Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with Noah's side of the family this year and we had a new addition, Harper! It was so nice to get to see everyone, and to see Delaney and Jarrett with another lil one! Delaney loved getting to hold Harper and sing songs to her. Jarrett was too busy running around to sit still long enough to visit with Harper! I've swipped some pictures off of Harper's page to share with everyone!

Laney's Got A Gun!!!

Well, Delaney finally shot her pink Cricket 22 yesterday for the very first time! She was a little shy about it at first and made Noah shoot it. Then she finally was brave enough to pull the trigger herself, and that was it---she was "hooked"!!! She LOVED it! She kept saying "one more time, Daddy, one more time"! She shot at least 10 to 15 times, and she hit the target 3 times! Here are some pictures of the fabulous shot Laney!

Update---I was lost, but now I've been found!!! *-)

Okay, I know I've been gone for a while---a LONG while! Well, I've been SO very busy! Work is very time consuming in itself, and then I've decided to try to start my own photography business in a way. I've started doing pictures for clients (other than just family favors) starting back in October! I've built a website for my photography, but not ready to go public with it just yet! I'll get there SOON promise. My kids are getting SO big. I just can not believe that my little Delaney Kate will be 5 in January! I'm having a hard time with that. AND then, it came to me that Jarrett Lynn will be 20 months old at Christmas this year! 20 months!!!! That's SO close to 2!!!! Where does the time go???? Don't get me wrong, I'm not considering the let's have another baby syndrome here---nope, we're DONE with that! I just can NOT believe they're getting so big so fast. The older you get, the faster time goes by! Noah and I will be embracing 31 years of age come January. Yes, I can remember when I used to think that was OLD. No, I don't anymore! *-) Noah and I will also be celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary come January as well. It just doesn't seem like we've been together for over 10 years, and that we've almost been married for 9 years! But, then again, we can not really remember how things were before our kids. It just kinda seems like we've all always been together! Does that seem odd? Anyways, we're all doing good. If we can ever get the kids over allergies, we would be doing great.
Delaney is loving school and she is doing a great job. Noah and I had our very first parent/teacher conference back on November 7. Delaney had wonderful things said about her and her report was excellent. Her teacher said that if she HAD to find something that Delaney could work on, was her helping to clean-up better. Yeah, we get that at home too! So, we've been working on trying to have her help clean-up after herself better at home. It's just so hard at times, cause some times it's just easier to do things myself. That's my problem to work on in order to help Delaney. Jarrett is working on helping out as well. Well, at least he is "trying" to help. He takes everything to Sissy's room! Poor Bubba, one of these days he'll realize that he has a room too! Well, that's somewhat of an update.

WEBSITES BLOCKED AT WORK

Okay, so how school has like every website on the internet blocked that can possibly be blocked. You can not check any personal e-mails or even go to any site that allows you to purchase anything without getting approval. Then after you get approval the tech guy has to go and unblock that site for just your computer. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I was at work the other day and at lunch I decided to type in my blogger address to see what reason they had it blocked, I figured it would be just like myspace and the other "personal pages" that are blocked, and POOF! the pages comes right up! I was even able to sign in and work on it!!! Oh my goodness! I was in total shock! So, now I might actually be able to post something more often. Well, maybe, I already don't have time to do what I need to do. Trying to educate these youngsters is a lot of work. I have a group that takes A LOT of work!!!! But, I know that I still made the right move going to the middle school from the high school. I'm going to make a difference in at least one of these kid's lives even if it possible kills me!!!!!

Boyfriend and Girlfriend----WHAT???

This past weekend Delaney informed me that she had a secret and she didn't want her Daddy to know. She said that Clayton had asked her to be his girlfriend and she said yes. I asked her what that meant, and she said it meant that they were really great friends. It was cute. Noah didn't accept it very well. He said he didn't like it much at all! Well, we didn't make much of it in front of Delaney cause we just don't want her getting into all that boyfriend -- girlfriend stuff! My goodness, it's PRE-K!

