If Only. . .

I'm a big Harry Potter fan (not like up at midnight to see the first showing of the latest movie fan, but a fan), and recently I've converted Matthew to my ways. Well, I didn't so much convert him as he converted himself. One day, Matthew was flipping through the channels on the TV, and he came across The Sorcerer's Stone. (Great movie, by the way) He loved it, and quickly discovered that I have the DVD of that movie. So now, he watches it at least once a week. I was watching it with him the other day, and I decided that I need some magical powers. At the end of the movie, Dumbledore claps his hands, raises his arms, and the Great Hall's decorations are instantly transformed. I would love to have that power. I clap, raise my hands, and the laundry's folded. Or the family room is cleaned up. Or my bed is made. I wouldn't use it for world domination or anything of the sort. Just to get stuff done around my house. Wouldn't that be great??

Or maybe I'll just be happy for a magical power that will help my kids get along.

Woo Hoo! Post 150!

According to blogger, this is my 150th post. Wish I could make it more exciting, but this is what you get. We had a pretty good Christmas. The boys got what they had been wanting.

We didn't get them too much else. I thought that the one big gift would probably be enough. I think we could have gotten away with just getting them the Wii and nothing else. :-) They've played it ALOT since they got it. Actually, they're playing it again as I type this. It is getting them up and moving. I played Wii Boxing today and ended up winded! It's hard work!

My parents and sister were here for Christmas too. It was fun to have family here for Christmas. This is actually the first time we've had family here on Christmas day. Last year we were up in Indiana, and the two years before that we were here by ourselves. I got a Honey-Baked ham for Christmas Dinner, (Manna from heaven is all I can say) and my mom made her Cheesy potatoes. Yum. We spent the day relaxing and watching the boys play Wii games (or playing them ourselves). Matthew is good. I mean, REALLY good. He beat all of us at pretty much everything. He has a lot of hand-eye coordination, and he picks up the games very easily. Even Nathan started getting the hang of the games. He has a tendency to get frustrated if he doesn't get something right away, but he was very patient and worked his way through it when he was stuck. I was very proud of him!

Hope that you and yours had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Cookie Time!

Today is December 12th. In exactly four weeks, I will be taking my Praxis exam on the Foundations of Special Education. I also have a Literature Review that needs to be done in a month. Plus, my school bag weighs close to 1000 pounds from all of the papers I have to grade before Friday. But did I do any of that today? No, of course not! I made these:

and these:

and even whipped up these for supper:

It's Christmas baking time at our house! Matthew helped me with the Chocolate Cookie Sandwiches while Nathan was at choir practice for the Christmas Eve service (http://www.christmasevegwinnett.com/ if you're interested in coming! You won't be disappointed!).



And both boys helped with the cut out cookies. (For a while at least)





Yes, that would be Andrew's hand you see at the bottom trying to sneak a scrap of cookie dough. He's very much like his mom! He was our little helper.


I finished by making potato latkes. Two other teachers and I served them yesterday to our classes to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, and they were fantastic! I picked up some potatoes when I was out grocery shopping today so I could make them tonight. They were almost completely traditional, right down until the point when I served them with bacon. Not very kosher of me. :-)

Finally got everything cleaned up. Just in time to make my cinnamon swirl bread I always make for Sunday morning. Tomorrow, I'm going to make caramel macchiato thumbprints and biscotti. I've never made biscotti before, so wish me luck!

Come Back Tomorrow. . .

and see the pictures that I'm planning on taking as Matthew and I attempt to make cut out Christmas cookies together. It should be something to behold.

It's Up!

Amazingly enough, it's only December 5th, and I have my Christmas tree up. If you know me, you know that it's something I put off every year. Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas. A lot. What I don't love is getting out all of the decorations, putting them out, and finding a place for all of the things that are displaced because of the Christmas decorations. If I could go to bed one night and have little elves come and decorate my house, I'd be thrilled. But Matthew and Nathan have been bugging me to do it, so we got the three out, and got the lights and garland on it. We're going to put the ornaments on tomorrow. I even got lights on one set of bushes out in front of the house. I don't think they'll win any decorating prizes, but at least we don't look like the Scrooge family anymore.

