Sky Ranch Adventures

This is our second year to take our 5th graders to Sky Ranch for their outdoor education. I had a great time this year and loved getting to know my kids so much better. I love Sky Ranch for many reasons but one is that it is a Christian camp. During the school year they do not focus or push their Christian influence but the presence of God is definitely there. In the back of most cabins there is a fire pit and a large cross erected. They have also placed verses up on the walls in the cabins, meeting areas and various places throughout the camp.


My favorite verse that I saw was Philippians 4:8 "Finally brothers whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things."

The teachers dressed up one night for a live in the dark game of clue. This year I assumed the role of the cowgirl which my students thought was fitting since I have a barn in my classroom. As luck would have it, I did the crime out of all the characters!

Teachers were also the object of a friction, gravity, forces of nature experiment on the zip line. We dropped off of a 3 story structure all of the sake of science...my favorite!


The classes that the kids participated in while there were a fresh water study, an animal ecology, Native American (one of my new favorites) and forces in nature. We had great weather and the scenery was beautiful.

All 79 students that traveled to camp with us!

A Walk Down Memory Lane With Grandmother

I consider myself honored when I get to hear about my Grandmother's life. I often wonder what it would have been like to live in the 50's and sometimes feel that I was born in the wrong generation. Tonight she was gracious enough to share lots of details from her life.

Turns out she used to work in a sort of General Store named Hazwalds. Apparently this store sold wallpaper, paint, china, crystal, records and many other things. Brides would come in and register there! I have to say that I was a little shocked to hear that she enjoyed some of the music that they sold there and her favorites were in the "popular" section. One song that she named for me was Tennessee Waltz. I had to find this song to hear it!



Her next job was selling and applying Merrell Norman makeup! She applied masks, foundation, powder and "rouge" to faces! Who knew that she ever had her foot in direct sells. She went on to reveal that she loved the makeup and held a few parties.

She and Granddaddy decided that they were up to a change of scenery and moved to Austin. I don't know that I would ever picture Grandmother living in the very crazy city of Austin. They lived above a hardware store in a little apartment. Grandmother took up employment at Montgomery Wards doing an office job which didn't end up suiting her. Granddaddy worked for a short time at a grocery store and then moved onto a job repossessing cars.

I also got to hear about some intimidating police officers who made if very difficult for Grandmother to get her drivers license once Susan was starting school. She was not passed one time for driving too slow! Poor Grandmother! I love her to death, but yes this is something I can see her doing!

I feel like I have had a priceless picture of history and into the life of my favorite Grandmother!

Halloween Night

Well, even though we only had 6 trick-or-treaters, my bride and I are having a great Halloween night. We went and had some good mexican food, talked to one of our neighbors, carved a fun pumpkin, and watched Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin Patch. Here are some pictures of the night!

Where's Waldo and Wanda?

Last night was our third annual Halloween Party with our Sunday School class. We put quite a bit of thought into what we wanted to be this year. We visited countless websites looking for ideas and we even tried out a local Halloween warehouse. We decided on a Where's Waldo and Wanda costume Thursday night before our party Saturday. I liked this idea because I thought it was unique and would be easy to put together. Friday after school, Eric and I went to grab some pizza at a local place here. I saw the perfect "Wanda Shirt" walking by right outside the pizza place. I told Eric that I had to find out where she found her red and white stripped shirt. I followed her into an ice cream store and told her that I have been looking for a shirt just like hers. She was so nice and explained that she had found it at GAP and her friend had found a similar one at Nautica. She didn't seem at all bothered by a stranger stopping her to ask her about her wardrobe.

With that helpful hint we were off to GAP! We covered 10 stores in about an hour. We were on mission. Red and white stripped images ran through our heads and we had limited time to find them. I love shopping and I love a good mission but this one had its challenges. We hit the jackpot right off the bat at GAP finding my shirt and two hats for us. But the more we shopped, the more distracted I became. I found myself wondering to the womens section and picking up green and yellow things. Oh, so much shopping and so little time. We went to Target next and found Eric a red and navy stripped shirt and hat. I thought somewhere in the back of my mind I had seen Waldo in that color scheme. Upon getting home and checking the computer, I found myself corrected.

Saturday morning was off in a hurry. I had a shower at 2:00 and told Mom I would come over early to help. We ventured out to Party City and fought the crowd to find some black rimmed glasses and red and white tights. One more stop to Macy's and our costume would be complete. We were walking through the mens section with a purpose. Then I a saw it across the way! My Jr. High days are back to haunt me! BIG red and white stripped, long sleeve, white collar, RUBBER buttons!!! (Eric says it is more rugby like) Now, I remember having several shirts very similar to this. I definitely remember the rubber buttons and I can't believe they are back. But that was it, it was our Where's Waldo shirt!

