Lots to catch up on...

So much has happened in May & June - We had Erin & Annie's dance recitals and all the kids' piano recitals. John & Annie were in the Middle School Musical - 'Twinderella'. Here are some of John's friends from the cast after their performance. Annie was in the 6th grade chorus and a member of the "Slow Motion Crowd." John was The Duke of Earl with many comedic lines.

Then, John graduated from 8th grade. I think I got video only of that event, but this is a shot of some of the guys in his class.

Annie won a scholarship for next year.

After Memorial Day, we headed to Kansas City staying at the Great Wolf Lodge. We toured President Truman's home in Independence, MO and also visited the Presidential Library. That night we attended the Kansas City Royals game and had great seats - even Kyle approved!

The next day, we swam, played, relaxed at Schlitterbahn (German for Waterpark). They are just opening in Kansas City with a couple down in Texas. Great Fun! Instead of a lazy river, they have a TORENT river with a wave machine so that it's the best of the ocean & Lake Michigan without the danger of riptides & undertow.

Of course, Annie turned 12 - her GOLDEN birthday.

This past weekend Katie & John had pieces in the Des Moines Art Festival. Their art was part of the "Nurturing A Students Vision" display. They were recognized in a ceremony and given memberships to the Des Moines Art Center. Their art will also be displayed all summer at the Art Center.

But, imagine our surprise, as we walked along checking out the professional artists booths, when Katie noticed John's art in a VERY LARGE WAY! We immediately started asking if we could have the banner after the festival and just today were told that it too will go to the Art Center for the summer and then we'll get it! What excitement!

Katie has been at Catholic Youth Camp this week and then Saturday we'll be heading to Waubay to spend the 4th with Kyle's parents!

Sacramental Weekend

What a BIG weekend for the Greening Family.

John was confirmed as John Joseph Paul Greening by Bishop Richard Pates on Friday evening. Annie served at the Mass as you can see in the 2nd picture. We all were able to enjoy an early dinner prior to the ceremony. John's Godparents (Kyle's sister, Nancy & my brother, Joe) were able to join us along with Joe's wife Kelly and their son JB who is 9 months old. John chose my brother, John as his confirmation sponsor and John's wife Suzanne and their daughters Clare (4) and Kate (2) joined us as well.

Saturday was fun and relaxing with family. Tom Appell (a friend of Joe's from high school) joined us and he, John G., John C. & Joe ran on the bike trails and over to the hotel where John & his family stayed. We all played in the pool and then headed back to our house for lunch. The weather was beautiful so we went to Campbell Park near our house for kite flying, swings, jungle gym climbing, bike riding, batting cages & volleyball practicing. A more perfect day couldn't have been ordered.

Sunday afternoon was Erin's 1st Communion. John & Annie served at the Mass and Katie sang in the choir. Erin's Godparents are John & Suzanne, my brother & sister-in-law.

See more pictures here .

A few month's worth of updates

I have been so delinquent with my postings - SORRY! Here is a brief update.

Grandma Cronley visited on her travels around the upper midwest at Christmas Time - briefly before Christmas and then a bit longer for the New Years time frame. She treated us to one of our favorites - Macaroni Grill.

Erin continues to be a prolific artist. A mother of a classmate of Erin's recently told me that her daughter considers Erin to be the best artist in the class. Not sure about the Greening side, but I know that there is artistic talent in both the Cronley & Sheridan families and it certainly skipped over me!

We also convinced her to treat us to a Sheridan family tradition - Beef & Dumplings! Annie got to help out this year. I believe that would be at least 5th generation making this recipe.

We all enjoyed watching Katie & Erin play on the same 2nd & 3rd grade basketball team - made getting 2 kids to practices & games very easy. They improved quite a bit over their 6 games.

John has been running/conditioning with a track team indoor all winter - he's actually getting some definition and it's scaring me! He and Annie will begin outdoor middle school track later this month.

Kyle has been just working & working. He's in Miami right now for an international dermatology convention, standing at a booth.

I finished my formation as part of a team that put on a retreat for the ladies of our parish. The retreat was last weekend; formation has been a weekly meeting since October. I will be refocusing on my family and household now, preparing for the upcoming sacramental weekend --- John-Confirmation and Erin-1st Communion. Also, over Spring Break, I am enrolled in a 20 hour class to get authorized to substitute teach. I have come to realize that AGAIN - Mom was correct when she said that teaching was a wonderful career for a mother. We'll see how this goes.

Wonderful Christmas

Gifts were unwrapped in a record 34 seconds - ok, maybe it was 34 minutes!  Katie & Erin show off their new nightgowns and the matching ones for their Our Generation Dolls.  

Annie models her new Emu Boots - very stylish.  John holds up his new drafting tools.  

The kids received some  new Wii games, including MarioCart, Wii Resort, Toy Story Mania and Deal or No Deal.

Without any guests, our Christmas Dinner was enjoyed in pajamas by some of the kids!  What lazy bums!
   

Our December has brought record snow amounts with storms of 17 inches, 6 inches & 5 inches with a few extra smaller amounts in between.  Today, Annie, Erin and I went for a winter hike on our bike trails.  It was beautiful and we decided that we were walking into a Hallmark card.  

Building up to Christmas

On Dec. 8, our winter really began when a snowstorm brought 15 inches over 3 days.  The kids were let out of school early on that day and then stayed home for 2 days.  

Our Angel, Erin, was our only Nutcracker performer this year. 

Annie's 6th grade class finished their DARE classes and at the graduation, the police officer announced that Annie was one of the report winners (1 from each class), so they both read their reports for the audience.  

Finally, Grandma Cronley stopped through on her way to Columbus for Christmas.  All the kids enjoyed our traditional trip to Krispy Kreme.  We look forward to more time with Grandma on her return trip.  

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!  

Run, John, Run!

John's Jr. High Cross Country career is in the books!  He ran in the State-wide Meet today, finishing 35th and posting his best time on a tough, true 2 mile course at 13:32.  We are all very proud of his effort and improvement over the season. 

And so, we are almost off to Disney World.  We will be heading to Iowa City for Annie's Recognition Ceremony.  Then, off we go on Monday.  

    

What's Happening?

So, what have the Greenings been up to?  

Well, Katie & Erin were getting tired of John getting all the attention while just running around.  So, they decided to try a race with him - The Stinkfoot.  Of course, the girls started a little easier than the 5K that John ran.  They ran in The Little Stinkers 1K - finishing 1st and 2nd for the girls and about 5th and 9th overall for 7-10 year olds. 

John continues to enjoy cross country, with his best time for a 2 mile race 13:07.  He has just the conference meet on Oct. 13 and then a state-wide meet on Oct. 17.  He continues to play his sax and piano as well.  

Annie has been playing volleyball this Fall and her 6th grade team has gone 10-2 so far with their last regular season matches this Saturday.  She has come a long way skill-wise and has really had a good time in her 1st team sport.  She continues to dance-jazz and hiphop and also play her flute and the piano.  The middle school band is seen here playing the National Anthem and the Dowling Catholic High School fight song (sadly, it's U of M's VICTORs!) at the homecoming game.  

Katie is just playing the piano and having fun with Brownies so far this year.  Erin takes lessons in ballet, tap & jazz and piano and is practicing every week on her role as an ANGEL in the Nutcracker.  She also has some new glasses for reading.