Homecoming and Candles

14 Sparkle Candles on her bday

We have had quite the fun and eventful week. On Wednesday, Grammy and Grampy flew in to Philly after returning from their vacation out west. The next day, Austin's dad flew in from Amsterdam and we had a nice dinner to celebrate visitors and Julia's upcoming birthday. My parents headed out Friday morning and I spent the rest of the day staining the deck and doing major yardwork, knowing Saturday would be full of activities.

Saturday started out with dropping off Julia and dontions to the HS for their homecoming booths. I swung back home to gather the troops and we went back to the HS to enjoy the Avon Grove HS parade. Then ran home to eat lunch and head out to Eliza's soccer game. Chris and Christie joined us there and then we headed back to the house to get dinner going. Meanwhile, I dropped Anna off to her party, then went to the HS to pick up Julia from her homecoming game (which they won 52-0). We quickly ate dinner and then it was time to get Julia back to the HS for her homecoming dance. Christie and Chris picked out a nice corsage for Julia's birthday to wear to the dance.

Chris presenting the corsage

Also, Julia's friends came over to share some desert and go together to the dance. (Julia was actually asked to the dance by a senior :), but since she didn't know him that well and dating is not on her to do list yet, we told her to go with friends and dance with him a few times there. She was happy with that). At 10 pm that night, Austin and I divided forces and he got Julia from the dance while I got Anna from her party. Whew!! These kids are really keeping us hopping!!!

Taylor, Hannah and Julia

I feel like Julia has grown up overnight. We looked through her baby book on Sunday, and I'm glad I have those pictures to remind me of all her different stages. She has blossomed into a beautiful young woman.

Julia's First Parade

Julia in her marching band uniform

Julia is in marching band this year playing the flute. This weekend the marching band played in the Mushroom Festival Parade. We cheered like crazy when she marched by, getting a few looks and missteps. So much fun!!

There are 70+ members in the band

Julia is the second one in

Vegetable Critters

Newborn Family

Longwood Gardens had a fun contest of creating something out of fruit and vegetables. The girls heard about the contest and went right home to create something. With just what we had on hand, they were able to make cute creations. Now the we know about the contest, we might do a little better planning next year :)

Cucumber Racecar

First Day of School

First out the door were Anna who is entering 7th grade and Julia who is in HIGH SCHOOL (aaah)!


Next out the door was Eliza who is now in 2nd grade. Everyone was excited for the first day!

Makeovers and appointments

The day after we got home from vacation, the girls all had appointments - Eliza for the dentist, Anna for the orthodontist and Julia for the eye doctor. Julia has decided to wear contacts now. She has such beautiful eyes, so it is fun to see them again. Anna also got new glasses that make her look a little more grown up.

Anna got not such good news from the orthodontist. She will have to have some more extensive work on a couple of teeth that are not coming in. Since she is already missing six of her permanent teeth, they are trying to save two that are not coming in like they should be. In December, she will have to have oral surgery and chains attached to two teeth that are still up high in her mouth and are laying sideways. She is nervous about the whole thing, but I think she will be ok. I just hope the teeth will come in like they should so that implants won't be necessary.

Both girls got their ears pierced this summer. They are so excited for that. The biggest makeover that happened was Julia's hair. We decided to get her hair relaxed so that she can actually brush it. With seminary soon approaching, I did not want her spending precious time fooling with her hair. She really loves it and she looks like a completely different person. She's never had straight hair!

BEFORE

AFTER

The Poconos

Lauren and Julia at Band Camp

Child's Park

Julia is participating in marching band this year and they spent last weekend up in the Poconos at band camp. We headed up Sunday morning to the camp so she could go to church with us at a nearby ward. While we were up there, we had a picnic at Child's Park. (Child's park was a park that my mom visited several times as a child and has often wanted to visit.) Chris and Christie also came up to enjoy the day with us since neither had been to this area of PA. A girl from our ward, Lauren, spent the day with us, since she was also at the camp.

Christie and Chris

The trip home wasn't so pleasant as we nearly got hit head on when a car had a blow out on the opposite side of the highway and went out of control, saw a motorcyclist lifeflighted as we sat on the shutdown highway, and saw another fender bender close to home. I decided after that we should probably just stick around home the last week of the summer :).

Hershey Park

Anna and Eliza on the boardwalk

The new water slides

Even with rain in the forecast, we decided to head out to Hershey Park this Friday. At the beginning of the day it was so humid with the pending storms, so we decided to go right to the waterpark. We were able to go down a couple of the new slides they had and tidal force before the storm hit.

Austin sporting his poncho

Learning from years past, I came prepared with ponchos and we enjoyed an early lunch while the lightning struck around us. While it was still raining we decided to head out to a couple of indoor rides. Soon the clouds parted and we were able to enjoy a little bit more of the the water park. With the nicer weather, the lines got longer, so we headed out to the other parts of the park. Eliza was a hershey bar this year, so she was delighted to go on new rides such as the claw, sidewinder, and lightning racer. She loves a thrill!!! Anna was brave, and tried the Great Bear roller coaster. I think she secretly liked it.

Hershey Bar at last!

Enjoying the ferris wheel with daddy

The only down side of the whole day was having wet shoes. I wore sandals, which dug into my feet. I had other shoes in the car, but we never made it back. When we finally left the park around 8:30, the girls were pleasantly (estatically) suprised to hear Demi Lamoto performing in the stadium right next to where we were parked. We sat in the car for 1/2 hour while they sang along to her songs. It was definitely the highlight of their enjoyable day.