New Teachers!

Grant and Madison found out who their teachers are for this year! They are so excited! Grant got Mrs. Denita Phillips and Madison got Mrs. Stephanie Butterfield (Grant had her in 1st also).
Mrs. Phillips has a classroom blog if you would like to follow.... www.mrsdenitaphillips.blogspot.com

We are all going to have a wonderful year!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! We are relaxing and working in garden and cleaning around the house today! Grant and Madison just have one week left of summer break and then it is work, work, work! I will post some pictures of the weekend later.

Week in Review!

This week we are winding down and ending summer!  Can you believe summer is already over!  I start in-service next week so we are gearing up ready to hit the books!  Grant and Madison have their backpacks ready with all their school supplies and lunch box!

I have pickled okra for the first time.  I hope it is yummy!  I have had pickled okra before and liked it so I wanted to try to make it myself.  The only downside is it takes 6 weeks before I can get into my jars!!!  Here is a picture of Grant helping me pickle okra!

 Grant likes to help he just doesn't 

like the smell of all the vinegar etc...

 

peppers and okra for pickling

Madison and Grant have been helping me get my room ready for my upcoming 5th Graders!!  We went by yesterday and put the finishing touches on my classroom door.  It was all Grant's idea and it turned out great!  Grant and Madison have been a big help all summer since I had to move my whole classroom back to the main campus this summer. They have helped me get my room organized and clean.  Here is a picture of Grant and Madison after we got my door ready yesterday!

The door says "We're going to have a BLAST in 5th Grade"

That was all Grant's idea and it looks great!  Madison put the pink

planet "Saturn" at the bottom.  She said it needed it on the there 

and it looks great!  Thank you Grant and Madison for helping me!!

We also helped out a friend yesterday by watching their children for a few hours.  Here are some pictures of them playing and having fun!

 Grant, Grace and Lucas having fun on Grace's 4-wheeler.

Zach is pretending to ride Madison around on his 4-wheeler!

Madison loved playing with Zach!

I loved this picture, they both have red cheeks from playing outside!

VBS

On Saturday we had our VBS at church.  The theme was "God's Creation, Digging for Answers".   Our church did a one day VBS from 8:30 - 12:00 and we had lunch.  The VBS had stations set up and each station dealt with one or two days of creation and had an activity dealing with that day of creation.  It was a lot of fun and the children had a blast.  In one of the stations that was talking about "Light" they children had face plate light switches that they each got and decorated with stickers and markers.  They also played bowling with flashlights in a dark room with the flashlights on and used them as the pins.  It was  a lot of fun and the children were actively involved at each station! 

Here are some pictures from VBS.

This is a mural we had on the back wall that a friend 

of mine "Sorrel" drew.  Sorrel does awesome work!  

She was also the one who painted a mural

in Grant's bedroom of a beach scene. 

This is Sorrel's daughter Selah.  As I was helping 

anywhere that was needed for VBS, Selah hung 

around me and we found some delicious coffee 

that we both had to have!

This is a group picture of most of the children. 

We had around 100 children or so attend the VBS.

Tractor Pull!

Friday night we all went to the Tractor Pull in Chapel Hill.  Grant and Madison had never been before so they were excited to see what all the hype was about!  It was super loud even with your ear plugs.  They had a great time so that was all that matters.  Here is a couple of pictures from tractor pull.

Here they are in front of one of the trucks.

Here is one of the diesel tractors.

They were our favorites.

Look at all those engines on there!  It was super

loud.  We had to cover our ears with the ear plugs in!

We had a fun family time!  The kids were excited 

because on the way home it hit 12:00 and so now they

can say they stayed up all night!  They are so funny!

Frenectomy

A frenectomy (also known as a frenulectomy or frenotomy) is the removal of a frenulum, a small fold of tissue that prevents an organ in the body from moving too far. It can refer to frenula in several places on the human body. It is related to frenuloplasty, a surgical alteration in a frenulum.

A frenectomy can also be performed to remove a section of tissue (the frenulum) that attached to the gingival tissue between two teeth.  This is what Madison had done this morning between her top two teeth. 

 This is when we got in the parking lot this morning.

She was not too excited about her procedure!

