Getting together with friends

It is always fun to get together with friends. These are the FlaminGals. We are friends that live locally but met on the internet. We get together every few months to scrap, eat, talk, drink and have fun! We met at Heather's house last night and had a great time.

Heather's daughter, Alyson, helped. She was our waitress and also helped while we were taking photos. Here she is helping Amanda with her camera.

Alyson helping her mommy.

Alyson took this photo of us.

Aww. Don't they look pretty?

Confirmation

Sarah has been on the road to Confirmation for a couple of years now. Well, formally for two years, but she really has been on this road her entire life. She is a very spiritual young lady and we are very proud of her. She has worked hard for this with studying, volunteering and spending more time getting to know the Holy Spirit.

Here is Sarah with the other girls who are also in the choir. They looked lovely.

Sarah singing her solo/psalm. It was beautiful.

Sarah with her sponsor, Terri and Fr. Joe.

Sarah and her sponsor, Terri. :)

Cake!

More cake!

Our family.

Grandpa and Grandma Allison.

Uncle Tim, Aunt Kathy, Allison and Ashley.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know that New Year's Day was last week. Just getting around to posting this. I am not sure if I am happy or not that I got these noise makers for the kids. They were so loud!! They had a great time with them, though and with the hats. Happy 2010!

Christmas

I have tried this year to make the Christmas season as stress free as I can possibly make it. By having a plan and crossing off SOMETHING from my list every day, I think I have actually accomplished this. I am not stressed out at all. The gifts are bought. My cards were mailed almost two weeks ago. My box that had to be mailed has been at its destination for three weeks. My gifts are mostly wrapped. The house is decorated. Much making of tasty treats has already transpired. I think we might just have to make some more, though. The choir has practiced. Sarah marched in a Christmas parade. Only one last party to attend. And midnight Mass will be beautiful. The only thing that is looming is what to do on the actual Christmas Day. I would like to see family, but it never seems to work out smoothly because everyone has their own idea about what makes that day special. It is hard to mix traditions and even after 19 years of marriage, we still wrestle with who is going to cook and host. I would prefer to host and cook here at our house, but not sure that is going to happen this year. Still working on it.

First Day of School

Here we are at the first day of school for the year. Sarah starts high school and Daniel is in 7th grade.

Here is Sarah getting ready to go to the bus stop. Her bus comes at 6:34 a.m. Daniel is ready for his bus, too, but his doesn't come until 8:45 a.m.

Pool Remodel

So recently we embarked on the adventure of a complete pool remodel. Here is the before:
The pool and decking was original to the house. 1995. The marcite had begun to chip and the coping had come loose on the shallow end of the pool. We had new waterline tile placed, new tile around the outside of the spa, the spillover for the spa was widened and also made into a three step waterfall, pavers were put over all the deck and new deck drains were placed.

Here is the pool finished:

Ashley's First Communion

My niece Ashley made her First Holy Communion yesterday. She looked beautiful and the Mass was lovely. Here are a few photos of the day.

Allison was an altar server for the Mass


They had a renewal of Baptismal promises. The children went up to the Baptismal font and blessed themselves. They then lit their Baptism candle for a prayer.
The family
Sisters
First Communion Girl