Ahoy Mateys!! A Pirate Pep Rally!

Our second pep rally of the year was last Thursday, and it was a pirate themed one.  I was upset at first at the thought of having to spend money on something for them to dress up in.  But, I want them to participate and have 'school spirit', so I mentioned to Warren that he might be able to find something at the Dollar Tree that might work.  Lo and behold, he found two or three different pirate playsets, complete with hats, an earring, an eyepatch, a compass, a telescope (that's not what pirates use or call it, but I can't think of it's proper name), and a plastic sword.

I knew better than to outfit my 'wild' ones with a sword, even if it was plastic.  But the hats, eyepatch, and earring were all definitely things that would work, and I could live with them!

Maggie, being the ever 'brave' one, as she usually is, was ready to have all of it on her little body.  She even let me clip the earring on to her ear!  She looked GREAT, didn't she?  I just LOVE this picture!!!  What a darling little pirate she is!

Anna wasn't as in to the dressing up as her twin, but I did manage to get a quick shot of her with her hat on at the pep rally!  Even if she was moody, she still made for quite the cute pirate, too!

The K3/K4 class even made this adorable sign for the pep rally!  Their teacher even traced her own hand and cut them out and glued them to popsicle sticks for the kiddies to use as fans!  So cute!!!  I just loved it!

Reese didn't wear any of her pirate 'stuff,' but she looked cute nonetheless.  She wore her denim shorts and her new red and white striped t-shirt.  She even wore her black 'leather' zip up boots!  She was darling!!!!

First Pep Rally

Central had their first pep rally on Friday, August 22.  Being a former cheerleader, football season and pep rallies mean something to me.  I always get "fired up" during this time of year.  Call me a goober, but there's something about the energy in a school, especially a small school,  on game day.   This year, though, I think I was more excited to see what the girls would think about it.   Maggie ate it up; she was in heaven.  Nothing about it seemed weird or odd or anything.  Reese was okay, but this week's pep rally didn't do anything for her.  And sweet, tender little Anna.  I don't think she likes the pep rally scene all that much.  She was crying buckets by the time I got to the gym last Friday, and two days ago wasn't any different.  We've just come to the conclusion that she just doesn't like loud noises.

There is a theme for each and every pep rally, and the first one was a Hawaiian theme.  The cheerleaders sold leis and flower tattoos Friday morning at school.  The girls were ready with their dollars to buy one of each.  When we got to the pep rally, the cheerleaders were already jumping and yelling, thus making Anna Bean really nervous.  

During the pep rally, they had a limbo competition.  The cheerleaders chose students to participate, and Kendall, a Sophomore who I happen to teach (and love), came over and asked if one of the twins wanted to do it.  Anna, of course, would NEVER have done it, but I told Kendall that Maggie probably would.  And wouldn't you know it, she walked right on out to the gym floor with Kendall like she was the biggest girl in the world.  She did it all in front of the whole school and with all the big footballl players looking on! And................she was declared the winner!!! Her prize: a huge bag full of candy! Thanks Cheerleaders! Those girls were on a sugar high the rest of the afternoon.

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**sorry the picture is so blurry--the lights in the gym are horrible, and my camera battery went dead before I had a chance to snap a picture of her actually going under the bar!

Not Finished Yet

I decided that since I have been an absolutely horrible blogger lately, that I would at least log on and change the appearance of it (for those of you who are still checking in with us!). I don't think I like the ways that I've changed it so far, so I will be working on that tonight/tomorrow. I've got some pictures to post and some updates, too. Lots going on with school and everything! I'm also going to work on the header some, I think. I really like it, even though it is definitely not going to go with the upcoming fall and winter months. I just have to get a good picture of the three of them, though, which is ALWAYS a huge challenge. Who knows, we may just do a separate photo; that's probably going be the least dramatic way! ;)

Anyway, I want to catch up and let everybody in on how we've been the last couple of weeks. Just gotta find the time.....

Why can't there be more than 24 hours in a day?

Ready for Church

DamDam came over for the afternoon on Saturday.  We haven't seen her and BopBop in a few weeks, so a visit was overdue.  The girls were SO excited that she was coming.  We made a quick trip into town to the mall, and she treated us to cookies and all the girls got a new outfit each.  We had to wear them to church on Sunday morning, and I promised DamDam that I would get a picture of the girls modeling their new duds.  Hope you like.....

Reese looks SO grown up in her new dress.  She really isn't a baby or even a little girl anymore.  She's my big kindergarten girl!!!

School Girls.....

