A Day at the Lake

Sadie takes a break from the water--I'll bet she swam several miles in all.

T.S. was ready for anything.

Sadie pauses for a picture before running back in. T.S. figured out how to make a boat and row all by himself.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon at Lake Mackenzie. We took time at the marina to see the 4,000 year old horse bones (see a picture and read about them here) and some other fossils. We met up with the McBrooms at the beach and enjoyed a day in the sun and water--the kids and Irish were the ones who enjoyed the water the most. The lake is extremely low right now, so no jet skis, tubing or skiing.

Irish loves to jump after water droplets.

We roasted marshmallows and ate Hershey bars--someone forgot the graham crackers.

Last Day!!

last day of third grade--May, 2009

first day of third grade--August, 2008

Today was the last day of school. We attended the elementary awards assembly this morning. Sadie was recognized for a number of things, the most significant one: Outstanding Third Grader. She shares this with another girl in her class. We are so proud of Sadie and all of the hard work she put into this year.

I always take Sadie's picture on the first and last day of school. (She still humors me, we'll see how that goes in a few years.)

Sadie's Art

Sadie's ceiling tile with her winning artwork

Self-portrait

T.S. loves to take pictures, we have pictures of our floor, walls, things outside....you name it, he has photographed it. When I was uploading the snake picture this morning, I found these self-portraits.

(There were actually about 10, but you get the idea.)

Memorial Day

Our town has a great tradition of having a Memorial Day service. Sadie helped with the program. She carried the Navy flag.

T.S. and C.W. had a good time playing in the bushes where they wouldn't bother anyone.

My sister wrote a beautiful post about our service here.

Third Grade Musical

Yesterday, Sadie's class presented the musical, "Once Upon a Lily Pad." The kids did an incredible job. Especially when you consider it was their big stage debut and they had to sing. Sadie was a firefly. I took lots of pictures of her and her classmates all dressed up as alligators, egrets, snakes, turtles, fireflies, an owl and frogs, but I don't have permission from their parents to post, so you'll just have to trust me when I say they were all very cute.

A Day at our House...

The day started like any other. C.W. arrived to play and T.S. took some pictures.

The boys were outside playing and the next thing I know, C.W. is crying. It seems that T.S. hit a golf ball and it landed right on C.W.'s cheek bone. According to T.S., "He was in my way."

C.W.'s version: "Well, T.S. hit me with a golf ball."

We called City Hall and Scott had Jerry meet us at the fire station to look at it. Jerry decided that since there was some blood in the white part of the eye, someone should look at it.

In the mean time, Aunt Judy noticed our car at the station, so she came over from the bank to check on things. Not long after that, Robby drove by with a busload of kids...cell phone rang within seconds. Before the whole thing was over, several people stopped to see what was happening.

Jay took C.W. to the eye doctor and all is well. C.W. made it back in time to go to Sadie's musical.

This is a shot of C.W. holding the ice pack on. He didn't keep it on long because, "It's cold!"

The Recital

Here are the stage shots of Sadie's recital. My camera doesn't have enough zoom to get very good ones, but I wanted to post these so you'd get an idea of what her dances were like.

They started out in their '50s attire to a song called, "New Girl in Town."

They wore school colors for their chant, "Go Go Go Cowboys."

Their finale was "Fabulous" (from High School Musical 2). Sadie chose her costume and said she was, "very Sharpay."

This last picture is of Sadie posing with the flowers we gave her after the recital was over.

Getting Ready

Here are some shots of Sadie getting ready for her big recital debut.

The last one is actuallyone of Sadie and her friend making "funny faces." Sadie's was so funny, I cropped it to make her in the picture by herself.

More Exciting News

The elementary had an art contest and Sadie's piece was named one of the top 3 overall winners for the whole school. Each class winner and the top three winners will get to place their work on a ceiling tile in the hallway by the school office. We are so proud of her. (Picture of finished ceiling tile to come.)

In other news...

