Can I dote for a minute?

I know I'm running really behind on updating the journal (and I'm sorry about that!!), but I just need to take a minute and brag on Tyler.  Let me preface by saying that the only phone calls that I receive from the school are complaints regarding Ty. So, today when my phone rang and identified CMS as the caller, naturally, I cringed.  To my surprise, it was his math teacher calling to report that Ty made a 93 on his math test today.  Although, that is a wonderful grade and we are proud of him for that, I couldn't understand why it warranted a phone call home. He has made higher grades before and I didn't receive a call. Apparently, this test was extremely hard and very few people passed the test at all.  Tyler had the second highest grade in the class. I took the opportunity to ask how Tyler was doing overall and Mr. Young had many good things to say about him, praising him greatly. To some, this might be a normal way of life, but not so much for us.  This was excellent news from the school today!  That is one phone call I didn't mind taking!  Way to go Tyler!

Highlights from the past few months...

A lot has happened since my last post.

Scouting!

In May, Connor and Tyler concluded the 2012-2013 Cub Scouts year.  Connor has stepped up to Bear status.  Tyler completed all of the Cub Scout requirements and crossed over to Boy Scouts.  He also earned the Arrow of Light Award.

Sports!
Connor has played on two baseball teams since the spring.  Over the summer, Tyler decided to try his hand at baseball and joined a team as well.  They both played very well and gained a lot of experience with the summer league.  Currently, Connor is playing on another baseball team and Tyler is playing soccer.  Practices just started last week.  I love watching my boys play sports!

High five for stealing third base!! Go Connor!

                        

Tyler is up to bat!

Vacation!

We spent a week during the summer in Cape San Blas, Florida.  This is our all time favorite place to be.  Typically, we stay for 4 nights.  This year, we took the plunge and stayed a week.  Needless to say, we had a great time!  The weather was beautiful the entire stay.  On the last day, a storm was brewing and drew sharks to the shore and Connor actually caught one with his net! 

Helen, Georgia

With my mom living in South Carolina, Helen is halfway between us. We met there and rented a cabin near the Unicoi State Park. We tubed down the Chattahoochee River, then filled our bellies with a wonderful meal and topped it off with goodies from the candy shop! 

New School Year!
Tyler started the 6th grade.  Connor is a big 3rd grader!   Baylee sure did miss the boys when they started school!  She moped around the house for days.

First day of school

College!

Sarah made the transition to dorm life on August 16th.  She truly has the cutest dorm on her hall!  

Panoramic view

Her classes started on the 19th and she is already smothered in homework and tests.  She says she loves it, though!  So far, she has come home every weekend :)  Yes, I know...that won't last long, but we are soaking it up while we can!

Two Freckle Monogram Boutique!
Sarah is off to college and the boys are getting older.  I considered applying for a part time job, but figured it would be more fun to combine my two loves... sewing and monograms! I love sewing and I love anything monogrammed!  So, I combined the two.  I have been creating the sweetest baby burp cloths, trendy pocket tees, monogrammed tanks and sweatshirts, and adding personalization to kitchen towels, bath towels, beach hats, and so much more.

To see some of the my items, please visit Two Freckle Monogram Boutique on Facebook.  Don't forget to like my page while you are there!

We are very proud of our kiddos!

Connor did very well this year in school.  He received a certificate for "Being the Fastest Reader While Comprehending".  He worked very hard this year to earn that award!  He also received a physical fitness award for improved health and performance. 

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Ty ended 5th grade with straight A's, perfect attendance, and an award for having the second highest Accelerated Reader points in the 5th grade!  Each semester the kids take tests and earn points on books they have read.  They are required to earn 16 points.  Tyler earned 492!  He did very well on the CRCT this year as well.  A score of 800-849 meets the standard and anything over 850 exceeds.  He scored the following:

Reading: 841
Language Arts: 839
Math: 851
Science: 921 
Social Studies: 843

As you could probably guess, science is his favorite subject!  He also received a class superlative certificate for wittiest classmate.  Seems very fitting for him!