The party was filled with ghost busters, Elvis, an email attachment, a football player and cheerleader, angel, cowboy, football fans and a couple of Romans. We had a great time getting to hang out with our friends.

How Jelly Beans Are Made

Eric and I were perusing the TV last night and stumbled on the How Things are Made show. They were featuring Jelly Beans I insisted we switch from football and check it out. I have to say after watching the show, I will never eat Jelly Beans the same. I may in fact just never eat one again. Don't get me wrong I love Jelly Belly. The mixing, the matching, the flavor guessing. We learned that three basic ingredients of Jelly Beans are sugar, starch and sugar. Here is the 5 minute video we watched on TV. Count how many times a form of sugar is added or mentioned. Its shocking. Enjoy!

Three Days Old

The chicks continue to be tons of fun and we are loving having them. I had a momentary lapse of sanity and told my kids if they had permission and a good home, they could be a new pet owner! This has made many of my kids very happy but it has created more work for me. I laid in bed last night thinking about how I forgot to type up a "How to Take Care of Your New Baby Chick" form. My mind was already spinning when I got to school with things I needed to do. When I got to school the first thing I did was go check on the little chicks. I was sad to see three little friends hadn't made it over night. I had a fellow teacher come downstairs and help me with the clean up.

As of this morning we are at 15 little ones. These numbers continue to change as students select their favorite little guy from the bunch. So far I only have two official new homes for the babies but I expect more to be adopted tomorrow.

These little guys are definitely in close quarters and they make a huge mess constantly. These pictures were taken only moments after I changed the paper and gave them more food and water. Even as sweet as they are, they are not the brightest. We have to keep marbles in the water so that they will not drown themselves. They are so fun to watch and the kids love looking at them through the library window.

Tomorrow is our last day with the babies. We will be sad to see them go but luckily we can get frequent updates from the families who are taking them in.

All Fuzz Up

Upon arrival to school this morning I had another bundle of hatched chickens in the incubator. I had a total of 8 eggs that did not hatch but about 20 little babies popped out and said hello to the world.

The kids got to hold the chicks today and many of them I think are in love. I spied several of them bestowing kisses on our fuzzy friends. One little girl asked me if she payed me $200 if she could could keep the little one she was holding.




Mom, Kristin and Allison also came to visit today. Allison actually really liked the chicks. She grinned, smiled and made eye contact with several babies.


Another fun day for all involved!

Birthday Surprises

My class has been taking care of chicken eggs for the last 20 days. Tomorrow was supposed to be the magical 21st day when all the chicks would hatch. My mouth nearly hit the floor when I walked into my classroom this morning (the 20th day) to find 3 baby chicks walking around in the incubator.

Needless to say, I threw my lesson plans for Monday out the window and decided to go to plan B. The early arrival of the babies sent me into a frenzy. I called on my super husband for backup. I asked him to pick up a heat lamp and feed for the chickens from a local farm store. He came swiftly to my rescue with everything the chickens needed and a huge bouquet of happy birthday balloons for me. Turns out that the chickens and I now share the same B-day!

We had a chicken fun filled day from that point on consisting of the chicken dance, chicken tic-tac-toe and happy birthday to the chickens. I have never seen such excitement from kids as long as I have been teaching. Here are a few pictures we snapped today.



We were able to broadcast the chicks in the incubator to the entire school live. We set up the camcorder in my room and pointed it into the their warm hatching ground.
By the end of the day I took 7 fuzzy chicks out and moved them to an aquarium.


All day we had plenty of visitors wanting to get their own peek at our new fuzzy friends. Two of my teammates, Michele and Cindy, even got in on the chicken-mania with a sporty chicken hat! I expect to find more babies tomorrow when I get to school.






Tonight we had family over and did some more B-day celebrations. Eric cooked out burgers and we had a yummy white lady bug cake. I have to say, I have had some really good birthdays but his one really ranks way up there!

Elevatoraphobia

On Sunday afternoon, I left Allen for a 9 hour drive to Mobile, AL to install a soundmasking system. I found out the secret to long drives - audiobooks. I listened to John Grisham's The Testament on the way there and really enjoyed it. So I got there by 10:30 Sunday night, checked into a hotel that my wife Amy booked for me and rested for a while.

