Claws up!

The Texas Rangers are going to the

World Series!!!

I cannot begin to tell you how happy this makes me.  For the girl that used to decorate her notebooks in junior high and high school with pictures of Nolan Ryan and Pudge Rodriguez, it's a dream come true.  I know, I know...I was such a N.E.R.D.  But now my undying love and devotion are paying off!

You couldn't grow up in my house without loving baseball (my dad's name is Ted Williams, afterall).  Family vacations almost always revolved around a Rangers game - Thanks, Mom and Dad!  To put it lightly, we love us some Rangers baseball!!!! 

When I was 13 years old, I wrote a letter to Nolan Ryan telling him what a great man I thought he was and how I admired his talent and work ethic (I didn't mention that I had a little crush on him).  I wouldn't change much in that letter today except to say how HAPPY I am that he owns this Rangers team that is headed to the World Series.   I loved the look on his face tonight as he celebrated with his family! It couldn't happen to a nicer guy! 

I won't discuss the Yankees - Okay, just a few little things...poetic justice for A-Rod (last out of the game that takes us to the World Series..Can anyone else hear Toby Keith - How do like me now?), horrible calls by the umpires (really not one of you sees the ball hit his shin, fan interference, etc.),  and finally money can buy you ex-Rangers but not a trip to the World Series this year.

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!!     LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!!    

LET'S GO RANGERS!!!!!

I will not be able to post again about the Rangers until the World Series is over (win or lose).  You see, in my mind, my facebook or blog posts could sway the outcome of the games (I know, I know, I'm still a N.E.R.D.).  Oh well, better safe than sorry! 

Until next time - Happy Game Watching! 

Verse of the day - "The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

Blessings,
Kelli



Favorite Things Friday

Okay - I'm going to attempt to do this at least every other Friday...



My friend Ann introduced us to these markers in Church a few weeks ago.  I L.O.V.E. them!  Seriously, I love them way more than a grown woman should love markers.  And I am not even afraid to admit it!  Many, many thanks to Ann for introducing us to these gems.  They have kept Kendall busy at Church, football games and practices for hours on end.  By the way, they are washable...



Simply put the markers on the carabiner and voila...



Never lose markers or those pesky lids again.  (Target - $2.99, no really
 $2.99 for the whole set)

I can feel your shared love for the markers coming through the computer screen!


On to the next item on today's agenda.  We love books at our house.  Who doesn't?  Jackson and I have read this book many, many times and the fun times just keep on coming.  It is a great read-aloud - not to mention wonderful fluency practice.

  



One reader's words are in navy and the other reader's words are in purple.  The blue words in the middle are meant to be read together.  So fun!

This last item was a gift from Jackson.

He saw this leaf outside Kendall's school and picked it up to give to me.  He thought I would like it because of all the different colors.  Sweet boy!



He tried to write on the back with a ball-point pen.  To Mom From Jackson





Love sweet gifts that come from the heart!

In case you were wondering...YES, I am still a HUGE Texas Rangers fan.  However, my superstitious ways have got the best of me and I cannot post on them any further until the time is right.  Believe me, you'll know!

Verse of the day - "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Blessings,

Kelli







Friday Night Lights

My dad and our good friend Danny go to a high school football game every Friday night.  Sometimes they stay here in town and sometimes they drive to a surrounding community.  This week, Danny was out of town so Jackson and I went with my dad to the Monterey/Coronado game.



L.O.V.E.

Jackson has really become interested in football "terminology" this season.  He loves to watch the game and try to call the plays.  Shall I say he loves to watch the plays in the 1st, 3rd and 4th quarters.  The 2nd quarter is devoted to whining talking me into buying him a snack because he is "starving to pieces".    Anyways, it makes my heart happy to hear Jackson and my dad having a conversation about football.

I also reaffirmed the fact that Jackson is genetically linked to my dad...A group of rowdy, ill-behaved middle schoolers came to sit stand in front of us.  Jackson turns to my dad and I, rolls his eyes and says "Teenagers!".

I love that Jackson has such a great relationship with his Papa!

Verse of the day - "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize."     1 Corinthians 9:24

Blessings,
Kelli

Yes, I do spend entirely too much time at school

Here are some things my poor son does as he waits and waits and waits for me to finish up at school so we can go home...

He finds the overhead wildly fascinating!  I have to limit his play time so my bulb won't burn out!

He lays in the floor to look at the "All About Me" posters on the wall.  I bet he's read each one about four times!

He gets to play school with AnnaBelle and reenact the day's lessons.  They take turns being the teacher.  In this "lesson" Jackson was the teacher.  He was making a list about what families need. 

