T.G.I.F.

I think I am most looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow!!! Only 5 more days of work after today...the kiddo's are HYPER!! (and I am itching to start packing up that room! ha!) But, I worked yesterday and Wednesday doing my records, which is the worst part of closing out school, and I got that done. Check that off the list!
Last night, I finished my kids end-of-the-year scrapbooks. I am giving them to them today. I hope they love 'em!

Thank goodness tonight is scrap night! woo-hoo!

And, Kevin has a big BBQ catering this weekend, so wish us luck!

Wordless Wednesday: Racing pony style

The Shed that Dad built...

Dad came on Friday after he got off work (about 4 or 4:30 in the afternoon) and we got right to work. Progress for day 1 doesn't look like much, but we have a very unlevel backyard and had to get it level. So, Friday night, Dad and I got the tedious part out of the way:

Saturday (day 2), we had more help. Kevin and my neighbor both helped us or rather helped Dad. I kept everyone in liquids - it was HOT! - and tried to anticipate which tool they would need next...Dad is awesome! We had the frame built and floors done in no time. Then we moved on to the walls.
Check out what it looked like by the end of day 2: (PROGRESS!)
Day 3 (Sunday) was the hardest part in my opinion and absolutely nothing that Kevin or I have any knowledge in at ALL! Kevin had to work and my Dad wouldn't say it, but I'm sure he was tired of working with us novice home improvement folks who really don't know what we are doing (ha), so he went and got my Bubby! The two of them spent all day doing the roof. And, they did a great job b/c last night it poured and no leaks! :-)
Day 4 (Monday), Dad and I got up and basically all we had left was the door...Kevin and I will finish up the trim and paint it to match the house once I am done with school...so here she is for now ~ what do you think? I love it!!
On Monday, we let Kevin do what he does best and cook for everyone that helped. We had everyone back over for lunch and promised the work was done so they would show! ha! How do you like that "stick" he found to keep the fire stoked?
And, the ribs were DELICIOUS!
A huge thank you to everyone that helped and a BIG, BIG thank you to my Dad! You are the best!!!

Weekend...

**I won't be posting for a few days b/c my Dad is here helping us build a storage building, and I doubt he would appreciate me taking breaks to blog! ha! But I did want to let everyone know that the child in my class got help!!! Yay!! We were determined, and the mom is having counseling and parenting classes. Thank you for your prayers and let them continue because now she is not in her home and probably nervous for very different reasons, but she is safe!

Have a good Memorial Weekend!

Venting

I really wonder WHY we have agencies in place to help children when they don't do anything!!!??? Anyone have that answer...seriously! I have taught for 10 years now and unfortunately have seen some serious abuse and not ONCE have I seen DHS help these kids. They trust us as teachers and counselors when they come to us - it takes alot of courage for these kids to tell what they do and then I feel like we let them down b/c all we can do is call DHS and they don't do anything! I have had kids beat with extension cords, hit in the face with belt buckles, and beat with whelps all over their backs ... and they send them right back home to "investigate" - which from what I can tell, means nothing!!! I know that some of parents are young or just need some parenting classes, but some are just child abusers - flat out! I mean, who thinks it's ok to beat or spank with a freakin' extension cord? I know one child who was beat with one and tried to crawl under the bed to get away and was pulled out by his feet to get beat more...and nothing happened!
So - to answer some of your questions about 'did it get reported?' Yes, it was reported. Keep in mind that this child was beat FOR TELLING US and DHS calling....so if you get it for telling when you know DHS is watching or "investigating", then why send her home again??? Obviously, your "investigating" doesn't intimidate this woman or maybe she realizes it doesn't matter b/c they aren't going to do anything anyway! URGH!
I have literally had my heart ripped out two days in a row sending this child to get on the bus and back into this situation. She gets sick to her stomach right before school is out - nerves I am sure. I cannot imagine what she is going home to...I'm sure I would be sickened. I just want to bring her home with me, but there is nothing we can do except keep bugging DHS to help her.
So - please keep praying for her. Pray for her to be safe and that we are able to get some help for her soon!!

