Star Student

Guess who got picked to be Star Student this week?!  Yes ma'am, it's our favorite 6 year old!  He was SO excited when he got chosen for Mrs. Garner's class.  They do a little pep rally in the first grade hallway and each teacher takes turns telling which student they have chosen for the week.  They even go into detail, telling the reasons the kids have been picked and what great work and behavior they've seen them exhibiting at school.  It's such a wonderful motivation tool.

We updated his poster from last year and he took it to school on Monday to share.  Tuesday he brought his favorite book, Brothers at Bat, about a real baseball team made-up of only brothers.  The kids loved it, I heard.  Wednesday he got to take something from his favorite place that he'd been.  He really couldn't decide, so he took his sand globe from Florida and his snow globe from Colorado.  Thursday he took his favorite toy--nightvision binoculars.  And today all his classmates wrote why they like him.  His teacher bound all of the papers and created a book for him to bring home.  So cool!

Jackson, your daddy and I are very proud of you for so many reasons.  You are an outstanding student and as your teacher told me a few weeks ago, "you are a pleasure to have in class."  You make me proud every day by always doing your best, trying hard to succeed in everything you do and being a kind person who thinks about others.  I love you.  Your daddy loves you.  More than you'll ever know. 
You are our Year Round Star!

Around Town

A few things I missed in our crazy, busy, beautiful life.  

We all got together at Gloria's and had a big celebration for Aunt Lyndsie's 25th birthday.  Lila got to sit right next to the birthday girl and was in hog heaven all night.
 

We took dad up on his fun idea to go enjoy the park one gorgeous afternoon.  The girls brought their bikes and J brought his ball and glove. 

Too bad these pictures paint a completely different scene than was our reality.  After encountering the smallest of small hills, Lila hopped off her bike and refused to get back on.  This caused some crying from her, begging and pleading from me, all to no avail.  She would hear nothing of getting back on that bike.  Instead, she said we could push her bike all the way around the pond.  Now doesn't that sound like fun?!  After trying for at least 45 minutes, we just packed it up and went home.  Womp, womp, womp!  Hopefully we will have better luck next time:)

Last Tuesday, I joined my mom and her Aunt Ruth for Meme's birthday celebration at Pappasito's.  We did it up right, too!  Tableside guacamole, margaritas all around and a brownie sundae for dessert.  Too bad I didn't get to have a rita myself.  They sure looked good!

Why should the big kids have all the fun at school?  We took Lila, Sawyer, Carter and Temple to Kid Mania last week for some good times.  They played in the jungle gym a while and then had a blast riding these rinky dink little rides.  Who knew 50 cents could be so fun?

And finally, my sweet friend Emily had her baby girl a few days ago and I got to visit them in the hospital.  Yay!  Baby girls are so very precious.  I can't wait for ours to arrive!!

That catches us up a little bit.  There have also been many, many birthday parties in the mix too.  Lots of fun with friends for sure.  Our kids are starting to think the weekend is not complete without going to a few birthday parties. 

Goal!!!

On Saturday morning we headed over to the soccer fields to cheer on Maddie and the Cheetah Girls.  Lila wore her best "Girls Rule" shirt and was Madison's tallest supporter for sure.

We knew that Maddie had been practicing, but we had no idea how much it had helped her until she scored two goals in a row.

That quickly changed to three goals in a row and we were beyond excited for her!

A few quarters later and she was now scoring her 5th goal of the day.  Amazing!

Two very proud cousins.  Jackson was so impressed with her that he called both of their great-grandparents right when we got in the car, and told them all about her awesomeness on the field.

The Cheetah Girls won big.  Way to go, #10!  You rocked that game!

