get at the encore. Shirtless Ed! (Tracey, eat your heart out)

I had such a fantastic time. I love living close to my sister and we speak almost everyday. It is rare for us to get out alone like this. I am thrilled that we had this opportunity for a Girls Nite Out. We need to do things like this more often.
Happy Birthday, Sis. Love ya!

Play date at the Pool

What do you do when you and your friends want to get together and between you there are 15 children? You meet at the pool! Here are the children of myself, my friend Dottie, her sister Jennifer, and my friend Gwenda. We enjoyed a swim this evening at the Littlestown Community Pool. A good time was had by all in attendance. See......

Sentz Family Reunion

I had the privilege of hosting my family reunion at my home last Sunday for the very first time. The Sentz Family is my mother's extended family. We are not a very large group but we can still put on a big affair. Check out the moon bounce. My dad watches as Ella test out the moon bounce. Uncle Fred was able to borrow it from his fire station. With only five children in attendance, everyone had plenty of bounce time. How great is that?
The weather was perfect for a picnic. The kids always have more fun when you add water to the games. Marley and Zach even broke out the super soakers.
The Zach Attack!
Adam was a little too young for the moon bounce and water games, but he did mow Uncle Ray's lawn. Here he is admiring the Chaquita Banana Girl....Ooohh, is that Marley???
Ray kept the margaritas flowing. How do you like that shirt? His wife went on vacation to Charlotte, NC and all she brought him was this stupid t-shirt. Really, the shirt was the envy of his brother-in-law, Mark and cousin, Nate. They too are Matt Kennseth fans.
Soaking wet, Abby still doesn't weigh 40lbs especially now that her teeth are all falling out! She's mini but mighty. I warn you, don't mess with this tough chick in pink camouflage.

We have been in our new home for just over a year now and I really do love being here. This event made me fall even more in love with my home. Having the family over for a big event like this made me appreciate all the room, the lawn, the patio and the comfort even more. My cousin and my sister-in-law are both expecting babies, so by the next reunion our family will be a bit larger. We have plenty of room for more. I can't wait to have them back again next year.