Another one bites the dust...

Emma lost another tooth tonite - the second front tooth. It's been barely hanging on for a few days now and after sitting with me in the computer room - playing Chuzzle till I made the 8th level and 111,000 points - she finally got it within a hair and then presto....!

It's 9pm and we hope the Tooth Fairy can alter her flight plan for the night and hit our street, it's in the window in an antique egg Grammy gave Emma.

Will take a picture tomorrow before she leaves for school.

I hope the Tooth Fairy can find some cashola to put under her pillow at this late hour...

Overheard in the last week from Hope

During a lengthy dinner prayer from the rambling Hope:
"And help Jesus feel better..."
Emma: "Whats wrong with Jesus?"
Hope: "Well, he was hanging on the cross..."
Emma: "Not any more!"
Hope: "Oh."

Then last night, Hope says "After my shower I should get to bed, I am really tired.......Well, I am tired but I guess I could get over it."

High's and Low's

of being in 1st grade

High: Sitting in the BACK of the lunch room! First graders get to sit at the back table - whereas the kindergarten class sits in the front of the room.

Low: Line leader status in Mrs. Hibbitts room is by alphabetical order of last names, Emma is number 15 of 20, she wont be line leader for a few weeks yet. ( she didn't appreciate my story about how I was an Armstrong and was always first when i was in school )

High: they are still working on the new addition to the school and have not replaced the playground, but now the she is a 1st grader they get to play on the soccer field and they laid a new asphalt track around it and she loves running around the track for recess time.

Low: she has figured out there is going to be more work this year - less center time and group learning and more individual time at her desk.

Will add more later - will add more about Rachel's week.
So far 7th grade has:

*boring teachers - except math, the teacher grew on her - and english, teacher is apprently not a snoozer and appears to be interesting.

*so busy that she has not had time to properly decorate her locker, this was done by orientation day last year and narey a thing so far due to the amount of books and school work being dumped on the shelf.

*first volleyball game yesterday after school - Rachel served the winning point of the game!!!

She make's us proud.

First day of First Grade..............

Emma G.

Sissy's

Emma was up and at it first thing this morning... ( this may be the first and last time that happens ) dressed and bouncing around in her new sneakers and her first day of school outfit - not sure how much breakfast she really ate but she'll make it! She decided late last night that she would like me to drive her on her first day to school, so we dropped her off and will update later on how it went.


I'll update later on how Rachel's first day went and all her happenings as well.


Hope is sad - she wanted to go to her school today too - but we have 2 more weeks till we start.

Hey Y'all

I've lived in the south over 20 years now and just this past weekend I was caught totally off guard by a language barrier, here in Abingdon, VA!
The girls and I were in Kroger when a woman asked me if I wanted to enter a drawing for "Rice Tickets"... pause on my part, "Excuse me?" and the woman repeated herself, " did I like the Rice?"... again, pause and I replied " sorry? " and with a smile for the third time, the woman asked if I was interested in "Rice Tickets".... my brain worked over time on this one and somehow a tiny light bulb went off in my head remembering the banner's all over town that said " Welcome Race Fans"... oh yeah, the Bristol Sharpie 500 whatever is coming... not Rice but Race.......... yeah, let's hope the girls don't pick up that much of a country accent living this close to Tennessee.
.
Remember when David first started commuting to Abingdon and was greeted by a grocer checkout girl... "Hair you?"..... How - Are - You ???

School Orientation?

Yup, today Rachel and Emma have orientation to drop off a small pickup load of supplies for the year - I shudder to think about paying for school lunches.... and school starts this WEDNESDAY!!! How is that possible? August 20th? Shall I date myself by saying we always started the first Tuesday after labor day? this is better than last year when Emma started on the 13th!
Will keep all posted on events of the week!

Water Slide

Hope made it to the bottom

Dad and 3 friends

Dad's surrounded

She made it

Emma slide into home...

That's Emma catching some air - she was jumping on the big bump in the hill!