Satisfaction

We reached that point today. You know the one where grandma and grandpa have headed back home, and the boys have decided that they have been together for four days, and the house is beginning to fall apart at the seams? Yeah, that point. Plus, with all three home for the last four days, the toys had started to migrate to every part of the house (plus I think they're multiplying while we sleep), so I needed to do a major cleaning. Sounds easy, right? You don't live with Nathan. It's impossible to clean with him around. He refuses to let me throw away a single toy. Even the ones that are broken or just downright weird. But because I am a problem solver, we figured it out. Jeremy took Nathan to the park (Matthew said he was TOO tired), and I attacked their room. My children have more junk than any human should have. Most of it being McDonald's Happy Meal toys. I'm sure that says something about my parenting, but let's not linger on that too much, OK? I tossed all of the toys that were broken, and the ones that were still in good shape? I'm taking them to school for my treasure box. They can be some other parent's problem.

I'm sweet that way, aren't I?

Thanksgiving!

I did it! Or, I should say more accurately, we did it! The first Thanksgiving that I've ever hosted is over, and the food was all edible (except for the rolls, but we can't all be perfect, can we?) Thanks to my mom's guidance, the turkey came out wonderfully. I was pretty confident that I could handle everything else, but turkeys frighten me. I guess I've just heard too many horror stories about how the turkey ended up dry, or undercooked, or burnt to a crisp, and I didn't want any of that to happen. I had thought about brining it, but that just proved to be a much bigger deal than I wanted to take on, so we just put it in a cooking bag, stuffed it with onions, celery, and sage, and rubbed olive oil, paprika, and pepper all over the skin and shoved it in. Four and a half hours later, it was perfection. I stayed pretty basic with the sides. I figured rather than have 15 small sides and stress myself out, I'd make 3 or 4 things and make them really good. We had the old standbys of mashed potatoes and stuffing, and I added roasted vegetables (butternut squash, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, parsnips, and carrots), steamed green beans, and a cranberry salad. I was so worried about having enough food (for the 8! of us), that I made WAY too much. We have a ton of leftovers. I'm going to be eating turkey 15 different ways before I get through it all.

I think this Thanksgiving, while fun, was also hard for me. I remember the Thanksgivings when I was a kid where there would be 20 or so of us at the table at my grandmother's. I think having just my parents and my sister come down seem to really emphasize the fact that those days are gone. Plus, we just passed the anniversary of my grandma's death two years ago, and today would have been my grandpa's birthday. I think having all of those events come together this year has just really cemented it to me that those days are gone. While I'm happy for the memories, and I love making new memories for my own kids, there's a part of me that wishes for those days back. Life just seemed so much simpler then. But now I'm the one making the memories for my own kids. They won't be the same memories I had, but I'm excited to see what memories we'll make over the Thanksgivings to come.

Thanksgiving Week

We have quite the week ahead of us. Monday is Andrew's 2nd birthday. We don't have a whole lot planned for that day except a trip to McDonald's (more for Andrew's older brothers rather than Andrew). My parents are getting here on Tuesday, so I think we'll have a celebration for Andrew and his 60 year old grandfather on Wednesday evening. I don't think Andrew will mind sharing his cake with his grandpa.

Thursday, my sister is flying in, and I get to cook my first Thanksgiving meal! We're going pretty traditional, and I'm hoping I have enough room in my oven. I thought about buying a turkey roaster to free up room in the oven, but I'm also lacking counter space. So, I'm sticking with the oven and hoping the timing works out.

Friday, we may do some shopping at Target. I know I'm not heading to the mall. I'm not crazy enough to venture out to a mall in metro Atlanta on Black Friday. Some people may find that exciting; all it gives me is a headache. Who knows? Maybe we'll even get the tree up this weekend! It would be the first time I've had a tree up before December in. . . ever?

My First Success

Last night, I took my first assessment for grad school. (That's one of the great things about this school. For some of the classes, you can schedule your final assessment whenever you want.) This one was for my Foundations of Instructional Design class. Yes, that class is almost as exciting as it sounds. It's really a prerequisite course to the rest of the Instructional Design classes that I will have to take later that will culminate in me designing an original unit of instruction. I have to admit that I was very nervous about this exam. I had taken a pre-assessment a couple of times and scored pretty well, but there were still parts of the class that I was having a hard time grasping. Monday, the course mentor conducted a conference call for students who were getting ready to take the assessment, and the areas she said were an emphasis on the exam were the exact areas that I was having a lot of trouble on! I tried to cram in between my conferences on Wednesday and Thursday. (Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I decided to schedule this exam during conference week? Cause I don't already have enough stress.) I still wasn't feeling very confident, and there were definitely some questions that I had to just guess on. I thought I was going to get my score as soon as the exam was over, so imagine my surprise when it told me "Score Not Disclosed". I got back home and logged on to the student portal, hoping it would show up there, but there was nothing. Finally, I found out that it could take up to two business days for my score to be posted! When I talked to my mentor last night, she told me that it usually only takes a day or so. This morning at school, I kept refreshing my WGU e-mail hoping to get an e-mail telling me how I did. It came at about 9:00. I passed with an 87%! Go me!

