Saturday, August 23, 2008

August Photo 23

Here is my class, busily working away at a group project. We are talking about communities, so our class community is drawing a community, communally. One student drew a cemetery. With a dead guy in the ground.

In case you wonder, the boy not in uniform is sort of "trying out" the school with his older sisters. He might or might not be my final student enrolling in my class. 8 boys, 2 girls!

August Photo 22

This one was snapped by B as we left Waco on Thursday evening. I was picking up the kids from my parents. We met halfway between our homes and ate dinner. B snapped it, but I asked her to! ;-) I was driving at the time. This was looking into the big storm we were about to drive into.

Also on the way home---the shot that got away. We saw a burning telephone pole. At first, I thought it was like a smokestack thing you see at plants around the coast---I don't know why those things are burning off gasses or something. Someone can leave me a comment and explain that to me. But then on second glance, I thought it was a burning cross. Anyway, it was storming bad at that time and I just couldn't pull over for that one.

August Photo 21

I saw this on the way to waco. It was just south of Regan on Hwy 6. I heard on the radio they had had 6 to 8 inches of rain there earlier in the day.

On the way home, I had to drive through another rainstorm that was brutal. Fortunately, I made it through and got home safely. It was a good 45 minutes of white knuckles, though!

August Photo 20

Action shot---B throwing the frisbee for MaryAnn, my parents' dog.
A jacket outdoors? In August? In Texas? Can you believe that? She didn't really need it, but she'd been wearing it inside the house.

August Photo 19

Our small electrical fire!!
Another freaky moment this week.
All is well, and it was checked out by a professional.
Don't you worry.

August Photo 18

This is a bulletin board of work we did the first few days of school. We read the book, The Kissing Hand, about carrying your Mom's love with you to school. The kids drew a picture of their family on the white paper.

August Photo 17

Here's our Kindergarten assistant, Mrs. O, down in the floor with the kids. That's what Kindergarten is about! Notice all my boys?

August Photo 16

I was trying to sneak out the door, leaving the kids asleep on the first day of my school. But I heard J's door open up and then B's and they had to give hugs and wish me luck. J said, "Wait, Mom! We have to get your picture---it's the first day of Kindergarten for you!"

So here it is. :-)

August Photo 15

My first day of teaching was August 14th, but this is still a picture form prep days. This is my "before" shot. It's very exciting!

August Photo 14

This foot was bandaged in this big wrapping for like a week. It was super painful! She didn't even get her foot ina flip flop for a few days. Yes, she went to the library (and other places) with one bare foot.

August Photo 13

Tragedy struck one Sunday afternoon---B's toenail got ripped from it's nailbed. I was a little freaked out, but this happened to Larry once, so he got it all bandaged. It was an accident. J pushed open her bedroom door over the top of her foot. ug! makes me hurt!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

August Photo 12

This is a picture of the Youth building where we were having our conference. It's a church first, and the school is in the buildings surrounding it. This building is a separate building just for the youth---high school and junior high. And this is only one of the fabulous rooms they have. Outside, they have a covered basketball court. There's a jeep in the building, a snack bar area (where they could serve food if they needed to, not like a real restaurant or anything), fun decorations like Star Wars and super heroes, and one big room with a stage. It was a dream youth building!

August Photo 11

What animal do you think of when you see these chairs?

I got to go to a Christian Educator's conference the 8th and 9th, and I spent the night in Houston. Our hotel was really nice, and I got to get to know a few of my co-workers much better. My principal has a degree in applied Clarinet. Isn't that interesting? And she has a child and his family in Memphis. (An aside to my grandmother---they attended the Highland Street congregation, isn't that close to home?) I rode down there with our 2nd grade teacher who's probably 12 years my junior. But we're a lot a like! ;-)
Now what animal did you think of? I thought "giraffe," while the other ladies around me thought "cow." Is that my non-native Texan roots showing?

August Photo 10

We had some really interesting clouds this one evening. Funny thing, though--I don't think we got any rain off this!

