Writers

Jackson’s class has been working on personal narrative stories and they had a publication party to celebrate the completion.  These kids are such great writers!

His story was about the time he went gem mining in NC and got lots of amethysts.  He had so many great descriptive sentences.  I love the first sentence, “I ran into my car and waited for my mom and dad.”  Yep he was in the car about 20 minutes before us… he was so excited.

Many of the parents and school staff attended the publication party and the kids were so great about going to the adults and reading their stories to them.

Miller’s class has not had a publication party yet, but I did get this paper home recently.  It is a gem. 

There are  some pictures at the top and he had to write a story to go with the pictures.

He wrote,  translation is in blue

1. On Saturday we went fishing. {On Saturday we went fishing.  Duh! You got that}

2.we sawa hippo.  it was a bigun. {We saw a hippo. It was a bigun. pretty self explanatory.}

3. it tumtt the bot over.  {It tumped over the boat.  Do you say tumped over instead of tipped over?  We do.  It’s actually a word in the dictionary. Who knew?}

4.but den it rod us to sor. {But then it rode us to shore.}

I found this little piece of school work profoundly adorable!  Just so you know Miller’s teacher is Canadian and although she is lovely I don’t think she is familiar with some of these words…

In case you don’t know and use the word “tump”  Here you go!

Definition of TUMP

intransitive verb

chiefly Southern

:  to tip or turn over especially accidentally —usually used with over <sooner or later everybody tumps over. Nothing to worry about if you don't get caught under the canoe — Don Kennard>

transitive verb

chiefly Southern :  to cause to tip over : overturn, upset —usually used with over

Origin of TUMP

perhaps akin to British dialect tumpoke to fall head over heels

First Known Use: 1967

 

I love these awesome writers!  We are so thankful that they are getting a great education… despite the fact that they apparently speak like country bumpkins!

Sporty

This year the boys have new sports clothes that are part of their school uniforms.  While their everyday uniforms are fine, I adore their new sports uniforms {which they call a kit here}.  The white is so sharp!  The school crest is also sewn on the tops and shorts.

I’ve blurred it out but the name of their school is printed on their bums.  They love it!

All of the kids are given a “house” which is used for contests.  My boys are in Green House. 

While I adore the look of their uniforms, I detest the washing of them! Here is a little problem for you…

boys + white clothes = a bottle of OxyClean  a week

Miller took that nice white uniform on a field trip last week and got some mud on the shorts.  It must be magic mud because Oxy Clean and Clorox couldn't get it out of the white shorts…  Each piece of the uniform costs $22. 

I wish that they boys were going to stay with these smart uniforms forever, but the US, just doesn’t do uniforms the way they do in other places.  The boys are very eager to move to a place where they don’t have to wear uniforms…sigh!

The boys want to wear athletic wear all the time.  Ugh!  It’s just so…nylon!  I’ll just enjoy these uniforms days while they last.

 

This and That

Life is skipping right along and as I was downloading pictures, I came across a few that made me smile…

Underwear on the head…does it get any funnier than that for an 8 year old?  Nope!

I had a little arm party going…I am liking the gold again…

The boys love to play “World Cupping”  It’s a game they made up where they basically walk  past each other, barely touching the other and they both fall down in mock agony.  It is really funny to watch… Until someone gets a knee to the stomach.

Have you seen this video? 

It may have inspired their game!

The Fantastic Four had a fun time playing like boys should!

We had a box and because Miller loves to play with boxes, I left it for him to play with.  It wasn’t long before Jackson read the fine print and wanted to know where the contents were!

Somebody made his daddy proud by reading the small print!

Thursday evening as we left soccer the most amazing moon was coming up.  As we drove home along the coast, I had to pull over and try to capture it.  The picture does no justice to the beauty, but it still reminds me of the breathtaking beauty around us!

Miller is finally getting the hang of the skateboard.

Jackson is getting better all the time! 

That reminds me I have to go find his knee pads!

Going Home

No matter where we live, the Carolinas will always be home to us.  We recently had a trip back home after being here for 4 years.  The first leg of the trip was a week with Allen’s family in Waynesville, NC.  The colors in the mountains were great and we all enjoyed being with there and getting our fix of family and Fall in the mountains.

