Pray for these folks

A group from Wooster Grace recently hit the air headed to Asia, specifically Cambodia, with a trip to Thailand. Please pray for them if you feel so led. I know they would appreciate it. Several of our Pastors are on this trip, and many dear friends!

You can follow their trip by clicking HERE.

What we do for our girl!

Well, Taylor has really ruled the house this past weekend! She was at Beyond camp last week, which she LOVED! I however, am wondering what happened to the little girl I sent off! I know she was behind on sleep, but boy was she grumpy when I had to pick her up early. She had practice for Ohio Light Opera Friday afternoon, so I had to pick her up from camp a day early. She wanted me to take her back after she was done with rehearsal and I said no, so I was the meanest mom ever!! Which I'm okay with :)

Then Beginning Saturday morning it was a mad dash of running Taylor around. She had OLO Rehearsal, to Avon Lake for a Soccer game, then rush back for another OLO rehearsal with a few graduation parties in between! Sunday morning, we were up early, heading to Avon Lake for a game, rush back to Wooster for a costume fitting (which they cancelled and didn't tell us) and back to Avon Lake for the Championship game, and back to Wooster for Dress Rehearsal!! It was literally head spinning, but we made it! Below is a photo of Taylor with her tournament trophy, before I grabbed her by the arm and we ran for the van! They got 2nd place, which is a HUGE accomplishment. The girls worked hard, but I believe they coulda had 1st place! It was a great game!
So VBS starts up next week and my amazing Sister-in-Law (I do love her) has talked me into teaching. I SWORE I would never do that again. If you've been to our VBS, you understand it is a HUGE undertaking. I am always more than willing to volunteer as a helper, or craft person, but teaching is way too much! Luckily I'm paired with some amazing people and they understand my crazy schedule and have been a huge help! Taylor has her opening performance on Tuesday afternoon. I can not wait to see her in this performance. I'm sure she'll do an amazing job! I hope to get some pictures!

So we have another busy week ahead, but at least it will all be in Wooster!

God is Good!

Last Day of School

Well, nine months ago, I dressed up my youngens, stuck them on a bus and told them to get an edumacation! I DIDN'T tell them to grow up while they were gone, but they up and did that anyway!! Here is our photo from the first day of school, August 2009, Taylor heading off to her final year of Elementary school, Drew a big 2nd grader and Toby off to Preschool! Don't they look so excited!
And as is tradition in the Mills' house, I made them (the older 2 at least) drag out the same clothes and take a last day of school photo. This year, they humored us and did as they were asked, then quickly ran back into the house to get clothes on that fit! At least that was the case for Taylor! Drew just wanted to have something to complain about! But I think you can see from the photos, they have grown WAY TOO MUCH!
And for Taylor's final day of 6th grade, they participated in the traditional "clap out" led by the 6th grade teachers. I only shed a few tears...
but Taylor was ALL SMILES! She's ready to move on! (and by the way, she's holding her Young Citizenship award she was presented with for the quarter!)
These two are getting to be very close, and it is so much fun to watch. Toby really admires his big brother, and Drew is learning to take the time to include his little brother in his mischeif!
And a final shot of Taylor getting off the bus! She wanted to ride the bus home for the last time! Next year, mom will be picking her up after school! Looking forward to that time we will have together!!
Another year gone by, if only they would stay little!

God is Good!

Awards and Parties!

The final days are just for partying, right? Movies, games, parties, awards... just plain fun! I had the chance to take the day off and celebrate with the kids for one of their final days of school. Drew's class party was almost over, but he and his buddies did a little photo shoot for me! This one is my favorite! Taylor and Drew said this was going to be their first album cover, cause these guys are going to be famous rockers one day! They sure look the part, don't they?

Taylor had a great year with Mrs. Kubb. Like any pre-teen girl, it was full of ups and downs, but she appreciated having Mrs. Kubb to talk to about things!

