Last weekend, Mega swam at Districts and qualified to swim at Y State in DeKalb, IL.
Her medley relay team got FIRST PLACE in the 11-12 girls category -- that also means they are expected to win FIRST PLACE at State this coming weekend. Mega also qualified individually in three other 11-12 girl categories: 200 IM, 50 Breast, and 50 Back.
Y State . . . here we come . . . DeKalb or bust . . . March 20th and 21st.
Stay tuned for the results.
Happy Birthday to my firstborn daughter!!! Lauren is 21 today and I just can't believe that much time has gone by already.
My Dearest Lauren,
Went to Tanners with our friends -- The Petty family!! Above is Megan with Cory Lynn, Drake and
Spencer. They are homeschooled too, it was a perfect day for a field trip . . . and, yes, field trips count as school days.
Mega and Cori Lynn -- so cute!
They had a great time on the hay-maze.
Lost in a sea of pumpkins!
It's called Galliano out of the Pure Noro book (Noro, of course!). The yarn is the scrumptious Noro Iro . . . wow, is it wonderful to hold, touch, feel . . . I'm very anxious to start this project and even more anxious for fall to follow.
Been getting ready for the fall school year too -- Megan will be homeschooling for 6th grade and I'm very, very excited to start. Each day I work with her simply cements the fact that these days are limited and will end soon enough. How is it that they grow up so fast? How can she be in 6th grade already? Each day is precious, each moment a treasure. I can't wait for the first day of 6th grade.
On July 18th, 2009, Lauren gradutated from her first year at Mission GA Master's Commission! What an awesome ceremony!!
The next day (Sunday morning at The Bridge Church) Lauren wanted to get baptized . . . again (she was dunked when she was 12yo). But this time would be different. She wanted it to represent a dying to herself and being alive in Christ as a consciouse choice, an act of her will.
LOOK AT THIS KID!!!!! WAY TOO MATURE LOOKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOW OLD AM I AGAIN????? NEVER MIND!!!!!!!!
OPENED PRESENTS ON HER BIRTHDAY AND HAD CANDLES ON COOKIES ---
FOR HER 'REAL' PARTY, SHE TOOK SOME GIRLFRIENDS TO BUILD-A-BEAR AND HAD A SLEEPOVER --
AT BUILD-A-BEAR WORKSHOP WITH MORGAN AND NATALIE!!
A BIRTHDAY-GIRL STATUE!!
GAME TIME -- HOW MANY SOCKS CAN THEY PUT ON WHILE BLINDFOLDED??
CAN THEY FIND THE BUBBLEGUM INSIDE THE WHIPPED TOPPING?????
TROUBLE BLOWING OUT THEM CANDLES??????????
Megan had been waiting all year to bring home the fatted hen for our Thanksgiving dinner. (Don't tell her, but Lauren had to drive her over to Morton and pay for it -- all Megan did was carry it in the house. But, hey, that's got to count for something, right?)
Lauren promised Jolie a trip to Chicago!! She didn't get to see it all, but at least she can say that she's been there!!
THE ART INSTITUTE
Random girl KNITTING on the steps of The Art Institute! How cool is that?? She probably made her hat and scarf.
Sisters . . . enjoying art together??
SEARS TOWER
CHICAGO STYLE PIZZA
MILLENIUM PARK
THE MILLENIUM PARKING DECK
Lauren gave a testimony about her last few months at the Mission Georgia Master's Commission program. It's a discipleship program that helps young people discover their God-given purpose in life.
She played keyboard and sang 'Oh, How He Loves Us'. There weren't too many dry eyes in the house.
Totally cute hair, not so sure about the arm tats and nosering!! What are you supposed to be again??
Meg painted a pumpkin this year.
Here's my fav part of the night --- THE GHOST OF A. CHANTZ -- The Dick Van Dyke Show. It's my favorite episode too.
Look, here's Sally knitting!!!!!! Cool.
