Decorating the Cake??

What happens when you let a 12 year old decorate his own birthday cake????

The Celebration Goes On...

Even though Austin's "official" birthday was over, we had another birthday celebration (sans friends) today. So, there was cake and ice cream, blowing out candles, opening some gifts, and a trip to the Cincinnati Reds game for Dennis, Austin, and three of his friends....Uncle Brent was also getting picked up for the game. Austin decided he wanted to help with the cake this year and actually did most of the decorating himself.

Mother of a Preteen

I am officially the mother of a preteen. Austin turned 12 yesterday!! I will spare you the many unpleasant detail of his gestation and delivery...it was all well worth it anyway!! I have, on occassion shared some of those details with him, though...you know, to give him some appreciation of the "sacfrifices" I (we) have made for him. Yeah, right...he'll never truly understand. ANYWAY, when asked what he wanted to do for his birthday "night", he chose to stay home with his family and have a spaghetti dinner. He is SO stinkin' sweet!

Two Down....

That's right...two Wagner kids off to school, now. Davison started kindergarten today. I swear, this week feels like an out of body experience! Anyway, as you can see from his expression in the pictures, Davison was VERY excited to start kindergarten this morning. Dennis and I took him to breakfast at McDonald's before school. He was really wound up!

A New Era....

So, today was Austin's first day of Junior High! He was up bright and early...I think around 5:45am...and dressed and ready for the bus (no Mom driving him to school after breakfast at McDonald's this year!) before I got out of bed. He was kind enough to let me snap the annual "first day of school" photo.

U.S. Gold

I just watched the US men win the 4X100 relay.....they won a gold medal while setting a new world record in the event, way cool. They beat the French by, like, 1/70th of a second....I don't even know how they measure that. Apparently the French team (ironically swimmer #4 in particular who let the team lead slip away) had been trashing the US relay team....stating they were going to "smash" them. Note to self smack talk BEFORE competition not always so much a good idea.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths Event--First Meeting

Here's the email I sent out about our first organizational meeting for the January Pantene event. Time is passing by quickly, so we are going to have to hustle!! Please let me know if you, or anyone you know, is interested in being involved/helping in any way!

Hello Ladies!!
This is going to be a VERY big week at our house. Austin is starting junior high school (ugh!) on Wednesday and Davison is starting kindergarten on Thursday. I know it is hard for those of you who know me well to believe, but I am feeling a bit emotional.

So, it's time to refocus and get planning started and completed for our big Pantene event on January 11th!! I am SO excited! It seems like everywhere I go someone is talking to me about their ponytail. At this time in my life, more than ever, I am looking forward to focusing on a positive when so many around me are struggling with their health.

All that being said, our first planning meeting will be this coming Saturday at 5pm at my house. Austin's 12th birthday is Friday and he and Dennis are heading out for a Red's game around 4 that afternoon. So, feel free to bring your kids as Davison will be here and I'm sure he would love the company. Also, we will plan on having snacks--it is all about the food, right?--so, if you would like, bring a snack to share.

Things to think about this week--
1) Recruiting stylists
2) Recruiting helpers!
3) Recruiting people to donate their lovely locks
4) Just how much do we want to do/how big do we want to go (ie--gift bags for hair donators, food, drinks, etc.)
5) Who do you know that has "connections"?
6) DONATIONS, DONATIONS, DONATIONS!!!

Finally, please RSVP for the meeting as soon as possible. This way, I will know how this time works out for everyone...I'd like to have LOTS of people at the first meeting to really get the ball rolling.

Thanks Girls!!
K

Aus-man

So, when I woke up this morning Dennis was finishing up grouting the slate that he put down around the fireplace last weekend (it looks GREAT! Carpet comes on Wednesday and then I will post a picture). Dennis quickly set out to find something fun for the family to do--we had a Saturday with NO commitments! So, an hour and a half later, we were in the car heading to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. We spent most of our time at the water park where I nearly had heart failure going down the enclosed water slide! It was good family time! At the end of the day, I took the opportunity to snap some pics of Austin. He wasn't paying attention to me, really.....too busy with his new Juke. Austin turns 12! in a week and starts Junior High (7th grade) on Wednesday. UNBELIEVABLE!! Isn't he handsome?

You Go Girl!!!

I am sitting on my couch, "tired" after a day at the Wishard, watching the opening night of the Olympic games. I LOVE watching the olympics and I am particularly interested this year after hearing a few months back about one of the members of the US women's swim team. Tara Torres is a 41 year old MOTHER who is swimming in, like, 4 olympic events!! I think that is so awesome and it makes my tired feet from Wishard make me feel like a real wimp!! You go, Tara!.......(Clink on the title "You Go Girl" to read more about Tara)

GIRLFRIENDS!!

Best of Friends

Fonda

I love this pic of Fonda all ready for the lake!!

CHEERS!!

Just after the boat died.......

Kisses

We can always count on Jenn to provide us some fun photos!!

Floaties

Krista, Jenn, and Kim:)

SUPERSTARS!!

Kim and Fonda

Hittin' The Road!

Getting ready to leave Target....

Kiki

While browsing my pics from this past weekend looking for a few of my favorites to post here, I quickly realized that one particular person was the subject of many of my favorites!

Our biggest entertainment for the weekend is usually our dear friend Tonya who has affectionately become known as "Kiki" amongst our group of girls. (Tonya's mom almost named her Kiki! When Tonya shared this with us, Kiki quickly stuck as we feel that this name fits her fun personality!)

She is a funny, funny girl and we all love "The Kik-ster"!

Annual Wishard Girls Culver Trip

So, this past weekend was the 9th annual Wishard Girls trip to Culver. It was a strange year! Our normal routine goes something like this....plan to leave the northside Target at 9am...that's where the fun begins as we show up late, shop a little, talk in the parking lot, repack cars, give little gifts, etc.....At any rate, we're usually on the lake by 1ish where we spend the rest of the day and the next two days talking, singing, having beverages, eating, dancing, crying, laughing. Not this year! Within minutes of getting the boat in the water, we realized we were in trouble...the boat broke down and some of "the girls" had to pull the boat back to the dock!! The breaking down of the boat wouldn't have been so bad had I provided our music source--I've ALWAYS made sure we had music, but this year I completely spaced it!! Sorry girls!! So, no boat, no music....yet, this group of girls would not be defeated and we manged a LOT of talking, eating, crying, and laughing in spite of our plight.

We are looking forward to redeeming ourselves next year when we celebrate our 10th anniversary on Lake Maxinkuckee...complete with memorial tattoos--right girls?!?!

Lucy Quinn

Ten months ago I had the amazing privelege of being with my best friend and her family during the labor and delivery (which ended in a cesarean section) of her first child, Lucy Quinn. It was AMAZING!! Well, Lucy is growing fast!! This past weekend was our annual Culver Girls' Weekend for the girls we work with at Wishard. We were able to squeeze in some Lucy time while she was spending the weekend with her Grandma and Grandpa Bess. I got my camera out and got some pretty darn cute pics!! Thanks, Angie, for sharing Lucy Quinn with me! She is SO CUTE and she really is VERY smart!:)