Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Harlem's Promise Academy!!

I'm going to get to do a two day presentation at Harlem's Promise Academy! I don't know if you have seen this area in the news or hear about Geoffery Canada, but I'm so thriled for this opportunity!!



From the website...
ABOUT GEOFFREY CANADA

Leading HCZ In Its Work With Inner-City Children

In his 20-plus years with Harlem Children's Zone, Inc., Geoffrey Canada has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform.
Since 1990, Mr. Canada has been the President and Chief Executive Officer for Harlem Children's Zone, which The New York Times Magazine called "one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time." In October 2005, Mr. Canada was named one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News and World Report.

In 1997, the agency launched the Harlem Children's Zone Project, which targets a specific geographic area in Central Harlem with a comprehensive range of services. The Zone Project today covers 100 blocks and aims to serve over 10,000 children by 2011.

The New York Times Magazine said the Zone Project "combines educational, social and medical services. It starts at birth and follows children to college. It meshes those services into an interlocking web, and then it drops that web over an entire neighborhood....The objective is to create a safety net woven so tightly that children in the neighborhood just can't slip through."

The work of Mr. Canada and HCZ has become a national model and has been the subject of many profiles in the media. Their work has been featured on "60 Minutes," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "Nightline," "CBS This Morning," "The Charlie Rose Show," National Public Radio's "On Point," as well in articles in The New York Times, The New York Daily News, USA Today and Newsday.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Grant's 5th Birthday

Our buddy, Grant, turned 5!
We had so much fun at his birthday party at Bayou Wildlife Park.

Grant just couldn't choose between Spiderman and Batman, so he had both!

It was a hot day in Texas, but boy, those cupcakes were yummy!


Jenny with Andie


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Dinosaurs at the zoo...

Right now at the zoo they have a dinosaur exhibit.
It was so funny because the boys weren't too sure they wanted to get close.

The T-Rex was huge!


Quinn is backing up to get in the picture...he's not so sure about this!
They were moving and roaring!



Ree Ree and the Girls Come to Visit

My friend, Ree Ree, is in town for a few weeks. She has 3 girls and 2 boys. She and the girls came over to visit for the evening. The kids had a good time together.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Lovin' my Brother....

Hopefully this will give you a giggle....





Monday, June 21, 2010

Soccer!!

The boys started soccer and really like it!
Running and kicking...what else could you want?
Ironically, they got "new" YMCA shirts and they were orange just like the ones for T-ball! Maybe the next sport, we'll get a new color!

Reid about to make a block...(I think...I'm still learning the game!)

Quinn is waiting for his turn...



Saturday, June 12, 2010

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Camping at Lake Tom Big Bee

We went camping this past weekend and it was so fun. It was hot but not bad at all because there was so much shade! It got down to 68 at night and we brought a fan for our tent. Really "roughing it". I just love sleeping in a tent. They had a huge
slide for the kids to go down and Sandra and Stewart brought their boat. Lots of fun!!

Reid found something that looked like an arrow head, and Stewart made him this bow and arrow. He loves it! He woke up the second morning and it was the first thing he asked for.

Every evening I told the kids a story. The boys wanted a king, dragon, or Transformer story and of course, Sarah wanted the princess story. I had to get creative with the plots.
Look at this dirty face... We LOVE camping.

(Reid went first, then Matt, and finally Quinn)