First Day Flashback

Kindergarten, 2008

1st Grade, 2009

2nd Grade, 2010

His teacher has a "dog" theme in her classroom that this one was in the hall display. Perfect representation of Henry. He has already had homework and is already loving this year!

Summer Fun

I realized yesterday marked my last 3 weeks of summer. While I am a little saddened by this realization, I love my job and am really starting to get excited about the upcoming year.

We are so blessed to have a pool in our backyard and enjoy it so much during the summer months. Our lab, Maggie, thinks it's her pool and we just get to swim in it! She loves to swim with us and dive underwater to get torpedos. She is so funny to watch!!

The water was a bit chilly this day so Henry played in his toy bucket. He called it his "hot tub."

Of course, this summer has been quite rainy so there has been some fort-building, wii-playing and movie-watching, too. There have been a few trips to the mall, the library and Grama and Papa's house.

Henry starts 2nd grade in a few short weeks. It is so hard to believe he is growing up so fast! I treasure our time together every summer. Every day is an adventure!

It's been a wonderful summer!!

Not What I Planned Today

This is not the sight I was expecting today...rain. I expected to be swimming with Henry today, watching Maggie and him splash around and play. I did not expect rain. Although it is great for our lawn, it deflated our fun. However, Henry and I did set out on an adventure this morning before the rain set in (I tried to call it a "date" but he corrected me and called it an "adventure" instead). We stopped by the coffee shop and the donut shop before heading to the Fayetteville Farmer's Market. It was a beautiful morning and there was lots of produce! We bought some blueberries, cherry tomatoes, candy onions and cucumbers. We both really enjoy going there on Saturdays. We drove by the library and planned to pop in, but they were closed today, so it was on to Wal-Mart!! It was a pretty good trip - at 9:30 am. Maybe I'm on to something...go early before the rest of Fayetteville gets there! We made it home by 10:45 am.

Here's a view from the front. I bought a new flag this week and am feeling very patriotic!

I was afraid to buy flowers at the Farmer's Market since they would be sitting in the car a while, so I got some beautiful sunflowers at Wal-Mart. Henry suggested we "plant them in the yard."

I have thought about updating my blog a bunch over the last month, but quite honestly didn't know what to say! I think I was putting too much thought into it. HA

We have lots of fun things planned over the next couple of days...Freedom Fest tonight (assuming it's not rained out), cookout tomorrow and swim (again assuming it's not rained out), and launching an arsenal of fireworks currently taking up most of my kitchen table and something Henry has been looking forward to all week! I will do my best to get pics up soon. Happy 4th everyone!!

Losing It

After a few tears and a little blood, Henry pulled his first tooth last Sunday evening, May 23rd. The tooth fairy came and left him a cool $10 bill. His theory is that the tooth was actually only worth $5, but because he was brave and pulled it himself, he got a $5 bonus. We'll go with that.
Congratulations, Henry! We are proud of you!

Ready for Summer

Henry and I are so ready for summer. My brother took this picture last summer when he was here to visit. I think it sums everything up perfectly. I'm ready for hot days, my swimming pool, ice cold lemonade, ice cream and fireworks. Bring it!! I am ready!!

What are your summer favs??

A Special Day, A Busy Month and a Big Fish

So, I'm a bad blogger. I have good intentions. I even said one time that I planned to blog once a week. HA. It's been almost 2 months, but let me say that they have been 2 very busy months!! I think contest season got the best of me this year. I took my 8th grade girls class to Choral Performance Assessment in Bentonville in March. They were the first group from KMS to ever go to this contest. They made straight first division on stage and in sight-reading. Not an easy thing to do!! The judges at these contests to do just hand out first divisions. They must be earned. My girls worked very hard and sang their hearts out! I am so proud.

In April I took about 65 7th and 8th graders to Solo and Ensemble contest at JBU and it was another amazing contest. Lots of first and second divisions. 2 of my ensembles made first division. One of those was a group of 7th and 8th grade boys who did a really cute arrangement of "This Ol' Man." They were so proud they made a 1 and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of their plaque!

Our final contest of the year was last Saturday in Branson. The Ozark Mountain Band, Choral and Orchestra Festival is held every year at College of the Ozarks in Hollister. It is a unique competition because after the group performs on stage, 2 of the judges actually work with the students. It's such a good experience for the students and we go every year. My 8th grade girls performed the same pieces they did at CPA and received straight first division again! After the contest, we spent the day at Silver Dollar City. I LOVE Silver Dollar City!! But the weather was less than ideal. It stormed off and on all day. But overall, it was ok. They students had a good time even though the weather didn't cooperate!

Whew! That's a little of what's been going on in my world the last couple of months. All that is left now are 2 spring concerts and a talent show. We are close to the end, but we're not there yet!!

And now on to the special day. Easter was amazing. Not only were we celebrating Christ's resurrection, Henry was baptized that morning by his daddy. On December 9th, Henry asked Jesus into his heart by himself after AWANAs. He told us about it the next morning. We have been talking with him about it to make sure it was the real deal and it was! He is so sure about it. We had been talking with him about baptism and on Easter Sunday morning, he was baptized with 12 other children and youth!! It was incredible.

Henry's MeMe, Papaw, Grama, Papa, aunts, uncles and all his cousins were here for his special day. Everyone stayed for lunch in the youth building!

And last, the big fish. Last Friday Scottie fished at Lake Atkins and caught the biggest bass he's ever caught! He brought it home to show and it lived for a couple of days in the pool before being set free. Now that's a big fish!

I really hope to do better with blogging in the future! Thanks for reading!

Good Eats

Disclaimer: Those of you who know me know I am not much of a cook. I have a couple of recipes that I have been asked to share over the years, but even those are not my own. I enjoy the idea of cooking something delicious for my family and friends, but don't care for the process: shopping, preparing, cleaning up afterwards, especially cleaning up afterwards!! It's all very time consuming. If I were a wealthy woman the first person I would hire would be a chef.

With all of that being said, here are a couple of good eats from my kitchen.

I made this salad for a luncheon at my school last year and was asked by a sweet teacher friend of mine to make again this year. We have a winter soup and salad luncheon each year so I made it for that a couple of weeks ago. This is a super easy and yummy salad for spring.

Easy Ham Layered Salad

1 pkg (10 oz) mixed salad greens

6 plum tomatoes, chopped

8 kosher dill pickles, chopped

4 hard cooked eggs, chopped

2 cups cubed ham

1 small red onion, chopped

1 bottle (8 oz) Kraft Peppercorn Ranch Dressing

Layer in order and spread the dressing over the top.

I also made taco soup for the luncheon, but I'm sure everybody has their favorite recipe for that. I make mine pretty much the traditional way, but I put Velveeta in it so it's really cheesy.

Of course pizza is a favorite in our house. Especially with the little man. I found some small pizza crusts with the pizza sauces at Wal-Mart. The came 3 to a pkg. One night when Scottie was out, Henry and I made our own pizzas. I put sauteed veggies on mine and Henry had mini pepperonis on his. He got to make it himself - something he loves to do! They turned out very yummy! Henry's pizza:

I'm so excited to see green things starting to sprout in my flower bed! I think I will get out there later and pull the dead stuff to make room for more green stuff!! Yea spring!!