I’m not a fan of driving in the mountains, but the views are breathtaking!

The first day we were there, we all went to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Allen’s dad had been a Ranger there and we got to explore a bit.

We got to go on this trail, which Allen’s dad helped to make.

I had to get a picture of the fungi growing on this log.  It was the prettiest I’ve ever seen!

Afterwards we drove through Cherokee, NC and picked up some stone ground grits.

We took a different route back to Allen’s parents house and had more amazing views on the return drive.

Over the next week we got to do all kinds of fun things, but I think that the boys’ favorite thing that they did was go gem mining.  They can’t stop talking about it!  We went to Cowee Ruby Mine. 

You basically buy a bucket of dirt based on what kind of gems you want to get.  Jackson picked Amethyst and Miller picked Emeralds.

You use their screens and just go through the bucket a cup at a time, rinsing away the dirt to {hopefully} find gems in there.

This boy found a 591 carat amethyst.

Miller also got some really nice stones too.

They both came out with some nice rocks gems and were over the moon excited!

The boys and Allen’s parents took several hikes.  My knee doesn’t let me go on those hikes, but I know they were fun!  One day  I met them with a picnic at this rock {Standing Rock, I think} along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Soo cool!

Even cooler is that Allen’s parents saved his hiking boots from when he was a boy and now Jackson can wear them! This picture is from the summer, but he’s rocking his dad’s boots!

Jackson was also very excited to play a little trick on his Nana.  He set up some rubber mice and rats beside her water glass while she was out for a walk one evening.  He loves a good trick!  She gave him a good reaction, so I know more shenanigans like this are in the future!

The boys also got to carve jack-o-lanterns while we were in NC.  As it turns out they were not fans of the actual work of it, but they do like to boss us around while holding knives!

No trip to the Carolinas is complete without at least on trip to Mast general Store!  The boys love all the things there and they may just have come up with one more thing to add to their Christmas lists!

We made many more memories that I don’t have pictures of.  They climbed tree, swung in the swings, had an acorn throwing contest, played with the dogs, got dirtier than I’ve ever seen boys get and all around had a marvelous time!  Thanks Joe and Doris for having us!

Soccer Season- Here we go again!

Soccer has returned to our house on a big way.  It never really left because we had World Cup fever this summer and the boys are still talking about it.

As I mentioned the boys are at a new school.  Not just new to them, but new new.  Because grass for the the soccer fields are not completely rooted yet, we have been practicing at a local park.

It isn’t easy to scramble over there in time right after school, eat snacks and do homework in the car,  change in the parking lot and all that jazz, but the location is pretty sweet.

I guess we will suffer through it.

As an aside in case you are jealous, please know that there is a fair amount of litter and in some places the grass is knee high to a giraffe{soccer balls don’t roll on high grass} Oh, and there is an open electrical panel just to the left of this picture.  If a child touched one of the fuses, I’m pretty sure many of us would die {no joke}.  We’re not in Kansas anymore.

But oh what a view!

Our Boys

The boys are just growing so fast.  Michele captured this when she was here.

Jackson was looking for some sea creatures, I’m sure.  He is now 54 inches and almost 80 pounds.  He is exactly one foot shorter than me.  We are trying to guess when he will pass me in height.  Whaaaaat?!
I love that he is a thinker.  He never ceases to amaze me with the way he observes and then makes his ideas known.  He’s also a reader!  Yes!
Miller lost another tooth.

He lost it at soccer practice because he was trying to run and drink from his water bottle at the same time.  Never a dull moment with him.
He is also a reader.  A great reader in fact.  He prefers non fiction with lots of facts for his little brain to turn over again and again.  You never know when he will ask you if you’ve ever been to Bulgaria or some other random place.  When you say no, he just spews out everything he knows about the random place.  I love that about him.
We may be looking at some new accommodations for him at school soon, he is such an unconventional learner.  Right now I am reading this book.  It is amazing. 
We will see how he settles into the rigors of first grade.  We have great faith in the school and his teacher, not to mention is abilities.

