Poll: Which gift should I pick?

Take a look at my top picks below for my 5-year Murphy service award and help me pick! You can vote in the poll at the right of the page.

Want a Handsome, Smart, and RICH guy?

Well, look no further! Ben received the Murphy Education Program $1,000 award this week for scoring in the top 85th percentile on the Stanford 10 Test he took in first grade.

He was one of only 18 students (of 350+ in first grade) to receive the award. Ben said "I didn't want to smile, but I couldn't help it, Mom!"

His buddy, Derek, also got the award!

Just took over my office! He said that he was my ticket to $1,000, so I better be nice. lol!

Details:
First graders who scored in the 85th percentile and higher on the Stanford Diagnostic test were presented a one-time award of $1,000. Of that amount, $500 will be given to the student upon completion of the first grade and $500 will be payable, with interest, upon graduation from El Dorado High School. Claiborne Deming (Murphy's CEO) told the kids "Before your parents get to you, I want you to know you can spend that $500 on whatever you want to!"
Shame, shame!

My Little Oriental Girl

Mary Claire in her outfit that Pops & Mimi got her in Hawaii just before she was born!

She loves to pat the Bible, the Bible, the Bible...

Already playing teacher! She's such a girly-girl. Makes me so proud!

Call Center in South AR - You can help

Please forward this to everyone you know that's connected to South Arkansas!

There’s a strong possibility that El Dorado could be chosen as the site for a customer care center that would employ hundreds of people. The company is trying to determine workforce availability in the region. That's where you come in - if you or anyone you know would be the least bit interested in a job like this in the future,
we need you/them to call!

Customer care centers are inbound call centers where customers call for assistance. Some examples include credit card companies, cellular phone centers, airlines, technical support centers and order processing centers. If you’d be interested in working in such a field (these are decent-paying jobs in climate controlled atmosphere) all you have to do is participate in a voice-mail audition.

The toll-free number is 888-601-5552.

The process is automated and easy. Those who call in should leave their name, contact information and an e-mail address. They should also say if they have computer skills and if they would be interested in full-time or part-time work. After voice-mail auditions have been evaluated, some individuals will be selected to proceed to the second part of the project.
Since there’s an option of full- or part-time work, a customer care center would provide opportunities for a cross-section of the community. Students, retired people and homemakers not interested or able to work full-time, would have the option of work that fits into their schedules. Make a call. It could help create 200 jobs in the community. The deadline is Aug. 15.

Note - there must be 1,000 phone calls into this hotline to justify the call center considering locating in El Dorado, and as of now, there have only been 65 - please help!

Some Enchanted Evening...

Jason and I went to see South Pacific performed at the South Arkansas Arts Center (http://www.saac-arts.org/) on Friday night. We've got some really talented actors in South Arkansas!

MUST-HAVE Numbers to Have in Your Cell Phone

Here are two MUST HAVE numbers in my cell phone. I recently discovered the first one - how cool!!! What are some other MUST HAVE numbers on your list??

• Ask a question … any question! (334-844-4244): Auburn University’s Foy Information Line, Students at Auburn University in Alabama, armed with the Internet and, as a last resort, reference books, will answer any question you can conceive of, 24 hours a day, Monday to Thursday (during the school year). The hot line started in the 1950s as a resource for students at Auburn who were trying to locate campus services and find information about grades or course schedules. Over the years, it has evolved into a no-holds-barred information database. It is one of the nation’s longest-running services of its kind. It’s technically the “Foy Information Line,” named after the Foy Student Union building that the phone service operates from, and it is free for anyone to call. They’ve gotten questions from callers as far away as Australia, about questions ranging from how many Oreos it would take to circle the globe to what’s the longest nontechnical word in the English language? It’s perfect for when you can’t get to Google. The hot line operates 24 hours during the week and until 9 p.m. on weekends.
  


• Free 411 (1-800-GOOG-411): It’s always nice to have the ability to find a phone number or address to a specific business of interest when you are on the road. If you don’t have an internet ready mobile phone 1-800-GOOG-411 is you next best bet. It’s Google’s free nationwide 411 information hotline and it beats the heck out of paying your mobile service provider 75 cents for their sub-par directory assistance.

Mary Claire Turns 2!

Here is the video from her party - so much fun!!

Prepping for the Party

Mary Claire turned two years old today! We invited her little friends over for a birthday celebration yesterday. It was so much fun (look for the YouTube in the next blog)! My friend Katie and I were in Expressions (a childrens clothing boutique in El Dorado) a few weeks ago and saw the cutest swimsuit - had to get it for Mary Claire.

That's when we decided that a Sprinkler Party would be perfect for a two-year old birthday. They're still too small to be in the pool without an adult, but perfect for a sprinkler and wading pool at this age! So here's the invitation that we gave to the kids. We wrote the party info on a miniature beach ball (I've marked out private info).

And we sent an e-mail invite to family and those too far away to give the beach ball to...
I made homemade strawberry cupcakes. You definitely won't mistake me for Martha Stewart, but I did use her recipe, Susy! I also had salsa and chips and goldfish to balance the sweet cupcakes, ice cream, and lemon berry punch. The goldfish were a hit with the kids. :)

We had a wading pool in the backyard and the sprinkler going - who would have thought it would be such a hit! The kids had a blast - perfect party for a hot summer day. I had a lot of beach balls in the backyard and let each child take one home, along with a goodie bag filled with rubber duckies, bubbles, water guns, and more stuff that I happened to have around my house. :) Mary Claire was so excited about her party and she had a perfect day. Now I guess its time for the terrible two's!

Etch -A -Sketch

Ben discovered the simple pleasures of the Etch-A-Sketch this weekend. He made several creations. Did a volcano first, but I didn't think about taking a picture of it until after he shook it up. :)

Frankenstein...

Some type of vehicle...


Robot... Ben said this one is so good it could be animated. :)

Got you itching to sketch? You can etch-a-sketch online! http://www.etchy.org/

Just had to throw this picture in here because it's so sweet! Mary Claire loves her daddy so much...

4th of July

We had so much fun in Heber Springs this weekend!