This is their completed list...which is one of the most precious things I've ever seen.  For those of you that aren't fluent in first grade, it reads "Families need...get along, trust, honest, good parents".

So, I only hope that one day he doesn't begin a tell-all book with the sentence, "It all started because I had to spend entirely too much time at school with my mom".

Verse of the day - "So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." 1 John 4:16

Blessings,
Kelli

Tissues, please...

At the end of each six weeks, our school has a "Top Dog" assembly.  At each assembly, students with perfect attendance for the six weeks are honored as well as students earning the title of "Top Dog".  I'm not going to go into all the details, but being a "Top Dog" is a pretty big deal and we were very proud that Jackson was chosen to be one.




Daddy got to come before work :)



and Yommy, too!



At each "Top Dog" assembly, a different grade level is in charge of the "entertainment" if you will.  Our fifth grade team was up first, and they hit it out of the park!!!  They have set the bar very high, I'm not sure anyone else will be able to live up to it!

When we walked into the gym, the fifth graders were sitting around the edges with cardboard signs in front of them.  After I got my class seated and settled, I glanced down at one of the signs and saw the words "You comfort me."  I thought to myself right then, "I'm not sure what's going on, but I think I'm going to need a tissue."  I looked at my good friend who teaches fifth grade with a questioning look and all she said was, "Just wait for the music to start."  Those of you that know me well know that if you set anything to music, I'm going to cry.  Well, that was a MAJOR understatement.  I needed an entire box of tissue for what was coming.

"You raise me up" by Josh Groban starts to play (tearing up already) and one-by-one the fifth graders stand up holding a sign written for a staff member.  These signs say things like "Mrs Sevigny, you made me feel better when kids made fun of me" or "Thank you, Mrs. Greear for teaching me my multiplication facts, now I make good grades."  and my very favorite of all "Miss Meadors - I said I do not want to go to P.E., but she said I could get used to it (he turned the sign over) and I did".  At this point, I'm in full on sob mode, and I can't even read the signs anymore because of the tears.

Little notes of thanks that filled our hearts and reminded us why we do what we do - day in and day out...Little notes that reminded us how precious these kids are...Little notes that reminded us they were really listening to our lessons...Little notes that reminded us how one smile, hug, or joke made a lasting impression...Little notes that reminded us how lucky we are to be entrusted with these students...Little notes that made a BIG difference right when we needed it!

Needless to say, there was not a dry eye in the house! Thanks again to our wonderful fifth grade team for this outstanding idea!  Did I mention that 2 out of the 3 teachers on the fifth grade are men?



Smiling through their tears - Beautiful 4th grade teachers...Shawna and Erinn.  They were very sweet to let me snap their pic during the presentation.  Thanks, ladies!

The students then delivered our notes to us personally, so we could say thank you and get a hug!  Yes, I did get lots of pictures of these deliveries, but can't include the pics for privacy reasons.

My personal note...  The kids call me Mrs. "Mac".  It's a little easier than McCammond, which always proves to be hard to say and spell :)

Ironically,  my sweet fifth grader delivered this to me during our Spelling Test!



If you get a chance this week, thank a teacher.  It might seem like a small gesture to you, but it can really make a difference!

Verse of the day - "Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." 1 Corinthians 15:58

Blessings,

Kelli

You should be dancing - Yeah!

The littlest McCammonds were so excited to see some of their favorite people this weekend...

Gee-Gee was having a good day when we visited her!  The kids had a great time entertaining her with the wheelchair!



Love the smile that the kids put on her face!

We love to play with Papa!  

Sidenote - Notice Kendall's plaid shirt?  When I was getting her dressed Saturday morning, she said "No, that's my daddy's shirt!".  She thinks that every plaid shirt belongs to daddy since that's what he wears to work most days! 

Yay!  Uncle Timmy and Aunt Jecca were in town!  Timothy started at Tech's Pharmacy school in Amarillo in August.  Amarillo seems way farther than 2 hours when people you love live there!

Memaw was in town from Vernon!  Jackson is reading to her from Genesis at lunch.  I'm so sad that in the only picture I got of Kendall, Jackson and my grandma both my kids had their eyes shut!  :(



Yommy's hiding behind Kendall.  Kendall is enjoying an entire piece of pink bubblegum!



Not sure who's having more fun with the animals Kendall made at Sunday School - Uncle Charlie, Kendall or Yommy...  Uncle Charlie and Aunt Kim were in town for Gideons Sunday.  It was good to see them and we are glad Memaw got to ride along, too!









