Before there was anything like blogger.com known to man....

There were journals. Plain ol' journals. Diaries if you will. And as a mother I have kept many. I kept a journal just for Lilly and a journal just for Trevor. Then I have my personal journal that will be buried with me. LOL. (Well they are MY secrets and thoughts and they are dying with me.)

Well, I have decided to look into the Galloway/Kopecky vault of journals and pull them out. Over the next several years, I will be writing a NEW blog dedicated to our past family memories. I am so excited! I love pulling out these journals and reading them to the children. And what is even more fancy is that I can have them printed with pictures and formatted into our very own hard back book. Now isn't that something!?
I hope you are as excited as I am about this new bloggering (I know that isn't a word-but it should be) that I am doing. I will send out the information as soon as I start the new blogs.
Oh my! This is gonna be fun, people.

(The picture of the journal was taken by my friend Lisa Ashby. She made this leather journal for her dad-isn't it wonderful?)

Trevor's 1st Soccer Game-October 30th, 2010

Trev had his first soccer game on October 30th. Pappy came out to watch. The kids play for about an hour. It is so much fun to watch all those sweetie pies run around on the field. And you know, they actually knew which way to go. They all seemed really organized.

Trev's team ranges between the ages of 3 to 6. It is a big age range. I wish it was different but it is ok. They all have lots of fun and then yummy snacks and drinks afterward.

Trevor's 5th Birthday! October 24th, 2010

Well boy oh boy did we have a fun time at Trev's party. The party started at 4pm and our last guests left around 12:30 am! We invited about 40 people and I think 31 showed up. All the children played outside in the yard and bouncy houses, while the adults played inside. :) It was chilly again this year, so we had the fire pit going and everyone roasted (or burned) their own hot dogs. Later we had cake and smores. I know for sure that the children love the fire and the smores.

My favorite part is being with close friends, family, and my sweet husband and children, while snuggling in blankets and hearing the laughter (and sometimes crying and tattling) of the children.

I really enjoy the layout of this house, so we can have parties like these. The yard is nice and since we have 80 acres of woods behind us, we get to clip our own branches from the trees to roast the hot dogs and marshmallows on.

I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them, with the help of Ed and Neal! Thanks guys for your help. Also, thanks Spence for helping me gather and clip the branches. And thanks Ed for playing with all of the children. I know Brandon made a new friend. ;)

Local Cheer Competition

October 24th, 2010 was Lilly's team competition. All levels won 1st place and qualified to go to REGIONALS! Go VIKINGS! We are so proud of all of those girls and their hard work.

Lilly didn't get to compete due to her surgery, so she sat in the head coaches lap. Here are some pictures and a video. The video is of the Midgets. The Midgets are the oldest group of girls that the Vikings have. I couldn't video tape Lilly's team because I was too busy crying. I hated it that Lilly had to miss out on her first competition. But let me tell you, the girls did awesome. They didn't miss a beat. They never fell. Everything was perfect-obviously because they won 1st place!!!! Enjoy the pics and video.

Family Fun Night Sunday September 26th 2010

Hi everyone.

This FFN I wanted to do a Halloween craft session! I love crafting and it is a good pass time with the family. Plus this craft session has a theme. HALLOWEEN.

If you have something different that you would like to do, then you are welcome to bring it along and share with the group. Please send an email to me with your idea and the materials that you require for the craft so that I can send the materials list to the others who may want to participate in that particular craft.

So here are my ideas.

Black Bat or mice and mouse hole cut outs.

All that is required for this craft is a black piece of poster board and scissors. I can supply the thread to hang the bats with.

Orange pumpkin tins.

If you want to do this craft then bring veggie, soup, or coffee cans. I will supply the spray paint.

Jack-o-lantern leaves-

Bring an exacto knife-a box cutter will be too big for this project.

Skull Potato Stamp-

Bring a potato and anything that you want to stamp a skull on.

Polka dotted pumpkins-

These are just cute. I wanted to post a picture so that you could see them and maybe do them at home closer to Halloween. They will only last 2 weeks. Then they start to get yucky. But here is what you need to make them.

As many small pumpkins that you would like to buy. A hole saw. Then you just cut the top off, pull out the insides, carve some of the pulp out, and drill the holes into the pumpkins.

I hope you all are as excited about FFN as I am. I am also really looking forward to Family Fun Night Spook-a-Spectacular!!!

Love,

Dani

Laundry on the line.

I love hanging out laundry. It is pretty blowing in the breeze and it smells so good when it comes in the house. I also believe that it helps the environment to use less electricity. We have an Energy Efficient washer & dryer, therefore we haven't made a huge dent in our electric bill but I know we are doing our best to help the environment (& make our backyard "homey").

Lilly's Birthday 8/21/10-It's super fine to be 9!

This year our Lady Lillian turned 9. We had a great time. On Friday, I dropped cupcakes off at her school for her class to eat. She wanted dirt & worm cupcakes. They were yummy & cute. Trev loved the worms. On Thursday, Lilly, Trevor, Na-Na and I went to have tea at the Wilmington Tea Room. It was delightful to say the least. We had tea and lunch. The children had tooty fruity tea with sandwiches and desserts. Na-na & I enjoyed our lunch. After our afternoon tea we went for a walk in beautiful downtown Wilmington. We had Lilly's party on Saturday, followed by cheer practice, & her birthday dinner. Family & close friends came to her party. It was nice. Enjoy the pics.

Boy, we have had a busy and fun summer.

We have about a month left of the summer season, although, we are lucky enough for the warm weather to continue into October. We have had a wonderfully, busy summer. Here are some pictures to prove it. :)


Dad's
birthday.

Wrightsville Beach, NC.


Wrightsville Beach, NC.

Wrightsville Beach, NC.

Father's Day.

Our day trip to Raleigh to see the Strother's.

Sarah came home for the summer

Sarah came home for the summer. It was nice to see her at church and sit with her in Relief Society. We really miss her alot. One afternoon, Sarah and Austin came over to visit. We decided to go to Mary B's pool and swim. Well Sarah, Austin, Lilly, and Trev did all the swimming while I watched and worked. Here are some fun pictures.

Memorial Day Get Together

We love to have friends and family over at our house. We love to cook, laugh, talk, share stories, and make memories with them. This Memorial day we had over new found friends and friends we have had for years. The children got to play on the bouncy house and the slip and slide, while the adults stayed inside. We love all of our friends.

Visit to the Battleship North Carolina

We sporadically visited the Battleship North Carolina in May. The family really enjoyed the visit. We stayed for a couple of hours. It wasn't too hot. It was a nice day. I hadn't visited the battleship since I was 5. I am so glad the children got to see a piece of NC history.

Grandma Rosie Came to Visit

Grandma Rosie came to visit in May. We had a nice time with her. The children really enjoyed playing with her and showing her around. Lilly was excited when Grandma Rosie came to pick her up from school. We love our Grandma Rosie.

Neal & Dani's Trip to Asheboro & Brervard NC

In March Neal & I took a trip to the NC mountains. We really had a good time. We enjoy the outdoors. We went hiking, we saw some beautiful waterfalls in Pisgah National Forest, we went to The Biltmore, we had yummy Japanese cuisine, we skipped stones in the creeks, All Kinds Of Fun Stuff!!!! It is so much fun to spend time with Neal. Here are some fun pics. Enjoy!

Fort Fisher Aquarium

We went to Fort Fisher Aquarium a couple of weekends ago. We had a lot of fun. It sure would have been nice it was a bit warmer here when we went. Carolina Beach has a really nice state park and we love to hike through there. There are so many treasures where we live. Here are so many pics for your enjoyment.

Pics of the snow at our house.