Let's Go Camping!

On Memorial Day weekend, we loaded up the van and we moved to Beverly... oh, wait, that's not right. We actually visited Tyler State Park. If you have never been, I HIGHLY recommend it!

We met our friends, Megan and Scyler Hurd and their 3 girls, at the campsite. We were supposed to be leaving earlier in the day but that didn't happen so we didn't get to the park until after dark. Thankfully they came and help us put our tent up! I have to admit that I had a difficult time sleeping that night since we got there after dark and I couldn't see what was around us.

Here are a few pics of our camp out!

Rick had to run up to the rangers office to get us registered Saturday morning (since it was so late Friday night when we arrived) so Scyler was helping fix breakfast. (I LOVE our new red Coleman camp stove, BTW!)

Rick, cleaning up after breakfast...

The girls in front of our tent... I so enjoyed all of the trees around us!

Home Sweet Home for the Hurds....look how organized and clean it is! LOL

After our breakfast Saturday morning we went for a walk...on our way we found this rope swing and Megan decided to try it out! Scyler took a swing on it too...guess Rick and I were too afraid!

We also found this place next to the lake and Rick decided to preach a quick sermon on our walk. (tee hee)

Photo op of a few of the girls (Hannah, Haylee and Sara)

Another photo op...they were looking at the fish under the bridge.

Hannah fishing at the lake. They didn't catch anything but had a ball anyway!

The Hurd's fishing...

Haylee playing Hide-n-Seek at our camp site.


Getting ready to make some s'mores... a MUST on any camp-out!

Before we left Tyler State Park we found a nature trail to hike and we also collected any trash we could find. (Rick's idea... he's good like that!)

HAVE to have a picture at the park sign! These cute girls are great friends....love it!

We DEFINITELY will! (when it gets a little cooler out!)

Ponytail Kids Club!

Miss Haylee is now a card-carrying member of the Ponytail Kids Club!

What, you may ask, is that? The club collects donated hair and makes wigs for cancer patients who can't afford to buy them. Ponytail Kids is different than Locks of Love in that you only have to donate 8 inches (instead of 10).

Haylee has an extremely sensitive scalp and hates to have her hair brushed. Her friend, Mithra, got her hair cut super short. When we asked her about it she told us about Ponytail Kids and Haylee wanted to do it. I thought it was a great idea at first (no more crying when I brushed her hair!) and then I started thinking about my sweet babies hair being all gone and wasn't sure this was a good thing. Haylee and her sister both have beautiful hair (if I do say so myself!) but then I remembered...it will grow back!

So, here are a few pictures of her time at Shanna Ashley's Salon, donating her hair...

there is all of her golden glory!

*snip....snip* Miss Becca cuts it off

showing off her newly cut ponytails that she will be donating...

Now that she's had it done, I LOVE it! I think the cut suits her well. Someone said she looks like the American Girl doll, Kit Kittredge... what do you think?

Crazy Hair Day!

Today is Crazy Hair Day at EP Rayzor!

Normally I just do the colored hair spray... maybe a few braids or piggy tails and we're good to go. Well, a few months ago I stumbled upon this blog (and evidently she got many of her ideas from here) and saw these super cute crazy hair ideas and thought "Oh yeah! We are so doing this!" All I needed to do was convince the girls!

I knew I wanted to do the Rose Garden one and I also wanted to do the Beehive. However, when I attempted to get Hannah's hair into something that resembled a beehive, it was a disaster! So, since I had enough flowers and 2 pieces of the white picket fence (is that THE cutest finishing touch?) I decided to do both of them as flower gardens. Hannah just has bumble bee's flying around hers while Haylee has butterflies.

I think they both turned out super sweet... what do you think?

my two little garden gnomes!

from the back... I sprayed their hair green to look like the leaves but it's neon. I think it turned out really cute anyway!

Hannah's garden

Haylee's garden

(just on the off chance that anyone wants to do this... here is where I found the white picket fence for SUPER cheap!)

When we pulled up to the school, I didn't see very many other kids with crazy hair. I was worried that the girls might be too embarrassed but they weren't at all!

Too much fun!

Young Author's Day...aka Helen Keller's Hero Head

Hannah learned so much about Helen Keller!

Did you know that Helen Keller :

*is credited with bringing the dog breed Akita to the US?

*was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom?

*first word she learned to associate with an object is "WATER".

*first spoke the word "IT"...and Hannah learned the process by which Helen Keller was taught to speak. (by Helen placing her hand on her teachers face... thumb on the throat, first finger on the lips and middle finger on the nose... so she could feel all of the different sounds being made)

Hannah's class had to choose someone who had made a contribution to society to do a research paper on. Other famous people chosen were Rosa Parks, Philo Farnsworth, Abe Lincoln, Caesar Chavez, etc.

They did a lot of research at school and even created a PowerPoint presentation about their chosen person!

But the one thing that stumped us was that she had to create a "Hero Head" based on Helen Keller; essentially a potato head based on their chosen person.... really?!? Helen Keller doesn't really have any distinguishing features to speak of. I mean, Abraham Lincoln has that beard, Daniel Boone has his coon skin cap. What could Hannah do for Helen Keller?

Here is what she came up with and I was so proud of her!

Hannah's "Helen Keller Hero Head"... turned out pretty cute huh? You can also see some of the artifacts that Hannah chose to talk about laying on the table.

For Young Author's Day the parents got to see the presentation of the report. The teachers make it a very special day with treats and all. It's a lot of fun and Hannah did a great job with her reading!

