Schools out!!!

Woo Hoo Hoo! School is OUT!

Kyler and Jake finished school up last week. On Monday, Kyler's school had an awards ceremony, and he was recognized for being a Student of the Month. Way to go, Kyler! I talked to his teacher afterwards, and she said she wished they had an award for Most Improved. He has done so well this year. He had a rough start with reading and language arts but has done alot of improvement. He has brought up his reading scores and is amazing in math! I'm so proud!!!

Jake had his awards ceremony on Tuesday of last week. Way to go, Jake! Jake received an award for receiving all A's and B's on his report cards! And Jake also received an award for reading--go figure. When they were reading the names of the reading awards, we waited and waited and waited. They were in alphabetical order, but didn't read Jake's name. I started to wonder what was going on. Jake's name was read last--for TOP 5th Grade Reader! He had over 500 AR points for the year. Well beyond what he needed. (Although they didn't give an award for it, Jake had the most AR points in the school.) Great job, Jake! I'm so proud of him too!

Zoey didn't have awards, but they did have a Mother's Day Lunch earlier this month. Zoey gave me a pretty picture she drew of me and a plate with her hand print on it. They are very pretty--Thank you Zoey!

I am looking forward to this summer when we will have more time to do things as a family instead of waiting for the one weekend each month we all have off during the school year. Woo Hoo Hoo!

Student of the Month--Kyler!

Just before school ended for the year we found out Kyler was chosen as one of the Student's of the Month, for First grade! We were so excited! I was able to go to his awards ceremony that morning--I was super excited to go too! I arrived and there were a few parent sitting around, but no students, and no tables with snacks for the kids--we weren't sure we were in the right place. Someone finally came and showed us to another room and we waited for the kids in there. When they came in, I waited and waited and no Kyler. Then they had a speaker. Still no Kyler. I didn't want to be rude and stand up and leave while she was talking, so I waited and finally she finished. (Okay, it was maybe 7 minutes.) I went to the person in charge and said, "I'm missing a kid." Oh, dear. It was a simple mistake. Kyler's teacher was gone and the substitute didn't know to send him. So they brought him right over and gave him a Student of the Month shirt. He was so excited! He didn't know what was going on and didn't expect to see me there either. We chatted while he ate his cupcake and then they had all the kids go up for recognition. I am so proud of him!

The 1st Grade Student's of the Month

Dadeville Elementary School

Student's of the Month

Good job Kyler!

At the zoo!

This past week, Jake, Kyler, and Zoey had Spring Break. Woo hoo! We wanted to go and do something, but daddy only has about two weeks left of school and was concerned about missing days. So we tabled other plans and instead went to visit Aunt Audrey and Nathan (Uncle David was out on a trip again.) Luckily for me, we weren't on a time schedule, as I can't ever seem to remember the time change when we go to Georgia. (For instance, Russ and I were going to a boating safety class last Sat. We planned it out, but Fort Benning was bigger than we anticipated and were about 15 minutes late. We went in to check in for the class, only to find out it had been cancelled. Aghhh! We walked out to the car and looked at our phones, only to find out that we were an HOUR and 15 minutes LATE! Dang it! One day I will figure it out...I hope.)

We got to Audrey's house (without a potty break!) and Aunt Audrey and Nate were just about ready to go. We piled in the (now paid for) Expedition. Kyler, Nate, and Zoey in the middle and Jake in the back. The kids had such a fun time driving to the zoo. Kyler, Jake, and Zoey were all vying for Nates attention. They tried to do some knock, knock jokes with Nate, but he didn't understand what they were doing at first. Once he figured it out, he replied, "Big Surprise!" He is so cute! It was a noisy ride there.

The first thing we saw at the zoo was the elephants. They are huge! And much dirtier than I thought they would be. We were at the big cat area and had great views of the tiger out sunning himself. But, what were my kids more interested in? Wait for it, wait for it...

The men cleaning out the enclosure next to the tiger. No animal in there...just men cleaning up. Uhhh, kids????

We skipped the reptile house, but fortunatly for us, the Komodo Dragon wasn't in there that day. We had a great view of him. Jake and Kyler were facinated to look at him because he really is a DRAGON! He can move fast if he needs to, but there was no need today. Mom somehow got a lucky shot of the Dragon with his tounge out!

At the gorilla enclosure, there were so many gorillas to look at! Outside we found the Silver Backs, and we even heard on pound on its chest! That was AWESOME!!

I just love Jake's smile....

And my favorite picture of the day...

The baby was so cute! He was playing with us and be-bopping around, until his mom had enough and she put him on her back and carried him away. Hmmm...seems familiar somehow. LOL!

And Zoey-bird.Kyler-bird didn't want to be photographed, but I captured an image of his head at least!

It was a really fun day. After the zoo we went back to Audrey's house and played a game of Pirates. Arghhhh! The last round Jake, Kyler, and I were working together to fight a pirate, but in the end, none of us were able to best the pirate.

We had a really fun day with Nate and Audrey. I am so glad we are living much, much closer and get to visit more frequently. Thanks Audrey and Nate!

More at the Aquarium

Georgia Aquarium

It was so much fun at the aquarium. My kids were so excited to see Audrey and Nate again too! It was very crowded when we got there (it may not have been if I had remembered the time change and we actually got there when it opened--duh!) and made it difficult to move around. But we still looked and oooh'd and ahhhh'd. Little Nate was starting to feel better after having been sick all week, but he still wasn't up to too much.

Kyler Kid's Day!

Kyler Kid worked with dad on his first Pinewood Derby race car. Kyler decided he wanted to have a Star Wars car. So dad helped cut out the shape of the car and Kyler was responsible for sanding and painting the car. He also picked out the accessories he wanted to attach to it. (From Star Wars the Clone Wars.) His car ran quite fast and we are so proud of him!
Getting ready to run!

Kyler came in 11th overall, which I think is fantastic considering it was his first race ever!!!

Look at all his rewards! 3rd place for his class and Best in Show for Design! Woot Woot!

This was before he knew about the Best in Show trophy--see how happy!

Way to go Kyler! We are proud of you!

Fun new projects!!

So I have found a new fun project to work on. I saw something on-line about etching glass. I bought the expensive etching cream and tried it, but I wasn't thrilled with the results. upon thinking about it more I realized the best way to etch glass is sandblasting it. I get better results because the sand doesn't seep under the vinyl like the chemical does. here are my most recent adventures...

P.S. I fought with my new phone to get this post done. On my next few days off i will get more updates on here.