***15***

Happy birthday EmilyKate! My baby girl turned 15! Crazy how time is flying! I surely am not old enough to have a 15 year old. I love you MK! You are a beautiful lady!

Baseball

Jacob is very athletic, but we have not found a sports team that works out with him until now! We were introduced to the Challenger Little League this fall. Jacob is loving playing baseball! The organization is wonderful and the environment is so sweet to be around. These kids all go out and have a great time. Jacob is hitting the ball great, and he played 1st base last week! He loves to slide in to all the bases too! He has a buddy that stays with him throughout the game to encourage him on. Even EmilyKate has joined in on the action as a buddy for the team. We are so thankful to be a part of the Challenger team!

Jacob Turns 11!

My Jacob is growing up! I cannot believe he is 11! He went to the Bucs game on his birthday with his daddy and they had a great time. Jake, you are a sweet blessing to our family!

Another School Year

The summer has come to an end, according to the calendar anyway, and another year of school has begun. Along with that means alot of lunches to pack, homework to do, and alot of driving. We have kiddos in 4 schools this year! That means we load the car at 7am. That is way too early for me, but we are managing. EmilyKate started high school this year, crazy I know. We don't do things the easy way around here though, the neighborhood school 1 mile away was not good enough for my over-achiever daughter. She was accepted in the IB program (International Baccalaureate) because she likes the challenge of a large amount of work and still work out at the gym 4 hours every evening. Thats just how the Swan's roll. But, all joking aside, it was an honor to get into the program and we are so proud of her accomplishments.

Caroline is in 7th grade, the only one in middle school this year. She is doing well (even though she got speech as an elective.) She will be doing drama and glee classes this year, and also wants to play volleyball.

Jacob is in 4th grade. He thinks his teacher is cute. He scored the highest grade in the class on his reading assessment last week, so we are off to a good start.

Wyatt is in 3rd grade. He is doing great, but rather be home playing video games. He is gearing up for flag football to start in 2 more weeks!

Anabelle is in 1st grade! My baby loves school and her teacher. I feel sure she will be the teacher's pet. She is too cute (maybe I am a little partial, but I don't think so.) She is still doing great in gymnastics and her meet season starts in 2 more weeks!

So, that is the run down on the Swan kids going back to school! Happy '11-'12 school year :)

Drama Camp

Caroline attended a film camp and a drama camp over the summer. She really wants to act, doesn't really need any lessons in my opinion. She went with a friend and they had a blast! They are both very dramatic, and could probably have taught the program themselves. Not a joke. They put on a really cute performance. It should be a fun year for Caroline. She is enrolled in a performance theater class and Glee club class. She will have a holiday show and a production of Beauty and the Beast in the spring. She has already attended an audition workshop to prepare for the auditions in the fall. She may be famous :)

Summer Vacation

***Lots of pictures in this post***































We headed out for a road trip for our summer vacation. We drove to Niagara Falls, Ontario! What a beautiful creation! It was truly amazing to see. We took a boat tour on the Maid of the Mist and went right up to the falls. The mist was so dense that you could not see!

Then we headed to upstate New York. It was so beautiful! We spent a few days hiking through state parks and taking in all the scenery. Before leaving, we ate the original buffalo wings in Buffalo, NY. YUM! Next stop was New York City. We ate pizza under the Brooklyn Bridge, and we actually braved the traffic. I felt like I was in a video game the whole time! I guess it is a good thing Steve likes to play those games after all. The girls loved shopping in Times Square! Caroline could not have been in a better place. The girl loves to shop :) We saw Carlos Bake Shop, but opted to not wait in the 3 hour line to get in. We considered it, but decided to see more of the city.

Upon entering the city, we realized that Jacob had outgrown his shoes since school got out. He immediately began complaining that his toe was hurting. As we are walking by the Hudson River, I could take no more of the whining so what do you do to fix the toe nail that is causing the problem? I tried to bite it, but no luck with that. Steve ended up biting the nail (just imagine the looks we were getting), when he still complained, Steve pulled out his pocket knife and just cut the tow of his shoe. Jacob immediately said it was all better! Quite a memorable moment I must say. He did fine the rest of the day!

The little ones loved Toys R Us, all 3 floors of it. The big girls loved Forever 21, all 4 levels. And all 6 levels of Abercrombie as well.

Next stop, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches in Philly. This was on the way to Washington, DC. The first day in DC was pleasant. Hot, but bearable. The big girls got to see their friend that had moved there the year before, so they were super happy. We even did pretty well with a few museums and monuments. The next day, not so pleasant. After the Museum of Natural History, some of our party was "done" with museums. Note to self, do not take small children into the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art. We lasted approximately 6 minutes before the little people set off 2 alarms and ran through the place like it was an obstacle course. We promptly left the museum to let them run on the lawn outside, where they sat in the grass like statues. Fun times. We managed to see a little more of the sites and decided it was time to move on.

Next stop was North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. This was a beautiful beach. We had fun building sand castles and playing in the waves. Lots of fun, until one child decides to wander down the beach to play ball with another family. Again, fun times. So after collecting everyone, we go to play mini-golf. The game is more exciting for some than others. At the first hole, Jacob got so excited he left a trail of urine on the tee. Again fun times.

We did make it back home, all of us. It was a trip we will all remember.

Surfs Up!

To continue the summer of fun, which many things were left out (Gator camp, water parks, etc.), the Swan crew headed to Cocoa Beach for surf lessons. Everyone did great! I opted to sit with Jacob. However, he found lots of "ladies" to entertain on the beach. The surfers all got up and rode the waves to the beach. We have lots of video, but here are a few pictures of the gang.