Bangs, Violin, & a Turkey Shoot- My Life in 2nd Grade

This is chapter 4 in my Mommy's Piggy Tales project. Join me in going back to 1984-85, better known as 2nd grade!

OH the BANGS! My dear mother always believed that bangs consisted of giving me a mullet! Thankfully hair grows, whew!

2nd grade was another really good year for me. I still lived in my house on Shady Pine Avenue and attended Aloma Elementary. I hung out with my BFF, Ashley and my next door neighbor Aaron. We were very good friends. He had cable TV and I didn't. I spent lots of hot summer afternoons at his house watching Nickelodeon. Aaron and I both shared a love of animals. He always had hamsters, gerbils, and hermit crabs. We had a ton of fun playing with all of them. This was the year, if I remember correctly, that his gerbil had babies. He came running next door on a Saturday morning all excited. I threw on my robe and headed to his house to see the tiny, pink, eraser-sized baby gerbils. It was so neat! It was the only time my mom ever let me out of the house with my pajamas still on!

Here is proof that it does get below freezing in Central Florida! One night when it was forecast to freeze, we turned the Rain Bird sprinkler on in the backyard. We woke up to a winter wonderland the next morning. It was awesome to play in. Cindy & Sandy, our beagles, were scared to walk on the ice at first. They stayed on the patio until they got used to it. We were the hit of the neighborhood. All of our friends came over to play in the ice. I remember having to go with my Mom to Zayre (remember Zayre!), that afternoon and being so afraid the ice would melt before we got home. There was still some left!

If this doesn't scream 80's, I don't know what does! This was my 8th birthday. No little girl's toy collection would be complete without a Sprite from the Rainbow Brite collection, a My Little Pony, and an Esprit shirt!

I began taking violin lessons this year. I BEGGED to start them in 1st grade, but my Dad wanted to make sure it wasn't just a phase I was going through. I brought the same permission form home in 2nd grade so my parents signed me up. I ended up playing for 5 years. I LOVED violin lessons. This picture was taken at one of my school concerts. We wore red vests to represent our school color.
My teacher's name was Mrs. Shaw this year. I remember her as being a very good teacher, but never really dressing professionally. It's amazing what a 7 year old picks up on. I also got a C in conduct on my report card because I talked too much. My name stayed on the board! Yeah, I was a motormouth! I also remember learning how to spell Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I would write it over and over on the chalkboard after school just for fun. I was, after all, the 2nd grade spelling bee champion...WOO HOO!! I was the winner out of all 3 2nd grade classes.

I got to play hookey from school on this day. My dad had a friend who owned a ranch where he loved to go turkey hunting. He let me come along this time. I remember having to get out there in the middle of the night and try to sleep on a couch. We got up before the sun and headed out into a field. I had a little Lifesavers flashlight that I turned on so I could see where I was going. My Dad still feels bad to this day for hollering at me to turn it off. He didn't want the turkeys to see us! I only remember him seeing a turkey and firing three shots. Next thing we knew, he had shot 3 turkeys! I remember him pulling the feathers out and I was totally grossed out. I had to sit in the truck and not watch. It was a great experience and some fun father-daughter time.

I still tease my mother about this picture today. If I ever have a daughter, I will NOT force her to wear a dorky Easter bonnet when she's 8 years old. I was SO over bonnets by this point. I am sure you can tell by the ever-so enthusiastic look on my face ;-)

This was also the year I got my first personal pet. I got a gerbil and I named him Whessle, pronounced Weasel. I didn't know how to spell Weasel back then so I did the best I could. He was a wonderful pet. I hated when it was cage-cleaning time, but it taught me good responsibility.

The year of the Cabbage Patch dolls! Cristy and I each got 3 of them this Christmas. These preemies were given to us by Grandma & Grandpa Day. These are my Mom's parents. I miss them both dearly. They were fantastic grandparents who spent lots of time with us girls.

This is my Great-Grandad, Jesse Turner. He is my Dad's grandfather. This was his 90th birthday party in Crestview, FL. He was anoter very dear man who I am grateful that I had the privilege to know. We spent as much time with him as possible and he loved us girls dearly.