S.M.A.K. 2012

This is Gus' 3rd year to perform in the Summer Musical Activity for Kids at Highland Terrace. This year's musical was The Slingshot Heard 'Round the World which is the story of David and Goliath. I think it was the best performance yet! Great story, fun music and hilarious actors! Gus was a part of the chorus again this year but he says that he is going to try out for a speaking part next year. I think he would be great! (I am a bit bias though)

This week after rehearsals, the kids went to the TAMU-C Planetarium, Jump Street, swimming and Chuck E Cheese. It was a busy but FuN week!

Galveston

The kids wanted to go to the beach, so last Sunday (July 15th), the family and I headed down to the rainy coast of Texas for 2 days of sun and fun...or so we hoped! When we reached Houston, it was raining steadily and the radar on the iPad didn't show signs of it clearing. After a yummy lunch at Five Guys Burgers & Fries (my new FaVoRiTe burger place), we arrived in Galveston to cloudy skies and rain. We had no specific plans, so we drove down the beach so that Andy could tell me once again how much the seawall area had changed. (He grew up going to Galveston Island; I grew up going to the white beaches and emerald water of Panama City Beach.) The rain was still coming down when we reached the end of the beach so we decided to go ahead and ride the ferry boat. I think every other tourist in Galveston chose to ride it at the exact same time. The lines to and fro were unbelievably long but we enjoyed eachother's company as the sun came out! 

Riding the Boliver Ferry is a Kilgore Family Tradition!

 

After all that family fun in the car for 8 hours, we checked into the Hilton. The thought of lugging all of the beach chairs, toys and umbrella to the beach made us even more tired so we opted to spend a few hours at the pool instead. DO YOU BLAME US?! Check out that pool area! A swim up bar? Yes, please! I sampled the special called Galveston Sunset. YUMM-O! 

 For dinner, the kids had 'fried mozzarella cheese sticks' on the brain so we started walking down the street looking at menus. Landry's Seafood? Nope. Rainforest Cafe? Yep! Andy and I split an appetizer and the kids shared an order of cheese sticks and a kids pizza. After dinner, we headed down to the beach to put our feet in the water. Somehow (wink, wink), the kids managed to put their whole leg (hip to foot) in the ocean. We had a really good time there and the kids had a blast. I know that we made some lifelong memories on our first day.

 

I absolutely LoVe the beach.

Any beach.

The wind, the waves, the smells, the sounds...ahh...my happy place. 

We set up camp on the beach at a whopping 8am. My kids don't sleep in on a normal day so you KNOW they are up at the crack of dawn on vacation. At "Grandma's beach" (what Madeline calls PCB), Grandma would take them walking with her down the beach first thing in the morning. Of course, my parent's condo is right on the beach. At "Daddy's beach" (what Andy named Galveston), you have to contend with a four lane road to get to the beach so they had to wait for momma and daddy to get up and going before the fun began.

The beach life...

 

 There was a 30% chance of storms that day but we saw nothing but beautiful sunshine the whole day. The kids rode the boogie board and played in the sand. 

 Mommy and daddy played in the sand a little bit too! Luckily, there were 2 boys right around Gus' age and a little girl who was 2 (and not shy ONE BIT!) for them to play with. Andy and I got the chance to sit back and enjoy ourselves while the kids played.

 That evening, we walked about a half mile down the beach to Salsa's Mexican Restaurant. Andy and I had eaten there on our last trip to Galveston at least 9-10 years earlier and we remembered it being good. Honestly, I can eat anything with salsa on it and love it! 

Gus knew that I brought my favorite childhood board game 'Sorry!' in case of rain so he was determined to learn how to play it. It was looking like I was going to win and Gus has tears of defeat in his eyes until, SORRY!, he was able to make a move that changed the game in his favor and he won. (Side note, I re-matched him when we got home and I was redeemed! *evil laugh*)

 

The next morning, we took our time going home. Did we sleep in? Of course NOT! We were back on the beach at 8am, in the pool at 9am and back in the room showering and packing at 10am. It was a very short trip but we packed it full of family time. 

The kids wanted to go to the beach and we delivered. 

You're beautiful!

This morning, I got up early to get my 10K training in. I got up at twilight (I actually Googled the sunrise time and it included twilight!) and started my run. As I was beginning my second lap, the song "You're Beautiful" by MercyMe came through my headphones as the sun peeked over the tree line. The song begins,

"I see Your face in every sunrise
The colors of the morning are inside your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say
You're beautiful"

God was there with me on my run this morning. How can you not hold your hands up and praise Him?!

By the way, I am proud of my time! This was my very first time to run 5 miles. 3 years ago, I never would have imagined that I would be a runner let alone be training for a 6.2 mile race!

God is good!

It's FriDaY!

Friday means family, fajitas and fun! (and my friend here!)

Ransom Box

Today, I am starting "The Ransom Box" (insert evil laugh here)

This is the idea behind it...
If you leave your belongings out after one warning, mom takes it and puts it inside this box and you can't get it back until you draw a job from the envelope and do it! (insert another evil laugh)

Thanks to Pinterest (and Becki Madsen) for this idea!

Here are the chore cards that I came up with. I combined Becki's chores with anther pin and then put my own spin on them...

I will keep you updated on our progress!

