First day of 5th and 6th Grade!!

Monday was our first day of school!!!
Our baby girl started Jr. High!!

And we still can't believe it!!

She was very nervous Monday morning but I managed to get this smile out of her!

She was a big girl and rode the bus with her friend, Melissa!!

Heading to the bus stop...sniff sniff...my baby girl is growing up fast!!

Then there's the boy...Mr. Thomas is the top Dawg at school this year...a 5th grader!!

Posing with his new Saints backpack. He also has a matching Saints lunch box. =)

Love that face, those eyes and that smile. 

Heading out the door on the first morning of his last year in Elementary school. Yikes!!

Praying that they both will have a safe, successful and fun year!!

Water Wars Returns!

The first water war of the summer took place after swimming last Saturday morning!

"You can run, but you can't hide!!"

Ooops, T man found himself caught in the middle...

"I'm faster than y'all!!" Wahaha!!!!

Thomas is about to get wet!! =)

Belle is about to get even wetter!! Hee Hee!!

Thomas acting like he doesn't feel his sister doucing him with water!!

Daddy thought Shelby needed a shower!!

Then the tables turned and both kiddos attacked Daddy...this was followed by...

THE DADDY'S REVENGE BUCKET!!  Then I couldn't help but notice Thomas's water gun had a little spurt of water coming out about to hit James. I guess this was his sister protection duty of the day.

I'm sure Round Two will be coming up later in the month!!

5th Grade Graduation!!

Last Wednesday on June 2, 2011, our baby girl, graduated from the 5th grade and completed her last year of Elementary school.  Here's some of my best pics from our special day:

Wednesday morning before we went to school, James took a few pics of her!!

Such a beauty.  Her nickname "Belle" is very appropriate since Belle means beauty. =)  She was so excited last Wednesday and a tad nervous.  Here at our school, the kids get very dressed up for 5th grade party and the ceremony.  It is a major deal around here.

Daddy and Belle!! Being on PTO has it's perks because I have access to everything which allows me to take lots of pictures at school that other parents don't get a chance to.  James didn't even see the party portion.  He was able to come at 1:30pm and see the Graduation though. =)

Shelby and her friend Gabby when they first came into the cafeteria waiting to eat their special lunch. On this day, the 5th graders get to vote on everything they eat.

Shelby eating lunch with two of her best friends, Melissa and Alexa.  Melissa lives on our street and they will go to the same Jr. High. Alexa is the daughter of our favorite 4th grade teacher Mrs. Anastos and she will have to attend a different Jr. High.

Shelby and Melissa with their teacher, Kim Pavlock! Couldn't have asked for a better 5th grade teacher!!

I love this one of just the two of them!!!!

Our other photo booth was a Love Bug.  Our theme this year was Give Peace a Chance!  It all turned out very pretty and the kids loved it.  In the picture L to R...Gabby, Melissa, Shelby, and Alexa!

Shelby and Melissa again!! These two will probably be inseparable at least through high school.

One of my PTO friends took this one of me and Belle. =)

5th graders doing line dances to some music along with their teachers!

During the ceremony...Shelby had just received her 5th grade promotion certificate!

After the ceremony, Shelby and Melissa with their flowers and graduation balloons.  So cute!!

A picture with Gabby too...

Here's a shot of Shelby's major awards this year...Promotion to 6th grade, Art Award, Honor Roll - Shelby did not have a single B on her report card all year!, Safety Patrol and Flags, and Citzenship Award!!  Woo Hoo!!!!  We are so very proud.  She couldn't have dreamed of ending her 5th grade year on a better note!! Way to go BELLE!!! We love you!!! 6th grade is going to be a BIG but hopefully exciting change for all of us - please keep it in prayer.

And I couldn't leave the T-man out...he had a super AWESOME 4th grade year as well.  These are his major awards...Perfect Attendance for last 9 weeks, All E's in Conduct, Honor Roll - he only made 3 B's the whole year but his Final Averages for the year were Straight A's, he won the PASS portion of the Punt, Pass and Kick contest in P.E. by throwing the ball 47' 7", he also made it on the record board of the top 10 fastest boys for the 2nd year in a row.  Thomas is listed as #8 on the sheet but he's actually tied for 7th place, and then the blue certificate at the top left is his S.T.A.R. Award for the 2nd year in a row. This Award is for the Physical Education Student of the Year Award.

