Strawberries and Razorbacks

Here's Henry looking Razorback-tough in his Casey Dick jersey.

Henry has a new love--strawberries! This morning I cut up a bunch of fruit: cantaloupe, honeydew, blueberries, grapes and strawberries. Henry has had strawberries before, but this time he had many fruits to choose from. That way I could see which he preferred. He ate all the strawberries first and then he whimpered a little like he wanted more, but I just let him sit there because, after all, he had a whole plate of fruit in front of him. He finally went for the grapes, then the rest. He ate everything except the honeydew. Later this afternoon we went to Janice's house for a little get-together. Janice had strawberries as a snack. Henry immediately approached a stranger (to him) and started begging for strawberries from her plate. I think he likes strawberries partly because of his love for all things red. He has several books with strawberries pictured (i.e. The Hungry Caterpillar) and one of his new favorite pastimes is pointing at pictures and waiting for us to say the word. He always finds the strawberries (and the other red things that are pictured like the red balloon, the fire, people's tongues, etc...) I guess this makes him a born Razorback.

That brings me to my next line of thought...the Razorbacks. I've been thinking about them alot these days. Football makes fall quite possibly the best season. It's only 6 days until kickoff and I am hoping for at least a 10 win season. I hope I don't have my hopes set too high. I'm really worried about Hillis' health, the defense, and the quarterback situation. I guess I'm a little worried about special teams too. I was happy to hear that Alex Mortensen was back. Hopefully we won't need him this year, but it makes me feel a little more secure about the quarterback situation.

Disclaimer: Yes, my posts are getting more infrequent, but if you knew what I was going through each day at work you would understand. The 6th graders are wearing me out! They need lots of training and attention that 7th graders don't need. Especially with the lockers and reading their schedules. They seem really sweet, but I have been exhausted lately.

Back to School

I was in Rogers today trying to do some last minute things before the first day of school. On my way home I got behind an old, beat-up pickup that had more rust than paint. We stopped at a light, so I had the pleasure of reading his many bumper stickers. One of them read, "We don't call 911" and it had a picture of a gun under it. Another said, "Get R Done, Get R Did, Turn R Over, Do R Again." Now if you are most people, you would likely have been a little offended. But if you are a teacher you immediately begin to wonder if this guy has a child that will be going into the 6th grade this year. That's how my mind works anyway--no time to be offended. I'm already wondering if I will be forced to conduct parent/teacher conferences with this guy.

School starts on Monday! Summers really fly. It will be a year of change for me: new team, new subject, new grade, new room. Everything has gone pretty smoothly so far. We had our open house on Thursday night and most of my homeroom showed up, so I got to meet a large number of my students and their parents. I asked one little girl if she had any questions for me (after I gave her a seat and a locker) and she said that she didn't, but that she just couldn't wait until Monday. It really looked like she was about to burst with excitement. I thought it was so cute. I guess it is a pretty big deal to these kids to be in middle school. They feel so grown up. Sixth grade truly is different from seventh. By the time they get to seventh the newness has worn off and they are already middle school experts. Not quite as exciting any more.

Henry update:

Henry was eating oatmeal this morning and he sneezed with his mouth full. Oatmeal spewed everywhere including all over me. He thought it was hilarious.
Good thing sneezing is involuntary!

I took this last night.
Henry and Chad accidentally had the same shirt on
so I had to capture it on film.

Santa Barbara Pics

Haley harvesting grapes on the wine tour.

Rideau winery - the oldest two-story adobe structure in California.

Mmmmmm.

Blonde is beautiful!

Pacific Ocean.

Too cold to swim.

In front of the Four Seasons Hotel - aren't we classy?

Inside the Four Seasons.

Brooke's parents house - you can normally see the ocean, but there was an ash storm.

Lunch in Santa Barbara.

Nice shades.

Fiesta Days in Santa Barbara.

Had to take Henry's picture before I left.

The Hardin Manor.

Beverly, Joe and Brooke.

This is their side-yard.

Santa Barbara

In front of the Hardin's house (l-r back row) Jennifer H., Sarah, Erin, Brooke, Brynn, Susannah, (front row) Jennifer S., Amy.

I'm here in Santa Barbara for the 8th Annual Girl's Weekend. There are ten of us that get together every summer. We are all high school friends that are now scattered all over: four in northwest Arkansas, three in Little Rock, one in Florida, one in Chicago, and one in Nashville. Only eight of us were able to make it this year. We are staying in Brooke's parents house and it is gorgeous. Yesterday we toured wine country and visited some of the places from the movie Sideways.