Play Date

Delaney had her first play date with one of her classmates on Friday. We had teacher meetings for half the day, so the students didn't have school. Delaney spent Thursday night with her Nana and Friday morning with her as well. After work, I picked Jarrett up from the sitter's house and took him to Nana. I picked Delaney up and took her to Burger King to have lunch and play with Clayton. Clayton is in her pre-k class this year. Plus, his parents went to school in Healdton, the same school as myself. They're both younger than me, but I did know who they were in school. Delaney had the most fun!!! What was awkward, was the fact that the little boy that has been hitting Delaney at school was there as well with his Mom and two sisters (one of which is one of my students this year)! His Mom asked Delaney if he has been mean to her at school and Delaney nodded her head yes. His Mom told him to not be mean anymore and then she commented to us that boys will be boys!!! Can you believe that?!!!? After they left, Jennifer (Clayton's Mom) commented on the boys will be boys comment. She said that she has a boy and he will NOT be doing that! I seconded that opinion. Oh, and I tried being nice and making some small talk with her and asked if her son was looking forward to his snack day because Delaney has been SO excited about her snack day and what she gets to bring, etc... Jennifer said that Clayton was excited about his day as well. Well, I just opened my mouth and inserted my foot, because she apparently had forgotten that Thursday(the day before) was their day and they didn't take anything!!!! Well, I just hope we don't have anymore encounters this school year!

Allergy Update

My Mom took Jarrett to the doctor for me on Friday since she has Friday's off (thank the Lord). Such a great blessing! The doctor said that his ears and lungs were just fine. He's throat was red from drainage. She could hear the congestion in his throat and he coughed and choked while in her office. She said that she saw that he was trying to cut some new teeth, so that may have been the cause of his low grade fever. She went ahead and gave him an antibiotic to try to make sure all the congestion wasn't trying to settle into his chest or ears! We have lots of ear problems! She was wanting to be on the safe side---which I dearly appreciate! He's been doing a lot of sleeping yesterday and today. He so needed the rest. I hope he is well enough to go to the sitters house on Monday!

Football Saturday

Took Delaney to Football Saturday today. She got to dress up in her Lone Grove cheerleader outfit! She looked too cute! She's not real big on loud noises, so she wasn't to keen on all the cheering at first. But she eventually got into the spirit. She had a good time. My Mom went with us as well. She put Delaney up on her shoulders so she could watch all the performances that Lone Grove did. We left right after our school was done performing. It was pretty warm inside the building! We were all sweating afterward. We haven't heard which school won yet, but Lone Grove has won consecutively for the past few years, can't remember how many-I think 4 or 5. Jarrett didn't go because he has been battling some pretty bad allergies, and he needed to stay home and rest. He took a nap while we were gone. Noah got to babysit for a little bit. Not too bad, I brought him home some Whataburger food. Well, Delaney was just a doll!

Allergies

So thankful for the rain, but the mold counts have been high. Before that, we had the weeds and grasses up. My poor family has been battling some bad allergies for the past week to week and a half. Now Jarrett is having lots of problems. He had a pretty rough day today. He started running a low grade temp as well today. So, he gets to take a trip to the doctor's office tomorrow. So thankful that my Mom is off on Fridays so she can take him to the doctor for me and I don't have to miss any work. Right now I'm off to fix dinner, clean house, and make a list of Jarrett's symptoms and a note of my concerns with things I want checked. Sure hope he gets to feeling better soon. Along with the rest of the family!

Delaney first few days of school!

