1st Fishing Trip

Today the kids went on their 1st fishing trip with Hubby. Look who caught a fish:

Wow! I've only caught 1 fish in my whole life, and it was much smaller than Our Girl's fish.

 Thanks to our friends for the invitation to go fishing! Our Boy and his friend built a bridge of rocks across the water. See Our Girl in the background? Well, she fell off the bridge into the water!

 Our Girl had to switch into Hubby's sweatshirt after taking a dive:

What a fun, new experience!

"One Said Day" and a Fish by a 1st Grader

This story was inspired by Our Girl's daily phonics lesson. The students must write a story using the provided illustration and words.

One Said Day!

by: Our Girl

"Hi my name is dillin. One day I was reading by a tree. I was so sleepy I fainted. the cat licked me I did not wake up The cow drooled on me I did not wak up. Then my mom came out to say I was out for 1 hour. She saw me fast asleep under the tree she took me inside and put me in bed. The next day I found out I was sick I had a fever I had some juie and I was felling better The End!"

Here's Our Girl's tropical fish that she made in her after-school art class:

February Writings by Our 1st Grade Girl

Red Carpet by Our Girl:

"I have the best dream. my dream is the popeotse (paparazzi) to follow me every place I go. when you are a souperstar you live in a big house called a manchen (mansion). I will have a lot of friends and fans. I will go shopping with a lot of them. we buy high-heels and fancy dresses. I hope my dream comes true. If not I will be ok with it. I feel great abot my dream."

 

Prom love!! by Our Girl:

"Hi my name is Justin. I have a sweethert. Her nickname is "Sweet Thing." I am "Head/Heels" about her." One day there was a Dance and I asked her out she said "Yes"! Now I have one problem I have no gel, tux or tie. "I was just thinking" she said "in her soft voice."I need your phonce number." I said, "Here it is 770-269-554." Prom is Tomorrow at 5:00 till 12:30. I picked her up for prom. I said, " I think you are "Good 4 me." She yelled out "Party Time!" We got there all most on time. Somebody bumped us into each other. We kissed on the lips! The End!"

Happy 9th Birthday!?!?!?!?!?!?

Nine years old?!?!?! It is hard to believe that Our Boy is 9 this month! We've been celebrating all month. We went to a restaurant this month for his birthday, and the waiter asked him if he wanted some birthday ice cream. Do you know what he said...he said "no thanks." Back up...wait a minute...who...I mean who has ever heard of turning down free birthday ice cream? Well...I'm about to introduce you to him...it's our 9 year old!

He did tell DoDo that he would like a white cake with white icing and vanilla ice cream for his birthday. He likes to say that he prefers things "ordinary." DoDo did ask permission to add sprinkles. As you can see, the BD boy said it was ok with him:

white cake, white icing, vanilla ice cream:

Nana has a fun birthday tradition that everyone gets to decorate his/her own cupcake. Our Boy asked for his to be decorated for him. Want to know what kind he asked for...you guessed it...white cake...white icing:

Nana and Papa surprised the birthday boy with treasures from their trip to Las Vegas: a magnet from Pawn Stars, a magnet from Rick's Restorations, a $1chip from The Mirage, and a Rick's Restorations t-shirt signed by Tyler.

Over the past few years, we have given the kids a choice. They can have a big birthday party or they can go on an adventure. Our 9 year old chose the adventure this year. We visited the Tellus Science Musuem for Part 1 of his adventure. There were lots of neat exhibits there. We didn't know it, but it was Family Night...so we got to stay for some extra events. 

 He loved checking out the Solar House. He's always been a fan of solar panels.

This picture is my favorite from the trip. Because we were there for Family Science Night, we got to go in the Observatory. It was cloudy when we were there; therefore, the scientists were gathered around trying to see if they could predict when the clouds would clear for a view with the telescopes. Here's a picture of the scientists...oh yeah...and there's Our Boy too!

I wish my high school astronomy/meterology teacher could see this set-up. There were 3 telescopes and a camera in the Observatory plus multiple telescopes that they could set up outside the Observatory.

Here's one of the kids favorite exhibits: Gem Panning. You can keep the gems that you find.

 And who wouldn't love a pictures next to this huge truck from a quarry?

 

The 2nd Part of the birthday adventure was the next day at the Southeastern Railway Museum.

There were lots of trains and other transportation exhibits. It was fun to see sleeper cars, dining cars, passenger cars, frieght cars, and more. Here's the boys checking out a sleeper car:

 Look...a Pullman:

There were also buses that you could check out.

Our Girl said she was driving us to the beach! Let's go!!!

We had a great time on our adventures, and we can't believe that our oldest baby is 9 years old! Happy Birthday to you!

Upward Season 2011-12 Basketball & Cheer

Another Upward season has come and gone. Here are some pictures from this 2011-12 season. I was the cheer coach for Our Girl's team. Here's a pic of some of the girls with me:

Hubby was the coach for Our Boy's basketball team. Hubby and the kids:

 Our Boy was on the same team with one of my former students. Glad to see him and his sweet family:

Daddy Daughter Dance 2012

A Country Music Concert?

Back in December. my sister (E) called and said that she wanted to buy the kids tickets to a country music concert. WHAT? Wait a minute...I don't need our almost 9 year old son and our 7 year old daughter getting that kind of education! Hubby & I don't even know anything about current music. I have figured out why parents don't know anything about music after they have a family. It's simple...you start listening to The Wiggles and then Disney music trying to educate your children while shielding them from the real world. But, you can always count on E to educate the kids in a way only E can do. She's been schooling them on Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean for months.

Well, she kept working on us about the concert assuring us that it would be an calm crowd in the smaller venue in Greenville, SC. So what happened? This weekend we were on our way to enjoy our Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean concert tickets-Christmas presents from E. 

We had a pre-concert dinner at Sobe's in Greenville-yummy but pricey.

Then we were off to Bi-Lo Center for the concert. We paid $25 to park, but it was all worth it when we walked our short distance to and from the car in the rain.

 LAUREN ALANA was added to the line-up. She started the show for the first 20 minutes.

Then we had a break while they changed the equipment on the stage which was the perfect time for pictures of the concert-goers!

 Can you see we are on the top row? E said it's because the mama took so long deciding if we were allowed to go! The stage was set-up where there were people 360 degrees around the arena. We were actually behind the stage. The performers did move around singing to all sides.

 Our Girl was getting dressed for the concert and referred to her outfit as her"costume." She wanted to have her hat on in the hotel so that her costume would look just right. To complete our boys costume, we got out his camo truckers hat that he got free at Home Depot. Now that I think of it, I think it says Toyota Trucks...hmmm...I don't think country singers sing about Toyotas...oops!

 We brought Our Boy's glasses so he could see, and E brought binoculars too. Does this crowd look ready or what?

 LUKE BRYAN

 JASON ALDEAN

 Lauren Alana sang Kelly Clarkston's part of Don't You Wanna Stay.

Here's how the kids looked starting around 10pm. We all had fun, and E was right...it was a calm crowd with not too much education. Now Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean have a few more fans.

One more area of good news...our hotel experience in Greenville was much better than when we went to Tuscaloosa. We did notice there were some interesting people around the lobby. Then we discovered that they were having a Narcotics Anonymous retreat going on at our hotel. Never a dull moment...never!