Our Last Meal at TAE

An end of an era has come we had our last school lunch at Thomas Arnold Elementary School. 

A little sad that we will not be having lunch at this school again. We had great memories of lunch and breakfast with all three girls. 

Although things have changed through the years. When Jaina was little, we could literally just walk into the cafeteria from the front parking lot, no gate, no check in, all the teachers knew who we were and it was never an issue. Then when Jolee was little they put the fence around the school, but we could still sit with her inside and enjoy all the kids. Now with Jewell, you have to park in the back, check in, bring your ID, sign in on a computer, and we can't sit inside the cafeteria, we have to sit outside at the picnic tables if there is one available. It's kind of a bummer because it was always fun to watch all the other kids. 

Now since she will be routed to a different school next year it will all be new to us. I'm still bummed she will not get to finish out at Thomas Arnold Elementary, but who knows maybe lunch at her new school will be better and we can eat with her in the cafeteria again.

We had to get one last meal in together so on Friday we headed to the school and brought her Sonic. We met Allie up at the school, checked in and then sat outside with her. She was excited that we were all there. The weather was nice and we even got ice cream from the cafeteria when we were done. 

Jolee had her end of the year band trip to Six Flags Fiesta in San Antonio last Friday. She sent me this picture of her and her friend on the bus. She said they had a lot of fun, it was crowded and they only got to ride just a few rides. She said it was hot and they stopped at Buc-ees on the way home. She got back to the school about 9pm and said they had a great time. 

Girl Scout Volunteer Hours

This girl had to get 3 volunteer hours for Girl Scouts in order to go to Seaworld, so she spent some time after our Easter celebration helping Allie with the cats.

She helped fill up their water pans, feed them and help put blankets in the cat boxes

She was a great help. She spent about an hour working hard for her time and got the job done

She also helped Ms. Margie one Sunday afternoon. I took her over to her house to help her and learn how to polish silver.

I even learned something new. I didn't know there was such a technique to polishing real silver, of course I don't own any real silver so I wouldn't know, lol.

You have to ear gloves otherwise your hands will be solid black. You can rub silver 3 different ways, with a special polishing cloth, with a liquid you put on the silver or with cleansing wipes. We tried all three and the microfiber cleansing cloth worked the best.

We even cleaned her silver tray too

I love this picture of her lookin at Jewell. Jewell was so proud of herself and of the silver. 

Isn't Margie so gorgeous for almost 90. She is the epitome of a lady of luxury. I've never met someone for her age so put together, so elegant, who loves the Lord and who firsthand knows what it's like to come from absolutely nothing, growing up dirt poor to becoming a millionaire in the 70's, living in a 6000 sq mansion with a tennis court and a Rolls-Royce to losing it all overnight in the 1990's stock exchange, having to sell everything to dig themselves out of a hole to picking herself off the floor and having to get her very first job in her 60's. Her story is amazing! I've learned so much from her over the years of working with her.

 She is loved by many in our community.  

After we polished her silver, we sat and talked a good while before heading home. It was a good Sunday visit!

Happy Weekend

Jewell had a field trip to the Austin Nature and Science Center. Here she is on the bus with her friend from class.

She said they had fun, walked around and saw different things, got to pet a snake and dig in a dino pit

Her whole class enjoying their trip

Her favorite new obsession...Tic Tacs!

This girl loves Tic Tacs, not the minty ones but the fruity ones. She loves them.

Lookin too cool for school. Haha

We were out shopping tonight for a few things and the girls were starving. Since I had to get gas at Sam's we went in and ordered from their cafe area. The girls got cheese pizza and I got a salad and of course they got a yummy sundae. Can you tell Jolee was lovin it! 

Have you ever eaten at Sam's? Don't sleep on it, it's cheap and good in a pinch! I mean you can't beat the price on that slice of pizza and sundae!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

1st Grade Diorama Project

Jewell had her first major project for school. She was tasked with having to make a Cheetah diorama for class. Here it is. It turned out cute and she got a 100 on it!

I had to help her get all the supplies ready, but she did most of the work with the glue gun, glueing everything down. 

