Now You See It....

....now you don't!

Matthew finally lost his first tooth today! I'm so glad he got the chance to pull one on his own, since he's scheduled to have 7 more removed by the oral surgeon next week! Looks like the Tooth Fairy will be visiting us tonight. I wonder how much she pays these days....

I have a picture, but it's on my phone, and I can't figure out how to get it into Photoshop on my computer so that I can edit it. It has my mother's truck tag visible in it. Don't really want to put that out on the Internet...for the whole six people who read my blog. Ha ha!

In other news, school has gotten off to a pretty good start so far. Matthew is adjusting to a substitute teacher while his regular teacher is on maternity leave for a few more weeks. I'm trying to get things going in my classes. We're still having lots of schedule changes, so I am gaining and losing kids left and right. Hopefully by Friday I'll know who I'm going to have on a permanent basis!

Here are some photos from the first day. You can see how swollen Matthew is from the accident at Water Day. He also had to try his hand at photography by taking a picture of me standing by my new door sign. (Yes, it does have my last name on it; I just erased it for the purpose of posting on the Web.) A sweet student painted this sign for my office door as a gift for me. I have the best students in the world! I would've liked to have taken more photos, especially one of the two of us together, but as you can imagine, he wasn't feeling up to it!

Water Day

Yesterday we had an End-Of-Summer/Back-to-School Luau at church...aka "Water Day". We rented a couple of inflatable water slides and let the kids play for while, then had a hot dog lunch. It was sooooo much fun! I am so glad that Matthew enjoys things like this. I say that because when I was his age, I probably would have been too scared to climb to the top of that big ole slide.

I remember the first time we did this, about three years ago, when Matthew was five. He started out on the smaller slide, but then one of the older kids convinced him to get on the big slide. That year, as long as one of the big kids would go down with him, he would play on the big slide and absolutely loved it! Obviously now, he's not afraid at all!

Luke didn't know too much about it though. He wanted to play in the water on the smaller slide, but wouldn't let me put him in. He was pretty content to just play around outside and watch everybody else though. He loved it when I would go down the slide! Another lady would hold him up so he could watch, and he'd just giggle! And honestly, I can't believe that at 35 years old, I went down that thing, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!

However, the fun ended abruptly for us after lunch when Matthew's nose collided with another boy's knee. It started pouring blood and swelling. We were afraid that it might be broken so we headed off to the urgent care clinic for x-rays. Thankfully, it wasn't. The doctor said he'd probably have black eyes today, but he doesn't. He is just swollen and sore and feels generally kind of rotten. Ironically, the boy he collided with is the same one who was so sweet and took him down the big slide three years ago!

The accident also loosened up a couple of teeth, but that's actually a good thing. Because he hasn't lost any baby teeth, and the permanent teeth are in there ready to come in, he has to have EIGHT teeth pulled in two weeks! Four on top, four on bottom. He had one that was already loose, and this just helped things along, as well as loosened up one that wasn't loose. I'm hoping he can manage to pull those himself. I really want him to have the experience of pulling a tooth himself, rather than just having the oral surgeon do it! (Not to mention it will be cheaper on us, since they charge by the tooth!)

Here are some photos of all the fun....

Luke trying to climb in!

Luke finally decided to just play basketball!

Not sure what he was doing here!

Water Day ROCKS!

A Little Project

Morning, y'all! Just a quick post this morning, because I have a couple of things I just couldn't wait to share with you! First, the situation at school has been resolved, and I think everything is going to be okay! Thank you so much for your kind words and prayers concerning that!

I'm working like crazy in my classroom this week, trying to get software installed, lesson plans, decorations, etc. Yesterday, I tackled a little project. I have a chair/stool that I sit in at the front of the class sometimes, and it was this AWFUL baby poop yellow color. For some reason, the "before" picture I took won't upload. Take my word for it, it was awful. It was from the 70s, at least, because I remember MY business teacher using it when I was a student in the 90s! Anyway, it got a little makeover yesterday....

What do you think?

Sweet

On Thursday, Tracy and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long! Sometimes it feels like only yesterday, but yet at the same time, I feel like Tracy has just always been a part of my life. Tracy's parents kept the boys for us and we went to eat at a Japanese steakhouse and then to the movies. That was a real treat...we hardly EVER go to the movies, just the two of us! We saw The Other Guys. It was okay, more bad language than I would have liked, but it was pretty funny. That doesn't seem like much of a date for a 15 year anniversary, does it? It's just really hard to get away at this time of year, with school starting back. So, we have tickets to a concert next month, and that's going to be our anniversary getaway.

Yesterday was the first day back to school for me. I was NOT ready! We have had a really busy summer, but it's been a really fun one too. Matthew has spent most of his time going to work with Tracy, hanging out at the tractor shop, as he calls it. So Luke and I have hung out together and he has really turned into a Mama's boy this summer. I love it! I will miss moments like these:

Most afternoons he'd take his nap in my bed, and sometimes I'd nap with him!

The other day, I heard him say, "Mama, come take my picture!" He was on the dryer again! Such a ham!

I know, however, that we all need to get back into a routine, and Luke was so happy to be at Grandmommy's yesterday. Mama said he told her a dozen times, "I'm happy to be at your house, Grandmommy!"

My first day back at work was a mixed bag. I got a lot accomplished yesterday morning. In fact, I just about completely finished cleaning my room. That is a major chore, because I have to clean all the computers, all the tables, etc. You can't imagine how dirty it gets over the summer!

Yesterday afternoon wasn't so productive, however. I spent most of my afternoon waiting to see the principal. I had found out something that will affect Matthew's class, and I knew if I didn't talk to him yesterday, I'd have a nervous breakdown before Monday! So I just sat and waited! I obviously can't go into details, but would you please pray about this situation? Pray that the powers that be will do the right thing for these children, and pray for me as I seek direction in how to proceed. It's a very fine line to be both a parent AND a school employee. My principal asked me to give him until Monday morning to make some calls and to try to work this out, and I will honor his request. However, if it's not resolved by then, I will be paying a visit to the superintendent and calling school board members. So please just pray that this situation will be resolved in the best interest of our children!

Hope all of you have had a great start to the school year!

I think I may have a problem...

Matthew was never a climber. Luke, however, seems to be looking for anywhere he can get a foothold!