Wednesday, October 21 - Student of the Week - Oliver

Oliver was Student of the Week this week at school and so today, my mom, Ed and I went to eat lunch with him at school. He wanted McDonalds, but the last couple of times we've eaten there, he went to the ER once and almost had to go back there the second time for his asthma problems. I suggested Granny Annie's because he LOVES their soup. He was all over that!!! HA! He was in luck because they were serving his FAVORITE soup that week which I rarely see there... Chicken with Dumplings! So... we all got some good soup and sandwiches and had a nice lunch with Oliver! We love you, Buddy!!!

Oliver enjoying his Chicken and Dumpling soup!

Tuesday, October 20 - Kid's Fun Fair at School

Tonight I mustered up some energy and took the kiddos to their Annual School Fun Fair. Since I was by myself (Ed was working), Jaren stayed back with G&G Palmer, aka... his 'other' set of parents! :O) I also invited my friends to join us but two of her kiddos were sick so I offered to take her oldest, who is four! I knew he'd LOVE to play the games, but I forgot how much energy four-year-olds have as well!!! Oliver was GREAT and helped me out with keeping an extra eye on Cullan. It was like he was an adoptive big brother for the night! It was seriously so sweet to see how they interacted with one another!

Ollie and Cullan waiting in line to play some games in the gym.

My friend, Brenda, is the PTO president this year and her two boys were sick at home and her husband was out of town so she brought her little girl, McKenzie, who I used to babysit, along with her. She asked if she could hang out with us for the night while she made sure the fun fair ran without a hitch! She even gave us an extra punch card for games for each of the kiddos! How sweet was that?! I didn't mind since McKenzie and Eden are good friends, so they had a ball together!

First, we went to the cake walk and Cullan WON the very first cake!!! We all cheered for him but then he got very shy and didn't want to choose one. I chose one for him which was a green cake with a large spider on top and ran it out to the car so I didn't have to carry it all night long! We walked through the school playing the games, getting tattoos and jumping on the inflatables. They all were having so much fun!

The hockey game. The boys loved this one!

Eden playing a game.

Cullan playing the ring toss game.

We took a break to have pizza or hot dogs for dinner in the cafeteria. It was nice to get off of my feet for a bit! We did the cake walk again and this time... I WON! I've never won a cake at a cake walk! Oliver was the one that drew my number, too!!! HA! This time, Cullan wanted to choose the cake so I let him choose and we swapped cakes later! He chose a green one with spiders all over it! It was funny because Oliver's teacher, Mr. Galloway, made both of the cakes that we chose! ;o)

McKenzie and Eden during dinner. Goofy girls!

I still can't believe that I won a cake! I was like, "I'm cravin' me some cake tonight!!"

In one of the rooms they had a "Musical Petting Zoo" which the kids LOVED! They had an array of instruments laid out for the kids to try. They all loved trying the violins!!!

Oliver getting a mini violin lesson.

Eden trying it as well!

"Hey Mr. Tambourine Man... Play a song for me..."

Ollie trying to play... hehehe...

I'm glad that I was able to feel well enough to take them so they could have fun. I feel like they've been missing out on alot with me feeling crappy all of the time. I'm glad we went! It was a really fun night!

Eden (K) - Student of the Week - April 22, 2009

This is a poster that was hanging up in Mrs. Burk's room and

each student gets to fill out their favorite things!

Eden as one of the Students of the Week.

Me and my Eden!

Papa and Eden. Of course she wanted us to bring McDonald's for her special lunch!

Our family snapshot before she goes back to class!

PUMPKINLAND FIELD TRIP

Jaren and I went on Eden's Kindergarten field trip to Pumpkinland. I met up with them at the church. MAN... it was a really chilly day! Good thing they had stuff to do inside! They had an activity, cookies, a story, and games all at the church. Then we bundled up and went to see the animals and go on the coldest hay ride that I've ever been on!!!

