Christmas and New Years

In mid November it was brought to our attention that Rob would not be able to get any days off during the summer in 2010. We quickly pulled together a pretty big surprise for our kids. These are just some of the highlights of Christmas 2009.

On Christmas eve morning we let the kids open one gift of our choice.

It was a box of balloons. They quickly figured out that they had to put

them in order to figure out the gift.

They said Come Celebrate with Us. The Happy Birthday balloon is

the only thingI could find with Mickey and friends on it so I wrote

Jesus on it. We headed to Florida on December 26th.

Mini golfing in 60 degree weather in December!



Emily's favorite disney characters by far are the dalmations

We went to see the chipmunks squeakquel. These guy

were hanging out in the lobby.

We were treated to an very fun day with my Aunt Rita and cousin Sarah.

We went on this balloon ride that goes 400 feet in the air. I was

very hesitant but it wasn't too bad.

Just a couple of pictures from up in the balloon.

The only park we went to was Sea World. We went on New Years Eve day.

I thought this was funny, a whale with a hat and scarf.

Emily took this picture. It is a real seal. I thought it was a statue.

We were amazed at the size of this baby penguin. It was as

big as the adult standing next to it.

I just couldn't pass up taking a picture of the kids in front

of this huge beautiful tree as we left Sea World.

Yes they are both wearing shorts on New Years Eve.

We thought these were interesting Palm trees.

As usual we spent the night ringing in the new year in the quiet

of our home. This year was spent in a hotel room but

we didn't forget to pack our hats and blowers. I hope

this isn't the last year the kids let me take our annual

picture in front of the t.v.. It was cool to be on the top floor

of the hotel. At midnight we turned off the lights and opened

the curtains to watch all of the fireworks going off at the parks.

All and all it was a fun trip. I am truly blessed with a wonderful family.

On Top Of Spaghetti........

..... the dining room is covered with cheese. Emily was a little more than enthusiastic when shaking the Parmesan cheese. Sadly she didn't realize that the lid was not securely closed. She had it in her milk, on everyones plate, in the flowers, on the floor, on the server and the piano.

She cried, I laughed, Jeremy vacuumed.

October/November

These pictures are for Jill. Who has never seen my house a mess. To some this is nothing, but to me it is hard to look at. This is the kitchen, dirty dishes and all.

Dining room table that we couldn't eat at for 4 days.

Living room. This is after the 7 loads of laundry was folded and most of it put away. Christmas bins just waiting to be emptied.

More bins waiting to be gone through. But, hey the tree is up & has the lights and garland on it!

Jeremy caught in the act of putting the star on the tree. It's a start.

On December 2, the kids and I attended an awards dinner for JDRF. Emily received an award for being a youth ambassador this year.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday we went to Traverse City. It was a great break with lots of rest and family time. We just missed the tree lighting but had a nice lady take a family picture of us.

One fun tradition our two high schools have is a that they come together for the 3 junior highs and perform. At the end the two drumlines have a drum off. Our drum line totally rocked!! I wish I had better pictures of what our line had on. There was a brief break before they came on so our kids did a quick outfit change. Mott came out in their uniforms and Kettering came out in all black with black bandana's. They looked like a gang of thugs. They won the drum off hands down.

Jeremy earned his Tenderfoot and Second Class rank in Boy Scouts. This part always make me nervous. The boys pin a special mothers pin on their moms for helping them reach their next rank. Jeremy looks like he is taking joy in this but, he has never stuck me.

October saw both kids level up karate. Emily is seen here with Master Joe on the left and Grand Master Saffold on the right. We are so proud of both kids for their hard work and dedication.

Jeremy earned his second stripe on his purple belt.

Emily earned her red belt. Her goal is to earn her black belt by her 16th birthday.

Halloween at our house was interesting. We didn't go out for candy instead we went out to dinner and watched a movie.

Emily took way to much enjoyment in carving her pumpkin. She had the evil laugh to go with it.

This is obviously Emily's pumpkin. Twilight was on her mind.

Jeremy took his time carving his pumpkin. He wanted a rocker look. and I think he acheived a drunk rocker look.

And we're off in October

This is Emily and Jon. They are both on the drum line and have known each other since kindergarten. It irks Jon just a little that Emily keeps getting 1st chair over him every year and this year will be no different. She of course thinks it's awesome. Any way Jon wanted to go to the homecoming dance but didn't have any one to go with so Emily asked him to join her and some of the other band kids who were going.

This is Hannah, Tessa and Emily. All dolled up for the homecoming dance.

Emily and Erin had their faces painted with our team logo before we started the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk for a Cure.

Team Emily's Hope. Erin, Jake, Rob, Mom, Jeremy, Emily, Joe, Michelle, Dan, Jan. Front row Sydnie and Yvonne. It was in the low 50's when we started so we were cold. Sydnie was really bundled up and probably the warmest one in our bunch.

Walking to find a cure.

Along the way they had a sign for each of this years ambassador's. Emily thought that was cool. We now proudly display the sign in our front yard.

Sydnie, Erin and Emily at the Coney Island after the walk. We had lunch and celebrated Jacob's 12th birthday. It was a fun morning.

This is a close up of our team shirts. Emily designed them with the help of a local t-shirt design guy. The front has a smaller butterfly on the left chest pocket. Of course they are orange. Thank you to all of our friends and family who took the time to donate. If you would still like to donate you can go to www.jdrf.org and follow the steps under the "Donate now" tab. Be sure to donate to Emily Wharton or Team Emily's hope so Emily gets credit for your donation. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

A month of marching band events

This month was filled with lots of marching band events. We started at the state fair, played at football games and then ended the month with performing at Cedar Point in Ohio. Even though we are very busy with practice and performances I am proud of Emily and the friends she has made. I never thought I would like a band geek but I have come to find that I LOVE ONE!

This isn't marching band but Emily ready to go to a quad stake dance with a western theme.

This is half of the band. I couldn't get them all in my view. Since it was Hallow-weekends at Cedar Point they played Thriller and one member dressed as Michael Jackson and did the whole dance.

All of the kids made up their faces and ratted their hair to look ghoulish and these are just a few pictures of them marching down the mid way.

They did so well that they were asked to return next year to perform again.

Doesn't she look scary? OK, the sun was in her eyes.

This is Emily and her friend Matt on Sky hawk. It's a huge swing type thing that has you horizontal, looking down at people on the ground below you.

You can't tell but this is Jeremy and Rob on Magnum. I think it is the 2ND largest roller coaster in the park. They are so brave.

This is after the big Kettering/Mott football game. The cymbalist are doing cymbal flips.

As part of the post game show the drum line performs.

This is the Kettering Marching Captains coming off the field at the end of the big game. We won!

This is a crazy ride at the Michigan state fair. Yes, Emily is on it with her friends.

We started this month with performing at the Michigan state fair. Here they are standing at attention while they are being introduced.

Marching to the flag pole to retire the flag.

Just before marching in full uniform. I love the plume!