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Sarah graduated with straight A's and a 3.7 GPA.  She is very excited to have earned the HOPE scholarship.  She received a plaque for earning her academic letter (earned for having an A/B average) all four years of high school.  She was nicely decorated on graduation night, too.  The gold cord is for graduating with honors.  The blue and white cord is for serving all four years of high school in HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America)  The medallion is for having over 250 service hours in HOSA.   

Graduation slideshow

A big thank you to Sam, Nanci, Jenny, Bryan, Lauren, Jennifer, Stefan, David, Sherry and Gene for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend Sarah's graduation!!  I created a slideshow of Sarah from birth through graduation night.  You can view it by clicking here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef8Syg87M9k&feature=youtu.be

Where did the time go??

Today is Sarah's last day of high school.  She ended her senior year with straight A's and a GPA of 3.7!  She has earned the HOPE scholarship which covers 90% of her college tuition each semester that she maintains a 3.0 GPA in college.  We couldn't be more proud of her!!

She changes from shouting "Go Trojans" to "Go Night Hawks" when she moves into her dorm on August 16th.  Classes begin on August 19th.  We know she will do great!!

Senior Prom

Sarah's had a great time at her senior prom!  She looked beautiful and Daniel cleaned up pretty good, too!

Happy Birthday, Bay!!

Baylee has been such a wonderful addition to our family. She turned 1 year old on April 22! She topped out at 55 pounds.  She is so sweet and energetic and loves to play soccer and fetch a tennis ball.  She has learned so much in the past year.  She knows the following commands and is still learning more every day:

Sit
Down
Come
Stay
Stand
Twirl
Kisses
Shake
Watch me (stare me in the eyes until released)
Off
No
Leave it
Take it
Go potty (on demand)
Bring it (she loves to fetch!)
Get the paper (she will get the newspaper from the end of the driveway and bring it to me)
Go to bed (lay on her bed until released)
Okay (her release word)
Back (if she is walking too far ahead of me on leash, she will slow down and get behind me)

Field Trip to Atlanta Botanical Gardens

Connor and I had a great time on a field trip with his class at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens. The gardens were beautiful and in full bloom.  Afterwards we had lunch at Piedmont park.  We were fortunate that Bo was able to sneak away from work for a short while and join us.

Connor with his friend, Joe.  There were animals like the unicorn in the background throughout the park.  In addition to the unicorn, we saw rabbits, dogs, bears and huge strawberries and apples with faces, arms and legs.  They were all made out of plants.

There were so many tulips and they were so beautiful!

Pinewood Derby

Tyler and Connor participated in yet another Pinewood Derby with their Boy Scout troop. A good time was had by all. Connor won a trophy for the most original car. Way to go, Connor!

Music Open House

Each year, Connor's music teacher holds an open house for parents to visit and watch what they have learned. This year, each child had a solo to sing. Poor Connor was so shy!

After the solo, they played the xylophone and showed off their mad skills:

Ty's fish tank

If you remember, Ty got a betta fish for his 10th birthday. It was housed in a 5 gallon aquarium. Well, it passed several months ago. Ty was very sad about it, so of course, we had to get him four more fish! A five gallon tank just isn't big enough for that many fish, so we got him a 29 gallon aquarium. He now has 3 Zebra Danios and an ivory Mystery Snail that he named Pearl. He is hoping to add more soon. The rule of thumb is to have one inch of fish per gallon, so he will be able to house about 12 fish.

Now to figure out how to stabilize the chemistry of the water. Who said fish were easy to care for?!?!

Last Cheer Banquet

On January 14th, Sarah's cheerleading squad celebrated their successful season with a banquet. For serving two years on Varsity, she earned her letterman jacket and each senior was recognized with a very nice plaque. It is going to be a very nice keepsake for Sarah to look back on one day and remember all the fun years that she was a part of.