Well, Delaney started school on Wednesday. So far she has really loved going to school! After day one her only negative report was that one little girl cut in line waiting to go to the restroom. Her response was, "Momma, she just doesn't understand the rules"! How cute was that? Her other negative report, which upset me and made me almost cry, was that she feel off of the slide and another little girl laughed at her and it hurt Delaney's feelings. I think she maybe feel when she came off the end of the slide, not falling from above--she wasn't hurt. She was pretty upset about the girl laughing at her, and I was as well!
But, when I see her and ask how school was, her response has been "GREAT"! She has had so much fun. She has been singing songs that they've done in class and she's brought home papers she has done everyday. I've already got my desk area at work decorated with her artwork. She excited about having her day to bring snacks, but don't know when our day is yet. We got the snack calendar for the rest of August and we're not on it. She's been coming up with the items she wants to bring.
Apparently Delaney asked when they would get to have show-and-tell, and she's excited that it will be next week.
Noah and I took her to her classroom on the first day of school. She just left us and walked over to the kitchen area to play. We had to go over to her to say bye and get our hugs and kisses. It wasn't a problem for her at all. After school, she rode the bus over to the middle school to me. The second day of school my Mom (Nana--Christine) took her to school, and she rode the bus over to me again. On the third day she rode the bus from the middle school in the morning and back to the middle school in the afternoon. This is what she will be doing for the rest of the school year. We had to find another older student that was on the bus that would walk her to her classroom in the mornings when they get off of the bus. She's doing good with the bus except the fact that it's so hot right now. She isn't used to having to be on a hot bus.
She hasn't been a big fan of playing outside in the heat either. I really don't let the kiddos go outside to play at home when it's hot during the day, so she's having some problems with it.
I'M JUST SO PROUD OF HOW GOOD SHE IS DOING!

Delaney Starts School

Can you believe that my little Delaney Kate will be going to her first day of school tomorrow. I've been handling it very well, up until last night. We took Delaney to the Teacher Meet and Greet, and I started getting emotional. I about started crying trying to talk to her teacher! I've caught myself crying several times this evening. It's really strange because I'm not like scared of her going to school. I'm excited for her. I do worry about her liking it, about her being nice, and about people being nice to my baby girl. I guess it's just the fact that it's another milestone of her growing up. She's growing up way too fast. Like the other nite, Noah and I were joking around with her and asked her if she could watch Jarrett while we ran to town. She just gave us a look and told us that she wasn't old enough to watch him. And she said that he might want something out of the frig and she's supposed to ask to get into the frig and we wouldn't be here to ask! I thought that was cute. So, I asked her how old she had to be to be all grown up and be able to watch bubba for us. Her reply was 5! TIME NEEDS TO SLOW DOWN!

Back to Work

Well, I started back to work yesterday. By the end of today, I'm dragging! I'm so stinking tired! It's going alright, of course that may change after tomorrow. The students come back tomorrow! I'm looking forward to having a really good school year this year. I hope that my move to the seventh grade turns out to be what I'm needing and hoping it to be.

Dallas Vacation

Okay, so we went to Dallas, TX for 5 days. Noah's sister (Lyndsay) moved to Dallas back in the Spring and we stayed with her. We all had the best time. We spent one day shopping at the Galleria Mall for school clothes and other stuff. Oh, our big item that we HAD to find was getting Delaney a backpack. She finally found one at The Children's Place. It had a matching lunch bag and a matching rain coat. So, of course, we had to have all three pieces! We found so many cute clothes for Delaney. We found several nice pieces of clothing for me as well. Noah found him some new sunglasses some tennis shoes, and he found some boots at Cabellas. His boots are made from Kangaroo! One day we went to the Dallas World Aquarium. That was really neat! We had a great time there. Jarrett took a pretty good nap through the aquarium. You know that they call it an aquarium, but it is like a rainforest! It started at the canopy top of the trees and went down to the aquarium level. It was like traveling on a old swinging bridge pathway going around and through the rainforest. The bottom aquarium level had a couple of tunnels that were made of glass and had the fish swimming all around us. They had a big tunnel that had the sharks in it! We got to see the crocs feeding time and the sharks feeding time. So cool! At Cabellas they had several large aquariums also. We got to see the feeding time of one of the tanks. They were feed pellets and then LIVE small fish!!!! We were not ready for that one! Delaney had several questions!!! One day we just went to a couple of different stores and went to eat at Saltgrass Steak House. Noah's big thing for our trip was to find a big, thick ribeye steak. We also got to visit with Noah's cousin Adam and his wife Sara. They're expecting their first child in September. We met them at an ice cream shop. I can not remeber the name of the place, but it is a different type of ice cream (I think it starts with a 'G'). But anyways, it isn't made the same, so it doesn't have the air that regualr ice cream has in it which made it a lot creamier. It was really good. But, seriously, how can you mess up ice cream!!!? Oh, and we had fun swimming in Lyndsay's pool. WE JUST HAD A GREAT TIME.

