Summer Has Begun!!!

Let me begin by saying, I am NOT a fan of bikinis.....but how cute are they?????

As I was packing away for our vacations (the girls in Belleview and Chris and I to Nicaragua), I came to my two year old in her room....I could not believe my eyes. I ran and got the camera and taped it to share. Not the best song, but hey...she has a guitar, microphone and rock star shoes on!

Happy Birthday Early

Chloe has a summer birthday (June 3rd) so last Tuesday we got to bring donuts for a class birthday party! The best part was that I GOT TO BE THERE!!!! Thanks to my sweet friend Jamie, she watched my class while I got to put on my "Mommy hat." And, of course, that meant taking lots of pictures and embarassing her!!!!

Here she is with her sweet teacher Mrs. Pantall

Then we all went out side to sing Happy birthday (sorry if I moved the camera too much)

Here she is with her girls

And just to embarass her...with all the boys

She and Cassie are great pals

And, lastly, our birthday girl is ALWAYS ready to pose!!!

Please Pray for Clara Jean

Last year, I was lucky to have Clara Jean Kendall in my class. She is a very bright, happy and beautiful little girl with brown eyes and brown hair. She has three sisters and a very supportive and loving mommy and daddy.

On Thursday, as I was packing up my class, Clara Jean and her mom Kristi came into my classroom to say bye. But, what I thought was just a goodbye turned into something more. Sunday, Clara Jean had a bump on her head that began to grow and by that day it had formed a large lump. After a CAT scan and MRI, they found that it was a tumor but was not in her brain but against it and that it had started to shape her skull. The doctors think it would be benign due to its location, but cannot be sure.

As for now she is scheduled to have surgery to remove it June 4th. I will be praying in Nicaragua and ask that you too pray for her. Pray for her family. Pray for a mircle. Pray that God's glory will be shown when she comes out beautifully from this crazy mess.

Kristi has made a blog at clarajeankendall.blogspot.com for others to learn what is going on every day. I added it to my list because I knew you too would want to be a part of a miracle waiting to happen.

Our Graduate

Maybe it is because I am a kindergarten teacher, but I may have been the only one without tears Monday night. Monday night the kindergarteners at Chapman's Retreat had their Kindergarten celebration (NOT Graduation because the school board only wanted one "graduation"). Over 180 kids sang, danced and cheered on the risers celebrating their last week in kindergarten. I was on the complete other end than Chloe's class, but I still got to see her sing and dance....and look over her shoulder numerous times ......at a boy!!!!!

Here are a few pics along with the famous "Tooty Tah"

Our family

singing like an angel

looking at "the boy!!!"

Her wonderful teacher Kim Pantall. When I worked with Kim before I was pregnant with Cami, I told her that if we came to this school I would LOVE for her to teach Chloe...God answered my prayers 2 years later when Chloe was placed in her class!!! She is the kindest person I have ever met. She makes learning fun AND she scrapbooks!!!!!

Tooty Tah

But, the for the teacher side of me, I had two hilarious comments that I wanted to share.

The first came from a little boy in my class that has been quite a stinker. His dad said,"tell her thank you for putting up with me." He looked straight at me and said, "thanks for putting up with my dad."

When we got on the risers I had a little girl whose face turn like a deer in headlights and started looking like she may cry. I stood by her and calmed her down. She was fine and happily singing through the whole program. Afterwards, I asked her if she was scared when she got up there she said. "Yeah, I almost wet myself!"

The Next American Idols

Here they are folks!
My sweet sister asked me days ago to post some videos of the girls talking. She lives in Oklahoma, so this blog thing is great for her to see her nieces (too bad she stop blogging and I never see videos or pictures of my one and only sweet nephew! But, that's another story) . So, here are some fun ones....

"Where are they?"

"Cami's Solo Debut"

"Chloe's Interview" (she didn't want to sing)

"Cami's interview"

I am on my way!

Sorry it has been so long...I know that there are millions trying to read this (hee hee). I have been so tired from my job at the zoo and with getting all the showers, birthdays and end of year things at school stuff (I am moving from the first floor to the second floor on /Thursday!) that I have negected my blogging.

But, today marks the day of 2 weeks before we are in Nicaragua. Two weeks from today I will be in 105 degree weather but HOPEFULLY on the way to see my girls. Roza is on the far leftnd Kari is the little one in the middle. Isn't crazy to love someone so much even if you've only seen them twice! They are constantly in my heart and prayers.

And then there are the babies we see at the villages. the villlages where people sleep in shack on mud floors.....We think the Chosen Children Ministry will ask us to make beds this year!! Wont that be fun! And then we get to see all the kiddos at the schools!!!!

My heart is so excited to get there. As I take my HORSE PILL (or Malaria pill that you can only take 1 a week because it is so strong) I will smile thinking that I am only 2 pills away from my long EXTENDED family.

Please pray for my girls, though they will be SPOILED to death by my parents for the first part of the week and then Chris' parents the second part of the week....they will be weighing heavy in our hearts a Mommy and Daddy are in another country.

The newest member of the Carpenter Family

What do you do when you want your daughter to stop whinning about getting a pet and want a clean room? You bribe her that if she keeps her room clean for 2 weeks she'll get a fish. You see, two weeks was short enough that she could do it, and long enough that she could forget if it didn't mean that much to her. It meant that much!

Today was day 14 and the Carpenters headed out to Pet Smart to buy a beta fish that Chloe affectionately named "Poachy". Yes, that's a long a sound...rhymes with roachy...

Let's just pray that Poachy (the male Beta fish living in a pink room with pink gravel and a pink tree) survives the 3-5 years as promised!!!

Can't you just hear the thoughts of this poor little guy? I am too tired to think of any, but I am sure that YOU can....will you post a thought from Poachy?

A laughable moment

Okay, if you know me, you know that I am a kindergarten teacher. I have had MANY things that I have wanted to blog about my sweet/crazy 21 kiddos, but knowing that I could possibly get fired and loose our income, I choose not to.

Well, today I HAD to share this. You know when you have a day that just...well...stinks? Everything seemed to happen wrong and there was absolutely no time to get the 1000 things done that needed to be done. That was the day I was having.

We are making portraits of our Mothers for Mother's day. The directions were to paint a head and neck with skin color paint. Here is the example:

So, today at 5:00, as I was stressing about NOT being home with my family and the 999 other things I needed to get done, I saw my friend's...we will call him Pokey...Pokey's painting and had to stop and thank God for a laughable moment!

Children of God

Every Sunday night we get together. Last Sunday night many of us couldn't make it. And the ones that did were tired, defeated and worn out!

But, not the kiddos. Their smiles and giggles radiated through the house (and backyard).

Doesn't that remind you of when Jesus said that if we wanted to come to him we must be like the little children?But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. These kids don' day!
Luckily, we came to Him...

we came as adults and left feeling more like the children He called us to be. When the Holy Spirit meets you, your worries are silly and the love He gives makes you remember who we are...CHILDREN OF GOD!

And the guys even cleaned the kitchen!