This is the moon orbiting around the earth while the earth orbits around the sun -- while they both rotate. They lasted four and a half minutes before falling down. Good thing we don't depend on these two to keep us in orbit!!
This is the earth and the moon. (I was the sun -- all I had to do was stand there and look hot!! Not hard at all!!)
Waxing and waning moon project!!!
Megan learned (first hand) about the prophet Zechariah this week. Zechariah was a priest and a prophet in the Old Testament (this combination was a rare thing). After the exiled Jews returned to their homeland, they were discouraged about rebuilding the temple. Zechariah had several dreams concerning God's discouraged people, which he shared with them to encourage them.
In one of his dreams, Zechariah saw an angel standing next to a high priest who was dressed in "filthy clothes". The angel takes off his filthy clothes and puts rich garments on him. Then he said to the high priest, "See, I have taken away your sin." You can find the whole story in Zechariah 3:1-10.
Covered in filthy rags!
Clothed in rich garments!!
Let Meg get some glue-on nails for girls from Claire's. She was so proud. However, they didn't stay on very long. She went to bed and half of them ended up in her bed and on the floor. She glued them all back on again and they were all off by lunch time. Needless to say she couldn't button her own pants, practice her piano or open her own soda can with them on. Then she had to sit and pick off the glue left on each of her own finger nails -- should have taken a pic of that for a 'before and after' scrapbook page!!!!!
Lesson learned: fake nails are NOT worth the hassel. Who knew??
100 days of school behind her -- Mega has a reason to celebrate!! She began her 100th day of school with a 100 for breakfast while drinking 100% real juice.
She searched for FAKE 100 dollar bills around the house!
She factored 100.
She read 100 Hungry Ants.
She also tried to say 'hello' to 100 people. We haven't tallied the numbers yet to see how far she got. And she finished the sentence, "If I had $100 I would buy . . . " Since I had 100 things to do today, I can't find the paper rigth now, but I'll add in what she wrote later.
Gotta love 100 DAY!!
Megan felt like cooking tonight. So she made her famous mocho-loco hot chocolate all by herself. She said I can share the ingredients with everyone, but not that exact amounts -- that part's a secret. Hot chocolate made with milk and chocolate syrup, marshmellows, cinnamon sticks, graham cracker sprinkles and more chocolate syrup. It was actually really good. She's a keeper!!
I made Megan a countdown to Christmas calendar -- where she opens a new box each day and gets a little surprise everyday until Christmas!!
The countdown has begun.
FIELDTRIP DAY!! Megan and I went to the Putnam Museum in Davenport, IA. Obviously, we went right home afterwards and worked on her reading skills. (The sign says, Please do not sit or climb on sculpture).
Megan's fav parts were the ancient Egyptian exhibits: the Asian/Egyptian Gallery (where she saw a real live mummy!!) and BJ and Mabel's Egyptian Adventure (where she got to be an archeologist, mummify a body (sort of), dress like an Egyptian, and write her name in hieroglyphs). She also got to watch Mummies: Secrects of the Pharoahs on the HUGE Imax screen they have there. Quite a busy day of digesting Egyptian history.
I asked her what new thing she learned about ancient Egypt today and she said, "I pretty knew all that stuff already."
Today is Justice's (Megan's best friend) birthday -- she turned 9-years-old. Megan started in March 2007 saving for Justice's birthday present -- an American Girl Doll. She had a lot of money to save ($100) so she worked through the summer walking the neighbor's dog and earned enough to buy the doll all by herself and even had enough to pay her tithes and get herself something too.
She had been waiting and waiting for this day -- to give Justice her doll. Justice had been over to the house several times and played American Girl Dolls with Meg (who has five of them). And Megan was convinced that Justice HAD to have one too. Thus, began her journey toward Justice's birthday!!
Happy Birthday, Justice!! You're an awewome kid with an awesome best friend!!
In case you're wondering: Justice named her doll Danielle (at Megan's suggestion). In the above picture Megan has Jess and Justice has Danielle!!
