Just the girls...and other kids

I had the wonderful privilege of accompanying my sweet daughter on not just one, but TWO field trips a couple of weeks ago!

The first trip was with 6 classes of 4th graders and we all headed to Old Salem, NC (just a mere 2 hour bus trip on school activity buses...containing 40+ 9 year olds...). I was given charge over 6 kids and they really were a great group. We got to wander around the beautiful and quaint town and learn about the history of Old Salem. I didn't take many pictures, but here are the few I snapped:

Not sure why, but many of the porches were raised with these little cut-outs below. Had to get a picture with all the kids jammed into one.

One of the favorite stops in the town - the water pump! All the kids got to pump the handle to make the water flow and lots of them took drinks as well.

One really cool part of the day was learning how to play games that kids used to play way back in the day (like in the very late 1700's-early 1800's??) Above is Katey mastering one of them and below are many of the kids trying out different things. These were all harder than they look!

While I didn't get any pictures of the buildings, they were beautiful! And, we got to go into the tavern. For me it was the most fascinating stop on the tour. The tavern used to be run by the Moravian Church (who, incidentally, ran the entire town!) and it was the local bar as well as hotel. George Washington stayed there for 2 nights when he was president. Pretty cool! Katey says her favorite part was the BAKERY! She is officially in love with the chocolate pound cake that they sell. :-)

So, the very next day Katey and I headed to Peachland, NC with her Sunday School class. We got to see all sorts of cool things like:

An amazon parrot

A miniature horse that liked to buck and kick

A cute little ferret

A python and other snakes which make my skin crawl. Katey refuse to touch them. That's my girl!! (In case you were wondering, I did touch the python. And my skin crawled the entire time.)

Jacob's sheep (the kids were chasing them, trying to catch one. Did you know that sheep run really fast? Faster than kids.)

How to spin the wool of the Jacob's sheep. Very cool.

The chicken house. One barn contained around 20,000 chickens. Did you know that chickens stink? Really, really stink.

Katey's favorite part of the trip to the farm was climbing on a tree house ladder that was there as well as riding on the miniature horse. My favorite part was watching all the faces of the kids as they experienced so many cool things. That and passing out the hand sanitizer. :-)

Thus ended the weekend of field trips but we had such a wonderful time on both adventures and enjoyed spending time with Katey's friends!

Snapshots of Fall

Our Sweet Katey

A conversation that took place a few weeks ago between Seth, Katey and Jen:

S: Katey, would you rather have a Peek-a-Poo or a pencil? (A peek-a-poo is a breed of dog that our kids are in love with at the moment)
K: A PEEK-A-POO. No, wait a minute. A pencil. Mommy, didn't you tell me that Aunt Shannon is allergic to cats and dogs?
J: No, Aunt Shannon is allergic to cats, not dogs.
K: But you told me it was cats AND dogs.
J: No, she is only allergic to cats.
K: But you told me...
J: I don't think I told you that, but I AM telling you now that it is only cats, NOT DOGS.
K: Okay Seth, then I would want a peek-a-poo. If Aunt Shannon was allergic to dogs then I would have chosen a pencil so she could still come to our house!
J: (Heart melting and so very proud of our daughter for loving others so well)

In the last couple of weeks Katey has been diagnosed with ADHD (primarily inattentive). This was not a big shock to us but we are still trying to get our heads around how best to help her. After the doctor's appointment where this was discussed and diagnosed, Mike was talking with Katey about ADHD - what it is, who else we know that may have it, and what it means that she has it. Mike asked Katey if she had any questions about their conversation. Her question? "Daddy, is it contagious?"

That is sweet in and of itself, but was made so much more sweet and amusing when I stopped into the school the next day to say hello to the kids during lunch. I was talking with Katey's teacher who wanted me to know that Katey's first words to her that morning were, "I have ADHD but don't worry, it's not contagious!"

I love this child so much!!

Trick-Or-Treat

Trick-or-Treat

Smell my feet!

Gimme something good to eat!!