Yeah, so trying to get a shot of all Fiftysome kids being serious is never going to happen, so I just snapped away and this is the best one I got! We have our own commentary at the Mills' house about what is going on in this photo... what do you think is going through these kids minds? We certainly had a good laugh about it!
I was in charge of the games for the party, so I went straight to Minute to Win It! WOW! If you are ever looking for some good clean fun to have with 12-18 year olds, check it out! Here they are playing Chocolate Unicorn, trying to stack 5 cookie son their head. It was great... and messy!
We also had their awards ceremony. The 6th graders get to sit on the stage and be individually recognized. It is a nice program, and it was an honor to see my girl up there this year!
Taylor receiving her Pennant and marker so all the students can sign it!
Waiting with one of her best buds Anneliese as the remaining classmates are called up!

There'll be a few more photos coming of the final day! But this day was filled with lots of fun and celebration!

God is Good!

The Crew Game

We had a family first this past weekend! After our time at the Asian Festival, Nate remembered that there was a big Crew/Galaxy game being played and we decided to try and get some tickets. This is the first time that we have all experienced a major league event for the first time together. None of us had been to an MLS game. With Nate and his love for sports, this is nothing short of miraculous! We've been talking about it for a long time, with Taylor's love for soccer, just never made it happen! We had a WONDERFUL time and hope to be back soon! Great atmosphere, great game (unfortunately the Crew lost) and great memories made!


We kept checking to make sure Taylor was taking notes! I'm not sure she enjoyed our humor about it!
For halftime, they had skydivers, which I thought for sure were falling out of control and going to land on me and my babies. Taylor assured me, they had hundreds of jumps and were going to do just fine, and they did!
I think Drew enjoyed himself, though it is hard to tell from this photo!

A beautiful sunset over Crew Stadium!

The Crew has some new fans, and we hope to be back visiting soon!

God is Good!

Asian Festival!

For the third straight year, we made it a point to head to Columbus Memorial Day weekend to attend the Asian Festival. If you've never been, I highly recommend taking a trip down! It is a lot of fun! This year, my batteries in my camera ran out about 15 minutes after we got there, so I don't have many pictures, but here are a few from our time. The first is from a parade of nations of sort that we stumbled upon! There were many dragons and one, this one actually, scared Toby and he spilled the sauce from his Pot Stickers all down his leg, so this is our only picture as I had to clean him up. By the way, he ate a huge Veggie Egg Roll and 4 pot stickers all by himself! I need to learn how to cook for the poor kid!



It was HOT! But we had lots of water and many Maui Wowi's and that kept us going! Looking forward to next year!

God is Good

Moving Up to Junior High!

Time, where does it go and how can I stop it? Taylor is crossing a mile marker this summer that always just seemed so far away! She is leaving elementary school life behind and moving up into Junior High! There have been many events these last few weeks, and this is the one that kicked it all off! She had a "Moving Up" party with her sixth grade class from her elementary school! They rented a bowling alley, had pizza and pop and just an overall good time. Taylor had to leave early for Ohio Light Opera rehearsal, but luckily, they were right across the street! So here are a few photos with the kids she's called her classmates for 7 years!


One of her BFF's posing for a photo. Luckily, they are both in OLO this summer so they will have lots of good times ahead!
I was too busy talking with the other moms and didn't get a lot of photos, but here is one of Taylor after what I guess was a lousy toss of the bowling ball!

The Sunday following this party was also her first weekend in the Junior High Youth Group at church. She is now a MSM'er! Her first question "When are band tryouts?" She is also going to Jr. High camp this summer, which will be a lot of fun. We had to forgo the Mission trip because there are two OLO plays that week and Momma can't do that much running. I feel bad for her, but we do the best we can, right! I'm sure camp will be just as fun!

God is Good

Spring Time

Lots of time spent at the ball fields for the Mills family! Drew is doing great at Baseball. He enjoys playing catcher and is showing interest in pitching. Let's hope he has a little better control than his dad :)



He's also done a great job hitting and in this particular game went 4 for 4 with 6 RBI's!
And of course Taylor continues to work hard at soccer. Our regular season ended last weekend, but we have a tournament coming up we continue to practice for!


God is Good!