Tyler's Young Women's Pinewood Derby - March 2011

The Young Women decided to have a pinewood derby race among themselves back in March for their activity.  Some cars came as hotdogs, others with a bath tub and some were simply a block of wood painted.  Tyler wanted to design something that looked a bit like a Volkswagen Beetle or Dune Buggy.  She drew it - we cut it and she picked her colors and design...of course orange for her - we even put a surf board on the top of it.  She and I spent time really working on the axles and wheels of her car to make sure it would get down the track.  I think we did a pretty good job with it - she went 12 - 0, never losing a heat and placed 1st! :)  She was proud of her accomplishment - tough to go undefeated in a pinewood derby race.

Tyler's Basketball Season 2011

 Tyler went out of her comfort zone this year and decided to play basketball in a local recreation league with one of her friends.  It was a great experience for her and she really learned a lot about basketball and playing in a team sport.  Her coaches were great and always made the girls feel good about themselves.  Her team was good - in fact they ended up going undefeated and winning the league championship which was played in a local college's arena.  She is #10 - the one with the funky socks! :)

Ice Storm 2011

February 1st at 11:30pm and we have about an 1" of ice on everything.  We missed all the snow and got the ice instead.  There will be freezing rain all night.  We are hoping that the trees and powerlines stay up.  I just took this picture of our tree in the front of our house. The back doesn't look much better right now!  We will see what is standing in the morning!

Christmas 2010

Another fun Christmas here in Ohio.  We made Gingerbread Houses, Lucky the Elf came to visit, we had Oma here, had a family Christmas Concert and had our first "White Christmas."  There wasn't much snow, but enough to count it.  The combination of some snow on the ground and about 1/2 to 1" Christmas Eve was perfect.  Oma was with us again this year.  It was a short but fun visit with her. 

8th Grade Marching Band Night

At Tyler's Middle School, they get the opportunity to march with the high school band once a season.  The scary looking dude is the Orange High School Mascot.  Orange High School is known as the "Pioneers...just not sure the actual name of the guy...

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

We spent some time at Freeman's Farm walking through the Pumpkin Patch.  We ran into our friends, Adam and Juliet, along with their kids so Paris was able to hang out with her best buddy Britta.  Paris also had her friend Noah with us - yes, he is an older man - but he loves hanging out with us and he is so nice to Paris!

Paris Turns 5!

 Paris turned 5 on October 24th.  She is growing up so fast!  She is so much fun and such a great blessing in our lives...and, she is NEVER shy in front of a camera! : )