Wordless Wednesday ~ Digging Up Bones

Trick or Treating with the Dinosaurs

Yesterday, the kids went trick or treating with the dinosaurs at "Dinosaurs Alive" at Kings Island. We got see to see all the animatronic dinosaurs that moved and roared as well as go trick-or-treating along the trail. The kids enjoyed getting candy, apples, toys, and little pumpkins. We also visited Howl-a-Palooza again and rode our favorite rides. This will probably be the last trip of the year as a family to KI. If things work out, Matt and I will be going by OURSELVES to the Halloween Haunt one evening very soon!! (We RARELY get time by ourselves so when it does happen, it is such a treat!)

Next weekend will be very fun as well and we are hoping it is warmer than this past weekend!!

Little Kitty

3rd Grade

I look at this portrait and want to cry because my baby is growing up! He is growing up too fast for me! My only son is growing up to be a young man before my very eyes.

2nd Grade School Portrait

In color

Black and white


**Mr. C did not bring his photos home today, so I will post when we get them.

KI's Howl-a-Palooza

We went on our first ever visit to King's Island's "Howl-A-Palooza" Fall Festival for kids yesterday. The kids had a BLAST! You could dress up and there were a lot of fun things for kids to do. The kids played cheap games in which they won a prize for playing. We also visited Mother Goose Land where the kids trick or treated characters from the nursery rhymes. Seeing the Peanuts characters all dressed up for the Halloween and watching them dance and sing fun songs was a hit for the kids. They also visited the petting zoo, rode a tractor ride, journeyed through a bale of hay maze, and of course rode all their favorite rides. Everyone had a great time, but I'll admit I was exhausted when we left!

We plan on taking them again, but will trick or treat with the dinosaurs and (visit with the dinosaurs) for the first time. We just love Fall with all the fun activities for kids. Each weekend, we have something Fall-ish planned!

Cowboy Fun

Fern Jr.

Cowboy Up!

Last night was "Cowboy" Night at AWANAs at church. Luckily for us, we had all the things needed to make some cute cowboys and cowgirls! The bandanas were from last year's AWANA. shirts we already had and the hats were given to them from my friend.

Miss Cinderella was upset that Mr. C had the red hat, the girl needs a lesson on matching! I TRIED to explain that the red hat matches his red plaid shirt, but she had no part in it! When that girl gets something on her mind.....look OUT!

Football and Friends

Yesterday, we went to our friends' home and had lunch and watched some football. Honestly, I think Matt watched football and the rest of us were busy with kids or the dog. Mr. C is quite fascinated with his new friend N and loved his baby toys as well! He also enjoyed exhausting the dog out as well!

When arriving home, Cinderella pulls out a tooth that wasn't totally ready to be out and brought me a bloody tooth. (Ick! Gross! Lovely!) She was very excited for the Tooth Fairy to come. (She is also equally ready for Santa as well!)

We have decided on Halloween costumes and will be ordering them in a week or so. They will be a duo again for the first time in a couple of years. Stay tuned!!

7 years

It came to my attention by one of my blog readers that I have a blog anniversary coming up in less than a week! Seven years ago on September 26, 2005, I began blogging! I had two babies back then. Wow! It is amazing how time flies and that I have blogged for 7 years! Miss Cinderella was 5 months old and Mr. C was 20 months old.

A lot of wonderful, positive, and sad things have happened in those 7 years. Both children learned to walk and talk. Both adoptions were finalized! We terminated our foster license. My husband switched careers a couple of times. We went on some very fun vacations. Both children started preschool and elementary school. I could go on and on, but I won't for my readers' sake!

If the Lord is willing, I hope to continue to blog for 7 more years and maybe many, many more! It's a little scary to think about what life will be like in 7 years....probably because I will have (at least) two teenagers!! (That thought TERRIFIES me!)

If you are new to my blog, I invite you to check out my 2005 and earlier entries.

Our Week in a Recap

Our week went by VERY fast! School was normal for everyone, AWANA is back in full force at church which keeps our Wednesday busy and CRAZY, and someone had a birthday. By looking at the picture, one could guess that the birthday person was ME! Yep, yesterday was my birthday (and my mom's)! I had a day of shopping, dinner, and more shopping. It was a great day. I am now getting closer to 40 than 30, so I am trying to get over that tidbit, but it's just a number, right?!

I got my hair cut on Thursday evening. I had 6 INCHES taken off and it felt like I didn't have any hair when it was over. My waves and curls (underneath top layer) immediately sprang into action that it shocked the person cutting my hair!! My kiddos were a little shocked when I pulled into the driveway. I guess it was because I haven't had a hair cut in about a year!!

