Night at the Oscars

Well folks.... it's finally over! Many months of hard work all paid off! Last night was the Schweinfurt Garrison and Community Ball. It was a great time!! The theme for the night was a "Night at the Oscars". We had a red carpet, sidewalk of fame, a big Hollywood sign, and many other decorations to set the mood. We had a fantastic turn out and had to set up two more tables before we ate. What a great problem to have!

Jay and I spent all day at the Mercure setting up. We had a lot of things to build and place. I finally left at 4:00 to come home and shower. Jay came home about 4:20. We were both dressed and back in the car by 5:00 to head back to the Mercure. I left with a wet head, but it all worked. Once we got there, we finished setting up, turned all the candles on, and made sure everything was ready to go. We spent the past month making most of the decorations. We didn't have much money to work with, so lots of handmade things this year. We cut out nearly two hundred stars when all was said and done. But it all still looked good!

This was out in the entryway, before going into the dance hall. you can see the walk of fame. A red carpet ran down it, but you can't really see that. The Hollywood sign is 8 feet long and hanging from the second story. It was to help set the mood as soon as people walked in the door.

 I forgot to take a picture before the table was all messed up, but you can still get an idea of the centerpiece!

It was a great night of being with our friends! I really didn't see much of Jay. He was running around with his head cut off! He was the MC for the night, so didn't really sit with us. I'm glad I had other people to be with. Instead of having a speaker this year, we played a trivia game. We had 20 trivia questions about movies along with 20 movie clips. Everyone guessed the answers and we totaled the points. The winning table earned themselves an oscar trophy! I nearly crashed in the middle of the evening, but got another burst of energy at the end! We had a great time dancing all night. A lot of great songs were played. Especially toward the end of the night, I was having a lot of fun on the dance floor!

Here I am with my date! I didn't see him too much more than this!! If I wanted to dance with him I had to force him to slow down!!! I held on tight to him while dancing, otherwise he would have ran away, not because he didn't want to dance, but because he wanted to make sure everything was going well.

Being the MC

Overall, it was so much fun! But I'm also so glad it's over! We put a lot of time and energy to make it a perfect night! I sure hope everyone had a lot of fun!

This is me with my second wind of energy! It was close to midnight around this point!

Crazy Running Man!

Who wakes up on a Sunday morning and thinks to themselves..... sure, I'll run the half-marathon today! Why not!!! Definitely not me!!

There were a group of peeps heading to Wurzburg to run their annual half-marathon. I was going to watch some kiddos while their mom and dad ran. Jay wasn't sure if he wanted to run or not. He surely didn't want to get out of bed and he couldn't stay awake while driving there. But once we got there and he saw everyone, he got the bug! Of course he wanted to run!

Everyone before the race

How did he do.... amazing of course! I'm so jealous that he can not train AT ALL, and then just go run 13 miles and act like it's no big deal! He was still smiling by the end of it! His legs were quite sore, but nothing he couldn't handle! What a man!!

 One-third the way through the race...

Coming in to the final shoot! He made it to the end!

 Geerati and Jay after the race!

While everyone was running, I was part of the cheering crew! I kept these four lil' ones as their mom and dad ran. Thankfully there was a bunch of us together, so I had many eyes on them. I was so glad to have more adults around to help corral the kids. They weren't too excited to stand around for three hours, but we survived. I had to break out the big basket of food for the last two hours to keep them occupied.

It was a fun day overall. Everyone was completely exhausted by the end of the race, those who ran and those who cheered!!

Super Saturday

This weekend flew by oh too fast!! I'll break it up so you don't have to read so much! Saturday will be enough for this post! You'll get Sunday's review soon.

Saturday morning I woke up early and was on the ball diamond by 8:00. We played a double header starting at 9:00. We won the first game 11-9 and then won the second game 15-8. I was so nervous about my girls at the beginning of the season, but they are really pulling it together. I had so many new girls this year so we've had to start from the beginning. The first two weeks of practice were all fundamentals. For example, I would tell the girls to run once they hit the ball. One of them asked me where she was supposed to run to. I had to continually remind myself to stay simple! Nonetheless, they have improved a great deal in the past month. It's been so fun to watch them grow. We have two more games left this season! I hope we can pull them off with two more wins!

We finished our games up by 1:00 in the afternoon. After that I brought two girls home with me to get ready for the middle school formal that night. I did both of their hair for them. I've never done hair like theirs, so it was interesting. They were both pretty cute by the end.

During...

 The final products, even though you can't really see them. I wish I had a before picture. Especially of the lion's mane... (yes Mia, that would be you!)

After dropping them off at their houses, I quickly drove back home, jumped in the shower, and was out the door 30 minutes later. I left again with a wet head to go to the dance. The theme of the dance was a Masquerade. Almost everyone had masks on. Everyone looked so great! We had a good time standing around and watching all the kids. I danced my way around a few times. I love the group of sixth grade girls this year, so had fun with them.

Jay being bored before people really began dancing!

By the time we got out of there at 11:30 we were pretty tired. We crashed quickly once we got home!

It was a fun day full of middle school girls! I sure do love my sixth graders! I love how much fun they are, I love all their giggles, I love their innocense!

Happy Mother's Day!

We want to wish our fantastic mothers a very happy day! We wish we were home to celebrate your special day! We love you and miss you!

To my mamma: Thanks for making me feel loved all the way across the world. I love how you send me cards just to tell me you love me and miss me. I love how you send me cookies to make me feel like I'm at home. I love how you send me anything I can't get over here just to comfort my needs. I love how you send me homemade caramels to spoil me. Twenty-six years later and you're still taking care of me, and for that I am thankful for! Someday I hope to follow in your footsteps and love my child as much as you loved me. Thanks for everything mamma. You're the best!!!

To my mother-in-law: Thanks for raising such an amazing son. He means the world to me and I'm so lucky to have him. Thank you for teaching him how to be a protector and a provider. We enjoy all the phone calls and emails to keep us in touch. Makes us feel like we're back home. We are excited for you to come over and visit us this summer. It's going to be a busy trip, but should be a lot of fun.

And to all the mother's out there... Happy Mother's Day to you!! We hope you enjoy your day surrounded by your family!