1st Day of Kindergarten

Today was the day that Katie Lee has been looking forward to for so long. The first day of Kindergarten!! She was so excited!!

Last night as I tucked her into bed extra early, I had a little going to school gift for her. She loved it! We then read a book about going to school and off to sleep she went dreaming about her first day.

Bright and early this morning we were up and getting ready to go. She wanted to leave at 6:05. Boy do I wish she would stay this easy to get her up. HA

We went outside for our new traditional 1st day picture. Who would have thought that is would be 58* on a morning in August.

Daniel was very interested in all that was going on this morning.
Ready to load up. Lalaloopsy bookbag, lunch box, and flowers for the teacher. She is ready to go.
One quick family picture and we were off. Luckily, Grammie came over so she took our picture. Aunt Kitty and Langdon stopped by to wish her good luck, too. "Aunt" Stephanie wished her luck from next door and "Uncle" Scott called her on the way.
Finally we were there. She was all smiles. This picture about got me good. Look how little she looks compared to this big school that she is about to enter. Let's just say a few tears began to flow from me, but I gained my composure by the time I got to my room.

She was ready!!

Once Daddy got to school, it was time to walk her to class. Love that she is right down the hall.

Mrs. Ennis showed her how to unpack and her locker.

Katie Lee and Mrs. Ennis. We have been working on calling her Mrs. Ennis all summer rather that Mrs. Nancy which she has always called her. ( Nancy saw me in the hall later today and told me that KL came to her and whisper, " I know your real name, but I cannot call you it here at school." :0
She was ready to work and ready for us to leave. After a quick kiss and a see you this afternoon, we left her to begin her day.
I picked her up after school from extended day after I got off duty. You could see how sleepy she was but she could not wait to tell me about her day. Oh, she also got a birthday crown. Another little boy's birthday was today and Mrs. Ennis told the class that Katie Lee's was last week. Katie Lee asked to wear her crown. She proudly wore it all day.

I asked her to tell me her favorite part. She quickly named, playground, no Lego's, no doing work, no EVERYTHING!!
We left school and ran to McDonald's to pick up supper about 5 miles from school. Within 10 minutes of leaving school this is how I found her. I think school wore her out.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Sunday was my daddy's birthday. We celebrated Sunday night with a WONDERFUL supper at Kathryn's. Kathryn made Daddy's favorite, banana pudding, for dessert. Katie Lee and Daniel had to help blow out his candle. Sweet Langdon had missed his nap and fell asleep before we finished eating so we did not get a picture of him.

Wish Daddy a Happy Birthday and many more!!

Back to School/ Monday Made It

Hi All,
Maybe today should be I Made it Monday. Today was the first day of school. This began my 13th year at HES. I had a good day, and I think that I have a good class. I am showing most of my classroom and a little treat that I made for my class today.


I have two bulletin boards like this one that are on both sides of my windows. They will hold my reading and math anchor charts.

My reading focus wall. I use this along with my reading series. The ribbon is where we will have our sequence picture cards, the blue hanging file is for vocab., and the other three is for the title, skill, and strategy. I also have a word of the week that we focus on.

This is the other side of the front of my room. The Watch Us Grow board is where we will chart our progress this year(Multiplication/division, weekly spelling, reading, math test, and AR). The pennant wall is where I will write homework.

This is the ticket out the door. This is new for me so if anyone has tips, please share.

This is the outside of my classroom. Our theme for 4th grade is garden. Planting Seeds for Success!!

This is my FAVORITE part of my room. It makes the entire room look so happy!!

Grammar, AL History, and Science wall. Also you can see part of the math wall. I hope to show all of it next week with how I plan to do math this year.

Finally, I made treat bags for my class for snack.

Parties Continue

We finished Katie Lee's birthday celebrations with a family party Saturday night.





Katie Lee is one lucky little girl to have so many people love her. We are so blessed to have such a sweet little girl.

Lalaloopsy Party Part 2

Katie Lee had such a great time at her party. I think all of the little girls did. For fun, the girls got to go to three Lalaloopsy stations. This was perfect because they all seemed to love making crafts.

I created three stations:
Crumb's Sugar Cookie Corner where they got to decorate cookies to take home.
Jewel Sparkle's Jewelry Shop where they created pink bracelets.
Spot Splatter's Art Center where they created and decorated flowers.

