TBQ ~Meet #1 of the Season (Mark)

The new TBQ season started this past Saturday. Sadly, Hannah's previous God's Girlz team mates have decided not to continue so we had to find her a new team. There aren't many teams to begin with so she joined the team that was their biggest competition in the past. Adding her to their team meant they had 4 members so for these beginning meets, they're splitting the 4 team mates into two teams of two kids. This picture is of Hannah's team mate (the girl team) & their only loss was to their own team mates (the boy team). Hannah was tied for 1st place in individual points with another team mate. The book this season is the book of Mark. We went out to lunch at Culvers after the meet for Hannah's b-day lunch. 

Upcoming events next month includes the good & the bad. Hannah performs in her Sherlock Holmes play Thanksgiving weekend but she also has to have two wisdom teeth pulled near the end of the month. Todd & I also get to attend a scholarship awards ceremony at GCU where Hannah & others will be awarded a certificate recognizing their accomplishment in receiving a scholarship.

Hannah's 18th Birthday

 Our little girl turned 18! This special birthday warranted an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. The flowers are from Grandma & Grandpa. The balloons are from us. I forgot to take a picture of her present & you can't see it in this picture but she got her left upper ear pierced. She took the day off of work but still had drama class. The next day she had her first TBQ meet of the season. Those pictures will be next.

So Happy 18th, Hannah-Bear. You'll always be our little princess.

Addams Family

Hannah went to see The Addams Family to support a few friends. I think it's the last show pic until she performs in Sherlock Holmes in November. 

We decided to skip the State Fair this year so the biggest event will be a birthday.

Another show....

Hannah and some friends went to support another friend who was performing in Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. I wish I could have seen it too but I'll just have to settle for MoezArt's version next Spring.

Grand Canyon University Student!!

 A pretty purple envelope came in the mail......

with pretty purple GCU & silver star confetti.

Hannah has taken a math dual enrollment class with GCU & is in the middle of an English course right now. Our hope is she'll take two more dual enrollment classes between now & February. Based on her transcript through her junior year she applied for early registration & she has been accepted as a student for the Fall of 2018! 

As they say, Lopes up:)

Candle on the Water....

Here's the video I wasn't allowed to post on Facebook. Enjoy!

Hannah had her first voice recital today. It was mostly the piano students, a couple guitar students, and Hannah was the only vocalist. She went last & it was a joy to hear her sing other than trying to listen while she's in the shower.

Visit with Dereck,Ruth, & Lauren

Our Hawaii friends were in town to drop off Lauren at GCU so we were able to visit with them one of the days they could carve out a little time during all the craziness of college shopping & moving in.  We met them at Arizona Mills Mall & went to Dave's Famous BBQ for dinner. We're hoping to see them again next year except in Hawaii. I don't remember all the names of everyone else at the table but I'm sure they were all Ohana of some sort.

Another show....

I forgot to post this one with the misc pics on the last post. Right after seeing Annie, Hannah went to see Seussical.  The tickets were pricey so I only went to see Annie. 

This week Hannah has a couple auditions & possibly one more next week:Godspell with MoezArt & Into the Woods at Luke AFB. If she doesn't get 1 of 3 roles for Into the Woods, she'll try out for the Celebration of Christmas with Dream City. Her fall semester of MoezArt starts this month for a Sherlock Holmes play.

Little Mermaid & misc

 I know it's been awhile since I posted but we honestly haven't had anything exciting going on all summer. A few of Hannah's friends were performing in the Little Mermaid. We're looking for a new church. The van died & we got a new car (an Elantra). Hannah started a job for a home accountant doing data entry. Her boss's home is about 4-5 minutes from us. She started in June & works 2 days per week for about 10-11 hours. She's saving it up for when our car insurance goes up after she gets her license-sometime next year probably. Hannah also started a dual enrollment math class online with Grand Canyon University that will last 7 weeks. So except for the play, there hasn't been a whole lot to take pictures of.

 Todd & Joshua ate at Dillons BBQ with a gift card Todd won while Hannah & I were at the homeschool convention. They also played at this rec center on base next to the pool.

2017 Homeschool Graduation

 This picture above is an 8th grade graduate but she was also Hannah's team mate this past Bible Quiz season. We didn't know she'd be graduating there so it was a nice little surprise to see her.

Hannah & I went to the AFHE graduation on Friday.  With the 8th graders & seniors, there were nearly 200 graduates. The seniors here were all in Hannah's MoezArt casts over the years & will be missed as they start a new journey. I've always enjoyed that homeschooling allows my kids to be friends with kids of all ages but no one warns of the downside-when your friends graduate 1-2 years before you & how much you'll miss them. Or for the graduates who will be missing the juniors, sophomores, & freshmen they leave behind. It's hard to believe this is where we'll be this time next year. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Joshua's 14th Birthday

 Baby Groot cupcakes.

Joshua's party was a repeat of another birthday a couple years ago. Peter Piper Pizza with his best friend (& his friend's twin sister) followed by a movie. Since we were seeing Guardians of the Galaxy 2, this was the simplest cake idea I could come up with.

On his actual birthday, we went out to eat at red Robin but I forgot to take a picture. It was just the four of us. Todd took a vacation day for it.

Up next, graduation pics.

Zoo ~ Part 2

As promised, here are the rest of the zoo pictures. Up next will be pictures from Joshua's b-day.