Boogers Are Yuck

Conversation last night in the van:

Alex: Dad I have a booger. (He hands it to Phil who properly disposes of it.)

Logan: Where was the booger?

Alex: It was in my nose. I pulled it out of my nose. I tasted it and it was yuck.

Summer Vacation Has Begun For All

Summer vacation has begun for every one but me. :( Friday was Phil's last day of work until the beginning of August. He's now home everyday with the kids.

Of course come summer vacation comes extra animals at home. We now have 2 geckos and an iguana in addition to our 2 cats and our dog. Now the geckos live in 10 galloon tanks - one in each of the kids rooms but the iguana lives outside in a brand new PVC pipe with plastic mesh around it. So it's like having our own zoo without having to pay the price of admission.

So far the days home with the kids (okay only 2 so far) haven't been that bad. Let's see yesterday Logan broke his water globe tball trophy from his first season of tball and Alex decided to use the outside as his toilet which Phil subsequently stepped in and by 4 p.m. Phil was ready to use Katara's cage as a house for the boys. The night got better and the boys played outside on the trampoline and in the pool along with Kayla and her friend Emma.

Today Phil is venturing out on his own to go the Suwanee Park Water Fountain to let the kids enjoy some water play outside and have a picnic lunch. I'm sure he'll come home with some interesting stories to share.

Alex's Pavement Crash

On Sunday, Logan was invited to a birthday party at Little Mulberry Park. For those of you who don't know it's a nice park with a playground, picnic areas and walking/biking trails about five minutes from our house. We all went so that those of us not involved in the party could ride our bikes and play at the playground.

Alex was running after the other kids going to the playground when he wiped it on the sidewalk. The interesting part is the only place he was injured was on the corner of his head. It left a huge goose egg. His head must have absorbed all the impact from the fall because there wasn't a single other scratch on him.

Of course he's fine and he refused all offers of bandaids.

Spiderman 3

This past Saturday we took the kids (okay not Alex because he can't sit still that long) to Spiderman 3 in shifts. I drew the first shift and got to take Logan with me to watch Spiderman 3. I really did enjoy the movie and it was a lot of fun to watch on the IMAX.

The best part was watching Logan get excited about the movie. It's hard to envision his face but it was so cute. He was counting backwards the minutes until the movie would start and he was so excited when he said that there would be no more minutes. The look on his face was priceless. Then in just about every action scene were you would think he would be scared he'd say, "That was cool!"

Perhaps his questions and comments about the movie may have distracted others (although unlikely since there were a total of 10 people in the theater that morning) it was entertaining for me.

End of the Year T-Ball Party

Last night was the end of the year t-ball party for the Tigers team. We had a great time. We all met for a picnic in the park with hot dogs, chips, fruits, baked beans, and cake. The kids had a great time playing in the park.

My favorite part was watching Phil give the kids their trophies. He started out the "ceremony" asking all the kids if they had a fun time and what they learned. It was fun hearing their answers. They learned how to hit, how to stop the ball, and how to run the bases. They learned (okay some of them did) that catching the ball didn't hurt. But the best part was seeing the huge grin on their faces when Phil gave them each their own trophy.

What a great season. Go Tigers!

School's Out For Summer

Yesterday was the last day of school for Kayla! She is now officially an incoming 5th grader! That doesn't seem possible. She got all As on her report card! Only one B the whole year. We are very proud of her!

Girl Scouts End of the Year Ceremony

Last Sunday was the end of the year ceremony for Kayla's girl scout troop. At the ceremony they received all the badges they recently earned and all the cookie prizes. They talked about their favorite activity that year and why. Kayla's favorite was climbing up a very tall tower and riding down the zip line at Ingathering in April.

Kayla sold the most cookies in her troop this year. Between her door to door or person to person sales and booth sales Kayla sold 491 boxes! That was a troop record. All the girls also gave each of the parents a handmade thank you card for all their help this past year.

Next year should be even more fun because I'll be the assistant leader!

Shaving Cream, Girls Clothes, Jewelry and Makeup

We officially have some great blackmail photos of Logan for when he starts dating (years and years and years from now). On Saturday while I was busy scrap booking photos for Kayla's Girl Scout troop Kayla and Logan were playing with some shaving cream. It started out with innocent fun -- making designs in the shaving cream on the flatted out garbage bag. In the end Kayla put shaving cream all over Logan (sans clothing) and wrote property of Kayla on his back. I can't post the pictures here but if you email me I'd be happy to share them.