Next weekend, we are going to get into the Fall mood, by having some fun at Kings Island!! We are moving into my favorite season. Can't wait!!

Metamora Trip

We spent the majority of the day at Metamora, Indiana. It's a very old canal town with lots of shops and places to eat. They have a canal boat and an old train that you can ride at a low cost. We plan on taking the kids trick-or-treating again this year as it was a lot of fun last year as well as the Christmas Walk in December. We had such a fun time!

Train Ride!

The kids BEGGED to take the train ride at Metamora. So, we decided to let them ride. They were so very excited! The train ride lasted about 30 minutes and we waved at shoppers and cows and lots of corn fields!

Conversations with Mr. C

Yesterday, while getting ready for school, my mom made Mr. C's bed and arranged all the Peanuts' dolls on the bed. Mr. C then proceeds to tell my mom that he needs to talk to the dolls. Then he climbs up on his bed and looks at them and says, "I have to go to school today, but I will see you later!"

Awwww! I have also noticed his language skills are progressing as well as some imaginative play! It has taken all of 8.5 years, but it is so exciting to see it!

Another milestone

Miss Cinderella came home with her first set of spelling words yesterday. What is so special about that in second grade? Well, Cinderella is in a special education class since preschool and has NEVER had spelling words until now. I am excited for her, yet anxious to see if it is over her head. The words are very easy minus a couple of high-frequency words. She did her first homework exercise last night (despite having interruptions from Mr.C!). She did fine minus a few handwriting issues. Tonight might be hurried due to going to AWANA at church, but she will get through it. My girl is growing up! *sob*

Productive Weekend

Despite the depressing rain and muggy temps, I had a VERY productive weekend! Many rooms in my house have been neglected due to my surgery in July. So, Sunday and Monday were "cleaning days" in which we cleaned every room in the house! Miss Cinderella helped out as well and Mr. C was himself and of course was adorable as always. It felt soooooo good to de-clutter and clean. We were probably not well-liked by Mr. Trashman on Monday morning as I threw away 3 old car seats that were in bad shape (so glad to be in small booster seats now!!) as well as 10 bags of trash and more broken toys.

The kids enjoyed visiting my parents one at a time for a few hours yesterday which saved my sanity as they were fighting and getting on everyone's nerves!!

A few things I have realized after this weekend....

1) The kids have WAY too many clothes and toys.

2) I have WAY too many books. (I love Ollie's.)

3) I can ride roller coasters with the family again! (YAY!)

Skunk Encounters

Miss Cinderella and I were taking pics of the Eiffel Tower as it was changing colors Friday night. As we were looking for Matt and Mr. C, we saw something black crawling. As we became very close, I realized it was a skunk as I saw the white striped tail. Calmly, I pulled Cinderella away and walked quickly to the others while hoping we would not get sprayed!! Luckily, we did not and the kids enjoyed the fireworks. We did see that skunk again at a nice long distance! I hope I never get that close to a skunk ever again!!

Looking forward to the weekend.....

I'll be quite honest, it has been a rough week for my kids and I. It's tough being a special-needs mom and working. Sometimes, I feel I can't advocate for them since I can't help out at their school. And then when I see things that as an educator I KNOW should be done differently, it upsets me. So we are taking each day one day at a time and trying to see some glimmers of positives.

We are very much looking forward to this three-day weekend because ALL of us need three days to relax and regroup.

This evening, we are hitting Kings Island (until it closes) and hopes the rain doesn't hit until the park closes. The weekend seems like a washout with rain heading our way, but sometimes that is a blessing in disguise.

Enjoy your weekend!

Wordless Wednesday ~ New Glasses

First Week Recap

The first week of school was quite a blur! We are so very thankful for a 3-day school week! Cinderella and Mr. C had a great week of school! They love going to school and riding the bus. (Honestly, I do not know why the bus is so much fun since I HATED riding it when I was a kid!)

Today, we went to Soak City since Mr. C's foot is healed. He had a BALL! He loved the waves and would tilt his head back and laugh out loud when a wave crashed into him. They also enjoyed going down twisting water slides made for kids as well as a pirate ship that had slides and water spouts and tunnels. Fun was had by all!

The kids had a great first day of school! I had a good start for my 13th year of teaching second grade! I'm starting to feel OLD!

Open House!

Last night was Cinderella's Open House for her second grade homeroom class. Tonight, it was Mr. C's turn to meet his homeroom teacher and the big transition is that they switch for Language Arts/Math/Science/S.Studies. I cannot believe how old they are getting! They were so excited to see old friends from last year and Mr. C has his girlfriend in his class again for the THIRD year!!

This was taken in her intervention specialist's class! There are 7 students in this class and there are only 2 girls in that group! (Poor teacher!! Ha Ha Ha!)

