Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a safe and great Halloween! Of course when we got back from the football game tonight our yard had been rolled!

It is so nice that people think so much of us to use their hard earned money and decorate our yard!! LOL!

Oh well it will give my husband something to do tomorrow since he is taking off!

It's Fall Ya'll !!

This week has sure been an indication that fall is here! The weather has started to be quite cool in the morning. Esp. when you have to scrape the ice off of the window sheild!!

Up in the day has been wonderful. The children at school have had a great time playing outside and not getting so hot.

I sure am enjoying my new fall wreath. If you look closely, you will see the "Happy Harvest" painted artwork in my wreath. I got that at the Autumn Street Fair from Brandie at Dream Custom Artwork. She gave me the idea to stick it in my wreath and it turned out great!

Ya'll have a great weekend! Please keep Westwood's youth group in your prayers. They are on their youth retreat this weekend in Dandridge, Tn. (close to Pigeon Forge). Leah and all her buddies I'm sure are having a great time!

Cookbooks on Sale Now! Get'em before they get gone!

The high school dance team and moms put together a great cookbook as a fundraiser for this year. They make great Christmas gifts esp. for those who have everything! They have lots of great recipies in it.

The books sell for $10.00 a piece.

Just leave me a comment or email me and let me know if you would like one or more. Leah would sure appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

Smile! Smile! Smile!

Thanks to Ms. Paula Morris for nominating me for the "Smile Award." I appreciate so much you thinking of me!

I in turn must nominate 5 people for the smile award. I am nominating the following....

1. Debbie Haley - for all those smiles that you give me and others when we visit your office. She always has time or makes time to talk to you!

2. Sheila Boyd - for all those wonderful smiles you give each day to those 2 very special young guys that you work with at school!

3. Joy Tubb - for all those smiles that you give to your customers and recipients of your special cakes, pies, wedding cakes and goodies plus your catering lunches!

4. Tabitha Sullens - who always has a sweet smile every time I have seen her with such sweet words to go along with that smile!

5. LeCreidia Rutledge - who doesn't have a blog but is my teacher assistant and she ALWAYS has a smile on her face each and every day. She is such a joy to work with and I am so thankful that we have had the opportunity to work together for the past 4 years!

These are the rules:
1. The recipient must link back the the awards creator
2. You must post these rules if you receive the award.
3. You must choose 5 people to receive the award after receiving it yourself.
4. You must fit the characteristics of the recipient of the award.
5. You must post the characteristics of a recipient.
6. You must create a post sharing your win with others.
7. You must thank your giver.
Characteristics for the Smile Award:
Must display a cheerful attitude. (not necessarily at all times--we are all human)
Must love one another
Must make mistakes
Must learn from others
Must be a positive contributor to blog world
Must love life
Must love kids

Fall Break is officially over!

Well it's back to school tomorrow for all the students and teachers!! It has been a great fall break! This has been the first week off in the fall that the majority of our school system has ever had. I really did like it and it was great to have time to rest and get geared back up to finish up before the holidays!

I am looking forward to seeing all 20 of my little preschool sweeties tomorrow! I have missed them!

Everyone have a great week!

Whew!! We've had a fun-filled weekend!

Well we wrapped up Saturday going to the craft fair in Bell Buckle. I have not been for many years and boy was I surprised!! I could not believe all the vendors there selling things. There was such a great variety of things that we got over-whelmed looking at everything! While we were there it got so crowded we could not hardly walk!

I had a great weekend spending time with both of my daughters!! What a great way to end our fall break! Guess I will have to get ready tomorrow for school next week.

Rascal Flatts donates to Vanderbilt's Children's Hospital

Last night and for the past 4 years that Rascal Flatts has held a concert in Nasvhille they have donated all the proceeds of the concert to Nashville's Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

They proudly announced last night (and Dot and Daryl, little Andy Dunn's parents will be thrilled to hear this) that for last night's concert a big whopping check of $700,000 was going to Vanderbilt making it a grand total for the past 4 years as donating over 3 MILLION DOLLARS TO VANDERBILT CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL!!!! Isn't that AWESOME!!

Thanks Rascal Flatts!!

Bob That Head!!!

What an AWESOME STAGE!! The guys moved around the stage the whole time during the concert so that everyone had a great seat!

As we were leaving we saw Holly from MyKidsChaos and her sister Mandy. She will probably have some things posted on her blog as well.

The opening number!
We had great seats!

This was showing on the screens as they sang "Life is a Highway."

I don't think I would want this guys job!! Before Rascal Flatts came on they made their way up there and strapped themselves in to do the spot lights! I can say this.....they were up wayyyyy to high for me. Made me nervous pervous!!

Taylor Swift on the big screen!
She did a great job and said she was glad to be back at home in Tennessee!

Sitting in the section next to us were some other friends. There was room so they moved down and set next to us!!