I was up at 6 the next morning feeling a little nervous. Not many of you probably know this, but I have elevatoraphobia - a fear of elevators. I tend to mask it quite well at times.

You see, on Sunday afternoon, on the drive down, I called the contractor's superintendent that I was reporting to. He told me to simply meet him on the 20th floor and then I could head up to the 32nd floor where the install would take place. Pale face, numb hands, shortness of breath - that's what came of me for a few minutes. There was no way I could haul my ladder and tools up that many flights of stairs!!

So I got there on Monday, unloaded and headed for the freight elevator. Much to my surprise, the doors to the elevator opened up and there was a man sitting in there on a chair. I then noticed that there were photos on the elevator walls, a calendar, and many other homey touches. The elevator was this man's office!!! Wow, I thought, here I am afraid of a 45 second ride up this elevator, and this elevator attendant does this 8 hours a day! So I put all my stuff on the elevator and the anxiety vanished. This guy knows his elevator, I thought, he practically lives in it!

So that's the key to elevatoraphobia - only ride elevators that have people who live in them.

This is the Mobile, AL skyline. I'm in that building that planes are dodging...near the needle...you might be able to see me waving if you look really close.


View from the front of the RSA building - that sure is a long elevator ride...

New Traditions

I have to say that it is so nice to have Kristin at home these days. She and baby Allison are happy to hang out more even on school nights! Eric and Frank have started working out together on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So this Tuesday Kristin invited herself over while the boys were working out. I love getting to see her and baby Punkin' more.

Shortly after she came over, I volunteered to change the baby's diaper. I think I must have been too preoccupied talking to Allison and trying to make her smile that I wasn't changing with my normal she-might-pee-if-I-don't-go-fast-enough speed. Yep she peed, covering her little outfit and the changing pad she was laying on. She got to put on her PJs a little early. The PJs she is modeling have a giraffe on the front that says I wish I was taller.
Eric is doing much better with his baby handling abilities. I think he is getting the hang of it. One of the first times Eric held her, he had elbows sticking way out to sides--very unnatural. Now he is becoming a pro.
















Bear and Zeke are doing much better about having Allison around. They are excited to see her and always want to do plenty of sniffing but they make sure they are not left out.


We hung out with them again Thursday after working out so I guess this is our new tradition. I love getting to see them more often and I love baby kisses!

Punkin' Love

I visited Kristin and Allison last week and what can I say, the camera loves the baby. Overall my vote is she is looking more like Frank but there are pictures where I think she favors Kristin. The one above looks like her mama.

This was in her Diva mood not wanting to look at the camera. Kristin even put the pink boppie around her neck since that seemed to be the focus of her attention.

Very Cute

School's Back in Session

The last 2 weeks have been a whirl wind to me. The moment we got back from NC I have hit the ground running. Getting ready for a new school year can be so intense even if you don't switch rooms or change schools. Upon my arrival to elementary school I quickly learned about hallways, decorations and themes. Each year the school has a school wide theme that we use to decorate the hallways between classrooms. This year our theme is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Now we are defiantly not kindergarten who recreated with an entire Candy Land theme but we were pleased with our outcomes. We decided to go with the Wonka bar/golden ticket idea for our hallway. The teachers have the big golden tickets and the kids have smaller ones around it.

When we designed the store front to the candy store, we used the front of Opie's Candy Store in Mt. Airy as our inspiration.

My room is western theme

My classroom

This is the barn that Eric built for me. We moved with this barn. It used to be must larger when I was in Wylie. Eric did a great job making it and I always get lots of compliments from other teachers on it.


My desk area. There is also a window looking into the barn so that I can keep an eye on the kids in the barn if I'm at my desk.

Mayberry, NC

Here is our summer trip to NC to visit family. We spent some time at the New River which is actually the oldest river in the world....ironic. They boys and KK played in the river while the girls enjoyed some sunshine.

Notice two things in this picture. 1) The size of Bill's camcorder....huge 2) My wrist brace. I sprained my wrist slipping and falling down the old wooden stairs my first day there.


Look how tall KK has gotten! She is 3 1/2 now.

Looking more like Emily the older she gets.

After we left the river we visited some friends who have a cabin near the river. They actually have apple, grapes and pears growing in their back yard. KK loved choosing apples for her dad Bill and Papa to pick. The trees grew horizontally out over the side of the mountain.

Bill and Eric at the cabin after swinging from the apple trees.

Sister and Brother

Hiking around Pilot Mt. the next day.



Great picture of Eric and Danny while on our hike. Danny made his own hiking stick while on the trail. Beautiful outdoors.