Friday Favorites...

Wa-Hoo! Look what I found at Wal-Mart last night. Another G-free blogger friend told me to be on the look for Gluten-free Bisquick and I found it! I am so excited! I can now EASILY make all my Bisquick favorites likes like cheesy-garlic biscuits, chicken pot pie, waffles, and even my simple banana bread! We are even trying out chicken and dumplings with the Bisquick TONIGHT! I can eat it all with no tummy pain...

AWESOME! Happy Weekend!...

Should I Even Go There?...

Not sure I should even go here... But since this is a documentation of our lives and I dont want to forget this... I am going HERE! Even though I am sure I wont forget this!!!

Here goes. Miss Em contracted the HEAD.BUG, Yep, better known as LICE at school this week! Oh my goodness. Our school nurse who knows me well knew I would FREAK.OUT.TOTALLY when she told me. This is not the news I wanted to get when I returned from Outdoor School. On the good side, if there is a good side, only two immature bugs were found in her super thick, long hair and no nests. We did clean every bit of bedding and everyones hair got the RID washing and combing! We are geling and blowdrying the heck out of everyones hair this week just to kill any and everything that might be left but nothing has been spotted since in Miss Em's hair! And on the good side the other two girls were clear... Miss Em's teacher felt horrible about the situation.

Oh my goodness, I feel so gross! I guesss we are lucky we have made it 6 years in public school and this is our first go with the friendly critter.

Outdoor School...

WOW! What can I say except that we are totally blessed to live in our community and have our super, duper, awesome school! I just got back from "The Outdoor School" with my Abbey Grace and her 5th grade class. HER.ENTIRE.5th.GRADE.CLASS! All 60 something of them! It was Amazing!

Our school has been taking 5th graders to Camp Champions on Lake LBJ for 7 years now. 6 moms and 6 dads get the privalege of being drawn in the parent lottery every year. I was lucky enough be to drawn so of course I jumped at the opportunity to go! I was all I hoped for and MORE! I truly think I was speechless most of the time because I didnt know what to say because I was in awe of the place and of our kids!

I have said it before but my girls have great friends and I am so thankful that we moved to small town TX almost 9 years now...

The kids got to do things such as fishing with a cane pole...

And archery
Even the teachers and parents got to take their turns. Abbey's teacher, Mrs. J was celebrating her birthday and got a bull's eye! She has been teaching for 40 years and has so much to teach Miss Abbey and ME! She is WONDERFUL!
The kids got harnessed in for some HIGH ROPES courses. Abbey was scared. They tell the kids to set goals for themselves. Abbey really just wanted to reach the telephone pole.

She reached the net and made it all the way across! I had tears in my eyes. It was awesome. So many of these kids were facing their fears. They were cheering for each other, hugging each other, crying together, giving high fives, helping each other with their harnesses... What a life changing opportunity! The kids also got a chance to climb a rock wall. Abbey made it to the top to RING THE BELL!

The kids stay in cabins with only a light bulb and no AC or heat. The temperature got down to 50 degrees that night so we were very cold the next morning. The kids are on a tight schedule and have lots of rules but they do GREAT. The kids are also taught to only eat the food they will eat and each team's left-overs are weighed after each meal. The team with the "least waste" after each meal WINS a bead for the their necklace. The Outdoor School teaches great concepts.
Friendships were strengthened. It was GREAT!

We hated to say good-bye...

I have already started praying that either Will or I get drawn in the lottery when Lainey and Emiley are in 5th grade!

Friday Favorites...

Well, I am a bit late with this week's FRIDAY FAVORITES but man... has it been a week! This week, my FAVORITE thing is the super cute hat! Will's talented cousin, Joli at CrAzY CoNSuEla made it for me and I.AM.IN.LOVE.WITH.IT!!!!! It has my favorite colors, it is our school colors, it is so cute, now if it is just not too hip for me!! I just got it in the mail this morning and wore it to the girls soccer games! I got lots of compliments on it because it is so stinkin' cute.
Thanks, Joli!!! You are the BEST!

Search for Joli and all her crafts on her BLOG or on Facebook (CRAZY CONSUELA!)

TOMORROW...

TOMORROW is C.H.A.S.E. Day... Tomorrow is the day that marks one year since my friend Chelsea had to say good-bye to her baby Chase. You can read more about Chelsea and her family and CHASE... HERE! Tomorrow we are all encouraged to do acts of SERVICE and ENCOURAGEMENT. The girls and I are going to remember Baby Chase, we are going to step outside of our "box" and honor some people that we always see doing good and people that we want to encourage in our community. We have had fun planning for our CHASE DAY this week! Here is a hint as to what we are going to surprise our friends with!

The girls have had fun with it all week. We cant wait for tomorrow. Thank you, Chelsea for reminding us to put others first.

Happy Hump Day!

Table Talk...

You hear alot of things during lunch with first graders. Here is a random sampling of the things I heard during my lunch today... I hope you enjoy!

*I LOVE chocolate milk mixed with mini-corndogs!

*Mrs. Hale, I am going to be sick!

*Can I go to the bathroom? It's an emergency!!!!

*Mrs. Hale, You should be a model. (They were kissing up I am sure. Either that or my kelly green Gap T-shirt looks amazing on me!)

*I think it is 30 degrees in the cafeteria... Oh, I mean 100 degrees. OK, so we need to work on temperature!

*My nose is bleeding!!!

*I LOVE P.E. Are we going to P.E. today? When is P.E.? How much longer til P.E.? Mrs. Hale are you listening to me?

*Can I go get another napkin?

*I dropped my fork. I dont really need a fork. I can use my hands.

*My friends are talking too much and wont let me talk!!!!

Did I mention we only get 30 minutes for lunch...

Life is TOUGH...

Life is tough. We all know it. We really hate it when our kids have to learn it and FEEL it! Today my daughter and her sweet group of friends is learning it in a hard way.

This summer I got to pack up and take this 10 super sweet girls to ACU camp... REMEMBER. It was Awesome! They are some AWESOME girls and for these 10 AWESOME girls in Abbey's class there are 10 more.

Well, today they are all hurting... Our whole town is hurting and needs your prayers. One of these sweet little girls mommy's passed away last night. The mommy, my friend... the whole town's friend was an AMAZING Godly woman. She suffered a heart-attack and it just wasnt in God's Will for her to stay her on earth with us. God needed her in heaven with Him even though it breaks out hearts.

Lots of tears have been cried today. Lots of tears will be cried this week. I cant look at any of these sweet little girls that I DEEPLY LOVE without crying. I never dreamed we would be going through this as we packed them up to go to camp at ACU. I never dreamed we would be facing this as we played softball together through the summer or as we visited just a few days ago by the pool.

I hug my 5th grade daughter a little tighter. I hug her buddies a little tighter. They are an amazing group of girls. They need your prayers. This family dealing with loss needs your prayers.

Our community loss a woman who LOVED in amazing ways. She put her family first. She was a mommy of three daughters just like me! She was teaching me so many things!! She was my encourager!! She was beautiful. We were raising daughters together but God called her home.

Life is tough. We hug each other a little tighter and try to understand. We rejoice because she is meeting our Father... but struggle to grasp it all.