Our church held a Street Dance Sunday night.  We had so much fun hanging out with good friends and watching our kids dance!  When I first told Jackson about the Street Dance, he said "Isn't that going to be dangerous to dance in the street?".   Such a little man - very literal!  Luckily, our Church has a great cul-de-sac perfect for a cook-out and dancing in the street (safely).



Ann and John sharing a mother/son dance!  So precious... We had such a great time hanging out with Ann and her sweet children!  I'm so blessed by her friendship and so lucky that our kids are friends, too!  Ann has a major heart breaker on her hands - he is the CuTeSt thing!





Jackson and Kendall enjoying a dance!

The hamburgers and hot dogs were really good!  Although Kendall and Jackson only took one bite of their respective choices.  They were too excited to eat!

Another brother/sister dance combo - Ann's kids, Caroline and John.  Aren't they too cute?

A dance with daddy!

Caroline and Kendall - I think Caroline danced to every single song!  She is such a lovely, caring, graceful girl!  So glad Kendall has a good role model to look up to!



Kendall's breaking it down - Either I was not fast enough to get a picture of her face or she would fall down before I got there to take it.  Sadly, her middle name is not living up to it's potential - she is about as graceful as I am!  She fell down a half a dozen times and added a few scratches, bruises and a busted lip to her collection.

Kendall couldn't quite get the concept of standing on Daddy's feet - she thought she needed to squat down!



Jackson and a new friend from Church.  They looked so cute sitting on the curb drinking their pop!

Caroline, Jackson and Kendall doing the "Cha-Cha Slide".  Ann, Zach and I had the best time watching the kids dance.  We left the majority of the dancing to the kids.  We didn't want others to feel envious of our mad dancing skills!

How low can you go?

Now that's what I call good, clean fun!  I am again reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded by wonderful friends and family!

Verse of the day - "Let them praise his name with dancing and make music to him with tambourine and harp." Psalm 149:3

Blessings,

Kelli

All About Kendall

Yay!  I'm finally doing an all about Kendall post!

I'm not sure where to begin telling you about Kendall (a.k.a. Tindle, Kendy, Kendy-Cane, Sissy, etc.).  She is the most opinionated person living in our household and she's just two!  I often say that I think God filled her with a little extra spirit!

Here are a few things we love about our girl...

• Her hair!  I hate my curly hair, but absolutely love it on her.

• Her smile!  Those teeth - I like to call them her Texas pageant teeth.  She leads with those teeth when she smiles, talks and dances!




Good shot of those pageant teeth and her "puffed" out hair!


• Her OCD issues!  She is definitely the most analytical person in our family.  She sorts, stacks, and organizes anything.  Give her a stack of books, legos or dominoes and she is set for at least half an hour.  Her "Monk"-like ways also play a factor in her clothing.  Everyday after school, she comes home, strips down and puts on the same outfit - EVERYDAY!!!  She will even dig the clothes out of the hamper to put them on.  The only variation is the shirt - it can be the plain pink one or the pink one with the butterflies.  The shorts actually belong to another outfit.

What an outfit!

Another after school ritual is stacking and unstacking lots and lots of books, over and over and over again.  Then, once her stacking is complete she reads Brown Bear, Brown Bear.  Only in Kendall's world it goes "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What You Are?" instead of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?"


• Her dancing skills!  I picked her up from school the other day and she was having a dance party to entertain her teachers.  She was doing the "Single Ladies" dance (don't judge me - you know you like that song, too!).  Don't get me wrong I love Jackson's sporting events, but I cannot wait until Kendall starts dance and we can enjoy some "GirlWorld" activities!  She love "nastics" (gymnastics) at school already!
• Her love of animals!  She has never met an animal she didn't like.  We've got to figure out how to get her a pet that doesn't bother Jackson's allergies!

• Her free-spirit!  She marches to the beat of her own drum (and beat boxes to it as well).  The other day I was doing the dishes and she was coloring at the table.  About 5 minutes later, she came up to me and said, "Look, Momma!  I tolored me!"  We're working on our "k"and "c" sounds, by the way. 



Notice the shorts?



This is the second shirt variation



• Her speech!  Many of you know that I was worried for a long time about her speech.  REPEAT AFTER ME - DO NOT compare your children, DO NOT compare your children, DO NOT compare your children!  She was just taking her time because she knew she had a LOT to say about everything!
• Her girly-ness!  She loves bows, jewelry, shoes and tu-tus.  I know this may not last forever, but I am definitely enjoying it while it lasts!



Admiring how cute she is in the mirror!



How lucky are we that God chose us to be her parents?  She is such a blessing and a joy!!!!

Verse of the day - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Blessings,
Kelli