Happy Birthday to Me

The boys had a color coordinated present event this year.

Even the witch garden 'flag' was green and purple.

 

There was a beautiful bracelet from Steve.

And a purple Orange shirt from CJ.

Yep, a purple orange shirt!

Thanks for a great day.

So Thankful

The OOHS Marching Band is amazing.

The music is fun.

The marching is awesome.

The dance breaks are 'laugh out loud' entertaining.

The kids are super.

You can hear their love of Mr. Zirille in the music.

They sound like they are having fun.

That is why they are The Pride of Orange, The Marching Pioneers.

OU Band Day

The band was back at school at 9:00 Saturday morning, just 10 hours after performing in the football game on Friday night. After a quick walk thru they loaded equipment on the Big Orange Truck and themselves onto the buses and left town. They were on their way to Ohio University to perform with OU's Marching 110. After practicing with OU and the 20 other high schools participating in Band Day, it was time for some rest and relaxation. The band parents provided a yummy lunch and the kids provided their own entertainment.


 

A banana shoot out with Carolyn.
 

Fun with Diane and crew.

One of the directors thought a nap was a good idea. The tubas thought otherwise. Several parents agreed with the tubas and gathered for pictures. Fortunately the assistant director is a good sport.
 

This section of the stands was filled by the high school marching bands. Somewhere in the swath of orange on the bottom right is CJ.
 

CJ returned home just after 2am and went straight to bed. He surfaced around 11:30, got back into his uniform and headed out the door for one more performance this weekend. They are marching in the All Horse Parade in Delaware. A busy band weekend for all involved! They should all sleep well tonight - that is if they get their homework done first.
Thanks Mr. Zirille (and crew) for all you do!

This is a joint practice with the Johnstown High School Band. Mr Z. used to be their director. Mrs. Z. directs their middle school band.

Football Friday Night - week 2

 

They just keep getting better!!!

Mysterious Delivery

One evening shortly before school started an elf made a summertime delivery to our front porch.
We arrived home from some unmemorable errand to find a basket of blackberries just waiting to be devoured.
 

 

This is the look I got when I pointed out to CJ that he was eating fruit, willingly eating fruit. He is so much fun to tease!!! The blackberries could have been devoured by CJ and I in one sitting if we had not decided to show some restraint. Restrain was not easy with a quart of fresh from the farm blackberries, but we managed. They were gone very quickly even with said restraint.
Thank you to the summer elf who delivered the scrumptious goodies.

High School Marching Band - First Game

On the 3rd day of school the football team played their first 'real' game of the season. The marching band kicked off the party by playing for the tailgaters. They then marched into the stadium and performed the pre-game show. They also play at half-time and again after the game. It was a beautiful night, maybe a little too warm but not a cloud in sight. CJ and the band were impressive. The hard work definitely shows.

 

 

 Way to go Marching Pioneers.

And so it begins...

High school, can you believe it?



He may be a highschooler but he still puts his shoes on one at a time, just like the rest of us!!

 

He posed willingly for the first day of school picture. The subtle rebellion is there, note the crossed arms and the raised left eyebrow. Love that kid!!!



And there it is, the front porch picture. High School has arrived. It will be dark 99% of the time he leaves for the bus stop. Breakfast of champions in his hand, coffee and a breakfast burrito.

Good Luck and have fun.

Injured Camper

Marching band is a lot of work. They began practicing for the upcoming season on July 30th.
 The second week of practice was sleep away band camp. During the week CJ's knee began to hurt.
After a visit to the chiropractor he is feeling better. I really enjoyed teasing him about the 'electroshock' therapy. He likened it to the feeling of his tongue on a 9 volt battery. If you ask why he knows what that feels like, you need to ask Steve.

 

Philly Visit

On my way to meet Anoushka I made a stop in Roxborough for a cheesesteak and a visit with PopPop and Furball.


Look at that yummy, delicious, tummy filling steak.

Furball was very patient while I snapped the perfect picture.

On Tuesday I drove down to the airport to pick up Claire. She was flying to Albany to see her cousins and missed the connecting flight. We filled her time in Philly with:
A Philly cheesesteak - the other half of the one above.
A visit to Society Hill - Delancy St. where the pic was taken.
And time holding Anoushka - Claire loves babies.

 

 Eleanor was so excited to have a third person to take a picture of us.
Later in the day Dan took Claire back to the airport and she was on her way to NY.

Dan and Rufus relaxing.