Well, we survived our first week of school--all of us, including Mama! :)  I am sad to say that I don't think I've been as sad as I should be about all three of my babies starting 'real' school.   I've just been SO busy myself, starting school all over again, too.  But I have to say, my little ones have been adjusting very very well to our new routine.  They have no trouble getting up in the mornings (and we have to leave here by 7 at the latest!), getting dressed, and heading to the door.  Now, actually getting into the van is another story, but they have always lollygagged when it comes to climbing in the car!  Don't know why, since we have been doing it for years!

Reese seems to really be enjoying Kindergarten.  I think she's even made a new friend or two.  The kindergarten class goes to computer once a week (or maybe twice), and one day I saw her class walking by room, and Reese was holding this other little girl's hand.  So sweet!  She told Warren about some teasing that some of the kids did to her, and I KNOW that my kids are not going to be immune to teasing, but the things she said to Warren made him feel like it may not be the usual bit.  We're going to watch it and talk to her and see if it keeps happening.  I do think her favorite classes are lunch and recess, though, but what little person's aren't, right?  What she really enjoys is having two of my 'big' eighth grade girls walk them down to my room at the end of the day.  When I see the three of them walking with those big girls, wearing their backpacks on their backs, that's when I actually take a moment to be weepy and realize how quickly they're growing up! 

Anna & Maggie are doing really really well, considering the fact that this is their very first time being in a situation with other children all day long.  It's their very first time to be away from home and Mama.  The first two days, absolutely NO tears were shed, but Anna let the water works flow on Wednesday and the rest of the week.  That just killed me!  Their teacher sent me word that she had calmed down and was doing fine, and I so appreciated that.  Of course, I really didn't have time to worry much since I have 70 other kids to tend to during the day!  She had a couple of potty 'accidents' this week, but ever the ready Mama, I had a change of clothes for each of them in their bags.  

Maggie, well, let's just say she's taking over the joint!  They all came home Tuesday afternoon telling me and Warren that Maggie went to time out.  Well, at five and three, they aren't the most honest individuals, so I made sure to check with Ms. Gayla (the 3 & 4 year old teacher) just in case.  And wouldn't ya know it, Maggie missed recess because she was sitting in the time out chair!!!!  Gayla told me that Maggie and another little girl (whose mother is the third grade teacher that Warren grew up with while living in Macon) were yayaing with each other and the other little girl accidentally spit at Maggie while they were going back and forth.  Well, Mags takes this personally and that the little girl meant to spit, so what does my sweet, innocent child do?  Yep, you bet, she hit her!  She didn't haul off and hit her, but some physical contact was made nonetheless.  Zowie! Time out and hitting, all on day two!  Gayla told the girls that all would be fine if they just apologized to each other.  The other little girl apologized like she was asked, but Maggie was having NO part of the apologizing.  She is definitely our little rebel, and I wouldn't have her any other way! 

Maggie decided to follow Anna's lead in the 'accident' department on today (I'm finishing up this post on Tuesday the 18th).  Looks like I'm going to have to send a couple of changes of clothes.  I'm hoping that these accidents are occurring after they wake up from their naps.  I'm not sure how often they're taken to the potty, but I'm thinking my girls might need to be taken at least one more time!  They definitely know when to go and they let someone know, but they aren't waking up dry in the mornings.  I guess it may just take some more time.  I definitely don't want them growing up any faster than they normally are!

As for me, I'm hanging in there.  To my surprise, getting back into the classroom wasn't as hard as I had imagined it to be.  I just modeled these new classes just like all my previous ones, so it hasn't been too bad.  Just the whole 'starting over' process is kinda getting to me.  This school has a set of books that I have never taught with before, so vocabulary lists and stories are changing for me and getting all that together is very time consuming.  The girls are fairly good at letting me 'work,' but they don't fully understand that I can't always leave work at work everyday.  I try to most days, but it's hard when I'm teaching as much as I am.  When I first accepted the job, I was under the impression that I'd be teaching 9, 10, and 11 English with maybe some sort of elective and possibly a study hall.  Well, imagine my surprise when I get to my first day of in services and saw on the teacher schedules that were handed to us, that I was still teaching those three classes along with creative writing class, 8 English and 6 English!  Six preps!!!  I get exhausted thinking too much about it!

All in all the kids are pretty good.  The younger bunch is definitely going to take some getting used to.  Their ways of goofing off are really different than that of the older kids.  I had forgotten how 'baby-ish' sixth graders can be, especially when they follow 9th and 11th graders!   I hope my patience holds out; I knew I would have to do a good deal of repeating, but those sixth graders have about pushed me to the repeat limit already!  Nothing like a good time of cleaning our your purse and fixing your hair with a giant can of hairspray that you've brought to school in your purse!  Welcome back to school, Mrs. Manning! :)

I guess I'll go ahead and finish this up.  Look forward to more.....whenever  I get a spare second........

