Girl Minion

Where has the last school year gone?

I mean weren't we just having Christmas parties?

This one had a full year of fourth grade.

She laughed, loved and learned with her friends.
A lot.
Now, they will be gearing up for fifth grade.
The is the last year at our wonderful Elementary school for her.
Stoney will still have three more years :)

She finished the year with perfect attendance.
Last year she missed one day due to surgery, but
not for lack of begging the Dr. could she please wait
until Summer? :)

She also finished the year with all A's and two B's.
Wow.
Her teacher's were nothing short of amazing.
You know the kind you wish you could take with you
until she graduates?
Seriously.

She has started swim team this summer.
Two-a-days even.
A week ago she could only do free style and could not dive (correctly).

Almost two weeks later...
She can swim the back stroke, the breast stroke
and the butterfly...
The butterfly?
Not an easy thing. She does it with ease.
She amazes me once again.
Oh, and she can dive correctly like she has
been doing it forever.

Her first swim meet is next week.
She is nervous
I'm nervous for her.
Most, if not all these kids have been doing this for a few years.
I just want her to have fun.
Tough thing for a competitive ten year old.
I mean competitive in every sense of the word.
We shall see...

I hope your summer is off to a great start.
My countdown is on for the beach ;)

xoxo
Rox

Racing birthday and schedules...

Yea... it's me. HA! been a while I know.
So incredibly busy.
All of us.
So here is much of December
in a little nut shell.

Stormy's wanted to do her birthday get together at a store where you
 paint or make jewelry.
She enjoyed making her sign out front to let her friends know that they
were at the right place :)

There were a lot of choices. The girls had fun there were still two more coming.
These were the early birds.
They had a great time and I think next year she wants to come back and do
the jewelry. I may make on too. ;)

Stormy was in the Spelling bee too. So incredibly proud of her. She won her homeroom (fourth grade) and then went onto the next round and she and the other fourth grade winners competed against the winners of the fifth grade homerooms.

We went with friends down to Atlantic Station to see the tree and the "snow" that falls every night at 6 p.m.
Well it was the equivalent of spitting and sputtering foam out of machines in the trees. We  were all a little disappointed.
But it was so great to hang with friends :) 

My Matt-Daddy ran his first race in a couple of years. He is getting his groove back.
I was so proud of him! 

Always makes it better to run with friends :)

Boosterthon was also a big part of our November and December.

The kids all get pledges and they run laps to raise money for the school.

They ran and ran and ran.... to the point of silliness I think !! ;)

As they run each lap the teachers mark the back of their shirts.

The cutest stinking shot of the day???
Stoney and his bestie ran together most of the laps. But this one they
reached out and held hands on the lap.
O. M. G. Love those two.

It was a great day.
The kids ended up after all was said and done raising over $25,000.
WOW
It is going towards purchasing Promethean boards for every class room.
Which by the way...
Are the coolest tools ever for the classroom.


So that is most of our December in a nut shell.
Sans time back AL with family.
 I actually didn't take one. single. photo. While we there.
I couldn't believe it.

So hope you guys are well.
We are so busy..
hence why I have not blogged.
Stormy is in the fourth and fifth grade
production of Mulan Jr.
She has had practice multiple times a week since November.
The play is finally next week.
With four performances.

Stormy has also been doing hip-hop jump rope again this year.
There are three more performances next week.
then we are done.
Stoney has started basketball. we are two games
 into the short season.
(they won last night ans he had one rebound!)
AND.... Matt-Daddy started back to college this semester!
WooHoo!!
So proud of him.
He had a 18 hours to transfer from years ago.
So he is a little ahead of the game.
I am so proud of him.
He is in class two nights a week and every Saturday
and working. It is hard but the reward will
be so worth it.
Tennis starts next month and near the end of that
will begin swim team.
Whew.
Is it Summer yet?
Feels like it outside...js.
It is very busy...
But I wouldn't change it for a thing.
Seriously.

Have a great Thursday!!
Ciao!

Halloween Costume Ball 2011

The Costume Ball was a huge hit this year with some great

costumes.

The kids were so excited.

Food, fun and a DJ rockin' out the cafe' with some great tunes!

So here are a few shots.

Sorry, short post today.

 I have 456,093 photos to edit from the weekend.

These are for paying customers.

Yep.. paying *yikes*

Still hard to believe that peeps have that kind of confidence in me...

Scary.

Gotta get busy.

Will try to get a sneak peek up later today. :)

Entrance into the school :)

My Hippie chick...out of focus.
And Peeps are paying?
*double yikes*
lol

One of my favorite shots of the night :)

My sweet Stormy and one of her besties :)

Stoney danced the night away!

Boogie down

So cute!

Hippie Chick working the Cha Cha Slide ;)

I hope you guys are in back in the groove from the time
change over the weekend.
I know my cousin pops in on here from time to time..
So his birthday was recently and I missed it.

So HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRES!!
I hope you had a wonderful day filled with
all the things you love!!
All My Love,
xoxo
Roxanne

You guys have a great Tuesday!!

October catch up Part 1

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah I know..

I couldn't be more behind.

But my behind has been been busy!

So here we go!

Fall has to be my most favorite time of the year.
 It runs into my second favorite..
But it has to be the most busy.
It wouldn't be the same any other way..

Matt-Daddy in his hoodie. ;)

Went to a party Saturday night and looked over and Dr. J (Julius Erving) was shooting hoops..
I mean what are the odds?
You know me..
Camera in hand (imagine that).
So, I am sharing with you ;)

The King and Queen building here in Atlanta always lights the top of the
Queen building in pink during the month of October
for breast cancer awareness.
Did you get squished last month? I did.
If you didn't.. Don't put it off longer.
I was right there..
I had to have a shot.