This was taken in his third grade homeroom class. He has a special friend H from church that is in his class this year. He also has his "girlfriend" in the same class!

I am gearing up for my 13th year of teaching second grade! I also start on the same day and am looking forward to a new school year and teaching 13 students!!

In 2 days....

I will have a second grader and a third grader! Wow! My babies are not babies anymore! Tonight, Matt took Cinderella to her Open House. She met her second grade teacher who was Mr. C's student teacher in second grade last year.  I had my Back to School Night and have met most of my new students. Tomorrow evening is Mr. C's Open House and I am so glad to be able to attend of my children's events!!

School starts on Wednesday! I hope to post a pic of everyone on Wednesday!

Wordless Wednesday - One week to go!

Hibbard Clan

This is my dad's family! He is the second oldest of 13 children! Yep! Did they get a tv show for having a big family? NOPE! LOL! My dad is the second from the left in the back row. He went to his family reunion on Saturday and this photo was taken there.

I am fascinated with large families! It's amazing how most of them have some sort of same facial feature that makes them siblings. No doubt my grandmother was an amazing person and mother in her time! I was blessed to have known her for the first 17 years of my life and she was the only grandmother I really knew since my mom's mom died when I was a baby.

There are about 40 something grandchildren and also more numerous great-grandchildren and great, great-grandchildren!

It's been awhile...

Last week was quite busy with doctor appointments, teacher training, and classroom prep. One WONDERFUL piece of news was that Mr. C graduated to going to the eye doctor once a YEAR! Woooohoooo! Ever since he was like 3 months old, we have been going to the eye doctor EVERY 3 months!! I am overjoyed probably more than him! (Now, if Cinderella could get promoted to once a year, life would be GRAND!)

Last week, I worked in my classroom, met most of my new students at the Get Aquainted Party, finished school shopping, helping my sister, and had a cookout with Matt's family. The kids enjoyed going to 3 different parks this weekend. All in all, it has been fun but TIRING!

I am down to the last few days with my kiddos. It is bittersweet times. There are certain things I will miss and other things I will NOT (constant fighting and whining!). We all need to get back into the groove of things!!

So this week, I am taking them to the movies, Kings Island, and the Aquatic Center (for a birthday party), so that last full week of summer should be fun for them!

Beautiful Day

Yesterday, we had one of those beautiful summer days with low humidity and lower temperatures. The kids and I spent a lot of time outside playing (well, the kids played and I watched!) and enjoying the weather. After dinner, we took the kids to Kings Island for a few hours. I can't ride most of the rides (and I can tell you how that REALLY annoys me!), but I can ride a few rides like Surf Dog, Scrambler, Monster, and Boo Blasters which are all smooth, non-jerking rides. The weather was cool and just PERFECT! We had so much fun!

Our Kentucky Adventure

We had to cancel our Lake Michigan adventure due to Mr. C's foot infection. We tried to get a cabin at Hocking Hills with no luck. We looked into Indy, but it was the Brickyard race so....a weekend later, we decided to head to Kentucky!

My parents were born in Southeastern Kentucky. I have lots of family there....too numerous to count because my dad is one of 13 children. When his parents passed away, Dad inherited 9-10 acres of land in Clay County near Manchester. His land is near the old home of my grandparents. My memories of them are in that house and playing outside there. Well, it is completely different because that house is gone and weeds and trees have taken its place.

We park Dad's car and head up a dirt made path to Dad's land. The banjo medley from the movie "Deliverance" came to mind as we trek to the location. I am being SERIOUS people! Many of the homes in this holler are so old and in bad repair! It really was sad! I must say it is so quiet and peaceful. I was a little on-edge due to an incident that happened a few years ago at a different location in the same county. (I think it has brought some peace and closure to my hated feelings of that place!)

His land is full of trees, hills, grass, and just untouched nature! He walked around and checked it out while we watched. (Too many unfamiliar plants prevented us from exploring too much!) The land would be perfect for a cabin, but it is so far away from civilization that I think I would be in panic mode if an emergency came up.

We visited one of Dad's brothers and his family and my mom's sister and husband.

The highlight of the trip was Cumberland Falls. It was my mom's idea and I haven't been there since the summer before my senior year in high school (1993). It was so much fun, but a little scary due to rocks, steps, and dangerous cliffs. We had very firm holds on Mr. C the entire time and it was helpful to have his Papaw there. The Falls are so very large and beautiful!

The kids enjoyed swimming in the hotel pool and (despite getting hit in the head with a football) I enjoyed the pool as well! Cinderella did NOT want to go home and wanted to hang out at the pool. It was a fun weekend!