Zoo with a Bunch of Animals

I have signed on to be the girls' Girl Scout co-leader this year.  Last year I was just a volunteer and wasn't officially a leader.  For our meeting this month we earned our badges at the zoo. Now, that's my kind of meeting! 

We got up early, or o'dark thirty, as my kids like to say.  When I woke them up and they were still in a state of confusion, they wanted to know if we were getting on the airplane. (Note to self:  try to cut down on those early morning flights!)

We took the two hour drive to the zoo and started our day with some photo ops.

 Then we moved onto the real animals.

 We took in some information.

 One of the things required for Carly's badge was to take pictures of animals in their habitat.  This is her photo of the elusive Homo Sapian (Connor) the only living member of the Homo genus.

 Ooh!  There he goes again!

 They rode the merry-go-round.

And Carly got back to taking pictures.

  She became so engrosed in her pictures that the rest of us left her behind with the other photographer in our group,

  Melissa, of the famous www.melissahollemanphotography.com

As I am going through the 163 odd pictures of animals I come across this...

Great picture, right?  I have no clue who these people are.  There are individual shots of each of them as well, equally as great.  After a little investigating, I found out that these are just some random people at the zoo who were nice enough to pose for SEVERAL pictures for Carly.  After her success here, most of the rest of the pictures are of random people.  Apparently, she prefers this animal in it's habitat.  My only regret is I don't know these people.  This, along with the other five pictures, are pretty awesome and I'm sure they would like a copy!

Side Note:  Dee chose not to attend.  He said,

1. It's a Girl Scout activity,
2. I'm not a Girl Scout, and
3. I have too much to do here at home.

We arrived home after walking around the zoo for nearly eight hours and four hours of driving, (we stopped at the McDonald's, threw happy meals in the back for dinner and were on our way.)  We walk in the door and Dee is just finishing up his meal of lamb chops and lobster tail.  REALLY!!!???!!! 

Click here for the link to Teacher Appreciation Day

First Day of School

This is the first year that I have not requested a teacher for the girls.  There is not a bad teacher in the whole fifth grade.   And, no I'm not just saying that.  They are all different, have different teaching strategies, different classroom standards, etc.  BUT.. they are all EXCELLENT.  So, it goes without saying that I am extremely happy with Carly's teacher this year, Mrs. Cindy Moore.  We are looking forward to an awesome year and Carly's last in elementary school.  (I am working on convincing her to let us hold her back, and it might be working!)

 Leighton was lucky enough to get the new male teacher (she was NOT happy).  She was in luck, he didn't show up for new teacher orientation!  No wonder his name was Mr. Loeser  (I think he must have added that extra e, but he's not fooling anyone.)  So, while they are trying to hire another teacher to fill that spot, Leighton has the pleasure of having one of Royal's retired teachers, Mrs. Billie Pittman.  Mrs. Pittman rushed home from her summer at the beach just to teach Leighton's second grade class.  I told you she was awesome.  We are very content with Mrs. Pittman and really don't care if the new teacher comes at all.  However, I did hear that she will be here in a couple of weeks. 

Why is there no picture of Jensyn?    Well, after careful consideration, I have decided that she will not be going to preschool this year.  I know that Ms. Ann, Ms. P-Nut, and Ms. Beth would love to have her and she would love to go, but she is my LAST baby and her going to preschool means that she is that much closer to 'real' school.  I'm just not ready.  So, I think I'll sign her up for a dance class or a motion class, or even an art class (yes, babies take art class.)  Ms. Ann, Ms. P-Nut and Ms. Beth will all still be there next year!


Click here for New 'Older' Post 'The Wall'

Could Be More Addicting than Cocaine

I signed up for a glass class at our local pottery shop, Clay Fusion. I was making a sushi plate. I saw the instructors samples and fell in love.  These are a few pictures from their website.  While I liked the idea of a geometric pattern, it didn't make me swoon.

 Then I saw the 'cracked' sushi plates.  I knew I had to do this.  A couple of my friends and I signed up and got started.  There ended up only being three of us in the class, which was a good thing.  This is my final result.....

 My picture taking skills are lacking, but you can still see her awesome-ness.

If you are wondering how I did it.

1. Start with two squares of glass, the base (black) and the top (red).  The top must be smaller than the base. 
2. Place the top inside some newspaper and hit it with a hammer.  Yes, not only are you crafting, but you can release some anger as well
3. Take your top, which is now in pieces and you put it back together on your base.  
4. Glue down the pieces and let it dry.  
5. It's fired once to fuse the glass together and once again, inside of a mold, to get the sushi plate shape.

This was so fun and I am totally hooked.  Now, I only have to purchase several sheets of glass, glass cutting tools, oh and one last thing......a glass kiln.  I'm sure Dee will be all for it.

Click here for the link to the older 'new' post, The Painted Walls.

Teacher Appreciation Day

My kids have AWESOME teachers and I always want them to know that I think so.  I try to help out in the classroom as much as possible and donate those things they put on their wishlists.  I know that being a teacher is sometimes a thankless job (just like being a mommy!)  I have seen these boxes posted several times and after seeing them one more time on my college roommate, Sharon's blog, I knew I had found my gift. (Don't look too close at Sharon's, they are WAY better than mine.  I'm not sure why I am even putting the link to them...except that hers are soooo cute)

 Leighton's teacher's favorite color is pink, so she insisted that she get pink.

 The assistant in Carly's EC class is a man and he LOVES UNC, according to Carly.

 The ones with mostly pink had pink interiors, the ones with green-green, the ones with blue-blue interiors (you get the picture.)

