It's Summertime!!!! YES!!!!!

It's summertime! Yes, I am soooo excited! I have never been one of these mom's who doesn't like having the kids home. I love being around them! I love getting up each day and filling it with what WE want to do! The pictures below are the end of the year AWANA's swimming party at Brown's Pool. After Aaron, near death experience at the pool last weekend, he would get in the deep water to save his life. Last year he went off the high dive and down the giant slide a bunch. This time he stayed in the kiddie end of the pool even though he had a life jacket on. Jared on the other hand learned to do a 360 rotation in the air jumping off the low diving board and showed no fear. Caleb kept his long running tradition of being the first one off the high dive at each party he goes to. They had a blast and we really had a great turn out. I bet we had 75 kids show up. It was great.

I finished with the end of the year school parties. They were mostly uneventful. Jared and Aaron did great but the awards presentations were kind of boring. I really thought they might do some type of recognition for him not missing a spelling word all year long but, it wasn't mentioned! That's one of the things I don't care for about our school system. You kill yourself all year and then you don't get a lot for it. I don't know. He was the top AR reader with 95 points in his second grade class but, they just said he was in the top 5 because they didn't want to hurt anyones feelings!!!!! I guess I get it but come on! I'm not bitter at all am I! Hee Hee No really it's not a big deal. Jared didn't even know he was top reader. No one had told him.

Anyway, we are getting ready for next week. The boys get to go to Camp St. Luke with me. Caleb and I will teach and Jared and Aaron get to go. They will do rec, cooking, science, music, and crafts. I think they will have a blast. We also had dentist appointments and Caleb first orthodontist appointment since he got his braces on. His teeth are already sooooo straight. I am amazed!!!!! He has only had them on for a month! I know that Aaron has a cavity in one of his baby teeth. I can see a little dark spot! It's going to take 5 or 6 people to hold him down to get a shot in his mouth! I know that they won't do it on Wednesday so I'll have a couple of weeks to get together a team! Any volunteers?????? Hee Hee

Well, I had better go move dirt. We are working on getting a spot level to put the pool up again this year. The boys have been "helping" me. Brian is roofing a house for some of our church members today. Mainly, I have been yelling "be careful" "dont hit your brother with the shovel" "watch out with the hoe"!!!!!!!! Pray for us!

Love Ya,

JJ

What's been up with us....

I am truly amazed on how much stuff I can fit into my life right now. I sometimes wonder if I get everything done that I say I do or am I just dreaming it all up. Last Friday was my last day at work until the summer camp starts up again. I will teach on Tuesday and Thursday in June and then will get to take off for 3 months. Yippee!!!! My kids had a blast at water day and the last day of school. I got lots of cool presents from all my kids (a BIG perk of the job) really can't believe I won't see them all summer. I love the job I have right now. It fits in so perfectly with my boys schedule and I'm always home when they are. I love that!
Update from my last blog... Caleb was honored with a Lee Leader Award which is for finishing with a 90 or above average for the year. He missed getting in the top 10 percent of his class by 2 points. I think he was disappointed at this but, I am in AWE. We are talking around 350 kids in the 6th grade! I am so proud of everything he has accomplished this year! OH and the biggest news ......HE RECEIVED A COMMENDED PERFORMANCE ON MATH AND READING on this years TAKS test!!!!!! It cost us two trips to the ice cream place, two packs of trading cards, and a trip to the movies but it was worth every penny!!!! We always have him pick out treats before he takes the test so he has something to shoot for and work hard for! He did great!!!!!
Jared and Aaron both have end of the year stuff going on this week and will get awards in school. I know they did great and I don't have to worry about anything they do. Jared has a 100 average for the year in spelling. He never missed a spelling word all year long! That's including the spelling sentences they threw at us and learning to write in cursive. I'm proud of him!
The kids just finished our AWANA year at church. Each one of the boys won an award for finishing their AWANA books. Aaron did his whole book, then went back over it for a review award and then finished another workbook also. He is amazing at memorizing scripture! Jared finished two books this year and won a big ribbon for all his hard work. Caleb won a trophy for completing his second AWANA book. They worked really hard and did awesome! I have truly amazing kids!!!!
I am busy working on Children's Camp 2008. We will spend 3 days and 2 nights at camp. I have to coordinate everything and try and get it all together. I am not panicking yet but the time with come very soon when I will!!!!! The boy's can't wait to go. Aaron is still on year shy of going and will spend the time at Camp MeMaw! She has promised a trip to the zoo for him and he is so excited! Well, I had better run. We spent today with our friends Pam and Greg. The kids swam and we kicked back and relax. After we strapped Aaron and Jared in life jackets!!!!

Oh on that note! Aaron's guardian angel did overtime duty this weekend. I was at a graduation for one of the girls at our church, and Brian took the kids to Jared's end of the season swim party for soccer. It was at a Swim Club here in town. Brian was talking to the coach and watching the boys swim. He looked up and noticed Mr. Aaron was missing from the shallow end of the pool. Brian thinks...."surely he didn't cross the ropes and go into the deep end". So he walked around to the deep end to find the LIFEGUARD pulling Aaron out of the water after he jumped off the diving board! Brian said his heart was beating 100 miles and hour. He asked him "why did you go over there when I told you not too." Aaron's answer, " you didn't tell me I WOULD DROWN"! OH my gosh!!!!!!!! What am I going to do with that child! Praise Jesus that the lifeguard was watching and that he made it out! He took about 10 years off mine and Brian's life with that stunt!!! Needless to say, we are strapping him into a life jacket from now on!!!!!