SCHOOL!!!

Oh My Goodness! On this last Thursday evening (7th), Noah and I went to our very first parent orientation meeting at Delaney's school! We can NOT believe that she will be starting school next week! Noah and I are having a hard time with her going off to school, but Delaney so excited about going. We found out that she has the teacher that I wanted her to get. Her teacher is Kathy Rozzell -- to the kids it's Mrs. Kathy. She went to high school with my mother-in-law and she used to be the principal of the primary school. I think it says a lot for her that she wanted to go back to the classroom after her years as principal. I just think she must really LOVE being with the kids, and I think Delaney will be able to see that and love it as well. (At least I hope this is how it will be.) Delaney's first day of school will be Wednesday, August 13th, wish us luck!

We're so close to being done with our addition! We worked all day today on it. We may have to paint the floor again, we'll know for sure in the morning. We need to put up the exterior lights and to get the power box moved. OG&E should be out this week and after that we can move in! It was so HOT today out in that room without any air. Oh, how sad it is that I've become so dependable upon the comforts of the airconditioning! Just one more way that I realize my laziness! Well, I just hope that everything continues to go well, and we should be moving in by next weekend. Well, we're going to mow my grandmother's grass next Saturday, but that will not take all day. Ramble, ramble, ramble!

Over Yet Not Over!!!!

Well, school is out now, but I start a workshop on Tuesday that is two weeks long. I will (hopefully) findout on Tuesday what classes I'll be teaching next year. If I have Advanced Biology again, then I'll have to attend a workshop in Norman for five days! That's FIVE DAYS away from home!!!! Of course, I will not be able to handle that, so I'll drive back and forth some and Noah will have to come up and bring the kiddos and visit me. Right now, I feel like it's hurry up and wait! So, even though school is over, it really isn't OVER!

Who Are the Patty's

Well, my family consists of myself, my husband, and our two children. My name is Amanda, my husband is Noah, and our children are Delaney and Jarrett. We live in southern Oklahoma on 20 acres in a log cabin home with a 1 acre pond. It sounds like we live out in the middle of nowhere and are country bumpkins, but that's not 'completely' true. *-) We live only 5 miles from the highway! I teach science at the local high school and my husband owns a plumbing company. My husband is a very hardworking man. We are in the process of adding on to our home and he has done almost everything by himself. He can build anything. He has done so much work to our home over the years to make it truly 'our home'. I have much respect for him and I am in awe at how hard he works. He is a workaholic---which isn't always a good thing. He has a big heart and helps is friends whenever they need it. Our daughter, Delaney, is 4 going on 25! Our son, Jarrett, is 13 months. Delaney is a semi-tomboy, princess. She loves dressing up in her different dresses, putting on mommy's high heels, and putting on make-up. She loves to play fashion show and talent show. We sing and dance around (that's the talent show). But, she doesn't pass up an opportunity to go outside and play in the dirt! She really does have a very kind heart. She is so loving and sweet. Jarrett is my 'monkey man'! He can climb absolutely anything!!!! He has NO fear at all. When he does something and you get onto him he just giggles and smiles at you! He is very attached to his mommy. He is the perfect example of a mamma's boy! He is very cuddly and lovable. I love doing things with my family. I just like it when we're together spending time with one another making memories. I enjoy photography. I've thought about trying to start a photography business on the side. Maybe I'll be able to do more of it in the next few years and get something established. Well, that's a brief overview of us, The Patty Family!