when you can't find anything else to do....

just take all the garbage cans from all the neighbors on our street and come up with a ninja course.  it's that simple!

now all you neighbors know where to look when you can't find something!! 

gumtree 2016

we were all over the gumtree this year.  it started when i opened up the paper on friday and saw the littlest henson staring at me!!

all of the lee county schools submit entries into the poetry/essay/narrative categories, and reed was chosen as the 2nd place winner in the kindergarten poetry contest.  his buddy won 3rd place, and they both won cash prizes!!  walt whitman and robert frost better watch their backs!!  these two are on their tails!

on saturday morning, william and wes ran in their first race ever.  it was a 2k, and i had absolutely no idea what i was doing.  i don't understand sports that don't have balls involved.  they were lucky that we got the number pinned on and found the starting line.  after they started, i had to ask where the finish line was, but i found it!

they weren't nearly as confused as me, however, because they rocked it.  there were 161 people in the 2k race, and william came in 3rd.

wes was right behind him in 5th.

this was not at all what i was expecting.  i didn't know they could run at all!!  and since i'm clueless, i didn't know i was supposed to start a timer or even look up at the clock at the finish line, so i have no idea how fast they ran it.  but i do know that they thoroughly enjoyed their post-race snacks!!  and now that i'm a veteran, i'll know to put on my tutu with my neon, knee high socks and blue wig to cheer them on next time!  (and i just thought baseball people were crazy!!!)  :)

backing up...

during the chaos of the end of the year, our middle man turned 9.  he woke up ready to go.  and ready for powdered donuts!! 

he received the requested new golf bag and a push cart (along with books and legos), so we'll see if it makes a difference on the golf course!

later in the day, he celebrated with his class with....wait for it....more donuts!

and he ended the day in his happy place on his ripstik! 

looking forward to seeing what fun comes our way in year 9!  love you, wes!

and we did it!!

the first day of summer is finally here!!  william had a great 4th grade year with a good group of kids and a super fun teacher, mrs. golding (who belted out a song at awards day this morning....who knew?!?)  ha! 

it was a long ceremony this morning (reed and wes sat beside me and reminded me on several occasions), but we were all smiles when it was over!  william finished the year with the character award for contentment, the outstanding citizenship award, the music award, the library reading award, an award for completing all of the AM objectives, the highest academic average in science, the highest academic average in language, the highest academic average in math, and the headmaster's honor roll for making all As.  seriously....mama really passed on some good genes!!  :) 

whew!!  bring on the summer sunshine!  i've got a 5th, 3rd, and 1st grader who are ready to live it up!

another one down

well, we danced and played our way through 2nd grade, and today it came to an end!

 wes and addy

addy, brooks, gryder, wes, jax, lewis, and whit

wes finished up with awards day this morning.  he left the church with awards for diligence, the computer award, the eagle award for outstanding sportsmanship, reading counts award, mastering all the AM objectives, all As, and the fruit of the spirit award for his class.  he must get it from his mama, too!!  :)

 jax, whit, brooks, and wes

one more day to go for the biggest henson and we can officially call it summer!! 

crossing the finish line

what is it about the last few weeks of school?  oh my word.  we are hanging on by a thread.  reed finished up today, and i may have heard a hallelujah chorus a time or two!!  but we had fun getting here!!

i made my 438th trip to the buffalo park a few weeks ago with reed's class.  i'm pretty sure i can recite the whole story of the buffalo park as told by the tractor driver, i know all the animals' names and where each is located, and i really don't have to ever go back again!!  but this kid loves it!!

then we finished up the third and final creation board for learning fair!!!

we celebrated mrs. vaughn's retirement with an awesome party at church!  it's sad to think that she won't be at school anymore, but i know her grandkids are going to benefit greatly!!

(this might possibly be the best group of moms to work with ever...minus two who didn't make the pic!)

and today mrs. vaughn conducted her very last awards day!  reed walked away with the awards for reliability, self control, the art award, most pages read in the reading contest, most bible verses read, and all As.  i think he gets it from his mama!!  :)

and this guy got to begin his first day of summer doing one of his very favorite things!!!

piano recital

william finished another year of piano, and he capped it off with a recital a few weeks ago.  i posted the video of his piece online, but i wanted to add a few pics to remember it as well.  he played an armed forces medley (i told you he was all into military stuff right now), and he nailed it.  i do love a good patriotic song, and he did this one some serious justice! 

with mrs. rish

vicksburg military park

the 4th grade learning fair has come and gone.  hallelujah.  this time of year is just nuts, so it's good to knock one thing off of the list!  william chose vicksburg national military park as his project.  i went in 6th grade on a field trip.  chase biked through it in college.  however, we weren't much help in providing much info.  therefore, we took a family field trip!! 


william is all into military anything right now, so he was in heaven.  they all loved it, though.  i'm pretty sure they ran up and down every hill there shooting at each other and re-enacting the entire battle. 

illinois memorial

mississippi memorial

if you look closely, you can see the zigzag trenches that they dug to get up the hill during fighting.  

 the horses were dying of dehydration during the siege, so one regiment used a domesticated camel named douglas.  i thought this was pretty interesting, but chase was ready to kill me as we searched and searched the cemetery for douglas' grave.  then william tells me that it's not a grave.  it's only a marker because he got shot, and then he was eaten by his own men because they were starving.  alrighty then. 

we all learned a lot.  i haven't seen a grade, but his finished product should have gotten him a pretty good one! 

one more learning fair to go....