Scaredy dog

Charlie (the 5th Kilgore family member AND my 3rd dog by that name) had his shots today. I knew that he was a nervous dog, but he was practically sitting in my lap the hour that we waited for his turn. If he didn't have his paw (or CLAW...ouch!) in my lap, he was shoving his nose under my hand and putting his head in my lap for loves! Poor thing, I think the wait was worse than the shot!

Ed Tech LoVe!

I truly LOVE my job as a Kindergarten teacher. I love the smiling faces, I love the unconditional love they give and I love to be a strong moral influence that molds them at a young age. I didn't mention anything about teaching, but I believe that teaching is a work of heart first and academics second. However, I love the teaching aspect of my job too! Especially the educational technology that I am blessed with at Commerce ISD. Today, I presented the workshop "iPads in Elementary Classrooms" at the TIC (Technology Instruction Camp) at TAMU-C. I had a great time sharing some of the apps and procedures that I use in my classroom. Like I said earlier, I love teaching...children AND adults!

Buzz, buzz...

...goes the busy bee! I had to get busy today and finish the presentation that I am giving tomorrow at the 2012 TIC (Technology Instruction Camp). The perfectionist in me often battles with the ADD in me and the result is usually good after many hours of editing it to death and being distracted by other good content that I find along the way. I am proud to say that I have a completed Prezi, informational Google doc and presentation notes ready to go! Showered, ironed my clothes and now I am relaxing...oops, gotta print my parking pass!

While I was slaving away on my computer(s), the kids were watching TV, fighting, screaming and getting everything out of their closets. Madeline even got her spiral and crayons out and did some art. She hung at least 10 pages on the refrigerator and copied my FAMILY blocks that I have in the living room. It was a small reminder that even though they drive me nuts when I am trying to work, my family is everything to me.

The 4th of July (well, the whole week!)

One month ago, I vowed that this blog would be a way to document our daily lives. I am already a week behind! :-/ Oh well, this is a lot better than Miss M's baby album. It only has 4 pages complete!

On Monday, Barbara, Amanda, Caden, Jax, Gus, Madeline and I went to Splash Kingdom in Canton. I love that waterpark! The kids area is perfect for Jax and Madeline. Since it is in the center of the park, we can sit there with the little kids while Caden and Gus ride the larger slides. The day started off cloudy but the sun came out later and we had a beautiful day to play!

I am sad that I didn't get a picture, but we ate at Denny's in Canton and I the Red, White and Blueberry pancakes. It was blueberry pancakes with sliced strawberries, drizzled icing and whipped cream! YUMM-O!

The 4th of July was a great day of fun, food, family and fireworks! It started out with cinnamon roll pancakes! Thanks to the Pinterest idea found here, we had an awesome breakfast!

At lunchtime, we headed next door to Nana and PawPaw's house. We swam, ate hamburgers and popped fireworks! The whole immediate Kilgore family came along with Shawn, Abby, Sadie and Sawyer and Nannie Clark.

 After swimming, we donned our most festive 4th gear and popped fireworks. We had good intentions of heading to the fireworks show in Greenville, but the dads decided to go to the local fireworks stand and drop a small fortune to do it ourselves. Oh well, the kids had fun with the sparklers and the big kids had fun with the artillery shells!

Happy Independence Day! Thank God for America!

My little monkey!

Miss M has earned many nicknames in her very short 4 years. Macgyver is always a favorite because she has a knack for getting into something if she is determined to...child safety locks or not! Monkey is still a favorite because of obvious reasons. When she mentioned climbing the rock wall today at the Rec center, I was certain she was too little to try. Guess I was wrong! She was so brave and climbed high above our heads. It helped that the student holding her ropes was giving her a good tug as she was climbing! She is definitely my little daredevil. I see many more cuts, bruises and staples in our future!

New iPhone decal!

I am SO excited about my new iPhone decal! I posed the question on my Facebook page, "When you think of me...gold or silver?" The overwhelming response was GOLD! So, I decided on this decal...

Awesome, huh?! It is totally me. Click on the picture to order your own. There are lots of colors to choose from! Check out the maker KelloKult on Etsy!

First Dentist Appointment

Today, Miss M had her first dentist appointment! She was very curious last year and even sat in the chair. However, she wouldn't let Dr. Cozart look in her mouth. This year, she was ready and did a great job letting the doctor check her teeth. He even rewarded her with a new red toothbrush!

Weekend FuN!

This weekend was full of FuN! On Friday night, Miss M FiNaLlY got the hand-me-down bicycle that her PawPaw has been promising her. (he had to put training wheels on it.) Little did I know that this was a bicycle big enough for Gus and it has hand brakes! Ha! Miss M is a determined thing and refuses to go back to her old bicycle. She can't ride it on the rock road yet, but on Nana's driveway, she zoooooooms!

On Saturday, we had our annual Haddock family reunion at Mt. Zion. Unfortunately, my cousins Natalie and Kristi left before we had our "photo sessions" but we have plenty of people to fill a picture! I am amazed at how big the family is getting. Won't be long until we have to add a 4th group picture of 3rd cousins!

Today, we had a normal Sunday. Church, lunch (TaMolly's...yum!), swimming and dinner at Nana and PawPaw's. Drew was there! LoVe that boy! Check out his family blog here.