It's taken me two days to recover enough to type up the blog......... on friday we had an "end of summer" party for the girls, they invited 5 friends for a total of 7 kids running amok at our home from 2 - 6pm. We said bring your suits and we will get the plastic out and have a slip -n- slide day .... ( dad took 1/2 day from work, no way was I going to handle this one solo )

again for those of you just tuning in - we get the 75ft sheet of plastic and shoot the kids down the hill all lubed up with johnson's baby shampoo ( better than dawn dishliquid when it gets in their eyes - great idea dad! ) they had at it for over an hour - then the rain came - and they all went running for the house ??? I said what's the problem kids, your already wet right? oh yeah, then they went back at it. But we did call time for hotdogs and cupcakes when it rained harded and rumbled thunder. Ok, again - 7 kids running up the stairs - down the stairs - lots of screaming... ugh! We said suit up and was going to give them a last 30 minutes then get them dried off before their rides came. Well that was great in theory... even after I cut the water off they were still sliding down. David and I remarked afterwards that not a single kid walked back up the hill but all RAN up the hill. we couldn't even guess how many times they must of gone down. David is still covered in grass burns/bruises ( and he is just recovering finally from the Softball tournament last sunday ), our lawn may recover next spring, and I enjoyed eating the homeade chocolate chip ice cream I made that the kids didn't eat because they wanted to get back outside.mmmmmmmm! I had pictures made for the parents - as words just do not do the slide justice and one mom told me this morning at church that her son said it wasn't a slip-n-slide but really a WATER SLIDE.... wow. who needs dollywood?

Slap your grandma ?

We were riding in the car today - mum, Emma and Hope - listening to the radio, a country station, when the Trace Adkins song, "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" came on. The girls were humming along to the tune - it's got a great upbeat sound to it - when the lyric came on

" And whoo-wee Shut my mouth, slap your grandma "

to whit, Hope said... " Slap your grandma???? " why would we slap memaw Emma? and they both about busted a gut laughing.... it didn't help this is in the chorus of the song and we heard it 3 more times.

ah parenthood - it's about the laughter.

Dentist Nightmare..........

nothing like a good belly laugh
bad dad

hey, howz's it going?

nothing like a before bed snack of oreo's and milk..........I think David was upstair with them for a half an hour trying to get it all out of their teeth before bed.

Hopie Houdini

Poor Hope, she had a rough day yesterday - went to the bathroom downstairs and twisted the lock on the door and yup, got locked in there. I tried talking her to get the catch released to no avail, I headed to the garage for the tool kit. I remember Emma doing the same thing shortly after we moved to Abingdon. I got the casing off, then the handle and I could see Hope in the bathroom, I would of loved to have taken a picture thru the hole but she kept tearing up saying she was going to miss me being locked in the bathroom forever. It took me a little while to remember how to trip the catch and we kept telling her funny stuff to make her laugh and alas I got her out. Whew.
sorry no picture, I just couldn't do it to her - but that doesn't mean it can't still go on record here in the blog.

Boating anyone?

emma
Lake Holston

Grandma Rachel

em's - giggling Hope and memaw

Grandaddy

Dad, Rachel and Hope - under the pontoon boat

mum, Hope and Rachel

Grandma Rachel and her girls.....

Memaw and Grandaddy and G-ma Rachel brought us (little? we need a new clarifying adjective ) Rachel this past friday and spent the night with the Abingdon Shockley's. Just in time for dinner too ( our specialty ). Rachel did make the volleyball team for Blacksburg Middle school and she had practice friday afternoon so she was even more hungry than usual.

After dinner Hope got to go on her birthday shopping trip - ALONE - with cheryl and jim, this has turned out to be one of the kid's highlights of the year, getting to go off without the rest of us! Hope picked the bristol mall and hit Kaybee toys and Claires.... she seemed very excited with her choices and has been playing with baby and stroller ever since and wears a new headband and earrings every day!

Saturday turned out to be a mere 80 degree's and sunny so we decided to make our last summer hurrah and go rent a pontoon boat. We do this once a summer and since this summer has passed faster than a blink of an eye we hadn't got to do it yet. Lake Holston is on the border of Va and Tennessee. The lake is seriously low on water, it's down over 12 feet but the folks at the marina told us where to go and just watch the low spots! We putted all over for 3 hours - took swims - ate some chicken - swam some more and came home.

We rounded the afternoon off with a church softball game - it doesn't matter that their son is almost 40 years old - they still loved watching him play ball! Sinking Spring had a great game and that meant they would play in the finals on Sunday afternoon. Jim, cheryl and grandma Rachel watched and headed back to Roanoke after the game. I know there were 3 little bundles that were trying to sneak into the back but after luring them back home with homemade ice cream - we all hit the sack early - that was a big day!

