kylie's prayer

last night we went out to serve with kylie's prayer & love on some good people that were down on their luck. kylie's prayer is a christian ministry dedicated to sharing the love of Jesus Christ with the homeless of downtown houston that was started with a 5 yr old's (kylie) prayer to help the homeless. now a few yrs later, the last saturday of the month a group of people meet together to help serve kylie's mission to spread the Word and Love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to the homeless, through distribution of supplies, food, love, and prayer. the family that started kylie's prayer moved to louisiana a few months ago so our very good friend lori took it over for them & is doing an AMAZING job! it's so wonderful going out with our old friends & helping new friends. livi came with us again but she was a little more nervous this time & hung out in the truck helping pass things out. mommy brought 3 bags of clothes to pass out, a friend gave her lots of women's shoes to hand out also & we were so glad because they were lots of woman out there last night who were so thankful. we also brought some chips, cookies & lollipops. one of our friends ordered over 10 pizzas with ice cold coca colas & water for their dinner. then another friend set up a table full of hot dogs. we also had a table set up with toiletries for anything they might need to get clean. my friend was out there again who made the beautiful bouquets our of palm leaves & he made me another beautiful one. i spent a lot of time with him talking & watching him create his bouquets.

after that we hopped into our cars & drove to star of hope. star of home is a Christ-centered community dedicated to meeting the needs of homeless men, women & their children. i'm so glad we went there because there was so many children there that were in need of things. mommy had a HUGE tub & lots of bags filled with livi & i's old clothes & shoes. she also brought a big sack of school supplies in case ant children needed some & those were the 1st things we ran out of! livi & i also had some stuffed animals, dolls, toys & books that we brought to hand out. livi really likes going to the star of hope because she likes talking to the little kids & babies. she'll read them books, make sure they get a stuffed animal or toy of some sort. my good friend (aubrey) cleaned out her closet & couldn't wait to pass her things along. well there was a 12 year old girl who was going through aubrey's clothes & squealed with delight with finding some clothes in her size. she ran back across the street to the shelter to change into her new clothes & ran back to show my friend & hug her with as much love as she could. before we left aubrey & i took a picture with her, her mom & her sister. it was the best evening ever!

remember there are just so many ways to help & if you'd like to find out more about kylie's prayer or how you can serve please click here or if you want to learn more about star of hope or how you can serve  please click here!

i almost forgot, at the end of the last school year last year we asked for students to donate their gently used backpacks for us to distribute to help the homeless in need. the last week of school we set out a large bin for students to drop them off in. we collected more than 15 & it was so awesome to be able to pass those out also to people really needed them. this one little boy got a skylander lunch box & you would have thought he just found out he was going to the moon he was so happy! so at the end of this school year we'll be definitely that again!

wisdom

this month our virtue is wisdom which is finding out what you should do & doing it!

front lawn dinosaurs

there's this neighborhood not to far from where we live where a resident decided to add some really cool yard decorations... dinosaurs. the only problem is the dinosaurs are breaking all the rules that the neighborhood has, so before the homeowners association wins & has the dinosaurs removed we had to go see them. of course we had 3 different friends & family members let us know about them because we love dinos & art so much. well we found out about them on thursday & we friday after school & the dinosaurs were no longer in the yard but chained up to the house on the side of the driveway. those people who looooove rules can make people move pretty fast, we were sad they weren't still in the yard. but we still had to stop to take our pictures with them & we'll be driving by again soon to see if they made out back into the yard! while we were taking pictures the yard crew was doing the neighbor's yard so we couldn't get to many pictures because livi was nervous with all the loud noises, but you can see we still had some fun.

