Catching up and a great weekend getaway to Cincy!!

It has been waaaaayy too long since I've been on here but hey, I'm a busy working mama of three and a wifey to my hubby so cut me some slack! heehee! ; ) We have been busy enjoying family time, cranking away at school work and putting in some good hours at our jobs as well. Allie has been loving 4th grade and has already completed a wonderful project on an Indiana native animal, the fox squirrel, as well as qualifying for a "wogger" (what her p.e. teacher calls walking/jogging) award for these first few weeks of school! Lauren is still also enjoying her pre-K class at school, learning lots of new spanish words and singing all sorts of new tunes for us! Katie is hanging in there, getting over a cold, but doing great! She loves to spend time running around the house (and outside!) w/ her sisters and seems to be going a good job of getting caught up w/ them on being a "Dennis the Menace"! ; ) Jason has been really busy at his job but given that his job is sales, that is a really good thing!!!!! He is getting ready to travel for a trade show to Florida but unfortunately we can't tag along on this trip...oh well, maybe next time! I've been busy w/ the start of a new MOPS year at church as well as lots of bookkeeping business for my work. Jason and I got to go this past weekend away (by ourselves!!!) to King's Island and had a ball! Thank God for family that takes care of our little ones and for good friends to go away for a good time with!!! Not alot of pics of the kiddos lately...have to get back to work on that! All in all, a wonderful fall season is being enjoyed here at the Massey house!

A night with our older girls!

Allie and Lauren completed the reading program this summer at our local library and part of their rewards were free tickets to an Indiana Fever WNBA basketball game! FUN! They were both very excited to go. We decided that Katelyn probably wouldn't find it as fun as they would so we had family babysit her while Jason and I took the two older girls out for a night of fun! Allie knew what to expect as she has watched plenty of professional basketball games on tv with her dad but Lauren wasn't too sure....she kept asking when we were going to see baseball at the park???!! Anyway, we treated them to dinner at the game, their pick of what they wanted....we ended up with chicken & fries and an order of supreme nachos! YUM-O! They both loved cheering the team on and getting into the music and fun all around. Lauren wasn't crazy about the mascot but luckily he didn't get too near our seats! What a great night out and Dad finally got to enjoy some sports watching with his girlies! ; )

Lauren's first day of "pre-k" and the start of her last year of preschool!

Lauren started her "pre-k" class today, officially beginning the start of her last year of preschool! And, Katelyn began her first day of one time per week "parents day out" program this year. Whew, the house sure was quiet this morning and I have to admit I was a bit sad when Katie wasn't thrilled I was leaving her there at school for a bit but she got over it quickly, they both had a great time and I got most of my bookkeeping work for the day done...yeah! : ) Here are a couple of photos from the start of our day!

Happy 5th Birthday Lauren Elizabeth!!!

Hard for us to believe, but our little Lauren hit the big "5" mark on Sunday celebrating her 5th birthday! Woohoo! We had a big weekend to help her ring in another year. Saturday she had her first "official" friends party at the grand party place of Chuck E. Cheese....what a better way to spend a Saturday than eating lots of good cheesy pizza and running around playing arcade games...does it get any better???!!!! ; ) She had a ball and loved every minute of it....well, actually she wasn't crazy about the Chuckster coming real close to her. Which was funny because she usually doesn't mind him at all but for some reason during her party, she decided to get freaky with it and demanded that he not come close to her....lovely! : ) Oh well, I'm sure that mouse is used to kiddos doing that! Anyway, all in all, a great party was had that day. And then we couldn't just end the fun there, we decided to head down to the lake on Sunday afternoon to celebrate some more with family! What a fun weekend! She woke up on Monday morning and asked me...."Mommy, you mean since I had a birthday yesterday, that means I'm still 5 today? I didn't go back to being 4 again?? That's cool".... ; )

Fun at the State Fair!

We took advantage of the free admission coupons that the Indy Star always runs each year and headed to the state fair this week. Yep, it was a school night since Allie started school that day but hey, you can't miss a good deal and fun at the fair, right???!! We had a great time. The girls and I especially enjoy seeing all of the neat cakes in the 4H exhibit and Allie liked the artwork there as well. She is an aspiring artist so seeing all of the creations really excited her! They loved seeing all of the various animals, especially the baby ones. Although, you can definitely tell that even though we live in Mooresville and have cows behind our house, our girls are still very "city" and complained the whole time about the smell! : ) We let them choose a couple of games to play and a couple of rides to do. By the time it was done, they each had a stuffed animal to bring home and were pretty tired! Last but not least, on our way out, we had to get in on some of the yummy fair food so we each got to choose our own treats....Lauren of course wanted cotton candy (sugar queen!), Allie wanted one of the HUGE snowcones, Jason went for a milkshake from the dairy barn and some kettle corn on the side (to share with Katie!) and I went all out and grabbed a corn dog....YUM! What a great way to spend an evening together...SO MUCH FUN!!!

Allison Renee is officially a 4th grader!

Well, we officially feel old! : ) Our oldest, Allie Renee, started 4th grade today at Waverly Elementary. And boy was she excited! There is a first for everything and today, she was up, dressed and ready to go before I even thought about getting out of bed! : ) Here are a few photos while we were waiting on the bus. Of course, she gave me the "aww, Mom, do you have to take pictures???!!" But then when she saw her friend from down the street and her mom doing the same thing, she cut me slack and figured it was ok! I am anxious to hear how her first day back went. She has most of her friends in her class this year so mama had to remind her at breakfast this morning that school this year would be lots of fun and there would be time to socialize but not to get carried away with it! haha! Lauren starts her last year of preschool next Tuesday and Katelyn begins a parents-day-out program next Friday. Man, it's going to get pretty quiet around here soon.....what will I do???!!!

More summer fun.....

Just been spending more days (& nights!) of fun during the summer. I always have mixed emotions when summer begins to wind down. First of all, I absolutely love being able to spend more time with my girlies and that includes staying up late and sleeping in! So, that will be missed greatly once school starts up again. And, we seem to connect so much more as a family during the summer time....not sure if that's because our schedules all tend to get a bit more relaxed, if we bond more over playing outside so much together or what....but that will also be bittersweet as it slows down towards the start of a new school year. Either way.....we have had an absolutely wonderful summer this year and I am getting sad to see it get close to ending. Allie starts back to school two weeks from tomorrow (8/13) and Lauren goes back shortly thereafter to her last year of preschool. Then again, I also am the type A person who runs on schedules and adores (call me crazy!) list-making so getting back into the swing of things will be nice too! Anyway, here are just a few more photos of the Massey family summer......some things we have enjoyed lately are.....VBS, swim lessons, Allie's volleyball camp, lots of grilling out, trips to the library, fun in Louisville with family, tons of bike rides and eating red & blue jello with cool whip on top before bedtime! ; )