Busy, Busy, Busy

I thought that when my spring classes were over, I would have lots of time to get to get other things done like cleaning, yard work, exercising, organizing, blogging...  But, it seems like things just keep getting busier and busier!  This weekend our schedule looks like this:  John's Half Marathon, church picnic, church, playdate, Austin's school art show,  Ellie's soccer game, and a graduation party.  That might not be as busy as some families, but it is PLENTY busy for me!  Here are a few photos of what we've been up to lately.

This is a picture of the kids discovering that the fox that we have seen outside of church week after week, is actually fake!!!  I'm guessing it is an attempt to keep the geese away from the church parking lot??

This is a picture of Austin shooting hoops at his school in his brand new basketball shoes.

Here are the kids climbing Aunt Jeannie and Uncle Gene's tree in Roseville, Ohio.

Austin was a good sport and posed for a picture after his Kindergarten music program.  He did a great job singing and DANCING on the stage!

Lastly, here is a picture of Ellie at my desk.  She spent the day with me for "Take Your Child to Work Day" last week.  She spent the day, helping me around the office, meeting the president in the Board Room, going to McDonald's for lunch and going back for an ice cream sundae later in the afternoon.

Excitement on our street

The Browning's got a new basketball hoop.  We were the excitement of the neighborhood today!  Lots and lots of hoops, friends, and fun today!

Austin had his Upward Basketball banquet tonight too - he got a brand new basketball!  We'll definitely put that to good use.

ever wish you had brought your camera????

Not very often do John or I say "I wish we had brought the camera".

But, today was one of those days!

Austin had a basketball game today.  Not many of the basketball games this season have been much to talk about.  And, knowing which few minutes of a full game to actually get the camera out and record is something that takes some expertise...so we had NOT brought our camera.

John, Ellie and I sat at the end of the court.  Ellie was playing Austin's DS game and John and I looked out onto the court and wondered where was the 5th team player was and where was the coach!?!?!  A young boy in flip flops was helping them warm up, but no coach in sight.   I felt like this was going to be a LONG, disappointing game (and I assume John felt the same way).  But then, 1 minute (not even exaggerating) before the game started, the assistant coach ran into the room.  A bit of a bright spot needless to say.

Well, we don't know what happened, but Austin had the GAME OF HIS LIFE!!!!  (he is only 6, though).

Austin scored at least 3 awesome baskets!  One of the baskets he scored after taking the ball all the way down the court and shot it from pretty far away (me, as a mom, would say it was from a 3-point range for a 6 year-old).

He also had several passes and a few rebounds.  The boy he was guarding was one very quick, little kid that got away from Austin a few times, but I'm not sure I could have done any better at guarding him!

Way to got Little Lions!  It was your best game ever!!  Lots of teamwork and lots of fun to watch!

Wish we had our camera with us!!!

Sock Hop

Ellie's school had a Sock Hop fund raiser Friday night.  It was a great event with food, dancing, hula hoop contests, crafts, games, etc.  Ellie really had a blast.  Again, it was an opportunity for Ellie to dress up and I think her outfit and hair turned out great...for not really having anything in our house that resembles clothes from the 50s.  There were lots of poodle skirts, pony tails and Pink Ladies at the event.  Everyone really went all out with their costumes.

Pirates!

I had class last Wednesday night and Ellie called me to say that it was Pirate Night at Awana.  I had dropped the ball and had not prepared them with outfits for their Theme Night.  Luckily, it was John to the rescue.  He helped them make eye patchs and helped Ellie pull together a great Pirate outfit.  Check it out!

Happy Birthday, Austin!

This is a belated post about Austin's birthday.  He had a good birthday, even though Dad had a bout of the stomach flu and I had a bad cold.  We managed to get in a trip to Dave and Buster's for some video games, a sleep over with some friends, and Austin's first playdate with a friend from school.

I have just realized I don't have many pictures of the event.

Happy Birthday, Ellie! 8 years old!

Happy Birthday to our girl, Ellie!  8 years old today!  I was lucky enough to spend the day with her (since it is also President's Day and the schools are closed).  She opened one present before John went to work, one present at lunchtime and the rest after dinner.  What a lucky girl!

I unintentionally played a trick on her, though.  The present she chose to bring to lunch (Ellie picked to have lunch at Five Guys - Yum!) was wrapped in pink paper.  Before we left for the restaurant, I saw her examining the box very carefully.  She could see through the paper and see that it was a Spiderman toy.  Now, it was not a Spiderman toy.  Anyone that knows Ellie, knows she would NOT like a Spiderman toy.  In fact, it was two shirts from her favorite store that I had put inside of the Spiderman box.  I just needed a box!  No trick was intended...but, I let her go on thinking that she was getting a Spiderman toy as a gift.  You'll see the picture below of her at the restaurant.  The picture was taken before she realized that there were shirts in the box.  She is smiling like she is okay with the Spiderman toy, isn't she?  What a good sport.

Ellie's birthday kicks off our whirlwind of birthdays at our house.  Next is Austin, then me, then John all in about a month and a half.

Happy Birthday, Ellie!  We love you!