Ava's Class Play 12/15/06

First try at taking a video with my camera and at trying to post it here. Ava is at the end of the top row in a pink shirt.

Ava's Poster Contest Ceremony 12/14/06

Ava won third place in a poster contest on conserving water for the PCW Soil and Water Conservation Authority at the 1st grade level. There was a nice ceremony and reception after.

Ava with her trophy and her winning poster.

The First Grade winners.

Audrey's Girl Scout Ceremony 12/12/06

Audrey had a ceremony to receive badges for her Girl Scout troop. They did a short skit and then there was a reception afterwards that I couldn't stay for because we had to rush to Ava's play.






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Manassas Christmas Parade 12/02/06

December 2 was the Manassas Christmas Parade. It was a hectic morning of dropping our girls scouts off with their troop leaders and then trying to find a place to park and then hiking to the parade route. This year had many of the same things as the last. The Brownie's (Ava) rode on float drawn by a big pick up with a snowman attached to the bed. It's really hard to see her in the pictures as she was not interested in being around the rim of the float and waving. She hung out in the middle and talked to her friends. Pretty smart of her because after a whole week of 60 degree weather, Saturday was bitter cold. It was a fun parade!

Amanda and me watching the parade all bundled up.

If you look close you can see Ava in the middle here (hint, she's looking towards the camera with the hat pulled low on her eyes)

A little better picture.


Audrey's Junior Troop walked right behind the float.
She is in the middle with the green vest on top of her coat.

Thanks for the New Tree Dad!

For Dad's Christmas present to us, we got a new Christmas tree! It's a 9ft prelit tree and it is gorgeous! The pictures wanted to be blurry for some reason. Too many little ornaments to draw the camera's auto focus on I think!

Thanksgiving 11/06

Here we all are seated and ready to eat some fried turkey.

Of course we had homemade pumpkin pie!

Jeff's mom and sister

Dad's Visit 11/06

Dad, Joann, Oldemor and Aunt Ruthie were in town for the day so we had everyone over for lunch. It was a lovely time.

Oldemor with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Me, Oldemor, Karen, Dad and Joann.

Dad with the girls.

Kaylee's 1st Birthday 11/18/06

Kaylee turned one on November 18. Nikki had a wonderful dinner at her home for her. Look how adorable she is in her pink 'Birthday Girl' dress!

A happy moment with Mommy.

Kaylee, with big brother Devin and Mom & Dad.

It's Fun to Be One!

Family Pumpkin Patch & Halloween 10/06

Lots of Fall/Halloween activities. Jeff decided we all needed to pay a trip to the big pumpkin patch and off we went down to Massaponex one Saturday with Nikki and her family, Mamma and PapPap. It was an all day event because there was so much to see and do--- and we did do everything!

Ava feeding the goats.

Audrey on the zip wire.

Group photo with Kaylee and Devin.

Devin on a horse.

Ava and Amanda waiting for face painting.

Jeff makes Kaylee laugh on the hay ride.

Amanda and Alyssa before the preschool parade.

Alyssa practices her princess wave.

Amanda does her wave too. :)


Ava and Devin at the elementary school Halloween party.

Amanda, Ava and Audrey ready for trick or treating!

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip: Oct. 4, 2006

On Wednesday we made the visit to Belvedere Plantation in Fredericksburg for the annual pumpkin patch field trip. We had great weather (80 degrees, sunny and HOT) and Alyssa, Amanda and Kaylee all had a good time.

Alyssa and Amanda are Best Friends

Playing in the pebble pit.

Amanda points at the pumpkin fields on the ride out to pick a pumpkin.

PLaying in the hay barn.

Kaylee was very interested in eating the pumpkin leaves.

On the horse tire swings.

Amanda pets a goat.

Look how we've grown! October 2005 on the left and October 2006 on the right :) (the website seems to want to eat the 2005 picture, I'll try again in a few days)

Back to School

The Neher Family has been really busy with back to school activities. Ava has the same teacher for first grade that Audrey had, which we are really happy about because she was good! Audrey has the teacher she wanted, who is also the sponsor of the chess club she is in. Here are a couple of pictures of them going to school the first week. It was raining the first day, but it was a happy day for me!Here is Amanda enjoying the piece and quiet. She's coloring on the back porch with Buggy Huggle the Bunny.

The week before school started, I began watching Kaylee, my baby niece. She is a really good baby, and adorable, but I haven't had a baby to haul places in a long time! So now there are FIVE kids to shuffle around during the day.

What else has been going on? The hot tub has not made it's way to the back yard yet, but it does have a finished deck to sit on when it decides to move in.

Alyssa and Amanda also started back to school on Monday. They are in the same school with different teachers. I think it's good for them to have separate classes. Here is a picture of them striking their shy super model pose on their first day. These two are best friends. They play really well together.

Ava's Birthday Party 8/26/06

For Ava's Birthday we rented the Apollo Gym and invited all the little kids we knew. This was quite a challenge to get pictures of because the kids were always moving! They had the best time doing the activities. The first thing the kids did was an obsacle course that included climbing ladders, jumping on big foam mats, balance beams, and somersalts.



All the party guests waiting for a turn to somersalt.

Amanda and Devin on the balance beam.

Ava climbs the ladder.

The next activity was the kids ran or jumped down a long trampoline and jumped into a foam pit.



Alyssa jumping into the pit (I love this picture!)

The last activity was for the kids to jump on a big trampoline, jump in the pit and climb up a rope if they wanted. Ava was the only one who could climb the rope!

After the rope climbing, we went to the party room for watermelon and cupcakes. Then family was invited back to our house for a cookout. Ava told me she had the best birthday ever. :)