DOCS went to the Canton Y Meet on Saturday -- an all day meet!! Megan did GREAT in the back stroke -- she dropped 2 seconds in her back!! And qualified for District!! Way to go Mega!! She also got a best time in her 100 Free -- she dropped 2 seconds there too.
It took Megan about five tries to finally get this set of dominoes ready for a fall. One time, when she had about 4 or 5 dominoes left to finish, Denver 'smelled' the dominoes and made them all fall over. He got sent to the back porch until she finished her project.
Here she goes . . . .
LOOK AT THAT FACE!! I love my camera!!
Down they go . . . Megan says she learned a lot about building during this project. I'd say she learned more about patience and not having dogs around when undertaking large projects.
Went to Monmouth for Monmouth vs. Knox swim meet and swim parent's cook out.
Here's Lauren with her cast from The Baltimore Waltz -- the play in which Lauren is the assistant stage manager. It is a long weekend for Lauren because of the play and swim too, but she's doing a great job pulling it all together.
CANDY CORN FAIRY!!
What an evening! We watched the Charlie Brown Halloween cartoon, the Ghost of A. Chance episode of Dick Van Dyke (somethings you just have to do every years). We made homemade pizza and roasted marshmellows in the fire. Then Meg's daddy took her on the big trip around the neighborhood . . . hitting up perfect strangers for candy.
When she retured, after a warm bath and a few (yeah, right) pieces of candy, we discussed that Halloween simply means All Hallows Eve = the evening prior to All Saints Day. We researched the beginning of All Saints Day (it dates back to the first Christian martyrs as early as the first century, only decades after the resurrection of Jesus when a guy named Polycarp was martyred and those left behind gathered at his grave each year to remember his testimony and courage). So we filed through the lives of early Christians -- the disciples (most died as martyrs), Martin Luther, etc.
I figure it's time to reaquaint our children with Halloween's Christian origins. So, when she was all done dressing up as a fairy, it was time to give her some real heros to imitate in real life!! And we did just that!!
This fairy looks a bit rotten around the edges to me!!
Denver dressed up as a court jester. Too bad he couldn't do any tricks other than sniffing around for something to eat.
I LOVE STRIPES ON HER LEGS!!! (Always have, always will!) Can't wait to scrap these pics.
THE LOOT!!
Megan with her new team at warm ups -- DOCS!!
Megan adds spice to the DOCS team -- that's for sure!!
Megan dropped 3 seconds on her fly this weekend!! She bettered all of her times except her IM, when asked, she's "not sure what happened." Regardless, she's still stinking cute with that little body in that swimsuit!!
Meg was going for her A times in free style and fly this weekend. Not quite there yet, but still trying. She also did her very first 200 Free -- she was very proud of her first effort!! I'll post the time when I get it.
Great job this weekend, Mega!!
Carved pumpkins tonight. . . . first time without sissy! (Miss you, sissy!!) But they gott'er done anyway.
Studying volcanos and earthquakes last week and this week. Finally got around to erupting her volcano. She made it out of clay yesterday, but had to wait a day for it to dry before erupting it.
She had fun erupting it over and over again!! Can ya tell? At least she knows what happens when vinegar and baking soda meet. Her only comment after four eruptions: "This never gets old." Typical Mega.
She has made the countdown chain -- Halloween is officially on its way!!
Megan riding the mechanical bull!! She held on a long time . . . until she finally went down.
The boxing ring!! A few lefts, a few rights and Lauren wins with a sure left hook to Megan's ponytail. (Lauren's winning has nothing to do with the fact that Lauren is twice as big as Megan.)
Next, the obstacle course challenge -- Lauren vs. Megan. Again, from might, strength and talent alone, Lauren triumphs over her 9-year-old contender. (Again, Lauren's winning has nothing to do with the fact that Lauren is twice as big as Megan.)
Lauren showed us all around the campus. Above she is center-center of the stage at the WIT Theater. Lauren is active (no pun intended) in theater group and is working on a play for Nov. that will appear on this surround stage (seating on every side). In this particular production, Lauren is the assistant director -- or something along those lines. Well, I do know she gets to tell people what to do and what could be better than that??
