Polar Express
Monday, November 24, 2008 | Labels: Out and About | 0 Comments
Awanas
Our church is offering classes for ages 3 thru 6th grade. Each age group has it's own curriculum and cute name. It starts with Puggles: toddlers, Cubbies: preschoolers, Sparks: K - 2nd, T&T (Truth & Training): 3rd - 6th.
This program has been really great for Emily.
She is so proud to have earned her vest!
Sunday, November 23, 2008 | Labels: Out and About | 0 Comments
How did I know I'd end up being Stuffing?
You Are The Stuffing |
You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why. |
Saturday, November 22, 2008 | Labels: stuff and stuff | 0 Comments
Mr. Trouble
Remember Mr. Trouble? I promised I'd come back to him. I made this promise even before anything bad happened. Even though the country girl in me loved the idea of wildlife in the yard some how I knew it was gonna be trouble. Sure enough, about a week after the first sighting I let the dogs out to potty before leaving them in the house for the day and they made a beeline straight for the area the raccoon had been hanging out in. Right away I knew they were after the poor guy. So, I went to get them in.
Here is where I knew something was wrong. The coon was near a tree but just sitting there on the ground with the dogs harassing it. Also, it let me get pretty close while I was running the dogs off. I felt this was wrong but was running late and thought may be it was too scared to move? So, we went ahead and left for the day.
When we came home we had company coming right behind us so I told Brandon to let the dogs out to potty and get them put back up so they wouldn't bark at our expected guests. Guess what...yep, straight at the coon. This time Brandon goes to get them and came back saying the coon wasn't fighting back, just kindda laying on it's back that slapping at the dogs. So, I went over and it was sitting in almost the exact same spot that it was in before. Why wasn't it going to safety up a tree? I went and fetched the neighbor man because he is handy to have around at times like these and we get within say....3 feet of the thing and it just sits looking at us. hmm.... I called City Hall, nope, Animal Control, nope, County Sheriff's office, "Did it bite you or your pets?" Nope can't help you. (A friend pointed out I should have called Texas Department of Wildlife. Duh. I'm so rational sometimes.)
Everyone agreed that something was wrong with this animal. My fear. Rabies. So, the neighbor guy (God Bless his helpful soul) cages it. We know it is sick and want to keep it separate from our pets. We decided to quarantine it for 3 weeks. If it was well at the end of that time we'd release it. We didn't want to kill it if it was unnecessary. At first it ate and drank. We had high hopes.
Soon, though we knew it was dying. Neither of us had the means or heart to kill it. Finally, it died. We burned it's body for fear of the dogs digging it up. Meanwhile, I took all the dogs to renew their rabies shots.
The raccoon was hanging out on the empty lot next door. That is the same place the stray keeps having puppies that always all die. Plus, the lady that used to live there had 5 dogs that all died at once right before she left 5 yrs ago. My theory is that land is some how full of animal diseases. We are now keeping a very close eye on our pets.
Poor Mr. Trouble. I hope he doesn't have any relatives hangout next door. I think the thrill of wildlife in our yard has passed.
Thursday, November 20, 2008 | | 0 Comments
November American Girl Book Club
1932
A girl of Depression-era America and Kit Kittredge's best friend.
Ruthie loves fairy tales-and happy endings. She'd also love to help Kit, whose family is struggling through the Great Depression. When Ruthie learns the Kittredges are having trouble paying the mortgage on their house, she decides to find a way to reach Kit's Aunt Millie in hopes of creating a real-life happy ending.
This month's AG Book Club meeting was really cool because we had a surprise field trip to the museum next door to the library which was built in 1904. The lovely lady who guided us started working there when it was the Tyler Library in the early 1940's. Not only that she used that library when she was a school child. Her name is Mary Jane and she was about 4 foot tall and packed with wit and knowledge. I absolutely fell in love with her on sight. This building was crammed packed, every inch with historical paraphernalia! However, some of my favorite things was the simple. Like the steps into the building were worn in the middle to a sway shape from the years of feet going in and out. I still say the best gem in building was Mary Jane herself. Wonderful story teller! I took lots of pictures of neat things but I'm going to refrain from posting all of them and just post a few of what took us to the museum in the first place which was the 1930's kitchen set up to show the girls, "No, really... they really did use stuff like this!" LOL
Opps, the photos don't exactly line up
for a perfect full shot of the room.
But you get the idea.
Ok, I had to post one of Mary Jane.
