I'm Sure it Won't Last Very Long

Jackson came home today with his first homework assignment.

To say he was thrilled is a huge understatement!!

Upon further inspection, it did not appear to be a homework assignment,

but more of an assessment from his French class.

It did not have clear instructions on it and I tried to explain to him that I did not

think this was something he needed to do and return.

But, he insisted it was his first homework assignment and he needed to do it.

So, I told him to write his numbers from 1 to 30, and he got busy on it right away!

He was so excited to finally be given homework!!

Braggin' On My Baby

Jackson came home today with a note from his French teacher, Madame Elaine, written in his notebook.

"I love him.  He is so sweet and funny."

We think so, too!

Story Time Again

It's that time of year again.  Story Time.

We used to go to Story Time every week.  I took Savannah and Ethan pretty religiously.  Then Ethan went to school and I had Jackson and Holden at home and I tried to take them too.

Yeah, that didn't last very long.

Holden would not sit still.  He was always stealing binkies and sippy cups from younger (and sometimes older) children.  He would not sit quietly and listen to the stories.  I was constantly having to haul him out into the hallway.  Jackson would not stay by himself and listen to the story.  He always followed us out.

After a while, I decided that story time was not worth it.  We were so disruptive and never actually listened to the stories they shared.  I started taking the boys to the library at other times and letting them choose books and movies and music.  They loved going to the library, just not for story time.

Holden never was interested in being read to anyway.  All my other kids would sit for ever and listen to their favorite books.  Not Holden.  Until last week.  He sat snuggled up to Grammy Treehouse for at least three books.  And he let me read five or six books to him yesterday.  I definitely noticed and decided to try him again at Story Time this morning.  

He loved it.  The theme was "The Moon," because tonight is supposed to be a full and a blue moon.(Shhhhh!!  Don't tell Jackson we read books about the moon.  He'd be jealous!)  He sat on my lap for a bit and then on the floor for a bit and then he laid down and watched as Ms. Elizabeth read us a book all about a kitten who thought the moon looked like a dish of milk.

We read two other books and danced and sang.  We said the ABC's and recited "Hey, Diddle Diddle."  We colored a picture of a full moon and got a sticker and checked out five books!

We actually saw two girls there with their boys who go to the Lake Charles Ward.  It was fun to be back at Story Time.  Can't wait for next week!!

Too Much to Do in Not Enough Time

Ethan just informed me that today in art, he was given fifteen minutes to draw his house, his pets, and his entire family. 

Exasperated, he said, "I didn't finish!  I ran out of time!!"

Probably the only child who had seven people to draw.  Too many humans in this place!!

Scare Me to Death

We have caught two mice in our house in the past couple of weeks.  We have seen one more since then, but have not been able to trap it yet.

Yesterday, I was helping the little boys straighten up their room before bed time and pulled out a storage cart from under Ethan's bed.  I almost died when I caught sight of this.

The otter brushed against my foot as I pulled the cart out and I jumped back so fast!  Then I saw the raccoon.

You can imagine how fast my heart was beating before I realized it was just a few of Holden's animal toys hanging out with the shoes!

BAH!!  Life with boys!!  

School Photos

The schools have a website where parents can get on and monitor the kid's work and assignments.

These are the pictures that pop up when you open their individual pages. 

I'm not sure when they were taken, but I love them, so I stole them.  

They are at least last year's photos, if not the year before.

Matchy-Matchy Boys and a Waffle Wielding Pirate

They say that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

Jackson has insisted that he match Ethan exactly every day of school so far.

They are so cute in their little uniforms!  I wish I had a picture of each day.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

I was in my bed this morning when I heard Holden crying down the hall.  The crying got louder and louder as he made his way down the hall toward my room.  He climbed into bed with me and tearfully told me that Jackson had hit him on the back.

As he curled up next to me, I could feel his heart beating very fast.  I took his hand and held it over his heart and asked him if he could feel it.  He got quiet for a moment and then declared, "That is a broken heart!"

"What?" I asked.  "A broken heart?  Why is that a broken heart?"

"Because when you cry, you have a broken heart."

Look What's Cookin'

Yum!  Not really.  It's laundry detergent.  Made a double batch of it this morning.

Would hate to be the one to mistake all that shredded Ivory soap for cheese!  Hehe!!

What a Girl Needs

Saturday at 10:38 AM.  Still asleep.

I guess being a Freshman is hard work!

Cemetery. I Mean Seminary.

This morning was the first day of Early Morning Seminary for the year 

and Savannah's first day ever!

RaeAnn posted these pictures on the Moss Bluff Seminary Facebook page.

"Day 1.....Done!!!  Only 159 left to go!"

~ Paige, Ashley, Savannah, Tristan, Bryce, Nick, Ty, and Andrew ~

Acting like zombies!  What else would you expect at 5:45 AM?
Savannah said, "Apparently I did not get the memo about making weird faces for that photo!"

