I just love older people....

I had the opportunity to go down to El Dorado on Saturday to visit with my parents. While there I got to help Daddy with their taxes and just enjoy a nice afternoon visit with them and also some good "momma" cookin.' She still has it even at 84 years old. During the lunch conversation I was telling them about the people I had been in contact with on facebook and the different ones that were my friends who had also been former students of my mother when she taught school at Parkers Chapel. We were reminiscing about different people when my mother asked so seriously, "Are you friends with so-in-so (a former student) on your blob?" I just cracked up! Bless her heart! She was close but not quite there. All this modern technology and these new means of communication kind of all run together for her. It was a priceless moment!

Speaking of older people...if you haven't seen this video clip already, you need to check it out on youtube. It is also priceless and I can so see my daddy doing this. The gentleman really reminds me of my own granddaddy! Gota love their wit and spontaneity!
Go to youtube and in the search bar type:
Elderly couple of 62 years plays the piano. It is worth the effort and will make you smile!

Let the Dance Competitions begin...

Camryn began another year of competition dancing this past weekend. She started the year off with the Showbiz Dance Competition held in Little Rock, AR. She is dancing in 6 routines this year: a solo, duet, Lyrical small group, Hip Hop large group, Musical Theater large group and a Jazz line group. She performed very well for her first competition of the new season. She received High 1st place points in all her dances and got a Diamond High 1st place points for the Musical Theater routine. She ranked 5th overall in the 8 and under group for her solo, 4th in her duet, 5th for the Lyrical number, 4th for the Hip Hop routine, 2nd for the Musical Theater routine and 1st for the Jazz line number. We did not get pictures of her in all her costumes this time. The quick dress changes prohibited that in some instances. Here she is in the ones we got:
This is her duet costume. I love that sweet smile!


Camryn and Callen at the end of their dance.

Running the routine before going on stage.

5-6-7-8 Poofy, Poofy

In this shot, Camryn is looking at her plaque for her solo. She was not real happy with herself because she did not receive a Diamond 1st place. (We found out from her teacher, she was 1 point away.) :o(

Here she is receiving her 5th overall plaque.

She is a proud as a peacock to have Ronnie come see her dance.

This was taken at Jason's Deli after we finished on Saturday night.

Here Camryn is receiving the 5th place award for their Lyrical dance.

The top ten dances in the small group category.

Here is Camryn again in Ronnie's lap. This is where she was the whole time unless she was dancing.

This is her Jazz Line costume

It is amazing how improved Camryn is in her dances from last year. She is becoming quite the little dancer. We are all so proud of her and look forward to another great year of competition for her at MKDS.

SURPRISE!!! SNOW DAY, THE SEQUEL...Feb. 8, 2010

Imagine my surprise when I let Jacye out on Monday morning at 5:10 am!! You see, Sunday night before I went to bed, Norman said to me after listening to the 10 o'clock news,"You may not be able to go to school tomorrow." To which I said, "What?!" It seems that they were predicting rain turning to snow by the afternoon on Monday. I remember thinking, "Oh great, it will be a mess trying to get all the kids home if we have to call off school once we get there." So, I went to bed, not really believing we would have snow.
I wake at my normal 5 am and immediately received a text from Alison saying, "I hope you will be closed today too."
I sent back, "Why, is it snowing?"
She said, "Are you kidding?" No, I was not kidding because I had not even looked out the window.
Before I could respond to her text, I get a call from my superintendent saying we needed to send out the word, we were going to be closed. Wow! It must have really snowed for him to be calling me this early. I am now wide awake and shift into alert mode. I started getting the info out on Facebook, texts and through emails about our school being closed. Then I went to let Jacye out. What a surprise to see all this snow! I loved it!

Later in the morning, Jacye is sitting in her usual position watching for squirrels. She looks like she is wanting to go outside.


Norman decides to make a snowman



The finished product of his labor in the cold.

This is what it was looking like around 1 PM. Huge snowflakes and more snow piling up!





At this point we have 4 inches on our back picnic table.


Norman takes down my empty bird feeders so I can refill them. Look at how the snow is coming down!

Notice I said BIRD FEEDERS, but look who was hogging all the food! Yes, Mr. Squirrel
while the beautiful cardinal was waiting his turn.

What a wonderful surprise day off. Totally unexpected. Fortunately we had enough food and necessities in the house since we were caught off guard by this snow. And from the sounds of the predictions, we could be out again tomorrow because of the re-freezing causing icy, treacherous road conditions. Woo Hoo! Gotta love the weather in Arkansas!

SNOW DAY!!!

YEAH!!! THE WEATHER MAN WAS RIGHT!
They had been forecasting all week that Thursday night into Friday was going to bring a pretty strong Winter storm for most of the northern half of the state of AR. I stayed up late Thursday night (10:30 PM in hopes of things starting early so I would not have to wonder and wake up early on Friday to see if indeed we were going to get a Snow Day.) But, to my dismay, nothing was going on or at least nothing significant. Since Little Rock is right in the middle we are always on the edge of the line of the snow. Most times we get the ice and sleet and only a minimal amount of snow. This storm was to be no different. So, I went to bed to dream of snow and getting a day off. I got up at my normal time, 5 AM and looked out the window..nothing! Aghhh! So, decided that I may as well go on and begin the readying process for the day because my superintendent usually doesn't call before 5:45 AM and if I waited that long, I would be very late getting to school. However, at 5:05 I got a call from him. He decided it was just too risky. Even though nothing was happening at that point, the temp was hovering at 31 degrees and it was raining. The forecast was for the temp to continue to fall and precipitation was to be 100% for the day. So, he decided WE WOULD NOT HAVE SCHOOL. Oh yeah! wonderful words to my ears. Now, it was my responsibility to get the word out to my teachers and our families through emails and text messages. By the time I did all that, I was wide awake and could not go back to sleep. Oh well, I still got to enjoy a quiet day inside my warm house doing a little card making, watching of TV, and washing of clothes. In the following pictures you can see how things progressed at my house over the course of the day and into Saturday morning. Not a tremendous amount of snow, but enough to make everything white. I am thankful for my warm home and that I got the day to do what I wanted as I watched God's orchestration of the weather.

The sleet begins to cover our street around 1 PM

Our back patio and deck covered in sleet

Saturday morning when I let Jacye out. This was so crunchy and sleet covered that her paw prints did not even show.

You can tell a little difference...more white coverage than before

Looking out our front door

Norman's company car and his truck

Water frozen as it ran out of our hose.

Jacye's favorite place on snow days!

A very Special moment in life...

There are some moments in life that are just so special that they are plain indescribable. Camryn's acceptance of Jesus Christ as her Savior and then her being baptized in obedience to God's leading was just such a moment. The knowledge that she will now be in heaven with all of us when God sees fit to call us home is such a comfort. Knowing that she will forever be in God's protecting hand as she lives her life is a wonderful assurance for this Nanna.
This occasion was also special because her Papaw got to perform her baptism. Her Pastor, Wayne Kocourek preached a wonderful sermon and then she was baptized. She smiled through the whole process. Her Papaw, who is very emotional, was able to hold it together and make it through. David and Billie sang her favorite song. Our whole family was in attendance along with Barbara and Ronnie. Just an all round super day in our lives.

Somehow I missed getting Alison and John in the pictures. They were talking to some old friends and we didn't get them in.