Tonight was the dress rehearsal for Sadie's dance recital. These are some pictures of her in 50's attire and her "Fabulous" outfit. Her age group will perform those two dances and a cheer (chant). Sadie has really enjoyed dance/cheer class this semester. (I've enjoyed it too...nothing like class at our community center rather than driving out of town.) We are very excited about Monday's recital.

Our Story Teller

Yesterday, Sadie travelled to Lazbuddie for her first UIL competition. She competed in Story Telling. They read all of the kids a story. The kids can take notes on it if they want; then they are given some time to think about the story. Finally, each contestant tells their story to the judge. She was ecstatic to make the finals and very pleased to place fourth. Sadie and I had a fun day with her friends and classmates. It was really neat to see them encouraging one another and excited for each other's success. Sadie's already planning which events she wants to compete in next year.

Happy Mother's Day!

We took this picture at church today:

Our Hico relatives need one for the adoption profile they are putting together, so we we took advantage of the rare occasion that we were all dressed, had relatively clean faces and had our hair combed.

Today has been an awesome day. I have enjoyed cards made by the kids and French toast made by my talented husband (he followed that up with spaghetti with homemade sauce for lunch)! The kids and I have enjoyed a game of LIFE and are about to play Pictureka. We'll end our evening with a visit at Nonnie's followed by supper with mom and her at El Camino.

Yesterday, Robby and the kids helped plant the seeds in the garden. We treated mom to yard mowing and limb trimming, too. (We only made mom mow a little!)

An Experiment

The boys and I began a "science experiment" yesterday. We colored pictures of the stages a bean seed goes through, then glued them in order onto some paper. Finally, we put some actual bean seeds into a small Ziploc bag with a damp paper towel. They are hanging in the kitchen. We are going to observe them and see if the bean follows all of the steps we talked about.

We also planted some bean seeds in a cup. We put them in Ziploc bags to make our own green house and eliminate the need to keep watering the soil while we wait for the seeds to come up.

The boys are very excited about observing the seeds.

Overheard at our house today...

Mom, I'm trying to make C-Dub poop in the potty and he won't do it.

I was a little alarmed at this. Thankfully, there was just suggestion that C.W. try it--I had visions of the boys actually taking off his diaper and putting him on the potty. Maybe T.S. will be the one to get C.W. potty-trained.

New Zoo Members

We'd like to introduce you to the four newest members of our zoo:
Our friend Teagen is in first grade and they hatched their chickens recently. He needed a place for his to stay, so we gladly offered for them to come live at our zoo. Right now we can't tell if they are cocks or pullets (boys or girls). One already has a comb starting, so I'm pretty sure he is a cock.


For those of you who have lost count of our zoo, here's the latest tally: 1 donkey, 2 (year-old)bottle calves, 3 cats (remember when we bottle fed those), 1 dog who is now walking a bit sideways, 2 bantam roosters (free to good home), 6 Leghorn hens, 5 Rhode Island Red hens, 2 Polish bantam chicks, 1 bantam chick of unknown breed, 4 leghorn chicks, 1 rat, 1 gerbil and one cabbage named Freddy.

Freddy the Cabbage

Remember back in March when Sadie brought home her cabbage plant? We said we'd do weekly updates? The weekly updates didn't happen, so how about just an update?

Freddy is surviving and thriving. We decided today was as good a day as any to transplant him into his new home in the garden.

The boys and I had fun checking to see if the potatoes were up (some are). We also had fun looking for volunteer squash and popcorn. The plan is to hopefully plant the seeds in the garden this week--but you know how plans go around here.

Birthday Party

T.S. chose an army theme for his cake this year. I created a battlefield scene the best I could.

We had a small party and enjoyed time with friends and family. T.S. loved all of his presents--he and Robby have been engrossed with the remote-control helicopter he received; but I think he liked getting to play with his friends the most. It was fun to watch the girls read him his cards.

It was too cool and damp to launch rockets, so we'll have to have a rocket-launching party another day.