The rocking couch at the WIT Theater -- one of Lauren's fav places on campus.
Lauren's fav place to study and write in the library!
Another fav place to read in the library.
Saturday night there was a show at the Dahl Chapel, Kevin Hurley -- a magician. He called Megan on stage to assist him. He placed one little yellow ball in her hand and magically made two reappear! She was astounded. When he had her hold out her hand for the yellow ball, he said, "Hold out your hand like this." And he held out his left hand open to her (meaning for her to open her hand toward him), however, he also threw his left arm over his head for dramatic affect and Megan did just what he said. She held out her right hand open toward him and threw her other arm up over her head like he did, everyone laughed, even Kevin. Then he said, "As you can see, there is nothing hidden in Megan's left hand." I'm not sure if she even realized that he didn't mean for her to hold up her left arm like he had held up his, but she was a good sport and laughed the whole time.
Sisters! They had fun together throughout the day. So much that Megan was crying for Sissy when we dropped her off at her dorm room. Megan asked Lauren to pack an overnight bag and come to stay with us at the hotel. Lauren really didn't want to come, and told Megan she's see her at breakfast in the morning. Megan cried louder and harder as we got to the interstate heading back to the hotel in Galesburg. Megan kept saying it was Dad's fault that Lauren wouldn't come (he was complaining about having to have anyone sleep with him in the small hotel bed). So he did a U-turn on the interstate and started calling Lauren's cell phone -- no answer. We were headed back to campus and he redialed several times with no answer. We devised a plan: Michael would stay in the get-a-way car with the motor running, Megan and I would throw rocks at her window to get her attention and, if we still couldn't get her attention, watch for people coming and going from the door so that we could get in (Leidman Hall keeps its doors locked at all times). When Megan yelled up to her second-floor opened window and got no answer, she threw something (?) at the window while I watched the door. Finally, someone with a pass was going in. I called to Megan to follow me. We followed the young women into the building -- no problem. So much for security! We climbed the stairs to Lauren's room and found it . . . empty! Megan wanted to go in and snoop around, but I suggested that we ask her friends down the hall if they had seen her. Down the hall we go to find Lauren in a friend's room. What luck! We told her our plan to retrieve her and take her to the hotel with us. She had no choice. Looking into a tear-stained Megan face, she sighed and told her friend, "I have to go with my family." Megan choked back the rest of her tears and smiled in victory.
Operation Kidnap Sissy was a success!! Until next time . . .
One of my newest Flicker pages . . . Megan decked out in her horse-lovers gear!! What a gal!
Megan plays God!! It wasn't hard to talk her into it either.
After Lessons 1 and 2 in History this week, Megan had a unique assignment. The lessons were about Creation and Megan got a chance to create an animal that's never been created before -- just like God got to do thousands of years ago. Then she got to name it, just like Adam got to name all the animals -- the Hophrlinker 3000.
Move-in day for Lauren~~WOW! After many tears, much heavy lifting and a lot of stair climbing, she's ready!!
Here's her dorm room.
Here's Lauren with her Monmouth ID which she must have with her at all times.
Here's Leidman Hall where Lauren will live for the next nine months.
Here is the beautiful and new ($20M new) Huff Athletic Center where Lauren will be swimming.
This is inside the Athletic Center. They built the new center around the old school gym but left the front of the old building intact. Where Michael and Meg are walking used to be a road.
This is the pool where Lauren will be swimming!!
Here is the theater where Lauren will participate in theater activities (she did win a Talent Scholorship from the Theater Dept. at Monmouth!!)
Here is the beginning of the Matriculation Convocation in front of Wallace Hall. This is the Monmouth Pipe Band -- yes, real bagpipes played by young men in plaid. They were practicing outside Lauren's dorm earlier in the day so we got to move her in as we listened to live bagpipe music. Very interesting!
