9 Years?

 How is it that this face...............

 and this face..............                                                                       So quickly became this face?

Cade we love you and we're so proud of you, but can you please STOP growing up!  Your mommy can't handle it!
Thanks for 9 great years!

US Naval Academy Visit

Today the U.S. Naval Academy Glee Club from Annapolis, Maryland visited SCPS.  We had no idea what a treat we were in for.  We have special programs like this all the time at school, but this one was fabulous!  The show was fantastic.  They boys were so talented, cute, funny, and wonderful role models for our students.  They actually visited classrooms invaded the cafeteria after the performance and ate lunch with the students!  Thanks, boys!  What a treat! Makes me very thankful for SCPS! check out a bit of what they do here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Onmx1PiSjN0

 singing at lunch- guess whose red and white polka dot bows those are?  That's the closes she'd get to the boys for a photo even if they were cool!

        Performance at the Eckberg Center

 More lunch singing- it's a game- Where are Mrs. Garola and Cora? We're both in this one!

       Cade got to sit with a Naval Academy Marine during lunch! So cool!

Big Boy's Birthday Bash

Cade's birthday is still a few days away, but we grabbed some school buddies and celebrated early this year!  We took a trip to Ottawa Farms corn maze!  It was great!  We stuffed these crazy, rowdy boys full of pizza and cookie cake then hauled them out to the country where they had endless amounts of opened land, tricycle races, a giant corn maze, a corn cannon, and all sorts of boyish stuff! They could be as wild as they wanted, and my house stayed clean! :)  Can't believe my baby's almost nine!

A dancing bear, a mean old witch, and a baseball head!

Here they are, the 2012 Garola Gang Halloween costumes!  All 3 from yard sales and costing less than $10!  My kind of holiday! Thanks Gran for the bargain finds!  They sure did have fun!

 

 

                                 baby Sloan the chicken!  This was Cade's costume and she wore it well!

                                                    The dancing bear showing her claws! Rawr!

   The mean old wotch (that's what she called herself) She may not be old or witchy, but she's got mean down pat!

                      Cade the baseball bobblehead! Him dancing in this mask seriously cracked me up!

                                                             The fabulous 4!

                                             Our buddies Aaron and Samantha joined us for the bluff!

                                  Look at Aaron's costume!  He was an MVP baseball trophy!  I loved it! So fun!

The She-Devil

Ok maybe that title's a bit harsh, but not much! This sweet face........

is only that! Her cuteness is the ONLY thing keeping her alive right now!  This child is having some severe issues! She is trying me and testing me like nothing I ever experienced with big bro and sis!  And folks, I'm tired!  I'm old and tired, and she wins.  She wins a lot of the time.  I give into her incessant whining and temper tantrums WAY more than I should.  And she knows! This one's smart!  She doesn't do it for her sitter. She doesn't do it for her daddy, only for me.  She's like a vulture. She senses my weakness and my tiredness. I'm her prey.  She swoops in when she sees I have no strength left.  So please, if you see me looking haggard chasing her through the Aquatic Center parking lot like I did last week, pray for me.  If you see me arrive late to my morning duty like I did this morning, have pity on me.  If you see me wearing shoes that are different shade of red than my shirt and my hair looks frazzled, it is and so are my nerves.  If you see me spanking her in my driveway, know I'm trying.  I really am, sort of.  I never knew anything that weighed 26 pounds could be so powerful!  It's time for me to take back my role as queen of this castle.  I've somehow become jester; and this small, curly headed terror wears my crown. But not for long!  She WILL be whipped into shape by her third birthday, I hope. 

Raider Love

Where have we been you ask? Well, we've been running ourselves ragged all over the place, burning our candle at both ends! I'm not sure how this year is so much busier than last year. Maybe I'm just one year older and require more sleep! Maybe it's the fact that both of my children's homework load has doubled this year? Maybe it's my almost three year old that is giving me a run for my money in ways that neither of my other children did? Maybe it's this very "energetic" class I spend my days with? Not quite sure where time goes, but it does! None the less here we are! Healthy, Happy (most of the time), and Busy! It seems to me like so far our fall has been filled with school activities! Here we are at our Raider best!

                                         Grace and Cora with their boyfriend, Marshall!  He's content being shared! :)

                                              Cade, Colson, and Jack cheering the Raiders on!  They're great cheerers, we won!

 My favorite part of school functions is running into my former students!  Can you believe this most precious ever Emma New was in my first grade class???? Am I that old? We love ya, Em!

    Another of my former first graders turned Upper School cheerleader taught Cora's group at the SCPS cheer clinic a few weeks ago!

          Cora and her buddy, Addisyn! After this cheer clinic they actually got to cheer at the Varsity game with the big cheerleaders! Video coming soon, maybe!

OMLETS!

Yay! It's official! One of our hens is earning her keep! We're not sure who, and it was found under a tree, so she didn't get it quite right, but it's an EGG! Rob was getting ready to mow and he saw all 3 of the girls under a tree causing a fuss over something. He went over and viola---an egg! I'm hoping that whoever laid it was explaining how to do it to the other two in chicken speak! How egg-citing!

                                       Everyone wants to pose with this cute little egg!

                        And just in case you wanted to get a closer look at Cora's cute outfit as well...