Of course the day was not yet complete. Kayla did more things to Logan which resulted in more blackmail photos. Phil and I are sitting out on the grass taking a break and out comes Logan and Kayla. Logan is wearing a girls halter top that looks like a dress, along with jewelry and makeup (don't forget the toes being painted). That photo is here. Enjoy!

Warm Weather Fun

Of course in Georgia the weather starts hitting the 80 degree mark off and on starting in April. Two of the free places we enjoy taking the kids is to the bookstore (reading books and playing with trains) and the water fountain at the Mall of Georgia. These are some of the photos from last Saturday of the kids enjoying themselves.

Tigers vs. Braves

Saturday was the last game of the season for Logan, Phil and the rest of the Tigers team. They've played a great season! I think this was a close game for the Braves and the Tigers but in the end I truly believe the Tigers won. All the kids hit well and fielded well the whole game. All the parents and the coaches had reason to be proud of their players!

Way to go Tigers!

Fun Meet 2007

Friday night was Kayla's Gymnastics Fun Meet. It's the night where parents get to see up close some of the skills that the kids have mastered this year. Kayla really did a great job on her routines. She started out on the floor, then did the vault, the beam and the uneven bars. At first she was on the practice bars because her instructor was working with two classes. After the program was complete we got to come out and see her do what she was supposed to do on the uneven bars. She wanted us to see her squat on the bars. It was worth it - because we were much closer than we would have been had she been on the right bars in the program.

We were very proud!

Logan's First Conference

Yesterday we had Logan's first conference. It now marks the end of his Pre-3 preschool program. His teacher wanted to meet with us to share his progress over the last year and to let us know whether or not Logan would be ready to enter Pre-K(Georgia state funded kindergarten readiness program).

What did we find out? Of course we found out that Logan is SMART! He recognizes numbers 1 through 10. He can consistently count to 14 without skipping numbers. He knows his shapes and colors and can draw most shapes. He can write his name. He can recognize about half the alphabet (including the letter Q which most 4 years olds have trouble with)! He is even better at communicating his feelings.

We are very proud of him!

Last Night of Religious Ed

Last night was the last religious ed class until the start of the next school year. This has been a lesson for me. I taught a group of 10 5th graders this past Spring semester. I must say it has been challenging.

Just like everyone else they come directly from school and extra curricular activities to sit for an hour and a half with no down time in between. Many are stuffing fast food down their throats as the rush to arrive for the 6:30 p.m. class. I know Kayla and I are eating our dinners as we drive to class.

Some want to learn things others are there because their parents make them come. I leave class some nights wondering if they've learned anything - even if it's just something small. Then I listened to the homily last night (it was about the story of the mustard seed) and I think I may have planted some small seeds of knowledge in their heads.

Even though it was at times stressful perhaps that was God's plan for me. As Father Jack said last night God has a plan for each of us no matter how small or how tall we are and that he's always there even in our weakest moments.

Logan - Baseball Star

Here's some fun close ups of Logan in action on the field.

Logan "The Slugger" At Bat

Logan In The Outfield

We received some photos last weekend of Logan in action on the ball field. He looks like a major league ball player. This is Logan in the outfield.

Tigers vs. Angels

I just realized I forgot to update everyone on the Tigers game from Saturday. It was the Tigers vs. the Angels. The players were getting hits left and right off the coach's pitch. Logan hit one of the best hits of his short career. He hit a line drive off the pitch to left field! His great hit scored him a HOME RUN! The game wasn't even close the Tigers won it right from the start. Next week is the last game and it's against the Braves (and Logan's coach from the Fall)! Which team will win? My money is on the Tigers!

GO TIGERS!

Kid's Eye View

Yesterday the kids got ahold of my camera and took some pictures. Obviously I can't post all of them here. Many are of their fingers and lots of inanimate objects. Several of the vans and the car headlights. But I found these the most fun.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was a good one. Mother's Day isn't about that expensive gift (nice though I won't lie) but it's the little gifts that your children make for you or give to you that come from their heart.