Here is Hannah hanging out with "Honest Abe"... the kids could dress up as their person. Hannah tried to dress like Helen Keller.

Hannah is intently listening to Cole do his presentation on Philo Farnsworth... the man who invented TV!

Here she is sharing her PowerPoint presentation.

Her dyslexia teacher, Mrs. Vaughn, even came down to see Hannah's report. So sweet of her!

Hannah really enjoyed learning about Helen Keller and had fun creating the Hero Head. I, however, am glad it's over! Only 7 more days of school and then the girls are mine! =}

Boosterthon 2011!

It's that time of year again... time for the Boosterthon Fun Run!

E.P. Rayzor had their annual Boosterthon Fun Run on Friday. This program is so great because it not only gives the school an opportunity to raise much needed funds, it also teaches the students positive character traits. This years theme was "Leader LAUNCH!" where the students learned that leaders are:

Learners
Active
Uplifting
Not Bullies
Courageous and
Helpers

Each day a Boosterthon guy comes into the school to discuss the daily trait with the students. These Boosterthon guys are also positive male role models in the school and the kids LOVE them! They are treated like rock stars when they are in the school... the kids flock to them, want to talk to them, high five them, etc.

Anywho, both girls ran their 35 laps and between them raised $280 for E.P. Rayzor! Here are a few pictures from the day:

This is Rayzor, the school mascot. He's showing his support with his cute little "Boosterthon" t-shirt!

Some of the students getting ready to start the Fun Run!

Our favorite "Boosterthon Guy", Dynomite Dave! (yes, I introduced him to one of E.P. Rayzor's greatest teachers last year and rumor has it there is a ring coming in the near future but that is another story for another blog entry...)

The teachers are so enthusiastic! All of the kindergarten and 1st grade teachers made tutu's and dressed up for the day! (the one on the left with her hands up is Mrs. Lewis, Hannah's 2nd grade teacher last year {now teaching 1st grade} and the one on the right is Miss Jones, Hannah's 1st grade teacher and now Haylee's 1st grade teacher)

Haylee with her game face on... "Lady, no time for high-fiving... I am trying to raise some money here!"

Haylee, getting one of her 35 laps marked off! (the shirts have a track with numbers on it... each time they run a lap someone marks it off so they can keep track of how many they completed)

And heeeeeeeere's Hannah! Running her way to $$ for the school!

Hannah getting one of her 35 laps marked off!

I really enjoy the Boosterthon program and look forward to a few more years while the girls are at E.P. Rayzor. Thank you so much to all of those who supported Hannah and Haylee, they were SO excited to report their pledges at school each day! (if we didn't contact you about the Fun Run it's not because we don't love you... we just know there are many worthy causes out there to support {like the girls selling Girl Scout cookies, etc} and didn't want to wear out our welcome!)

Can't wait for the Fun Run next year....

Nutcracker Ballet... 2010

(Since I was so horrible at blogging for most of last year, I am going to be posting a few fun things we did in 2010....)

Nutcracker Tea Party/ Ballet 2010

For the past for years I have taken the girls to the local college (Texas Women's University) to see the Nutcracker Ballet. We usually have a little tea party with some friends and then all go to the performance. It's so much fun and the girls all look so beautiful dressed up in their Christmas pretties! Here are a few photos from our latest get together:

Haylee and her friend, Zaida, during the "tea party"

I usually have some sort of craft for them to do... Hannah is working on the picture frame craft we did this year.

The group before we went in and took our seats... aren't they beautiful?

I took Hannah and Haylee outside to take a few pictures for our Christmas card this year... the sun was a big bright, as you can see.

The group (minus a few) enjoying some ice cream at Braum's after the performance... YUM!

It's always so much fun to go with friends! We can't wait until next year!

Our little DAISY!

Haylee is a Girl Scout!

(*I apologize in advance about the quality of the photos...the lights were out in the Den and no one had the special key to turn them on)

If you know anything about Haylee, you know she's very shy. I've tried to get her involved in various activities and she doesn't want to do them unless her big sister is there. And as they are getting older, this sometimes isn't even an option anymore.

I thought Girl Scouts would be a great place to start her and was thrilled when she was put into a troop with one of her favorite friends, Fiona! Not to mention all of the girls in the troop are 1st graders at her school so she knows all of them.

(the girls in the Wolf Den listening to Mrs. Colson... aren't those "stalagmites" cool? and they are sitting around a fake camp fire)

(Haylee and Fiona)

She meets once a month right after school. They meet in what is called the Wolf Den at her school so she just goes down there after school is dismissed. She has a fabulous leader, Mrs. Colson. She is very organized and great with the girls.

The last meeting was their Investiture Ceremony, welcoming them to the family of Girl Scouts. Mrs. Colson gave them each a certificate and a flower. Also, if they could recite the Girl Scout Promise by heart:

On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

they received the center to their Daisy patch (this is ironed on their vest... and can I just say I'm SO glad it's an iron on!). They will earn the petals as they complete projects having to do with the Girl Scout Law. By the time they finish, they will have a colorful Daisy on their vest!

(Haylee, after she got her flower and certificate... since the lights were out and I wanted to take pictures I ran down the hall to find someone to turn the lights back on. I got back just in time to see Haylee get her flower, etc. I missed her saying her Promise and everything. I was so bummed )

(Fiona saying the Promise and telling Mrs. Colson why she wanted to be a Girl Scout)

(the girls, at the end of the meeting in the Friendship Circle)

Haylee loves going to Girl Scouts!

(Haylee and Mrs. Colson, her troop leader)

BTW, she's selling cookies too! Let us know if you need some!