"Mom, it's not a snapping turtle it's a scratching turtle!"

I think I found a way to get Peyton out of bed in the mornings, arrange to have various critters in the front yard every a.m. It is so hard to get Peyton up in the mornings. Mackenzie will set her alarm for 5:40, shower, dress, treatment and about 7am I am doing that thing with Peyton - begging her to get out of bed, taking off all the covers, etc. This morning when Jason left for work about 6:30 he told her there was a turtle in the front yard and she hops right out of bed, picks up the turtle (gets scratched a little bit), poses for a photo op, and then gets ready for school - she was there right when the doors opened.

School's Out For Summer (For Mackenzie)

Here is a picture from Monday of Mackenzie when she got in the car on her very last day of fifth grade. On the last day they had a cookout and watched a movie. She's already having a fun summer...Emily slept over Monday night and Mackenzie slept over at Morgan's last night. Although we loved the non-traditional calendar, I think Mackenzie is really excited to have a LONG summer break.

Talent Show, Fun & Field Day

School is winding down - tomorrow (Monday, June 2) will be Mackenzie's last day. There is always so much going on on the final days of school. Friday morning Mackeznie and friends performed in the SHMS Talent Show. They danced to "Defying Gravity" by Freddy. I tried to get it on video to post on the blog but I didn't get it. I wasn't too worried since we bought the DVD. I was very impressed by all the talent those fifth and sixth graders had. Oh, and the teachers too! Mackenzie's team teachers were great!


Mackenzie & Peyton's dance teacher Laine was so nice to come up with the dance and I could not believe how quickly they picked it up!

After the Talent Show, Mackenzie had to change into her team t-shirt for Fun & Field day (moved from Tuesday due to the rain) and had a fun day playing with friends. This is a picture of Mackenzie and Alyssa.

We are Proud of you Mackenzie!

I just got home from Mackenzie's final awards assembly of the year and I am so proud of her! She went onstage four times...drum roll please...

For Achieving Straight A's in the Fourth Quarter

For Achieving Straight A's All Year

For Exceptional Effort in the Fourth Quarter

Citizenship Award - 2007-2008 Team Pacesetters Top Citizen

Mackenzie has worked so hard and has experienced an immense enjoyment of middle school (and I am left to wonder when I blinked and the year passed me by - I know it was just last week when I posted that my baby was going off to middle school).

Madison, Mackenzie & Morgan after the awards assembly.

"Let's Get on With the Show"

On May 8th, Mackenzie had her Spring Choir Concert. They sang songs from different Broadway musicals (Grease, Hairspray, etc.). They all did a great job!

Mother's Day Tea

I just got home from a Mother's Day Tea with Peyton and it was so nice. Peyton and I have been so excited all week and Mrs. Burrow outdid herself with all the treats!




All the kids read things about their Moms and the video I took was sideways (I wasn't thinking!), so I guess I'll just type it in. This is how Peyton filled in the blanks:

My mom is the most wonderful mom in the world!

Her name is Christy.

She's pretty as a butterfly.

She is 30 years old.

she has brown eyes and brown hair.

My mom cooks the best pancakes.

Her favorite clothes to wear are jean jackets.

My mom and I like to go shopping together.

I think Mom is funny when she dances to music.

But I know she's really angry when I hear her yell.

I wouldn't trade my Mom for anything in the hole wide world.

I love my Mom because she has a sparkle in her eye.

Funny, I wore a jean jacket today for the first time in about four months! You know I had a tear in my eye to go with the sparkle.

When Peyton first told us about the Mother's Day Tea, Jason asked her when they were going to have a Father's Day Beer - I told her to ask Mrs. Burrow...

Touch A Truck

We've had a weekend of fundraisers. Last night Jason and I went to the CFF Wne Opener and had a great time - even though I spent most of the night with the Silent Auction, I still got to visit with lots of people and I think everyone really enjoyed the event. This morning I worked a shift at Touch A Truck and when I was finished (and after Peyton's soccer game and pictures) Jason and the girls joined me.


Hooooooooooooonk, hoooooooooooooooooooonk....we heard a lot of that!

Home Depot project...for some reason they wanted Jason to help them but not me. We are the proud owners of two plastic sack holders.

I think Jason would like the vehicle behind him.

More Flat Stanley

Yesterday, Flat Stanley went with Peyton for another recital picture. Her dress is her costume for her ballet dance to "It's the Hard-Knock Life". All the girls looked so cute!

This has been a busy week for Peyton and pictures. Recital pictures on Monday and Wednesday, class and school pictures today and she'll have soccer pictures on Saturday.

Arkansas Floodplains

Mackenzie had a big Arkansas Floodplains project due today. She had to work on it completely by herself (parents could only offer suggestions). Tissue paper, Model Magic clay, glitter, glue...I think she had a great time working on it and she was really proud of what she created herself.