While I'd love to relax, I've still got a Praxis exam for my Intro to Special Ed class coming up at the beginning of January, and a Literature Review I need to finish by the middle of January. Right now, I'm doing alot of searching for articles that I can use for my lit review before I start my annotated bibliography (which will probably average about 15 pages or so). Once I pass that, I can write the actualy Lit review which will probably be about 10 pages. I'm so excited. (note the sarcasm) I haven't written anything of a postsecondary level for a loooong time.

Conferences went well, both for me as a teacher, and for the boys. Matthew continues to sail through. His teacher thinks he's quite the character. We're still working on his talking. He seems to think everyone is as interested in his thoughts as he is. Otherwise, he's great! Academically, Nathan is excelling. His teacher is amazed by how bright he is. She and I are still worried about his social development. While he seems to be doing OK relating to the other kids in the classroom, he doesn't really play with anyone at recess. He spends a lot of his time just walking back and forth across the playground (probably talking to himself if I know Nathan). We're discussing having him retested for Aspergers. While he probably wouldn't qualify for any services, it might help his teachers understand some of his issues as he gets older. So far, he's had very understanding teachers, but I worry about him as he moves into the upper grades. Having a specific diagnosis will ensure that his teachers will have the information they need to help his adjust.

Only seven more school days until Thanksgiving! I can't wait!

(PS Here's the two second Andrew update. He's starting to talk even more! Now, he says ball, baby, juice, bye-bye, shoe, and choo-choo! I gave him a haircut yesterday, and cut his hair just a little too short. You can definitely see his scar now!)

Halloween

Here are some pictures of our Halloween celebrations! The Wednesday before Halloween was our Fall Festival at church. Then, on Saturday afternoon, I took the older two to an assisted living center for trick or treating. They had sent an e-mail to our church saying the residents wanted to have some kids come over. I don't know if the boys enjoyed it, but the residents got a kick out of all of the kids. Saturday night, we went over to the mall to trick or treat. We've done that the last couple of years, and it's gone really well. This year, it was REALLY crowded since it was raining outside. We only lasted about 45 minutes before Matthew said he was done with trick or treating and asked for ice cream. It sounded like a good idea to me, so that's what we did! They didn't get a huge amount of candy, but everyday when they come to my room, they get a piece of candy, so they don't really need any for Halloween.

Digging out pumpkin guts. I was impressed that Nathan was willing to stick his hand in!

My little pumpkins!

Trick or treating at the assisted living center

Ready to head off to the mall!

Catching Up

It's been a crazy few weeks here at our house! We seem to have dried out, sort of. It rains every few days, so it feels like almost forever since we've actually seen the sun for more than a couple of hours. On top of that, it's gotten really cold! They're talking about freeze warnings for tomorrow morning, and we actually had to turn the heat on today. We kept trying to hold out until it warmed back up, but it was getting really cold in Andrew's room, and we wanted him to stay somewhat warm during his nap. Right now, it's 48 degrees, cloudy and windy, and I'm beginning to think I moved back to Indiana without realizing it. Thankfully, it supposed to be back to 70 by Wednesday! Plus, the five day forcast shows sun everyday with no chance of rain. Let's celebrate! There is one good thing from all of this rain. Lake Lanier, which got down to historic lows during the drought in 2007, is back to full pool. Experts thought that it would take three years or more to get back to full pool. Guess they didn't factor in over two feet of rain in just over a month.

My parents and sister were here last weekend. I had a four day weekend thanks to the governor. October 9th was the last of my furlough days. Unfortunately, I'll be feeling the hurt until December since they spread out the pay loss over five months. We had a really great time, though! It was actually kind of sunny on Saturday, so they got to watch Matthew play soccer. (Good thing, too, since today's game was cancelled because of rain, AGAIN.) We also got a chance to go to the Farmer's Market. I hadn't been there in ages. On Monday, my aunt took Mom and I to a thrift store where I got 8 shirts for Matthew and two pairs of jeans and a shirt for Andrew all for less than $15. Plus, they don't look like thrift store. I'm really picky about what I buy. Now, Matthew's pretty much set for the winter. I pulled out my tub of 24 month clothes for Andrew, and he's all set now. I just need to go through the clothes I put away last year for Nathan and get them in his drawer, and we'll be all set for the winter.

