Riiibbbit!

Frog Jumping Contest Day!
My 7th annual frog jumping contest was last Friday.  This is our winner- he was a BIG one.   
Very slimey.

This is a wild group of kids, but they kept it together WAAYY better than last year's kids.  HUGE surprise!  There weren't any kids that jumped into the arms of on-looking parents.  And, pretty much everyone stayed in their spots.  I was amazed!

If you're familiar with this contest, you'll remember that we draw a circle on the pavement, put the frog in the middle of it, then let it go and it has three jumps before we measure from where it started to the third jump out.  This particular frog took two smaller jumps, then LEAPED over one of my girl student's shoulders and went behind her.  80 inches in three jumps!  Pretty impressive!


I love this day- wild as it usually is.  Or, isn't- like this year! 

This Childs wants to be called, "Grace,"

when she turns 9 years old. 
It's more "grown up."

She is growing up so fast.
I don't remember caring so much about being older when I was her age.  But, she makes deals for her teeth (sometimes with the toothfairy.  But, this weekend it was with her Daddy).
She's outgrown her big girl bike.  Now, she needs a bigger girl bike.  
She tries to be Mommy to her siblings.
She has had more emotional outbursts in the last two months than her whole 7th year.  She definitely gets her feelings hurt faster.
But, she's also such a sweetheart.  
She's sleepier lately- which screams pre-teen to me.
I've had to keep my sarcasm in check lately- especially when I'm grumpy.  I don't want to break her spirit.
Because she's gonna be big someday, and then I'll look back and remember when she made deals with the toothfairy, and outgrew her big girl bike.  And I'll wonder, how did my Grace get so BIG!

Yep.. it's STILL 105 degrees, daily.

She {hearts} money

I found this on the girls' dresser the other day.
This pretty much sums up how Gracie feels about money right now. 


"Mom, if I take out the trash, will you pay me 25 cents?"
"Mom, will you pay me a quarter for every toy I wash outside?"

Some days I'd like to pay her to get along with her sister.  
But, that would be silly brilliant wrong. 

first day of school

Gracie couldn't sleep the night before school started.
We had to "encourage" her to go to bed several times.

 After school we RAVING REVIEWS of Kindergarten and Third Grade!
It's going to be fun having these two at school this year!

The Day Before

Today is the day before I meet my students.

I'm excited.
And, I sort of feel like throwing up.

I'm nervous.
And worried.
And being a nancy about a lot of things right now.

Coworkers either laugh or make an "I'm sorry" face when they see my list.  Of course, we love all of them- the students.  But, they all can't be the perfect little brown-nosers we'd like them to be.


Wish me luck.
Tomorrow is Meet Your Teacher Night.
I have been known to cry on my drive home from MYTN.


Maybe I'll throw up, and then have a great year!

It's a Jungle in Here

I've never done a jungle theme for my classroom.  But, I decided to do it this year for a few reasons.  

1. I've never done a jungle theme.
2.  This year has the potential to be a rough patch- four identified behavior problems already.  
3. Some of these kiddos had the same theme in their classroom last year and I thought it would be a good transition to see something familiar when they walk into the room on Tuesday night.
4.  It's cute.

I don't know.
See what you think.
I'm not completely done with it- a few more finishing touches with the umbrella, but mostly done.

 job chart

 calendar board

 writing/class behavior/word wall 

 leopard print curtains my mom made

 Daily 5 (reading)

 reading corner hut

 student's view

"{stick out your tongue and spit}," said the horse.

"You're lucky there's a fence between us!" replied Jasper.

12 years

Chad and I got married 12 years ago.
That sounds like a long time.
Chad says he's loved me for all 12.
I have no choice but to believe him.

And I think I got major points this year when I suggested we go see a Royals game for our anniversary.  He set up the whole weekend- which was so awesome.  

This weekend in Missouri, they had a tax free weekend for back to school supplies- including clothes!  So, we left the kids at Nana and Papa's house for the night, and headed to KC in time for lunch at Oklahoma Joe's.  Then, off to shop for the girls.  

 The baseball game itself was so fun to be at.  It feels so American, you know?  Sitting with 25,000 other people, cheering on your team. Our faces were so shiny because of how ridiculously hot it was!  But, so worth it.

On the way home, Chad and I talked about our dreams.
Our dream jobs.
Our dream vacation.


We agreed we might not be together if we were doing our dream jobs since one involves being a pro tennis player, and the other involves marine animals.  Good thing we love the jobs we have now so we can be married for many more years!

 

new niece

The best "guess" for the population of a certain city in Nebraska is 16,363 people.  Only now, the population has grown by one.

Elsie Blake is here! (aka Baby Pepsi)

And her cousins (and aunt and uncle) couldn't be more proud.
We recently visited that certain city and got to hold this precious baby.

Our Childs were in heaven holding her.
Petting her head.
Staring at her.

Trey kept saying, "I need to hold mine Baby Pepsi."

Someone tell me there's a better picture of Auntie Jody holding Baby Pepsi than this.

Nebraska is so lucky to have this new baby girl added to their state.  She needs to come visit this wonderful sunflower state soon!  We miss her already.

Island of Sodor

Going to the Island of Sodor where Thomas the Train lives was Trey's contribution to our Summer List.  But, we thought it might hard to actually GO to the Island of Sodor, so we brought it us.

 It was a very chalky experience!

fishin' and fourwheelin'

While Troy, Jami, and Sidney were here in KS, we walked across the road (from mom and dad's) to Bill's house.  He has a man-made pond stocked with fish, and a dock to catch them on.

 All of the cousins caught quite a few fish...

 er... worms.

 and then they went four wheeling with Uncle Troy.

 Even though it was so stinkin' hot outside, it was my favorite evening of the summer, for sure!