Family Night Edition #16

Pack your PJs and come on over!

Tonight was Pajama Party night and we had even had a special guest with us tonight.

But first...


Our centerpiece of bedtime stories, blankey, pillow, toothbrush/paste, teddy bear, etc. Everything for nighttime.


We had cinnamon rolls and taco dip and our drinks in coffee mugs.


Mmmm..."Kids" in a blanket.


Our family night portrait under the "chair tent" under the moon and stars. And say "hello" to my sweet friend Katy!


Well...Luke wound up with a fat lip (ginormous!) and here's the momma with the rollers in her hair comforting baby boy.


Then, what would PJ night be with some karaoke! Look at Belle go!


We turned off the lights in the house and gave each of the kiddos a flashlight and their first treasure hunt clue.


Katy was their guide (aka the Reader) thru the hunt.


We found the treasure! It was "Barrel of Monkeys", 2 jumpropes, and 4 glow sticks. SCORE!


And now we were headed on to a wonderful bedtime story of "You Are My I Love You".


PILLOW FIGHT! It was all good until someone started crying. And of course, in my family, someone will.


Thank you for coming to your very first Family Night Katy! We loved having you.

Oh, and over at Heather's place, they did a C-U-T-E Ghost Night if you wanna try that.

A Ride in the Car

Riding to church last night I asked some questions and each of us had to respond. After a few minutes, I had David write them down so I wouldn't forget.

Here's how it went.

Question: What was your favorite part of today?
Daddy: When my family picked me up from work.
Momma: When I got to sign the permission slip for Belle to go to Playworld for 9 weeks of outstanding behavior.
Belle: When I found out I get to go to Playworld.
Luke: 2

Question: What are you thankful for?
Daddy: My kids, wife, church, home, Job and that God saved me.
Momma: My family that loves me, a great job, a roof over my head, a running car, bills that are paid, and our barking Dog.
Belle: My momma, Daddy, Bubba, Kids, Sissy Girl.
Luke: 2

Question: What was your favorite family vacation?
Daddy: Our trips to Disney World.
Momma: Our trip when all 4 of us went to Wisconsin.
Belle: Michigan and Gulf Shores.
Luke: 2

Question: What is your favorite family memory?
Daddy: The day Belle asked Jesus into her heart.
Momma: The day that each of my kiddos was born.
Belle: Trip to Disney the 1st time (Luke was 3 weeks old so she got it all)
Luke: 2

I'm gonna have a hard time convincing him he is 3 in 2 months...

Who Needs Rest?

I guess not my family.

It started Thursday. David and I went on our bi-weekly date so Alison took the kiddos to the Jump Zone. Now...why in the world any of us ever thought that Luke MIGHT get on one of the jump things...I'll never know. He's a big chicken with anything that has parachute material.

Anyway, here are a few photos of their night out.


This was totally staged!


Belle loves it all thought.




More like my son.

Friday Alison and I took off work to go on Belle's 1st field trip with her class to the Pumpkins and More in Quitman.

And let me tell you...this pumpkin patch was definatly MORE. There were lots and lots of things to do besides sit in some pumpkins and take photos. It was a very educational field trip ( I would expect none less from a school ).


Belle's 1st Bus Ride


You see...she has wanted to ride on a school bus for YEARS, people. Loft aspirations...I know.


Belle's best friend at school, Anna Grace


I don't remember this "indian" lady's name, but she was one neat lady. She educated these kids on how indians lived off the land


Belle doing her "promise stick" that she made them "spit" on and promise never to go in the woods by themselves.


Off to visit the Teepees


My little indian girl


Belle and some of her friends on the hayride


Belle's teacher, Mrs. Jennifer, and some of her kids on the hayride


2 of the most stunning chaperones. And I must say...we were one of the few Parents there who helped the teachers with all the kids b'c my kid didn't feel the need to cling to us.


NOT your typical hayride!


Me and Belle settling in for lunch

After lunch we headed into the woods for a walk thru "The Enchanted Forrest". Yeah...


Belle's best friends


Then we headed to the old school house circa 1908


And a teacher told the kids how it was then.

After a quick stop at Granny and Grandpas house where we learned about "shotgun houses" and what corn cobs were used for, they let everyone "pick" a pumpkin. It was pumpkin vines spread out with pumpkins already picked and placed throughout the vines for the kids to go pick on out.


Finding just the right one...


Claiming her prize


We ended the trip with a riveting water duck race complete with pump handles and everything.

All in all...a fun day. If you are looking for a pumpkin patch with MORE, I highly recommend it. There were buses from Pulaski County and even Star City in Quitman. It was worth it!

Then, we loaded up and went to the tailgate party for the Wampus Cats homecoming at Ida Burns. There we had hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn, more jumpy things and lots of "carnival" type games. And Luke FINALLY got an opportunity to play on the playground he sees every day when we pick up Belle.

But did he? No.

You see...both of my children were napless that day.

Forgot my camera too, so you have been spared those lovely photos.

Saturday was a date with the girls to Murrays Dinner Playhouse (wonderful as always) and then all day church yesterday.

Sleep.

It eludes me.

Bragging Rights

Yeah. Today I get 'em.

We had our very first ever parent/teacher conference. I was never really scared going into it b'c bascially Belle has been excited about the prospect of starting Kindergarten for about 3 years now. So I never expected there to be too much of a problem.

And you know how all parents tend to want to think their kid is oh so this and oh so that?

