Making Strides

This morning I had the pleasure of joining Noah and his friends for the Walk-A-Thon. Unlike last year's rain, today was a wonderful autumn day--warm, sunny and pleasant for an hour's walk. Over the past 6 years, Noah's school has raised almost $90,000 with this fundraising event. Since Noah's now a big 5th grader, today was Noah's last Walk-A-Thon.

Noah's one request for his final Walk-A-Thon: please bring Sophie today. I struggled with whether or not to include Sophie, but in the end decided that since pets are welcome that it would be perfectly fine for Sophie to walk also.














Eli and Noah with Sophie before beginning the Walk-A-Thon. Sophie's trained to walk on the left side and did a wonderful job walking around the track in spite of the many distractions--other dogs and many friends wanting to shower her with attention.





















I had a wonderful time walking with Noah and Sophie around the Central High School track.














The school mascot below surrounded by friends wanting a high five or hug.

















Giving the owl a final high five at the conclusion of the Walk-A-Thon before returning to class. Noah, I had a GREAT time this morning--thanks for walking with me--I loved our time together this morning!

Lynd's Orchard

Some of my favorite fall memories date back to our stay in Maryland. Each fall, with MOPS and again with friends, we would visit the orchard and later in the season, the pumpkin patch. The memories created from those visits still make me smile today. The boys are much older now, but I was still able to convince them that a trip to the orchard would be fun for all. We went as a family since that time together seems to be dwindling as the boys mature. We weren't at the orchard long, but managed to fill a 20 pound bag with golden and red delicious apples.

Alexander and Noah at one of the Lynd Family orchards. The history of the family orchard is quite interesting and can be viewed visiting this site: http://www.lyndfruitfarm.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62:history-of-lynd-fruit-farm&catid=56:general-information&Itemid=61

Did you know it takes about 40 leaves to support and grow one apple on a standard tree? To remove an apple from the tree, don't yank as many other apples unnecessarily fall to the ground in waste. Instead, gently twist the apple until it falls into your palm.

A trip to the orchard wouldn't be complete without an apple sampling! Nice, crunchy, juicy sweet apples--YUM.

Kick It!

Noah's soccer season is officially underway! Trey's co-coaching and Trey and Noah are enjoying their time together.

Noah, dribbling down the field, with Dad watching in the background.

I love the determination on Noah's face in the above picture--he's definitely kicking that ball down the field!

A little blurry, but a good picture taken by Alexander. So far, the team is 1-1-1 and they look great on the field. Looking forward to more games and better pix! Go Noah!

And The Thunder Rolls

Rarely, do we have severe storms in Central Ohio (nothing like Southern storms anyway!). Yesterday afternoon we had 6 tornadoes in Ohio. The sirens started sounding around 4:15pm, but I wasn't sure I could really hear them; so I checked the internet for more information. Sure enough--tornado warning for Franklin County (Columbus) and severe thunderstorm warning too. Noah and I were home, Trey was on his way home, but Alexander was at the high school preparing for their football game. As the sky turned a light purple, blue, yellow I realized that we were in for a REAL storm! Of course, rather than seek shelter, I stood by our back kitchen door watching everything unfold (I realize now that probably wasn't wise)--at least I didn't think to take a picture then :)! The sky changed colors, everything was still except for the clouds moving quickly overhead--then, it started hailing, lightening, thundering--it was CRAZY! The hail SLAMMED against the windows and I'm quite surprised that they didn't break.

The hail stopped and immediately the rain fell in buckets. Once the storm passed (it was like nothing happened), we headed to the high school and watched Alexander and his teammates win their football game against Westerville South (BIG rivalry). It wasn't until later last night that we learned more about the storms destruction--Athens, Ohio (home of OU) was hit by a tornado; thankfully OU was untouched, but there are numerous families whose homes were lost. There was damage closer to home--a high school several miles from our home had significant roof damage, a tree fell on a house in Delaware County (our county) and lots of power outages. We're extremely thankful to be safe and our thoughts and prayers are with the families affected by the storms yesterday afternoon throughout Ohio.

Celebrating Noah's 11th Birthday

My goodness, 'how time flies'! I can't believe our "baby" turns 11 today!

Reading the card from Alexander before finishing opening cards from friends and family.

What could it be? Dad helping Noah open his birthday gift.