Headed into the city on a Saturday night.
Don't get excited. Haha..
We went to Matt-Daddy's work to check something ;)

Stormy had a hip hop jump rope performance on Saturday.
Outside.
It was cold.
The wind was kicking.
And it was cold.
Cold.

Did I mention it was cold?
Like toboggans and sweats cold.

It did not slow her down.
She never complained.
They do all kinds of tricks and there are like 40 kids.
These are only the returnees. They go out in groups of 5 or 6.
Super love that shot up there.

Thought that was pretty cool too. ;)
She was jumping rope WHILE bouncing on a ball. (??)
I mean wow.
Who knew she had the coordination?
I certainly didn't. ;)

Get it girl!
She loves this stuff so much.
I am looking forward to after the holidays.
They get to preform at halftime during the basketball games at local colleges
like Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Oglethorpe etc.
It is always fun and the kids love it!


I do hope you guys are doing well and fighting all cold and sinus junk that the Fall
inevitably brings.
Will post photos from the Halloween ball next!
It was a scream with all the outfits.

ciao,
Roxanne

Around here...

This child..

When she wants to be, she is so focused.... 

And I don't want to do anything to break it.

She has always loved to design clothes...

She didn't get the clothes part from me but her Grandmother and I can be pretty creative

and crafty when we want to be... 

Her grandmother more so than me and 

on a much larger scale... 

Quilts, refinishing furniture, painting etc.

Me..
Well...photography and paper crafts.

She got these design templates a few years ago and pulls them out from time to time.
Then it graduated to a dress form that she loves to dress up with material and costume jewelry.

Last week we went to visit a friend that runs a dress shop that specializes in formal attire.
Especially dresses for prom and bridesmaids... well, you get the idea.
Stormy was in a trance...
She tried on dress after dress...
(much to her Dad's chagrin)
Those pics are on my phone... will have to get those uploaded..
I need to do a phone dump anyway.

I had mentioned to my friend that Stormy loves dresses and draws them free hand and puts them in a
notebook and she loves to create on her dress form and with her templates etc.
She said, "Well she needs to come spend a Saturday with me dressing the mannequins."
She told Stormy that... and
Girl. It. Was. On. 

She has been using her templates and organizing her "portfolio".
She can't wait to go hang with Miss Tammy ;)

On a another note...
She got off the bus Friday and was non stop chatter about her project due in two weeks.
I thought, great we have time.
No.
She wanted to do it TODAY.

It is on Native American Dwellings. She picked a "Winter Hogan".
Not the easiest one either I might add.
She has actually done 90% of it.
She has done an amazing job so far.
Matt-Daddy has guided and given her instruction, although the above
photo would say the contrary. ;)
He was working on the very top of the roof.
She wants it to be removable so she can show the inside and what they are doing.
You go girl.
Don't let me stand in the way.

f.y.i. ....
Me - fourth grade...
Mom --When is that project due?
Me -- "Um... in two days.."
Mom -- "How long have you had to prepare for this?"
Me -- "A little over two weeks."
Mom -- (steam blowing out her ears and flames in her eyes)
Me -- "I guess I will go with the igloo.
Do we have any sugar cubes??"
"Glue?"
Yeah..... I would have totally chosen the easiest one.

 Like I said.. I'm not going to do anything to
break that focus.
Especially when it comes to school work.
We are only one week into school and she has already read
the 3rd book in the series "My Sister's a Vampire".
She started the 4th this morning.

Wow.
I love her.
For any number of reasons....
But today I found another reason. I see another strong point and she
makes me want to make them mine.
Since the day she was born....
She still makes me want to be a better person..

Hope you guys have had a great weekend!
Here's to fabulous week ahead :)

Ciao,
Rox

Another First Day ... Really?

Wow. Am I behind in blogging. It is so hard to give up those last few weeks of Summer vacation.

Sorry.

But here we are, almost done with our first week of school.

Man, I woke up Monday with a fourth grader and a second grader.

How did that happen??

Really?

They had Open house last Friday and got to meet new teachers and see what friends would be in their class this year. They both got new teachers for their grade. They seem very nice and structured.

The fourth grader definitely needs structure. 

Definitely.

Bless her.

Ahem.

So, here is the obligatory new shoe shot that I do each year.
And really? My fourth grader is on a 6.5 in Women's??
Really?
A size four when school let out...
*insert very confused face*
Growth spurt much?
Sheesh.

Triple love the outfit she picked out to buy for the first day of school.
And his hair? Don't get me started on his hair.
I explained ...like perfectly plain how to cut his hair.
2 guard up from the neck and bowl cut with tapered edges to blend. Please leave it long around the top.
He has a large dome with a double crown from stitches..
Heellerrrr...
Short layered hair. Will. Not. Work.
He even leaned up in the car afterwards and said "Momma, I want you to cut my hair from on.
I don't like this."
Sheesh.

Sweet shot.
Wonder how long before HE will have her on HIS back for the first day of school..
Please, by all means, note the recycle bag hanging from the door.
Nice photo prop huh?

Waiting on Big Yellow.
First first day of school that we did not drop them off.

Probably could have used a little more sleep.

I'm quite sure she could have.
I tried to tell her she would be dragging booty the next morning.
Although, they were dressed and made their beds before I was out of the bed.
I guess they were a little excited. :)
In my defense, the alarm was still going off. Wasn't time for me to get up yet.
Now, if it will only last...
Who am I kidding?
Sheesh.

So, There is Monday in a nut shell.
Promise not to be away so long.
I have lots to post.
A fabulous Sr. session and a
concert that was unreal.
And someone had a birthday!

Have a wonderful Thursday!!

Ciao,
Rox