What are they looking at?

These two boys are so very macho when it comes to baseball. Nolan especially! He and Kelby both brought their IPODS to watch but when all of the pretty girls stepped out on stage, Nolan and his buddy couldn't keep their eyes off of them! Why it's a dance recital, of course!

Ok Ok I know it has been long enough! It has been a week already since the dance recital and I have not posted any pictures or comments on it. So, I finally got time to put the pictures on photobucket.com and post a slide show. I really wanted to post a video and I will some day. It is just really time consuming. The following posts are from the week of the recital. It was one wild and crazy week!

On a side note: I titled one of Emily's pictures as the only 8 year old that had a solo. She is actually nine years old now! Ooops, sorry Emily! I knew that! I could go in and delete and change it, but like I said, it's very time consuming!

Yeah Summer!

Yeah summer is here! Today was the last day of First Grade for Nolan. He was super excited. I told him today was the last day to get up early for a long time. The thing is, now we will see how many times he will get up early just because! I can't get the boy out of bed on school days and he gets up at 7:00 on weekends! Urgh. Oh well, at least he knows how to get himself something to eat and turn on the ol television so that I can keep sleeping. Here is my big boy and his Certificate of Completion.

First day of First Grade - August 2008

Last day of First Grade - May 2009

Check out his shorts! I can't believe I put them on him on the first and last day. hee hee. However check out the length in both pictures. Yep, my boy has grown several inches! They don't touch his knees anymore! Also, I obviously need to edit the exposure on the new pics. I am not sure what setting my camera was even on. ooops.

Ok, now that it is summer, what do I do with these kids all day? Seriously. I am starting a list of ideas for things to do during the day. I laughed at myself yesterday morning when I sat down to make a list of the things I need to make a list of. Is that OCD? I am a very "listy" person, I get it from my mom. However, I have to organize my thoughts in some form or fashion or I will get extremely bogged down. Anyway here is what I have on my list so far:

*I found games to play on the driveway with chalk on Family Fun website

*Have a cooking day

*Have a board game day

*Swim Day at Grandma's house

*Craft Day

*Field Trip day: go to the zoo, museum, AND TO AUNTIE CHERI'S HOUSE! (I promise!)

*Of course go camping, a lot!

These are the things I want to work on during this summer:

*workbooks to keep the kids up to date with their brains!

*read every night!

*make a chore chart to have the kids start helping out around the house

*work on Leslie going to sleep on her own at night. Yes, I STILL have to lay down with her!

Ok, we will see how this works. Let me know in the comments if you have any ideas!

We are Extremely Proud!

Yes the week rolls on. The very next morning I had to wake up super d duper early to meet my mom and dad. We had big plans to go to my second cousin's graduation. I know second cousin sounds so distant (I guess that is what she is- my cousin's daughter) but, on the contrary, we are not distant at all. We are an extremely close knit family and I am proud of it.

Ashley graduated from an elite private school that I felt honored to be invited to attend. She is the sweetest most selfless person I know. She would take the shirt right off her back for you. Not only is she beautiful on the inside, but it shines on the outside as well. I am not bragging, but we do come from a family of beautiful women. Ashley has her head on straight and focused. We are incredibly proud of her accomplishments. She plans on attending Texas Christian University and I have no doubt in my mind that she will be super successful. Thank you Ashley for inviting us to your wonderful graduation.

Way to go Ashley! We love you!

In case you are wondering, Les stayed home with Nolan and Leslie attended our town's little junior cheerleader camp. We came straight home to get ready for the big night. Keep watching, a huge posting coming soon!

A SOCCER PLAYER????????

After field day on Friday morning we had the dance rehearsal that evening along with Leslie's Spring Program at the preschool. Are you feeling my stress yet? Well, you should because the past week was NONSTOP literally! I actually held up really well and did not flip out or stress out. I just took one thing at a time and stayed focused. Oh, organization is key also. So without further ado may I present :

My little soccer player. Oh, you don't remember me mentioning that Leslie played soccer? You don't remember that Leslie showed interest in soccer? Oh.

You don't remember because she never did!! I looks like she has been playing for years, though, huh?

The program at the school was titled "What I Want To Be" and each child told their teacher the week before what the wanted to be when they grew up. Apparently Leslie told her teacher that she wanted to be a soccer player. Yeah, where did that come from. We have not played soccer, nor has Nolan. She has mentioned maybe playing next year, but I nip that in the bud because we would have to drive 45 minutes for practices and games. I DON'T THINK SO! I guess she wants to play so badly, now that she told her teacher. Sad I know. But I am sorry, I am not driving all that way for my daughter to run up and down a field over and over again. I don't see her liking it as much as she thinks, either. ANYWAY, back on subject.

