Panther Football Camp

Lyndon attended the Panther Football Camp the first week of our summer vacation.  He had a blast!Lyndon has the football in this first picture.One thing that Lyndon learned was how to properly drink out of a water bottle without touching your mouth with it so that your teammates can safely drink from the same bottle.  Lyndon was very impressed with this and he had to tell me ALL about it!Lyndon received the 'Hustle Award' one day during the week.   Lyndon knew we would be very proud and amazed because you will probably hear this sentence on any given morning in our house: "Lyndon, please hurry, we need to hustle."  :)The coach did a great job of being complimentary of all of the kiddos and teaching them the proper manners that should also be used on the football field.Lyndon was all smiles everyday when I picked him up.

More Baseball & Closing Ceremonies

Lyndon @ his next to the last baseball game!

The FINAL game for 2010!  Lyndon had a lot of fun during baseball season this year; however, by the end of the season I think he was getting a little worn out.  He also fell into a batting slump.  At the beginning he hit overtime at bat until the 4th game where he had his first strike out, but towards the end he began swinging too late.  A couple of times I would tell him when to swing and that worked a little better.  We'll get it fixed by the next season.Wasting time until closing ceremonies.Lyndon receiving his 2010 baseball pin.Lyndon's team minus two.  A big thank you needs to be expressed to Lyndon's two coaches.  They spent a lot of time with the kiddos at practice!

Patio

About a month ago we restrung our patio lights.  We had to take them down while the house was being painted.The 'Famous' porch light.  Long Story:Seven years ago I painted the house as a Father's Day gift to Cody (wasn't as crazy the 2nd time-we hired someone else!) and also purchased a new light for the front and back porches.  The one at the back door was a little too tall and the top finial hit the porch ceiling so we left the top decorative piece off.  Fast forward seven years and we needed two lights for the back porch since we had our single door replaced with 2 french doors.  I still really liked the light that we had and didn't want to replace the front (OCD, but it would drive me nuts to know the front and back porch light fixtures don't match-crazy I know).  Luckily when we were at Home Depot they still had the same fixture for the back porch-seven years later, I was shocked!  I couldn't remember if I had saved the top portion of the old light which we would now be needing so we grabbed two lights in hopes of returning one of them.  As soon as we arrived home I found the extra pieces in my filing box and was so excited that we could return one of the lights.  I happily went to tell Cody what I found.  After telling him he got a funny look on his face as he said he couldn't remember what he did with the old light.  UUUUuugh!  He even went back to the dump where he hauled off all of the un-neeeded materials and couldn't find it.  We finally decided we would just have to use the two new ones.  Cody hung them, caulked around them and touched up the house paint around them.  He then went into the shop to grab something and noticed the old light was hanging in the shop!  It was too late, but we still have the old light.  Any ideas of where we should put it????  Long story, but we think it is comical!We love to spend our evenings on the patio visiting.I should label each of these plants 'dead' or 'still kicking'!  We had a busy week last week and I forgot to water a couple of days-somethings just couldn't handle it!This stuff in the coke crate I picked up at our end of the year luncheon.  My garden-go-2, Mrs. CK, told me it is 'mouse ears' and you can't kill it-that is what I needed!  It is the BEST stuff!  I hope it lives through the winter or I will be on the hunt for it again next year.  I just stuffed some of it down in the bottle slots and it is growing wonderfully.I have used this windmill picture and used some of my iphoto editing tools to give it a funky look and ordered a large canvas print for the patio-surprise for my windmill loving husband.  It is a picture of our windmill that even has it's own insurance policy (not because it is worth BIG $)Back in the fall I had pumpkins in my bike basket that deteriorated.  The seeds have grown and my poor zinnias are dying for more moisture and sunlight.The mouse ear plant even grows in this little 3 inch depth hat on this statue.Mouse ear close up!

Wheat Harvest

I took these back during the beginning of wheat harvest this year.PaPa Charlie Boy came out to watch.Lyndon entertained himself with a lady bug for quite some time.Look @ those filthy little boy fingernails!Lyndon always enjoyed riding in the combine or trucks.  We rode several times throughout the season.

Fun with Carl

Lyndon & Carl spent the day together on Memorial Day Weekend.  They had a LOT of catching up to do!They were trying to HIDE from the camera, but I eventually caught them both!They cooled off in the pool for awhile in-between playing this & that.We can't wait for Carl's time here this summer.  I am sure there will be MANY more play days!

Last Day of 1st Grade

Here is Lyndon on the 1st Day of 1st Grade..&.... here he is on the last Day of 1st Grade....boohoo....!  I just can't believe how fast he is growing up.His last day of school gift included some 'Diver Dudes' for the swimming pool and a math DS game (must keep up during the summer-teacher coming out in me!)Cody 4got to smile!

Lyndon is such a wonderful boy and it makes me very proud that he is my son.  We have enjoyed watching him grow and learn in school.  Even though I am a teacher it is amazing to see how much Lyndon has learned in his first two years of elementary.  Of course he has also had two of the most talented, dedicated, and caring teachers!  We loved Mrs. Rozell in kindergarten.  Lyndon thought she was the best teacher ever and wanted her to be his 1st grade teacher.  Once in 1st grade he loved Mrs. Gregg just as much and wishes they could teach him in 2nd grade.  Mrs. Gregg wouldn't have been able to teach Lyndon as much as she did if it wasn't for the great foundation Mrs. Rozell started.  I know that his success through school in the future will be because of these two awesome teachers. I know that he will also love his 2nd grade teacher.  Speaking of 2nd grade, Lyndon is very excited!  He has been waiting patiently for me to teach the grade he is in.  He is excited for us to be able to spend the day together.  He won't be in my classroom, but I will see him at gym, lunch, and recess.  I hope he continues to love it. :)  We are excited about lunch because I have not ever been able to eat lunch with Lyndon except for Mother's Day programs because his lunch times have been about 45 minutes before 2nd grades.  We plan on eating together a lot next year.

We ate at DQ for our traditional 1st & Last Day of School.  Lyndon thinks it's a BIG treat to eat inside!

If you ask Lyndon if he likes school he will reply with the comment people often expect to hear, but the truth is he really does like school.-I am very glad!  Lyndon has worked very hard this year and I must brag on him and his academic success in First Grade:

• His lowest grade for the year was a 94 one 6 weeks in LA.
• He made a 100 on all of his spelling tests.
• He received the most AR reading points in his class and received the AR boy award with 56 points.  To let you know how impressive that is- all the books he read this year with the exception of one chapter book are worth .5 points if you make a 100.  Since he had 56 points it would be like reading and taking 132 AR test and making a 100 on all of them!  Of course he didn't make a 100 on all of them so he read more than 132 books.
• His final 1st Grade Yearly averages: Reading 97, LA 97, PE 95, Math 98, Science 100, Social Studies 100.
• He only missed one day of school because he had the stomach bug.
• Lyndon's IOWA test (ITBS achievement test) said, "Lyndon's Composite national percentile rank of 89 means that he scored higher than 89 percent of first grade students nationally.  His overall achievement appears to be well above average for first grade."  Listening and Science were his lowest scores, but were still above average.  We need to work on those, especially the listening one. :)

We are very proud of Lyndon & owe a lot of thanks to his teacher, Mrs. Gregg!