Wordless Wednesday: Who is listening?

Prayers needed...

I firmly believe in the power of prayer and right now I have a student who needs them. She has been abused by her mom (I can't go into much detail), but today her mom told her that she didn't love her anymore and didn't want her. She told her she wouldn't pick her up from school, and she would probably have to go live in foster care. PLEASE pray for this student that she safe tonight. PLEASE!

Projects...

The start of the 12x10 storage building...Kevin's little blue truck got a work-out today pulling this lumber and the BIG trailer the lumber yard let us borrow. Whew - we have never been so relieved to pull into the driveway. It was a nerve-wracking ride home!!

And here is Kevin's big project ~ the garden:
It looks good but a squirrel or rabbit declared the start of a war last night and got TWO tomato plants....but we will win this war - LOOK OUT CRITTERS!

Weekend Stuff

Friday was Field Day at school. The kids had a blast!! Can't you see it on the faces?

This was my first field day at this school, so I didn't know what to expect. I shouldn't have been surprised at the organization and parent support, but I'm still in awe b/c it's so different than what I've had the past 9 years of teaching! The parents brought drinks and snacks, and we had organized fun competitions all day. My class came in last for 3rd grade, but we still had fun. The only competition we won was the tug-of-war...but you would've thought they won the whole thing! ha! This picture was taken immediately after tug-of-war:On Saturday, Kevin and I headed out for the horse show a bit early to hit flea markets along the way. We had a great day!! I love spending the day with my man! :-) We had a good lunch and finally found a great old flea market that we plan to go back and explore further. We both got a treasure though...I scored a hand-made birdhouse and Kevin got an air BB gun pistol to shoot the squirrels that get into his garden! ha! I had to give him some rules -no worries! :-)

Of course, after all that, we made it to the horse show where we were the rest of the night with Kevin oogling the cowgirls and I, the cowboys - ha! It was fun and my niece is just getting better and better!
Here she is with "Grandma" - these two are two peas in a pod!
We spent today working around the yard and getting ready for a busy week ahead...PTA meetings, graduation, getting lumber for the construction of the storage building next weekend (hopefully), add in all that end-of-year school stuff and I am going to try my best to NOT get stressed...it will all get done..repeat after me...it will all get done! LOL!

So much to smile about...

• My fish get to go back in their pond tomorrow!
• I got a brand new dry erase board in my classroom today! yippee!!
• Tomorrow is Friday!! Thank goodness!
• Grey's Anatomy is on tonight!
• Kevin doesn't have to work ALL weekend (it's been awhile!).
• I have 15 workdays left until summer vacation!

Wordless Wednesday

Panty Race

Did the title grab your attention? LOL! And no, Kevin is not involved - ha! I am heading to the ball park in a bit to watch my niece, Tayhlor, play softball. So, I give you my other niece, Autumn, in a panty race at the horse show on Saturday...you gotta watch. It only takes about 20 seconds. They race out to the barrel and pick a pair of panties from the box, put them on, and race back. You should see some of the cowboys doing it - FUNNY stuff! Enjoy!

My weekend (the short version)

Friday night went something like this: Kevin and I worked on the pond and tried not to kill each other. Seriously!

Saturday, we burned up the roads in opposite directions. He delivered two caterings in two different towns, and I drove to Pleasant Plains for a horse show. We literally passed each other on the interstate coming and going. Then, later that day (about 6ish), we both were headed home in tornado weather. Kevin saw a funnel cloud that was probably the tornado that hit Stuttgart...these tornado's are getting out of hand. Then he heard on the radio that there was a possible touch-down of a tornado on the road right by our house. Short version of a long night ~ once we arrived "home", we couldn't get home b/c a tree had fallen across the ONLY road leading to our neighborhood. There is a cemetary on the other side of the road, so us along with several of our neighbors hung out in the cemetary blaring country music and talking and going crazy from boredom for over 3 hours!!! The rescue crews & fireman (yep, firemen ~ I had to behave Kevin was there! ha!) were there but there was a powerline wrapped around the tree, so the big wait was on the electric company. urgh!

