A Birthday Adventure

Today Libby went to a birthday party for one of her friends from preschool. The party was at one of those "paint your own" pottery places. I've gone myself before and had lots of fun, so I was excited for Libby to try it out, too! And of course, it was a party, so what could be more fun!?

Sydney and Libby.

The girls don't go to the same school anymore, but we still enjoy getting together with Sydney and her mom! They are usually up for anything we are! It's good to have friends like that!

So Serious! Libby is really concentrating on painting.

That's what I'm telling you, but really she was being a butt and not looking at me or smiling on purpose! Once in a while she thinks its funny to do that! She is making a star-person. I think she will really be surprised how much different it will look after it's been fired.

Well at least this time she was looking at me, sort of! But she would only give me that face!

Libby had fun at the party, but of course she wanted to stay longer. I had to explain that since the party was at a store we couldn't just stay and hang out all day! She was bummed!

Meet the Teacher, Book Fair and a Lost Tooth!

All this in one day! Thursday was "Meet the Teacher" and "Book Fair" night at school for Libby. But before that even happened, Libby lost a tooth (her 4th!) at school that day! She was the first one in her class to loose a tooth this year! They have a graph in the classroom to track all the missing teeth and she was first on the chart! What a Celebrity! Meet the teacher was really just a formality since Libby has the same teacher this year as she did last year for Kindergarten...they both graduated!

Libby and Miss Henderson.

The kids were busy all week working on projects for the parents to see when we came to visit. Libby is really getting creative with her work this year. It really amuses me some of the things she thinks up!

Here is the new gap. I used to think other kids looked goofy when they started losing their teeth. Now that I have a child of my own with a toothless grin, I think she looks cute!

Here is my little scholar taking one of her new books with her on the bus so she can read it on the way to school. She has about a 35-40 minute ride!

Back to School!

Monday was Libby's first day at school. She was excited to go back because her kindergarten teacher got moved up to first grade and Libby is in her class again! She was also a little nervous because she was afraid she wouldn't know anyone in her class. I kept reassuring her that at least a few of her friends from kindergarten would be in her first grade class. As we found out on the first day of school, Mama was wrong! There was not one person in her class that was in her class last year! Hopefully she will make some new friends soon! All the first grade classes have lunch and recess together, so she still does get to see her old friends! I was also pleased to learn that there are only 15 students in her class this year! I thought the class size might increase, but it stayed the same, so that is great! Since it was the first day of school, I was there with my camera to capture every moment!! I'm going to be very sad the day Libby decides she's too cool for her mama and the camera!

Here's my big girl waiting patiently until it is time to leave.

She got ready a little early and the clock was moving way too slow for her!

Finally, it's time to go...after a few pictures, of course!

This is her new lunch box.

Isn't she just the cutest?
She's growing up so fast! First grade this year, next year college!

Here she is modeling her new back pack. Notice Clifford sticking out of the pocket. He gets to go to school, too. It's little things like this that let me know she's still my baby!

We made it to school! We looked all around the classroom to see what was new and different from last year. One big change is this year she gets a desk! Last year they had tables! She was pretty excited about the desk! There are four desks together to make a square.

This is her class schedule. I was amused to see first recess is at 9:30 and second recess is at 11:20! That's pretty early to have all your running around time done!

Finally...it's time for Libby to come home! I told Libby the night before school that I didn't know what I would do with myself with her gone all day. She told me I could do what I always did before...sleep all day!

There's my little bug-a-boo! She missed me, I can tell!

She had a good first day!

Now it's time to see what's in her backpack!

As Libby gets her papers out of her folder for me to look at, she begins to get annoyed with my picture taking! So I promised to put the camera away and pay attention to her! She's so demanding sometimes! Geesh!

Todd gets Married!

My older brother, Todd, finally tied the knot and married his girlfriend, Tarah! The ceremony and reception was outside, but despite the heat and humidity, everyone managed to have a good time!

Here is my little princess before the wedding.

Here are the flower girls! They were very excited about being in the wedding!

What a bunch of cuties!

Having a little fun while posing for pictures.

Nathan, Kenzie, Cassie, Libby, Julianna.

We sure do make some cute kids!!

These kids love being goofy!

The blushing bride and her flower girls.

The new Hoover's...

Todd, Tarah, Nathan

I don't know the last time my brothers and I and all of our kids were actually in a picture together!!

The best part of the evening was watching all the kids movin' and groovin' on the dance floor. They were having so much fun! I don't think they even realized it was hot!

The DJ even played Miley Cyrus for them!

Dancin' Dancin' Dancin' Machine!

There IS more than corn in Indiana!

