tornado season is upon us!

Yep, it happens every sigle spring, unfortunately!  Makes me completely dread the spring.  I would take hurricanes in Virginia any day if I could give up the threat of tornados.

Our very first day of the tornado sirens going off and we had 12 touch down in the entire fort worth/dallas area.  The very first one was in Joshua.  You know- the town that our house almost sits on!?!  So here are the pictures of that tornado.  It was in the neighborhood right behind the high school, just about 2 miles from us.  Sloane was at preschool that day- her school is VERY VERY close to this :(

We really lucked out though- the tornados didn't get bad until the storms went just east of Burleson.

How did Ethan get to be TWELVE already????

There was alot going on this spring and we just didn't have time for a big party.  I did surprise him with an Angry Birds cake though!  And he a new BIG bike from mom and dad, and he also got a ton of new books.

filled with green goo- that's from all those angry birds eating all those mean green pigs! LOL!

So glad my mom got to come out and see us!

We had a great week! The kids were so happy to have their grandma Lisa here. Sure do wish we could see family more often!!!fds

 

Midieval Times

 

Keeping up with our them this spring break of doing a million things, all things that we have never done/gone to before...we went to Midieval Times.  It is dinner and a show, with knights, a king, and a princess.  It was a really cool thing to do!

Magic Time Machine

I was wanting to take the kids out somewhere to eat that was FUN but not exactly Chuck E Cheese....I couldn't really come up with anything so I asked around.  Leah suggested the Magic Time Machine in Dallas.  Kind of a long drive just for dinner but wow- this was NOT just dinner!  It was an experience!  And is now the #1 place my kids are always asking to go back to!  Every person working there was dressed as a charachter- Mario, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Superman....the list went on and on.  When you get there, they give you an autograph card and you can ask each of the characters to sign it for you.  They also had a magician that stopped by our table (each table is a different theme also- we were in some sort of tiki hut)  Our waitress was Belle from Beauty and the Beast.  We had drinks that had magic smoke in them, and the food was pretty good.

Dinosaur Valley State Park

My mom came out over spring break- we had so much fun.  We went to Dinosaur Valley in Glen Rose.  There are real dinosaur footprints in the river and when the water is low enough you can actually see them.  Unfortunately it was not low, but the kids did get to play in the water

 They did have some dinosaur prints to check out though: the kids were pretty impressed!

Regional Science Fair

Ethan was SO excited (we all were really!) about getting the rare opportunity to attend the regional science fair.  There were schools from all over the area competing.  Unfortunately his run of luck ended here.  He didnt get any awards (he was pretty much competing against future rocket scientists- for real!) and that was really hard for him, but he had a great day at UTA exploring the college and getting out of school! 

All of the kids from our district that came to the fair

Ethan was one of 6 from his school that made the 'cut' to regional!

his competition.....

middle school

Well, middle school is coming up for Ethan. I can't believe he is old enough already! The parents orientation was last night. It is such a big school, and they get 4 minutes between classes (and Ethan is slow anyway!) I was really excited about the elective classes he would get to take but it looks like he won't get much of that.
Everyone must take writing, reading, math, history, science, and technology.
Then they get the choice of PE or competative athletics, but if you aren't one of the top players in athletics you basically get screwed and dont make a team, but still have all the training for it. Yea- we will pass, Ethan is still loving Karate anyhow! Besides, athletics starts at 6:30am. hmmm, that is when we wake up- not leave the house!
Then for electives- they get 1 full year class, or 2 half year classes. Ethan wants to continue band so that is it for him- no other choices, nothing fun and different. bummer! And if you take a year off from band, you can't get back in- so you use it or lose it. Apparently 8th graders get more electives.
More than anything I am worried about Ethan from an organization standpoint. He is terrible about remembering to turn work in, how is he going to remember to take the right book/assignments to class? ugh! And then remember to bring all the stuff home that he needs to do.... 7th grade is going to be a huge struggle. I had hope earlier this year because his ADHD seemed to be doing so much better. until this last month. Everything fell apart. Grades plummeted, memory vanished, behavior wasn't as great....so we now have him on all his new meds- hopefully this will give him the boost he needs. One plus is that he does seem to be doing better socially this year. No one good friend at school, but there are a few people that he can hang out with sometimes at recess- which is huge for him! And next year he will get to be in school with Keaton- one of his best friends on the street. He is in a different grade, but hopefully they will have lunch together- that would be really nice!

No training wheels!

Yeah! Cam learned to ride his bike on monday without training wheels!

Jim didn't even have to hold on to the bike from behind and run with him or anything- he just took off!!!
However- he does need to work on paying attention....A neighbor took all the 1st graders for a bikeride yesterday (1 day after learning to ride) and they went to the lake up the hill, Cameron apparently wasn't paying attention and he just rode his bike right into the lake. all.the.way.in. Brad (the neighbor), had to go in after him! Luckily he wasn't upset about being freezing cold/wet but he was concerned about his bike being wet! Later, he said he had a fun underwater adventure. LOL! Sure do wish I had a picture of THAT!

Cameron's 7th Birthday!

Cameron gave ME a wonderful gift this year for his birthday- He chose to go to Chuck E Cheese! Yea, doesn't sound like a gift really....until you think about the robot party and the skeleton party from years past- those were ALOT of work!!!! I was THRILLED to pay someone else to do the cake/decorating/entertaining/cleaning!

He was getting 'nervousing' because he had to stand up in front of everyone! LOL! I love his words!

They now have a new wind tunnel that the birthday kid gets to use- you have to catch as many tickets as you can- Cameron found out that it was pretty hard to do!

He is so grown up now! He can read chaper books pretty well, and he can tie his shoes! yeah!