What would you have picked?

Today when I picked the boys up from school Lake shared this news with me:

Each child in the class has a writing work book and a math work book that the teacher sent home at the beginning of the school year. The kids get a 'ticket' for each completed page they return to school. These tickets are drawn for rewards such as getting to eat lunch with two friends at a special table, sitting by the teachers desk (yes, this is just second grade so it's still a reward!) and you can also choose to not do homework for that day. They usually only have homework on Monday and Tuesday. Well, Lake had his ticket pulled today.

It's 70 degrees outside this afternoon.

His choice was: no homework.

He chose well, don't you think?

Thanksgiving Part 2

Yesterday we spent the day with John Henry's family. We hadn't seen his cousin, Wild Bill and his daughter, Livie in over a year. Livie is about a month younger than Tate. My favorite part of the day was after lunch when we took all of the kids that had been walking for more than a few days on a to the pond and the creek that are on the property. I couldn't get a good picture of either to share with you. Maybe next time.

My favorite picture of the day is this one of Lake, John Henry and Daisy. I love that JH and Daisy are holding hands.

Daisy, Lake, Tate, Rosie, Future, Livie and 'Fessor the dog. Future is a friend of the family. She's a very bright little girl. The one thing I learned about her is that she's always looking ahead.

Once we got inside the gate, the kids could hardly wait to get started on the exploration!

Did you swim on Thanksgiving?

I know this is a strange group picture especially for a Thanksgiving post. We traveled about an hour north to visit my mom's sister and lots of other family yesterday. My aunt has an indoor heated pool. After lunch eight children swam for over an hour. The eight children included my four and four of my cousin's five children.
Did you wonder who the woman in the back of this photo is? My mom, also known as Nano.

This is Lake with one of his cousins. They don't see each other very often but they always play well with each other.

Rosie and Daisy with a cousin.

Last night I asked the kids what they were thankful for:

Daisy: My plate
Rosie: Mommy and Daddy
Tate: My family
Lake: That I have six people in my family and that we are all together.

Me, too.

Dinner by candlelight

About a month ago, John Henry and I attended a marriage seminar at our church. The speakers were a husband and wife team and the message they wanted everyone to hear was built around the fact that people are different. If we were all the same, things would be pretty boring.

At one point during the seminar, the wife had a list of suggestions to improve or initiate communication. The only problem I see with our communication is the lack of time we have to talk without interruption. However, one of the suggestions was to have dinner by candlelight. At first I hesitated. Then about a week ago I decided to try it. It really has a calming effect on the children. The first night we did this Rosie said, "Hey! It looks like we're camping out and eating by the fire!"

Since then we've had candles at dinner three more times.

Last night as I was cooking Daisy asked, "Can we smoke the candles at dinner?"

Uhmmm...Sure.

Have you heard?

Have you seen the news reports about the school bus crash in Huntsville, Alabama? Huntsville is my hometown. The children involved attend Lee High School. I graduated from Lee as did my sister and mother and John Henry.

John Henry works in Huntsville and actually heard the crash of the bus.

Three girls did not survive. I cannot imagine the pain that those families are going through right now. My heart is very heavy for these families.

Hug your family and make sure they know that you love them.

Another tooth gone

Tate lost another tooth last night. He had been helping Rosie by blowing up her inflatable ball and his tooth just fell out. He wanted to pose for this picture by sticking his tongue through the hole that was left.

Observation Day

Last night was the dance class that the parents are allowed to observe. It was clear that Rosie really enjoys the class.


It is obvious that Rosie is the tallest girl in the class!

Cute crabwalking!

A very rainy lunch date

Today's lunch date with Tate came during a heavy rain. By the time the girls and I got into the school we were soaked from head to toe. We had jackets but with the winds and carrying Daisy, an umbrella was pointless.

All of the children in Tate's class had made placemats and decorated the lunchroom tables with them. The choices for lunch today were turkey and dressing or chicken nuggets. Each came with mandarin oranges, green beans, sweet potato casserole, a roll and a cookie. The girls chose the nuggets (big surprise.) I was pleased to see that they both tasted everything on their tray without me suggesting it.

As soon as we sat at the table, Tate thanked me for coming to lunch with him. Before it was over, he must have thanked me three more times. The conversation at our end of the table was constant.

After lunch I decided to check him out of school. We are expecting severe weather this afternoon between 2:00 and 3:00. The principal told the parents that if they wanted to check out their children, that it would be an excused absence.

Nice surprise

Yesterday Daisy and I went to eat lunch with Lake. (Don't worry about Tate, we are going to have lunch with him tomorrow.) Well, last year when I had lunch with Lake he often tried to get me to sit with someone else. He would say things like, "Hey, mom, you could sit with HB's mom", or "Mom, don't you want to sit with Ms. A?"

