A Christmas Program and a Party

C. had his first Christmas program at preschool on Dec.10th. As you will see in this video he sang his little heart out. Listen carefully, he is the one who is singing the loudest and a little slower than the others too! ;o)

In the picture below he is with his teacher. We feel so blessed that we found his little school, he is learning so much and he loves his teacher.

M. had his 3rd grade Christmas party on December 19th. Here are some pictures from the party.

Making ornaments (that's his teacher in the background).

This was fun to watch - penguin relay races! They walked like penguins and then without using their hands put a nose on that was on the ground. How did the nose stay on - frosting. Frosting Noses!

He and his classmates were excited because they had nachos. In the past they always had just sweets. They were talking about how cool it was to have real food at the party. Ah - the simple pleasures in life.

I hope everyone is enjoying your Christmas break with your family!

Happy 4th B-day & First Day of Preschool

Today was a big day for this sweet boy! He turned 4 and
started his first day of preschool!

A quiet birthday dinner and presents which included a Nerf gun and Gator Golf. He requested a strawberry cake. I will have to post my friend Lisa's Strawberry Cake recipe soon.

Happy Birthday to our precious boy!! We love you!!!

First Day

Praying for a fabulous third grade year!!
Traditional first day of school donut breakfast.

I'm Back

I really can't explain why I haven't posted in the last 10 days, except that I've just been a little lazy/busy. Something you should know about me - I am an all or nothing kind of girl with things in my life. Not only have I neglected my blog, but I haven't visited any other blogs for awhile. Maybe this all or nothing lifestyle explains my dieting issues? ;o)

Summer has officially started at our house!! Our 8 year old's last day of 2nd grade was Thursday.

Jeremy and he went for their traditional first and last day of school breakfast. That morning he came in around 6:00 AM and woke us up! This whole year we have had to pull him out of bed on school mornings - so it cracked us up that he was so wide awake when telling us to get out of bed. He was just so excited about breakfast, he loves doing this with his dad.
See Karen - this time I did not make him change shirts before eating!

This week I plan to do posts recapping my time away and catching up on reading all of the blogs I have come to love. For better or worse I will also post a weigh -in for the past two Mondays. I hope to finalize the dates (and do some planning) for our trips to San Diego and Colorado Springs. Most of all I am looking forward to enjoying the first week of summer vacation with my boys.

2nd Grade Field Trip

Tuesday was the 2nd grade field trip and I was one of the chaperone's for my son's class. We went to Elm Fork Education Center on the campus of the University of North Texas. It was such a fun learning experience and the kids had a great time. I have been lucky to get to go on his field trips since Kindergarten - it is something I look forward to all year. I enjoy meeting his friends and love just having these memories with my son. I think maybe my favorite part is at the end when I get to sign him out and he rides home with me. Very rarely is it just he and I in the car alone, so I cherish these moments to just talk and hang out. All and all a great day! :o)

Boys, Boys, Boys!

Have you had enough of the posts about my kiddos? Since this is as close as they are going to get to a scrapbook (for now) I must write down the things that they do so that I do not forget. Maybe someday I will get to that digital scrapbooking...

Our three year old is OBSESSED with
He truly believes his alter ego is Buzz Lightyear. As a matter of fact he has assigned us all Super Hero identities.
Dad - Spiderman
Mom - Batman
Oldest - Buzz's Big Brother
Youngest - Baby Superman

We are not to refer to him as anything but Buzz when he is pretending. It has gotten to the point where we have to tell him to take his Buzz costume off when goes places or he expects everyone around to play along. This morning he came into our room looking just like this (I made him recreate it for documentation purposes or possibly for blackmail someday).
Okay take your attention away from the mismatched pjs. We are trying to encourage independence and this is sometimes the result. :o) I thought maybe his hands got cold in the night and he was being creative. When he got dressed for the day, he again put the socks on his hands. So I asked him about it and he looked at me as if I asked the silliest question ever. He said "Mom, I am Buzz Lightyear and these are my gloves!" and he walked away shaking his head. (Note added - Saturday @ 11:30 pm - still wearing the gloves. Sunday should be fun as he will want to wear them to church). He keeps us laughing - what a joy he is to us.
Just had to add this picture because isn't he the cutest frog ever?! Earlier today before his shower (Yes, we all shower here - much easier and they can still play without having to change the water when those little boy surprises happen.) I could tell he wanted me to follow him. We went into the bathroom and he stood with his diaper off in front of the potty and said tee-tee. I knew he was only copying his brother's so I sent our three year old to get the stool, he stood on it and of course nothing happened - but a girl can hope - right? Right now he is really into giving kisses and hugs to everyone at our house. My heart melts every time I see him coming towards me with those lips in the "Mwah" shape. What a precious boy.

