New School Year = Blog Revival!!!

Let's see if I even remember how to do this.....I know...I know....I have been a TERRIBLE blogger!!! I have gotten into Facebook and spent my time uploading pics. and info. there. That does not help my family, though....they aren't even ON facebook (except my sis). I promise we have been doing LOTS of fun stuff...that's the problem....lots of fun stuff = not much time to blog! Strange predicament, huh? Anyway, over time, I plan to blog all that fun stuff, but felt a little overwhelmed thinking of doing it all at once. SO, when the kids started school today, I thought it would be the PERFECT opportunity to have "new start" on blogging. I PROMISE to do better!!! Don't expect an every day thing, but at least more than every THREE MONTHS!!

Here are pics of the kids this morning...Parker - 5th grade....Kinlee - 3rd grade!

Here is a pic. of them from this time last year....I CANNOT BELIEVE the change!!! Love those kiddos! Gonna miss them around here!

Teapot Trot 2010

Last night, our whole family participated in the Teapot Trot 5K. We had a great time - definitely see it becoming a family tradition!! The weather was great - a little windy....okay a LOT windy, but other than that, it was fine. There were about 220 participants in the race this year. Mark came in 14th overall (4th in his age group), Parker came in 41st overall (3rd in his age group), I came in 54th overall (5th in my age group), and Kinlee came in 179th. She was kind of bummed about her number, but I told her over and over again how proud we were of her just for doing it! That's a long way for 8 year old legs to go.....for that matter, that's a long way for 37 year old legs to go!!!

It was a great hometown, family event and I love those!! I even got chills at the beginning with the police escort, people cheering, all the participants....the chills soon came to an end, though, as I reached that first hill!!! Fun stuff!

Walk Your Child to School Day!!!

It is Teapot Week in Trenton! So far, we have attended the Block Party on Monday night (didn't get any pictures of that one - didn't feel like lugging my camera around in the COLD!), and today participated in "Walk Your Child to School Day". We headed out around 7:15, walked down to City Hall, and then on to school.

We attempted to get a family picture made of the event, and asked our nice Mayor to take it at City Hall. Well....as Mark said, "He should stick to his Mayor-in' because he sure can't take pictures!!!" It was about a million miles away AND he chopped our heads off. SO, you'll have to settle for single parent pictures. Oh well, we tried. Stay tuned for pictures of the Teapot Trot 5K and the parade (if it doesn't rain)....

My Own Backyard....

I love Spring. I love the images that come with Spring. Azaleas....Iris'....Dogwoods.....Green.....I was inspired by one of my favorite movie quotes to snap some pictures of "Spring" in my own backyard today:
In case you don't remember the quote I am referring to, it is the one where Dorothy says, "If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't go looking any farther than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there....I never lost it anyway."

Let us strive to be content with our "own backyard"....I know it is a challenge for me. I think I'm up for it, though....how about you???

Lovin' Us Some Free Entertainment!!!

Anyone who knows me KNOWS that I LOVE free entertainment! So, when Mark drove through Greenfield on his way to a meeting one day and called to tell me that there was a carnival with FREE rides, I was all over it! So, this past Friday night, the Finton Family loaded up and headed to the Fiddlestick Festival for some fun! I found out while I was there that a "Fiddlestick" is some sort of ice cream bar. Makes me wonder whose idea it was to plan an entire festival around a frozen ice cream treat...hmmmm.....whatever the reason, we don't care! We spent almost 4 hours at the carnival that consisted of about 8 rides total! The kids had a blast, and we would have stayed even longer, but they shut the place down for the night!
A fun time was had by all, and the only money we were out was our dinner at Wimpy's Burgers (YUM!) and a couple of cokes at the carnival. YAY free rides!!!:)

Spring Break trip 2010

On the Sunday that the Lads to Leaders convention ended, the kids and I met up with my mom in Nashville to leave on our Spring Break trip to West Virginia to visit my grandmother. Unfortunately, Mark did not get to go with us, but we hope to try and fix that in the future! We always have a good time while we are there. This year, we got to ride the ferry across the Ohio River, about 30 minutes or so from my grandmother's house. The kids had ridden it several years ago, but it had been closed the other times we've gone since then. They enjoyed riding it again - something you don't get to do every day...
While we were there, my cousin Wendi and her kids came for a visit. They all had such a good time! They always play so well together and are great company for one another. This year, I believe we started a new tradition....the Annual Cousin Basketball Game...!!! They waived the price of admission, but charged for snacks and autographs! It started out Parker & Blake vs. Camye & Chloe. Kinlee ran the concession stand, and Paul was there for moral support and half time entertainment!

At the beginning of the game, the boys thought they had it "in the bag", but the girls gave them a run for their money! About half way through the second half, Camye experienced an injury, so they had to call in the reinforcements (the concession stand girl) to fill in. She did a great job, but the girls just couldn't pull it out. They lost by a measley two points!!!
Here is a picture of their concession stand. Kinlee said, "We put it on the steps and then when someone pays for something, we slide it down to them....except for the older people. They probably can't bend down that far, so we'll just hand it to them." I was glad to see that my purchase hit the slide - I guess they don't think I'm too old yet!:) Fun times. I definitely see a repeat game next year!

Before we left, I had to stop on the side of the road and take a picture of my favorite "West Virginia House"...I love this place. It is so pretty, I just couldn't resist. I look forward to driving by it every time we go...

Lads to Leaders 2010

I know....I know....I've been a terrible blogger AGAIN! After getting harassed on facebook about my lack of posts on here (WENDI!:)), I figured I'd better catch up on stuff! A couple of weeks ago, our family traveled to Nashville with an awesome group from church for the annual Lads to Leaders conference. Our family looks forward to this weekend every year! They work so hard to get there...it's the light at the end of the tunnel, for sure. This year was no exception! Like last year, Mark and I were in charge of the 4th grade puppet team - a GREAT group of kids. We had so much fun working with them. We placed 2nd in our age division, and the kids were SO excited! Way to go, guys!!
This year, Parker competed in Know the Books, Scripture reading, Speech, and puppets. We were so proud of him. He made it among the 6 (out of 15) finalists in speech. He was hoping for a higher placement, but handled it VERY well - made us even prouder of him. He is already gung-ho about his speech for next year - glad he didn't let it get him down.

Kinlee participated in Know the Books, puppets, scripture reading, drawing, and scrapbooking. Because of her age, her scrapbook was not judged, but we had a great time working on it together. It also gave us a chance to look at some of the others and get an idea of the competition for next year. She did awesome in her other events, as well.

Aside from the events (which took up a LOT of our weekend), we just had a great time hanging out and visiting with the people that came along in our group. Awesome group of people - the kind of people I want us and our children to be around for a LONG time!!!