A Memorable Father's Day...1 Tooth Gone, 4 Ears Pierced!

This past Father's Day is one that we'll always remember! The night before Father's Day Ella lost her first tooth, which her daddy got to pull. It was hanging on by a thread, and it had been loose every since she wrestled with her daddy and she bonked her chin on his head a couple of weeks ago :). Father's Day morning 6-19-11 she woke up to $5 and note from the tooth fairy. She looks so cute missing one of her bottom middle teeth.
Also, on Father's Day the girls got their ears pierced! It was part of their b-day gift that they had to wait on. Back in February when they turned 5 they were playing indoor soccer, and no one could wear earrings during a game. Since earrings can't be taken out for the first 6 weeks, we opted to wait. Then, when soccer was over, they both got cold feet, so we put it off. About a week ago they said they were ready, so on Sunday we headed to the mall and made a beeline for Claire's. Above they were getting ready to walk into the mall's Dillard's entrance (my favorite).

Our mall just happens to have 2 Claire's. The first Claire's we went to had a line of 3 people waiting to get pierced, so we walked down to the other Claire's. I always wondered why there were 2 Claire's...well now I know! :)

Carson was so cute! He was very nervous for his sissys! Cade was sweet too!

Emmy's turn!!

Not one tear from my precious girl! She was so ready for this!

She chose Hello Kitty!

Ella Belle was just as brave!

They had one worker do each ear, so both ears were done at the same time!

Ella Belle chose a rainbow daisy!

Big girls!! Proud brother looking on..

sweet girls on their daddy's day!

leaving the mall with 4 brand new pierced ears!

After we left the mall we headed to Spaghetti Warehouse, where Dads ate free on Father's Day!! Here is my Ellie missing her tooth!

He doesn't like me to take pics in public! Oh the joys of being 12!


Emma and Daddy

Visiting Mommy's Summer School

Today Carson, Ella, and Emma spent the day with me at my summer school. I'm teaching kids that are entering 1st grade. It's an enrichment program for ESL students. The kids are the same age as Carson, and only a year older than the girls. I miss my own kids every day, so I asked my summer school principal if they could come visit for the day. I'm at a different school than I teach at during the school year, so everything was new and exciting for them. The girls LOVED it, and so did Carson, until about 10:00. It was at that time that he realized that he was going to have to do "school work", and it wasn't all fun and games. He was going to try to hold out for computer lab at 11:30 :), but he didn't make it. Daddy came to get him, but the girls stayed with me all the way to the end of the day at 2:20. They were so great. They worked hard, and treated me just like I was their teacher. It will always be a fun memory for me!

ready for a day at summer school!

going through the breakfast line with another set of twins!! This was the girls 1st school cafeteria experience...great practice for next year!

My kids weren't too fond of the breakfast this morning...sausage on a stick wrapped in a pancake with syrup to dip it in. It looked like a corn dog...can't say that I would've eaten it either! :)

Ella Belle and sweet Emily. I've gotten to teach Emily 2 summers in a row!

Silly kiddos wouldn't pose for me!

restroom break! Justin was in kindergarten last year with Carson, he had the teacher next door to Mrs. Binford. He and Carson were quick buddies.



word work...this was when Carson said "WAIT! It's summer, and this is not what I want to do!" Ha!

Ella Belle worked hard!


The girls got to enjoy centers at the end of the day, and Emmy had fun in the play doh center!


Ella loved the home center!

Summer School is in Full Swing!

2:20 pm today marked the end of my 8th day teaching summer school...11 more to go!! I'm teaching kids entering 1st grade. I have 18...all by myself! To me, that seems like 50 4th graders! They are so fun, but so little! I signed up for it, and the $ is great so I'm not officially complaining, but by golly it's a long day. These sweet ones do not leave my side from 7:45-2:20. They don't go to P.E./Music, no recess, and I have to eat lunch at their table, so there are NO breaks for me! The one thing that saves me is Discovery Education a.k.a. United Streaming. It's an educational video website that has age appropriate videos that are geared toward the curriculum that we are studying. It gives me at least 20 minutes everyday...ha!!

Swimming Lessons 2011

Carson, Emma, and Ella are almost finished with their summer swimming session with Ms. Stacy! They have been taking with her every summer for years. They are great swimmers, but they have always enjoyed doing swimming class! We are thinking next year we might try out swim team.
watching big bro swim.

Graduation 2011!!

We celebrated Carson's and Ashlyn's Kindergarten graduation and Emma's and Ella's pre-K graduation at Trail Dust the first Sunday in June!! They slid on the big slide nonstop! We had a great time!!
The waiters even sang to the graduates!

Some Fun Days in May

May is always JAM packed with tons of fun things to do!! This year was full of fun!! The 4th grade field trip to Rangers Ballpark didn't disappoint!

We also had a great time at Key's Bruster's Night! Yum!!

late in May we had nerd day at school! So much fun!

And we can't forget about Mavs mania which just ended on Sunday with The Mavs becoming NBA champs!

TEN YEARS......

The first Friday in June I completed my 10th year as a teacher, all with Arlington ISD! I can hardly believe that it's been that long!
My first year as a teacher, only a month into the job as a brand new 23 year old, I remember driving to work listening to 106.1 KISS FM hearing that a plane hit the World Trade Center in NYC. I thought it was a joke, but it wasn't. By the end of that horrid day I had 7 kids left in my classroom, because terrified parents pulled their children from school. I remember everything about 9-11-01 like it was yesterday. I can hardly believe it's been nearly 10 years!! That really dates me!
While that terrible day is a vivid memory of my last 10 years as a teacher, I have maaaannnyyy other memories that make everything that I've put into 10 years worthwhile. Watching my former students on Facebook is so exciting to me!! My first class (3rd graders in the 2001-2002 school year, and pictured above) just graduated from Arlington H.S........sooooo crazy to me that they are that old!
While many have tested my patience, I've always found something I could love about each of them, they are kids and kids are beyond innocent. I hope that the small impact I had on each of their lives meant something to them.
I've had the privilege to teach 2 classes of 3rd graders, 1 class of 5th graders, and 7 classes of 4th graders. Teaching is the ultimate job if you are a working mommy, and I'm grateful for the experiences I've had!! Here's to the next 10!

My favorite team at Key!

Julie and I celebrating our AISD 10 year service awards

Tiffany, me, and Julie 10 years with AISD

Girls Pre-K Sprig Musical

Sadly, these are the only 2 pics I took (on my phone) of the girls' spring musical. I took one of the performance and one post show where Emma Claire was making a super silly face. I guess I should be glad I got something, I could only be away from work for 30 minutes...I'm sorry my sweet #3 and #4...I'll do better at your next performance! Love y'all!! The theme was solid rainbow colors...that's explains the cuties attire! :)

It was a free ice cream kind of day!

Several weeks ago we ate at Spring Creek and they were giving out free scoops of their yummy vanilla Blue Bell ice cream!! My kiddos were soooo excited!! Thank goodness for the I-Phone to capture these moments!

Pat Green May 2011

I had sooo much fun eating at Cooper's BBQ in Fort Worth TX and seeing Pat Green at Billy Bob's with my favorite concert buddy!!