First Gymnastics Meet of the Season

Annmarie had her first meet of Level 4 at Rogue Gymnastics. She placed 5th on beam (9.1), 3rd on floor (8.35), 3rd on vault (8.95), and All Around 4th (34.35). She did pretty well with nowhere to go but up!

 

New School Year Fun

Eliza had an orchestra concert to kick off the school year.  It was a concert and potluck dinner.  She is not super happy about doing orchestra but hopefully she will start to enjoy once she makes some friends in it.  And of course we had to get a picture of Annmarie with the pirate. I think he has a name, but I'm not sure.  Caleb and Travis dressed up for one of the school spirit dress up days as cowboys.  They drove over to Tractor Supply before school just to buy cowboy boots (that probably cost them each a couple hundred dollars.  I didn't mention that Travis was able to start working at In-N-Out over the summer because they changed their starting age in Texas to 15-1/2.  Since he is making all the money now, he has it to burn.  And Annmarie was one of the first groups to do announcements at school.

 

2022-2023 School Year Begins

The summer blew by and now school is starting again. That was so fast.  Nathan will be in first grade with Ms. Roland.  Annmarie will have Mrs. Scott, who is the same fourth grade teacher that Travis, Eliza, and Jonah all had at Groves.  Travis, sophomore, had to leave really early on the first day of school for football, which is before school.  Jonah is now in sixth grade at Draper Intermediate School.  Eliza is a freshman and Caleb is a senior at Wylie High School. It's going to be a busy but great year! 

 

New Freshman, Harry Potter Party, and Grandma's Birthday

Eliza is starting her freshman year at Wylie High School! She will be involved in choir, orchestra, and theatre, so she'll be super busy. I can't believe my fourth child will be in high school! Every year the Smith library hosts a Harry Potter party around the time of Harry Potter's birthday (July 31). They give prizes for the best costume. Jonah dressed up as Ron, Annmarie was an owl, and Nathan was Dobby the House Elf. Nathan's costume was the best, but you have to be at least eight years old to win the costume contest. Annmarie got second place and won a copy of "The Prisoner of Azkaban" and a Harry Potter tumbler and a wand, which happens to be Ginny's wand. Grandma, like Nana, also turned 70. We celebrated her birthday by going to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse. John and Allison even came up for it. Austin was on the road, so he wasn't there.

 

Equine Therapy Volunteer

A woman in my neighborhood who used to sub at Groves posted on Facebook about this equine therapy place called Texas Therapeutic Riding Center that needed volunteers.  I love horses so I thought I'd check it out.  They need people to prep the horses for their riding lessons and also lead the horse during the lesson if the rider isn't competent enough to do it on their own.  I am so excited to be able to work with horses and learn more about equine therapy.  These two horses pictured are Cameron (first two pictures) and Cactus. 

 

Annmarie Goes to Sea World

When the kids turn eight, they get to take a trip with Dad to either Sea World or Legoland in San Diego. Annmarie did not get her trip when she turned eight because California was still under martial law over covid, so we waited until there were no restrictions for her to take her trip. She chose Sea World. Corey and Annmarie left on a Sunday morning with the intent to go to church with Nana once they got in, but their flight was delayed over and over so they didn't make it by then. But they went to Sea World on Monday and flew home on Tuesday. It was a great time and they got to spend some time with Nana and Jamie also.

Remembering Ms. Gorman

During the pandemic, in November of 2020, my 7th grade English teacher, Ms. D. Ann Gorman, passed away. She was my favorite teacher, and really taught us all the grammar very well. We even have a Facebook page dedicated to her where we reminisce about her class and remind each other of the grammar rules. She used to stand on her desk and throw long chalkboard erasers at us to get our attention. Well, in 2020, I wasn't able to go to her graveside service and since then, hadn't had a chance to go seek out her grave. She was buried in Bonham, TX, which is about an hour from where we live. Since we had some time, I decided to take a day trip up to Bonham. I dragged Travis and Eliza with me and we spent a good hour or so searching the cemetery for her grave. We successfully found it, so I was able to pay my respects to my favorite teacher.