Veterans Day

I know that I am week late for Veterans Day. However it has been on my mind. On Vetereans Day I went to Samantha's school. Each year the eighth grade social studies department puts on a program. It is wonderful. The band plays, so I got to see/hear Samantha play in the percussion section. Also veterans are invited to speak and students read excerpts of letters from Soldiers that have been in wars. Each war is noted. My favorite part of the program is when the band plays the hymns of the services. I love to hear them and being able to honor those who serve our country.

My Dad served in Veitnam. Both of my grandpas served in WWII. My brother-in-law Richard served in Iraq, and Andrew (another brother-in-law) served in Afghanistan. We have other family members who have also served in the services. Thanks to all of you who serve our country. I appreciate your service and efforts to keep our freedoms.

Congratulations!! Samantha

On Thursady, Nov 6, 2008, Samantha was awarded "Do the Right Thing". The Punta Gorda police department runs the program. Anyone can nominate a student, for doing the right thing. Each month five students recieve the award. So November is Samantha's month.

At the beginning of the school year, Samantha found some lost keys. She found out who the keys belonged to and returned them. The owner of the keys nominated Samantha for the "Do the Right Thing" award. The owner of the keys said that he was greatful to have the keys back, and glad to have the peace of mind that the keys were not in a strangers hands. Good Job Samantha. The coolest part of the story is that Samantha doesn't remember doing this. Like her Grandma Crane said, this means that Samantha does the right things for the right reason.

There is also a funny part to the story. Craig and I had been notified of the award and had decided to let Samantha be suprized. So we had invited the Smith's and told Patrick and Morgan. We thought every thing was under our hat. On the morning of the award Ceremony, Samantha was called into the principals office to be congratulated. She didn't know what Mr Revelas was talking about, so he had his secretary call the police department, to be sure they had the right kid. In that phone call, they realized that they had blown the suprized. So the principal called me to apolgize for ruining the suprize! Oh well.

Of course I took lots of pictures. The top picture is when Samantha recieved the award, she is flanked by two detectives. The second picture is Samantha with the Punta Gorda Police Chief. And the third picture is Samantha with her parents. The roses in the pictures came from Grandma and Grandpap Smith. I'm glad they and Aunt Joy were able to come and celebrate with us.

Congratulations Samantha, we love you!!

Happy Birthday Stuart!

Stuart had a great birthday. Grandma and Grandpap Smith and Aunt Joy and Austin came over to celebrate with us. As you can see Austin blew out the candles with Stuart!



Stuart loves to build stuff. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said "Wood, some 2x4's." So that is what he got. One of the pictures is of Craig carrying in the 2x4's for Stuart. The Smith's also gave Stuart some wood and an awesome tool set in a Home Depot bag. He was most excited about all the screws and nails to hold stuff together. After opening everything, Stuart said that the first thing he is going to build will be for Austin. I love Stuart and that he enjoys doing for others. He is wonderful.

Stuart also got new bedding. He looks so cozy. Stuart is not so sure about having a sheet and a blanket on his bed. So we pushed the blanket up against the wall. Stuart hasn't liked bedding in the past, so we'll see how this goes!

Halloween Day and Night

Sturat and Raeleigh's elementary school had a variation on Halloween. Each classroom was assigned a country. Then there was time spent during the last month learning about the country assigned to your class. For the parade on Halloween, the students were asked to dress up as something from their country. As soon as Stuart found out the country assigned to his class was China, he had a costume in mind. He wanted to be a chineese dragon. His teacher and I looked all over for a costume. Finally we decided to go with a cardboard dragon head and a piece of material for the body. Stuart loved painting the dragon head. Two of his classmates were the body. They had a great time and looked so awesome in the parade.

Raeleigh's class studied South Africa. They learned about the animals there. So the week of Halloween, each student got to pick an animal they want to be and make a mask. Raeleigh was happy with her choice as a monkey. She loved making her mask. On Halloween day, she wore her brown pants and shirt inside out so that the pictures would not show and ruin her monkey costume!

Halloween night we still had sick kids. Morgan and Jordan stayed home. Samantha babysat for a family and then went to a party.

Patrick took money for parking at the football game and they watched the game. So Craig, Stuart, Raeleigh and I went to dinner with the Smiths. Afterward we went to the mall for trick-or-treating. For trick-or-treating Stuart was spiderman, Raeleigh was a monkey princess (she also wore her vampire teeth). They were both happy to trick-or-treat with their cousin, Austin. It was a fun day/evening!

120% equals a model Airplane

Stuart has been going to Dr. K. for helping with his reading skills. Stuart refers to Dr K as his question doctor. This is because the first time they met Dr K asked Stuart questions for about an hour!Stuart has improved his reading and spelling skills with Dr K's help.

Two weeks ago Stuart passed his spelling test. Not only passed but earned a 120%. He came home so pleased with himself. I praised him a ton. (I shed a few HAPPY tears too.) Stuart called and left a message for Dr. K. to tell him also.

So during Stuart's regular appointment last Monday, Dr K told him he had earned a reward. A reward for hard work! They scheduled time on Saturday for Stuart to go to Dr K's office. While there they read instructions and build a model airplane.

Stuart had been talking to Dr K for weeks about building the airplane. It was like a dream come true for Stuart to be able to finally build. He truly earned this plane.

The pictures are of Stuart glueing the balsa wood onto the paper, cutting
the plane out, reading the next set of directions, putting the plane outside to dry and finally flying the plane. In the last picture you can see the plane right between Stuart and the red car up in the air.

Girl Scouts Halloween Party

Samantha's Girl Scout Troop put on a Halloween Party for Raeleigh's troop. The older girls taught the younger ones saftey rules and then the fun began.

There was face painting as you can see from the picture above. Samantha put a pumpkin on Raeleigh's face. They girls got to decorate cookies (Samantha's troop made the cookies from scratch!) There was also a game station. Of course afterward, we ate cookies and had punch. I love the picture to the left of two of my beautiful girls .

Patrick on Spirit Day

Patrick diffently showed his school spirit in the school colors, BLUE AND GOLD. Funny thing is that when he went to the parade, he ran into a friend that was dressed just like Patrick - even down to the same number of beads!