Friends

I went to visit my friend, Ann, last week. Her husband, Ronnie, was away at a coaching clinic, Eric was working, and Rebecca was going away with a friend. I went by myself. It was nice to have a few days of "girl" time.

Ann and I went shopping in Wilmington on Wednesday. On Thursday, I went to visit a dear friend, Betsey, and her two children. They are growing so fast. It was great to visit with them. On my way back in town, I met Ann and some others for lunch. It was great to catch up with all of them. I went to see a former student, and then dinner at P.J.'s. YUMMY calzone!!!! On Friday, I went to Jacksonville and got my hair done. It was nice to have someone do it that really knows my hair. After hair, I was on my way home.

Here are a few pictures of my visit with Betsey.

Sarah coloring a picture of me

Gabriel and Sarah

Gabriel

Gabriel, Betsey, Me, and SarahThanks, Ann. I had an awesome time!!

Wow-Lucky Me

A local tv station, WIS TV, does a Class Act drive for teachers to help them gain the supplies they need for their classroom. I posted a need for ipods for my listening center to enhance reading instruction for my kindergarteners. Imagine my surprise and delight when I received a response. A giving person donated 4 Sony MP3 players, 4 headphones, and a wall charger. My students will be so excited to use these fun tools for learning. Thank you M. Steele and WIS TV.

Camp Cheer Dance

Here is the squad in action. Rebecca is on the far right in the back corner. They did a great job with their stunt. Sadly, this was the only thing we were able to observe our girls doing. They hid in the back of the group for the rest of the exhibition. : (

Cheer Camp

Rebecca went to her first UCA cheer camp this week. They decided not to go away to one this year, but have UCA do a private camp for the two middle schools and high school in our area. She was very nervous that first day, but came home pumped up about what she was learning. Her favorite part was stunting. One of her friends said camp was just okay. She didn't like having to learn the cheers and dance. : )

I made each of the girls a goody bag. I went online for ideas of what to put in them. Each girl got:a personalized notepad, paw print pencil, flip flops, paw print suckers, a candybar with a special wrapper, bubbles, and a picture frame. I also personalized their bags.

Today is the last day of camp. The coach ordered special outfits to wear today, but there were some problems with them, so the girls wore their regular uniform. Here are some pictures of Rebecca before leaving:

Notice the cute flip flops and Levi looking out the window

I told her to strike a pose and this is what I got.

This is more like what I wanted

We get to go watch them at 1:00. I can't wait to see them in action!!

Jordan and Logan's Visit

We followed tradition and had Jordan and Logan with us for a week. I think the onlly way we were able to get Logan here was the pool. He LOVED the pool. He was like a little fish swimming all over the pool and doing cannonballs after his Bubba. He especially enjoyed swimming at night with the girls.(Rebecca and two of her friends)




On Wednesday, the boys, Rebecca and I went to Monkey Joes. Jordan wasn't able to play, but Rebecca and Logan had a blast going up and over the inflatables.


That night, Eric came home from his trip to N.C. and we took the boys to eat Mexican and then bowling. It was the first time Logan had ever been bowling. He wanted a strike really bad. Every time it was his turn, he would bowl the first ball and turn around and say "I'll never get a strike. I've never had one in my whole life." It was so cute. One time, Eric tried rolling a ball right after Logans so that maybe the two of them would get a strike. Eric got in trouble from the worker at the desk. It was pretty funny. Sadly, Logan still didn't get a strike, but we had a good time.


Thursday, we had to run some errands. I took Jordan by one of his favorite places, a music store. I think he could spend hours in one.

Jennifer came on Friday. The girls went to the movie while Eric took the boys fishing. Logan caught a brim and a turtle. Jordan wasn't able to catch anything.


It was bittersweet at the end. I realized that this could be the last summer Jordan will come stay with me. He will be a senior this year. He says he'll come back next summer, but we'll see what the year brings.

It's a Small World

I am a huge fan of Facebook. I love being able to reconnect with high school friends, college friends, and people from the different places I have lived. I have moved quite a bit in Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

Yesterday, I received a friend request from Shoni, someone I knew from college. As I was looking at her profile page, I noticed that we had several mutual friends. That didn't surprise me because they were people from college. However, there was one that DID surprise me. You see, Shoni lives in Georgia. The mutual friend is somone I know from living/teaching in South Carolina, Pamelia. Well, Pamelia and her family moved to Georgia about 7 years ago and she met Shoni through their sons. (Are you following this?) What are the chances of that happening?

When I sent Shoni a message about how she knew Pamelia, she called Pamelia immediately and Pamelia called me. Come to find out, Pamelia knows/works with one of my college roommates as well.

It truly is a small world.

Oh yeah, just in case you want to follow another storyline, here's another coincidence. When Pamelia and her family moved to Georgia, they moved to an area where I taught my very first year. I was right out of college and taught second grade. Pamelia's son, Logan(who I taught when he was in kindergarten), was going into the third grade. I called after the first day of school to see how it went. I was asking about his teacher and Pamelia said she was fresh out of college. I don't know what made me ask, but I asked what her name was. Come to find out, it was a girl that was in the very first class I taught. I felt very old!!

Blog Roll,

My friend, Kristy, has started a new blog roll. It's all about Foodie Fridays. Go check out her explanation. Anyway... this week's topic is appetizers. So...here is an easy peasy lemon squeezy recipe:

Chili Dip
1 16 oz. cream cheese
1 can chilli
1 bag of shredded cheese

Flatten creme cheese in a microwavable dish. Pour can of chili on top of creme cheese. Spread cheese on top. Place in microwave for about 3 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Use tostitos or fritos to dip. Yummy!!

The Fourth, Family and Fun

We traveled to Knoxville, TN to celebrate the 4th with my family. My parents had dinner for everyone. Then we all piled on their porch to watch the fireworks. We had a great view as they were going off all around us.

We enjoyed being able to visit with Aunt Barbara, my cousin, Deke, Aunt Beckie, and Uncle Bill.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Oodles of Noodles Pool Fun

The girls went swimming on Wednesday. They love to do stunts in the pool. They tried out many different things. They even got creative by adding noodles and an intertube to the action.

Basket Toss

Tube Tote

Noodle Prep

Going for a Lib

Girl Power

Rebecca had two friends sleep over Tuesday night. They are all on the cheerleading squad, so they were goofing around and stunting. They wanted to take pictures so they could put them on facebook. They had to get all "fixed up" before they could have fun. They straightened their hair and put on makeup just to goof off at the house. They decided that they would take me up on my offer to take the photos for them. Here are a few of their favorite ones.

Stunting the old fashioned way

Lexi splits the action

Getting Hugs and Attention from Eric

Tri-level splits

Laughing after a Tumble

Rebecca Visits Aunt Jennifer

Rebecca went to my sister's house a couple of weeks ago. She was only able to stay a couple of days, but she was glad to squeeze it in between cheerleading practices. Rebecca enjoyed playing with Logan and aggrevating Jordan. I think Jennifer enjoyed having another female around the house. Here are a couple of pictures from when we picked her up.

Rebecca with her Aunt Jennifer

Rebecca and Logan