A Quick Hello

Just wanted to check in with everyone in blog land.  I haven't totally dropped off the face of the earth.  It's just that school has started again and now that I'm a working gal, the blog time will most definitely be cut as I try to make time to spend with Warren and the girls (and myself!).  I have lots to report about our first week, so stay tuned.  Blogging might be happening only on the weekends from now on.  Just add us to your Google Readers and you'll know when we've got an update.........

Thanks for keeping on reading!

School Supplies

Warren and I took the girls (yes, all three) to buy school supplies on Saturday.  Probably not the best day to go since it was the first weekend of the month, but we didn't want it all to be picked over and gone before we had a chance to get supplies.

Reese had a list of things she needed, but we still have no idea if the twins will need anything or what those things might be.  Brandi recommended that we get a set of supplies for Reese to have at home, too, which seems like a smart idea.  We indeed got two of everything she needed.   She had a great time helping mark things off her list once we had them in the buggy.  We got pink scissors, a pink supply box for school--that's our favorite color and plain old boring colored ones for home! :)   

We managed to get two sets of supplies for like $20.  I was beyond pleased with that.  After all, she didn't really need all that much, just the basics--crayons, pencils, scissors, kleenex, paper towels.  You get the jist.  The real kicker that put our total at $40 was the three lunchboxes we had to get.  Reese picked out a Tinkerbell, soft sided one; Anna got a hard sided Dora; Maggie got a soft sided Princess one.  They were beyond excited about their lunchboxes!!!!

I just still can't believe that my baby will be going to 'real' school in a few days.  Where has the time gone?  She doesn't seem old enough yet.  And, the babies will be going all day everyday, too.  Wow!  

Campmeeting Olympics Medal Ceremony

Stepping up to the podium!!!

Getting her individual GOLD medal for finishing first in the 'egg' the spoon race!

Anna sure was proud of her medal.

Maggie was proud of hers, too.

Reese proudly showing off the three medals she won in the Olympics.  I am so glad she participated and that she had a good time and that she got a medal or two (or three).

Campmeeting Recap Part II--OLYMPICS!!!!

**this post really should have come AFTER the previous one, but you'll get the idea anyway!**

Two years ago, my cousins came up with the idea that the campground should have their own Olympics every year; something that every child on the campground can have the opportunity to participate in.  It's always fun to see the kids having such a good time.  My cousins are so in charge of it all.  They have colored sashes for the teams to wear and they come up with the events, set it all up, and they even award medals once all the events are over.  There are team as well as individual events which are geared more toward the youngest/littlest competitors!

We didn't participate in the Olympics last year because we were at home, napping in the air conditioning.  But we made it back in time this year.  I knew that Anna & Maggie would probably not want to play, but I hoped Reese would.  I was worried about her at first, but she jumped on in and did great!!!!

Reese was a proud member of the blue team.  I can't remember who fixed her sash around her head like that, but she LOVED it.  I think she felt like a big girl, especially when she realized that some of the bigger kids were wearing theirs that way, too.  Isn't she beautiful?!

I told Julie (the Olympic organizer and my cousin who is turning 21 in a month or so.  I remember when that child was born!  Boy, I'm old!) that Anna & Maggie would probably do better if they were on the same team, but she organizes the teams by age and divides them that way so that there aren't too many really little or really big kids on a team.  Smart!  She did end up separating them, and Maggie ended up on Julie's sister's, Laura, team.  Anna was 'alone' on a team, so I stuck pretty close to her.  She just kinda stood around and watched; not too much participating from this one.  Kinda like I would have been had I been little during these events.

Laura was SO good in helping with the twins all week.  She did a great job watching Maggie during the water relay.  This is where each team has a cup that has holes punched in it.  You have to take your cup to a central tub full of water, scoop out water into your cup, run back to your team, empty what water might be left in the cup into your team's bucket and start again.  When your level hits its mark first, you're the winners.  The big kids get so revved up that they don't always watch out for the little ones.  

I don't think Maggie quite grasped the fact that it was a race and that she needed to go fast, but Laura walked with her each step of the way.  Thanks Laura!  You rock!

Reese caught on to it pretty well, except for the fact that she was never really 'ready' for her turn.  It was funny to watch.

She did know that she was supposed to hurry back to her team to empty her cup into their bucket.

She did so good participating all day!!!  I was so proud of her!!!!  I believe the blue team came in first on this one!!!!  Go REESE!!!!

