1st Tournament

Hayley, Miriam and Sharika before the trophy ceremony

Last Saturday was the Hayley's first UIL tournament.  Trevor had competed in these for the last 2 years and I have had a lot of fun coaching the 4th and 5th grade Oral Reading group over the last few years.  This year Hayley is involved in 3 different areas - Oral Reading, Music Memory & Impromptu Speaking.  Saturday Hayley competed in all 3 areas and did a great job!  Part of the fun is hanging out with your friends in between events.

4 of my Oral Reading Girls

They have also opened some events up to 1st graders, so Jake is joining in the fun with Impromptu Speaking and Solo Acting.  The principal is actually the coach this year for Impromptu Speaking and she stopped me in the hall the other day to talk about how much she is enjoying Jake and his "enthusiasm".  I think he has found a good niche for his creativity!  Only a couple kids from each school can enter each event and Solo Acting didn't get up and running in time for this first tournment, so Jake just came to the awards ceremony to cheer on  his school.  We came in a close 2nd place for the tournment, not bad for just a week or 2 of practices.  Looking forward to another great year of UIL!

Character Star

Hayley was named Character Star of the Week by her Chinese teacher a couple weeks ago.  She was recognized for being respectful, committed and responsible.  Way to go Hayley!

Karate Girl

It does pays to be in the right place at the right time.  Hayley was the lucky one standing beside me when a friend gave us a Groupon deal she had got for 20 free karate lessons.  Hayley's face lit up and it was off to Karate for her.

She has only had 3 lessons so far but loves coming home and teaching Jake and Luke what she learns. It has been a lot of fun - thanks Carrie!

 

Hayley's Big Day

July 25th we had fun celebrating Hayley's 9th birthday.  She opened a couple presents throughout the day, including this fun mirror from Trevor.

Hayley and Trevor

I surprised her with a girls day out with her friend Miriam.  We had lunch at 59 Diner and played over at Rice Village, having fun at Half-Price Books, Bath and Body Works and Candylicious, then coming back to play at our house for a little while.

Hayley and Miriam with their 59 Diner shakes

That evening Grammy and Grandaddy came over for present, dinner and pie. It was fun to have them celebrate Hayley with us. They moved to Houston when Hayley was just 2 weeks old and it has been great having them so close the last 9 years. We love having all our grandparents in Texas!!

Grammy and Hayley

Hayley decided this year she wanted chocolate cream pie with Hershey Bar Shavings on top, so we made 2 pies that morning. I had forgotten to get candles so we used some clearance magic candles I had bought a while back. Luke was memorized by the relighting candles. They were fun but made the whipped cream on the pie taste really smokey...so glad we had an extra pie to eat that tasted great!!

Candle time!

Hayley's present from us was a guitar. Her smile says it all.

Making some music

A little later in the week Hayley and I went shopping for a new church dress and she found this cute one.  It is so fun to have a girl to shop with!

We love you Hayley!!

End of School Wrap-Up with Hayley

3rd grade is one of the hardest years in elementary school, with lots of changes and new academic challenges.  Hayley's teachers kept her busy up until the very end of the year, but she had fun doing projects like a poetry book where she wrote like 20 different types of poems.  Because of her summer birthday, I brought her lunch to celebrate one day at school.  It's always fun to see Hayley at school with all her friends.

Fun at Lunch

The last week of school was filled with award programs and class parties.  Hayley received several certificates for excellent grades, commended on TAKS, excellent conduct, etc.  This year Hayley was singled out for earning the Citizenship Award in her 3rd grade class, the only award voted on by her peers.  Her teacher Ms. Henderson talked for a couple minutes about the the type of person Hayley is and why it was no surprise that she won this award.  "Hayley is the 3rd Mangum child I have taught, and the 2nd Mangum child that I have had win this award.  Hayley is always kind and helpful, she is an excellent student and is never involved in any of the "3rd grade" girl drama.  Hayley is dependable and loyal and always does what is right.  She is a friend to everyone and I am so proud of her."  Mrs. H kept going for a few minutes and everything she said was right!  Hayley is the type of person you want for a friend, for a neighbor, for a student, for a daughter, etc!  We are proud of you Hayley!! 

After the awards ceremony, we had a few moments to take pictures of Hayley and her teachers and friends.  Hayley had 2 main teachers this year, Mrs. Henderson who both Michael & Trevor had at Kolter, & Mrs. Gardner who Trevor had for 4th grade language arts.  They are great teachers and Hayley learned a lot from them.  She also kept busy with Ms. Yu in her Chinese class, who sent an email after the school year ended, just saying what a joy Hayley was to have in class this year again.

Mrs. Henderson and Hayley

Mrs. Gardner and Hayley

Hayley has a lot of good friends at school and it is always great to hear them giggle together.

Laughing with friends

The last day of school was a fun waterslide class party.  There was also a mom there doing body paint, check out Hayley's arm!  It was a fun way to end a great school year!



