Stranger Drill

As Kylie, Gabryle and I were waiting in the line of cars to pick up Mackenzie, Kylie told me that they had to sit behind Mrs. Pearson's desk in the dark with the doors locked. This thoroughly confused me, which sometimes is not hard to do, but I was real confused on this one. It's not often you hear of a class going and hiding behind the teachers desk in the dark with the doors locked for practice. Kylie made sure to let me know she did not like how it was dark, but she stayed quiet like she was supposed too. (She isn't big about being in the dark. At night if she uses the bathroom in the middle of the night she will leave the bathroom light on after using it purposely so she will have a little light in her room.)

We finally made our way through the line of parents picking up their children and got Mackenzie. As I pulled out of the parking lot I asked if they had to lock their doors with the lights off and sit in the floor. She quickly replied yeah its a stranger drill. They have had them since she started school in pre-k (2 years ago). This is the first I had ever heard of them. 

Each class has a certain area in their classroom  that they students and teacher go sit and wait quietly in after locking the door, pull the shades down, and turn the light off. They then wait till the all clear is given and they can get up. Now that I think about it, every classroom that Mackenzie has been in, pre-k, kindergarten and first grade, all have had an area in it where the class can sit and not be seen by the window in the door. The teachers have all purposely laid out the desks, centers and shelves to where they have a safe place to sit in the classroom where they can not be seen. 

I think its sad that they have to do that now in school, but at the same time I am glad that they have a plan set in case something does happen. So now along with Tornado and Fire drills, they have Stranger drills. Mackenzie told me that is exactly what they call them too. I know when I was in elementary school I don't remember ever once having to have one of those drills. Yes we had tornado and fire drills, but that was it as far as I can remember. It is sad they have to do that. Maybe eventually schools won't have to do that.....

Till Next Time!!

Close your eyes, make a wish and blow!

 One of Kylie's favorite things about spring and summer is the overwhelming amount of blowie flowers, also known as dandelions. Ever since she was little she has called them blowie flowers. It's one of her favorite things to go around the yard, and our neighbors yard picking dandelions and blowing them to make them go away and watch them blow in the wind.

Last night we sat outside around seven thirty with the kids playing in the yard and Gabryle started picking them. He would pick one, run back to where Jerrod and I were sitting in the yard and blow on it then putting it up to Jerrod's mouth so he would blow all the seeds off of the dandelion. He thought this was the most fun thing to do.
He ran back and forth between us and the patch of dandelions he was picking from. The last one he picked he brought it back to where we were and showed it to us. Then he went to blow it and instead had most of the dandelion end up all over his lips. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen watching him try and pick the seeds off of his mouth.

Kylie now realizes that she has competition for making sure to get the dandelions out of the yard. I don't think she realized that Gabryle would catch onto what she does with them. She found one of the dandelions the other day that was still the yellow flower and picked it. She showed it to me and I told her that if she had let it stay where she found it, it would eventually turn into a blowie flower. Now we will see if she actually stops picking the yellow ones before they turn into the white seeds that you can blow.

Till Next Time!

What to do today..

 Spring break is over and every one in our house is back to our normal routines. The girls are in school, Jerrod is back at work, and Gabryle and I are busy with little things around the house. After the break it seems also to be a little harder to keep him busy. He has been wanting to go and go and go lately.

We have spent a lot of time outside lately since the weather has been perfect. That I think has become one of his favorite daily things to do. He loves to play in the water, help in the garden, and run around in the grass with no shoes on. He loves running around with no shoes on.

Yesterday as we watered the flowers after lunch, Gabryle decided we needed water in the wheelbarrow. I filled it up and continued to water the roses. He played in that water enough he emptied the wheelbarrow so I filled it up again. He then went and grabbed the small broom and dust pan we have and used it to play with in the water. Needless to say it kept him busy for a good twenty minutes. He was soaking wet by the time we went in and was not happy that I would not fill the wheelbarrow for a third time.

I also found having a band-aid on your finger is very entertaining also. He laid in the floor looking at and messing with his band-aid for quite a while. You would figure he would get tired of it and pull it off but he never took it off. He would sit there and poke at it put his finger up to his nose to smell it then laugh at it.

Later after picking the girls up and doing homework he then decided to help with dishes. I left a few cups in the sink so I could start dinner. The next thing I knew he had his little footstool he uses in the bathroom in by the kitchen sink. He had the measuring cup in one hand, and the sponge in the other and was "cleaning" to the best of his ability. At one point he pulled the drain stopper and the water slowly drained out of the sink and made him very upset. I think it made him more upset that I didn't fill the sink with water again. Who knows what he will find entertaining to do today, but I'm sure he will have a blast doing it.

Till Next Time!!

Garden Pictures

 <-------- One of my 2 white and pink rose bushes.

 One of my 2 white and pink rose bushes. --------------------->
(This one is doing the best so far.)

