End of the school year fun

It's a bit fuzzy....it's a fuzzy caterpillar....made out of Oreo cookies and eaten by Madi's class on the last day of school. Some gummy worms were slithering around too.

Ben and Madi made these yummy posters to give their teachers on the last day of school.

There they are early in the morning getting ready to head out for one last day of school.

Our neighborhood pool opened up last week. One day after school we headed down there and had the whole pool to ourselves for a bit. The pool is only 6 houses down from ours and it's one of our favorite things about living here!

It's been about a week

Steve left last Tuesday so we have made it through our first week....I think the first few days are always the hardest...and the kids and I agree we have done good.

I had fun working on some crafts this weekend. Last week I bought the cutest paper with rainboots on it. Fitting given our weather this past week...and I am even married to a weather forecaster. I love the saying on these 'Rainbows apologize for angry skies'.

Now I am really excited about this!!! I have been craving to quilt something with bright colors. And I did it! I did all of it. I did the quilting and my very own binding...it's not nearly as hard as I thought.

I put a bright color on the back too.

He's gone

Steve got shipped out to Iraq yesterday. We are praying for his safe return by Thanksgiving.

So on Monday night...Steve's last night here....we hit the ballpark.

Turner Field is very family oriented...on the upper deck there is a fun place for the kids to play. They have bases set up so the kids can run what the distance is between home plate and first base. See Madi flying by. At the front of the ballpark they have a huge Cartoon Network play house.

Ben took a break from running the bases to watch the game.

You have to get some boiled peanuts! This is Atlanta, Georgia.

What a fun last night

we had with our dad! I can't wait until Steve gets home around Thanksgiving...it will still be football season then.

A rainy but fun filled weekend

Since Steve is leaving this week(trying-to-keep-calm) for his deployment to Iraq, we are trying to fit in as much fun as we can. This weekend we thought we would sneak in another visit to Six Flags, but as you can see it was a little wet so we didn't stay very long. Steve is going to miss Madi's birthday next month and she really wanted a real soccer jersey, so Steve drove us to the Soccer store. And there it was....a real Mia Hamm jersery. With Ben's birthday just passing he is loaded so he bought himself a David Beckham one. After all that Madi's blood sugar was getting low and the rest of us just wanted some good food so we hit Dave and Buster's. I even got the chance to run into the scrapbook store and picked up the cutest new paper with rainboots on it....perfect to use to document this rainy fun filled weekend.

There are the boys!

There they are in their new threads....guess what they want to wear to school tomorrow.

Bacon Breadsticks and more crafts

Last week at ben's birthday party I made these yummy treats. Now I don't usually measure so here is an estimate:


1 can Pillsbury breadsticks
12 slices bacon
1 cup brown sugar
1TBSP chili powder

Mix brown sugar and chili powder together on a plate. Wrap bacon around breadsticks. Roll in sugar mixture. Bake at 400 degrees until browned...YUMMO!

Okay since monogramming is the thing, I thought the name of your city and state would be too. I made these for the plumtree... this weekend is the Geranium Festival.

My friend amber always gets my creative juices flowing...the other day she shared a card with circles on it and it gave me an idea.

New Georgia clothes and Six Flags

I bought this Georgia fabric a while ago and finally the other night I sat down and made Madi her outfit she wanted...some new Georgia clothes. I also sewed some ribbon around a $3 Walmart tee and made her a ribbon for her hair to complete the look. This is what she wore the other night downtown to the Atlanta Hawks game....her dad carried her on his shoulders with pride.

My family gave us season tickets to Six Flags for Christmas and we are loving them! Above Madi is starring at the Scream Machine trying to decide if she wants to go on it...and at age 6 she did it...see it in the picture below.

Ben and Madi are in awe of their dad because he actually went on the Georgia Scorcher and the Goliath...not me that's for sure.

NBA Playoffs and SAGE

Here we are downtown on the CNN deck heading into the game. Remember that tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta last spring...look at those windows in the Westin still waiting to get fixed correctly.

While Steve was at the ticket window I took this shot of the kids in front of the CNN sign out front.

It was such a good game. The Hawks lost but at least they gave the Cavs a run for their money. The Arena was pumped and full of energy which is so fun. Anytime LeBron James had the ball he would shoot for 3 pts. and make it...and everyone chanted MVP....he is this years NBA MVP. Even though we were rooting for the Hawks we couldn't help being amazed and enjoyed seeing him in action.

This morning while in the car rider line dropping the kids off at school, one of the ladies from the office was waving me down with an envelope. Inside the envelope was this paper and some confetti...Ben got into SAGE...Special Activities in Gifted Education. Plus his teacher called me today to let me know...I am so proud of him.

Todays teacher gift and my new $8 umbrella!!!

Today the kids took baskets of homemade cookies into their teachers adorned with a vintage postcard. Tomorrow they are taking in this cute little plant with the "Thank you for helping me grow" tag.

Today I went to The Plum Tree to drop off some cards I had made and to check out what Cindy had gotten on her shopping trip. I was stunned at all these old umbrellas she had hanging from the ceiling...I had to have one and hung mine here at home. It's definitely my new favorite thing and only $8!!!

I am off to watch the wedding on Grey's Anatomy and then to bed...I am subbing in Kindergarten tomorrow.

Teacher gifts

Since this week is Teacher Appreciation Week I thought I would share what I am sending in with my kids each day. Monday they took in dressed-up morning coffee.

Here is what they took yesterday.

The top 10 lists were hits last year so I thought we should do them again today...another hit.

Ben's #2 thing he wanted for his birthday was an Atlanta Hawks jersey. His #1 wish was a LeBron James jersey and thanks to his Nana who searched high and low in cyberspace and spent a small fortune, he got one. All just in time for the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs who are those 2 teams. And to top that, Steve got us tickets to Game 3 in the NBA playoffs...Saturday, Hawks against the Cavs so look for us on TV...should be fun...since it's already into round 2 Atlanta and the fans are pumped up.

Here is Ben this morning strutting his LeBron James jersey and his new LeBron James shoes.

Ben is 9!

I can't believe my Ben is nine! We had a family party with the beloved cousins, aunts and uncles and Steve's mom came yet again from Savannah. Ben didn't want a regular cake so I made a Rice Krispie one.

Here are the kids playing school in Madi's room. Ms. Deedee is the teacher. Ms. Deedee had to send Ben to the Principles office...at least they were all having fun.

There was a slumber party too! Everyone tried to read to settle down. It was a fun fun celebration for Ben.