Oney the Fisherman

Who would have thought Oney would be so into fishing? Well it just may be his new favorite pastime! The girls and I were out of town on a Student Council trip (post to come later), Judson was gone on a business trip, so Oney decided to go to Pickwick with Ginny for the weekend. Well when it was time to come home for Ginny to go back to work, Oney decided he wanted to stay with Pop and Aunt Das. He stayed with Pop on Sunday night and Aunt Das and Uncle Rob Monday and Tuesday night. He had a GREAT time! I was afraid he might get homesick but boy was I wrong. I think everybody kept him really busy! Look at how proud he was of his catch here...

He was especially proud of this catfish that he caught. He has caught Crappie before but never a catfish. Way to go Oney!

This is a striped fish "aka" a "mohawk" fish. He really liked this one, too!

Oney with his Uncle Rob. Thanks Uncle Rob for your patience and sharing your time on the lake with Oney. He had a wonderful time!

Look at this face! I LOVE IT! Look how excited he is to be holding his catch! I remember fishing at Cold Creek with my Papa Sonny on his homemade pontoon boat! Those were the days!

Aunt Das and Uncle Rob even took Oney fishing at night! WOW...dedicated fishermen!

I was so glad when Oney came home today...I have been without him for 6 days!!! I really missed him!

Wild About Our Grandparents

Grandparents Day at TRA is a HUGE tradition. I remember back to the first Grandparent's Day when Ms. MaryLou was the Principal and everyone could fit in the gym with ease. Now we do good to be able to squeeze into the gym and have to limit who comes. A lot has changed since our first years at TRA, but a lot has stayed the same. It is still the absolute BEST place on Earth for our kids to go to school. I wouldn't trade my kids small town raising for the world. The good definitely outweighs the bad. It is hard to believe that Oney is in the fourth grade. He will only have one more Grandparent's Day program after this year. Wow! My baby boy is growing up so fast.

We (the room moms) always have a special gift for the Grandparents. We usually try to involve the kids in some way and if possible use their hand or foot prints. This year's idea was definitely one of our best gifts...a doormat with an owl on it. It was so cute! The grandparents had a fit over it.

Oney and I had to do some of the painting in advance. He was a HUGE help as usual.

Sittie and Ginny took Oney to the book fair to buy a book and a poster before the program. He picked out a joke book and an angry birds poster.

Oney's fourth grade teacher, Ms. Jenny Daniel. She was also both of the girls' teacher. She feels like family now and she certainly takes care of all three of my kids like they are hers!

Oney with his beautiful, wonderful, grandmothers...

Sittie

Ginny

Thanks to my Mother and Mother in Law for making such an effort for the past 10 years. You have made the day so special for all three of my kids and me. Ally, Abby and Oney are so lucky to have you. We really are "Wild About You"!

iLead...Student Council Convention...Bristol Bound!

This was the second year that the girls and I attended the State of TN Student Council Convention sponsored by TASC. It is held each year in a different city in the state of Tennessee. This years' convention was held in the absolute furthest city possible...Bristol. Look at this...

A school campaigns each year for Secretary-Host to decide where the convention will be held. The host was Tennessee High School. It was HUGE and HAUNTED! Yep...HAUNTED! Checkout this site...

TN High School Ghost. It was the longest drive EVER, but the MOST FUN ride ever. I had a car full of giggly girls and Ms. Angel Jones, aka, "Angelina Jones Lee"! Yep... you had to be there! 

Ms. Jones called in a last minute 911 for the scrapbook. The kids in charge had dropped the ball and hadn't even started it less than two weeks before they were supposed to have it completed. We had a weekend of scrap booking at the house and this is the final product. Pretty darn good if I must say so myself. Old Momma came to the rescue once again! We actually got SECOND PLACE OVERALL! I was so proud! 

This is the high school's scrapbook. They did a great job as well. 

Ally and AJ and Abby and Jack...Their "BOYFriends since babies! 