I had to borrow this uniform from her teacher because we did not have anything to do with soccer. Oh, the shoes were handed down to us in case Nolan ever wanted to play. However he didn't either because of the reasons I mentioned above. She did look cute, though, if I do say so myself. She was very proud, too.

The kids sung several songs and the 4 year-olds got their diploma in the program. Afterwards we had a reception and silent auction as a fundraiser for the school. It was really successful, raising $3600! Yowza!

We have loved being in this preschool and we look forward to next year.

What is Going on in this Picture?

What in the world is going on in this picture? Do you know who it is and what are they doing?


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Field Day!
Yes this all happened in the same busy week........The next day Nolan's school had field day. Do your remember your field day as a kid? I do. It was entirely different than today. I remember loving the day because it was full of races and competitions. If you have not figured it out yet, I am quite competitive. I think it brings out the best in me. However, now a days, there are no competitions, races, or ribbons at field day. It is just a full day of fun and laughter. Everyone gets a chance and everyone walks away a winner. I suppose this is the best way. Nolan had a blast this year. We were outside for three hours bouncing from station to station. The teachers had come up with great ideas for physical educational activities. I was impressed.

The students had to take a wet sponge and go over and under down the line. They liked getting wet because it was pretty hot!

Jump roping relay race

Nolan's favorite, sack races.

Oh, you are still wandering about the first picture I showed you? Well, this was the neatest station. The kids sat at a pool of water filled with bouncy balls and they had to pull them out with their toes or cupping their feet. Cool, huh?

Not the right hair do!

I didn't mention in the previous post (the baseball one) that I missed half of the cool baseball practice? Yeah, this was another reason I was not sold on the idea of having practice at our house that day. Leslie had her dance recital portraits taken. I also helped out my sister-in-law and picked up my sweet nieces from school and took them home with me to get them dressed and ready for pictures as well. So, imagine three girls in the bathroom doing make-up, hair, and putting on delicate costumes. I absolutely loved it and wished I had more time to work with each of them. Sadly, we had to rush rush rush just to make the appointment time. Obviously I have not received the actual portraits yet, but here are few I took last week when Leslie and I were just having fun. I was a little disappointed in the way her hair looked in the pictures, though. Remember the way cool hair do I pick out? It did not show up in the pictures when you are looking at her straight on. You can only see the neat design when she turned around! Bummer, I know. She had just gotten out of the bathtub also, so her hair was still wet, hence looking darker and slicked back. Oh well, Leslie did an awesome job! By the way, I ended up leaving her hair down and really curly for the portraits.




Check out her toes! I think she might be ready for point ballet!

See what I mean about her hair being slicked back and color? I think she looks like Nolan with a tutu on! hee hee

She does this position in her dance. You will see soon!

I guess I should have tried using a black background so that skirt would show up.

This is her tap outfit. It looked really cute in the magazine with a chain belt and go go boots. However without those two items on, I don't particularly care for that skirt. Oh well, Leslie liked it and that is what matters, right?

A Different Kind of Baseball Practice

After our last big win (we lost on this last Thursday, boo hoo. More about that later.) Les made the suggestion to have a fun water day out at our house for the next practice time. I about flipped out because Les and I had thrown the idea around, but never made definite plans. I think he was so full of adrenaline from winning he was not thinking straight! Therefore last Wednesday, the entire baseball team of 7 and 8 year old boys came to our house for a fun kind of practice. Les and I set up a mock baseball diamond and placed a slip and slide on the second and home base. I purchased some soaker balls at the dollar store and had them soaking in a bucket of water for the pitcher. The team took turns batting at the water balls with a big plastic bat and running to each of the bases; sliding into 2nd and home. They seemed to really love it and had a great time. I think they will always remember this practice! However, it was "something" to have that many crazy boys at our house at one time!

See the batter and home plate slide?

There goes Nolan sliding into second base!

He made it! Yeah!

This is a good picture to show the whole yard.

Sliding into home base.

Yeah, the boys had such a wonderful and exhausting time, they ended up losing their game the very next night by two points. Urgh! See, Les should have listened to me about the timing of his brilliant idea! Oh, well. He is still the coolest dad ever!

My Accelerated Reader

Half way through the First Grade Nolan started reading AR books which are Accelerated Reader books. They are leveled by the difficulty of words and then the reader takes a comprehension test on the computer. Each week Nolan reads and takes a test at least three times. He has done really well and has been moving up quickly. The teacher requires the student to make a 100 on a level three times before advancing to the next level. (I have found out that each teacher is different on their requirements for moving up levels.