She made a grassy forest but then after we glued everything down, I realized she probably should have made a savanna or desert not a forest because that's not a Cheetah's natural habitat, ha! Oh well. 

She wanted to make a stream of water so here's how she made it. I cut out a box for her; she glued down green construction paper and then I bought some moss for the grass that she glued down and some faux plants at the dollar store that we cute to make it look like trees. Then we used left over blue fish tank pebbles for the water.

She was very proud of herself

She did not have a Cheetah, but she had this lion that she painted with Cheetah colors and spots and made it work

And here's how it turned out. Super cute! 

Here she is taking it to school on Wednesday. She was very excited to show it off. She had to present it in front of the classroom. She said Mrs. Brown asked her questions about where Cheetah's live, their habitat and how she made the diorama. Then she said all the "little Kindergartens" came to see all their dioramas. 

No More Braces

 We have one VERY excited girl in the house this morning! 

Jolee got her braces off! She said, "I feel so free". I of course had to do a before and after photo

Friday morning, we headed to Dr. Solomon's office to have her braces taken off. I asked her if she was nervous and she said no.  The appointment took about 3 hours. They had to take them off, polish her teeth and then make impressions for her retainers.

Look at this beautiful happy little camper! She said, 'Oh my gosh it feels so weird like I have no teeth", lol. She was all smiles. I told her now she has no choice but to smile and flash that $6000 smile around

Before leaving they gave her a gift basket full of all the things she was "Not" supposed to eat while she had braces like, gum, beef jerky, and hard candy. She will also pick up her retainers on Tuesday. She will not be getting a permanent retainer, so I'll have to drill it in her head that she has to wear her retainer all the time. 

But just look at that beautiful smile! I love it!

Now our pocketbook can chill for the next couple of years until Jewell gets her braces.......We're gonna have to save up a lot of money for her teeth.... she's growing a second row of teeth! Her adult teeth are coming in BEHIND her baby teeth! Which only means her mouth is way too small for her adult teeth coming in. Jolee and Jaina both have Justin's small teeth and poor Jewell has my giant teeth so we will definitely feel the cost once she's in Jr. High. 

Pastel Parade Twirling Competition

Saturday, we headed back down to Needville one last time for the Pastel Parade Competition. This is Jaina's last competition for the season. Although she could compete further, she called it quits with these three. If she continued further and if she advanced, then that means she would have to compete at regional's which is in June in Oklahoma, and we just cannot swing that with going on vacation. Plus, competition season is a lot especially if you are going to every competition. That means you are traveling every other weekend to wherever the competition is and that's just not feasible for us. So, I told her to make the best of her last one for the season and potentially forever. She's not sure where she will be at come spring of next year and if she is even going to compete her senior year. So, who knows, we are fine with any decision she makes. 

We left the house at 6am. Justin stayed home with Jolee and Jewell. We stopped by and picked up Allie since he has never been to one of her competitions before. We also planned to drive back home after it was over. 

We got there about 9:30 which put us there right in time for her modeling to start. 

She was competing in the Pastel pageant and in a few other categories. She was really wanting to win the big trophy this time.

Her new red suit I stoned for her

We were having a good time in between her categories

Military marching

She ended up placing first in Military marching

Then she changed for her solo and two baton

I also scored this cute purple costume as well for her to wear today

Anxiously waiting her turn

She did a great solo routine and aced her first ever 3 turn catch. Her coach Lyn Dell watched her routine and was very pleased with it

But she ended up coming in 2 place for her solo and then bombed her two baton. At this point she was very upset with herself because she knew she was not going to win the big trophy. She was up against a girl named Trinity who ended up sweeping to floor the entire day.

At this point all Jaina wanted to do was go home but I told her she had to finish regardless of her results. Allie and I were also tired and ready to go home too but we ended up staying almost until the end of the competition for her to get all her results and medals.

Although this was not the best competition she still came home with one 1st place trophy and five 2nd place medals. I told her it was better than a ribbon, and she should still be proud of herself. 

After we were done, we headed straight for Gringo's to eat dinner, we were starving! We got home pretty late with the love bugs and all. We headed straight for showers and bed.

We are proud of all the hard work this season! Way to go Jaina!