Here's some pictures of our weekend!

Mom and Matthew playing Sorry

Julie and Andrew at the soccer field

Hanging out after baths

I've been busy with school. I picked up one more class this term, an intro to Instructional Design. That one doesn't look like it'll be too difficult. I have to pass an objective exam at the end. I can schedule the exam as soon as I think I'm ready, so I hope to be able to take it by the beginning of December. I'm not taking my Intro to Special Ed exam until January, and things are going pretty well there. The only class that may take me some time is my Lit Review class. I had a conference call about it on Wednesday, and it is going to be ALOT of work. I worked today on the first part of it which is simply my problem statement and instructional setting. The next part will take a while. I have to find 10 sources and go through their credibility, reliability, and authority. Then, I have to make an annotated bibliography of all 10 sources. The course mentor (think professor) said it usually runs about 14 pages or so. That's all before I write the actual lit review which will probably be about 10 pages or so. Right now, I'm in the middle of looking for journal articles to review. It's tons of fun, let me tell you!

The boys are staying busy. Matthew is occasionally playing soccer, :-) and they are both busy with KidzLife on Wednesday. Plus, we've actually got Andrew saying some words that we can almost recognize! When I ask him if he's going to play with his trains, he say "Choo choo!" I guess we can call that his first word! The other day, I gave him some juice, and he said something that was very close to thank you. Sounded good enough to me! Hopefully, more words will come soon!

The Wet Week that Was

There aren't really words to describe what this last week has been like. If you've been watching the news, you know that we got epic amounts of rain for about seven days. The worst of it was Sunday night into Monday. Last Sunday, we had a tremendous thunderstorm come through in the middle of the night. It woke all of us up (even Andrew, who usually sleeps through anything), and it stormed and POURED for close to two hours. I just lay in bed worrying about the fact that it was a Sunday night which meant that the next day was Monday, and I was going to have to make it through the day on very little sleep. I never imagined what was going on outside.



Here's what was happening while we slept.

(Pictures courtesy of the ajc)

Those buses are parked about a half mile from my house at Parkview High School. There's a creek that runs right next to where the buses are parked, and the water rose to about 7 or 8 feet overnight. And we didn't even get the worst of the flooding. Over on the west side of Atlanta, entire neighborhoods were under water. In some places, you could only see the roofs of the two story houses. Six Flags had many of their roller coasters under water. The pictures on the news were just surreal. You see stories like that in other places, but to realize it's happening to people right where you live is very disconcerting. An elementary school in Cobb County, Clarkdale Elementary, was completely submerged. Those students had to evacuate on Monday as water starting pouring in. Our school was cancelled on both Monday and Tuesday because it wasn't safe to drive on the roads. People were getting swept off of the roads as they tried to drive through the water. It was like nothing I had ever experienced.

Thankfully, our house stayed dry. Our house is set up on a rise, and the water flowed down the lawn and into the neighbor's. During the worst of the rain on Monday afternoon, it was pooling quite a bit just past our neighbor's house, but it didn't get up very high. We don't have basements on our road, and I've never been happier about that. I spent Wednesday back at school just looking around my classroom and realizing how thankful I was that it was still there. I can't imagine as a teacher, or a student, losing absolutely everything in your classroom. Many of those students also lost everything in their homes as well. The thought of it is overwhelming.

Our only problems have been with our phone and internet service. The phone was out Monday, (I'm beginning to think something got hit by lightning) and the internet went out completely on Tuesday. I was finally able to get a hold of someone on Thursday, and everything should be up and running no later than Tuesday. A lot of the roads around us are closed as a creek that meanders around our area washed out or weakened many of the bridges that cross it. It's made getting around a little interesting. Matthew's soccer field (which sits across the street from where those buses were parked) suffered some severe damage, but they are hoping to get everything back up and running by next week. They lost a few of their soccer goals and most of the fence, and in some places the ground washed away, but I drove by there today, and there were people out getting it cleaned up. Unfortunately, it's pouring right now, as we are expecting another 1 to 2 inches of rain today. Hopefully, the ground has dried enough to handle it.