KIVA ETV

ok, so on the last day of school for 4th grade i was handed a letter... that letter was welcoming me to KIVA ETV news team! out of all the 4th grade students that tried out for our school tv station, only 15 were chosen & i was one of them!!! you can only be part of the news team when you're in  5th grade because of all the responsibilities. you could try out for either anchor a or b, weather person/ resident scientist, technical assistant or camera operator.  we have 3 week rotations with 3 teams for the whole year with 5 spots that need to be filled in each position. we perform on live tv in front of the whole school every morning for about 10 mins. i'm super excited to say that i got the role that i wanted most... i'm going to be the camera engineer/operator. then on the first day of school this year i got another letter with my schedule & i'm on the 1st rotation... ahhh, talk about nerve racking. being the first at anything is always tricky & scary. so on the 2nd day of school i showed up extra early to start my training. so far we've only been doing the announcements on the overhead microphone in the front office because we have a brand new news system in the media room this year that we're still trying to figure out which has been super hard. so hopefully we'll be getting everything down pat & be able to go on air soon! so far i know i'll be in charge of the camera, the slides that we show, counting the anchors down & later on i'll be in charge of the computers too... this is soooooooo awesome & i can't believe i get to be part of KIVA!

in the front office on the overhead system

learning about what all we'll be doing

me giving mommy a stinky look for sneaking pictures when she's supposed to be working 

happy happy national doggy day

hip hip hooray for national dog day! we know we'd be lost without our sweet sadie mc!

1st day of school

today was my 1st day of 5th grade & livi's 1st day of 1st grade! i wore my red uniform shirt (just like the last 2 years) because that one is my favorite & my new awesome converse so i'd have a great day. livi changed 3 times before deciding to wear her blue uniform dress, her twinkle toes shoes & braided piggy tails. we were a lil nervous walking through the doors of our school because the 1st day of school is always a little scary, but we did it we went through those big doors together ready to take on those hallways of dickinson elementary.

we decided to take me to my classroom 1st so livi wouldn't have so much time in her classroom before school started to get her nerves even more bundled up. she had already woken up at 3:24 this morning with fist day jitters. as soon as we turned down the 5th grade hallway, there was mrs. heikkila waiting to greet all of her old & new students with a giant hug! that was awesome & right after there was ms. huff standing in our doorway with a big welcoming smile. my day went by so fast it was over before i knew it. you know learning the class rules, what our outclass was for the day,  & things like that & catching up with old friends & making new ones. 

after hugs, kisses & goodbyes, it was time for mommy & daddy to walk livi to her 1st grade class.   livi was ready to go, mommy & daddy were having to sped walk to keep up with her... she was ready to get her day started! as soon as livi got to her desk there was her special name tag waiting for her that mommy pinned on her. after livi was all settled in there was a sheet for her to color until class began. mommy & daddy weren't ready to leave yet, but livi kept telling them she was ok & they could go! they couldn't believe how excited she was to! livi loved going to the cafeteria for lunch & really loved going out for recess. her favorite thing about her 1st day of 1st grade is how wonderful her teacher is... she LOVES her!

we even had a small little gift for our teachers, we helped mommy make some chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. to keep them going on their first day back with all of us crazy kids. mommy made a tag that said "let me know when you need me to 'chip' in to help" with her contact info to tie on the mason jar.

when school was over mommy & daddy were waiting for us for forever! i came out first & a little later livi came out running & jumping into their arms. our expressions cracked mommy up because there was me who was like "ehhhh, not so bad" & livi was like "whoo hoo, today was awesome!"

then to celebrate that we made it through the 1st day back at school, we went home changed & out to dinner we went. we invited momo to come with us to enjoy & we're so glad she came. after we ate our main course livi & i ordered some delicious dessert because that's what going to out to eat is really about.

here's to a rocking wonderful year!!!

back to school

well tomorrow is our 1st day of school! we know, we can't believe summer vacation is already over too. we're really excited & bit nervous about the 1st day, but we'll keep you posted on how it goes!

ella's 5th grade favorites:

tv show: bunk'd

movie: parent trap (original) 

song: cool for the summer

color: turquoise (it's changed for the 1st time in 10 years)

animal: elephant

food: mexican food (momo's tacos)

candy: anything with chocolate

activity: art
toy: pollie

shoes: converse

when i grow up i want to be an artist!