I woke up on Mother's Day and enjoyed a wonderful batch of homemade blueberry waffles. These were so delicious and made by the oh so wonderful Phil. Alex was up with us but he didn't get that it was Mother's Day but we still cuddled. Then Logan trotted downstairs and gave me a big hug and said "Happy Mother's Day Mom." Then Logan and Alex brought me their gifts.

Logan brought me a flower he made at school with a poem (his hand in the center of a heart). Of course he told me that he made me a flower on Friday but who knew it would be as beautiful as that. He also made a a beautiful necklace, a lovely card and bought me two beautiful votive candle holders. I wore the necklace to church.

Alex brought me a beautiful handprint and a beautiful pin that holds either fake flowers or real flowers. I wore the pin to church as well.

As I was getting ready to go to volunteer in the church nursery for the day Kayla woke up. She came into the bathroom and wished me Happy Mother's Day and presented me with some wonderful bath items (always a favorite). Then Alex and I got ready and went to work in the nursery.

After church Alex and I waited for Phil, Logan and Kayla to arrive. I thought Alex, Logan and I were going to go grocery shopping for the week together. But to my suprise Logan was staying with Phil and Kayla at church. Off Alex and I go for grocery shopping.

My big gift this year for Mother's Day was repairing a bike that was given to me be a friend which included fixing the brakes and putting on a new cushy seat. After lunch we all went bike riding. I forgot how much I missed riding until then. It was a lot of fun. I got to "race" Alex on his tricyle down some fast hills. Logan and I raced - him on his fast Spiderman bike - and I encouraged him to keep peddling as we went up some steep hills. Kayla and I even got to go around the 2.2 mile track once on our own. She's a lot faster than me and probably would give Phil a run for his money.

Rather then eat out at a fancy restaurant, which would not really be fun for anyone I decided I'd rather have a nice grilled steak. So Phil bought some high end steaks to grill out and marinated using an Outback Steakhouse recipe. Then we were topping the day off with angel foodcake and strawberries.

Dinner was entertaining because as usual the boys were sans clothing. Neither of them was very hungry since it had been such a hot day (86 degrees) and they were antsy. Phil had sent Alex to his room and shortly thereafter followed Logan or so I thought. The two boys ended up in the hallway bathroom and got soap all over the place.

Then the strange thing occured, Alex and I were finishing up reading a Blue's Clues Book and he slid off the couch to put the book back. He then said OW! Right after that a scorpion moved across the floor. At first I thought he pinched himself with the book. But I looked on his leg and there was a sting mark. Now I assumed all scorpions were posionous but that's not true. As any good parent would do I called the doctor's office and spoke to the nurse from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta and was told only those scorpions in the southwest are poisonous and we should just watch him for the next hour.

Alex was fine despite some major issues sleeping. We think he may have been having a night terror. Logan and I got to snuggle and he fell right asleep (riding and playing outside will do that). Kayla was happy as she was able to finish the 5th in the Harry Potter book series.

All in all I think I had a very good Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading this post.

Field Day 2007

Last Thursday was Kayla's 4th grade field day. This year she was on a mission - to get as many ribbons above 5th and 6th place as she could. Last year she received all 5th and 6th place ribbons (there were more than 6 people in the races)but to her that wasn't good enough.

This year she had a good time and Phil enjoyed watching her. Her hardwork and determintation paid off and she got several 3rd place ribbons and a 2nd pklace ribboon! And she had fun with her friends to boot.

Is it Mother's Day yet?

You make think that it's me asking if it's Mother's Day yet, but it's not it's Logan. Every day he asks me if it's Mother's Day yet. It's very sweet to hear him ask that. It may be because at their daycare on Friday is Muffins with Mom - a way to celebrate Mother's Day - and he wants me to come. Just listening to Logan being so sweet (or any of my kids for that matter) makes the day Mother's Day. Well it's nice to be honored for being a mom once a year - the honor really is seeing your kids grow and change every day.

Visit From K-9 Officer

Kayla's Girl Scout Troop got a special treat last Friday at their meeting. They got a visit from K-9 Officer Ando. They got to learn about how K-9 dogs are trained to find bad guys. They saw the suits that the officers or trainers wear to protect themselves when they teach the dogs how to attack. At the end of the night they got to give the dog a little bit of love. Click here to see the photo of the girls with K-9 Officer Ando.

