Our visit to the GA Aquarium

We went to the Georgia Aquarium with Ken, Donna, and Chris the day before the girls went to school. A special "THANKS" to Uncle Ken and Aunt Donna for letting us come with them. We enjoyed ourselves at the aquarium. And THANKS to Chris too.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!!!

After a long day of fun...

School is going good...

The girls seem to be settling into the school year great.

Amber is enjoying being part of the "top dogs" at school. I hope she realizes she will be at the bottom of the food chain next year in 6th grade. Amber likes her teacher, Mr. Seusser (pronounced: sizer). Amber is off to a good start with AR. She is currently tied for 1st in her class with 4 points. The person she is tied with had 500 something points last year, remember Amber had 107 points, so I don't really expect Amber to stay in 1st. I do expect her to do her best and to at least get her minimum required AR points for this 9 weeks (15 points). Bonus info: Mr. Seusser has a son who was born last year on what day? March 6th!!!

Alyssa is also in 1st place in her class for AR. She leads her class with 2 points, which is also what she is required to get per week. As you might have guessed, no many kids got the required 2 points - matter of fact Alyssa was the only one. Alyssa seems to enjoy Mrs. Carrasco. This is the same teacher that Amber had last year. Alyssa's biggest competition for AR will come from a boy named Cameron in her class. He was in her class last year. He is a very intelligent boy who has his head on straight all ready. Hmmmmm, I will have to remember him when she is old enough to have a boyfriend.

I have been volunteering in Alyssa's class. I volunteered in Amber's at the end of last year. Everything was going good until yesterday. My car got hit by a teacher at the school. It is not that bad. They put a small dent in the passenger front door and loosened the side view mirror on the passenger side. I think the teacher only had a busted tail light. She called the police and came and got me. I appreciated her honesty. She said that last year someone hit her car and she never found out who. Oh well!!! Life goes on.

I have almost purchased all my school supplies. I still need to buy a watch with a second hand on it. Today I purchased my scrub pants, shoes, pen light, and bandage scissors. This is really starting to feel REAL!!! I mean I really feel like I am getting ready to start nursing school. I am still full of MIXED EMOTIONS!!!!

A New Link....

I have added a new link on the right hand side of the screen. It is Christopher's Blog. Donna has finally joined the blogger craze. I am excited about her new venture into blogging.

Donna is the sole member of the Blogging Police. Donna sends out reminders to bloggers when they do not update their blogs frequently enough. You see, Donna checks everybodies blog daily for updates. Oooooooooooh, do you see where this might be going? I would like to welcome Donna to blogging and remind her to update frequently as I have just joined the Blogging Police (I will be assigned to her blog only). Just picking with you Donna!!!!!!!!! I actually appreciate the reminders in a backwards kind of way!

I hope everyone enjoys getting to know Christopher and seeing how much he has grown up.

I am officially in the ADN program!

Back in April I posted that I received my acceptance letter to the ADN program for Nursing. Well today, it is official. I am in the ADN program. My major is now Associates Degree in Nursing. And I have registered for my 1st nursing class. I have purchased all my books and my stethoscope and blood pressure gauge. I have had my physical ($600 later) and I have most of my immunizations. For some reason the only thing I am not immune to is MEASLES!!!! So I will probably have to have a measles vaccination very soon. I still have to purchase my nursing shoes and scrub pants & the official Athens Tech nursing program shirts & vest to complete my ensemble.

I am really excited about classes starting. I have mixed emotions about clinicals. They start in October and I am SCARED, NERVOUS, and EXCITED about them. I still have to finish the 3 textbooks that we are supposed to self-teach during the summer. The Medical Terminology and Math for Meds are both interesting as they have software to practice on, but the Diet and Nutrition Therapy is boring and depressing because junk food tastes so GOOD.

Amber is growing up!!!!!

When Amber got back from Middle School Summer Camp she talked about how all the 7th graders and most of the 6th graders shaved their legs. I told her she could start shaving her legs before Summer Camp next year. I talked with some of my friends who have daughters that are either Amber's age or a little older and they said they did the same thing with their daughters. Well Amber must have caught me at a weak moment because I agreed last night to let her start shaving her legs today. My mom and Amber both pointed out how long Amber's leg hairs were and Amber reminded me she could be going into the 6th grade. I relented because I remember what it was like to have that long leg hair at school. So here are some pictures of Amber shaving her legs for the 1st time. She woke me up early so I could teach her how to shave.

Tooth Fairy to Visit Amber!!!!!

A.P. Press 7-16-06

Amber has lost her 10th tooth!!!! This was the 1st molar tooth for her to lose. Amber said, "The tooth came out pretty easy. The new tooth was coming in, which helped push the old tooth out." Amber's mom said, "I really enjoyed pulling the tooth out for Amber." Amber's sister, Alyssa, said, "No fair, you get money from the tooth fairy." Amber tells us that she still has another loose tooth that should be coming out in the next 2 months.



