Collages

Finished...almost

Yesterday was the last day of my last class for my Masters degree!!!  I'm done, sort of.  Now I have Comprehensive Exams -- eek!  Thankfully, my English Comps are on a seperate day from my Education Comps.  I think I'd keel over if they were together.  Summer is plugging along.  The kids are loving vacation bible school this week, the library's summer reading program ended last week, and Holdyn's birthday is Sunday. 

I know I've been woeful in my blogging duties this year.  I'm not keeping a very good family journal, nor am I keeping up with my bloggy friends and family.  It looks like I'm going to have to break down and become a "follower."  You know I hate that term -- weren't we all taught to be leaders not followers?  So, I'm going to become a Subscriber instead.  How is that different?  I don't know, just humor me, umkay?

Anyhow, I pledge to better fulfill my blogging duties.  I'll get some pics up this week, too.

Much Love,
-Jennie

I Wish

I am lucky enough to be participating as a fellow in the 2010 JSU Writing Project.  Today was Day 1.  I am so excited to be a part of this project.  My personal goal is to challenge myself as a writer and learn from people who have tons of classroom experience.  For our first teaching demonstration (taught by Melissa Shields) we wrote an I Wish poem.  We began by creating 5 simple "I Wish" sentences like "I wish I had a million dollars".  Then we expanded the sentences by adding conjunctive adverbs (because, consequently, in the event of, etc).  After creating the poem we made our poems into Wordles.  My Wordle is above; click on it to make it bigger.  Here is my poem...

I Wish

I wish for my children to be safe because I cannot always be with them.

I wish my Grandma was still living because I need her guidance, love, and stories everyday.

I wish my house would sell so that we can move to Tuscaloosa and begin our new adventure.

I wish I had a laundry folding machine so that in the event of my death my husband and children won’t be crushed in an avalanche of dirty socks and smelly underwear.

I wish for perfect hips (and tummy and butt) like the ones I had before I birthed three children, including a set of twins.

A Rite of Passage

A field trip to the Birmingham zoo is a rite of passage for 5-7 year olds in central Alabama.  Last Friday, the girls and I joined about 20 bazillion other K-2nd graders at the zoo.  We had a great time!  Evie loves to go anywhere and Kallie is our very own little Dr. Doolittle.  Both girls were in heaven and I was happy to be along for the ride and take the pics.

Nothing like starting the day with a little tree climbing...I thought they kept the monkeys IN the zoo!

Riding the carousel, so nice we did it twice!

Kallie's most favorite part - feeding the giraffes.  They are her favorite animals.  One day when she is a vet, she says, she will lasso one and ride it across the savanna.  I do not doubt her!

Evie feed the giraffes, too.  She did not enjoy the experience!

By the end of the day we were tired; but, it was great!

What a way to round out a great 1st grade year!  These girls are awesome!  And just so you know I haven't forgotten him here is a recent picture of Holdyn...

Watch out Daddy, one day he'll be tying you into a knot!

As usual, it's crazy around here.  School ends in a few days, Nana's coming to visit, and the house renovations are FINALLY coming together.  New adventures are on the horizon!

--Much Love,

J

De-Greasing Update

The girls' hair is back to normal today. I got tons of help from family and friends and I ended up using Dawn dish liquid to rewash their hair. It worked wonderfully! Now their cute strawberry blond hair is back and we're keeping the Greaser look in the 1950's where it belongs.

Much Love,
-J

21st Century Greasers

I've always loved the greasers. You know, the 1950s style with leather jackets, white t-shirts, jeans, and hair greased into a pompador. Zuko, Kenickie, Ponyboy, Dally, and the Fonz are the epitome of cool! Greaser girls were cute too with their red lips, teased hair, tight pants, and shades (the Pink Ladies even had matching jackets). Greaser girls didn't actually grease their hair; but, with the Feminist movement and a desire for equality I guess anything can happen...enter Evie and Kallie the 21st century greasers.

Yesterday evening the kids were at my mom's while I went to a meeting and K put another coat of poly on the floors. Mom was kind enough to feed the kids, take Holdyn to Cub Scouts, and have the girls get a bath. She even let them take a bubble bath! Anyway, towards the end of bath time she hears them calling and goes to check on them. She finds them in the tub with the baby oil -- they tell her they couldn't find any conditioner so they just used the baby oil instead!! She put them in the shower and had them re-wash their hair.

I, of course, don't find out about this until they are already in the bed asleep. This morning I get them up and see they're still rockin "the wet look." I send them to the shower and tell them to wash their hair again. They get out slightly less greasy than before; but, they still look like two members of the Sharks and/or Jets.

Thank goodness today is Field Day and they can wear hats to school! A desperate plea for help on the Book of Face this morning yielded a call from my sister Emily. She searched the internet and found that Dawn dish liquid should help degrease my two T-birds. The plan for tonight - Operation Oil Slick Removal. We'll see how it goes...

Much Love,
-J

Random Happenings

Here are some random photos of things that happened around here during my bloggin hiatus....


My 9th graders



2 cuties



practing the "pageant walk"

Of course Holdyn was here too. He just seems to escape my camera. I'll get him soon though!

-J