Jamming With Alex

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It's the Virtual Alex Jamming on His Guitar!

Do I Do Too Much?

Today I'm pondering if I just do too much and stretch myself too thin. Every once in a while I think I do. All I really want is the kids to be happy well rounded individuals. Not that I want them doing so much they don't know what day it is that's for sure. I want to participate in their activities, as much as I can working full time. However,that doesn't leave much time for me time or Phil and I alone time. Our schedule (which should lighten soon) consists of Phil's class MOndays with Kayla also having gymnastics, Tuesdays are religious ed night, Wednesday is Phil's choir practice, Thursday is Logan's tball practice (Phil coaches), every other Friday is Girl Scouts and Saturdays are Logan's tball games. That leaves Sunday (with church).

That doesn't count all the things that we do in between times. For example, I'm the scrapbook mom for Kayla's girl scout troop. I have personally glued in excess of 300 photos for their scrapbooks that need to be done by May 20th. I have 500 more photos being delivered. It takes a long time but the girls really do enjoy looking at all the things they've done over the year.

Do I do too much? Maybe, maybe not.

My Head Hurts

Alex: "Daddy my head hurts."

Phil: "Where does it hurt buddy?"

Alex: "Right here by my brain."

Tigers Vs. Cardinals And The Game Ball Goes To....

The Tigers played the Cardinals on Saturday. If you asked the Tigers team parents they'd say hey was this full contact baseball? The Cardinals chased down and pushed down some of our players as the attempted to tag our players. There definitely were a few plays that went above and beyond what the Tigers normally do but the Tigers managed to pull out a win. Logan received the game ball for his awesome catch at center - catching the ball with his leg. Way to go Logan and way to go Tigers!

Pull My Finger

Phil was sitting on the couch and says to Logan, "Logan pull my finger." Logan does it and Phil farts. Then Logan says to Phil, "Dad pull my finger." Phil pulls his finger and Logan says, "Oops I have to go potty." Logan then walks to the stairs stops raises his arm and says, "Goodnight Everybody." and walks up to the bathroom.

Hair Beads Don't Belong In Your Nose?

What is this photo? A most interesting story follows but I will say that this does not belong in the nose.

Well, we finally got one of those - please not my kids - phone calls. Today Logan was feeling a bit adventurous at preschool. He decided that he would see how far a plastic bead would go up his nose. The daycare workers tried as they may to remove the bead from his nose. They tried to get my snot sniffler to blow his nose (well that doesn't happen).

The daycare was unable to reach me and called Phil because they couldn't get it out of his nose. Phil drove to the daycare to try to get it out himself. He tried but Logan wouldn't hold still enough and it was too far up to get anything around it. Now he had to take him to the professionals - the doctors.

After getting a sub to take his class for the rest of the day, Phil took Logan to the pediatricians office. They go back to the patient room and instead of the doctor doing all the work - Phil did all the work. They plugged the side that didn't have any obstruction and Phil put his mouth over him and blew and out shot the bead(see the photo above).

The results? A slighty bloody nose. Was a lesson learned by Logan? Only time will tell.

Finally Kayla

We can't just post the fun the boys had without at least sharing one photo of Kayla. Here Kayla is at the end of the game posing in front of one of the baseballs that are outside the gates.

How to Enjoy Cotton Candy

Not only was last night a momentous night for Logan but it was also one for Alex. This was his first major league baseball game. What's going to a baseball game without a little bit of cotton candy (of course he also had a hot dog)?

Walking the Field for the Atlanta Braves

The day finally arrived. The one that Logan has been sooooo excited about. Nope, not Christmas, not his birthday but getting to walk on the field of the Atlanta Braves. We didn't think we'd make it in time but we did. Here's a few of the photos of him enjoying his walk.

Customer Service Is Not Dead

Today my carpool buddy, Kim, and I had an adventure that restored my faith in customer service. I've had recent dealings with companies where customer service was severely lacking or poor.

