Amber has been promoted!

Tomorrow will be Amber's first official day in 7th grade. Amber is being promoted from 6th grade.

As most of you know, Amber was held back in 1st grade for reading issues. She was held back at her parents request. Amber has been wanting to get back with her age group for a while now. This summer when I dropped of some papers, I asked the Asst. Principal about this. The Asst Principal told me we would discuss the issue the 2nd week of school.

After meeting with Amber's teachers and the Assistant Principal it was decided that Amber would take the 8th grade ITBS test to determine her grade placement for Language Arts and Math. Amber did take the Language Arts test, but she didn't take the Math test. Her Math teacher stated that Amber was the first person in a long time to have a 99 average in Advanced Math. (Amber scored 8.6 [6th month of 8th grade] on the 5th grade ITBS last year).

I am very proud of Amber's achievement. Very few people can say they passed a grade level after 5 weeks of school.

And MORE Puppies

Suzy-Q had her puppies this morning starting around 3 am until about 6 am. She ended up having a total of 7 puppies.

We now have way to many dogs here: 6 grown-up dogs and 14 puppies (that is 20 dogs for those who can't add).

Suzy had 1 boy and 6 girls. Aren't they just adorable???

Puppies and MORE Puppies

We have PUPPIES!!!

Grandma's dog, Tasha, had 5 puppies on September 25, 2007. She had 1 boy & 4 girls. The boy is the white one.

One of Grandpa's dogs, Salsa, had 2 puppies today (September 28, 2007). She had a boy and a girl. The boy is the black one.

And we still have MORE puppies to come. My dog, Suzy-Q, is due anytime now.

Amber has crossed the tracks...

Pardon the pun, but Amber helped with the title to this post.

Amber has her braces. She wanted to share some pictures of her beautiful new metal mouth. Amber got her top braces on June 26, 2007 and her bottom braces on August 8, 2007.

Amber with her new top braces.

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The following pictures are of Amber on September 10, 2007 showing off her full mouth of metal. Amber is feeling a little BLUE (she has baby blue & dark blue bands on her wires).

Is someone else shaving???

Yes!!! Alyssa is now shaving.

Alyssa shaves her legs for the 1st time on June 5, 2007!!!

Notice the concentration!

An assist from her big sister, Amber!

Everyone is growing up so fast!!

Easter Pictures

Here are some of our Easter pictures...

Alyssa

Alyssa sporting her special jewelry

Amber

Amber and her mature jewelry

All of us.

(Just between us - I don't think that yellow is my color, but Amber picked the dress.)

We had lots of candy from the Easter Bunny (this year we were visited by Mama Cottontail).

Update on school grades for the girls...

The girls have been doing a really great job this year in school (as usual).

Amber has maintained all A's & B's so far this year.

Alyssa has maintained straight A's so far this year.

The girls have 20 more days of school (if I counted right). CRCT (end of grade testing) has been completed. Amber is the only one this year that MUST pass. Alyssa took them this year, but they really don't count against you or for you.

Amber is...

• 12 years old
• growing up
• becoming a woman
• trying to have big feet like her mom and dad
• trying to be as tall (even though I am short) as me

She had a birthday - this is her last year before she is a TEEN!

March 9, 2007 - New Puppies!!!

We had more puppies. Proud mother, Salsa, gave birth to 3 puppies on March 9, 2007. One puppy was still-born (born dead). The other 2 puppies seem fine. The black puppy, Blackie, died at 3 days old. The brown/white puppy, Socks (due to his white paws), is a very plump 1 month old puppy.

We plan to sell Socks as soon as he is old enough to leave his mother. We also plan to sell Salsa, Missy and Pepi. Salsa and Missy are getting old and are ready to settle into a nice retirement (not having anymore puppies). And Pepi is wanting a home where he is the main attraction.

"Socks"

"Race to Win” is a Winner!!

February 11, 2007
“Race to Win” is a Winner!

The children's choir performed an exciting musical called Race to Win. The musical which also starred Dale Waltrip via satellite (really it was pre-recorded by Lifeway for performances). The performance was a hit.

The musical was about 2 NASCAR drivers, one was a christian and the other was not. The christian driver gave an engine to the non-christian driver (for free) so he could finish the race. The non-christian driver could not understand why someone would give him an engine for free. The christian driver explains by explaining how God did the same thing for us. God sent His Son to die on the cross to save us from our sins – this is a free gift from God. All we have to do is accept it.

The musical shined with the help of Alyssa, even though she was just in the choir – the musical would not have been the same without her. The musical had the crowd on the edge of their seats with the superb singing, acting and the NASCAR crash clips. This is definitely what one can call “a hard act to follow”.

I am back...

I apologize for the major delay. Life has just gotten in the way of the blog. Things have finally settled down a bit, so here I am again...back on my blog.

I will be posting several entries over the next few days or so - in order to catch everything up.

I hope you enjoy.

Amber earned her BLACK BELT!!!

Congratulations are in order!!!!

Today Amber earned her brown and black belts in recorder karate at school. (Recorder - That little clarinet looking plastic instrument that has holes on it.) She has completed the recorder karate program. Amber now has to practice her recorder club pieces at music class. She is the 1st person in her class to finish. I believe the next closest person still needs 3-4 belts.

I am very proud of her musical talent!!

Congratulations

Amber and Alyssa have 3 new siblings, well step-siblings.

We would like to congratulate Brian and Alex on their marriage.

Amber and Alyssa now have a step-sister, Brittany, and 2 step-brothers, Chris and Anthony.

Amber's Living Christmas Tree performance

Amber and the student (youth) choir did a great job on the living Christmas Tree on December 10th. Amber was on the 6th row up from the bottom and a little left of center. Her cousin, Chris, was also in the performance. He was on the 2nd row from the bottom and to the right of the tree. Here are some pictures from the performance.

Amber

Chris

Amber singing

Amber in lights

There to see this amazing performance were: Me (of course) and...

Alyssa

Papaw

Nana

Brian, Alex, & Brittany,

Grandma, Grandpa and (of course) Uncle Ken and

Aunt Donna
(What's up with that? No one really knows!!!!)