For our second back to school adventure I took Libby and Nathan to Indiana Beach in Monticello. It was a short drive from our house, just over an hour! We had never been before and since Libby had never been to an amusement park I thought it was a good place to start! The weather had been nice the few days prior to our visit, but had started warming up again the day we went and the humidity had come back with a vengeance. We had been at the park literally for five minutes when Nathan saw one of his friends from school! We started off riding some rides. I hadn't been to an amusement park since high school. Let me tell you it is a whole different sensation when you are an adult! I was dizzy and nauseous the whole day which eventually led to a horrific headache! But I endured it because the sound of Libby laughing and screeching on the rides made it all worth it! I had never heard Libby laugh or scream like that before! It made me laugh so hard I cried! After lunch we went to the water park. They had a lazy river, a beach, a sprinkler park, and a water slide. Libby was too little for the water slide, but Nathan was able to go down. It was a long day and the kids were exhausted by the time we were done, but they both had a good time!

Libby and Nathan at the beginning of the day before everybody got all hot and sweaty!

Yummy...nothing better than a bowl of dippin' dots on a hot summer day!

Here is Libby riding some rides in the kiddie playland. I didn't plan this out very well. I took Libby on the big rides first and then let her ride the kiddie rides. They aren't as exciting after you've just ridden a roller coaster!

Just look how excited she is! I think she just learned the definition of lame! Libby's favorite ride was the swings on the long chains that spin around and around.

2nd trip to Ft. Wayne

Summer really got away from me this year! I had lots of things planned for Libby and I to do...in my head anyway! Before I knew it we had 2 weeks until school started again. So I tried to cram all of our summer fun into one week! I wanted to take Libby to the Ft. Wayne Zoo again because it is such a fun place! Libby wants it to be our new zoo!

This is Libby's favorite thing...the sky ride!

We rode it 5 or 6 times before the day was over.

She even spotted a groundhog and a baby bunny down on the ground from way up in the air. This is how I know she did not inherit my eyes!

I think these are supposed to be dinosaur eggs.

Libby thinks its hilarious to pretend she's hatching!

She hatched twice!


She loves the pony rides too!
This little pony is named Cookie.

And this big fella is Smokey.

She is not scared at all to get up on that big horse.

I was scared to death of horses when I was little!

Taking a spin on the carousel.

The last time we were at the Ft. Wayne Zoo, we didn't get a chance to ride the log ride. She thought it was cool because we went through two tunnels with misters and got wet!

She likes the goats too.

Libby likes all animals actually.

Before we left the zoo we stopped in the gift shop and she picked out a baby tiger stuffed animal and named it Hannah Montana,

of course.

It was a good day... just me and my baby!

Libby's Sleepover

This is Libby's excited face!

She is so excited because her friend Kaitlyn came over to spend the night! This was Libby's first non-relative friend to stay with her. I work with Kaitlyn's mom, Jennie, so it is only natural that Kaitlyn and Libby should be friends, too! Libby and I went to Jennie's house on Tuesday for a party. Jennie had asked Libby if she would like to stay and spend the night with Kaitlyn. Of course! Jennie told me the next morning, Kaitlyn informed her the girls were so excited to have the sleepover that they stayed up all night and played! We had a hard time believing this. We came to the conclusion they fell asleep and didn't realize it. But...both girls fell asleep in the car on the way home. Jennie said Kaitlyn slept until 4:30 that afternoon. Libby woke up when we got home and stayed up until almost 5:00 then crashed on the couch. At 10:00 I woke her up and moved her to bed. That poor little girl slept until 7:00 the next morning! She was exhausted! Maybe they did stay up all night!

Anyway, we invited Kaitlyn to spend the night at our house on Saturday night. The girls played very well together. The girls wanted to take pictures of each other getting ready for bed.

This is Kaitlyn doing her silly pose.

Here is Libby doing her silly pose.

The girls said I could take one normal picture of them.

Then it was back to silly poses!

The girls decided they wanted to sleep in sleeping bags on the floor instead of a nice comfy bed! Kids! There is no way I could sleep on the floor!

This is a picture of the girls pretending to be asleep! Watch out Hollywood, we have some serious actresses on our hands!

It was 11:30 by the time the girls were ready to be tucked in! So much for getting them to bed early! I stayed up reading in bed for a while to make sure the girls actually fell asleep. They chatted and giggled for about a half an hour and then they were off to lala land!

Here are the girls the next morning eating their second breakfast of the day. They had donuts when they woke up and decided a few hours later they wanted cereal too! They had already done their morning makeovers by this point!

This is one of those times when Libby wouldn't let me take her picture!

She really would not give up!

The girls had a good time. Kaitlyn did not want to go home and Libby would have been happy for her to stay another night or even all week!

That evening Libby fell asleep on the couch again. This time she made it to 5:30 and woke up at 9:30. She ate a piece of cheese and some cheese puffs, drank a little milk, and was ready to go back to bed! I never thought she'd make it till morning, but she slept until 7:00! Libby is just not used to such a fast pace lifestyle!!