D.D.D.

For activity days the girls had a Daddy Daughter Date.  They got to participate and watch Dad in all kinds of silly games.  They had to get a cookie from their forehead to their mouth without using their hands.  Then Dad had to stuff marshmellows in his mouth and say "I love my daughters" after every one.  He didn't come out on top on that one but he's a winner in our book for sure!

S.O.M. #2

I just can't say enough about how I love the girls school!  I feel like they are getting a private education at this charter school.  The flag ceremony is my favorite part.  It starts at 8:15 and school begins at 8:30.  All of the classes line up in back of the school.  The principle talks to them first, often giving some sort of praise to the kids by picking one of their sentences he was impressed with or an art piece he liked (Those get hung on his special picks bulletin board for all to see.)  Then the music teacher leads everyone in a patriotic song.  After that it's the kids that take over.  Each class takes a different week and the kids lead the pledge.  Then if there are no more announcements the kids head back to class.  The helper kids for the week lead them in skip counting as they all leave.  All the way to their classrooms the kids skip count.  They do anything from counting by 2's to counting by 12's, 15's or even hundreds.  After all there is no time to waste without learning here!

On this particular day Neeley was awarded student of the month for her class.  The teacher was impressed by how well she is doing with being the new kid at the school.  Coming into it she knew none of the 74+ phonegrams the other kids have been learning since kindergarten and now she does well above the class average on them.  In fact she got a 100%!  I am so proud of her for working so hard and always giving it her all!

A few  of my other favorites about school are the jump rope chants and lunch notes.  Often, as we are driving I hear the chants they do for jump rope coming from the back seat.  My favorite is Mexico Texico!  It takes me back! Also, we have a tradition of leaving the girls a note in their lunch box every day.  This was just an example of one I found that Jeremy did.  Neeley keeps one just like it in her folder.  How could you not have a wonderful day with a note like that from Dad???!?

Boo!

What a wonderful Halloween!  The kids got to celebrate outside without covering up their costumes with big heavy coats!  The weather was just perfect.  Kate loved celebrating with her friends at Ms. Becky's.  Doc McStuffen's got along great with the other super heros and princesses.  Then it was home to celebrate with our neighbors.

We blocked off the street and filled it with games like pumpkin bowling, bean bag toss, pumpkin hockey, donuts on a string and more.  We all brought dinner to share and hung out with the neighbors before heading out to trick or treat.  While we were gone the neighbors handed out our candy for us.  Afterwards we came back for more games and fun.  East Claxton sure knows how to do Halloween right!  We just love our neighbors!

The Beach!

Living away from family brings much more meaning to the words "cousin time"!  And being able to spend cousin time at the beach is a double bonus.  The girls couldn't wait to see their cousins and from what we hear Kip couldn't wait to get together with "the real Kate"!  We spent several days in a row soaking in the sun while the kids played in the sand and water.  Neeley just loved boogie boarding and spent most of the day there.  She even convinced me to go in and stay until my hands and feet were numb.  Kayla was a bit more cautious and spent most of her time in the shallow waves and digging in the sand.  Lilah bathed in the sand the entire day and Kate, she was happy with Kip.  As for the adults we enjoyed catching up and getting a rest.

That pretty much sums up the trip.  Days at the beach, nights at good eats and a trip to the 99 cent store for cookies!

A trip to California wouldn't be complete without going to San Diego.  Jeremy has to get his deep dish pizza fix.  We even happened upon some Halloween festivities!