livi's 1st grade favorites:

tv show: brooklyn & bailey (youtube)

movie: megamind

song: fancy

color: magenta

animal: monkey

food: ribs

candy: resse's peanut butter cup

activity: swimming
toy: sausage

shoes: cowboy boots

when i grow up i want to be a babysitter!

meet & greet homework

the other night when we had our meet & greet with our new teachers for the school year, i got a homework assignment due on the 1st day of school. school hasn't even officially started & i already have homework... can you believe it?!?!?! thank goodness it wasn't a hard assignment & it actually turned out to be a fun project. we had to write an acrostic poem telling about our summer vacation or an experience we had over the summer. we had to use the letters of our first letter of our first name & the first letter of last name create the poem. we had to type the poem with a font the size of 18. we got to select any style of font we wanted as long as it could be read easily. when we were creating the poem we had to make sure our poem had a title. we also had to illustrate & color the entire background of our vacation/experience on the paper. we're all going to share our poems in class on monday & it'll be a part of our class bulletin board in the hallway for everyone to enjoy.

i wrote about: my summer road trip
                       Exotic, exciting &entertaining places.
                       Learning about parts of the United States.
                       Lots of fun was had.
                       Action packed road side attractions.
                       Making lots of memories.

meet the teachers

tonight we got to meet our teachers, visit our classroom, unpack our school supplies & say "hi to new & old friends. can you believe school starts back up in less than a week?!?!?! last night both of our teachers called mommy to introduce themselves so we had 24 hrs to call, text, email & facebook to see what other friends of ours was going to be in the same class as us. to be honest i was really freaked out & upset because all of my friends & i had been split up. also this is my teacher's 1st  full year teaching so that makes me a little nervous because i want to make sure i learn the most that i can each school year. since i was more nervous we went to my classroom first so i could relax a bit about my upcoming year. don't worry i feel much better after meeting her & seeing my classroom. i'm happy to say my 5th grade teacher this year is going to be ms. huff & she's very nice & pretty. she went to a&m college which is one of my favorites so i know she's super smart & will do her absolute best teaching us all we need to know to prepare us for 6th grade. i love the all the way she set up her class room & all the accent colors she used... it make our classroom feel very hip. rayne who is one of my good friends from last year is in my class too, so that really makes me happy & more comfortable. the crazy thing is my teacher from last year (mrs. heikkila) was moved to a 5th grade teacher & she's right next door so i can visit her every day & get one of her awesome hugs! i know this is a huge year & i can't wait for the adventure to begin!

me, ms. huff & my friend rayne

from there it was off to the 1st grade hallway to meet livi's teacher. the 1st grade hallway is on the complete opposite side of the kindergarten hallway, but livi knew the way & couldn't wait to lead us on. this year she has mre. tinker for her 1st grade teacher & we're all super thrilled. mrs. tinker is one of the best teachers ever & everybody loves her. mommy got to know her last year when she volunteered in the library & couldn't believe how blessed we are to have her as livi's teacher. she's been teaching for a long time & loves her 1st graders. this year instead of livi sitting at a table, she'll have her very own desk & boy is she excited! it's funny because livi has been terrified about going back to school & once we got the call & found who our teachers were she was fine & i became the mess .another thing livi is really happy about is she'll have a few of my friends from mrs. pearce's class in mrs. tinker's class with her... yay! she had so much fun saying "hi" to all her friends again, our outclass teachers & of course going by to give mrs. pearce a special hug! livi can't wait to be back at school & learn all sorts of new things. monday can't come soon enough, she's ready to be a big 1st grader & meet the rest of her new friends & all the adventures that await her.

oh yeah, how could we forget?! we also made "i'm tickled pink that you're my teacher" baskets to take with us. we filled them with anything & everything pink we could find like markers, pencils, lotion, candy. stationary, gum, binder clips, high- lighters, writing notebooks, post-it notes, glue sticks & these really cool jumbo erasers!