Sometimes luchadores attack me in my office

Another FBX Video

I've been trying to load these on Youtube, but with no luck. Finally, the blogger uploader has been more cooperative. Here is the skit about Perseverance. Hope you like it!

Several Things...

First, a big thanks to everyone who came and participated in our lock in. I personally had a lot of fun, and I hope you enjoyed it, too. To my surprise, the only person I really had to keep a close eye on was Jackie Miller. Everyone else was very well behaved. It seems that most of you can't last much past 2AM, though perhaps being in school is tiring you out a bit. :-) Hannah claims she can stay up all night with no problem, so next year we'll see if she's bluffing or not.

Secondly, a big thanks to the Duke family for having us over last night for SNAC. They have an incredible place to hang out. I was also shocked to learn that Mr. Pooh is the former Memphis, TN ping pong champion. He even beat out those little Chinese guys who do nothing besides play ping pong! Needless to say, he finished me off fairly easily in the game we played. I intend to beat him eventually. Somehow.

We have a lot more important events coming up!

• September 3rd - Teen OHYG! Olympics. We'll have a series of relay games. This is on Labor Day, and should be a lot of fun.
  
  
• September 9th - Grandparents Reception. Please invite your parents to come out on Sept. 9th. I *think* the times are between 4:30-6:00pm. We want all of you guys to help serve your grandparents refreshments and let them know you love and appreciate them.
  
  
• September 23rd - Camp Reunion & Video. This will be our second SNAC for the month. We will watch the camp video, and also present the plaques to those who were honored this year. Anyone who went to camp is invited to come; not just teens.
  
  
• September 30th - Teen Murder Mystery. Officer Norris (Steele) is helping us get this together. We will all be working to solve a "murder" that will have happened right here in the Old Hickory Village! This is a 5th Sunday, so we will get started some time after the second worship service. I'll get you more details closer to time.
  

By Popular Demand...

A new dance routine brought to you by Kassie & Cody.

First week of school got you down?

Here is a special presentation from Garrett & Corbin to make sure that all of you get off to a great start this year!



(Cody & Cornbread...be very thankful that I didn't have good pictures of either of you.)

Day School!

Today is the first day of day school for little ones here at Old Hickory. This has been quite a different office experience for me. I'm used to almost complete silence. Now I'm hearing lots of new sounds. Periodically, you can hear a little one whining/crying for something. There are also little bits of "Katie! Stay in line! Brandon! This way!" (Pitter patter of little feet) mixed in here and there.

But most interesting has been the group activities. A few minutes ago I would hear something like this:

• Children sound disorderly
• Teacher says something
• Children are silent
• Teacher says something else
• Children begin stomping their feet rapidly, causing the building to shake.
• Teacher says something else.
• Children stop rumbling.
• Teacher says something.
• More feet rumbling
• (Repeat for about 5 minutes)

I really enjoy getting to see the kids here. They all have their little bags and backpacks, and you can see what a big deal this is for the moms. It brings me back memories about kindergarten. I remember all the flavored drinks in the gallon jugs that are neither fruit juice nor Kool-Aid. I remember eating lots of goldfish crackers. I remember coloring. I remember learning to read sounds with that Mr. Hat guy. I remember hating nap time. I remember one time when a kid got mad and called our teacher "stupid", and I was sure she was going to execute him for saying such an awful word (it was the worst one I knew at the time!).

What do you guys remember from your preschool/kindergarten days?

If there was anything you could bring back from your pre-school days, what would it be?

Now it's time to vote for colors!

Allllllllllrighty, then. We asked you guys to suggest what colors we should have on our new boys' basketball jerseys, and you gave us numerous responses. I'm going to let you folks vote on the colors of your choice. On the left of the blog is a poll. Please select whatever colors you think would be best and cast your vote! I listed as options the colors already suggested in your previous comments.

The voting will be open until August 30th, and then the final decision will be made!

Back to School

A lot of you guys are starting back to school! I'm in class today and so far I've already typed 13 pages of notes! Then again, I love my teacher and I love what I'm learning.

How about you guys? Are there any classes you're excited about? Are there any teachers you have that you've been looking forward to?

You're all in my prayers. I hope you guys have a great school year. Learn lots!

-Mark <><

Camp Awards 2007

Someone pointed out on an earlier post that I didn't list the people on the blog who won the camp awards...so here they are!

Craft Awards:
Clay Paul
Alayna Poston
Bowen Stovall
Keeley Capley

Team Sports:
1st Place - Michael Reed's Team
2nd Place - Chris Steele's Team
3rd place - Gary Dickens' Team

Whoopin' Stick Award: (For the staff member who most deserved a whoopin')
Colby Paul

Campers of the Year
Junior Campers:
Murry Lee
Callie Johnson

Senior Campers:
Shelby Gaines
Chet Duke

David Knight Award:
Dalton Locke

Elvis Reagan Award:
Hannah Duke

It was really hard to give out the awards this year, because there were so many more kids who really deserved to be honored for their great attitudes and participation. Even so, we can all congratulate and celebrate the job well done by these campers.