Flashback Friday

Last week when I was doing our back to school post, I clicked on the wrong September folder and came across these from September 2011.

I could just squish those sweet faces!

Back to School 2014

The summer flew by but the week before we were heading back to school went especially fast.  Which is why I haven’t been able to blog.  Life and laundry keep me busy.

Miller is in First Grade (which is called Year 2 here since it is the English system)

{If there was ever a question if Miller was getting really big, this answers it.  He’s BIG!}

Jackson is going into 3rd grade (year 4).  He is ready for it all!

And Jackson is a giant! 

Believe it or not they asked to do the jumping picture again.  I think we have a tradition on our hands!

Aunt Chele was here for the first day again this year!

Near the end of the last school year we decided that we were going to change the boys schools.  There were a million reasons to leave them at the current school and a million and one reasons to move them.  In the end a choice had to be made, so we moved them.

So far so good.  We miss our friends at the other school and the fact that I now drive them instead of  riding our bikes.  In the end I think we made the right decision.

SC Coast

When a sweet friend of Michele’s offered to let us use her beach house while we were visiting SC, I wasn’t immediately sure we should go.  After a little thought we decided that it would be good for the boys to experience east coast beaches.  After all our time in the Bahamas is finite.

The boys were thrilled to go to Fripp Island and we had a really good time.  We were sad that Allen didn’t get to go on this trip with us.

Get ready for photo overload!

I love the marshes we went through on the way in.

OK I do not have a picture of this but… here is the story!

We got in mid afternoon and after we unloaded the car we went for a walk on the beach.  The part of the beach we entered on was very narrow and within about 90 seconds of setting foot on the beach of SC we saw a SHARK!  It was swimming right along the edge of the water.  The same edge of the water we were walking along.  We’ve lived in the Bahamas for 4 years but we see our first shark in SC.  Go figure!

It didn’t stop these boys from heading straight into the water.  We didn’t exactly have a consensus because mama and Aunt Chele did not want to go in that water.  You can’t even see around you!  Yes I am spoiled!

But still it was about a 3 foot long shark. Right there!

The boys were really interested with all the boys who were skim boarding.  Jackson talked to a boy on the beach who let him use his board.

It took him a bit to get his balance.  He said, “I thought I would be good at it because I am good at skateboarding and paddle boarding.  This is hard.”

They quickly talked me into buying them one.  

Jackson took about 15 minutes of trying and trying again before he had it down pat!

Miller has quite an unusual technique—kind of a cartwheel/squat combo.

No matter what their technique they look a million times better than me because I’d be on my face the first time and then never get up again!

Jackson and Miller loved spending lots of time with their Aunt Chele.

And her puppy, Maggie too!

We got to explore the island a bit.

They aren’t used to actual waves (small waves) and had a blast playing in them.  They have no idea about undertow and strong currents, so I had to stay out there with them most of the time…{shudder}

While on the beach we could always see the shrimp boats and pelicans close by.

Jackson really wanted this magnet.  He didn’t care if it was appropriate or not!

On our last day the weather was absolutely gorgeous!   When it is low tide the beach is so wide.  By high tide there is no beach in some places!

A beach boy’s gotta do what a beach boy’s gotta do!

So now to the exciting part.  The wildlife!  As soon as we got to the island {we saw a shark} we began seeing deer.  They were quite prolific.

The last night we were on the beach and Miller dropped his peach in the sand so Chele threw it up near the dunes.  It didn’t take long for these guys to get that juicy treat!

Our nature boy loved every second of it!

There was also an alligator in the pond right behind our house.  The house had a little sea wall to keep the gator off their property.  We saw him quite a bit while we spent time on the deck and porch.

He was close.  One evening the boys were playing soccer out on the deck when the inevitable happened.  Their soccer ball got kicked over the side of the deck.  The gator wasted no time capturing his “prey”!

Bye Bye soccer ball!

The next day Michele was walking her dog and the fool saw the ball on the edge of the pond.  So she thought it would be a good idea to get the ball out with a net.

Amazingly she didn’t end up a gator snack!  The ball wasn’t popped but it did smell!

All too soon it was time to head back through the marshes and head back to the Upstate.

It was such a nice trip.