A week ago our oldest had to turn in his first research paper and then a few days later he had to do an oral presentation in costume for the class. He chose Walt Disney from a list of community leaders; I was excited because I am a big Disney fan. He and I had a great time doing the research for his paper and reminiscing about our trip to Walt Disney World a couple of years ago. We are so ready to go back!

After the research was complete - his dad and he sat down to write the paper together. I think the finished product turned out great!

Last night was open house at his school. Oh what a difference a year makes! First grade was a hard year for him for so many reasons. So before the year was over, I began praying for his second grade teacher - my prayer was that the God would provide him a teacher who "got him". As I type this my eyes are welling up with tears, because He answered our prayers with this amazing lady. Our sweet boy is thriving this year - self doubt has been replaced with confidence in who God has made him to be (Matthew 19:26 ). He is not perfect, he has the gift of gab and a short attention span, but this wonderful teacher understands who he is - she sees past these things and recognizes his potential. Thank you Lord for hearing my heart.

For all of you who know the goal he has been working towards for the past 6 weeks, he reached it today. He was named Star Student!! He could not stop smiling for an hour after he got home (his dad and I could not either) from school. We are so proud of him - he persevered even though at times he wanted to give up. What a way to start Spring Break.

But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. Luke 2:51b

Mr. Turkey

Mr. Turkey

By: Anonymous

I've come to feed you, Mr. Turkey

Some corn and wheat and rye.

I have a special interest in you.

Thanksgiving day is nigh.

Enjoy your dinner, Mr. Gobbler.

And don't you run away.

For Grandma says we'll eat you

On this Thanksgiving Day!

This week our oldest had another "first" - his first oral presentation. He worked so hard memorizing the poem and working on his presentation of it. On Wednesday they were graded in six areas: content, eye contact, voice - clarity & volume, posture and expression.

Then on Thursday they invited all the parents to a "Poetry Feast" to hear them present their poems. They all did so well - their teacher bragged on each child and assured them that she was very proud of them.

Today when he got in the car after school, he was so excited and ripped open his backpack. He pulled out his grade sheet and could not wait for me to read it. We are both so proud of how hard he worked to prepare for this, but it is so much fun to see how much pride he gained from his accomplishments. So being a proud momma, I thought I would brag a bit.

First Ever Book Report

Tuesday our oldest turned in his first book report. Along with the report he had to decorate (with help from mom and dad) a pumpkin to look like the main character of the book. We had fun creating Arthur.

2nd Grade Musical

Isn't he handsome! Our 7 year old was in a musical last week at school. It was called America's History of Rock 'n Roll. He was one of the "Beatles". My pictures turned out horrible so, if you want to see the 30 seconds that he is in it - email me and I will send you the link.

Final Product

I thought I would post a picture of my son's class project that he made from the dough we made last week.

It went from this...



to this...



Friday a friend was suppose to come over for lunch, but one her kiddos was sick. I was making a new Chicken Salad recipe and had the chicken cooked so I made it for lunch. The recipe is one of Tyler Florence's recipes - he is an amazing chef. I have not made one of his recipes yet that I do not love or get rave reviews from. It was delicious - I posted it here.

Adventures in Dough Making

My oldest had his first school project this week. They have been studying land and water formations and to conclude the study they are making salt maps.

Our mission to make Salt Dough. As you know, I love to cook and entertain, but I am not much of a baker. To be honest, the thought of making any kind of dough frightens me because they NEVER turn out. So even something as simple as this was a little daunting for me. After adding more water (to dry), then more flour (to wet), more water - you get the picture - we finally got the right consistency. After the experience, I thought I might tackle one of my favorite cookie recipes (tea cakes) this weekend. I'll let you know how it goes.

First day of School

Today our oldest started 2nd Grade.

Jeremy started a tradition when he started Kindergarten. He takes him for donuts on the first and last days of the school year. (Notice the different shirt--I didn't want him to go to school with donuts all over him. ;o)