THS Dance Clinic

This morning Abby participated in a 3 hour clinic put on by the THS Dance Team. Next Friday night they will perform on the football field at half time. Here's a little sneak peek from practice! Click on the pics for a larger view. Bad gym lighting as usual, but you get the idea!

Woof! Roxy Graduated!

Here is our puppy training school new graduate! Drew did most of the work this summer putting her through puppy boot camp, but tonight was the final test night and so mom got the pleasure of getting her to perform all of the required commands!

They took pics of the dogs with a graduation cap ... but Roxy tried to eat it and wanted nothing to do with wearing it! Smart dog! HA HA Click pics for bigger view to see her diploma!

Moving Into the Dorm '09

Thursday afternoon we loaded up and headed out for the 4 hour drive to Wisconsin for the back to college move-in with Drew!

We spent the night in Kenosha and headed to campus Friday morning. Drew is moving in a week early since he is an RA (resident assistant) and now has a week of RA training, so not many people are around yet since classes don't start until Sep 9. We parked right outside the door and had the elevator all to ourselves, and we had the luxury of lining his stuff down the hallway while we took things in and got organized.

Now that's the way to move into a dorm, ha ha.

Here is the empty "sterile" room upon arrival,

Drew had big plans for his room this year. As an RA, he has a single ... so that meant twice as much space as last year. Room for a futon and tv stand, must have a carpet remnant, and no need to bunk the beds since there is only one. It also meant getting use of two closets and two dressers, which is nice as well! Here are some shots of how the room turned out, it looks really good! Click on the photos for a larger view,



His dorm runs parallel to the shore line of Lake Michigan, and his room faces East, overlooking the Lake. It was a gray day, so not as pretty as a sunny day but still beautiful. Here's the view from his window,

Not quite the view I had from my dorm room at Western Illinois, overlooking the scenic soybean fields :-)

After grabbing a late lunch, we took him back to the dorm and headed for home. He won't be home for 3 months (at Thanksgiving time) but we will be on campus in about 6 weeks for Fall Family Weekend in October. He is really at home there, and that makes it easier to have him away, but it was really nice to have him back home this summer!

First Day of School '09!

Abby headed off to first grade this morning, and TJ off to 6th grade! They were loaded down with school supplies ... the lists are so much longer now than when Drew was their age. As you can see from the pics, it doesn't fit in their backpacks ... Abby had 1 extra bag and TJ had 2 bags!

This year doesn't feel like the big changes of last year when Abby went to kindergarten and TJ moved to middle school. This year they know their schools and the routine, so they were both excited and ready to go!

Only a little more than a week until Drew moves back to college, again not as big of a change as starting college last year. Everyone is happy at their schools and ready to return, so that is the important thing!

1 Move Down, 1 Move to Go!

Beverly returned to Tremont on August 9 and spent the week at our house ... and yesterday Drew and I moved her into her dorm at the boarding school she will attend near Chicago this school year. Her roommate is a very sweet young lady whose family lives less than an hour away, so it will be nice for her to have some connections with her family more often than we (or certainly than her parents in China) can visit!

Here are some pics from the big day! Now we have about 10 days until the next big move, getting Drew back to college!

Hey I know those people!

Mitch and Abby went to the Peoria riverfront last night to tour the US Corps of Engineers largest towboat ever built ... and ended up in this photo on the newspaper site! Funny!

Click here

Stormy Morning

TJ captured these pictures on my cell phone this morning as we were driving. As we left our subdivision there was a really weird cloud with a distinctive line in it. Then as we got into town the clouds were low over the fields, and skies turned emerald green and then black as night, and the monsoon rains and strong winds started. We had to ride it out in a parking lot because it was just raining too hard to get out at our destination at that point!




We're back to 3 kids at home, at least for the short term. Beverly leaves China and returns to our house on Sunday to stay with us for a week before she moves into her new boarding school for the fall semester!

Musical Kids?!?

We seem to be playing that old musical chairs games with the kids the past couple of weeks ...

Last week Drew was in NY at his fraternity conference, so we "only" had 2 kids around most of the week.

He came home Sunday, but not until after Abby headed off to spend the week at Camp Grandma & Grandpa! She was very anxious to go and I'm sure is having the time of her life. So we still only have 2 kids around.

Tomorrow morning I'll meet up with them briefly during Abby's tumbling class, which is closer to where we live than they do but we didn't want her to miss her last class of the summer session.

When they head back, Abby will stay with them and they will also be taking TJ with them, so we'll be down to just 1. Then it is REALLY going to get quiet around here! HA

I'll pick them both up Friday night and we'll get back to "normal" around here, whatever that really means!

Drew's fraternity magazine has a story this quarter on the leadership training session he attended in June, and a nice pic of the group of 10 kids that took part in it, and article. His picture is on page 12, and a quote from him on page 13. This has really offered him some great leadership opportunities, which is really his cup of tea!

To view a PDF file of the article Click here and after it opens, click over to page 12 & 13 to see the 2 pages of about the conference.

Today was Drew's last day of his summer class, so he's glad. Lots of papers to write for Sociology, but now it's over!

Another Summer Week Gone ...

Summer is flying by! The kids will be in school less than a month from now, hard to believe ... Abby to first grade, TJ to 6th grade!

The weather has been so cool for July, almost fall-like. At least the grass is green instead of its normal mid-summer burn out brown! It has been nice enough to enjoy some time at the boat, but last weekend we did take a break from the normal weekend at the marina and we took in a favorite band playing at a local vineyard on Sat night instead.

TJ had a great birthday and ordered up some long-desired goodies with his birthday cash. So now the loot will all start arriving and it will be like a birthday all over again!

Abby has tumbling today on mommy's summer Wednesday vacation day ... and next week is her last class of the 8 week session. I'd like to enroll her for the fall session but it's always tougher to mix evening activities with school and just your normal busy life, and does she need to be running her legs off at age 6? We'll see what the schedule looks like.

Drew is in the air again this morning, headed for NY and the leadership conference for his fraternity. He'll be home on Sunday, so it's a bit longer than the last trip. His 8 week summer class is almost over, and it will be 3 more college credits down.

We have had a tough go with the pets the past couple of weeks ... losing both our 14 year old cat and our 12 year old dog in a short 11 day period, due to health issues and the need to make difficult decisions for them. It has been tough on us, but we have had some good talks with the kids about the good life our pets had with a family, and they are working through it as best as you can hope they would. But it's still tough.

Next week we will be approaching August!

Happy 11th Birthday, TJ!!

Today was the big 1-1 birthday for TJ!

He started off the day by heading off to band camp, which he has absolutely loved doing this week. We took in cupcakes and cookies to share with the group, and they learned how to play "Happy Birthday" for him while he sat on the stage and listened.

It was his choice for dinner tonight and he chose Mexican food, so off we went for enchiladas, soft tacos and more! We were too full to eat his dessert cookie and ice cream when we returned, so we spent some time outside before cutting into the pan of chocolate chip cookie bars.

Beverly tried to call him twice today from China to wish him a happy birthday and missed him both times. But he was happy to hear her voice on the recorder, and then I had a chance to talk with her when she tried my cell phone. She's flying back into Peoria on August 9, so she'll be back in just about 3-1/2 weeks. She will be here with us for the week and then we'll move her into her dorm room at boarding school on August 16.