Here are the students in front of Wallace Hall waiting to say their Matriculation Pledge before being accepted into the Monmouth family. It's all very formal.
Here is Lauren exiting the recessional line after being greeted by the faculity and alumni. You can't see it, but a one dollar 2007 coin is in her right hand. She just received it as a token of welcome into the Monmouth family, and as a representation of passage from the alumni. All of the freshmen received one and were told to hold onto the coin until they graduate in 4 years. Lauren said that keeping track of this coin for four years is by far the highest level of stress she has encountered thus far in her college career.
She may officially be a Scot now. But she'll always be my first born, my daughter . . . my Lauren Elizabeth. Enjoy your new journey, Lauren, Dad and I will keep the home fires burning. Miss you already.
Brooke, Justice and Megan -- THE SUPER SUMMER SLEEPOVER!!
Megan has been planning this sleepover for about six months. A few weeks ago we finally set a date: Aug. 2 and 3. She knew she had to wait until her room was finished, so it motivated her to help alot with getting her room done. She planned games, music, movies and food for the sleepover. She (with mommy's help) made a Rainbow Cake (from her American Girl magazine). She also picked out prizes for the games and planned a trip to Dragon Land on Friday. She and the girls had a super time. They stayed up until 3:30 A.M. when Megan's daddy went into Megan's bedroom and said to three giggly girls who were smashed together on Megan's top bunk, "It is time for the sleeping part of the Super Summer Sleepover!" We didn't hear a sound out of them after that.
Playing an outside water game.
Eating Silly S'Mores.
P.S. For all of you who may be wondering why the Super Summer Sleepover did not have a super large number of people in attendance, it's because Megan's mom limited it to two of Megan's friends only. Megan's mother ages quickly during these types of events, so we had to make it easy on her.
The girl's rooms are finally done!!! Yeah!!!
Lauren's room -- she is on the phone and NOT happy that I am in her room taking pictures. So . . . I only got one picture before getting kicked out.
Here's me getting kicked out -- she's reaching for the door to shut me out!!
Here's Meg's room:
Dropping Meg off at Camp Good News!! She'll be there for 5 days--Sunday through Friday. (You can send condolence cards to me at juliewebbkelley@yahoo.com.)
Here she is all ready to go on her top bunk in her cabin!!
Here's Megan walking from her cabin (that's her cabin right behind the group) with her group to supper and chapel service.
Michael had a good Father's Day - not great because one of his daughters was missing. LK is still in Italy having the time of her life. We took him to Wildlife Praire Park for lunch to experience their world-class brunch buffet -- not too bad, but way overpriced!! He opened his presents there and later in the day he wanted to go see the Pirates movie (which is the longest movie ever made in the whole civilized world -- sorta like the never ending story!!) All in all, it was good -- just not great because we all missed Lauren too much!
Meg spent some time this morning drawing horses. Not too bad . . . don't ya think?
STARS
Megan made some hanging stars for the back porch as she transformed that area into the "Saddle Club". She put most of her stuffed horses, pictures of horses, etc. on the back porch, made the stars and put up signs. Then she inducted members: herself, Felicity (her American Girl doll), Lauren and mommy -- she listed members on her dry-erase board. The stars were the BEST -- I just had to take pictures!!
My college-bound daughter drug me to Hobby Lobby AND Walmart today to help her buy "Finding Nemo" fleece so that she could make a no-sew pillow and blanket. Isn't she sooooooooo cute?? The greatest thing of all was that when she had successfully completed her project, she cuddled up with the pillow and the blanket on the couch to relax because she was so tired after all that work!!! Is it obvious that she is only on the brink of adulthood -- peering in?
Yes, I cried today. I am sooooooooo proud of this kiddo young woman -- my daughter, my friend. My heart was so full today there is really no vocabulary to express the mix of love and adoration, or pride and happiness that overwhelmed me. The best I can do is that it was like being in a fountain of gratefulness for the gift of this beautiful young woman -- handpicked by God just for me. I am so very blessed.