We are so very proud of Thomas too and next year, he will be the Top Dog at school - a big 5th grader!!! Way to go T.J.!!! We love you and know you'll do great in 5th grade! =)

Team Heat!

Team Heat on the day of their last games, which was a double header!! The girls, along with their brothers, thought it would be fun to wear fake moustaches and beards during the last game. It was so funny.  Shelby did not like having that itchy thing on her face!!

Yes...he thought he was a stud muffin...HA!!  I told him later that he really didn't want one of those moostaches unless he wore it like his daddy's!!

Then we had our end of season party last weekend at Spring Creek BBQ.
This was their cake...

Shelby with Coach Julie!

Julie gave each girl a their own cool little thermos bottle with their name on it.
So cute and Shelby needed this!!

Shelby might be playing Fall ball if Julie can't get it all ironed out.  If that happens we will be juggling two sports at the same time.  Oh boy!!  If that doesn't happen then Shelby will definitely play Spring ball again.

Daddy/Daughter Date

Well, summer is here for us and school is out so please standy by while I attempt to start catching up on my posting.  Some will go all the way back to my birthday, maybe even Easter, some softball pics, school pics and many things in between.  I'm hoping I can somehow catch up before I go on vacation but we'll have to see.

These few are pics that James took last Friday night of his daddy/daughter date with Belle. They went to the Astros game!! Shelby was so excited!!

Their view...James was able to get the Papa John's season ticket seats close to home plate. Shelby loved the seats!!!!

Daddy with his Daughter...

And Shelby got to see her FAVORITE player...Mr. Hunter Pence!!!

The Astros lost 7-6 but it was a good game and they had a blast!!

History Alive - Famous Texans

A couple of pics from Thomas's 4th grade project called History Alive: Famous Texans. Thomas was Davy Crockett and he did a SUPER job, got an A+!!!!!

His poster...

His costume, complete with a long toy rifle, a coon cap, and my fringe jacket!!
Cutest Davy Crockett I've ever seen!!!!!

Way to go T!!!!

What's the Buzz all About?

Saturday morning, we were alerted by a neighbor that this was in our front yard tree...

A closer look...yes, it was a swarm of honeybees...

We didn't want to kill them or have them killed so we went to the first source we could think of...our honey man.  We have been buying local honey for three years now to help us with our allergies. The kids even eat it and it's delicious and made from bees right here in Spring and it does work as far as helping our allergies. James and I rarely get sick. This is A.C., he owns all the bees from the stand we buy from.  The sweet guy that sells A.C.'s honey to me is Bob.  James drove over and told Bob what was in our little tree.  Bob called A.C. and within 30 minutes, A.C. was at our house doing this...Now that's what I call SERVICE! =)

A.C. is 70 years old and his dad raised bees back in the 40's and 50's. A.C. is a character and James and I soaked up all of his stories witthin the hour that he was at our house. He looks older than 70 though, he's bald, his skin is worn and leathery looking from years of working out in the sun.  But, he does all this work by himself and had no problem doing it either.  He's using what he called a "smoker" here.

After he smoked them out of my tree, he got one of his bee boxes off his truck and the bees naturally started going in it.  At first they gathered down at the bottom of the trunk. A.C. said that was because the queen was in that bunch.

A.C. smoking them off the trunk here.  You can see a lot of them still flying around. A.C. didn't even use his special gloves he said he has, he only wore the veil. He got stung several times on his arms and hands. I felt bad for him but he didn't act like it bothered him one bit.  He was the sweetest man and James and I learned a lot of neat things about bees!!  A.C. would not take a dime from us for taking care of our little problem. I think he was just happy to be getting a free swarm of bees. =)

I took this picture a few hours after A.C. came and went.  He left the box under our tree, safe and secure, so that the bees could calm down and make themselves at home.  As you can see here, most of them are all in the box now. As of today, Monday, our bees are still here and they are happy little clams in that box. A.C. is coming to get them after dark tonight.

In this clip, A.C. is knocking the remaining bees out of our tree with our broom - he said he forgot his "bee brush" and then he was smoking them.  The smoker he uses calms the bees down and makes them sting less too.

In this clip, A.C. is smoking the bees off of the tree trunk. You can try to click on my film to see it bigger but if you turn your volume up, you can definitely hear the loud hum of the bees.  It was awesome to be here and see it in person.  I was filming all of this from our garage.

James and I were tickled that we got to meet A.C. and that he came so fast and took care of this for us. Our bee man is awesome!! Thank you A.C.!! It was an experience we won't soon forget.