Sunday, I was exhausted all day and tried my best to get caught up around the house. How does laundry never end? Someone please tell me! I spent Saturday with my momma, and she was busy going to the Carrie Underwood concert (go on hate on her for it! ha!). She said it was awesome. Josh Turner opened up for her (another yummy ~ ha!)

Hope all you Momma's had a great Mom's day! :-)

Happy Mother's Day Mom!!

I am so grateful that I had a young Mom! I know I didn't realize how cool you were at the time, but I do now.
I am grateful for all that you did for us and gave us. We may not have been rich, but we didn't want for anything. You let us have guinea pigs, birds, ferrets, dogs, and eventually cats and horses ~ not all Mom's would do that! That doesn't even include the above ground swimming pool (remember that?), the pool table when we moved to the country, and the speed boat and camper that we lived in all summer. Camping with family and skiing all summer are some of my favorite childhood memories. Thank you for that! You gave me my love of animals and camping ~ for that I will always be grateful!!
How in the world you stood me during my teenage years, I will never know...but I am glad that you did and we are past those years. I just hope my future kids do not pay me back someday - ha! I did not understand why you were so strict, and as an adult, now I know and understand. It is a scary world to let your kids loose in...we just don't see it when we are young. Thank you for being strict - even though I didn't like it at the time.
Thank you for just being you and always there. I am sorry that you have to worry about me and Bubby so much even as adults. But, that is what makes you a great Mom! And, we love you for it!!
Thanks for the Hot Springs trips to the races every year...the concerts (I think every concert in my entire life has been with you except maybe two or three - ha!)...so, thanks for your taste in music too!...thanks for being such an awesome grandma to Autumn...thanks for being my Mom!

Love you heaps!!

A challenge or a dare of sorts...

Mrs. Laskigal over at From the Cheap Seats has offered up a challenge (or dare some might say) to post your old prom pictures! Now, I love a good dare ... or is it a good laugh? So, I am meeting her challenge and want to see who else will do it too - come on! I got to laughing just digging for these pics! So, I am not posting one, not two, but three! I would probably do more, but the one I found of Kevin is in the scrapbook! (of course)

Ok...here is my Jr. Year Prom taken with the girls ~ I had the same date both years, so you can see that next...I mean, what was I thinking with that big, boofy hair? hee-hee! (I'm in the red dress -in case you couldn't find the hair!) And, my Sr. Year picture before we left the house...notice my parents got out the wicker chair for the professional look (hee-hee!). And, at least I pulled my hair up this time...whew! Oh, what I wouldn't give to still have those legs! It's sickening! Lastly, two very special friends of mine and me before the Sr. prom ~ I am posting this so they will cringe when they see it b/c they read ~ they just don't comment! And this ladies, is what you get for not commenting! (insert evil laugh) And can you tell they are twins? Christie and Amy - love ya!

Wordless Wednesday ~ The Pony Club

Teacher Talk...

Today I turned in my last interim reports for the year and had my last grade level meeting. Yesterday, we got our end-of-the year check-out packets and instructions. I also had my end of the year evaluation with my principal (I was super happy with it...didn't know what to expect with this being my first year at this school). The school year is winding down...I am ready for summer, but not ready to let this group of kids go - even if they are very talkative and hyper right now! ha! I know I get too attached to my kiddo's every year, but I am really attached to this group. They have such neat personalities and are a great group of kids. I could go on and on, but I won't. Instead, I'll ask you to cross your fingers that tomorrow they control themselves and their talking while we are on a field trip. We are going to see a Ramona play and hopefully have a picnic at the park after if it doesn't rain!!! FINGERS & TOES CROSSED!