We went in this morning around 7:30 and they did an exam to make sure everything was a go.  She had to drink a combination of medicines to sedate her.  She was not happy with the taste of the medicine but they gave her fruit punch afterward to try to get rid of the awful taste.  We then went back out to the lobby to hang out for 45 minutes while the medicine took effect.  When they called her back she was pretty tired.  She held the nurses hand while they walked back.  She was only back there around 30 minutes and then we went home!  She was in minimal pain, nothing a little Motrin won't take care of.  When we got home she got snuggled into her bed and I gave her a little Motrin and she was out in a matter of 5 minutes.

She is home in her bed sound to sleep!

My sweet Madison!

Weekend with Grandparents!

Madison and Grant spent the weekend with Granny and Granddaddy.  I had to go out of town and then I had to attend a math conference on Monday...  They love going over there where they can eat and do what they want....  I am going to have to detox their body from all the sugar!!   I have some pictures to share from their weekend!

 Madison's new life jacket!  

She loves it because it is PINK!

 Madison being silly with "Pig" nose and corn!

Madison and Granddaddy riding on the Mule.

Grant and Madison at the depot in Hohenwald looking around!

This was their entertainment after church Sunday night.

They got to ride around in the convertible so they were super happy!

Grant has been taking Piano lessons but his teacher is taking a year off, 

so now he has decided to try the guitar!  Granddaddy was playing a tune

for him and talking to him about the guitar and probably playing "Country Roads".

He was trying it out for himself!  I think he looks great with a guitar!

Madison was sitting and watching, she didn't 

want to miss anything!  They had a great trip!

Church Camp! (MSMBC)

What a week!  We have been in Marion, Kentucky for our church camp!  It was awesome!  We were out in the middle of no where!  This is our second year to go, but this year Eric went with us for the first time.  We went down on Saturday and got into our cabins.  Eric slept in Grant's cabin and Madison slept in my cabin.  The luxury of our two cabins was that they were air conditioned.  I worked in the "Mess Hall" cafeteria and Eric helped out as a counselor for Grant's group and helped out wherever he was needed. 

This is a picture of the cabin Grant and Eric stayed in with their group.

On down the hill to the right was the pool  and up the hill on

the left was the cabin Madison and I stayed in with some other ladies.

When we got there on Saturday after I made the beds and got everyone settled.

We headed to the pool.  Since camp didn't official start until Sunday we did a

little swimming together since we couldn't the rest of the week. 

 Madison swimming to the ladder.

Madison getting ready to jump back in pool.

She loved the pool and so did Grant.

After we got there and got settled in and got in the pool for a little while then we went

to "town" it was about 8 or 9 miles down the road and we ate a local Italian Diner.

It was delicious.  We went with another family that had come down early to camp.

This was the kiddos facing the other camera getting ready to eat!

 

We had church at the camp on Sunday Morning and then

got ready for all the other campers to arrive on the buses.

 

Had to get my coffee and then I was ready!

Madison and her friend Josie riding in the Kubota around camp.

This is Madison at the local "Dairy Queen" eating her icecream bar.

We went there for lunch on Sunday since the camp didn't

start serving food until Sunday for supper.

This is the cafeteria workers. We had a lot of fun in the

cafeteria cooking for all the campers!  We had around

130 campers to cook three meals a day for.

Here is Grant and some others waiting in line for us to open up so they can eat!

Madison hanging out in the game room area of the

"mess hall" while I was serving food.

 

 

Madison hanging out with some friends...

Each day they had devotionals after breakfast and then had daily lessons and activities and had swimming after lunch and then later and art activities and ended the night with a devotional with everyone.  Grant and Madison really enjoyed camp.  Madison didn't get to do all the "big kids" stuff but her group was called the "Mini Campers" and they had their own activities and art and craft projects.  The mini campers can only come to camp if a parent comes along to stay at camp also.  They have their own activities but stay with their parent at night instead of in a cabin with other children.  They have to have completed the 2nd Grade before they can go to camp without a parent but with a counselor in the cabin and most have one or two.

On Thusday of the week was "Water Day" and also they brought in a Climbing Wall for the children to climb.  That day Eric and another guy grilled us burgers and hotdogs for lunch.

 Madison sliding down!

Madison going down the slip and slide during the "water time".

 Grant was getting ready to get to the top!

Grant climbing up the rock wall they rented for the children to climb.

Grant enjoying some water during the "canteen" time. 

They got to get snacks during the day at certain times.

 This was inside Grant's cabin on the other side with the "messy boys"

This is Grant sitting in Eric's bed and just chilling out during

FOYB time.  "Feet On Your Bed" time.  "Rest Time"

We all had a great time but are glad to be home in our own bed!