Field Day - Fall 2013

For some unknown reason I agreed to co-chair Field Day at Jackson's school this year.  Really, I think it was a moment of weakness and Field Day sounded much more fun than being in charge of "Ways and Means," whatever that is.  I was also thinking that I signed up to do something that would be in May 2014, so it sounded even better!  Imagine my surprise, then, when I got an email this past June telling me that Field Day was going to be moved to September 27th THIS year due to construction on the school this coming spring.  Thrilled, I was not.  Another piece to this fun little puzzle is that I was newly pregnant and queasy pretty much 24 hrs a day.  I was not on my A game by any stretch.  Fast forward a few months and a friend of mine agreed to do it with me.  And then she really took the reigns in August and things started moving right along.  Thank goodness for Rebecca is all I can say! 

We really had a fantastic response from all of the parents.  We needed about 75 volunteers for the morning and shift and 75 more for the afternoon in order to allow the kids to play all 38 games.  The parents came through big time and we had plenty of help.  I also owe a big shout out to my own hubby and dad for getting there at 6am to set-up yesterday morning.  They met three other men and had everything all set up by the time J and I got there at 6:45.  And it was dark, y'all!  By the time the kids got out there at 8:15, everything was on schedule and we were good to go.   Whew!

I didn't get to watch Jackson do too many games, but I did catch him playing box hockey.

He and Liam were Field Day Buddies.  Good grief he looks huge!

They had so much fun, especially doing the two-headed race--and they even came in first!

Jackson also loved team tug-of-war.  His team of Ryan, Ben, Gage and Rachel tried so hard.  They lost both times, but they had some serious game faces on the whole time!

That is determination if ever I've seen it.

Mrs. Garner with her cool first graders.

The next team competition was the three-legged race.  Jackson and Gage started out really well...

even making this sweet three-legged jump look easy...

but on the way to the finish line something went awry!  J did the splits and Gage forged ahead!

They played a few more team games and then came over to enjoy some Bahama Bucks snowcones.

It was a great day for all of us.  Jackson told me it was the most fun school day of the year.  Jared loved participating in something with his son.  And I was just so relieved that all the madness was over!  Mark it down--Field Day Sept. 2013: A huge success!!

Baby Love

Last week we went for another sonogram to make sure that Baby Girl Hays was doing great and was indeed a little girl.  We were so much happier with this sonogram and how thorough it was, especially compared to the first.  They really took their time measuring her brain, abdomen and femur.  She was measuring just one day ahead of schedule with the exception of her legs.  Those babies were a full week ahead!  Looks like she may take after her long-legged brother and sister.

They were also able to show us her stomach, diaphram and kidneys, and then zoom in on her heart.  We could see all four chambers working perfectly--every parents' hope.  We also learned that she weighs 1 lb. 2 oz. and is about 10 inches long right now.  So cool to think she's already that big.  My favorite part, though, was at the end of the scan when she was so sleepy and gave us a big yawn.  Precious!  Thank you, God, for continuing to bless us with healthy children.  We will continue to pray every day that our sweet baby girl grows stronger over the next few months. 

Tell me when...

this guy started looking like he was ready to head off to high school?!

And when this little girl got big enough to do carpool?  Think she likes it?!!  Makes my day every time I pick her up and see how excited she is to hop in my car and tell me all about her great day at school.

Little League Mania!

Little League Mania!

A few days ago Jackson and the Cubs Blue got to play his friend Gage and the Cubs White.  Gage's dad has an amazing camera and used to do sports photography.  He took so many cool shots of J and we are really thankful.  Here's my favorite #32 in action.

He takes his job at first base really seriously.

And is all business when he steps up to the plate, too!

Windup and...

swing!  He hit a double staight up the middle.  Who hoo!

Love this one.

The kid loves to field grounders...

and catch fly balls, too.  Holding his tounge out really helps to make the play.

Gunning it to the third baseman...

and making the out at first base are some of his favorite things to do.

I love this kid.

He tried to make the play at home plate...I don't think it worked, but it was a great try.

No matter what happens on the field, this Cub gives it his all, and that's all we can really ask for. 
Go #32!!  We couldn't be more proud if we tried.