Getting ready for the 'egg' in the spoon race.  This was just for the littlest competitors.  The 'egg' was just a plastic golf ball that they had to keep in the spoon until they crossed the finish line.  If the 'egg' fell, all they had to do was put it back in the spoon and keep going.  Great rules for little kids.  

She started off with a BANG, so far ahead of the others.  If she hadn't been watching everyone else, her 'egg' would never have fallen off.  It did a couple of times, but she picked it up and kept going.  AND........

She crossed the finish line first!!!!!

Erin helping her green team in the tug of war event!

Cell Phone Update

First, thanks to those of you who left info about your cell phones for me.  After a lot of talking and thinking and researching, we decided to leave AT&T and move to Alltel.  I was hesitant about it for several reasons.  One being that almost EVERYONE we call was with AT&T and you get unlimited mobile to mobile with them.  We never had to worry about those be deducted from our monthly minutes.  BUT, we absolutely, positively could NOT get service in the house with AT&T.  Our phone would ring, and looking at the screens, we would have three or four signal bars, but as soon as we opened the phones to answer them, nada, zippo, zilch!  

So, on Wednesday of last week, we trekked on in to the Alltel store here in town.  The big dilemma for us was what kind of phones to get.  I had really wanted a smart phone (the MotoQ was really calling my name), but the more I thought about it, Warren was right that it really wasn't necessary and not the best time for us to get one.  Bless his heart, he's always content with the free ones! :)  

Anyway, we both got another LG (our last ones were LGs and we really like the phones themselves; just not the service). 

This one is mine:

 I am really loving it, but I'm having trouble with my ringtones.  I made my own on the computer and managed to get the file transferred to the phone, but now the phone won't let me set it up as a tone.  This is my only complaint so far.  I love having individual tones for some of my family, but paying $3 per tone is outrageous.  Maybe I'll figure it out soon.  It says I should be able to save it to the phone and add it, but it won't let me do it.  Oh well......

The BEST thing---we can be just about anywhere in the house and the phones pick up perfectly.  The best spots so far (or the ones I've actually been in when a call has come in) are our room and the kitchen.  Both of these places gave us NOTHING with our other carrier.  And with Alltel, we're getting more minutes, too!   Overall, I'm totally pleased with our decision.   At least I am at this posting! :)

More Campmeeting to come.....

Campmeeting Recap Part I

The girls and I have been a bit MIA last week.  We spent the last seven days at my grandparents' church's campground.  Click HERE for the campground website!  This was my 32nd campmeeting, and I'm proud to say that I haven't missed one.  I did miss two or three days when I was in rush workshops for Phi Mu at Delta State, but other than that, I've been every year.  It's a tradition in my family, and I'm hoping that the girls will one day bring their children, too.  It's a family reunion for us as my grandfather's siblings children and grandchildren and great grandchildren are there for the week.  It's usually the only time of year we see most of them, and even though is was H-O-T-T--we always have a great time!  Be on the look out for more posts and pics through the day and tomorrow.  I'm sure I'll have very limited time the rest of the week.  I report to my new job on Wednesday and will be in in services/working on Thursday and Friday as well.  Thanks to my hubby, he's taking those days off so he can watch the kiddos.  I hope my first payday will help cover those days he's losing! :)

Anyway, here are a few campmeeting shots.  I have a lot more good ones plus stories to go along with them that I'll try to share later!

Reese & Lauren helped Pop make banana pudding Sunday morning.  As you can see, Reese had a ball licking the spoon.  And really, what is better than that?

The younger set of twins in family made it over for the opening weekend of campmeeting.   In addition to campmeeting, we celebrated the 90th birthday of my great Aunt Frances on opening Sunday.  I think she was surprised; we missed the moment of yelling 'surprise.'  boo!  Anyway, I had to get a couple of pics of those sweet babies.  We haven't seen them since their first birthday party!  Too long!!!

Me and Miss Carrington--I must say, she came RIGHT to me that day!!!  I loved it and missed how 'little' my girls used to be.  

Maggie & Anna discovered Mimi's purchase of popsicles and couldn't get enough.  Literally!!  But hey, we don't buy them for home and it was an easy fast way to help cool them down a bit.  They loved these green ones that matched their shirts.  They kept saying "it match. it match.'

Reese had a hard, long night of play the night before.  Snoozing away 'til 8am!  And in this family, that's a late morning! ;)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Birthday wishes are going out today to the girls' Aunt Katie!!!!!  This was a picture I could get to the easiest.  It was taken in Gulf Shores on our vacation when we all went to ride go karts.  NOT the best picture of Reese, but I love it just the same.

Aunt Katie, we hope your birthday is great and we're thinking about you today.  PLEASE come see us soon.  We'd love for you to come for a weekend really soon & bring Kayley with you!!!!!