Rocco's not a pirate anymore.

Rocco finally lost his pirate tooth.

A few years ago Rocco fell on concrete & knocked his tooth loose.  We thought for sure he would lose it early but he didn't.  It just turned black (the dentist explained that is blood in the tooth) & stuck around for what seemed like forever.  We called him our 'black toothed pirate'.  It was very loose back when school first started.  I used to do two sets of thirties on it every night at bedtime, knowing it was going to come out.  Nope.  Then it stopped being loose & started pointing backwards towards the back of his mouth.  Finally the dentist set an appointment for us to have it pulled March 5th.  A little over a week ago I noticed that the new tooth was coming down so I started trying again.  Finally Daddy pulled it right out!  Thank God I was able to cancel that dentist appointment!  Rocco was so brave.  This is right after it came out.

 This was today.  That new tooth is coming in so quickly.  He has four other loose ones so I have a feeling we'll be seeing another one come out soon.

Valentines Day

Valentine's Day was last Tuesday.  A few minutes after the office opened at 9am, a friend's sweet grandmother stopped by the church office & delivered this beautiful plate of chocolate covered strawberries.  (Minus the two Doug & I already ate when I took this picture with my phone.)  She simply said, "April asked me to bring these to you."  So I said, "Wow!  Thank you so much!  Tell her we'll be sure to get her plate back to her."  That was it.  Then we enjoyed a few.  I had the biggest one, covered in spendid little mini chocolate chips!  YUM~O

I took this picture & posted it to Facebook to show everyone the sweet gift that had arrived at the church office, tagging April so she would get the credit.  I went back for another strawberry about an hour later.  They were so delicious & professional looking!  I decided I should text April a thank you, telling her how her surprise gift "soared my mood." 

At about 11:30 I was working at my desk & heard my phone restarting.  I don't ever remember my phone doing this by itself.  After that I heard about five texts come through.  The first of which read: "Do you mind if Nana drops off some strawberries for Jana Sheffield at the church?"  WHAT WHAT??  The panic, oh the hysterical panic!  What do you do but laugh?  Seriously.  Sorry April & Jana!  Next time a post-it-note on the plate might be beneficial.  Jana did wind up getting her strawberries, minus three.  She is so sweet & gracious that she tried to share the rest with us.  And April was so kind, she said it was a "beautiful mistake".  Turns out Nana had neglected to bring the second plate from the fridge too, so hopefully Jana got those as well.  I'm telling you, this Valentine's Day was more like April Fools (no punn intended).  Between the strawberry incident & the bicyclist that changed in our church parking lot.  Weird day.

Dallon's third grade class didn't have a Valentine's party but they did have nachos for meeting their AR goal.  But Rocco's class did have a party & these are the cupcakes I bought from Sam's (they make the prettiest, cheapest, yummiest cupcakes) for them to share.  These adorable printables were part of a package I won from Bird's Party.  Be sure to check her out for party planning ideas & follow her on Facebook so you can win something too!

Rocco picked the 'Kiss Me Quick', little player. 

The Ladybugs

My sweet Rocco

Josie, Zakk, Emma & Bella

Emma & Bella

Jake & Josh

I love this class.

Happy Valentine's Day

Family Photos

Last November we got together with some friends & did DIY family photos for our Christmas cards.  We just did them on the dirt roads next to our house.

We had a lot of fun & I think they turned out pretty great. 

 Some didn't make the cut but were still blog appearance worthy.

 The boys loved these fun shots.

 This was our family favorite & it made it onto a canvas in our living room.

 We had fun with the sun.

Here are a few of my favorites of our friends.

 My absolute favorite:

Believe it or not, we did not collaborate on our cards.  And look how similar they came out!

We're going to do it again this spring.

1st & 2nd 9wks Kindergarten & 3rd Grade Awards

 Rocco's 1st 9wk Awards (October) : Honor Roll, Accelerated Reader, Citizenship, Perfect Attendance, Physical Education (specially selected award)

Rocco also scored in the top five Accelerated Readers for kindergarten & got to eat lunch with the Principle, Mrs. Simpkins.

(It was crazy sock day.)

Dallon's 1st 9wk Awards (October) : A-B Honor Roll, Citizenship, Accelerated Reader, Perfect Attendance

Dallon also scored in the top five Accelerated Readers for 3rd grade got to eat lunch with the Principle, Mrs. Simpkins.

(It was crazy hat day.)

Dallon with his pisans Huntley & Gabe. 

Rocco's 2nd 9wk Awards (January) : Honor Roll, Citizenship, Accelerated Reader, Music (specially selected award), Perfect Attendance

Rocco received a free pizza coupon from Connie's Pizza, which he cashed in THAT NIGHT.

I wanted to add this to this blog post because I wasn't sure if Rocco made top kindergarten Accelerated Reader or not, until the local paper came out yesterday!  YIPPEE!!  Way to go Rocco!!!  He loves to read & once he started testing on his own there was no stopping him.

Dallon's 2nd 9wk Awards (January) : A/B Honor Roll, Citizenship, Accelerated Reader, Perfect Attendance, Physical Education (specially selected award)

He wanted to dress up, he picked out his own clothes for this special occasion.

Dallon & Huntley

Seeing the above picture triggered a memory from that morning.  While walking to class I noticed Dallon's sleeves & asked him if he'd like for me to button them.  He replied, "No, I did that on purpose because I want to look like Daddy."  I love that.

Dallon asked Gammy to take our picture.

Dallon's saving his Connie's Pizza coupon for a special night.

They both scored in the top five Accelerated Readers for their grade again & get to eat with their Principle, Mrs. Simpkins, tomorrow.

Roman did great too in Middle School.  His first 9wks he made all A's, except one B.  Same for the second 9wks but he was only ONE point away from straight A's this time!!! 

I'm so proud of my boys. They work very hard.

Picasso Who?

I like to walk Ziti. 

I love my brothers dog!  His name is Jack.

Dear Santa, How do your reindeer fly?  I think it is magic?

I think Santa is having a meeting with his elves.