Snacks for Kindergarten

Every 20 or so days of school our turn arrives to bring snacks for Carli's kindergarten class.  We thought about taking the easy way out and just taking a prepackaged snack but then we saw a cool idea to take some rainbow fruit packs...and well, we decided to go healthy!  :)

First we gathered up all our fruit:  purple grapes, green grapes, pineapple, oranges and strawberries.  We got them all washed and prepped...

And with our snack sized baggies we put them together and they looked like rainbows!

Apparently they were a hit b/c Carli came home the next day and said that some of the kids asked when she would get to bring a snack again!  Woohoo!  I may not be a room mom but maybe I can swing a snack cool enough for a kindergartener once a month!

Troup Tigers vs Alto Yellow Jackets

 Carli's Troup Tigers came to Alto to play my alma mater the Yellow Jackets so we thought we'd go support our teams.  Carli had to sit on the Alto side b/c I was not willing to go to the visitor side.  We were pleasantly surprised when both girls seemed to watch quite a bit of the game and lasted to the fourth quarter.  Keith, Uncle Tone and Pa did a great job explaining what was going on while Grammy and I took the opportunity to catch up with Mrs. Jamie!  :) 

We all had a great time and both girls came home with mini footballs compliments of the talents of Pa and Uncle Tone!

Alto ended up winning but Troup held their own.  Who knows, maybe we'll have our own little family rivalry before too long!

Ava Loves Blueberry Muffins...

Ava asked, whined and resorted to begging for us to make some blueberry muffins.  Ava says she HATES blueberries, but she LOVES blueberry muffins.  I finally gave in and broke out the mixer and blueberries and we whipped up some purple blueberry muffins.

She enthusiastically licked the spoon and bowl...so I started to believe that maybe it was possible to hate blueberries and love blueberry muffins.

After anxiously awaiting for her muffins to come out of the oven she was eager to give them a try...it turns out she only likes blueberry muffins if there are no blueberries in them.  Go figure.

Labor Day Weekend at the Lake

Our family was blessed to be able to spend most of Labor day weekend at the lake with some extended family.  My cousin Dionna, her family and parents, as well as Grammy & Pa, Uncle Tone, Uncle Andy, Aunt Chelle, Logan and Eady were all there.  We had awesome time visiting, playing games, swimming, fishing and eating of coarse! 

Grammy is the most excellent Grammy ever.  Thankfully she LOVES to swim and she is very patient and indulges all her grandkids when they ask to go swimming and no other adult really wants to go with them.  She even got Eady in the spirit of things!

We rigged up an inflatable slide to the dock and the kids had an absolute blast with it!

On Sunday afternoon, we all reconvened at the lakehouse after church and lunch out.  We had a few good games of Wahoo and did right by all the grandkids and started teaching them how to play.  The older three really enjoyed rolling the dice.  Ava's attention span wasn't as long as Carli and Logan's but they all had a great time!  Eady sat with Uncle Keith for a good long while and couldn't quite understand why we wouldn't let her have any marbles!

Grammy & I (& Ava) were partners playing against Andy (& Logan) and Keith (& Eady with Carli's help).  We started our game a good 15 minutes before the second game got started and we played Pawpaw style.  Meaning, if we could knock someone out of the middle, we did!  And thus, our game lasted a good 15 minutes after the other game ended.  Grammy and I prevailed!  :)

 

Like father, like son...

 

The second game included Pa, Uncle Tone, Aunt Betty & Dionna...I think Pa and Dionna won this one.  They could not agree on the rules of the game and kept claiming that Grandma may have played "that way" but it was not the right way to play.  She only played "that way" in order to beat Pawpaw.  :)

These two sat outside for a good long while and Ava imparted quite the story to her Daddy.  By the time they parted ways, neither one of them could tell me what they talked about.  :)

Uncle Cleaon had escaped down by the dock to do a little fishing...it was much quieter down there, but then the older kids spotted him and his quiet haven was interrupted.  He was very patient with all the kids and with Dionna and Ron's help every kid had the opportunity to hold the fishing pole...but not catch a fish.  They were a little to loud for that!

Weston with his Pa and his Daddy

 

Pretty sure Dionna just told Carli what a gizzard was...the bait Carli helped put on the fishing hook.  Her face is priceless!

While all the kids were being entertained with fishing, the rest of the men folk were playing a good game of horseshoes. 

 Ya'll this little boy is so stinkin' cute!  He played hard this weekend and worked hard to keep up with all the big kids.  I was exhausted just watching him!  

We ended Sunday night with a lot of singing, reminiscing and prayer time.  It was awesome!  We went back out for some burgers off the grill before everyone had to pack up and go home.   It was a great weekend!  We are blessed.

Ava Goes to PreK

 Today, Ava started PreK.  She was so ready to go back to school.  Not that she didn't LOVE having our full attention during the day while Carli was at school last week, but I must admit that she got a little bored.  Apparently Momma is not quite the playmate that Carli is...even if I am a lot less argumentative!

Last Thursday, we went up to Oak Tree Academy for Ava to meet her teacher.  We already knew her teacher, and were pretty stoked that Ava had gotten Mrs. Denise for PreK.  Carli had Mrs. Denise a couple of summers ago and absolutely loved her.  Turns out, Mrs. Denise's hubby work at Trane with Keith and they lived in our old neighborhood!  Small world!

 As I was getting Ava ready this morning, we figured out that she had outgrown every single pair of her tennis shoes.  Oops!  So, she put on Carli's shoes and they weren't far off from fitting and we made a trip to the store after school to get her a new pair.  Ava is on a Minnie Mouse kick.  She choose to wear hear favorite Minnie Mouse shirt and her new backpack is Minnie Mouse as well.  She's grown quite a bit from this time last year...

 Ava is in a class full of kiddos who haven't ever been to OTA.  She was a little apprehensive about not knowing anyone, but true to herself she didn't disappoint when she came home telling us all about her new friends.  Ava is naturally outgoing, if Carli isn't around to tell her that they are very shy.  :) 

Ava is going to have an awesome year at OTA!  She is looking forward to learning so much this year.

A Visit to Teaberry Farm

 Last Saturday we met up with our friend, Mrs. Arrington, to have the girls' back to school pictures taken at Teaberry Farm.  Teaberry Farm is where Keith and I were married a little over eight years ago.  We have been blessed to have pictures taken there a couple times over the last few years (2010, 2012).

I'm anxious to see the shots Mrs. Arrington got.  Teaberry Farm is a pretty neat place.  It seems like every time we go back, there is something new or rather old and vintage that has been added.  The backdrop for the pictures Mrs. Arrington took is going to look pretty neat I think. 

After our session with the real photographer, we walked around the farm a bit reminiscing and checking things out.  We enjoyed visiting with Cindy Richards (one of the owners) and showing off our girls.

The horse in these pictures is real.  It wasn't very sure about the girls and the girls weren't very sure about the horse.  They wanted so badly to go pet it but they could not work up the courage.  So we settled for a picture "with" the horse.  :)

 It took a little bribing to get the girls to somewhat cooperate for a picture in front of the chapel doors where Keith and I said our vows on May 20, 2006.

One of my most favorite pictures of my Paw-paw and Grandma was taken at my wedding on the back porch of the house.  It's just so them, sitting in the rocking chairs enjoying watching all the activity around them.  

I would have rearranged the chairs so they were in the same position as they were eight years ago...but I may have pushed my luck.  This is the best I got this go round.  

It was a good morning.  Actually, we shed no tears or had to make too many empty threats to hopefully have gotten some good pictures of the girls.  And we had the bonus of walking around and remembering our wedding day with our girls.