I had just the opposite effect with Tate last year. When I had lunch with him, I usually left with him crying because he wanted to come home with me.

Yesterday we seemed to find our place. As I approached Lake's classroom I heard him say, "I love school!!" They have been studying bats and he has found this very interesting. He's been searching on the internet for information and that has given me the opportunity to teach him about the internet in a setting that he doesn't feel like I'm lecturing him.

OK. OK. Back to lunch. First of all, he initiated the whole thing. He asked me on Sunday night if I could come to lunch with him this week. He already knew that I was coming to lunch with Tate on Wednesday so maybe he was just trying to claim his time with me. I was able to talk with him and a little boy that he has wanted to invite over. This little boy has lots of lizards in his yard so of course Lake thinks that is very cool. I was able to clarify with his friend that these lizards live outside rather than in his room (Lake had been trying to tell me that he had several lizards in his room.) All in all, it was a very nice lunch date with my oldest son.

Now, I wonder how things will go with Tate. Will he cry when I leave? I'll keep you posted.

Post Party Nap

Just as I finished the previous post, I found Daisy in the hallway.

Asleep.

Beautiful Three

For her third birthday, Daisy had two requests. She wanted flip flops on her cake and she wanted to swing at the park. It was just too cold to play at the park. Believe me, we tried and it was just too cold. So, at the last minute we decided to move the party inside. Daisy was upset but understood that it was best to have her party someplace a little warmer.

I think the cake turned out perfect. She was very pleased with the flip flops. They matched the invitation perfectly.

Although the only family that came to the party was my mom and step dad, Daisy had lots of friends. My brain is a tiny bit tired but I think we had twelve children at the party. Daisy was a little hesitant about the crowd of people but eventually warmed up to the party. I'm sure I'm a bit partial, but I just think she's beautiful.

Last day to be two

My youngest, Daisy will be three tomorrow.

I love baby feet. This is not the best picture of Daisy's feet but I wanted someone else's opinion. They still look like baby feet to me. However, when each of my children came home from the hospital, the older sibling(s) suddenly looked SO much bigger and older. I'm wondering if Daisy still looks so small to me because there is no one younger to compare her to. What do you think?

Three is better than none

Rosie is four and still wakes up at night. Often. Like atleast once every night. She usually wakes up because she's cold, she hears a noise outside or she's having leg pain. I can usually predict when the leg pain will wake her - like if we've had a physically busy day. Although the girls share the room, it is rare that Daisy wakes up. She may wake during the night once every other week.

Then there is the fun night when both girls wake in the middle of the night or early morning.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, both girls slept through the entire night.

I should have known that it was probably too good to be true.

Both were awake at midnight last night. I finally was able to get back into my own bed around 4:30 this morning.

And yes, I did go vote this morning. I hope you vote sometime today, too.

Weekend

This is a view from the back of Grandma's house. The boys stayed with her on Friday and Saturday night. Lake didn't want to come home. From what I understand they played outside most of the time. The weather was right and with more than 80 acres to explore, what boy could stay inside, anyway?

This is from the front of the house. They don't own the cattle. They have an arrangement with one of the farmers.

A first time for everything

I am 36 years old and until Saturday, I had never been to a college football game.

Most of my family would tell you that they are huge Alabama fans. John Henry went to Auburn for awhile but then missed me so much that he transferred and moved back home. My family has always watched football games on TV. I've been to several high school games and watch them occasionally on TV. I never quite understood the game until this year. John Henry has been explaining pieces of the game to me while we've been to the high school games this season.

So, we had the opportunity on Saturday to go the Auburn/Arkansas State game without the children. The weather was beautiful and once we got settled at the game - it was incredible. Our seats were on the 50 yard line. Auburn won 27-0.

Student of the Month

The criteria for this month's Student of the Month was "consideration" and "dependability." Each second grade teacher nominates one student from their class and then the counselors, resource teachers, etc. rank them. Why only the second grade kids? The way this school is structured, the second grade is the oldest grade in the building. Third, fourth and fifth grade are in another building about 5 minutes away.
Today was the assembly to announce the second and first runner up and the Student of the Month. It's a big secret about the nominees until the assembly. The secretary called me two days ago to tell me that Lake had been nominated so that I could be at the assembly. There are six second grade classes with 16/17 students each. When the first five nominees were announced I realized that Lake was going to be the Student of the Month.
He received a coupon to Chick-fil-a and a neat medallion. We went for ice cream after school.

Finally

Lake as Harry Potter

Tate as an Indian

All together

A better shot of the girls without the sun in their eyes

Trick or Treat part 2

There really are pictures of the boys and all of the kids together on Halloween. However blogger thinks you should wait to see them....