Heifer Ranch and a Search Mission

I'm sort of starting this post backwards, but I'm gonna tell you about our afternoon and evening. 

Samuel and I went to a search mission this afternoon.  He is having his Christmas and birthday pictures taken tomorrow(I know his birthday is a month away, but they're too close together to spend that much money twice.) We are taking the pictures at my friend Rochelle's house in front of her Christmas tree and then at a gazebo that she knows of.

Back to the search mission, since we are doing the pictures in front of the tree, we needed some Christmas-y pajamas. No problem--Target was the perfect place for those.   AND we wanted some of those huge Christmas ornaments for him to look at.  THERE ARE NO HUGE ORNAMENTS IN MY PRICE RANGE, IN ALL OF THE CRAFT STORES IN THE CITY.  Seriously, I went to every ornament selling store in the city and there were none.  NONE.  So I ended up with some other props.  I sure hope they look good. 

Phew! 

Now onto the earlier part of the day. 

Today, we took our first graders to the Heifer Rance in Perryville.  If you've never been to the Heifer Ranch, schedule a trip.  It is worth the drive. 

Our first stop on the Heifer tour was, of course, the bathrooms.  100 kids in 4 bathrooms was pretty tricky. 

Our next venture was the hayride. 

Now for the animal pictures.  There are some instructions you have to follow when you look at these pictures.  You'll need to shout, "Ooooooooooh!" as if you've never seen an animal in your whole life. 

Did you do it?  If you didn't, you didn't get the full experience. 

After the hayride, we headed into the barn to pet some animals. We were able to pet a goat, Vincent Van Goat, and some other critters.  There was a lot of shushing taking place and some hugging to calm the fear of a chicken.  No, I'm not kidding.  Scared of a chicken. 

Here's Vincent. 

We ended the day with the kids' favorite activity.  Lunch.  They started asking about it around 9:30.  That's Ms. Thomas in the background. She is a first grade teacher at King.  She's always so calm and nurturing to our kiddos.  I adore her. 

My favorite part of the day.  The quiet naps on the bus ride. 

This little guy is one of my kiddos that I work with everyday.  He can be a handfull so he was my "partner."  :-)



So, needless to say, I am pooped.  It's a little after 8.  Samuel is in bed.  I'm really considering following. 

We have to be at Rochelle's house at 8.  I've got all of Samuel's clothes packed and ready.  As soon as she gets them ready, I'll post 'em.  Rochelle is amazing.