August Photo 9

As an end-of-summer treat, we went to the U Paint It store and painted a project. B got a horse, J got a "Oscar" statue, and I did another salad plate. I can't show mine because it's in honor of Larry, and it's part of his birthday present. I was going to show him, but B was sure he shouldn't see it.

August Photo 8

Tropical storm Edouard came to our town. J was catching water and throwing it on his sister. There wasn't any thunder! J wanted to keep some of Edourad's water in a jar---I still don't understand why.

August Photo 7

Here's B measuring a javelin throw. We used a straw for this one. The discus was a paper plate.

J was very intent on finding the true "winner" of the events, so he was my record-keeper.

And when you use things like cotton balls and paper plates and straws, anyone might be the winner. Levels the playing ground to have such lightweight things. One boy was the stand-out winner in races, though. We handed out little gold medals to all the kids at the end of the day.

August Photo 6

My last day teaching pre-school was an Olympic-themed day. It was a great day of fun sports---even for me, a non-sports gal. B gets all the credit for setting up an awesome Olympic arena. It included hurdles (over mini-traffic cones), balance beam, shot put (pictured here, with a cotton ball shot), javelin throw, long jump, discus throw, rhythmic gymnastics, and relay race.

August Photo 5

The guinea pig-sitting continues around here, and I think the favorite thing to do is to feed Ralph some real food. :-)

August Photo 4

Angel is asleep in the cool dirt. She is usually here or under the deck when she's outside in this heat.

August Photo 3

It's J!!!

Saturday, August 2, 2008

August Photo 2

Ralph does have red eyes, but not so shiny or so much like a lightbulb! When we tried correcting them with the Kodak software, he didn't look like himself.

B got brave enough to hold Ralph today. I think she was a little afraid she'd hurt him, but he is used to being held and picked up.

August Photo 1

J bought some of his own craft materials so he could make his own liger. (Tiger + lion, of course) Standard animal-making kits don't really include ligers, so he had to go get some of his own stuff. Both he and B worked with the hot glue gun and pompoms to make interesting creatures.

July Photo 31

B has a guinea pig babysitting job this week. Her friend is out of town and we are watching Ralph. He's a good housepet! Not too messy and very quiet. Those brown things in his cage are food pellets---not poop! He just dumps his bowl over every time we feed him.

Friday, August 1, 2008

July Photo 30

We took J to a movie and to Burger King when B was spending the night with a friend. They have built a new one on Hwy 21 next to the McDonald's, and it's really nice inside. Of course we had to take a hat, and I had to set up a funny photo op. This shirt is one we sent to J in a box we mailed to camp. He says now he needs green, yellow and purple Hawaiian shirts to complete his rainbow collection.

July Photo 29

This is the courthouse in the town of Bastrop, in Bastrop county. They have some pecan groves on the outskits of town, and there were many pecan trees planted out front, blocking my clean line of sight. (The pecan tree IS the state tree of Texas.) I was having trouble getting a shot of the building itself because of these trees, probably planted a long time ago. Well, these in this photo are skinny! But the bigger ones are all along the sidewalk, provinding a great shade.

July Photo 28

Here's a picture of J at camp. he was in the craft building when we were there, "flirting" with some girls he was with. Well, laughing with them and being silly and stuff. He's wearing "that shirt" again. This shirt is one he tie-dyed himself, and it is a favorite.

July Photo 27

B is here doing a practice shot. Unfortunately, after spending a week at camp not picking up her 6 pound shot, she wasn't throwing as far as she had been. But the meet was still a good experience. It was super hot!!! I used an umbrella and sunscreen and didn't burn anywhere but my part on my head. We watched the girls from Bryan as they did high jump, and one of ours got 3rd place in state. We also had girls competing in the long jump and 100 meter dash and the 4x100 meter relay.

July Photo 26

On Friday we picked B up from camp early so we could be at the track meet the next morning. She's wearing a lanyard that J made her at craft time, and she's holding a plastic lace lanyard that she's working on. The classic camp products!