This morning started off good we were both on time at our meeting destination and looked like we were going to arrive in record time at work. We chat about our evening adventures like we do every morning when all of a sudden we hear this loud noise. Kim asks if that's us making the noise and I think it's the person behind us riding the bumps on the edge of the road. The noise gets louder to the point where it sounds like a helicopter is hoovering directly over our vehicle. We pull over and it turns out we have a flat.

No worries about the flat because Kim's car is equipped with Onstar Emergency Service. She calls and we're informed that they will contact the police and a wrecker service. We sit to wait for the automated call from the wrecker service and find it funny that after 15 minutes no one has stopped to offer help. The phone rings - the wrecker will be there in an hour and a half!

Another call to Onstar - is there any other wrecking company that we can use? No, that's the best time we can get for you they reply. Of course, we could call someone else but then Kim would have to pay the service and this fix is covered free of charge by the warranty on the car. Meanwhile still no police have arrived.

As we sit there reading "Life's Little Instructions Volumes II and III" a gentleman in a white van stops to offer assistance. We reply that's okay we have a service coming. Another call to Onstar to let them know that the police have still not arrived. We find out that an onlooker had called the police to let them know about us being stranded but told them we were 5 miles further north. Ahh, restoration of some faith in humanity.

It's now about 7:15 a.m., we've made calls to our bosses and others in our departments at work to let them now we'll be running late. We watch and a semi tractor trailer pulls off the road in front of us. Perhaps he's going to offer assistance we say. Then in the rear view mirror my carpool buddy sees a white van from Cadillac Hennessy pull up behind us. Hey, that's less than an hour and half we say.

Kim gets out and graciously declines the offer from the truck driver to help change the tire. (I wish we had gotten his company's number.) We return to the technician from the Cadillac dealership. He graciously shows us how to open up the spare and we have some idle chit chat. We mention how we were on time for work and then we got the flat. He says he was on time too and then stopped. What?? We ask him you mean you weren't the person called by Onstar/GM? No he says he saw us and just stopped. His name is Paul.

He not only changes the tire he also agrees to take the flat to Hennessy for it to be fixed and then later reinstalled on the car. Kim provides him with some money for breakfast and we thank him for stopping to help us.

Paul definitely follows the simple truths of service that is shown at this link. (A link that Kim provided me.) He is getting a reward because after such great service above and beyond what he's required to do, Kim made sure to contact his boss when we arrived at work today (much earlier than had we waited for the original wrecking company). Ahh good deeds are rewarded.

Kim and I have now vowed that when we see a stranded motorist on the side of the road - at a minimum - we will call to make sure that helps is on the way if it's not safe to stop and lend a helping hand. Let's all vow to be like Paul and the world will be a better place. Extra blessings from God to you Paul.

A Naked Summer Ahead

I'm not sure if this is going to be a reoccurring theme or not but the boys spent a good portion of the afternoon on Sunday naked. I leave to do some shopping and come home to find the boys playing buck naked in my car. Alex has scrapes on his butt because he fell while naked. It probably looks like we abuse the kids.

Phil's gong to have a long summer of trying to keep the boys in at least their underwear!

Tigers vs.Astros

Saturday's game was a good one. It was a late day game (3:00 p.m.) with the Tigers vs. the Astros. The Astros played a good game but the Tigers prevailed. Logan in the first hitting hit one low and to the left getting at least a double from the hit. Haylee (one of two girls) hit one straight up center field for the best hit of the season for her so far. Although it was close the Tigers still were able to pull out a win for an undefeated season so far.

Note: They don't keep score in Rookie ball but in our mind the Tigers were the winners.

"Cool"

Perhaps you recognize the following lyrics from West Side Story:

Boy, boy, crazy boy,
Get cool, boy!
Got a rocket in your pocket,
Keep coolly cool, boy!
Don't get hot,
'Cause man, you got
Some high times ahead.
Take it slow and Daddy-O,
You can live it up and die in bed!

Boy, boy, crazy boy!
Stay loose, boy!
Breeze it, buzz it, easy does it.
Turn off the juice, boy!
Go man, go,
But not like a yo-yo schoolboy.
Just play it cool, boy,
Real cool!

Alex really enjoys this song. Saturday we were watching West Side Story on television in HD and this song came on. Alex got up and tried to immitate the movements he saw on tv. He's still working on the snap part. Although I think when you dance to "Cool" you might want to have on more than just underwear.