Much love to all!!!!
JJ

Caleb's Band Concert

Hey guys here is a sample of what Caleb can do! He played the his final band concert last night. This piece is called the "Sound and the Fury". It's one of the ones he played at the competition in Greenwood where they earned a superior rating. Next year he will get to MARCH with the band. I'll be sure that you all know when and where! I can't wait! Well, I'm off to his awards presentation at school. He won something but who knows what yet! I'll let you know soon.

Love you all,

JJ

It's My Birthday!!!!

Caleb's 6th grade band gets set up to play. Caleb is in there somewhere!

Caleb getting ready for his first band trip. They made a Superior Rating at the Greenwood music festival. Can you see his braces????? They have orange and blue bands.

Hey guys it's my birthday! I officially 38 years young today and had a blast! I had to do all the usual thing today...work...church... all the same Wednesday stuff but I had a great birthday. Mainly, I think it was because I was around so many people and they all had great birthday wishes and presents!!!! I got a new camera from Brian and the kids, a new coffee mug, a watch, gift cards, a tanning gift card, money, new clothes and some other great things. It was a great day! Brian and the boys bought me a double chocolate cake. Jared tried to sneak it into the house but Aaron lasted about 2 minutes before busting out with the secret, "We got you a cake with I love you Mom written on it". That boy can't keep a secret to save his life! (He's my favorite! Hee Hee No, not really) It's just too funny watching him try to keep it and then busting at the seams and finally blabbing the whole thing!

Well, school and AWANA's and my work are all wrapping up and causing me to have a nervous breakdown. I will finish up work next week so that means I am working on 6 mini scrapbooks for my kids. I have 2 down and 6 left. The kids are a lot of fun and I have really enjoyed this job. I love getting out and talking to the parents and other coworkers. I love getting to be home when the boys get out of school and getting the same holidays they do. I will work Tuesday and Thursday's during the month of June at Camp St. Luke and then will be off work for the rest of the summer. The boys get to go to work with me for free ( they will have like a mini VBS lesson thing going on) and Caleb will help me in my room with the 2 year olds. They are looking forward to going to Mommy's school!

School is also coming to an end. You would think that after the TAKS test, which we still don't know the results of, that Caleb would be taking it easy! You would be wrong of course! He has had math homework every night, a major project in history, a major project in English and all the same old tests! Give me a break!!!! Jared and Aaron are still plugging along with the homework also but, now they have added field trips/baseball game fieldtrips/game days/water days/and end of the year celebrations. I have been at their school more than I have been at home lately! I am chasing my tail and wonder if I am going to start passing myself coming and going!

AWANA's wrapped up tonight! All of the boys completed a book this year and will be getting an award at the big award party next week. In case you are wondering a book is divided into about 8 sections, each section has about eight checkpoint, each checkpoint has about 2 memory verses/bible stories/fill in the blanks to it. That means to pass a section you have to memorize about 16 verses of scripture. So that means they have to memorize about 128 scriptures to finish a book! NOW you understand why we are very proud of them!!!!!

Besides, all the above stuff going on I am also working on a girls lock-in at church for this weekend. I hav 24 girls (ages 1st-6th grade) spending the night at the church. All the boys are going on a campout at the state park. I have sense enough to pick the place with indoor plumbing! I'm also trying to get stuff for camp ready and VBS later on in July!

Oh well, you can't say that I'm not staying busy! Maybe, all this activity will keep me young! I know it won't keep me skinny! Maybe, I should start working with the senior adults so I could eat smaller meals and go to bed early!!!!!! HMMMMMMMMM!!!!!

Love to all,

JJ

Good Morning

Hey guys how are all of you? We are doing great. Jared is on the mend from a round of strep throat but thank goodness no one else caught it. He started complaining on Saturday morning about his throat hurting. I looked at it (which by the way my husband always makes fun of me for doing this. He thinks all sore throats look alike. NOT) and it really looked weird. Streaks of red, swollen and yucky. Now, I have never had one of mine have strep so I didn't have a clue what it was. I have him Motrin and let him talk me into playing soccer. He really wanted to go because his teacher was coming to the game. After he dazzled his teacher on the field he broke down in the car and admitted to me that he throat was about to kill him and begged me to take him into the walk in clinic. So, we made the trip to the clinic, armed with enough reading material and game boy games to last two hours. I was thrilled when we walked in and were the only ones there! 15 minutes later we walked out with a prescription and a boy running fever and not wanting to swallow. He is much better now and is having a great week. Caleb is in the middle of the TAKS testing. He is taking the dyslexia TAKS test this year. It's the same one but portions of the test are READ to him by a teacher. He claims this is the easiest test he has ever taken and loves it. So far so good! Now we just have to wait to see if he passes the thing. It's also broken down to where he takes the reading TAKS over two days instead of just one. He has been less stressed this year than ever before, so that is great. If nothing else, it's worth doing it this way just for that reason alone. Well, I had better wrap things up. I'm going over to Amy's and try and paint some kitchen cabinets. She is in the middle of a huge remodel and we get to play around with different ideas. Right now she is living in the middle of lime green lap sliding in her living room. That was what was under the paneling she pulled off. Whatever we do to the cabinets can't be worse than that!!!!!!

Love to all!