It's a...it's a... new bike! Poor Noah's been riding with his knees in the handlebars now for quite some time; not to mention an uncomfortable seat. Needless to say, he's very happy and couldn't wait to take his new wheels for a spin.

He has a new BMX bike, complete with hand brakes, which involve a little more skill to use. Trey and Noah rode around the bike path together so Noah could practice stopping. By the time they returned home, Noah was already a pro with his hand brakes!

I've been asking Noah for weeks what he wanted to do for his birthday--did he want a party, sleepover; how did he want to celebrate his birthday? He never came up with a definitive answer until the night before his birthday! Thankfully Noah's best buddy has a wonderful Mom who allowed him to spend some time with us at Magic Mountain.

The boys, Alexander included, played two rounds of laser tag before heading outside...

to the race track! Noah and Eli are tall enough to drive by themselves--oh my heavens! They both did an AMAZING job navigating around the track! Alexander, well, I'm nervous for him to receive his driver's license (next year!!!)--he was FLYING around the track!

Noah decided, long ago, that he wanted "BD's Mongolian Grill" for dinner. So, we headed to Easton to accommodate his request--yummy!

Noah, it's hard for us to believe that you're already 11 years old! You're a compassionate, caring, smart, creative, empathetic and kind boy--we're very proud of the person you're becoming! Happy, Happy Birthday "No" :)--love you to the moon and back!

Lunch With Noah

I had the pleasure of joining Noah and his best buddy, along with the entire 5th grade class, for lunch today. Noah's birthday lunch request: Chick Fil A. I love, that although he's a big 5th grader, he's still willing and wanting to have me join him for lunch...even when I don't bring Chick Fil A :)! I spent the morning baking cookies from scratch--a rare treat. Since Noah thinks "baking cookies" involves the "pull-apart" cookies--he was convinced that I had just 'cooked' the chocolate chip cookies and not 'really baked them'. Oh my gosh, even 5th graders can say the funniest things. I assured him that the cookies were homemade and he replied, "thanks, they're awesome!"

What I didn't know is that on Fridays, the 5th graders are allowed to sit ANYWHERE; they're not required to stay with their homeroom class. Oh my heavens, you can't begin to imagine the increase in noise level and chaos as Noah started walking around the cafeteria with a basket overflowing with chocolate chip cookies for his classmates! EVERYONE was suddenly Noah's best friend, yelling his name and then yelling "Happy Birthday". I would have been SO embarrassed at his age, but when I asked him if everyone yelling his name bothered him--no, of course not.

Needless to say the cookies were a hit! Noah wanted to save a couple cookies for his teachers, so during his recess time, we went in search of his teachers. When our time together was finished, he absolutely melted my heart by 1) thanking me and 2) giving me a hug. I can't believe our "baby" turns 11 on Sunday! Happy, Happy Birthday my sweet Noah :)!

Back to School for Mom

When Noah started preschool in Georgia, I decided that subbing and later teaching would be a wonderful way to offset the cost of tuition. Little did I know that I would absolutely fall in love with my "job". After returning to Ohio, I took a couple years off and last year returned to teaching again. Wednesday, I started my fifth year of teaching 4s preschool. Like most teachers, I've spent hours preparing for my class. One of my final preparations was creating "crayon" treats for my class to coordinate with Laura Numeroff's book, "If You Take a Mouse to School" which I read during orientation. The craft is adapted from one of my scrapbook magazines and SO easy and fun to make.

My supplies include: rolos (length of crayon), Hershey's kiss (crayon tip), paper and adhesive.

A close-up of the crayons and below, all ready for orientation; complete with a tag, "Wecome to the Orange 4s class".

Each year, we adopt a class tree and take a picture by the tree during each of the four seasons. Below, is our "summer season" class picture.

We've only shared one full class time together, but already I absolutely adore the little ones in my new class. I can't wait to watch them blossom throughout the school year!

September 2, 2010: Alexander, number 77, pushed through the New Albany defense to sack the QB for the first time ever in his football career! He had an amazing home game: speaking team captain, first sack, and several GREAT blocks and tackles! After his sack, the New Albany team put 2 defensive lineman to try and stop Alexander! The freshman team defeated New Albany 19-2 resulting in a 2-0 league standing. WAY TO GO WARHAWKS!!