California!

Enjoy a slide show of our recent trip to visit Boog, Tracey, Marin & Bennett. We had a full schedule and thoroughly enjoyed our activities. Our time with family was truly the icing on our vacation cake.

Merry Christmas 2010!

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Fall Stuff

So many fun happenings in our lives right now, so little time to blog about them!

Katie & Erin participated in a cheerleading camp with some friends.

Grandma Cronley joined John for Grandparents Mass at Dowling Catholic High School. Later that day, John ran in his conference Cross Country meet.

For John's German class, he is required to have a cultural experience so we decided to enjoy our local German Restaurant - Hessen Haus. The little old lady in the yellow dress was out dancing in the aisles and had a lapel pin saying that she was a Polka Dance Champion.

Annie was recognized for the 3rd year in a row at the University of Iowa. I'd be willing to bet that she was the first to recognize her RELIGION teacher for his inspiration.

Annie's volleyball team won 3rd place in the end of the year tournament.

Additionally, Katie took a couple tennis clinics this fall. She has made remarkable improvement. I watch her and think to myself, "I didn't even own a tennis racquet when I was her age!"

Erin is taking ballet, tap & Jazz dance and is going to be an Infantry in the Nutcracker in December. She also joined the Riptide Swim Team and has her 1st meet on Nov. 15.

Summer, Summer, Summer!

We spent the 4th of July in Waubay with Kyle's parents. One day we drove to Aberdeen to spend the day with Audrey & Al Dutenhoffer, Kyle's aunt & uncle. We also visited Storybook Land which has all of the nursery rhyme characters, the fairy tale characters and even the Wizard of Oz characters along with a farm house and the yellow brick road in munchkin land. As you follow the yellow brick road, you meet the scarecrow, the tin man and the lion. What fun!

Rounding out July, John was a pollinator for Pioneer in the corn fields. Annie had swimming lessons and volunteered at a Safety Town for kindergartners. Katie & Erin had tennis lessons and swimming lessons.

We spent a week up at Mid-Forest Lodge the first week in August, stopping on our way to visit Maura, Heather & Dale in Grand Rapids.

John caught a turtle and the girls all participated in the Kids Fishing Derby, bringing home 2 fishing rods and a live well, net thing from the raffle.

The Sugar Bowl is still so much fun to run down. There had been a few big rain events prior to our arrival and the wash out was remarkable!

We spent a great deal of time with Uncle Peter and one day, he found a tree over the fire tower hill road so he cut it up for his new wood stove. As you can see, the blue truck is still in business; licensed and with some kind of new brake parts.

Kyle thoroughly enjoyed the week, canoeing with Annie & John, fishing with all the kids (I think Erin had the biggest haul with 16 in one outing!). We also played ladder ball and kayaked at the Matuszak's, gave the kids rides on the 4 wheeler, hiked along the road by the old dumps, picked black berries & got wonderful tours of the club from Uncle Peter and later from Aunt Cece & Uncle Tim. All in all, we had a fantastic week and I'm so glad to have the opportunity to share Mid-Forest with my kids. They loved it and even asked if we could move to Michigan and get a cabin!

Now, we're on the final count down to school on August 23. Can John really be going into high school; Annie into 7th grade; Katie, 4th; and Erin, 3rd? Where does time fly?

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.