Class Party Fun

 


Last Day of  School Party



Hayley sure has changed over this school year, growing up and becoming more and more amazing.  Love you Hayley!




First day of 3rd Grade



Last day of 3rd Grade






International Festival

A week ago Hayley was able perform with her Chinese class at the huge International Festival downtown.  They sang and danced, dressed in cute Chinese costumes.  Hayley had a great time. 

 

Afterwards, she and Don were able to wander around and see some cool things, and taste a couple of unique dishes.  Hayley was stopped several times by people taking her picture and telling her how cute she looked, including a photographer for a local Chinese paper.  It was a fun day!

New Addition

One day your daughter is asking you for an old sock and empty water bottle...and the next thing you know, she's bringing home a sister for herself!

Meet Jessie, the grass sock head cowgirl, that Hayley grew in Science Class.  That is some Texas styled hair alright, yeehaw!  Just in time for Rodeo Season :) 

UIL Tournament

On January 29th, Trevor & I went to the first UIL competition of the year.  Hayley tagged along to see what it was all about.  Trevor competed in 3 different events, Social Studies, Number Sense & Listening, despite being out sick with a high fever the previous 2 days.  He did awesome and medaled in his Listening Skills event...which proves he can hear me when I ask him to clean his room, right?!

Hayley & Trevor posing with his Listening Skills medal

I coach a group of 4th & 5th graders in the Oral Reading category & our guys did great, taking home 2nd, 3rd & 5th place in the finals. Our school ended up taking 3rd place for the whole tournament.  Of course, the best part of the day is hanging out in between competitions and playing games with each other!


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Getting pumped up to compete in Number Sense

 

Trevor & his friend Jonathan playing chess

Hayley playing Uno with a group of 5th graders

Family Recipe by Hayley

Found posted on the chalk board today...

Being Happy (Family recipe)

Say a prayer more than three times a day

Thank Jesus for stuff we have.

Be kind.

Show respect.

Choose the right.

Stir well.

Now you have a happy person!

Thanks Hayley! We love your recipes :)

Cheer Camp

A few weeks ago, Hayley came home with a paper from school, beside herself with excitment. The paper was about a one day Cheer/Dance Clinic at Lamar High School (Michael's high school).  She was so excited, she offered to pay for it herself. I don't think Hayley has stopped smiling yet...


The big Saturday finally arrived. Hayley was up by 6, excited to go (it started at 8:30!). The clinic was 4 hours long, complete with snacks in the cafeteria & busy with dance routines and cheer stunts. At 12 they put on a show for the parents.

All afternoon Hayley practiced her cheers and her sweet moves. Then it was finally time to head off to perform at the football game.

Before the game, the girls got to line up with the cheerleaders to form a tunnel for the football players to run through.

Then it was down to some serious cheering business. They cheered for most of the first two quarters.  Hayley loved doing the cheers, but the stunts were definitely her favorite part.  One of the senior cheerleaders is Mallory H., whose mom is Hayley's math/science teacher.  She took Hayley under her wing & they had a blast together.

Here is a clip of her doing the cheer after the Redskins scored one of their many touchtowns.  She learned this cheer really well...the final score was 56 to 0!

Right before halftime, the cheerleaders took the girls over to the Rangerette Drill Team to get ready to peform in the halftime show.  Hayley did a great job!

After the halftime show, Hayley got to sit in the crowd.  She wanted to stay and watch the rest of the game.  She love cheering in the stands, and everytime they scored a touchdown, she stood up and did the LHS cheer along with the cheerleaders. 

After the game she said good-bye to Mallory, one of her favorite cheerleaders.

Ever since that day, we have had a lot of cheering at our house.  Even Jake knows the words of Hayley's favorite cheer and can be heard singing along... 

"All across the nation, there's an LHS sensation. 

That will make you want to S-L-I-D-E and move from side to side!"

Go ahead, get up and cheer.  I know you want to!  :)

Summer fun with Cousins

After Hayley's baptism on July 31st, we had family stick around for a few days and we had so much fun playing. We went to the beach (see previous post) but we also spent time swimming.



The kids loved having Uncle Ben & Aunt LeeAnna catapult them into the air before making a huge splash in the pool. I thought Jake was going to fly over my head once, he was so high!

We had a small family birthday party for Hayley when everyone was together & she got the surprise of her life from all her Uncles, Aunts & cousins - an American Girl doll! Hayley has been saving every penny for the last 2 years for one of these dolls. She was estactic.

Hayley loves her "Maddie" and is always fixing her hair or has her close by. Her cousins have told her all about the American Girl doll store in Dallas, and they can't wait to show her it the next time we visit. The girls were all so cute together. They had been hiding their dolls in their bags until Hayley opened her present & then they ran and pulled them out so they could all play together. So fun!

And you might not be aware, but apparently for a limited time only, there is a new, extremely rare doll out now...the "Trevor" American Boy doll! :)