2011 Young Achiever

Last night was the Loudon County Young Achiever awards. All of the elementary and middle schools in our county are represented. Each teacher for grades 1-8 nominates a kid from their class as their classroom Young Achiever winner. All of those kids are given a questionnaire to complete about themselves. All of those questionnaires are reviewed by judges and then 5 kids from each division are interviewed. The divisions are 1st/2nd grade, 3rd/4th grade, 5th/6th grade, and 7th/8th grade. Katelyn was nominated by her teacher as a classroom winner, and then was also selected by the judges as one of the five finalists for the 1st/2nd grade division. She had her interview with the judges a few weeks ago. Last night was the awards ceremony for all of the classroom winners and the announcement of the winners for each division. Katelyn did not win her division, but she was a gracious loser. I told her that it's easy to be happy when you win, but it's how you handle defeat that shows what kind of person you truly are. She was a little disappointed that she didn't win, but you would never have known it. She smiled when they announced that one of her best friends, Kylee, had won the 1st/2nd grade division. When Kylee came back to her seat, Katelyn went and gave her a hug. Such a sweet girl! One of Rachel's good friends, Catherine, was the winner for th 3rd/4th grade division! So our school was well represented!

Spring Break 2011 - Chattanooga

Spring Break 2011 - Rock City

On our last day in Chattanooga we went to Rock City. None of us had ever been there before. I must admit that it was better than I had expected! When we were almost finished going through the trail, our friends, the Chimleys, called us to let us know they were there too! They waited for us to finish and then we all went back through together. The girls had a great time with their friends. At one point when I was wanting to take a picture of them, they started acting like one of them was a bear and they were attacking the other three! They are so silly! I'm sure you'll be able to pick out those pictures in the slideshow!!! While there, we also ran into some friends of the Chimleys! Their younger daughter had gone to preschool with Virginia. We had fun hanging out with friends at Rock City. I'm not so sure if I actually saw 7 states or not though!!

Spring Break 2011 - Aquarium

While in Chattanooga for spring break, we spent a day at the Aquarium. The girls also participated in a FREE program called Keeper Kids. It's a program where kids can sign up to help the keepers with various things at the Aquarium. The girls were able to do three Keeper Kids activities. The first Keeper Kid activity was feeding the otters and trout. They gave each kid a dead fish to toss to the otters. You could tell the otters were used to this because they literally stood up and waited for you to toss the fish! For the trout, each kids was given a handful of fish food. The second Keeper Kid activity was penguin observation from a special viewing area above the penguin area. The penguin keeper talked to the kids and talked about how you observe your animals to determine what is normal behavior. She gave them each a list of all the penguins and their names and color bands, and then went to feed the penguins. The kids were supposed to notice which penguins actually came and ate. It was interesting, but you actually were further away from the penguins than if you had just walked through the aquarium! The last Keeper Kid activity we did was to release butterflies. This was cool!!! Each day they release the butterflies that have emerged from their chrysalis. So when the girls reached in the box and got out a butterfly and let it fly away, it was the first time that butterfly had ever flown! Pretty cool!!! This was the favorite for both Rachel & Katelyn.

We spent pretty much all day at the Aquarium. We did take a lunch break and went to the IMAX theater. We saw a movie about a surfer and the waves in Tahiti. It was actually really good and very interesting.

Spring Break 2011 - Chattanooga Zoo

During spring break we went to Chattanooga for a few days. On our first afternoon, we went to the Chattanooga Zoo. It isn't a big zoo, but we really enjoyed it. Plus, we had coupons for free child admission for both girls, so it only cost of for 2 adult admissions ($8 each). There weren't many people there, so we had a very enjoyable afternoon. The girls had lots of fun. It was definitely worth our $16!

Rachel Has Contacts!!!

It was time for Rachel's yearly eye appointment and I had talked to her about contacts. She has rec specs that she wears for sports, but she sweats so much that they constantly fog up. I told her we'd talk to the doctor about it. When I asked the doctor if she was too young for contacts, he told she was too young if I thought she was too young, but if I thought she was old enough, then she was old enough! Her prescription had changed quite a bit since her appt. last year, so we did go ahead and get her a new pair of glasses. If they had her contact prescription in stock, she would've gone home with contacts that day! However, they didn't have hers in stock so we had to order them. When we went back to get the contacts she was SO EXCITED!!! The assistant put them in for her, but before we left Rachel had to take one out and then put it back in. She succeeded on her very first attempt!

The next morning was a Thursday morning and she was a little nervous about trying to get them in before school. She tried a couple of times and got upset, so I ended up putting them in for her that day. The next day (Friday) I just held her eyes open while she put her contacts in. Since then, she has put her contacts in completely by herself! She's getting so good at it that most times she gets them in on the first attempt! She is loving it!

The first couple of days she did look different to us! I'm amazed at how much bluer her eyes look without glasses! She's always had really pretty blue eyes, but for some reason, the glasses seemed to distract from that. Now I can see those beautiful eyes again and I've told her over & over again how pretty her eyes are!

Book Fair with Clifford

Rachel got to be Clifford at the Book Fair yesterday at school! She was so excited! It was Katelyn's class' day to come to the book fair and I was already scheduled to work the book fair. Robert decided to drop in and see us all so we were able to get a family picture!

GPS Musical Video

This is the video of the song that Rachel did in the GPS musical tonight. She and Faith did a great job as the officers! Sorry about the color in the video. Somehow when I turned the video camera on, I accidentally changed one of the color settings.

GPS Musical Pictures

The kids choir at church performed the musical "GPS: God's Plan of Salvation" tonight. Katelyn played the little sister character named Piper, and Rachel played the part of Officer Betty. All of the kids did a great job! So proud of all of them!

Our friend, Katie, came to watch the girls.

Rachel's good friend, Karly, came to watch. Thanks for coming Karly!!

The cast from the car

The choir
I love this picture!


Rachel & Faith as Officer Betty and Officer Barney

Rachel as Officer Betty

Fine Arts Festival Video

This is the song that Katelyn helped out with at the Fine Arts Festival.

Fine Arts Festival Video

This is part of one of the songs the choir performed at the Fine Arts Festival.

Fine Arts Festival

The county started having a Fine Arts Festival three years ago. Students from the elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools are invited to come and participate in art, music, or band. Our music teacher invited five 4th graders from our school to participate in the elementary school choir. She also asked if Katelyn would come & sing part of one song. She said she feels the song is from a young child's perspective and she wanted a little person to sing it. So Friday afternoon we went to the Fine Arts Festival. They practiced their songs for a couple of hours and then the concert started at 6:00. There was artwork on display in the hallway and then the choirs sang and the bands played. All of the kids of all ages did a great job! Here are some pictures from the event:

Rachel and her friend, Chey, from church. Chey sang in the middle school choir.

Some pictures of the elementary choir performing

The girls! Katelyn, Zoya, Rachel, and Emily
The Eaton kids with Ms. Hall
The Eaton kids