School supplies

I have to admit that buying new school supplies makes me giddy...

and they're not even for me!

Blast from the Past

Guess who friended me on Facebook?

My cousin, Alana!

Alana was my best friend in kindergarten and first grade when I lived in Missouri.  We were in the same kindergarten class and the same Brownie troop.  We were thrilled when we found out that we were also fourth double cousins!!

When I was clicking through Alana's pictures, I came across this newspaper photo!

There's me with the little cropped hair, third from the right.  Alana is the one with the curly short hair, third from the left.

How cute is this?

I found this photo as well...probably taken that same day.

The Girls' Teachers

The girls' teachers were posted today at the school. 

Lydia will have two teachers this year, spending equal time with both.  Her teachers are Mrs. Jones and Mrs. Phillippi.

Apparently Mrs. Phillippi is her primary/home room teacher.

Here is her bio from the school website:

Hi! I am Susan Phillippi and I am absolutely thrilled to be a part of the Heritage family! This is my second year here and I am so excited about the upcoming school year.

Here is a little background on me... I graduated from Indiana University at South Bend in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education. My years of teaching include teaching 5th grade all the way to preschool. Third grade is "smack" in the middle and is a perfect fit!

My husband, Scott, and I have been married for 25 years. (We were high school sweethearts.) Thompson's Station has been our home for the last two and a half years. We have two terrific children who attend Independence High School. Our daughter, Kellie, will be a senior and our son, Mark, will be a sophomore. (I can't believe how fast they have grown up!) We also have two dogs that round out our family; Georgie a Golden Retriever and Betsy Lou our English Bulldog.

Again, I am thrilled to be part of the Heritage family and I am very excited about the new school year and teaching your kids! It is going to be a GREAT year!

****************

Rebekah has three teachers this year: Mr. Adkisson, Ms. Berger, and Ms. McKown.

Mr. Adkisson will be Bekah's homeroom/primary teacher.  She's been praying that "Mr. A" would be her teacher this year. 

Here's his bio from the school website.

My name is Brian Adkisson also known as Mr. A. I was born in Franklin, TN and grew up less than a mile from Heritage Elementary. I attended Bethesda, Page Middle, and Page High. I have a lovely wife named Jennifer and four wonderful children. Anna is in third grade, Dylan is in fifth grade and Jenna is now 4 years old. JT (Jackson Thomas) was born on 07-08-09. Jennifer is a teacher at Page Middle School. I have been teaching for 12 wonderful years. I am very passionate about teaching children. I know that it is my calling. I love sports; especially Vanderbilt and the Tennessee Titans.

Letting Go: Back to School Shopping Edition

It's time for back-to-school shopping.  I love this time of picking out super cute clothes for the girls to wear back to school.

Only, our girls are getting more opinionated in their clothing choices...especially Rebekah.  I mean, I knew it was coming.  She's ten after all.  But this is hard for me.  I know what looks good on my kids.  We steer the girls toward colors that look good on them and outfits that aren't too busy, frilly, wordy, with big pictures that distract from their pretty little faces.  That's why you don't see my girls wearing shirts with big characters on them...or shirts that shout a whole paragraph worth of a message on them.  Because the focus shouldn't be their clothes.  The focus should be them.

I mean, my girls are beautiful...why should you be looking at their t-shirts instead of their beautiful faces?

(And don't even get me started on clothes that are inappropriate for their ages...nope...I won't even go there with this post.)

So Friday night, we started with Target.  There were several things that David and I liked there...but the girls didn't care for.

Then we hit Kohls.  There were things that we liked there, but I choked when I saw the one outfit (ONE!!) that was $75 - for a CHILD

that will OUTGROW said outfit in a matter of months!

Okay...next up: Ross!  And we hit the jackpot.  For way less than we would have spent on the one outfit at Kohls, we found three shirts for Lydia and five for Bekah!  Yea!!