Mrs. Jennifer told us last night that Belle was pretty much oh so amazing.

First she showed us her Qualls measures. For those of you who don't know, its a measurement they use during the first week of school to assess where each kid falls in respect to all of the other kids tested. Then, they plot your kids abilities into 1 of 3 categories for each area tested.

Not Developed, Developing, or Developed.

She said that most kids only score all "developed" at the end of school.

Guess where Belle was in ALL? Developed.

And they don't just judge book smarts. There are other things like oral communication, work habits and attentive behavior.

My baby is growing up!

Then, came the report card. K+ or 4 in everything.

K+ = Above Grade Level and 4 = Advanced.

And even when she went over the standardized scoring requirements, the Above Grade Level or Advanced reqirements...Belle was still even doing things beyond THOSE! Mrs. Jennifer was telling us things like:

"The requirement for Above Grade Level says she has to tell me a word for each letter of the alphabet. When I say "A" she is supposed to tell me something that starts with "A". Most kids say what they have learned on the Alphabet chart and say "apple" b'c that's what is up there. Not Belle. She is already associating the letters with all sorts of other words."

For "A"...she said "ax". To me, that was nothing. But apparently for Kindergarten its amazing.

Mrs. Jennifer had other "amazing" stories like this in Math, Writing, Work and Study Habits and even behavior.

And apparently I will be astounded to see her journal at the next 9 weeks. I can't wait!

So, there's my bragging rights for today, and I couldn't be prouder! I already knew she was an amazing kid. Now others get to see it!

Family Night Edition #15

LIVE from Conway, AR it's....

FAMILY NIGHT!!!!

I saw tonight's theme on a gals blog (here) who posted on Heather's site and I immediately e-mailed her and asked if I could totally rip that ENTIRE idea. She said sure!

And Game Show night was born!


Here we have our fabulous contestants showcasing...themselves (applaud) Um...I think we need to see about replacing the gentleman in the back. He doesn't quite have that "Vanna" appeal anymore, don't you think?


We began the evening with a nail-biting episode of "Meal or No Meal". Our 2 youngest contestants EVER on the show chose cases to reveal what tonight's supper might be.


And the Lovely Belle shows what the cases revealed: Cheese burgers, mac & cheese, corn, frozen punch (and later some dump cake). Isn't she lovely, audience?


Our hostess (aka Momma Overstreet) interviewed our 2 youngest contestants EVER on the show at the "Board o Fun". (I'll go into more detail about the board later.) This stunning young lady was Belle Overstreet from Arkansas. She is 6 years old and lives in a household of 5 including the dog. When questioned as to her mother's age, she revealed a young and svelte age of 20...just kidding...30. When questioned as to her father's age, she said she didn't know. The hostess then asked if he was older than dirt. The smart young contestant replied "No. He's older than compost."

I'm so proud.


This handsome young gentleman...well, all we know was the answers to his questions were as follows:

What is your name: Luke Obbberstweet
Where are you from: Luke Obbberstweet
How old are you: Lukey
Do you love your sister: Yes
Is you sister pretty: Yes
Is your sister ornery sometimes: Ornery

Moving on...


Then it was time to make our contestant signs!


Once all signs were hung on our backs, it was time for a riveting game of FAMILY FEUD! The hostess called each contestant for the girls team and for the boys team and the crowd went wild as each contestant came running in to join there team.


The star of the girls' team, #6...Hollywood!

Girls won...'nuff said.


So, you see that Board o Fun up there? You can click on it to make it larger. It just showed every aspect of the night. The contestants, the "Tell us who you are" segment, Meal or No Meal, Family Feud and the Grand Prize.

So, we let Hollywood remove the final case of the night. It revealed tonight's grand prize. It was...drum roll please....

Family Bonding.

aaaawwwwww....

Until next week...when you might get to COME ON DOWN! YOU'RE the next contestant on FAMILY NIGHT!

Oh, Yeah!

Just a little Monday Morning phunnie to start your week. He cracks himself up with this...

Lions and Tigers and...Flowers?

We made our annual outing to Gracefest today and this year they went all out with the facepainting.


My Tiger. As soon as the lady was done, he literally got out of the chair and got on all fours and crawled to us...growling.

Scary isn't he?


Then my beautiful, blossoming flower.

In more ways than this...

Family Night Edition #14

Tonight was all about the Alphabet!


See...we all wore "our" letters on our shirts. Our decorations were ABC books like Hermie and Wormie's ABC and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We also read together the ABCs of the Bible.


For Food we made tuna sandwiches that were cut out in each of our letters, we had ABCs and 123s and then made sugar cookies with our own letters.


See...L for Luke!


Then Luke went on a hunt for things in the house that started with "L" and Belle looked for things that started with "B". Look, they found "Luke" and "Lips"!


Then we had the challenge of "Pin the Coconut on the Coconut Tree". Belle won! But I'm SO SURE she wasn't peeking out the bottom. Looks like Alison and I have some major issues.


Smells like the cookies are done!


We ended the night with a read-a-long of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and a viewing of "The Letter Factory". (Plug: If you have a little one around the house, I HIGHLY recommend you run out and get the Letter Factory. Your kiddo will know their letters by sight and sound in no time.)

Can't WAIT for next week's night. I asked another fellow family nighter if I could totally borrow every single idea of hers and she said yes! I'm excited! See you then!

Happy Bonding!