So, yesterday I pulled Nolan's homework and AR book out of his backpack as usual. My heart dropped when I saw

As I have mentioned in a previous post, this is our all-time favorite book in our household. I can literally recite the entire book word for word because we have read it so many times. Well, this time, I had to listen to my son read it to me. Les and I sat at the dinner table listening to him read as a tear whelped up in our eyes. Our bedtime story was being read to us this time and it was a heart crushing feeling. My baby is getting so big and reading extremely well. I am proud of how much he likes to read. Man, the boy should, as much as Les and I have read to him in his lifetime. He used to crawl up in my lap, before he could even speak and hand me a book to read. Most of the time, it was this book.

See, I have pictures to prove it. Awww, look at my boy. Nolan was just two years old here. He would get up in his chair in his nursery and read books for long periods of time.

Moments like these keep me going as a mother. It motivates me to read even more!

It's Getting Hairy Around Here!

As some of you may know, we have Leslie's big dance recital coming up in a couple of weeks. I just love this time of the year! Not only is the weather gorgeous (most of the time) but it is time to start wrapping up school and extra curricular activities like dance class. Leslie and I get extremely excited for recital time. We love to see and try on the cute costume the dance teacher picked out and take lots of pictures. Leslie loves to think about getting a bunch of flowers on that night. Well, to prepare for the BIG night, I wanted to find a new hairdo that is funky yet feminine. So I started looking on my trusty ole computer. Luckily I found the cutest hair blogs. Yep, that's right, I said hair blogs. There are actually people out there that blog about doing their daughter's hair in all different ways. I had no idea and wandered "what in the world are they going to blog about next?!" I am overly excited I found these people though. Leslie and I browsed a gillion hair dos and finally came upon the one we want to fix for the recital. However, we are going to combine two ideas we found and the results are breathtaking if I do say so myself! Here is what we decided. (Please take note that the hair pulled back is supposed to be twisted, so I am still practicing. This was my first go at it.) It will look even better by that night.



Just look at that sweet doll face. Oooh, I just want to kiss her in that picture!

Awww, I just noticed that I did not get a good picture of the perfect bun. I say perfect because that is what it is called. The secret is using a sock rolled up and the pony tail placed through the sock like a donut. Then the hair falls evenly all around it and an elastic is placed around the hair to hold it in place. I did not have to use one bobby pin! And the do stayed ALL day! What do you think? Just wait until we have the outfit on with the hair and you will see how it all pulls in together.

So, now we are hooked on these blogs called The Princess and Her Hair and Girly Do's! We check for new ideas almost everyday, well at least the days Leslie does not go to school. I let Leslie pick out a hair style and I promise that she can do my hair afterwards. It works for now believe it or not. Check out the hair style we did yesterday. I adore it and wished I could do my own hair that way. I have been practicing the twists you see.

If you have a little girl be sure and check out those blogs. They are amazing!

If you feel like dancin'

Original story: There is a whole lot going on in our little town right now. A man who happens to be a principal from another small town has gone missing. He and his family live in our town and has since he was little. The family is well known and is taken by surprise. His wife is a fourth grade teacher here and they have two young boys. He was apparently on his way to work yesterday and texted someone that he was almost there, but he never showed up. His cell phone was turned off and he has not been seen or heard from again. Search crews have been looking on the route he takes and have found nothing. It is scary and odd. Now that it has been 24 hours, he is officially missing. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.
Update: The man was spotted this morning at a Walmart in the nearby city and later picked up at a Barnes and Noble. I don't know any other factual information, but it is really strange. I am just glad he is alive. There are a ton of rumors floating around about the reasons, but I don't feel comfortable stating anything that is not factual.

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On a different note, did you watch Dancing with the Stars last night. Let me just say "Whoa!" I luckily recorded it so I got to watch my favorite dance several times before I went to bed. Check it out and you will soon find out why I say "Whoa!" This clip is a little long, but it gives the dancer's background. Oooooh Momma!

A What "Daddy"

One of the many good things about all of the rain we have gotten is that now we actually have water in our creek out front of our house. This past week Nolan and Leslie have had a blast exploring the creek each day after school. A couple of times Les and I would notice how quiet it was in the house only to find the kids are actually outside playing well together. Yes, I said well together, with no arguing. They could seriously spend hours out in the ankle deep water searching for treasures. One day Nolan caught his first treasure, a baby perch about the size of a minnow. Minutes later he caught a few more. He and Leslie were ecstatic and determined to keep the fish alive and placed them in a mason jar with water. Unfortunately they did die, though. Later that night, Nolan came into the house where I was preparing dinner and yelled for us to come see what he caught. We knew it was something different and big by the size of his eyes as he squealed. We ran outside to find a huge crawdad in his net. Les told him that it was called a crawdad. Nolan asked, "What kind of daddy?" The rest of that evening consisted of Nolan and Les crawdad hunting with bacon on a fishing pole. Leslie did not want any part of that after she heard they that could pinch her. Next on the hunting agenda: bullfrogs!