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5 teams of 2 girls each reading, measuring, kneading dough.

Chef Ray commented on Jamie's perfect well in the dry ingredients.

Mom got to come along on this field trip. I drove 2 others girls there and 3 back.

Chef Ray - cooking session for Girl Scouts

10 out of 13 girl scouts made it to our first outing with Chef Ray. Our girl scout co-leader works at the church with him.

National Bowtie Day

The teacher told the kids it was National Bowtime Day on Friday. So Jamie made one to wear with her school Tshirt. The day before I ran up a bunch of bananas for banana day.

Leader in Training

Jamie is learning a lot about caring for children by taking care of Anne this summer. (And she also helped out with her boy cousins as well.) I signed her up for the leadership in training program at Grace. She was a sub in a preschooler class this Sunday. She is growing up fast. I am so proud of her.

Swimming and birds

Saturday, August 8th (the day before we left for camp) - we met the Orange Dots at the pool for our first social outing with them. Someone brought their pet birds and the kids enjoyed petting them. I met lots of moms and Jamie hung out with two young girls - Kathleen and Bethany. Kathleen's mom, Mrs. Arbogast, is in charge of a group called LIT - Leadership in Training program at Grace.

Orange Dots - Psalm 139:14

We met Mrs. Mach last summer at the Backyard Bible Club. We saw her at the pool this year and she invited us to the club again this year. She invited the girls to her 5th and 6th grade Sunday School class called the orange dots. (There is a a story about how the 5th graders are yellow and the 6th graders are red but that makes them separated. When they come together, they make orange!)

Anyway, we visited Grace and Jamie finally feels comfortable with the girls in her new class. She just got her orange dot T-shirt this week. They were assigned secret sisters to be revealed in December. They will encourage each other. They bring specific food each week for the food pantry. They will have mission projects and social outings. Jamie is on the social committee. They are learning about how to be a lady, to dress modestly, and all kinds of wonderful things. It helps to have other moms teaching the class and sharing their wisdom.

It is a very large church and I am not sure where we fit yet. I visited several classes - the most recent one is Parents of Young Families. Hope to connect with a small group this fall. I have been in training all week for work and then Sunday went to volunteer training at Grace to be a sub in the nursery/preschool dept.

First day of 5th grade

The only thing we "bought" for the 1st day was a backpack. All other school supplies are on her desk waiting for her from the PTA. It felt weird to both of us.

Jamie, Anne and Dad at the bus stop at 7 am!

Hugs goodbye!

Jamie was the first one on the bus. She was actually excited about the 1st day of school this year. She is ready to start learning and reading! Jamie printed out the student control journal from Flylady website and started her routines a few days ago. She was up and ready to go today. She had her lunch packed and clothes laid out the night before. I am so proud of her! Wow!

Anne said bye bye to sister on the bus on the walk home!

Books and Cheerios

Anne likes it when Jamie reads to her. She gets so excited.

Anne liked playing with her "new" Cheerio books. We had them when Jamie was little, passed them to Lucas and now we are getting them back. haha Fun memories!

Jamie set up the book for Anne. She is a great big sister.

Lots of sister love when we returned from camp!

James and his girls

James and his girls hugging! James held Jamie up like he does Anne for a laugh. Her legs are getting so long! We will miss our family summer adventures.

Michelle - hair color experiment for school

Michelle came to visit us Sunday night and she has 3 different hair color/highlights now. When she mentioned she had blonde highlights, Jamie said so do I! We love the summer sun (sometimes)! It was good to see Michelle; we have missed each other the last 2 weeks.

Home Depot's company picnic at Reunion Ranch

We had a family photo taken as soon as we arrived at Reunion Ranch for Home Depot's company picnic on Saturday, August 22nd. It was about a 45 minute drive from home.

Jamie did a lot of fun things - including having a rainbow painted on her hand. Our faces were too red/hot!

Jamie jumped on a covered wagon and rode all around the property. She talked to one of James' previous supervisors.

James and Jamie rode the paddle boat on the little pond/lake in the blazing heat.

James' current supervisor, Ray, worked hard in the canoe relay race.

Jamie and I saved the best for last - a quick dip in the pool to cool off before we headed home.
(We had blue bell ice cream right before this too!)

The Home Depot group photo - Jamie was at the very top and James and Anne were in the bottom level on the front porch. There were over 500 people signed up to attend. I opted to take a picture instead of be in it.

Jamie had fun on these awesome wooden playgrounds. She ran right up to the top for the photo.

Breakfast with Aunt Christine

Jamie made a funny face breakfast! Waffles, tator tots, pigs in a blanket, and eggs and cheese. She did not eat all of it but she had fun with it.

Jamie is getting very tall but she has no belly still. Hoping that breakfast would fill out her jeans some more -haha. I can't believe my "baby" is almost as tall as me.

Christine brought us some of her eggs. Different colors - Jamie liked the white ones. There was one brown spotted one that was neat too.

Jamie liked the little white eggs.

Christine was showing us pictures of her animals on her camera phone. It was good to spend some time with her before we headed off to James' company picnic.

Back to school/Meeting Jamie's teachers

Mrs. Coppola - math and homeroom teacher

Mrs. Fleming - science teacher - They will build some kind of machine this year.

Mrs. Cartenson - social studies teacher

Mrs. Clement - language arts - 1st year at Summitt Elem - 1st impression - she is awesome!

She has a website: www.mrsclementsclassroom.shutterfly.com (that she will update with spelling words and book recommendations, etc.) yeah! I'm excited!

The pool slide at camp

Jamie built up her courage on the little slide at RockNRiver a few weeks ago. She went down the slide several times at camp. She got a scrape/burn on her arm from hanging on though and one time she landed on another kid who was in the way.

Keith Coast in the balloon

One night Keith Coast got into a balloon to tell the kids the story of Jonah inside the belly of the whale. When he got out, he became a chick in the egg doing the chicken dance. He was so funny. We bought a video to show the guys when we got home.

Ring the Bell at Highland Lakes Camp

Our group of 5 - Alicia, Jamie H., Mary Helen, Jamie and Daphne - on the last morning.

Jamie got to ring the bell; We brought $10 in quarters to help the camp save lives.

Each child who was saved at camp this summer, got to ring the outdoor bell.