Go Owls!!

Our friend, John Carrell, took this picture of Lilly and Abby at the first basketball game of this season. The owl was out on the court at halftime and Lilly wanted to go "dance" with the owl. Instead she just ended up giving her a high five! This is always such a crazy time of year for our family, but we wouldn't have it any other way! Daddy is such an awesome coach and win or lose we are so proud of him and the Lady Owls!!!

First Grade Field Trip

Abby's class took a field trip to the zoo yesterday! It was a beautiful day to be outside! I am so glad I got to go on the trip with her! We had a great time! They got to do a special animal show just for our kids. They brought out an opossom, a bearded lizard, a boa constrictor, and a cockatoo (spelling?) named Molly. The lady talked about each animal and let the kids pet them. Then we all just walked around the zoo.

The whole gang of first graders:

Waiting for the animal to show to begin.

Mrs. Hale and the opossom.

"A" is for Abby and Apes!

A really ugly gorilla!

Andie and Abby

Farmer Abby and her best "buds". Get it? :)

Abby and mommy with the giraffes!

Before we left the zoo, we rode the carousel!

When we left the zoo we headed across the street to War Memorial Park for a picnic and then played on their playground!

Fall Pictures at School

We brought the girls up to the school today and took some pictures in front of the fall display. The Kyzer family set up a beautiful display of hay, pumpkins, mums, gourds, and cornstalk right in front of our school. Today was such a pretty fall day, although we realized it was also really cold after we got out there!

Then we took some pictures by the creek. I wish it had not been so cold so we could have stayed a little while to take more down there, but it was windy and cold and we were all freezing!

We Heart Ouachita!

Last weekend was Ouachita's homecoming. We have only been back to homecoming once since we graduated but decided this year, since it had been ten years since graduation, that we and the girls would make the pilgrimage to Arkadelphia. It was a cold and gloomy day, but we had a blast, and being there brought back so many sweet memories. Of course, anyone who knows me knows how much I love Ouachita and Justin does, too, but he doesn't get as sappy about it as I do. What a precious and special place it is to both of us. The memories there are too many to recall. I am so thankful the Lord led me there and provided for me to go there. Most special to me about Ouachita is that is where I met Justin! I hope and pray that our girls will have the desire and ability to go there one day.

In honor of the occasion I have added four new songs to my playlist that I hope you all can hear. They are probably the four songs that remind me of Ouachita the most even though they are a really random bunch of songs. The first one, "All Hail the Power of Jesus Name" is always sung at OBU's graduation, and it seems like we sung it alot in chapel there, too. Next, "Eye Of The Tiger", was played quite a bit at OBU football games. The last two, "Seasons of Love" from Rent and "State of Mind" by Clint Black were both songs sung by the Host and Hostesses the year the Tri Chi Crayons won Tiger Tunes. Like I said, good memories. I wish I could have recorded the chapel bells playing hymns while there because those are also some of my fondest memories of Ouachita. Well, I could go on and on all day, but I won't. Here are some pictures.


OBU's new entrance!! It really is nice!



Welcome banner in student center.



They had a special "Cub Zone" for kids and a real tiger!




Berry Bible Building.... where I spent a lot of time. Some pretty amazing, godly professors who taught me so much... Dr. Carter, Dr. Steeger, Dr. Hays, Dr. Eubanks, Dr. Duvall! I could sit and listen to any of them all day!



Look! Cuz was there, too!



Got to meet one of my little Tri Chi sisses 12 years down the line!



Justin got to meet some members of the club he and some friends started! I know he is proud, and those guys enjoyed getting to meet a charter member!



Seeing if they changed the combinations on our old mailboxes. My mailbox is about where Abby is standing. And, no, they don't change the combinations.



No trip to Ouachita is complete without lunch at Chick-fil-A. We ate there so much Justin's last semester that it was a long time before we had the desire to eat it again.





Us at homecoming 9 years ago.



Us now... wow!



Future Tigers:






Sweet dreams......

Star Student

In first grade each student gets a week to be the "Star Student". This week Abby is the star student in Mrs. Airheart's class. Each week the star student gets to fill out a newspaper-like page about themselves which gets posted on the class bulletin board all week. They also can bring a special treat to share with the class. Here are some pics from Abby's week.

Her newpaper: it contains interesting info like favorite color (pink), what I want to be when I grow up (teacher), and three interesting facts (1. I can play the piano, 2. I can do a one-handed cartwheel, 3. I have lost seven teeth), and many other facts.

I made the mistake of letting Abby look at Aunt Jennifer's website to get ideas for a treat to bring to class. This is what she picked out! Thanks to a team effort of MeMe, Mommy, Abby, and of course inspiration and directions from Aunt Jennifer, they turned out really cute! And the kids gobbled them up!

Abby was so proud of those cupcakes!

Roger even got to come visit the class!

Daddy, Mommy, Abby, and Roger

The whole class, us, and Roger!

What fun! We love you, Abby! You are always our star!

Graham Cracker, Graham Cracker, Chocolate Bar.....

Inspired by one of the songs in Hallie's kindergarten music program, we decided to make smores last night. The Marshmallow Song by Veggie Tales is one of the cutest kid songs I have ever heard, and it sticks with you (no pun intended). I tried to download the song to my playlist, but it wasn't available. However, if you would like to hear it, go to this website and click on track 13. Prepare to crave smores, though! (To get the most out of this blog, get the song playing first, and then in a separate tab, read the blog with the song playing.) :)
http://www.rhapsody.com/veggietales/bob-larrys-campfire-songs/the-marshmallow-song

Graham crackers... check
Large Marshmallows... check
Hershey Bars... check



If a campfire isn't available, a gas barbeque grill will do...



Are they yummy?










I think they are a hit! And afterward, Abby lost her other front tooth! Maybe we should change the lyrics from "...put 'em all together and you've got a treat" to "...put 'em all together and you'll lose your teeth!