POWERS 18TH ANNIVERSARY!

Wow...18 years! Boy how time flies when you're living life! It's getting hard to remember a time that we weren't together. We had a fun night out with our usual celebration of dinner and a movie. Thanks to Grandma for babysitting!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

What a gorgeous Father's Day 2009 was!!! It was hot and sunny (although there was a little cloud cover for about a 1/2 hour) and we spent the afternoon on the McKeown's boat on Lake Springfield. All the kids went tubing, even Adam and Emily...and they loved it!!! We had a good time swimming in the lake (it was nice and cool) and hanging out on the noodles. And we saw tons of fish jumping out of the water too! After that we all went back to our house for a cook-out and more swimming in our pool. I think the kids were probably asleep before the McKeown's got home!

Dad and his two best buddies!

Melanie & Maddie
Emily & Mom


Adam's ready to go!

Yep, that's little Emily way out there on that tube!

Just coming out of the tube onto the boat....

...exhausted!

THE DEVIL RAYS

4 more weeks of baseball!

AND SHE'S OFF!

Monday night Daddy (finally) took off Emily's training wheels and she did fantastic. Just a few times down the street and back and it was hands off...and away she went!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROB!

Well...today Rob turned the big 4-4 today. That means next year he will be 1/2 way to 50 (yikes!) We went to dinner at Palermo (where the old Imo's Pizza used to be) and had a great time. On Monday nights they show a movie and tonight it was Ratatouille. Really fun to watch a movie and eat some great pizza! After that it was ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins!

DAISY/BROWNIE BRIDGING CEREMONY

Our little Daisy is now a Brownie Scout! Last night was the bridging ceremony at the Girl Scout office where our troop officially became Brownies. It will be nice to take the summer off from scouting, but we'll be looking forward to the Fall and all the new activities our troop will be doing!

Reciting the Girl Scout Oath one last time as Daisy's before crossing over!
Brownie Troop #6586

Sydney & Emily

AARON'S 40TH BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Saturday night the Russell's hosted a birthday party at their house for Aaron's 40th. The weather could have been nicer, but it was a fun night with good food, good friends and great cake!

Aaron and Rob stuffing olives with bleu cheese before the party Adam, Emily & Kelsey
The birthday boy and Colleen

Colleen & Jen

Kelsey has gotten so tall this year, we made her stand back to back with Uncle Robbie! Wonder how long til she's taller than him???

Ethan and Adam

Rob with Charlotte and Leonard

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

This morning I went with the kids for their last day of school, which basically consists of taking pictures, picking up their report cards and saying good-bye to their friends and teachers. I can't believe we now have a 5th grader and a 1st grader!! But we're really looking forward to the FUN summer ahead!!!!!

Alison, Ryan, Jack, Adam and Terrance

Emily and Mrs. Elliott (and her son Tyler). Emily was sad to leave this morning. She's really going to miss Mrs. Elliot!

Heather and Emily
Mrs. Rectenwal and Adam. He just loved being in her class this year because she let the kids do lots of science projects - his favorite subject!

OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

Summer 2009 is off to a good start! The pool is open and ready for swimmers! It was a pretty easy open this year, but we still have to put the ladder in. However, that didn't stop the kids from jumping in yesterday afternoon. I prefer to wait until the temp hits my comfort level of 85 degrees before I get in! At least the water is clear and pretty and so nice to see out my kitchen window instead of the black ugly cover.

I just love my pool boy!