Sunday started early - I had to speak at both church services for our Moment for Mission, that meant I got to hear our Pastor tell the congregation twice that we is leaving our church and accepting a call to another church in Ohio. David and the girls were Usher's for the late service and were well received by everyone outside getting their morning bulletin. How could that not make someone smile to see the 3 girls holding open the front door to church?

Great cookout for lunch - hotdogs and burgers with blue cheese crumbles on top - go grillmaster Shockley!!! then we headed back to the ball field for playoff's - if S.S. won at 3 they would play at 4 and if they won at 4 they would play at 5 and if they won that game a 4th would follow. Who knew? they had to play ALL 4 games.... it took them almost 5 hours of straight play............. but,.................... they WON! the whole deal! Sinking Spring has never won the championship! We get a big trophy and we got to stomp our arch nemnesis!

Whew.... that was just over 2 days......... lots of happenings!

Happy Day

I like to think of myself as a half-full kind of guy so with that said, this is a happy day. Some good friends of ours have received a wonderful opportunity as God has presented to them a new chapter of their lives. OK -- flashback time....Years ago we met them -- not here, but memorably so, over dinners on Wednesdays at church. It was a highlight of mine specifically, and more than likely I am safe to speak for the whole of Team Shocker, to first see Miss Paiges' wonderful smile (this is my favorite part), the quick wit of Mr. Robert and the boundless talent of the mini-Tolars Erin and Elizabeth. The most genuine folks you could ever have the pleasure of meeting -- above all, to me, was their unique selflessness. Selflessness that was so profound and daily it went unnoticed by many. Not to this family. Our pastor and family are moving from our fair city at the end of September as Team Tolar seeks to conquer Ohio. This Ohio church has no idea what a gift God has awaiting them. From a selfish perspective, and I do not say this lightly, we have a huge void in our life. Confession time -- I am an overprotective parent. What? You are shocked? No, no, it is true. Well, Mr. Overprotective left our prized possessions in their care and I only called TWICE!! No more a testimony is needed. Oh yeah, back to half-full -- I am going to miss them more than I can share, and waaaaay more than I care to admit, but am extremely happy and excited for them. Their selflessness apparently didn't rub off enough because sadness is my primary reaction but I'll attribute this to the shock of the announcement. So, whomever...say a prayer for the Tolars. They don't need it but I ask anyway. I know I am praying for them...if only for him to fail so he comes back and.....sorry, stepped away from the keyboard for a second, HEY! Who typed that?!?! I do pray for them, but only for others to come into contact with them, they are that special. And are missed already. Good Luck Tolars, we'll keep a giant sheet of plastic warm for you.

Quiet Time ?!?!?

She wiggled and wiggled and jiggled beside me - so I told Emma to go have "QUIET TIME" on her bed while Hope took a nap on my bed and I did some work downstairs.

I went up to check on Emma about 30 minutes later and was rather surprised at what went on while she was being quiet on her bed. Very industrious......... a whole town of tents and car garages.... wow!

Lilly

I was cleaning up the kids area - aka, the pit of dispair - when Lilly jumped into the girls Build -a- Bear boxes and started playing and being a... well a cat!

Later that same day - David went to check on the girls before bed and Lilly decided that sleeping with Hope was the way to go -- I kinda missed her sleeping with me - but I don't miss the hot flash she usually creates sleeping on my feet.

Who'd a thunk??

You know those mangled, dried out, withering plants you see in the middle of June after the big rush to plant is over and the stores are sick and tired of watering the stock? Well as I was looking for something else I saw a withering tomato plant and 2 melon - one cantaloupe and one watermelon..... and thought what the heck? can't beat a buck a plant and the tomato's up top were not doing squat and neither of the melon's we planted by seed came up at all.

Well let me just say that in the picture you are looking this is what is there and a poor Jalapeno plant that needs to be moved because it's buried... talk about a magic spot. We are in trouble once the melons come in because I lost count of how many flowers there were and at least a bushel of tomato's!!!!

Sinking Spring Softball

Yup, it's another year in the church softball league. Today's game was part of the tournament and S.S. won!!! That means another game tomorrow evening at 9 PM!!! That is way past the Shockley's bedtime. Send some vibes tomorrow night please.....................

Camp Rocker

For those of you over the age of 15 and don't watch Disney Channel Family movies, Camp Rock means nothing to you or a girl named Demi Lavado.... but if you are lucky (hmmmm) and any of this makes sense... Hope is playing the character of Mitchie from the classic film CAMP ROCK.