Another school year is done....and our 1st camping trip of the summer!!!

Well, it's officially SUMMER!!!  WOOOHOOO!  Katie finished up preschool so she heads to kindergarten in the fall, Lauren completed a great year @ 2nd grade so she will be a 3rd grader soon and Allie made her way thru 7th grade in an awesome way so she enters 8th grade in just a few short months!  Whew!  All three girls had another great school year.....learning tons, making lots of new friends, and staying strong til the end!  : )  We were especially proud of Lauren who received the "Most Improved In all Subjects" in her class this year!  YEAH!!  To help kick off our summer, we just logged our very 1st family camping trip and it goes down as a huge success and tons of fun!  We left Friday afternoon, after the girls' last day of school for the school year (what better way to start the summer, right??!!) and headed south to Patoka Lake.  They have a huge park, acres of campground, a beach, a gigantic lake and an awesome place to just hang out as a family together!  The camper did great.  No problems at all pulling it with the minivan.  We have Daddy to thank for his great driving skills : )  We spent almost 4 full days there and our fun included a gazillion bike rides around the cul-de-sac that our camp site was on, many campfires with s'mores (I'm not divulging how many I ate, thank you very much), three late nights of movie-watching in the camper, a couple of trips to the beach (and all three girls and Dad got in the very cold water....mama...not so much....) a bunch of good food eaten, a visit from Nana and Papa, and so many great family memories made.  I am so thankful for Jason working so hard to be able to purchase this camper for us.  Material things do not whatsoever at all make the memories....but this one is definitely helping us to have a great time together as a family!  And I'm so proud of him doing this for us.  And just as a sidenote....I have to include that he bought this with cash!  Not adding that in a 'braggy' way but just so happy for him as the leader of our home to be able to put his hard work in to this for us!  And pulling a Dave Ramsey purchase on top of it.....wooohooo!!!  Now on to enjoying some more summer time together and just loving the laid-back lifestyle of it all.....ahhhhh! 

The Massey CAMPER!!!

It's been a little while since I've been able to take time to post about our happenings around here lately.  We have been busy with the "normal" activities but also added in a few things....like enjoying watching Katie play soccer in her spring league, visiting w/ friends and family @ the annual Kentucky Derby party in L'ville, watching Allie perform with her choir @ school, watching Lauren perform @ her talent show at her school......oh and camper shopping!!!!  That has actually taken probably most of our time lately.  But we are very happy to report that all of that shopping has paid off because we are now the proud owners of a hybrid Cub 21 foot camper!!!!  Woohoooo!  We are so excited to start this new adventure as a family!  The girls were so excited to finally have one (they, of course,

 have joined us on all of our camper shopping excursions for the last 2 months so they are even more excited that part is over with!) that our first night of having it here @ our house, they spent most of the night just playing in it, listening to the radio in it, and doing their homework in it!  HAHA!  Love it!  We hope to have our first "official" camping trip in it over Memorial Day weekend.  Wish us luck!!  ; )

                                                                Katie (self portrait!)

Spring Break 2013!!!!

YEAH!!!!  The Massey family was very ready to take a break and that's just what we did.....and headed south to take our break!  : )  Jason's mom and dad decided to try out renting a house in the Orlando area this year and invited us to go with them.  FUN!!!  The girls were already excited enough just to be going on vacation but adding the fact that we would be with their Nana and Papa....well, that just made it that much better!  We decided to drive so we wouldn't have to dig in to the kiddos' college fund to fly all of us there....seriously.  So 14 1/2 hours later....we made it!  And the drive was totally worth it.  We stayed in a wonderful area just outside of Orlando....10 or 15 min from all of the action but just tucked away enough to have a great place to relax and chill out!  The house was great.....4 bedrooms, 2 baths, huge kitchen, dining room, family room, kids game room AND heated inground pool under a screened-in lanai and.....all situated on the 7th hole of a beautiful golf course!!!  YEAH BABY!  We enjoyed swimming, tons of great food, a day @ SeaWorld, 2 days of golf, lots more swimming, grilling out, shopping @ Downtown Disney, great running trails, game nights and just tons of family fun.  We were all a bit sad to leave but then again, it's nice to be back in your "Sweet Home Sweet" as Lauren likes to say : )  Another successful family vacation to keep for our memories!

Allie is officially a TEENAGER!!!

Oh my goodness....this can't be....but our "baby" is now a TEENAGER!!!  How in the world of craziness did this happen so quickly???  Her day has finally arrived.  She has been literally counting the hours until the magic occurred that she would wake up to be 13!  : )  I think she realized soon after that she pretty much felt the exact same as she did when she was "12" but she was still very excited to have reached this fun milestone.  So exciting for her!  She had been teasing (imagine that....) for an I-phone.  Along with every other teenager in America.  And from the get-go we had thought that just wasn't gonna happen.  But upon doing a bit of research and thinking, we decided to be 'the best parents in the entire universe' (we'll see how long that title lasts.....) and surprise with it for her birthday present!  ***shhhh....don't tell but we got the phone for free and a good deal on our monthly package so it really didn't cost us that much....but that's between us.....  ; )  She really also wanted a fun friends party this year and since Daddy still travels quite a bit during the year and earns points for his hotel stays, we were able to cash some of those in for a free night at a nice hotel (with a 2 room suite!) on the northside of Indy, very close to a great mall. Once again, please hand over the title of "Parents of the Year" to us.  Temporarily.  Haha!  So Mama took 5 teenage girls to the mall, for some shopping, then to a hotel for the night for swimming, eating, laughing, movie-watching, hairstyling, laughing, more eating, and never sleeping.....while Dad and the other two Massey girlies enjoyed a night at home having fun together.  Allie must have told me atleast 10 times how much fun they had at her party and how much she loved this birthday.  Now to see what 14 holds for next year!  : )  So proud of our "little girl".....Allison Renee, you have become a wonderful young lady....full of funny things to say, spunk to add to just about any conversation, tons of love for your friends and family, a super creative spirit, a voice for singing...and talking.....and a true blessing to us as your parents.  We love you girl!!!!

Katelyn Grace is 5!!!!

Hard to believe but our little baby girl has turned 5!  Where has the time gone?  I'm so excited to see her grow and learn but something about turning 5 makes me just a bit sad and nostalgic....it's the beginning of the school-age years, the start of a new chapter in her life and the first glimpse of the "growing up" years......just glad we have the rest of the year to hang out together before she heads off into that!  : )  She is our ball of energy, always wanting to know what everyone is doing and wanting in on the action no matter what!  She adores her big sisters and tries to do everything they do....which can sometimes be a little scary!  She loves to color and practice writing her name.  And she loves to pretend cooking and help mama in the kitchen with real cooking too.  Katelyn is full of spunk and keeps me on my toes in the discipline department but also has such a sweet loving spirit about her and always crawls up on my lap to give me hugs and kisses! 

We had a couple of birthday parties to celebrate.....one @ Chuck E. Cheese, always a fun time there!  She requested a "monkey" theme for that one.....complete with a monkey cake that mama had never made before....but gave it my best shot!  And her other party, she went with a completely different theme (imagine that!) and requested a pink ballerina theme, but with chili dogs, fries and cotton candy.  Doesn't every ballerina crave chili dogs???!!  All in all, we had a wonderful time celebrating with her.  Love spending time with our girls, and even more special when it's enjoying the days that they arrived into our sweet little family!  Happy birthday Katie Grace!  We wish you much joy in your life and thank God for you each and every day!  Love you baby girl!