Isn't she precious!
PS. I you haven't seen the Kit Kittredge movie yet you soooo should!
Saturday, November 15, 2008 | | 0 Comments
November's Meeting and Field Trip
We decided to do our monthly field trip the same day as our group meeting. It was kind of a emergency worker day. I was bummed that not more people got this opportunity because it stormed pretty hard that morning and both the meeting and field trip had low turn outs as a result. Those of us that came anyway were really blessed!
First, we had a couple of EMT's come talk to the kids for our meeting. They spent about an hour telling all about their jobs, what they do, how to become a paramedic, continued education, safety, what to do in different emergency situations, what happens when you call 911 and urged every one to learn CPR. To finish it off they let us look through the truck and sounded the siren. This was a great meeting. Very informative. The kids really listened and I could tell they were taking it all in.
After the paramedics were through for our field trip we headed over to the Athens Fire Department. These guys are great! We went a couple of years ago but had another event after them and had to leave when they obviously were willing to spend a lot more time with us. This time we didn't leave until they showed us and talked to us about EVERYTHING! These men were so patient. If a child had a question or an "um, one time my Mommy..." story they listened to it and answer it. They let the kids see everything from their bedroom to every single compartment on each truck. They let them touch stuff and try stuff on. After the tour they sat the kids down and went through fire safety, how to become a fireman, what it is like to be a fireman, what happens on a call, on and on. They had gifts for the kids and took the time to pose with the kids in pictures. I've always taught my kids to respect the police, fire men, and paramedics but I think all the kids came out of this day with a new awe of respect for these heroic men and women. I know I did!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 | Labels: Out and About | 1 Comments
Two Weeks with Grandma Snider
While she was here Grandma had her 77th birthday.
Emily helped bake her cake and decorated it all by herself.
Grandma enjoyed watching the kids making Jack-O-Lanterns. I took the kids to Walmart to get free Halloween pictures taken. Aren't those great? We have always gone to our church's Fall Festival but I begged out of working it this year so we could do something different. This year we decided to split up to better meet the ages of the kids. Cecil took Emily Trick or Treating. I think this was her first time ever. It was so sweet that she had her Daddy all to herself for the night. I took Brandon to meet some friends of ours and attended their church's Halloween party with them. The party was great, the hay ride was long and cold, her church folks are gold but I must say you truly know your partying in Texas when a rooster is strutting around your feet. After the party we all went over for Brandon's first ever haunted house. Ours is a fundraiser for the local fire department so that was a bonus! We made it home around midnight and Emily was still up waiting for us. Fun night. I think we'll all remember the year we did something different!
One afternoon we took Grandma over to the Texas Freshwater Fish Hatchery . After wards we went for a picnic at the East Texas Arboretum. I didn't get any pictures there because my camera is eating batteries like crazy!
On the way home we stopped so I could vote. We live in a small town so there is virtually no wait. The kids have always been able to go with us and watch the whole thing. This time Brandon sat in the car with Grandma. Although he likes to talk about politics he has kind of been there done that on watching us vote. So, I just took Emily in with me. I voted on a machine. So, I let her punch in my code and hit enter when it was called for. She was so proud to vote. I hope they both always remember what I've taught them about being an American, our freedoms, and how important it is to VOTE.
On another day we took her the Brookshire's Wildlife Museum. This is a neat little place and completely free of charge. As you might glean I forgot my camera this day so your stuck with my tiny little camera phone pictures. This museum has a lot of real animals that have been stuffed so you can get really close. The polar bear really makes me feel tiny. It also has a neat little 1920's store and a nice playground. This is a small museum but crammed packed with neat stuff. Grandma said she liked this place best of all. Emily and Brandon like it because I always buy them a giant jawbreaker in the gift shop.
The day we came home from the Brookshire's Museum our dogs treed this guy. This story is actually on going and I'll surely address Mr. Trouble in a blog in the near future.
Right before Grandma went home she also got to go the the 4-H food show to see the kids compete. Brandon made fried rice and served on out of a Japanese dish w/ chop sticks displayed on a Japanese tapestry. All three items sent to us from Japan. Emily competed as a Clover Kid in nutritious snacks. She made a peanut butter and honey tortilla roll up. As a Clover Kid Emily automatically won for participation. Brandon also won for his age group in his food category. He will be going to district to compete in February.
Sunday, November 09, 2008 | Labels: Around the House, Out and About | 0 Comments