One night Swati and I went out to a restaurant on the Delaware to have dinner. It was yummy, I had corn & crab fritters and Swati had a tomato, avocado salad. On our way out we stopped for ice cream. I had Birch Beer Vanilla and it was amazingly good. It tasted just like a birch beer float. Good thing we walked to dinner since the ice cream was not low calorie. It was however was worth every stinkin' calorie it contained!

On Thursday, Swati and I ventured out with Anoushka. We were on a mission to send me home with some of my favorite foods. At Dellasandro's I got 3 travel cheesesteaks as a surprise for the boys. The ACME had everything else - birch beer, peanut chews and TastyKakes. Thanks Swati!

Anoushka

This is Anoushka, my newest niece.
Isn't she precious?


The picture on the left is when she first came home and the one on the right is 3 weeks later. She wasn't too pleased about being strapped into the car seat and I just love the look on her sweet face! Look at how big she got, she takes up so much more of the seat now.

Dan is prepping her for future bike rides and hikes through the woods. Each night she does crunches and answers questions with a nod or shake of her head. She always answers the way Dan wants her to, hmm...that will change soon enough!

The proud Mama!!!

Such a sweet child. She is so good and mild mannered. Dan and Swati are lucky parents!

 

The quilt I made for Anoushka, almost as cute as she is.

2012 Strings Camp

This year, CJ opted to stay overnight, every night, at strings camp. We dropped him off Monday morning and didn't see him until Friday evening when his group stepped onto the stage. In that week, his voice got even deeper, his mustache got darker and he may have gotten even taller. The week was a fabulous success with lots of fun and lots of cello playing. They even got to 'hide out' in the dorms on Thursday, while a nasty thunderstorm rolled through.

I had forgotten that when Mr. Cordle is directing the cellos are in the middle so when you watch the video you won't be able to see CJ play. If you look carefully you can see his ear and back of his head behind the viola player in the pink shirt.

Enjoy.

It Did Rain!

It was a good rain, even if there were some strong winds. This time we lost a couple of branches on a maple tree. The didn't come all the way off so we are hoping the pole saw is long enough to finish the job. The electricity stayed on and we were all thankful.



It seems crazy to plant in this hot weather, but plant I did. These azaleas were only $3. at Wal-Mart and I couldn't pass them up. The weather has been cooperating a little as we have had some more rain and highs only in the low-mid 90's.

The tomato plants are loving the weather. Soon I will have lots of canning to do and I am looking forward to it. Sadly there have been only two peppers, one on each plant.

Today is July 30th and I believe that I will cut the grass this week. It has been 7 weeks since it was last mowed.

 

Hot and Dry

Like many other areas of the country this summer has been hot. We have had more days above 90 than below. Occasionally the weather forecast includes a cool front that may move in next week, only it either doesn't make it here or it just means that the highs will be under 90. It has also been very dry. Yes we had that nasty storm at the end of June. We also had a downpour this past weekend but other than that it has been dry.

This is a picture of our front lawn. Doesn't look too bad does it? The last time it was cut was June 9th, that really says how dry it is.

This is the latest weather radar.  Looks can be deceiving. The storm is moving south and barely east. And, just like yesterday I can hear the thunder but I think it is going to miss us. Just in case though, all electronics are charging and the laundry is just about done!

Clean & Organized

Somebody disregarded his mom's wishes yesterday.
Somebody then spent 3 hours cleaning, de-cluttering and organizing his room.
Doesn't it look nice?

4th of July

Our celebrations started early this year. Each year the OOHS band marches in the Orange Twp parade, as a rising freshman CJ marched in his first 4th of July parade. When we dropped he and a friend/fellow band member off at 9am it was already 89 degrees out. A hot start to CJ's marching band career!

Steve and I stopped to pick up breakfast and much needed coffee and then headed to the high school. After setting up our chairs and beach umbrella we settled in and waited for the band. It was quite a wait, but worth it.

 

They sounded great and there are so many of them!

After cold showers for all of us and a nap for me we had dinner and then headed out for fireworks. We loaded up the wagon with chairs, a cooler filled with really cold drinks and the beach umbrella (who knew the beach umbrella would come in so handy here in Columbus). While waiting for the sun we watched the progress of a storm off in the distance. Fortunately the folks in charge of setting off the fireworks were watching the storm too. At dusk, rather than dark, the fireworks started. They were sent off a little faster than normal, to beat the storm, which made the whole thing feel like a grand finale. With us this year, along with the Baxters, were our neighbors Ryan and Stephanie and their daughter Grace. This was Grace's first time seeing fireworks in person. Her giggles and excitement made the experience just that much better. Thanks neighbors for another night of great fun.