Trying to Catch Up

Tis the season to be crazy! I wanted to post a few pictures from the past couple of days. Yesterday the girls had recital pictures at Oftedahl's. We raced to downtown Rogers right afterschool for Peyton's pictures at 3:40 (over at 4:30) since Mackenzie's pictures were at 5:40 we just ate in between with Kendra, Emily and Ashley. As soon as Mackenzie was finished we hit the soccer fields.

Mackenzie's Hip Hop/Jazz class is doing a dance to a mix with Thriller and the Addam's Family theme song. For the group picture they all did scary faces - I can't wait to see it.

Here is a shot of the girls waiting to go in for their group shot (check out the little sisters in the background).
Peyton in her Hip Hop/Jazz costume. I take her again on Wednesday for her Ballet/Tap class.

After recital pictures Peyton had a soccer game. Mackenzie's friend that is normally out at the fields when we are wasn't there so she had to hang out with us...poor thing.

Peyton goes to the WAC next week for Flat Stanley so they are keeping Flat Stanley journals this week. We were holding Flat Stanly up so he could watch Peyton play - I think she thought it was pretty funny.Sunday we took Peyton to Joplin so she could take a Cecchetti exam for ballet. (If you know about as much as me about ballet, here is a little description: The Cecchetti method is a form of ballet instruction. The method is a strict training system with special concern for anatomy within the confines of classical ballet technique, and seeks to develop the essential characteristics of dance in its students through a rigid training regime. The goal is for the student to learn to dance by studying and internalising the basic principles, in an effort to become self-reliant rather than imitating the movements executed by their teacher.) She passed the Primary II level and was so nervous before the test and so excited afterwards.

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Mackenzie's Check Up

Whew! What a whirlwind of a day. Left the house at 5:30 this morning to take Mackenzie to LR for a check-up and I'm home to post now. She had a great check-up...good numbers on her Pulmonary Function Test, clear lungs - over all good report. Dr. Warren was even okay that she didn't gain any weight but we are going to really work on that.

Also, they are going to start seeing patients in Lowell in June - HOORAY. Unfortunately, Mackenzie's next appointment is in July and it's her annual so we have to do that in Little Rock...But October will be great...30 minutes round trip instead of 7 hours! Of course I'd drive her to Oregon once a month if she needed to go!

Our New Addition

We have a brand new (to us) addition to our family. 2.89 acres of land. We closed on March 18th - it was very romantic, the power went out so we signed the papers by candlelight. We are very excited to start building our "forever" house. Seriously, I want to either die in this house or have the girls move me to a nursing home from this house. We are working on getting bids and all that "fun" stuff so hopefully we'll be able to start building soon.

Easter

Here is a picture from Easter. I'm so far behind in posting! Let's see if I can remember...The girls had been at Mom and Ernie's house from after Peyton's Drama camp Friday and we picked them up Easter Sunday. They hunted eggs at my aunt Sherri's house - which is a fantastic place to spend time outdoors as they have an unbelievable view of the Arkansas River! They had to wait all day for their baskets but they had a great time.

Spring Break

The girls were out of school for Spring Break last week and we didn't do too much. Peyton had drama camp at the Walton Art's Center everyday from 1-3:30 and Mackenzie and I ran around while she was there. We could have gone on a very nice vacation with all the gas money we used driving to Fayetteville everyday (not to mention the fact that Mackenzie and I spent our time shopping).

Here is a video of Peyton doing a warm-up at camp...WARNING: It's very catchy!



Friday after camp the girls spent a couple of days with the grandparents and had a great time.

Wow - I think I actually just added a video.

So Much To Post...

So little time! I have lots to post from Spring Break and Easter (I'm even going to try to post a video), but no time to sit and do it.

Amanda

Thanks for investigating how to add a background without losing all the extras!

Art Auction

Peyton's school had an art auction fundraiser Friday night. The first grade classes did these collages of words. This is Mrs. Burrow's class masterpiece and an upclose of Peyton's contribution.

New Post Coming Soon!

I'll try to update tomorrow!

Girl Scout Cookies

 

They are in! If you ordered cookies, we'll be delivering soon. If you didn't order any and would like some, let us know and we can get some for you.

Willy Walton's Chocolate Factory

Mackenzie and Emily went to the University on Saturday for a great program presented by SIFE - Willy Walton's Chocolate Factory. They learned all about different aspects of business including economics, finance, accounting, marketing, management, and business ethics.

Mackenzie's group (below) created a business selling Big Red Chocolates - Razorback shaped chocloate available with strawberry, cherry or caramel filling. Their factory is located in Little Rock, Arkansas. They get their cocoa beans from Mexico, milk from Arkansas, sugar from Brazil, strawberries from Arkansas and their cherries from Canads. They plan to sell Big Red Chocolate at all Razorback athletic games They will utilize trucks for transportation and the will never tell a lie (ethics).

Mackenzie had a great time and learned a lot. I'd buy Big Red Chocolate - wouldn't you?!