Brrrrr....

It's another cold day in Panama, but at least it isn't raining. We walked down to the pier today. I think we were the only ones on the beach wearing jeans and sweatshirts! Everyone else is on the beach in swimsuits folding their arms around themselves shivering. WHY? The funny thing is that they are looking at us like we are the strange ones! I just don't understand. 😳

The boys want to go down to the hot tub tonight for our last night. Now, that is something I can handle!

Only Bo!

I just had to share the adventures of Kyle and Eric with you all. For Easter, the boys found an alien egg in their Easter baskets. When the eggs are soaked in water, an alien will hatch from it and grow. The aliens had not completed their growing cycle when we left for the beach, so the boys had to leave them in the water. Bo is home taking care of the fort while we are gone and I guess he got bored, so he texted us this skit.

Unsure of his new environment, the newly hatched alien peers cautiously into the unknown.

So tell me, how was the atmosphere outside the drinking glass?

Eric: Holy crap Kyle. I think I see a way out of here.

Kyle: What is it?
Eric:Holy A time machine.

Eric : I have selected the year 2020. Once I close the door, push start.

Kyle: uh okay. I hope this doesn't wake the leader.

Kyle: Eric!?

Eric: Kyle?!

Eric: Nevermind the time machine. Help me plug-in this transporter.

THE END

Spring Break 2013

For Sarah's last high school spring break, she wanted to go to Panama City Beach. What teenager doesn't, right? We arrived on Tuesday and will go home on Saturday. The weather was great the first day, but the past two days have been less than desirable. It has rained all day, so we have had a very lazy (but needed) day vegging out on tv. The most exciting thing that happened today was a boy asking a girl to prom by writing huge letters in the sand. It was kinda cute.

We are hoping that the remainder of the week will be warmer. The boys and I took a stroll on the beach looking for crabs last night, but found nothing.

We might venture out to the shops today.

Scouting for Food

The boys' Cub Scout Troop has been in a mission to collect canned goods to contribute to the Carroll County Soup Kitchen. The boys went door to door to every home in our subdivision and collected cans from our neighbors. They didn't collect as many as they had hoped to, but I think they did great!

Sarah is 18!!

I'm a week late, but I still want to give a shout out to Sarah. She turned 18 years old on March 26, 2013 and is now a legal adult! It's sad that she is no longer a child, but exciting for her to step into the world of adulthood. Even as an adult, she will always have a piece of our heart which is why Bo gave her a special keychain set for her birthday. She holds the heart on her keys and Bo keeps the key on his. Happy birthday, Princess!

Green Team

Connor's elementary school has formed a new club called The Green Team. He is excited to be a member of its first year. The team has been learning about growing your own food and they have chosen a place at the school to make a raised bed. Next week, they will decide what to plant. Connor enjoys planting things and watching them grow, so this should be neat for him.

Baseball

Practice has begun for Connor's second baseball season. Games should be underway in a few weeks. Baseball is his favorite sport by far. He is on the A's team this year. I love to watch him play!!

The Turn of the Century Museum

Tyler's Social Studies teacher reserves a day where her classroom turns into a "museum". It is titled The Turn of the Century Museum. Each child chooses a topic from history and writes a report on it and must create a 3D object related to the topic. Tyler chose to do his report on NAACP. Why? He thought that it was a topic related to electricity! If you know Ty, you know that he has an infatuation with electricity. Boy, did he have a lot to learn!

Parents are invited to visit the museum and take a tour. This is Ty with the NAACP symbol, his 3D object.

It's a done deal

Sarah made the decision to attend the University of North Georgia in the fall. The confirmation deposit and dorm application have been sent off. She discovered a website that connects freshman that are attending the same college. She met Cali, a young lady from Alpharetta, Ga. They have become friends and have chosen to room together. They are so much alike and are so excited for fall to come!!