 And we can't leave out all those specials teachers, Art, P.E., Music, Writing, and Library. 

Carly picked out chocolate bars for hers.

And Leighton picked Mint Chocolate Chip Dessert gum for hers.

I do appreciate all that the great teachers do for my kids.  I know it is not an easy job, but I'm glad they have chosen it.

Happy Easter from My Peeps!

Target doesn't sell Easter shirts.  So what's a mom to do?  Use her handy dandy Silhouette and make some, of course.  I used  Char at Crap I've Made 's tutorial on freezer paper stenciling.  I designed and cut it out using my Silhouette.

  Ironed it on.

 Painted it in.  Two coats, please.

 Peel off the homemade stencil.    Add the eyes with the handle of the paint brush.  Lay flat to dry.

The Result:  Happy Happy Children!

And bragging rights, when anyone compliments them on their shirt. 

Because remember, it IS all about me!

Eight is Great!

Okay, it really stinks.  After today I am questioning my decision making skills.

Leighton had her eight teeth pulled yesterday.  She was very excited and a little bit nervous before we left.  When I asked her what she was nervous about, she said that she was afraid that people would make fun of her for having no teeth.

She did really well with the Nitrous and the shots and the actual pulling.  When she saw me afterwards I could tell that she was barely holding it together.  She ran to me and immediately began to sob. Well, sob as much as you can with a mouth full of bloody, saliva filled gauze.  I nearly started to sob myself, but held it together.  This is what I gazed at the whole ride home. 

yes, Mom, the light is red



 She was very uncomfortable with the numb feeling.  As it wore off she was much happier.  As you can tell from this still numb, half smile.

WARNING:  Yucky tooth picture ahead.

 These are the very large teeth that were pulled.  The second one on the top was one that was loose.  It is the regular size, the rest have very big roots.

 After all the numbing wore off and she started to talk and smile, I nearly burst into tears.  What have I done to this little girl?  She looks like she has on a set of those Bubba teeth.  Only this set cost me $1000 and doesn't remove.  I only hope that I have not ruined her self esteem. 

It is ironic that the reason we had them pulled is that she doesn't have room for her adult teeth and they would come in crooked and 'jacked up' and make her self conscious.  We had talked about taking out four and then waiting for a couple of months for the next set, but the orthodontist said that it would be less traumatic to have them all out at once. 

Well, are you ready for the big reveal? 

 I know!  I am tearing up just looking at this picture. 

She got up this morning and started to cry during breakfast.   She told me that she was afraid that all the kids were going to see the dark clots in her mouth and think that she had to have her teeth pulled out because she didn't brush.  I let her stay home one more day and I am hoping that she will want to go tomorrow.  I don't think I have it in me to force her to go. 

If you see her, please help me out and don't comment too much on how she doesn't have any teeth, unless you are like the amazing Mrs. Easterling who told her how she would have been so jealous to have had so many teeth taken at once.  She told her that she might even be the most popular kid in the whole first grade because of it.  I think I even saw a little smile from that comment.

The Wall

One of the things on my list of crap I want my dad to do while he's here to keep him occupied things I think would be fun to do with my dad while he's here was a flower bed around the front of my house.  My house is all garage from the front and I wanted to try to draw your eye to the front door area.  I thought that a large flower garden would do the trick.  I sketched out what I wanted and then submitted it for approval-to Dee and my mom.  Dee gave the go ahead, but Mom made some changes.  This is what we started with-YUCKY! and TRASHY! 

We decided on a brick and went to the Depot to pick it up.  They gave us the use of their truck for one hour for free.  So, as soon as they loaded it up, the clock was ticking.  We made good time on the road and then.....we had to unload.

That's a lot of rock.

We made it back to the Depot with six minutes to spare.  All that speeding as a teenager has really paid off later in life.

Side Note:  When we came back from the Home Depot, Jensyn had fallen asleep hiding from my mom.  I asked what happened and she proceeded to tell me that she had chased Jensyn all over the house, trying to get her dressed.  Jensyn was screaming 'Mommy dress me, Mommy dress me!' which my mom took as 'I want Mommy to dress me!'  So, since she knew that I was very busy and pressed for time, she was insistent that she would dress Jensyn and it would be fine.  Jensyn ran and hid and when my mom found her, she was asleep.  Apparently Grandma had stressed her out so much, she finally just fell asleep.  I very calmly explained to my mom, she was actually saying, 'Mommy already dressed me!'   I guess my choice in clothing looked too much like pajamas.

At this point we had to take a break to go to Leighton's Character Award Ice Cream Party (and no I don't make it a habit of sending my child to school in her pajamas, it was Pajama Day as well.)

This little one IS quite a character, I guess that's why she got in on the Character Ice Cream Party.  (or maybe because she's so cute!)

We came back and laid the first row, and then it was cake from there on out.  Of course, I say that because my dad laid the first row.  He makes everything look so easy......then you try to do it by yourself!

He did have a lot of help.

See, A LOT of help.  Wait, she isn't helping?  

 Dee got home and cut the last couple of bricks so they would fit into place.  He then took the wheelbarrow into the backyard with his helpers.   See, they are still helping.

This is what the final wall looks like.  What?  You can't see it?  That is kind of the idea.  It blends in so well with the foundation brick.  I am very excited to fill it with dirt and plants.   

UPDATE:  It only took us forever to fill up the bed with dirt and we have planted a few plants.  It needs a lot more and I will slowly fill it in.  Now I am itching to do the other two beds in the front yard.  Mom and Dad are coming to visit in October!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!



We thought they needed a little girly touch!