Cause this is Thriller..Thriller Night....

Last night, Shelby had the opportunity to dance in the pre-show for Odyssey Dance Theater's THRILLER at Tuacahn. She's been SOOOO excited! My friend Jana's daughter made it too, so we decided to make it a girls night out and go down together. (Jana's sister Jayne went with us, but she was taking the pictures so you don't get to see her beautiful face!)
Me and my baby girl!
Shelby and Kinley. Kinley says Shelby's her best 3rd grade friend. I just have to say that I LOVE KINLEY! She is such an amazing role model for Shelby. She's sweet, smart, funny, talented and just an all around great girl! I don't think I could have hand picked someone better for Shelby to look up to.
This is Shelby's face when.....
this lady got in her face. HAHAHAHA!!! She was so scared she couldn't even scream!
These zombies have ZERO respect for personal space. As we were leaving, Shelby walked by a zombie that was perched on a concrete column. As we passed, she jumped off it and HISSED in Shelby's face. Shelby FLIPPED!!! OUT!!! She tried to run away but this lady chased her. Poor Shelby was SCREAMING and CRYING and trying to climb up on me to get away from her. I swear it must have looked like a dog treeing an animal. Poor girl was TERRIFIED! It was great! (Ya I know, I'm a mean mom) I was laughing WAY too hard to help her! The zombies kept picking on her cause she was SO scared and would scream bloody murder every time they approached her.

Shelby is the one in the front row on the left. Only 5 of them from her team were invited to perform and they haven't learned all of their lyrical quite yet.



She's the one in the middle row on the right side. This was her tryout dance for company, except it was to a different song. I think these little girls adapted AMAZINGLY well considering they had never done this dance to this particular song until an hour before showtime!!! Way to roll with the punches Shelber!!!



Here's a promo for the show.. It was AWESOME!!


We'll definitely be going back again next year, whether the girls are dancing or not. More than anything it was really fun to get some time with Shelby! I love that girl!!

Red Ribbon Wek

This week was Red Ribbon Week at school. The kids LOVE to dress up every day. I had a good time walking around the school and seeing all the different "get-ups" HA!

Monday was "Wacky Socks" day.

Tuesday: Camo DayMy "Camolicious-Hunting Hotties"Wednesday- Pajama Day. I love Preston's : "Peace out!"
He's hilarious with his little "faux-hawk"
Thursday: Career Day. Shelby's the only one that wanted to dress up. She wants to be a CSI detective when she grows up... For those of you not on my Facebook, I asked Preston what he's going to be when he grows up. Without missing a beat and with the straightest face, Shelby said, "single and lonely" She CRACKS! ME! UP!

Friday: Red and White day. (Ok so I forgot to take the picture in the morning when they were all perfect, but oh well.. they're still adorable)

Look Out Robinhood

How in the world did my baby get so big? I swear it seems like just yesterday, we brought her home from the hospital. Now she's half grown. Literally! (Holy crap that's depressing to think of it that way!)
She LOVES to go out to the rifle range with Chris and target practice. It's sort of "their thing". She's actually a dang good shot for her age! She's been wanting to try archery, so she asked for a new bow for her birthday. And since she's spoiled... she got one! HA! I think Chris enjoyed shopping for it as much as she enjoyed getting it! I really wish I could have seen him purchasing the PINK bow at Sportsman's. But of course it has to match the pink Swiss Army knife he bought her on our Disney trip. He did draw the line on the pink "Cricket" that she wanted though!! He's quite determined to mess up her "prissiness". I think he just needs to back off. He's got his tomboy, let me have my prissy one! HAHA!
She also used her birthday money to buy herself a new bike!

Ok, so we need to work on her form a little....We have a rule in our house that you can either choose to have a "friends party" and get a crappy gift from us, or get a good gift but have a "family party". We sort of met Shelby half way on this one. She got a couple decent gifts and got to invite 1 friend to go to the movies and dinner with us. We love Justine! She's sooo much fun!!!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHELBY!

BOO!!

Tuesday night, our door bell rang and we opened the door to find that we'd been "Boo-ed". OH MY GOSH my kids thought that was the coolest thing EVER!!!! For those that don't know: "Boo-ing" is when you secretly give a neighbor a treat and one of these little ghost papers. Then they are supposed to make (or buy) a treat, copy the ghost paper and secretly pass it on to another neighbor. You keep passing it on until everyone in the neighborhood has a little ghost on their door. This is what we passed along to our neighbors.
The kids were so excited EXCEPT... we forgot that the people we were "boo-ing" have a dog. A big dog. The girls were trying to sneak up to the door to "ding dong ditch" them, when the dog came out barking at them. Of course my neighbors flipped on the lights and came running out when the girls screamed. Luckily my neighbor put the dog away and then flashed the lights when it was safe for the girls to drop and run again. In their little minds this only made the experience better. They thought it was the funniest thing ever. This is why I love living in small town USA!! You don't get stuff like this in big cities.