When we got to the kids' section at Ross, we let the girls pick out anything they wanted to take to the dressing room.  David and I didn't pick out a single thing.

That's right - not a single thing was picked out by Mom or Dad!

The girls tried on all their outfits, and after setting aside the ones that didn't fit properly, we narrowed it down a little.

First up, this is my favorite shirt that Lydia picked out.

I'm not crazy about the graphics (a little too 1980's for my taste), but I can live with this.

Next up was this shirt...not one I would have chosen, but it looks cute on Lydia.  Apparently this is SO in right now.  Bekah picked out the same shirt, but we had her put it back when she was narrowing down her choices.  You'll see why in a minute.

This was Lydia's last outfit...it came with brown leggings that I'm not sure she'll ever wear.  We bought this for the shirt.  Lydia was on a turquoise and brown kick and we had her choose between this shirt and another. 

They were both terribly busy, but the other shirt also had a huge cartoon of a monkey on it

(breathe in...breathe out)

and Lydia chose this one!  Whew!  Disaster averted!

Next up are Bekah's choices.  This first one is my favorite one that she chose.  In fact, it's one that I would have chosen for her.  And surprisingly, it's pink - a color that Bekah had made clear she no longer wishes to wear. 

I think it was the metal bling that won her over.

Next up is this graphic tee.  Not something I would have chosen at all.  It has a big distracting picture on it.

Letting go...letting go... 

But the pros are: (1) It's pink (2) The image isn't obnoxious (3) It's feminine - something that's growing more difficult for us to get our little tomboy to wear!

Next up is evidence that Rebekah is now entering her purple phase.  LOL!  The majority of the clothes she tried on were purple and black! 

I like this little outfit because it's cool - and has a little feminine touch with the built in necklace.  Bekah was beaming when she tried it on.  I personally wouldn't have gone for such dark colors on her...but the confidence with which she wears it is truly astounding!

This is my favorite of the purple/black ensembles!  Bekah looks super cute it in.   And the pattern is away from her face a bit, so it's not terribly distracting.

This last one was a "letting go" moment.  We had already pulled out the purple shirt (like Lydia's) because she was getting on a purple binge.  Then we had her choose between this shirt and another one that was purple and black stripes.

This one won - because it came with a cool hat. 

I like the hat, but the shirt - eh! 

Breathe in, breathe out. 

This is okay.  Bekah loves it.  It's just a shirt, right?

I can't wait to get pics of the girls wearing all their new clothes for school!  We still have to decide what they'll be wearing on the first day!! Yea!  I really do love this stuff!!



Yard Sales!!!

Just a silly little post to show you the things the girls are excited about this weekend.

Lydia picked up this Barbie, still in the box, for $2.00.  She talked the lady down from $7.50, to $5.00, to $2.00!  (It helps when you're cute!  LOL)

Bekah talked the same lady down on these moon shoes.  They were priced at $10.00, then $3.00 and she walked away with them for $2.00

They're totally bouncy and she's been bouncing all over the house and yard!

Lydia's Beauty Secrets

Lydia really wants a haircut.

Nope.

So we do the next best thing, we curl her hair.

Lydia has a lot of natural curl to her hair, but because she has so much, her hair is heavy and it weighs down the curls.  So occasionally, we put her hair up at night.  I just bought some new curlers for this purpose.

Lydia could not be more pleased.  Her hair is super curly, AND it appears to be shorter.

I think her hair turned out great!!

So cute!

Lost River Cave

This past weekend, we finally got to use our tickets to the Lost River Cave!

(11th time's a charm!)

With all the rain lately, the river had been too high for the cave tours.

But Saturday turned out to be a perfect day for this adventure!

Turns out that lots of other people were thinking the same thing.  When we got there, it was a two-hour wait until the next tour.  Well, that's okay, because they had lots of trails and nature to explore.

There are four "blue holes" along the trail.  Blue holes are places where the underground river runs above the surface.  Generally, they are a bright blue color, due to the limestone.