We were so excited to find out that some of our hometown girls who are Predators Professional Hockey dancers were going to be helping out with some back up dancing numbers with Rascal Flatts!! In the picture is Jena (who's sister Lacey is a friend of Lauren's, Jen (who is our choreographer for our high school dance team), Holly, who is like a daughter to me. She has been a life long friend of my daughter, Lauren. I love her dearly. She is like a daughter to me and then of course is Leah and her friend, Laci (I don't know what she was looking at?????)
We are proud of you girls, you did a great job!

Laci's mom, Missie and I had a good time at the concert as well. We ate at Joe's Crab Shack before the concert and it was great!

Bell Buckle Craft Fair this weekend!

This Saturday and Sunday is the annual craft fair in Bell Buckle, TN. I have not gotten to go in many years and this year we are hitting the road early and going Saturday morning. I think the last time that I went was before I had children and whew that has been a good 20 years or so. Lauren is going to be home this weekend so we should have a great time! I am sure she will find lots of things that she "desperately" needs!

One more day until the Rascal Flatts concert!!

Fall break is quickly coming to an end for us. The holidays will be here before we turn around!!

Can't wait until Friday night!!

Friday is almost here and we have been so excited about getting to go to the Rascal Flatts concert with Taylor Swift. Back in Sept. when the tickets went on sale, I decided to surprise my youngest daughter, Leah with tickets to this concert. She is a huge fan of both Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift. It seemed like everytime they were in concert it was always on a night that they had to be at a football game or another school function. Well this time it fell during fall break and thank goodness there was is not a ballgame this week!!

I wish that I had taken her picture when I surprised her with the tickets. Priceless!!!!

Tis the Season......

Well it's that time of year again to start watching for those who love to come and decorate your yard with that pretty white stuff they call toliet paper!!

A good clue would be if your dogs start barking when they normally are quiet. That's what happened to us tonight and it was fairly early too. I mentioned to Leah that I bet someone was rolling our yard and she said Nah it's too early for someone to be doing that!!! Well low and behold here comes Leah's friend Haley flying in the house saying that as she was pulling up someone fell out of the tree!!!

Opps hope they weren't hurt!!

She also gave a description of the vehicle and it was a tan Tahoe. Hummmm I have a pretty good idea who the driver might have been!!

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my younger sis, Charlotte.

I hope that you had a great day today and got to relax esp. since we are on fall break!!!

I will be nice and not tell how old you are!! LOL!

It's a Halloween Giveaway!!!!

Okay everyone go to http://www.simplyjoycatering.blogspot.com/ and enter her Halloween giveaway!! She has got a great Halloween basket to giveaway to a lucky "spook"!! Tell her when you post your favorite Halloween memory that you saw this on my blog!

Recognizing a great coach!

Yesterday afternoon the dance team booster organization as well as the girls on the dance team were able to pull off a big surprise for Ms. Shockley. She has been working with the dance team as director/coach since 1996. Well she took a few years off to rest but joined us again a few years ago. She was hired as the new 10th grade principal at our high school this school year and had to unfortunately give up coaching the dance team.

In the picture above, are the junior members of the dance team. Allison, Kayann, Ms. Shockley, Lindsey, Laci and Leah.

The girls as well as parents wanted to give her a big surprise party to thank her so much for all her dedication and many extra hours that she has put in working with the girls. She was on the dance team during high school as well. And believe it or not I was one of her coaches along with Patti Clarke. We also wanted it to be a congratulations party as well for being selected as the principal. We think that is a great honor esp. with some 1800 students at our high school.

We had a great cake that was made by Joy Tubb at Simply Joy Catering. You can find her blog on my list of favorites.

Everyone had a great time! Thanks for Ms. Shockley's sister and mom for helping us pull it off and for providing us with all the pictures to decorate with.

Thanks again for everything Penny!! We all love you and appreciate you so much!

Dance Team Paints the Town Pink at the ballgame!

Friday night at the football game the dance team particpated in the Paint the Town Pink day. As you can see the girls look pretty in pink! The girls also wore buttons with people in our community that were in honor of those who were survivors or who are now fighting breast cancer/or in memory of someone.

Also at the game Friday night the preventing domestic violence organization had a fundraiser as well as a program at halftime. The dance team as well as the band and cheerleaders went on the field and lite their candle in remembering those who have been victims of domestic violence.

Friday is Paint the Town Pink!

As you all know October is breast cancer awareness month. Friday is designated as "Let's Paint the Town Pink Day" in Warren Co. Everyone please try to wear some kind of pink and support this very worthwhile cause.

Leah's friend, Haley and her FCCLA club at WCHS has put all the hard work into getting this going so please give to breast cancer research!!

Finally we have Rain!!!!

I was trying to remember today when the last time that we got a good soaking rain and it has been so long I just couldn't remember. We were blessed today with some rain. I hope that it continues to rain all through the night.

Of course with it raining, that means that we probably won't be able to take the children outside to play in the morning but that is okay. We can work around that problem.