After crafts, it was time for Katie Lee to open her gifts. Boy, did all these little girls give her bunches of cute things. She has loved playing with everything.

One quick picture of our family. Then it was time for food and cake.

It was such a nice day that they all got to play outside on her new swing set.

Lalaloopsy Party

Saturday afternoon, we celebrated Katie Lee's 5th birthday with a party with all of her friends. She LOVES Lalaloopsy so it only seemed right to have a Lala inspired party. The table turned our super cute. Thanks to Aunt Kitty for all of her help. (the sun made it hard to get a picture that was not too dark. )

My cousin, Laura Beth, did a fantastic job on the cake. It was too cute. I had such a hard time cutting it because it was SEW cute.



I created little signs for the food.


Blossom Flowerpot's Fruit Salad.


Berry Jams and Jars Sandwiches.



Sunny Side Up's Punch.

Mitten's Fluff and Stuff Marshmallows are in the jar.
Scoop Waffle Cone's Ice Cream are in the cupcake holders.

Peanut Big Top's Puff Corn was in the white sacks.

We used Katie Lee's Lalaloopsy toys and dolls on the table to add to the table. It looked like we had stepped right into Lalaloospy land.

Birthday Weekend

Friday our sweet Katie Lee turned 5. I still cannot believe she is 5. Where does the time go?

We began her celebratory weekend as soon as she woke up Friday morning. She had already gotten her gift from us when we built the swing set. She did have a few little things to open on her birthday. Daniel gave her a Doc McStuffins and Lambie. That is her new favorite show. She was so excited.

Later that day we had lunch at her pick, Chick-fil-a. A quick trip to the beauty show and Wal-Mart to finish getting all that was needed for her birthday party.

That afternoon, Aunt Kitty came to help set up for her party. Grammie and Poppie came later with a little gift and cookies for us to have on her birthday.

What do two little boys do while we were so busy with all this girl stuff. One little boy hides behind the table,

and another little boy plays with Katie Lee's toys.
Come back tomorrow for lots of Lalaloopsy inspired birthday parties.

A Whole Hand

Happy Birthday to my sweetest little girl. I cannot believe how fast time flies. She is such a blessing to our little family. I just love her all to pieces. She is beyond excited to be 5. She says, "can you believe that I will be a whole hand?" Love it!!

In honor of Katie Lee turning a whole hand today, I thought that I would interview her. I did this last year and it is funny which answers are the same and what is different.

Katie Lee's All About Me Interview

What is your name? Katie Lee Helums

When were you born? August 10

How old are you? Five

Who is your mommy? Leanne Helums

What does your mommy do? She teaches at Harvest

Who is your daddy? Donnie Helums

What does your daddy do? He works for UPS

What is your favorite color? Pink and purple

What do you want to be when you grow up? doc

What is your favorite food? Macaroni and cheese

What food do you not like? peas

What is your favorite animal? lamb

Where do you want to live when you grow up? in Tennessee

What do mommy and daddy do after you go to bed? watch TV and get on the computer

What does daddy say? Pull ol' Rattler

What does mommy say? I love you

What is your favorite song? Rolling in the Deep

What is your favorite show to watch? Doc McStuffins

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? vanilla

Where is your favorite place to eat? home

Who is your favorite person? Grammy

Who is your best friend? Lillian

What is your favorite book? Every Cowgirl Needs a Horse

What is your favorite thing to do? hug Mommy

Bucket List

Every summer I have this long list of things that I want to do while I am off during the summer. I know that I will not get it all done because we have playing, outtings, and relaxing to do too. Anyway, August got her and I still had a some things that I wanted to get done.

One was to sew something on my sewing machine that Donnie had gotten me for Mother's Day. Well, last week was the week. I made curtains from my classroom with lots of help from Mother. I also made curtains for my laundry room with some help from Mother. (More on that when it is all finished.) Finally I made an apron to give to Kathryn for her birthday with no help.

I also wanted to redo Katie Lee's bedroom. I painted her furniture. It has a little more in her room to do and then I will post pictures of it all finished.

Daniel was great while I painted. He just sat and watched Katie Lee play.

Katie Lee wanted to help paint so she got to put the first coat on.

I have also almost gotten my craft room set up and cleaned the garage.

Do you have summer bucket list?