School has Begun!

Well, that time is finally here!  School has begun... and we have a 1st-grader!  Lexi began 1st grade on Thurs. Aug. 22 at Ft. Island Primary School.  Her teacher this year is Miss Goldstein.  She is still adjusting to the whole 'lunch-at-school' thing and also getting used to being gone from 8:30 unitl after 4pm EVERY WEEKDAY!  I suppose it will take a few weeks for her to adjust, but then hopefully she will love it!  Since none of her friends from last year ended up in her class this year, she is getting to know a lot of new friends.  She even gets to board the bus with a close friend from church 2-3 days per week (she comes to our house in the morning and rides the bus with Lexi). Jill starts her daily Pre-K routine in just 1 short week (after Labor Day) and we shall see how that goes... Good Luck Miss Emily with the crew you have this year!

 

Bus Stop Crew!

Jen Cluts Photography

This past Spring, I entered a Facebook Contest with Jen Cluts Photography for a free photo shoot. For those of you who may not know, Jen (Bollenbacher) Cluts went to my high school along with her older sisters and she actually graduated with my brother, Ben Ginter.  Well, I liked and shared her page and got entered in the contest and... I WON!  She notified me of my free 1-hour summer session and we started to look at dates.  She didn't move too far from home, so that meant making a 3-hour drive to home-sweet-Paulding county for the outdoor shoot.  We originally agreed on June 29 for the shoot, but shockingly it rained and we were forced to reschedule.  Since our July was crazy, we finally set a new date of August 10.  No rain and gorgeous weather led to the perfect evening for some great shots.  I am so happy with the results and I would recommend for ANYONE to check out Jen's work.  Enjoy the pictures!

Thomas Family Pics

Thomas Family: Pink-Eileen; Red-Nola & Gary; Brown-Ruby & Don; Blue-Bethany, Matt, Lexi, Jill, & Alli; Navy-Benny; Green-Maely, Garrett & Nick; Purple-Marty & Shannon; Yellow-Brittany, Matt, Kaitlyn & Kyle; Orange-Jace & Natalie

We had these pictures scheduled and on the calendar since before Christmas! Then, just a few short months ago, Papa Bud passed away.  We were really hoping to have the ENTIRE Thomas Family in these pictures, but alas he didn' quite hold out long enough to be included.  Nevertheless, we gathered as planned and braved the heat of the day for some family pictures!  My long-time friend Kim Troth took us under her wing for our outdoor session.  Yes, it was hot... Yes, we had old (80+ years) and young (8 months) people to deal with... and Yes, we had grumpy adults who were missing the ball game on the radio/TV, but we managed to sneak in some good pictures!  Thanks to my entire family for showing up in your assigned colors, enduring the heat, and having us place you for poses when you could have been doing other things.  It is GREATLY appreciated (and now you can hang on my wall forever)!  Love you all!

An Awesome Experience!

Some great friends of ours (and fellow Preschool parents) have it 'in' at Progressive Field! Pam (Hargrove; daughter of Mike Hargrove) and Trevor Chuna invited our family - along with 2 other Preschool families - to join them in the Hargrove Suite to watch the Indian's beat the Red's 7-1 last night. What a fun experience for the kids and I do believe Matt was in Heaven! We are so very grateful for such wonderful and generous friends! Make sure to look through the pictures to see just how spoiled we were for the night! Complete with Akron Local 'Whitey's Chili' and all the hotdogs, chicken strips, nachos, buffalo wings fresh fruit and beverages we could shove into our bellies! We had a great time and hope to get to do it again in the future! Thanks Pam and Trevor!!! We owe you one!  GO TRIBE!

Finally 4!

Jill is finally 4 years old!  She has been waiting for her birthday all school-year!  Most of her friends are already 4 and she can now join their ranks.  We celebrated with both sides of the family on April 27 (just 1 day before her actual birthday).  Both sets of grandparents were here along with most of her aunts and uncles.  She got a lot of awesome presents including a water table and a bike!

Then just a few weeks later, we had her friend party.  There were 12 little people running around our house and enjoying the party.  It was Alvin and the Chipmunks themed and everyone had a blast!  We had a treasure hunt, an obstacle course, some Chipmunk music and of course cupcakes!  Again, Jill got some wonderful gifts.  Thanks to everyone who came to both parties and we will do it again next year!  Enjoy the picutres!

Easter... Finally!

Saris Family - Easter 2013

I know it is a few weeks late, but I am finally posting about our Easter Holiday!  We started out by waking up to discover what the Easter Bunny brought to our oh-so-spoiled children... He was very generous this year!  Many Veggie Tales videos, some Batman and Star Wars things for Lexi, some LaLaLoopsy and Bubble Guppie things for Jill, and Minnie Mouse and Dora for Alli.  After checking out their loot, we headed for church.  Lexi and Jill sang with the Children's Choir for the 11am service.  They did a great job singing "He Arose" and "Christ the Lord Has Risen Today".  After church, we packed up and headed to Smithville for the day.  Chris made a wonderful spread for lunch and then the kids enjoyed hunting their 'color' of eggs filled with goodies.  Lexi found the purple eggs, Jill searched for pink, Zach had blue and Alli was left with the yellow ones.  Banky even had a few green eggs filled with treats (thanks Papa Chuck!).  All in all it was a great Easter Sunday - and let's not forget the TRUE reason for Easter.  CHRIST AROSE!
Enjoy the pictures.

Birthdays and Baptisms

This past President's Day weekend, we made the trip to Perrysburg for Kyle's 3rd Birthday Party and also to Genoa for Nick's Baptism.  Kyle's party was on Saturday.  Brittany made a taco buffet for dinner and then we had Toy Story Birthday Cake for dessert.  He got some great presents and the girls always love to stay at Kaitlyn and Kyle's house!  Then on Sunday morning we woke up and headed out to Genoa for Nick's Baptism.  Matt stayed home in bed due to waking up with the flu!  Maely and Garrett then hosted over 50 people in the church gym after the service for a carry-in lunch.  Lots of good food!  Congrats to Kyle for making it through 3 years of life and to Nick on his Baptism.  It was great to see everyone!
Birthday

Baptism

My Baby is ONE!

Alli is now officially ONE!  We had a small celebration on her actual birthday (Jan. 2) at home with some great church friends.  Then, of course I had to get the official One-year old pictures taken.  Once again, we went to Portrait Innovations in Medina.  All 3 girls were VERY cooperative this time.  We got some good shots.  Here are the results... I highlighted a few at the top! Not too bad for 3 girls!