<---------- My miniature Yellow Rose bush

 The pansy plants before I transplanted them outside. -------->

<--------- My pansies after I transplanted them.

"Nature Does Not Hurry Yet Everything Is Accomplished." 

 "MOWING GAUGE"

 Yellow rose bush and pansies. Also where the zinnia seeds are planted. They will spout in the empty spot on the right side of the garden. ----->

<-------- The beginning of my salsa garden.  Soon hopefully I will have the beginning of cilantro, cayenne peppers and beefsteak tomatoes!!!

WORMS!!

Girls and I spent a few hours this afternoon out where we have our roses and now other flowers planted. We finished pulling the grass and weeds out of the "garden" and after all of the rain we have had this past week, all the worms are up at the top of the soil. Mackenzie actually picked one of the worms up today, and Little Miss Kylie actually touched two or three of them today. She wouldn't pick it up, but touching it was a big step for her still.

I have never seen that many worms in the soil in an area. Our garden is not big by any means, but its decent, especially since I'm not a big gardener. It's a decent size for a beginning gardener. I transplanted the pansies I had in a pot to the area we have ready. Come to find out the flowers were not even covered in dirt! No wonder they were starting to look kind of puny in the pot they were planted in! We planted all six of the pansy plants in the ground and then planted some zinnia seeds. I love zinnia's. The ones we planted will be all different colors.

We also planted and started our salsa garden kit. We planted the cayenne peppers, beefsteak tomatoes and cilantro seeds in the bucket that was provided and when it comes time we will transplant them like it says to on the instructions. I hope they go well. I would love to try and make my own salsa. I'll post some pictures real soon!!

Till Next Time!!!

PUMP JACK!!!!!

We're halfway through spring break and it's actually been fairly easy going. We've stayed at home, gone to the city to visit family for a few days, and even went up to Sulphur today to visit more family. And Wednesday is just now ending!! I guess that is a lot we have done since Saturday.

As we were driving home from the City Sunday evening Mackenzie decided a new game we would play. (Well, more like her and Jerrod!) Anytime they would find a pump jack, they would holler "pump jack" or "Pump jack moving" And yes she is meaning the pump jacks that they use in oil fields. As we drove down the highway, as Jerrod or Mackenzie would find one, "pump jack" would be hollered out. They wanted to be the first to find ten. Half way through the game Kylie decided she would play, and she actually found a few. They had a blast watching out the windows and trying to be the first to be the one to call out for one of the jacks that we would pass.

In the end, Jerrod won. The final score ended up being 10-9-2. Today as we went up to Sulphur the game was on again. This time we played in teams and Jerrod and Kylie won. (Note to self: Jerrod is hard to beat at car games like this one!)  Who knows what other car games we will come up with when we get in the car the next time to go out of town. It keeps us entertained and the kids get along with doing it so it is fine with me!!

Till Next Time!!

Big House Plans

Driving home today after picking the girls up from school Kenzie said that all of our family should live in one house. I glanced back at her and asked her how big she thinks that house should be if she wants ALL of her cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and Great-Grandparents to live in. Her response was, big. I got to adding it up, and if we had all of their immediate Aunts, Uncles, cousins, Grandparents and of course us live in one house we would need at least 18 bedrooms. That would be a big house. I told her that and her response, "We'd need a lot of bathrooms then also!"   (Good to know she has her priorities down!)

So this evening she drew a few pictures of BIG houses and made sure to add at least 18 windows to the front to make sure it had 18 bedrooms. We also decided that it would need at least 3 living room/den areas, 2 kitchens, an extremely large dining room, a game room, and lots of room!! Kylie even drew a couple pictures of what she thinks the outside of that house would look like, and in all of them, the color was pink. No surprise there! It was fun looking at their drawings. I however would add to all of their ideas a large wrap around porch on the ground level, assuming it is a multi-level home, and where it stays around 60-70 degrees year round.

I got to adding it up while they were drawing their houses, and it really doesn't seem like they have that large of an extended family, but they kind of do. There is 1 Great-Grandmother, 2 Grandmothers, 3 Grandfathers, 3 Uncles, 4 Aunts, and 4 Cousins. What I love most is all the cousins, and our three are so close in age. Kenzie being the oldest and a cousin in Indy being the youngest, at least for the moment being the youngest. It's great they have such a large extended family!! Maybe one day we will build that big humongous house the girls would like to have so all the family could live together!!

Till Next Time!!!

Gardening

Pansies!!!

I have to say I am rather pleased with myself at the moment. It has been nearly 2 weeks since family fun night and we got the mommy and me planting basket through the auction and the pansies that came all planted in a pretty vase is doing better than when we got them! I am slowly nursing them to a better health than when we received them.

Miniature Yellow Roses. 