Abby, following in the footsteps of her big sister, Ally, ran for the State Office of West TN Representative. I was so proud of her. She won and will fill Ally's shoes on the State Board for the 2012-2013 term. She will have several Board meetings throughout the year. It is invaluable experience and a great network of friends for life. She was so excited to be able to do this especially after seeing Ally enjoy it this past year. Congrats Abby!

Her campaign slogan was..."Don't Be Crabby, Vote for Abby"! 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE these two women, Ms. Jones and Ms. Baker!

I have also grown to know and love this entire BUNCH of GREAT kiddos! I think I have become the "unofficial student council Mom"! 

Notice all of the kids' shirts. These are Abby's campaign shirts that she had made and gave everyone to wear to support her and her office. They turned out perfect! A huge thanks and shout out to Molly at the Print Shop! She takes such great care of me and does all of my crazy student council tasks! 

Our council won tons of awards! Look at this impressive list.

Ally Naifeh-Member of the Year

Ally Naifeh-Rising Star Award

AJ Hightower-Rising Star Award

Nate Phillips-Rising Star Award

Abby Naifeh-Best Overall Speech

Scrapbook-Second Place Overall

Four Star Council Award

Madison Cranford-Rising Star Award

Matthew Cannon-Rising Star Award

Christopher Fox-Above and Beyond

Abby getting her award for first place in speech competition! WOW! She said it in front of 400 people! I was so proud of her...I NEVER could have done that at her age...not sure I could now!

These pictures are of the induction ceremony for incoming state board officers. How cool was it for Ally to "pass the torch" to her younger sister Ally! WOW! Talk about a Mother's pride...

My girls and their awards! 

We stopped at Calhoun's on the River in Knoxville on the way home. We gave everyone a "driving tour" of the University of Tennessee campus on the way out of town. It was a perfect ending to our trip. I am so thankful for trips like these where me and my girls have so much quality, bonding time with each other. 

Read Across America Week

Look at our awesome Elementary principal Ms. Susan Cranford aka "Olivia" not to be confused with Ms. Piggy! We celebrated "Read Across America Week" in a big way at TRA. We had different activities each day for the kids. It was a whole lot of fun.  Everyone seemed to really want to participate and have fun with it. After all, who doesn't love Dr. Seuss??? I posted one of my favorite quotes below...I think it pretty much says it all.

Being the last minute person that I have become lately, I realized the night before it was needed that Oney was supposed to dress as his favorite storybook character. Well, we searched and searched. At first I suggested simple ideas like Diary of A Wimpy Kid and Big Nate. Those characters would just require a special shirt and hat. But Oney had bigger and better ideas in mind. He wanted a "costume"...something that wasn't just thrown together.

TGFG...Thank Goodness For Ginny

I ran to Hancock Fabrics and picked up a variety of fabrics, thread, buttons, etc. Then I ran to Party City and picked up a hat. I phoned in a "911" to my Mom and warned her that we would be there in about an hour. Two hours later we had an adorable Pinocchio! It was worth it when he put on the biggest smile you have ever seen! He had a "real" costume!

Different special readers were invited to read to all of the elementary classes. Susan ordered cake for the guests. The drawing to the right of the cake was my visual and the cake that Sherry created is to the left. I think we are a pretty good team. I can come up with some ideas and she always brings them to life!

Addey Grace and Lexi were "Things", Mary Leslie was "Fancy Nancy", and Mac was "Harry Potter"! Thanks to the many teachers and Ms. Susan for going that extra mile to make reading fun!  

Fun at the Farm

Our family LOVES spending afternoons at "The Naifeh Farm". We ride four wheelers, shoot skeet, hunt deer, have picnics, you name it. These pictures are from our "treasure hunt" one afternoon this Spring. We set out to walk around different areas of the farm looking for deer sheds. Well, we never found any deer sheds. But...

We did find three other "treasures"...

A baby turtle crossing the road...

Turkey feathers all over the place...

A spooky slithery snake...believed to be a cottonmouth?

Everyone took a shot at it. Dad put the finishing touches on it. Everyone wanted to see it up close. But, only one of us had the nerve to go and grab it...yep, you guessed it, Momma!