Winners!

We're so proud of our girls! The Junior High Competition Majorette squad won 2nd place in a county competition last weekend, and the Senior High squad won 3rd! Look at those trophies!


One more week till the next competition! Let's go for first, girls!

FHS!

Here she is... Jillian, all grown up, getting ready to go to the Freshman - Sophomore Hop at the high school with her boyfriend Casey. Okay, maybe not all grown up! But she sure doesn't look like my baby any more...

Time flies....

It's been a busy winter. Becca finished her first semester of college and started her second. She's doing very well in college and enjoys it a lot. She's excited because her best friend, who was commuting, is now living in the same dorm she is, so they get to hang out a lot more.

Jillian is busy as a Freshman in high school and is very busy with the competition majorette squad. She loves it and always has a baton in her hand. I'm so proud of how much she has improved in this past year! She can't wait till the weather gets better so she can practice outside.

We're trying to make plans for summer vacations.... first is a trip to NYC with some of my girlfriends the same time that the Chorus and Band are going... except we are going by ourselves! It's going to be sooo much fun!!! Then we have the annual Ohiopyle camping/rafting trip with friends and relatives... then we're planning a 4-5 day vacation with Frank's brother's family. I am really, really looking forward to that trip! We get along so well with them, and so do all the kids, so I know that's going to be fun!

I'm going to post some pictures this weekend of Jill at her dance in January. She had a lot of fun with her boyfriend and looked soooo grown up!

Car inspection

Yep, it's that time of year again. In PA, we have to have our cars inspected once a year to make sure they are safe to drive on the road. Mine is due in November each year, which I actually don't mind because then I know it's in good shape for winter.

Frank knew that the brakes were going to need replaced but doesn't have time this weekend to do them, so he checked out a couple of Auto repair shops that we knew about and they all seem to be busy till late next week. He did get some estimates though and Car repair prices sure are high!

Frank usually does our repairs himself, but wasn't sure he'd have the time... and he wasn't sure what else needed replaced. So he found an online Auto repair encyclopedia that gives you helpful hints on what is wrong with your car. He clicked on the brake system and it definitely gave him some pointers on what to look for. I'm sure glad he understands all of that, because I sure don't! lol!

One of the neighbors stopped over when Frank had the car up on jacks and his Honda Accord needs repaired. They swapped stories for a while and Frank suggested that he check out the Auto repair encyclopedia!

busy, busy, busy

Ahhhh, the story of my life! lol! Things have been very busy with football season in full swing! Between practices and performances, there's not much time for anything else. Jillian seems to be extremely active this year, and while she's doing well so far, I need to make sure she doesn't over do it...

Here's a list of all that she is doing right now...

Majorette in marching band - practices once a week and football games every Friday night
Baton lessons - she's taking weekly private lessons at ATJ for baton so that she keeps up with all the other girls that have been in majorettes longer than she has
Dance lessons - she's taking a weekly Jazz class with her friend Ginny at ATJ to help with her rhythm ;)
Show Choir - Special group of students who sing year round at special events. They practice Wednesday and Thursday mornings at 6:45 a.m.
Girl Scouts - two meetings a month. She loves this and has been in scouts since kindergarten.
Youth Group - with our church, two meetings a month.
Church choir - She sings in our church choir and often has solos and plays the flute for a couple of songs.

Plus, on top of all of that, she is determined to make Distinguished Honor Roll every semester. In the past, she's always made High Honor Roll, but just missed the higher level... She wants to make National Honor Society her Senior Year and she knows that she's going to have to maintain very good grades all through high school in order to make it because she has a lot of very smart kids in her class.

So, the juggling can be a bit hectic each week! But so far, she is doing great with it. I'm very proud of her and she has grown so much in the past year. She's definitely a young lady now instead of a little girl... and I'm an extremely proud mom.

R.I.P. Scooter...

Our pet guinea pig, Scooter, passed away last night... I know it seems silly to get so attached to a guinea pig, but I really did.

Jillian got him 3 summers ago at our town's summer celebration. They had a petting zoo and they had baby guinea pigs. She begged and begged all weekend for one and we finally gave in and brought home Scooter on Sunday afternoon. We all fell in love with him immediately. He had such a personality! When he'd hear my voice in the hallway, he'd squeak like crazy so that I would go into the room and talk to him or feed him.

Jillian carried him all over the house and yard. She used to take him outside with her while she was reading a book and he'd sit beside her and take a nap. Or he'd sit on her chest while she was leaning back in a chair watching movies on our computer.

He started getting sick last week and didn't recover and passed last night. We had a sweet little service for him and then hubby buried him. There were a lot of tears in our house last evening...

We love you Scooter!

Picture that describes her...

Jillian had to bring a picture to school today that "describes" her....

So, she had me go outside and take some shots of her.... I really think this one turned out the best. It's totally her... she LOVES to read and ALWAYS has a book in her hands while listening to her music.