A.P. Press 7-17-06

Amber received $1 from the tooth fairy. Amber stated, "I was hoping the tooth fairy would accidentally pull a $20 from her wallet like she did on an episode of Full House. But I didn't get that lucky. Oh well, $1 is better than nothing!"

A Tribute to Great-Grandma Cook

January 18, 1909 - June 20, 2006

I hope everyone enjoys these pictures.

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!

We have our pool (which is cholorine free).

And we have some more dogs hanging around.

Left to Right: Lucy, Missy, Salsa, Pepi (in back), and Tasha.

Pepi is the lone male. The other four dogs are female. Missy and Salsa are pedigrees and need to be slimmed down.

And the "Nature Lessons" continue...

As we were getting ready to leave for VBS one day last week, we saw a turtle in the road in our cul-de-sac. We, okay I, quickly picked him (or her) up and we put the turtle in the doggie pool. One of our neighbors told us it was a boxer turtle and that it would not bite us. We ended up naming the turtle and keeping it for a few days. Here are some pictures of "Franklin Jordan Boxer the Third" (sometimes called "FJB3" and "Trey").

After 3 days of fun with a turtle...sweet freedom was granted to FJB3. We let FJB3 loose in the woods behind the house near a creek and far from the road.

First it was birds, then it was...

I caught some pictures of some lizards PLAYING! Nature abounds.

End of School Update (I forgot to post)

I didn't realize that I didn't post this at the end of the year.

Amber and Alyssa both did great this year in school. They both made the "Merit Roll" for the year. This basically means that they averaged A's & B's for the entire year. Alyssa had A's & B's all year. Amber had A's & B's except for 1 C. I think the girls have done an exceptional job this year.

Aunt Laura should be impressed with the art talent that both Amber and Alyssa have. The art teacher awards 3 certificates per class: "Outstanding Artist" (1 for a boy & 1 for a girl) & "Most Improved in Art" (1 per class). And the winners are:

Amber won "Outstanding Artist" (Girl) for her class.

Alyssa won "Most Improved in Art" for her class.

If you remember the painting I did, you will know they didn't get their artistic talents from me.
Here is a sample of their artistic talent.

"Peace Beach" by Amber Stowers

"Rainbow Garden" by Alyssa Stowers

Next year Amber will be in 5th grade and Alyssa will be in 4th grade.

Sorry for the delay in this info. I will try to make sure I post my drafts next time.

FYI.......

Everyone may not really know the families on our links, so I thought I might do a little clarification.

1. Callie's Blog is my cousin's blog for his 2 wonderful daughters (Callie & Avery).
2. Malachi's Blog is my cousin's blog for her wonderful son (Malachi).
3. Lisa's Blog is my cousin's (you are still very much my cousin) blog for her 3 wonderful boys (Josh, Stephen, and Andrew [A.J.]).
4. Lisa's Homeschool Blog is the aforementioned Lisa's blog where she discusses homeschooling issues.
5. Lisa's "Love Letters 4 Jesus" Blog is the aforementioned Lisa's blog where she opens her heart through creative poetry to God. This blog is a great place to read if you need your spirits lifted.
6. Lilly's Blog is my Uncle Andy's blog where he shares about his times with his granddaughter (Lilly).
7. Gabehart's Family Blog is my cousin's (Brian's side of the family) blog for her wonderful son (Austin) and her wonderful daughter (Alex).

If anyone else has a blog I would love to add you to my links. I hope that this helps everyone know who my links are for.

Baby Birds

We had a nest in our yard with 6 baby birds. I think that only 5 show up in each of the picures. I hope you enjoy our baby bird pictures.

Momma Bird

Baby Birds

Baby Birds

Alyssa's Bargain

Alyssa was a real bargain shopper!!!! Alyssa bought a huge basket of chocolate at her school carnival's auction. She paid $40 for the basket. She has returned about half of the chocolate (the stuff she doesn't like) to Walmart. Her returns came to $43.25 and we still have 6 more things to return (1 item is a $4 from Sav-A-Lot). I guess Alyssa is a pretty good "Bargain Hunter".

Alyssa's thinned out "Chocolate Basket" which she got for free since she has re-couped all of her money!!! What a BARGAIN HUNTER!!!!

This basket was overflowing with CHOCOLATE. It took me 4 trips from the care to carry all the chocolate into the house. I carried this basket piled over the top and then carried 3 more armloads into the house. This basket should last Alyssa a while. She is being very good about eating a little at a time. Any one wants some chocolate - Alyssa might give you a small bit (or maybe not). She really loves chocolate.