**Ideas please:
Also, we are working on books that we are making our Mom's for Mother's Day this week. Any other cool and cheap (I'm broke) ideas? I may do coasters again like last year - Lindsey is full of ideas and helped me out last year. Got any new ones this year? I know you are doing something neat...share! ha!

Rewind (Part 2)

Ok...to continue on with the "catch up"...Thursday night was the front porch drama...followed by a long day on Friday (with the storm that killed my pond! ha!) Aside from dealing with a bipolar parent (literally, not being sarcastic), it was a good day. If I could share the parent story and somehow make it make sense, I would, but I am still confused on how it got so out of control. Who can possibly be upset when given a chance to bring up an F for FULL credit and the teacher even offering to keep your child after school to do it over with her???? But, I have let that go...really, I have...ha! Some people are impossible to please. So, the good part about Friday was the school carnival. It made for a long day staying after school until 7:30, but it was fun. Kevin came too, and we lost our bids in the silent auction. But, that's ok b/c we can't pay for it anyway! ha! Both of my nieces came too, and it was nice seeing them run around with kids in my room and having fun!

So, it was Saturday morning before I discovered the pond. I didn't have time to really do anything about it but add some water for the fish, because we had a full day. First, we headed to Conway to watch my cousin's little boy play in his first T-ball game. HE IS PRECIOUS! After the game, (which was hilarious & oh, so cute), we piddled around town until Kevin had to go to work. Kevin's sister and nephews are about to move to Conway, so we checked out their new place. I should've snapped a pic. It was really nice. After depressing ourselves by looking at a house, we could never afford, we went and stuffed ourselves for lunch! LOL! Then, I dropped Kevin off at work and headed to Newport for the horse show...are you sensing the amount of gas that was used on Saturday? Let's just say, in one day, a full tank, yep, $60!! CRAZY! I hate these gas prices!

But it was worth it, check out Miss Autumn now riding in the gaited shows, and she won 2nd place in this one:

We need to get her some fancy belts and stuff now. She won a ribbon for every event she was in except for 2 - she broke pattern in the barrels this week. :-( But she still did a great job! And, it was fun watching her make a bunch of new friends!

Let's Rewind...

...to about Thursday...then, I can guide you through the past 3 days of many up's and down's! Whew...it's been a crazy few days. Let's start with the project from you-know-where (that was suppose to be easy and take an hour!) Here is the before picture of our front porch:The builder didn't use pre-treated lumber and it was rotting, so we had to replace it. Most of the neighbors had already done theirs unless they moved in after me. So, my next door neighbor said it took him about an hour - no biggie. (heehee) Well, my niece was over and between her and Kevin, demolition was done in like 5 minutes and we were off to a great start! Maybe Tayhlor should've stuck around b/c the bad luck started after she left! Here they are ready to demo the porch!
Thank God for good neighbors or we would've been in BIG trouble!! Our next door neighbor stuck it out with us until 10 o'clock at night getting the new columns up. Turns out, we had to cut all 3 of them. When he did his, he only had to cut one ~ which is why it only took him an hour and us over 3 hours!!! Jeez! But we got it done! (and you know on a school night, 10 o'clock is past my bedtime! ha!)
Here is the after picture for now ~ we are going to get rid of all the big bushes and re-landscape later on...now because the storm the following day didn't hurt the new columns - they are still standing, but...my pond, well...
...that's another story! So, as you can see we have an unexpected project that we weren't counting on and have to hurry up and do so my fish don't die! urgh! On the positive side, this pond was never really installed right and drove me crazy b/c it wasn't level. I had threatened every year to rip it up and re-do it. Now, I got my wish! LOL! (the storm winds knocked the pump over somehow and it pumped all the water out of the pond and under it! Good times!)
I'll finish all the rest of the drama and good times tomorrow! :-)

Come on ~ go look!

You gotta go here today for my post!! I am so proud of my kids! (And, Kevin and I just finished up a huge household project and I'm out of energy ~ can't post it twice! ha!)

More later....