When we brought them home they looked like they were under watered with a lot of brown leaves all over the plant. I trimmed the brown leaves off and all of the wilted flowers and have made sure to water regularly, but not to often. I'm proud to say that we have had 2 new flowers bloom on it! Plus the steams and leaves have really greened up and it looks just oh so much better!! The girls make sure and check every day to see if there are new flower buds on the plant.

this is a picture of what 2 of the rose bushes will look
like when it blooms!!

The rose bushes the kids and I planted a month ago are also doing very well. One of them has already put on tons of new leaves and branches! One has put on a few new leaves and one still isn't doing as well as the others. I believe the last one needs to be in more sunlight so I'm going to have to transplant it to a better spot to where it gets more sun. One of the bushes will be miniature yellow roses, and the other two will be white with pink tips. Yellow Roses are my favorite! I was thrilled to find a rose bush that would produce some yellow roses!

I will make sure and keep ya updated on how I do with gardening these plants and the pansies!

Till Next Time!!!

FIELD TRIP!!

They are in side a bubble!!! 

It was a busy day for Mackenzie and I today. Today all of the first grade classes at school, plus one kindergarten class got to go to the Jasmine Moran Children's Museum. It was a lot of fun! I could have done with out the rain and wind while we were driving up there but besides that it was a really good day for us. All together there were 120 students from our school that attended. All but 20 were first graders.

It was the first time I had been to this museum and I have to say that it was worth it! Mackenzie and I  went around to the different areas of the museum with 2 of the little girls from her class. they were very well behaved and we had a fun. I think their favorite areas were the bubble area and the water station. They also spent a lot of time in the Emergency Room area that was set up there.

Kenzie making some bubbles.

The people who designed this museum I think did a great job. I hope we soon take all the kids to go play there. They have stuff Gabryle can do and I'm sure he would be thrilled playing on some of the things they have. I bet Kylie would love doing all of the doctor stuff and using the art center.

WATCH OUT!! Kenzie is behind the wheel!!

Dr. Mackenzie

Till Next Time!!

It's hard to say goodbye...

I Will Miss You William!

Kylie mentioned to me yesterday that one of her friends will be moving. She told me that and I assumed they would move over spring break or at the end of the year. Boy was I wrong! 

She came home today with a note from her teacher telling parents, that William, one of Kylie's friends, will be moving back to China with his family at the end of the week and Thursday would be his last day. Kylie decided that she wanted to make William a card to take with him, so I helped her this evening to do that. We got a piece of paper and some markers, and a cute picture of Kylie and started working. She wanted to write on the front so I spelled everything out for her. She messed up in one spot but I was able to show her that if you draw a heart there he would never know you messed up so that is what we did.
We then opened it and she drew a picture for him. That is William on the left and Kylie on the right. Butterflies are flying above them while they jump through a flower patch, that is on top of the grass, that is on top of the lava as she explained it to me. (She's fascinated with lava for some reason). We glued the picture of her on the other side and she signed her name.

She seems a little bummed about him moving at the moment. As Kylie told me, "he's not my best friend, but he is a friend that is fun to play with at school. He is nice for a boy too." Of course everyone gets along with Kylie though. She's not hard to get along with. This is the first time she has had a friend move away that she won't see anymore. She'll remember him forever though I'm sure!!

Till Next Time!!!

Family Fun Night!

Tonight was the school's annual Family Fun Night to raise money for the school. It was a lot of fun. The girls got to put tickets in to win different items available in a drawing, dance and play with their friends, and eat some pizza. Jerrod participated in the silent auction that was being done and Gabryle had a blast while dancing in his seat and other places, playing with a little ball game and watching all the other kids.

The girls even played a few of the games the different grades did. There was a cake walk (which the girls both won), lots of bean bag tosses, a Dino dig, face painting, limbo, tattoos, and a few other games to play. It was cute watching the girls do the limbo. I never realized how low Kenzie can go under a bar! Kylie was lucky enough that she is so tiny she could walk under it most of the time. I think Gabryle had more fun eating the suckers the girls won in the games and playing with the little toys that they won as prizes in the games.

Jerrod bid in the silent auction on a few items and ended up winning a Mommy and Me gardening set that included lots of gardening tools, a nice wheelbarrow, pansies, a salsa growing kit, and a few other things in it. It's a really nice set too. All of the baskets are baskets put together from the different grades in the school. Some grades sometimes do 2 baskets, but most do just 1.  Worked out great getting it especially since we got some rose bushes a few weeks ago. The girls didn't get their name drawn for anything that they put the tickets into, but they still had a good time tonight. It was fun getting to watch them dance with their friends. When we first got there, Kylie was so excited because she ran into Adam, one of her really good friends. (Adam and Kylie eat breakfast together every morning.)
 
It's a fun fundraiser for the school that they do and we'll most likely go again next year. We know they raised at least 500 dollars just from the silent auction. I always find it interesting to hear how much the school. earned from tonight.

Till Next Time!!