Crazy Times: May 2009

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Eight is GREAT!

The beautiful dress she picked out for her baptism.

The whole family, just after the baptism. Dad gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and mom said the closing prayer.

A few of our friends, family, and neighbors that came out to support our girl on her special day! Some people went home quickly & we missed getting them in the photo.

Grandpa gave a talk on baptism, grandma gave the opening prayer and played the piano.

Granny Sue & Papa T joined us too!!!

Opening birthday gifts.

Showing off her cute rainbow cupcakes! We bought them at the bakery, then bought gummy snakes, frogs, & alligators (some of her favorite jungle creatures) to put on top.

The water balloon fight! The teams were 1. Our 8 yr. old & all her friends, Against 2. Her 9 yr. old sister & 5 yr. old brother. My husband set the teams up this way because the birthday girl had been bothered all day by her siblings~ sweet revenge!

Some of the party decorations.

The okapi (looks like a cross between a zebra & a giraffe) that she made in school for their rain forest project.

I brought cupcakes to her class for snack day for an early birthday celebration, in May.

The scriptures she made in her primary class from miniature candy bars~so cute~!

Rock N' Roll Forever

Her cute dress.

Dancing to "Rock N' Roll Forever.

Looking good!

Friends and cousin (in red.)

At the end of the school year, our 9 year old daughter performed in a 4th grade musical. The performance included Rock N' Roll hits through the decades. She danced with her partner (Brice) to "Tootie Fruity." The class also danced to "Rock N' Roll is Here to Stay" and "Rock N' Roll Forever." She enjoyed dressing up in a poodle skirt for the performance.

Toddler Trouble!

Our blue devil!

Our blue angel!

Caught ya!!!!

I went to the basement to do laundry and when I came back upstairs, the baby was quiet. I was really happy that she had found a way to entertain herself instead of following me around the house and whining to be held. She was occupied. I expected to find her playing with toys or looking at a book, I was WRONG. She climbed on the table and dumped out an entire bag of popcorn and sat down for a feast! When I caught her she stood up for a victory "table dance."

The Magic School Bus

Above: My 5th grade son teaching younger students about trees. His gifted class, called "Kids Class," created a "Magic School Bus," like the one in the book series & cartoon with Mrs. Frizzle. They decorated the bus and had stations where the Kids Class taught students in grades K-2 about nature & conservation.

Our 5 year old got to go see the bus too!

The tree trunk at the entrance of the bus. The interior was decorated like a tree.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Preschool Graduation!

We are very proud of our little graduate!!! He is very excited to start kindergarten.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

My 5 year old boy said.......

while sitting at the kitchen table coloring.....

Son: Brice is working on the "F" word.
Me: WHAT? Brice is doing what with the "F" word???
Son: Brice is working on the "F" word and the "C" word.

I finally realized he was working with his speech teacher today at pre-school. I'm glad he wasn't talking about the bad "F" word.

Monday, May 11, 2009

Oh, Look, They're Smiling!

I took this photo in October 2008, but couldn't think of a good caption. I came across the photo today in a folder labeled, "Fall Fun!" (How appropriate! Some species have this kind of fun year round!)

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Treat You Mother Right ~ Fool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_rBidCkJxo&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Efacebook%2Ecom%2Finbox%2Freadmessage%2Ephp%3Ft%3D1168739779105&feature=player_embedded

Mr.T's Mother's Day advice. A good laugh ~hilarious music video!!!

Saturday, May 9, 2009

4 1/2 Inches of Rain!!!

On Friday, May 8, 2009 we had a very strong storm system move through our area. We had 13 confirmed tornadoes in our area of the state. The torrential downpours and high winds were unbelievable. It was like the tropical storms and category 1 hurricanes that we experienced in Alabama. We lost electricity for about 6 hours. Several branches fell in our yard and we had some water in the basement, mostly in the garage and bathroom, so clean-up wasn't too bad. The kids school flooded, but they didn't lose electricity so they continued class as the janitors cleaned up the puddles. Pre-School was cancelled because their building lost electricity, my 5 year old was happy to spend the day at home with me. I took him and the baby out to lunch for a burger and ice cream. He thought it was the BEST day ever! My husband's office had some water seep in. Two roads in town were washed away, so now we take the long way home (detour).

Helping haul the branches to the burn pile.

Two at a time, he's a strong dude!

The washed out road by the park! The water is supposed to go under this road. Now it flows over it and has a self-made waterfall.

The kids were fascinated. Another view of the road below. There were huge slabs of concrete as big as 8 X 10 feet that were picked up by the flood waters and distributed downstream. You can see some of the black slabs in the lower portion of this photo.

Surveying the damage.

Four of the kids posing on a section of the road, our 7 year old was at a birthday party that day and is upset she missed the photo op. The road behind the kids is buckled.

The small creek turned into a wide river. The road used to run straight across from where the kids are standing on the right, straight across to the other side.

The other road that was also washed out by the flood waters, notice the picnic tables on the right that were carried across the street by the water.

Debris clinging to the foot bridge.

The kids insisted that I take them to the school playground so they could show me where the playground gravel washed away.

We were lucky that day, there was no tornado damage in our town. We just need a few days to dry out! I wish the forecast would cooperate, there is a chance of rain everyday for the next 4 days!

Getting closer......

We're making progress on the basement bedrooms, in this room we just need to sand the walls and patch the ceiling, then we can paint! I can't wait!

They're Baaaack! FREE KITTENS....

Surprise! They were under the wood pile. Our 7 yr. old daughter and her friend heard the kittens meowing when they were playing outside. Since I took this photo, the mama cat has moved the kittens again, and the kids found them again! This time they were under our shed. Why us???? Can't they move on to another house. We don't feed them, but the kids sure have tamed them. Please call me and tell me you want one, it would be a really nice mothers day gift for me!!!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Girls Weekend!

The boys had a Father-Son Camp out April 24-25, so we planned a girls day out with a friend of mine and her 2 daughters. We went to our favorite amusement park and had a really fun day!

Above: At least it's better than hanging out with your brothers!

Getting wetter.....

and wetter........

and completely SOAKED!!!!

The water was cold, but instead of waiting to dry out, the girls just went on more water rides.