Sunday, June 20, 2010

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! :)

Happy Father's Day! I hope everyone had a good day! I know we did! It started with some yummy blueberry muffins, made from scratch. Thomas and Mattie helped me make them. We used the blueberries we picked the other day!

At church, Bethany played a violin duet with another girl, Tiffany Badger, who is B's age. They played, "Oh My Father." They did a great job!

The last few minutes of church, the Young Women had set out the fixins for an icecream sundae for all the men 18 years old and older to enjoy!
Yes, that's a frog in Thomas' hand...it wouldn't be a complete family picture without one...a frog! :)
The Young Women's president and I found out Tuesday night at our Relief Society activity that the YW had done the Father's Day goodies in the past. Glad we found out!!! Thus the email I sent out frantically Tues night to the family! Thanks for all of your responses! John suggested that I list all of them so here you go:
  • cinnamon rolls in gym after church
  • gum or candy bar with play on words
  • homemade notebooks
  • Jelly Belly's
  • Joe said cookies would make him happy! :)
  • chocolates made with tool molds to make them more manly
  • John said one of his wards let them out of priesthood a few minutes served a nice cake and let the dads just eat and talk
  • little containers of icecream
  • heart shaped Mrs Field's chocolate chip cookies
  • Hershey bars covered in paper with just the "HE" showing with a good quote or scripture
  • 100 Grand candy bars or pens
  • I even got a suggestion for a TIE!!! :)

THANKS AGAIN for all the suggestions!! :)

Edd was able to sneak a quick nap for a few minutes before he left for hometeaching. Then we had his favorite dinner, "Chicken Mexicana," when he got back.









We let Edd open his gifts right before family council. Thomas loved helping Edd open his wrapped present! Edd was excited to get the book he's been salivating over for weeks! He saw it at Barnes and Noble on one of our dates and showed it to me. So a few weeks ago when I was there getting Bethany's required summer reading books, I got it! :)









After he opened his other presents, Edd spent the rest of the night looking at his new book, "My New Orleans The Cookbook," by John Besh. He's already picked out what he's going to make us first!









He did break for some Blue Bell homemade vanilla icecream...with some chilled fresh blueberries! :)

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Our unique wakeup call...

Here in Madisonville, we have a unique wakeup call...















The Red-headed Woodpeckers in our neighborhood like to sit on the chimney and tap...



Our first official full day of SUMMER started early with our wakeup call, which came before 7am! Ususally the woodpecker starts a little after 7...he doesn't come every day either, but Edd got to hear him before he rushed off to a race with Andrew and Bethany!

Edd ran in "The Court Chase," a 5K that his friend had planned. Bethany and Andrew ran the mile race. Andrew came in 2nd place overall and first in his age group. Bethany came in 3rd overall and first in her age group. I think the kids said that Edd came in 38th overall, but we don't know what his place was in his age group.

One of the things I've been doing lately is trying to get my garden going! This is my vegetable garden. So far I've gotten a couple jalapeno peppers and I do have a few green peppers growing.



















I've also been working on the front flower beds with Edd's help! They look a lot better!!! Here's a view of the front of the house.


















Summer means frogs...tree frogs, toads, bullfrogs, and tadpoles too! Here is Thomas trying to catch a tadpole out of our waterhole! The rain stoppped and the water was drying up. Andrew and Thomas filled the hole back to the top with the water. Unfortunately, it hasn't rained much since and the hole has dried up...it's only about a foot deep.

This is what the woodpecker sounds like inside the house. The first time I heard it, I thought the neighbors were getting some work done. Sortof sounds like a jackhammer! :)


Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Last day of school = FIRST DAY OF SUMMER! :)

After much anticipation, we FINALLY made it to the last day of school!!!!!

Andrew, Aimee & Mattie got up and got ready quickly...hmmm...maybe the extra excitement of summer being so close gave them the extra energy to move fast???
They were all ready and out the door super early...like around 6:40-6:45am!!! We try to get out the door by 6:53 because Aimee and Mattie's bus comes around 6:55-7:00. To pass the time, Andrew entertained the girls!








Then we heard the familiar rumble of the bus driving down the road...here she comes!!! As Ms Debi, their bus driver, picked up the girls she yelled out that she was enjoying her present! :)










Andrew was next. His bus usually comes around 7:20-7:25. Thomas kept him busy until Mr Greg pulled up in front of the house!

WE DID IT!!!
WE SURVIVED THE LAST SCHOOL MORNING OF THE 2009-2010 SCHOOL YEAR!!! :)

Bethany was inside still sleeping...it was her first summer morning. She reported to us a few days earlier that the teachers basically told them not to come on the last day!