After "Storytime" inside the church.

Sayde, Eden and another boy from her class eye to eye with the goats.

Eden and Sayde

A wild turkey. Get a load of Eden's face as she's pointing to it!

Eden getting cozy with her teacher, Mrs. Burk! It was a COLD hay ride!

August Rush

Jaren and his "Dart Cigar" which he loves!!!

"I LOVE TO READ!!!!!!!" I can just see how much he loves it in this sweet look on his face!

No... these are NOT capris or shorts. They happen to be Jaren's size 18 month jeans! I can't believe that he got them up AND buttoned!!! Ed and I were just dyin' laughing!

Such a sweet picture... they were watching Jaren's favorite cartoon, Barney, together. Jaren will be away from the TV and he will HEAR the song at the beginning and will crawl faster than a speeding bullet to see Barney. He then sits down and rocks back and forth, claps his hands and squeals with glee! It's HILARIOUS!

Our first time meeting Dexter, my new (step) nephew! (Lindsey's) He is SUCH A DOLL! He was born in July. Also, Owen welcomed his new baby brother, Evan (Rex's) to his family in June. I don't have pics of them yet! My kids just LOVE babies!

Above: Dexter and Eden

Below: Oliver and Dexter

Jaren taking a few steps at a time! It's so fun to watch him try to walk, then hobble and fall down. He just gets right back up and tries again!

The kids started school. Eden is now in Kindergarten and Oliver is in 2nd grade. I forgot to take the kids pictures before school. Eden's was taken after she got home and yes... I forgot to take Oliver's... I know... I know...

EWING / THOMPSON REUNION

Eagle Point Park

The last weekend in August is our family reunion on my mom's side of the family, specifically my grandmother's side. I was able to place people that I met with some of the families which I know of based on family history work. It was wonderful to have some questions answered and to hear in more depth what our ancestors were like. This was going to be the last one, but thankfully we are still going to be having this gathering for more years to come! Grandma was in the hospital, so she wasn't able to attend, but she was really where she needed to be. Katie, my cousin, and I pretty much represented the Young side of the family and helped to set up and take down food and whatnot. We had a great time!

FUN fair? I think not.

Okay... last night was the fun fair at Ollie and Eden's school and I must say that I was not very impressed. I know that it's not a high class, high income school, but I would suggest a few changes.

*First, the games... no prizes immediately after you play the game. No little candies or cheap costume jewels for the girls... nothing. (They can turn their card in at the end and pick a "bigger" toy, but it seemed like something was missing...)

**Second, the lollipop tree game... usually there is a cardboard cutout of a tree full of dum dum suckers. A child picks a sucker and if there is a mark on the bottom of the stick... they get an "extra" little prize. If it's just plain white... they keep the sucker and move to the next game. Well... they could ONLY keep the sucker if there was a mark on it. Eden didn't have a mark on hers and so she had to give the sucker BACK!!! She was broken hearted and started to cry! I'm like... WHAT!? C'mon people! Give the kids a little treat! Don't let them take it and give it back again!!! Craziness!

***Finally, I think it would be neat to have a "BOOK WALK"... like a cake walk, but obviously with... books. At a different fair I attended they had the kids write one sentence about their experience at the fair and then they could choose a book from a large table. WAY good idea!

****I'm on the school's PTO, so I will be commenting on these things at the next meeting! Of course there were good things, but some things need to be tweaked a bit!

I also volunteered for the last hour in the tattoo room! PRUNE FINGERS! I think it may be time to cut my fingernails because I believe that I was scaring some of the kids! I was putting a tattoo on a kids forehead and when I went to gently take the paper off, he kept inching away from my nails... like I was going to claw his face all up or something!!! It was too funny! I don't want to cut them because I am a nail biter by nature and if I cut them... I may start nibbling away at them again. Nasty habit, I know... I don't even realize when I'm doing it! Anywho... an interesting night.