Today is hump day for us at school. We will not be having school on Friday due to teacher inservce and this Thursday is Parent/Teacher conference from 3-6.

I usually see my parents every day so I am not sure how many might return on Thursday afternoon. I love talking to my parents and they are eager to help out in anyway they can. Not only with things at school but working with their child as well. I have a lot of great grandparents who help out a lot too.

Fall Break will be all next week! I am so excited. We have not gotten a whole week off in the fall before. My oldest daughter will have her fall break on Monday and Tuesday as well. We are looking forward to that!!

Everyone have a nice Wednesday tomorrow!

Autumn Street Fair

My friend, Paula stopped by the Eastside booth to get her a chocolate dipped bananas!! Looks like shes got something else yummy ready to eat as well!!

Eastside School PTO had a booth at the street fair selling chocolate dipped banana's, sliced apples with carmel, tattoos and other things. The bulldog mascot was there as well greeting the children.

It was nice to see our Main St. downtown filled with people and vendors!

The street fair had a beauty pageant for the little ones! If you look closely you can see little Lauren there in the orange dress with her mom, Brandie (catch her blog at Dream Custom Artwork. The link is below.) I heard that she got 1st place!! Congratulations Lauren!

Hello Kitty and her friend were even at the Street Fair!

Westwood Lock In

After the ballgame Friday night, Westwood had a 5th quarter fellowship and lock in at the church. The highlight of the night was the huge inflateable that was a big as the width of the gym floor!!! Lauren even though she is older came by and decided to try it out and enjoy the fellowship and food of course!! Leah was there but I could not catch her on the inflateable. Haley, Katie, Kenzie and Lauren are all smiles and having fun! Thanks Shelby and Jessie (Westwood's youth minister and wife) for planning this and staying up all night with nearly 70 kids everyone had a great time!!

Homecoming Court 2008

Allison and Leah

They have both grown to be beautiful young ladies! We are so proud of you!

Sorry this one is sideways. I haven't figured out how to rotate them yet!

I'll work on it!

Dylan, Leah, Alllison and Rudy
The Juniors!

The entire Homecoming Court 2008

Leah and her cousin, Tyler. Wonder how long it took to get all of that paint off???

Lauren and Leah

A nice family shot!

Homecoming parade pictures 2008

Some of the Junior classmates road behind their float. Don't they look great in their orange t-shirts? Some even spray painted their shoes neon orange!

The 2008 Junior Homecoming Float

Thanks so much to one of Leah's good friends, Laci! Her grandmother, Patty let them use her car for the parade and Laci's dad, David, drove the car in the parade. Thanks so much!!!

The Junior Homecoming court before the parade began. Rudy, Allison, Leah and Dylan. They are all really good friends and were excited about the parade and football game!

Exciting and Fun-filled Weekend!

Our weekend started off Friday very busy with all the Homecoming activities at Warren Co. High School. The parade began at 12:30 p.m. and then Leah had to report to the middle school for homecoming preparations/pictures/etc.
Below are pictures from the parade, the halftime homecoming court and pictures of some of the floats in the parade.

We were glad that Lauren got to come home from school and see Leah as well! It was good to have her home even it was for a short time because we did not get to see her last weekend!

Friday night was a lock in at Westwood for the youth so we all stayed late for that and Leah stayed all night. So that ment that I had to go and pick her up at 6:00 a.m. this morning!! Due to the fact that she doesn't have a car anymore! (opps trying not to mention that she had a wreck Thursday morning and totalled her car, BUT she is okay!! That's the important part. ) I have included a few pictures of the lock in.

Then Saturday morning Leah had a performance with her high school dance team at the Autumn St. Fair where she had to report at 8:15 a.m. (there wasn't much time for a cat nap between 6 and time to go either!)

Hope you enjoy my pictures that I took. Ya'll have a nice rest of the weekend!

Need to continue to "Spread the Love"

Thanks so much to Joy with "Simply Joy Catering" for nominating me with a spread the love award. I love my job and taking care of and educating those precious "20" 4 year olds that I have in my classroom. Everyday is different and that's what I love so much about my job. Also, you can't hardly beat seeing those smiling faces each morning. It would make anyone's day!!

I am nominating 3 other people who I think "spread the love" each and every day. They are:
1. Paula Morris who also takes care of those precious children at Pre-Pioneer Daycare. She has lots of love to go around too!

2. Katie Tubb who is a student at Centertown Elem. She is a great friend to all her fellow basketball players, dancers and friends in the youth group at Westwood. I remember when Katie was maybe 4 years old and I taught her to write her name on vacation in Florida. She is left handed and so am I so her mom was thrilled that I helped her out on that for sure!!

3. Danielle Sliger who is a friend and fellow teacher. I first met Danielle in the Leadership McMinnville class and it has been so nice seeing her at church and continuing our friendship. She is another one of those special teachers who spreads the love in educating our children!

Have a great rest of the week! It's hump and and won't be long until Friday is here!