Bethany finally got up she commented that getting up at 7:30-8am was like sleeping in after getting up for Seminary every morning! :)

After we got some breakfast, Bethany and I took Thomas on a bike ride! We rode over to

Guste Island, which is a neighborhood close by. From the road it looks like a regular neighborhood, but just past the apartments and first neighborhood, you are greeted by the SWAMP!

Of course a Louisiana swamp has alligators, but unfortunately we didn't see any. If you want to see one check out http://www.eddzphotojournal.blogspot.com/ look at "Spot the Alligator." We saw plenty of cool trees! This is one that Bethany liked...

We thought it would be fun to live over here by the swamp! :)

Here's B enjoying her first day of summer!

Once we got home, I spent the rest of the day at the sewing machine finishing up my dress to wear at the temple. I got it done just in time! :)

Meanwhile, the kids got home from school just after lunchtime!

Aimee reported that there were only 9 kids in her class!!! She and her friends helped their teacher, Mrs Dronet. They had fun spending their last day together!

Mattie was sad that school was over. She said she was really going to miss her teacher, Mrs Hanagriff!

When Andrew got home, he was ready to leave school behind and didn't give me many details.

Edd came home early and we all headed out to Baton Rouge. It was ward temple night, so Edd dropped Bethany and me off at the temple. Before we arrived at the temple, Edd drove us through the part of town where he and his family used to live!

The youth were doing baptisms for the dead. I was the only Young Women leader there so I helped hand out towels. This was the first time I got to go as a leader! :)

The rest of the gang headed over to Cabela's and had a grand adventure there! When Bethany and I were all done, Edd came and picked us back up. We went to Chick-fil-a for dinner! :) Our drive home took forever!!! We couldn't go on I-12 because it had been shut down for a day due to an accident they were still trying to clean up. So we ended up taking HWY 190, along with a ton of other cars!

We were so glad when we finally got home! It was a LONG but FUN day! :)

WE LOVE SUMMER!!! :)

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

End of School Craziness!

There's nothing like a crazy schedule to make time fly by!!! The month of May was practically over before it started!!!
Here are some highlights of the end of the school year:

Andrew's 5th grade BAND CONCERT!

Andrew started band at the beginning of the school year! He plays the clarinet! Andrew seems to enjoy band! He has also taken private lessons this year.
Andrew liked band so much that he signed up for it again next year!! :) I didn't even have to talk him into it! :)

The 5th grade band is pretty BIG!

















He looks like a natural! :)

Andrew's Awards Assembly!

Thomas and I attended Andrew's awards ceremony! It was held Wednesday, May 19th in the morning.
Andrew received the "Academic Achievement Award for 3.5 or higher"!
We are so proud of Andrew and all of his hard work!!! :)





















Here's Andrew with his buddies...Tristan is Andrew's classroom buddie and of course Thomas, Andrew's little buddie and shadow! :)

End of the year gifts for the teachers!

















Andrew, Aimee & Mattie gave their teachers and bus drivers a movie night treat! (Thanks for the idea Mom!)
Aimee's Awards & Commencement!

Aimee's awards ceremony & commencement was held on Thursday, May 20th at 10:30am!
I dropped Thomas off at a friend's house so he could have fun and so I could enjoy Aimee's program! :)

There were balloons decorating the room...helium...and some very special balloons up by the risers with each of the 3rd graders' self portraits! It was really neat! This is Aimee's balloon! :)

Each of the 4 classrooms presented awards to their kids. When it was Aimee's classroom's turn, I could tell she was getting a little nervous! Only one boy and one girl from each room was getting the "Citizenship Award." Aimee had been talking about it all week and telling me how her friends had nominated her for one of the special awards!
















Sure enough, Aimee's name was read! She received the "Citizenship Award!"


Here is Aimee getting her award from her teacher, Mrs Dronet! :)

Aimee also received an award for being a member of the Safety Partol this year!

Once the classroom awards were handed out, the kids performed a special song! They did the sign language to Josh Groban's song, "You Raise Me Up!" It was dedicated to the Principal and to the parents...it was beautiful! :)

After the song, the principal handed out their commencement certificates! :)

Aimee is heading off to 4th grade, which is at the Jr High where we live!

So I tried to upload the video of the sign language song, but it wouldn't work. I'll try and email it out to the family! If you want to see it you can email me at anniebanannie16@gmail.com
I've had technical difficulties all weekend long so the last day of school will be in another post!