Shane's Birthday

Another great night with the 4 Amigos! That's what we call ourselves these days:) We are so happy Tony is joining our family! We all love each other very much (which is good because we see each other EVERY SINGLE DAY!!) and have a blast together.
Shane's birthday was June 3rd. We ate at Bailey's in Allen...YU-MMY! Then went bowling and shuffle boarding at Strike.

Buddy Fun Day

Here we are...we make our mother so proud. The theme of Buddy Fun Day (our field day) this year was Groovin' Through the Decades. Our school turned 50 so it was the perfect theme!

This is Taylor and her team. Veronica and Amanda have been wonderful teammates to Taylor and they have had so much fun together. Bet you can't guess their decade:) When all three of them got together, it kind of hurt your eyes to look at them!

Me with my fabulous team, Stacey and Jessica.

What we've been up to...

Celebrating birthdays:


Catching up with old friends:

We missed five days of school this winter with snow! It was awesome:) We watched lots of movies, ate lots of soup, and found out that you're never too old to play in the snow!

But...you can play too hard in the snow! Tony and Shane were going together to pick up more speed and this is how it turned out:( OUCH!

Celebrating engagements:

Catching up with the girls (missed you lots La!):

Going to Six Flags:
Thanks for the season passess mom!!

Attending our first hockey game:



We've been busy, busy! 22 more days left of school, last two days of track for Shane...I see light at the end of the tunnel:)

So Cute!

So, let me start this out by saying...I am not a crafty person. Taylor sucked it all out on her way out of the womb I do believe. I always have these great ideas in my head, then when I try them out, it looks like one of my first graders did it. However, I let Taylor talk me into it AND I DID IT!! (and it's not half bad)
It all started one cold, rainy night last week. We were at Karen's and saw the cutest little wreath made from burlap. We asked her about it and she said Kyla made it. So, Kyla being the wonderful woman that she is sent us the directions. She found it on another blog ( jonesdesigncompany.com ) and it just so happens that Taylor and I have become completely obsessed with this lady now!
It's just great how all this mess can turn into something cute! You can go to the above website for a tutorial...but basically you wrap the wreath, create a ruffle, glue it on, then add cute details.

Here are Taylor's Fall details up close. We got tons of different fabric to change along with the seasons.

My new wreath and it's new home! Taylor's is better than mine (of course) I had had some minor set backs, but for my first craft project EVER...I thought it turned out great!

A Day with Landry

Saturday we went to Loren and Michael's house to watch some football. That means we also got to spend the day with adorable Landry! We had so much fun and love them all so much! Thanks for having us!

My pride was dented when I found that she seemed to like Shrek more than me:(

Character Day 2010

These are from our annual character day. You may remember last year...The Three Little Pigs. This year first grade did It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Third grade did Magic School Bus, and Kinder did There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly. So fun! PS Incase you don't see the resemblence, I'm Sally.

 

 

 

 

Busy, busy

School has started and I feel like I never stop! We have new curriculum this year and I feel like I am living at school! The thing I love about first grade is they are so honest...even when you don't want to hear it. Story of the first day:
(the names have been changed to protect the innocent)

We walk the kids to music the first day...

Teacher: Hi, I'm the new music teacher. I would like to introduce myself (bending to the children's level). I am Mr. Smith.

Student: Hi, but I would just like to tell you that your breath smells pretty bad, I mean...it's REALLY stinky!

Teacher: I'll have to work on that.

What do you do at that point???

Already August??

I can't believe August is here already! Now I am fast and furiously completing projects my last two weeks of summer that I told myself from the first day of summer I should be doing. Ugh! Ain't life grand:)
On a good note, Shane started football yesterday with his new job at Berkner High School coaching linebackers. Yea Shane!! He's having fun even though it is crazy hot!!

Fun in the Sun

We just go back from Mexico and it was fabulous!! We had so much fun. Our family went with the Bua's and we had a great time! It was the perfect mix. We relaxed, we danced, we ate, we went on fun adventures, we parasailed, built sandcastles, the fun goes on and on...the best part, we swam with dolphins. I have been wanting to do it for years and Big Tony made it happen and it was great. I had a small moment of not wanting to teach and wanting to become a dolphin trainer! They are so sweet. Here are the highlights:
We walked out to go to dinner and here was what greeted me. What beautiful things God has created!


If you know me, you know I have a crazy fear of birds. This guy insisted on screeching outside our balcony everyday. Although beautiful, I feel him spreading his feathers was a way for him to block my entrance into our building. Early every morning I awoke to his squawking...his way of reminding me he was there.

When parasailing they dip you into the water. I never miss shark week and was NOT jazzed on the idea of being dipped into the deep, dark water; however, from my high vantage point I saw no large shadows so it turned out to be wonderful.

Up in the air. It was so beautiful and you could see for miles

Little Tony and Big Tony playing in the pool.


Shane with his dolphin

How can up pass up a chance to take your picture with a huge Speedy????

On the dance floor. Mostly it was me dancing by myself...but we do have documentation of Shane dancing with me one time!! (Only because Tony threatened him...but it worked)

Do we look like we belong here or what??


Archery became a daily activity. We all tried it at some point and it turned into quite a competition. Here we are all packed in to "support" when I say that it really means make fun. I beat Big Tony two rounds and it was a great moment!! Dad was the best of us all and entertained us with stories about his early bow shooting days. He practiced shooting the bow straight up in the air when he was little in Gober and would dodge it when it came back down. What a great activity for a small boy to practice.

Shane and Tony

Taylor and Tony

Random Talent

So, my friend Laura is going to live in Guatemala next year and she decided she wanted dreadlocks. She enlisted my help and since we've been doing random things for years, it was only natural that I help. I found that I am quite the "dreader" so if you're ever interested here is how to do it:) (we acquired our knowledge by watching you tube)
STEP 1:
Start with a lovely head of hair that might or might not have been washed in a couple of weeks and might or might not have been brushed out in longer than that.

STEP 2:
Section hair into a million sections and rubberband. All about 1 inch.

STEP 3:
Begin to twist sections of hair (an here's where my talent kicks in) and rat the mess out of it with a fine tooth comb.

STEP 4:
After twisting and ratting, roll sections of hair in your hands and coat with wax. The wax is water resistant and therefore very hard to remove from your hands...but we found our hands were very soft:)


STEP 5:
Cut out million of rubber bands

And there you have it!