The Gap

By now ya'll know I'm a sucker for a field trip with my babies.... This time, I went with Shelby's class to Parowan Gap and a few other places. I even braved the bus... yeah... it's no better now than it was when I was in school. I don't get why Preston is so dang fascinated by it...

The "Zipper"
This rock is pretty cool. If you look at it from any other angle than this one, it looks like an ordinary rock. But from there, you can see that it looks like an Indian Chief. Pretty nifty.

Let There Be Light

While I was in Florida, I stayed the night at Charon's house one night. She had THE CUTEST chandelier hanging over her dining room table. It was a copper washtub turned upside down and I LOVED it. I've seen them in magazines but those are WWWAAAAYYY out of our price range. I'll admit I was VERY jealous when I saw that she had one, 'til she told me that she MADE it. (ok, so her father in law made it, but you get the idea...) So when I got home I decided to make my own. Hers is the bright, new, shiny copper, but that wouldn't go with the decor in my house. I wanted one that was beat to heck with that primitive antiqued look to it. I found one at a little antique mall here in town.
Once I got my tub, Chris and I went to Home Depot to find a light fixture to mount inside it.
Chris mounted everything up for me and then replaced my old chandelier with the new one. I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!! I think it goes perfect with our decor!
Thanks for the idea, Charon!

HOME AGAIN!

My grandpa passed away this past week so I had to make an impromptu trip to Florida. I went by myself so that Chris and the kids could be here for work and school. Let's just say that our family doesn't do too well in stressful situations so Thursday and Friday morning were a little rough. Seeing Mama's grave for the first time and realizing that her house had been demo'd and a brand new home built in it's place, was NOT an easy thing for me.
However, Friday night I got to go out with my "BFF" Charon. Now we haven't seen each other since my mama died (but we email practically every day) and we haven't actually done anything together since I got married. Needless to say, we were a little excited to see each other. We went to Dunnellon for dinner at a place called Carmella's. I highly recommend it!!! When I walked in I asked the host if we could have a table in the back and he said he didn't have one. I said, "Well then put us around some people that like to have fun, cause we're probably going to get real loud."..... and we did!!! We had a ball and laughed hysterically. Everybody kept teasing us about being "party girls in the big town of Dunnellon" HA! Yes well... this is what "party girls" do when they're old and married.... they cruise the clearance aisles at WalMart looking for good deals on early Christmas shopping..once again.... we had fun!!!
After our trip to Wal-Mart, we decided that I would just spend the night with Charon. I lucked out that her hubby knew someone selling Gator tickets, so he ran over and picked them up for me!!! I was soooooooo excited. Ya'll know I LOVE me some Gator football!! I haven't been to a game since I was a Jr. or Sr. in high school. I took Andrea and our cousin, Allen. Poor ole Allen was raised to be a 'Nole, but by the beginning of the game, he was wearing a Gator shirt! He said it was cause the black shirt he was wearing was too hot, but I think he just realized that it's great to be a Gator! HA!
Our seats were in the south end zone. We were sitting there talking about the seats when the team came out to warm up and did their stretching excercises with their backs facing us. Andrea and I decided that our seats weren't "good" they were "GREAT" Allen wasn't nearly as enthused as we were. HA!
Welcome to THE SWAMP baby!!!!
They announced that there were 90,612 people in attendance that day.
Now I swore I'd never wear a sun visor as long as I live. Now I own 2 (I got one in Disneyland). But it was too freakin hot not to have something covering these big ole cheeks I inherited from my paternal side of the family. (I'm not going to give him the credit of calling him "Dad") I'm used to some heat out here, but good lands... IT WAS HOT!!! It was only like 95 degrees, but the humidity about killed me. I was wearing a white t-shirt and khaki shorts. By the time that game was over, I looked like I'd been sprayed with a hose and was entering a wet t-shirt contest. It was N-A-S-T-Y!! For the record, I told Andrea that this picture was going up no matter what. She made this face not thinking I'd really put it up...mmmmhmmm.... I hope she's embarrassed HA!
After the game, we went out to eat at my all time favorite restaurant- Sonny's Bar-B-Q. I don't know what it is about that place, but I LOVE IT!!! I even got a couple bottles of sauce to bring home. I'm waaaaaayyyy more excited about that then I really should be. lol
I went to church with Granny on Sunday. They have a new building and a lot of new people, but it was good to be back. I had to laugh at all the people that thought I was Katie. I'm going to pretend it's cause I look so young. HA! So many of those people were there during some very trying times in my life (my car accident and when Mama died) and they are very dear to my heart.
I flew home Sunday night. It was really nice to get away and see family and some old friends, but by Sunday I was ready to see my babies!!! This whole only going back for funerals thing is for the birds, so Chris and I are going to plan a FUN vacation to Florida sometime in the next year or so.

$200 Jeans... ya bite me.

My latest project:
Shelby has been DYING for a pair of True Religion or Miss Me jeans! Ya.. I don't pay $80 for kids jeans let alone $200 for jeans for myself. So here's what we got... cheap jeans that I decorated to to look like the expensive ones. I even used her bedazzler for the pockets! Ha! It's actually kind of fun and it gives me something to do at work. One of my co-workers owns a consignment shop that I put a few pairs in. If they sell great, if not then oh well! At least I was entertained for a while.

