Life Is An Adventure: January 2011

Saturday, January 29, 2011

D.A.R.E. Graduation

Fifth Grade has a program called DARE. It stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. They go through several weeks of lessons with a police officer. At the end, they all have to write an essay about what they have learned. For graduation, one person's essay from each class is chosen and that student reads it at graduation. Gabe's essay was chosen for his class.

Gabe and Seth waiting to read their essays. Seth looks cool as a cucumber...Gabe, well, maybe a little nervous?

DARE Report

by Gabe Martin

This year I learned about DARE. Officer Mize showed me how to be drug free by telling me to say "No!" to drugs.

Saying "No!"to drugs will help you because if you smoke, it can cause yellow teeth and smelly breath, but worst of all is that it can cause lung cancer. Over 400,00 people have died from smoking. Did you know that there are over 200 known poisons in cigarettes? Smoking can cause dry skin and wrinkles. Smoking causes a lot of harm to your body, so if I were you I would stop or don't even start.

Officer Mize told us how to stay out of situations that involve drugs. Some ways to stay out of trouble is to avoid the situation by not going where drugs are expected. Two other ways to stay out of trouble is to use the cold shoulder and just ignore them or use humor. For example, if someone offered, "Do you want some marijuana?" You could answer, "No, I need all my brain cells."

Not only does smoking cause terrible damage, but alcohol also slows the body and brain down and if you drink and drive, alcohol slows down your reflexes so it is easier to crash. Alcohol is very dangerous. You should never drink and always stay from it.

I will never ever do drugs because they are very harmful and I pledge to be drug free!

As Gabe walked up to read, he received a medallion from Officer Mize.

Shaking Mr. Williams' hand and receiving his certificate.

Standing with some of his class.

Gatlin, Seth, Gabe, Luke, Marshall, and Parker

Gabe and Seth

Gabe and his teacher, Ms. Bellamy

Pierce's Last Basketball Game

Pierce's last game was on January 22, 2011. Clay left the night before so Coach Ivan had to take over. Instead of trophies, this year we ordered t-shirts.

David, Pierce, Conner, Walker, Connor, Cam, Matthew, and Daniel

I like the way he dribbles up and down the court.

Going for the ball.

Look at him jump.

Listening to the coach.

Getting warmed up before the game.

The Pacers

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Snow Day with Paul

Paul (Clay's uncle) called us this morning to see what we were up to.
I told him I was bored out of my mind.
He told me to come on over and to bring the boys.

He had rigged up a lid to his truck and was pulling the kids.
Pierce, Terra, and Gabe on the tailgate and another Gabe is on the "sled".

Gabe's turn.

Jordan would have ridden every time if everyone would have let him.
He had so much fun.

Here is Gabe again. I think the ice to the left looks like water.
Pretty!

Terra paved the way for the track.
She, Jordan, and Gabe (a friend) had ridden around several times and had it ready for us.

Pierce

Pierce again!

They finally convinced me to go. Paul said he would go slow.
He lied! It was a lot of fun though!

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Boredom Cookies

Well, we were out of school again today. So, we decided to make cookies.
We used some of my mom's old cookie cutters.

Cutting them out.

And decorating. I know, it was a lot of leftover
Christmas icing and sprinkles but they had fun and didn't care.

Pierce with a few of his creations: snowman, lion, and heart.

We ended up with scottie dogs, lions, reindeer, hearts, rabbits, spades, diamonds, and clovers.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Snow Day 1/10/11

We woke up to a beautiful white morning. First we headed over to get the sleds.

Then we headed over to a hill we thought would good but it wasn't.
So we headed back home.

I hooked up one of the sleds to the four wheeler and pulled the boys.

Grandmama's house is beautiful!

Pulling some more. They loved it.

I wanted a go too but Gabe wasn't heavy enough and the four wheeler couldn't get enough traction.

So the boys hit the hill in the back and front yard.

They stayed out for a really long time.
This picture cracks me up.
I took the picture and then...

They started throwing snowballs.
Evil little children!

I think I may have the coolest kids in the world!

A Visitor from China

Clay brought home a visitor from China. His name is Wan.
He is here for training at Clay's lab.
He brought a gift for the boys. This keychain is called "The Baby of the Sea" or HAI BAO in Chinese.

The boys wanted to play ping pong with Wan.
Here is Pierce.

And Gabe.

And of course, Clay.

Before lunch at Gabe and Cecelia's, Gabe and Pierce taught Wan how to play Crazy Eights.

One our way to eat, grabbing a quick picture with Wan.
After lunch, Clay and I took Wan to Athens to see the Merial building and UGA.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Rook

Clay taught the boys how to play Rook over Christmas holidays. So, of course, I learned too. We have been playing Rook like crazy. We have spent several hours a day playing. Clay and I wake up to the boys begging us to play and we hear, "Just one more game before we go to bed?" The boys and I are improving but we still have lots to learn!