Looks like it's going to be another fabulous year!!

The Difference a Year Makes

Man, I can't believe how much they grow and change in just a short 365 days!!

Junior Year / Sophomore Year

(One thing that never changes about him is that he thinks he looks better when he does not smile!  He's not angry, although he looks it.  He was really excited about school both mornings.)

Ninth Grade / Eighth Grade

Fourth Grade / Third Grade

Off to Kindergarten!

School Days

First Day of School!

Tristan is a Big, Bad Junior!  He has two history classes this year and two band classes.  He is going to learn to play the saxophone.

Savannah is a Lowly Freshman.  She has three of Tristan's teachers either the hour before him, or the hour after him.  Poor baby was so nervous!  She said she would have a good day if she did not puke! 

Ethan is a Fourth Grader in Ms. Garner's class.  He also has Monsieur Jean Paul for French.

Jackson's First Day of Kindergarten!  He has Mrs. Castille for English and Madame Elaine for French.

Tristan and Savannah left together about 7:15.  I am so happy that they can take themselves.

I took Ethan and Jackson to school.  The traffic was crazy!  Holden and I walked Jackson to his class.  His teacher had placed a little jar of Play-Do on all their desks.  He was all smiles as he sat down to play.  I think he's going to have a great day.

Holden and I came home and sat down to breakfast.  Savannah requested french toast and bacon, which she was too nervous to eat.  Really, no one ate much of anything, except Tristan.  We chatted while we ate, but the silence in the house was deafening.  It was way too quiet.

Hurry up, Three O'Clock.  We are waiting for you!

Millennium Park

 This morning we went to Millennium Park to meet our friends, the Newmans.

Landon has been Ethan's best friend since Kindergarten.

His family moved out of the Gillis school district half way through last year 

and he is now going to Moss Bluff Elementary so they will not be together anymore.

Ethan is very sad and has been missing his friend a ton this summer, so we planned a play date

with Landon and his cutie little sister, Elaina.

 We played in the Spray Ground for a while before going over to the park.

~ Holden and Elaina ~

~ Jackson, Holden, Elaina, Landon, and Ethan ~

Beautiful Louisiana Sky!

Landon climbing high!

Today was Family Day for one of the plants, so even though we don't work at the plant,

we were treated to a cool ice cream treat for being there.

We had fun playing with our friends today!

And They're Gone!

Notice anything different?

Savannah got her braces off this morning.

We went to Dr. LeFort for a check up.  I knew it was getting close to the time for them to come off.  I thought he would have us schedule a day in the near future to come back and get them off.  He looked at her teeth and said, "Do you want these off?  There is nothing more I can do for her."  And he told his assistant to get a removal tray and in less that two minutes she was braces free!

She is incredibly happy!  She has a clear, plastic retainer that she has to wear over the top of her teeth until she gets her baby tooth pulled and her other tooth built up to normal size.  Then she'll get a retainer with a tooth on it to fill the space where no adult tooth grew.

Here's to a happy, candy filled life without braces!

Band Camp Ninjas

Tristan has spent the past ten days at band camp.

Last week, starting on Wednesday, he went to help teach the new kids how to march at Freshman Band Camp.  Monday started regular Band Camp for the entire band.

In the top picture, Tristan is on the far right side, behind the kid on the front row.  He's wearing a gray shirt. 

In this picture, he is on the right side.  There are two groups of kids pulled away from the main block.  One is marching toward the back field and the other is marching the same direction as the main group.  Tristan is working with the group facing the same direction as the group.  He is in front of a boy wearing a blue shirt.  

Marching, marching, marching!

Tristan monitoring the group.  He's a super cool drum major!

Playing Ninja at lunch.

In these pictures he is with Merit Jones, Mrs. Jones's daughter, who was his band director in Middle School. They have been hanging out this week.  Savannah said that Merit was in her French class and told Savannah that she liked Tristan because he had always been very nice to her.  I'm glad Tristan is expanding his circle of friends.

Last night, he went to the End of Band Camp Mixer.  They always have a party/dance for the kids.

Eleven more days of summer before it all starts again!

Quotable Quotes

Today, from Holden:

I hate spiders.  They're on the snakes team and they're BAAAAAAD!  

Water Parkin' It

We went to the Sulphur Water Park on Wednesday with our friends, Annee and Brenda, 

Alison, Jalil, and Aliana, and Alyssa.

~ Aliana, Alyssa, and Savannah ~

They added a huge lazy river and a second kiddie park, 

which is where we spent most of our day.  We loved the lazy river! 

~ Me and Jackson ~

~ Zack, Ethan, and Jalil ~

This is the first time this summer we have gone to the water park.

We had a lot of fun and are hoping to go back one more time before school starts!