MY BIG BOY!

I swear it seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. Now he's going to school. And not just pre-school "Big Boy School". He was SOOOOO excited to go. I got home and started making his special 1st day of school breakfast (grits and sausage). He came into the living room and I said, "Hey are you excited to go to school today?" He said, "Is it today?" "Yes" "Really? Today? I get to go today? You promise it's today?" "YES!" "Hurry up with my breakfast so I can go....Shelby it's today!...Daddy I get to go to kindergarten today!" (Apparently, "today" was the key word of the day.) I've never seen him get dressed so fast. He didn't even give me any guff about putting gel in his hair (usually you would swear I was putting toxic ooze on his head or something by the way he reacts.)

What's a day like "today" without family pictures? (ok, so it was actually yesterday but go with me here)

See....I told you he was excited. He didn't give

me any guff about taking his pictures either...

Once pictures were done, we went for the biggest, most exciting part of the day... THE BUS!!! Every year, poor Preston begs to ride the bus. Without fail, he cries all the way home cause he didn't get to ride the bus with the girls. This year was especially hard because he knew he would be riding soon... but not quite yet. Every year, I walk the kids up to the bus stop on the 1st day and then meet them at the school to make sure they get into their classrooms ok. It's what Mama did, so it's what I do. Let me tell ya... that was a long and lonely walk home without my baby... I did ok until I ran into my neighbor (sweetest old lady you could ever hope to meet!) and she SINCERELY started crying because "they grow up so fast. He starting school today. Next thing you know he'll be graduating and going on a mission and then he'll get married and move away and you won't see him anymore, but he's so excited even though your heart is breaking...." I politely excused myself and got in my car before I burst into tears right there on the dang street.

How sweet are they, holding hands walking up to the bus stop??? I just thought Morgan looked so cute today so I had to get a picture....At the bus stop....Shelby never fails to crack me up!! She was being silly and when we first saw the bus coming up the street, she patted me on the shoulder and said, "Well mom... you're boys going off to become a man." HAHAHA!!!! Preston was nice enough to tell me that if I got too bored at home without him, I could just come to the school and he would play with me during his toy breaks. How stinkin' cute is that?I also got video of him getting on the school bus as well as video of him getting off at the school... (I'll spare the majority of you, but it's available to those that really want to see it lol) When he got off the bus he said that the bus was like a "time machine" I have no clue what that meant, but he thought it was pretty exciting.

Preston with Mrs. Langford. Heaven help this poor woman.. HA! He wasn't overly thrilled about having to wear a name tag. He said, "You already know my name. I'm here every day remember." (He is always with me while I'm doing my PTA stuff.)

When I picked him up, he ran to me with a huge smile on his face. I asked if he had fun and he said, "Ya, I had so much fun I forgot to miss you.... Sorry mom!" LOVE IT!!!!

The Results Are In

Shelby made Jr. Prep Company and Morgan made Mini Company. These girls have worked SO hard and I'm so proud of them. They are both REALLY excited!!!!The girls with the flowers that we gave them for trying out. (for some reason they've decided to give Daddy all the credit for them though... sheesh!)

Shelby is excited that some of her friends are on her team and she had to overcome some SERIOUS nerves to even try out. She did it though and is SO glad she did!! Shelby ROCKS!
I want to add that Morgan made it even though she's never danced for this studio (other than hip hop) and hasn't really taken dance since she was 4 years old! GO MORGAN!!!!!

First Day of School

The girls started school yesterday. I can't believe that we have a 3rd grader and a 2nd grader. What's even harder to believe is that on August 31st, my baby is going to be in Kindergarten! How the heck did that happen??? The girls have GREAT teachers. They came home SO excited. Morgan has the same teacher that Shelby had last year. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE her!!! Last year, she knew that I would be requesting her for Morgan so she sort of started taking her under her wing then. Morgan wasn't nervous at all. She already knew her pretty well which really helped. I've yet to convince Mrs. Fuson that Morgan and Shelby have VERY different personalities. They've had the same teachers every year and that's one of the comments that both of the previous teachers have made...."I just can't get over how different their little personalities are..." HA!Shelby has a male teacher for the first time. I was a little worried about how she would react to that, but she ADORES him. He's such a great person and from what I've heard, a phenomenal teacher. Although, he does a lot of homework assignments online so now, of course, Shelby thinks she needs her own laptop... um... ya... not gonna happen lol

I don't know why I love this picture so much, but I just think it's the cutest thing ever! They were so excited to ride the bus that they were practically running up to the bus stop.
I'll definitely be posting about Preston's 1st day. He had his open house yesterday and has his assessment on Wednesday. I was so excited when he kept missing letters in the alphabet this morning. He really knows his ABC's but I really want him to go to all day kindergarten. Yes, I know that's awful of me, but with my schedule it would make my life so much easier. (even though I'm gonna go crazy with him gone every day.)But, I really do think he could use the extra help, so we'll see!!!!
Dance tryout results are supposed to be up any minute....