First Time Great Aunt

I became a great aunt for the first time of 3 times this year! Yesterday Anna Kate Van Conant was born at 4:10 p.m. She weighs 8 lbs and is 20 1/2 inches long and she is soooo beautiful. See for yourself.

Memorial Day

I can hardly believe that school is officially over for the summer. We kicked off our summer this weekend in a laid back sort of way. David and I spent Memorial Day alone because Brooke was spending the day with a friend and Adrienne left for Panama City with the youth group. It was a nice, quiet day - our only activity was to have lunch with friends at Red Lobster. No barbecue - just some fish and taters.

This weekend will be anything but laid back. David is taping two dance recitals on Saturday while Brooke and I will be helping with a garage sale at church to raise funds to go to Thailand. I only need a thousand dollars if anyone reading this has money to spare! Adrienne returns from Panama City on Saturday as well so that day is pretty much spent.

Sunday afternoon our Thailand team begins drama practice in preparation for the work we will do with the university students. Who knows what else may pop up to do?

Captured Images

The new business venture, Captured Images, is doing very well. In the past two weeks, David has videoed a daycare graduation and 3 kindergarten programs. He had almost 100 DVD orders from the two events. Both DVDs turned out great!

I am experimenting with using the software to create photo slide shows. I did a DVD for my friend's daughter's graduation party. It was a challenge but it came out ok. David also did a DVD of a young girl at church. He put the service of her profession of faith, her baptism and some baptism photos all on one DVD. He put music to the photos. It will be a very special keepsake for years to come.

We are hopeful that the business will take over once we begin to advertise. The contacts we have made have all been through friends. It's been a great journey so far and we look forward to doing this for years to come.

School Is Officially Over

And I am one HAPPY mother!

Monday was Awards Day at Brooke's school. I had several proud moments. First, she sang two songs with The Notables. The group is quite good and I am sad that is over. The good news is that she made the 6th Grade Choir at the Middle School so there are more concerts to come. Secondly, she won the class Citizenship Award. She was chosen by her teacher as a well-rounded student with a positive attitude, a willingness to help and a good example for others. I am quite proud of that accomplishment. She also won a reading award, which surprised us both! AND, she made the A-B Honor Roll for the year.

So, the next time I blog about school, I will be the mother of a 6th and a 9th grader. Middle school one more time and the beginning of high school ---- OH NO!

End of School Update

At last, the end of school is close! Adrienne's last day is tomorrow since she is exempt from all exams and Brooke's last day is Tuesday (they don't have exams, just a couple of days to waste).

I am anxiously anticipating sleeping until 5:45 a.m. every morning since I will not be transporting a kid to school!

Here's the latest update about the end of school:

1. All projects are complete and graded.

2. Brooke played Countess Olivia in Shakespeare's "A Twelfth Night." Nothing can compare to 5th graders acting in Shakespeare! It was quite a grand way to start my week on Monday at 9 a.m.

3. Adrienne's Awards Day was yesterday. She was recognized for having the 3rd highest average overall in the 8th grade (actually two people ahead of her tied so she really was second by 1/4 of a point). She was also recognized as one of 20 students that have had A averages in all subjects since 6th grade. In addition, she had the highest class average in Algebra, History and Science for this year.

4. Brooke's Awards Day is Monday. Her audition choir, The Notables, will be performing two songs. They completed their "Spring Tour" last week. They also sang the National Anthem at the Mississippi Braves game recently. I am hopeful to have the video of that on the blog soon.

Though I am very proud of my daughters' academic accomplishments and their God-given talents, I am most proud of their character, their love for others and their love for God. Parenting is not a task David and I take lightly or even feel slightly qualified for but God has truly blessed us with two beautiful, smart and talented girls (inside and out) and we are very grateful.