Car Show

Took Kelley's toy to the Plain City Cruise-In in early August. Didn't win anything, but we had a good time!!

Fishing & Swimming

Some were fishing and some were swimming at Aunt Mary's pond (end of July)...

Myrtle Beach

We went back to Myrtle Beach in July. The weather was fantastic. We stayed at the Beach Cove Resort in North Myrtle Beach. It was a great place to stay and we loved it, but think we are done with Myrtle Beach for awhile...

Washington DC

A little bit out of order on my posts...

Madison went to Washington DC the week after school was out in June with her 8th grade class.

Four students were invited to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery. Madison was one of the four selected for this high honor based on the winning essay she wrote, addressing, "thanking military men and women and their families for their service".

Marching Band Fitting

In July, right before we left for vacation, Madison had her fitting for her Marching Band uniform. It went great actually, she fit into a departing seniors entire uniform, including the summer pants. No alterations needed.

Still can't believe she is a Freshman...

Me!

I don't usually blog about myself, but I thought I would this time. This is me, I have lost 34 lbs. Yeah! Didn't do any fad diet, because I didn't want to gain the weight back when I added back any foods that the fad diet didn't allow. So, instead, I watched my calorie intake, didn't really count calories, just was really good watching what I ate. I still had the occasional cookie and McDonald's....just not as often. And I walked, and walked and walked. About 30 minutes every day for the first 30 days or so, then maybe 4 to 5 days a week. All this on the treadmill until the weather got nice this past Spring and I was walking 2 miles (down and up the road) every day or as often as I could. I still walk those 2 miles, if not more, almost 7 days a week now. Even walked the beach every morning at Myrtle Beach. I feel really good about myself. Clothes shopping is alot more fun!

Jeff & June's (June 20th)

Betty
Jeff
Chris and Dillon
Dalton
Mary
Madison
Kelley
Madison and Betty

Colt -- 1 year old

Evening of Excellence

During the "Evening of Excellence" (in May) students receive recognition for the activities that they were involved in. Madison received recoginition for the following:

All A’s
Civic Oration Contest (third place)
Giraffe Community Service Program
Madison County Spelling Contest
Power of the Pen
Drama Club
President’s Award for Educational Excellence

JAJHS also gives special awards to certain eighth grade students (one boy and one girl in each category) such as:

Outstanding Citizenship
Outstanding Instrumental Music Award
Outstanding Vocal Music Award
American Citizenship Award
Archie Griffin Sportsmanship Award

Here is the video of the last award of the evening.

Doing Awesome!

As of May 9, 2010, Kelley has been CANCER FREE for 3 YEARS!!!! He is feeling great and doing awesome!

Birthdays

A little late on some posts...

Madison turned 14 at the end of January. Hard to believe my first born will be in High School in the fall. She is still my little girl who was so tiny when she was born...



Dalton turned 12 in April. Even harder to believe that he will be in seventh grade and starting Junior High. Don't tell anyone, but he is still my baby!!



I won't tell how old I turned on my birthday, but I did have fun. A friend and I went to Nashville for my birthday weekend in April. It was the weekend before the flood hit!!

Power of the Pen Regional & State Competition

The eighth grade POP team all qualified for Regional competition. They won the first place team event!!! So the eighth grade team brought first place home to JAJHS for Districts and Regionals. YAY!



Three of the students qualifed for State competition held at the College of Wooster in May. Only 10% of the original 7000 students make it to State competition. None of girls placed at State, but it was still a thrill for them to be there...and a thrill for their parents!

Power of the Pen District Competition

Madison along with five other students in her eight grade class traveled to Yellow Springs Ohio last weekend to participate in the Power of the Pen District tournament. POP, is a series of interscholastic writing tournaments, designed for students in grades 7 and 8. POP encourages schools to develop writing teams, allows young writers to meet, compete, and receive recognition and awards for excellence in three rounds of impromptu writing, and offers immediate feedback from teacher coaches who act as judges on the quality of their written expression.

The students are given prompts in each of the three rounds. Each round they write for 40 minutes.

Awards are given to the top twelve writers in each grade. Madison placed 12th. Other Jonathan Alder eighth graders placed 11th, 10th, 9th and 2nd. Also, there is "Best of Round" for each of the three rounds and Madison won that award for the third round.

The entire 8th grade team also brought home the 1st place trophy and all six will go to the Regional competition on March 27th.

Way to go Jonathan Alder!!

Madison - we are so proud of you!!!

Cavaliers - 2nd place!

Congratulations to the Cavaliers who ended the AYA Boys Major Basketball League with 2nd place! They aren't too happy in this picture because they lost by 2 points! They had an awesome season!

Colt @ 6 months

Madison - 8th Grade Picture