(Here's an example)

  However, the recent rain had churned up the silt and when we were there the blue holes were actually green.

They had a butterfly house along the trail. 

The girls had fun in there. 

All the cocoons were lined up and ready to hatch - or whatever cocoons do. 

At another blue hole, we found a small opening to the cave. 

At the end of the trail was a mountain spring.  The girls loved this. 

Bekah was exploring so much I couldn't get a good shot of her...this is the best I got.  LOL. 

When our tour time finally rolled around, Natalie was our tour guide. 

The girls loved her!  She told us some history of the Lost River Cave and then took us down to the cave entrance. 

The kiddos got suited up in their life jackets. 

And we were ready to go.  Right off the bat, we had to duck really low because the mouth of the cave had a low overhang. 

After that, I tried to get good pictures of the cave, but honestly, they are all really bad. 

This is probably the best shot I got.

All through the tour, Natalie told "tour guide" jokes.  Lydia misunderstood every joke.  Natalie repeatedly told her "It's a joke."  David and I were chuckling the whole time.

Natalie said, "As we make our way through the cave, you may feel cold, wet drops fall on you.  We call these 'cave kisses.'"

Lydia was all excited because a drop of water fell on her right then.

Natalie continued, "And if you feel a warm, wet drop, we call those 'bat kisses.'"

"WHA?" - Lydia was REALLY alarmed.

"It's a joke."  Natalie said.

And so it went throughout the whole tour.

On our way out from the trail, on the way to the car, David spotted this albino squirrel!  Crazy!! 

It was a much anticipated and very fun day!

A Little Creativity for a Friend

Last weekend, I was seriously aching to be creative.  I wanted to do more than just scrapbook.  I wanted to paint or draw something.

Problem was that I didn't have a subject for my creativity.

Then last Wednesday night, we went over to Karl and Lena's to see all their new IKEA stuff.  They have saved and saved, and sold some old furniture, to make a huge trip to IKEA for a new couch, new entertainment center, new bunk bed, new chairs, and new dining room set...not to mention several accent pieces.

Then Lena mentioned that she wanted to buy this Marimekko Juhannustaika Fabric Repeat from Finn Style.  Marimekko is Lena's favorite designer, and this piece (translated to Midsummer Magic from Finnish) would pull all the right  colors together:

The only problem is that the piece cost $75 and would come in flat fabric that would then need to be stretched over a wooden frame.

Lena said she'd have to save up for it, but when she got it, she would put it over her mantle.

David and I exchanged glances - I knew we were thinking the same thing.

The next day, we went to Michael's and bought a 24"x36" canvas and I set to work.

I had SO MUCH FUN and I'm pleased with the result!!

We gave it to Lena tonight and (thankfully) she loved it!!  I didn't tell her I'd made it.  We just had it propped up in the kitchen.  When she saw it, she said, "What. the. freak!?"  And then she started crying!

(I'm soooo glad!!)

It felt so good to be creative again...here are some steps in the process.

Step one - re-familiarize myself with watercolors.  I haven't dabbled in watercolor since high school.  So I practiced on an 8x10 canvas first.

Then I moved on to the bigger canvas.  Here are some progression shots.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how it turned out (although I still see all the mistakes).  But as long as Lena is happy, that's the main thing!!

Portrait of a Bunny

Lydia isn't usually my artistic one, but every once in a while, she gets the urge to paint.  This is a very involved thing - with paint everywhere, paint shirts, spilled clean-up water and hours and hours of fun.

On this day, Lydia wanted to paint her Build-a-Bear bunny, Rosalinda, a.k.a. Annalise, a.k.a, Elise - depending on how the day strikes her.

I helped with the basic outline, and then Lydia filled in the rest...

while Rosalinda/Annalise/Elise sat patiently, posing for her portrait.

The end result, a beautiful portrait of a beautiful bunny!

Good job, Lydia!