Soccer Pics

Here are some pictures from Matthew's soccer game last week. It's an instructional league, so they don't keep score, but he still had a great time!


I'm actually very impressed that I got this shot. :)

While I'd love to post pictures tomorrow from his game, we are beginning to build arks down here in Atlanta, so there aren't going to be any games tomorrow. I'm just hoping the rain stops someday. My children (both my own and the ones I spend my days with) really need to go outside to play.

It's Official!

I just finished talking to my mentor at Western Governors University, and I'm officially enrolled in my first two masters classes. The orientation course is a kind of get to know you course. If you don't finish it, you don't have to pay for it. Now, I'm on the hook for tuition. Or Sallie Mae is since they're borrowing me the money to go back to school. I'm enrolled in Introduction to Special Education, Law & Legal Issues Policies and Procedures; and Literature Reviews for Educational Research. They sound fun, don't they? Both of them are introductory courses which involve a lot of reading and learning of terms and procedures. The Literature Review course will also get me started on my capstone project (think masters thesis). During that one, I'll get assigned a capstone chair who will help guide me through the entire process. During my last term, I'll write the project and then have to present an oral defense of it. That's the one thing that has me worried. I've never done any sort of big research project, so this will all be new to me. But before I get to all that, I have to get through the next three terms and lots of classes. Guess I better go start studying now.

Matthew's New Sport

Before I start, I blame all of this on my Aunt Judy. You'll see why in a minute. :-)

Matthew is starting soccer this week! He's mentioned it off and on for a while because one of our routes to church on Wednesday takes us right past the soccer complex, and he would see the kids play. But it was never a big thing. That changed this summer. My cousin Penny was down here visiting her mom, and her oldest son, Jon, introduced Matthew to soccer. They played one Sunday evening when we went over for dinner. Matthew had a blast. Plus, he was pretty good! (To my untrained eye.) I figured it wouldn't be too long before he was asking about playing. He waited until we were home. Being the wonderful mom that I am, I decided to sign him up. (Actually, I had already decided to put him in something this fall, so it worked out fabulously.) I picked up a soccer ball and backpack a couple of months ago when the Wal-Mart near me did a big clearance before they remodeled, and Matthew and I went out tonight to get him cleats, shin guards, and socks. His first practice is tomorrow, and he's getting pretty excited. They'll only play on Saturdays, and the games only last an hour or so, so it won't stress the schedule too much. With this and KidzLife on Wednesdays, he's going to stay pretty busy. No time to bother Nathan then. Wow, this really is a great plan! :-)

First Day of School

Not only am I a teacher, but starting today, I'm also a student! Yep, I FINALLY got around to starting my master's degree. I wanted to try and start last December at Georgia State, but things just didn't work out for me. So this summer, I decided that I was going to find a school and a program that would work with my schedule. I did LOTS of searching online and found lots of diploma mills, but finally I stumbled on a great university. It's called Western Governor's University, and it's located in Utah. Like its name implies, it was the brainchild of the governors of the nineteen western states. It's a completely online campus. Plus, instead of credit hours, its classes are based on competency units. Once you show competency and pass the assessment for the class, you are finished! It's really designed for working adults who have lots of experience, but need a college degree for career advancement. It's also really easy to apply to, and it's the only completely online school that participate in federal financial aid. It took me about two weeks to go from application to acceptance to start date. Instead of paying for credit hours, you pay a flat per term fee no matter how many classes you take and pass, so it's very affordable. I'm hoping to be able to get my whole degree done for less than $10,000. (Which is ALOT cheaper than some schools I looked at.) I decided to get my master's in special education. My ultimate goal is to teach in a primary self-contained special education classroom. Hopefully, I'll be able to get done in 18 months. We'll have to wait and see. I started my first class today. It's an orientation course that needs to be done in the first two weeks. It's not too difficult, so hopefully I can get it done sooner and get into the meat of my classes. While it will take a lot of organization and planning (and mountains of help from Jeremy), I'm so excited that I've finally taken this step!

Hey, it's me!

Sorry to all three readers who read this blog, because I never posted anything about Andrew's surgery on Friday. It went fabulously. He didn't go back until about 90 minutes after the scheduled time, but he was really good waiting in a little tiny room for a very long time without having eaten anything all day. They only time he would get really upset is when someone would come in. When they did finally come to take him back, they wanted him to ride in the guerney. That really set him off, so he went through the OR doors wailing. While it was upsetting, I know it didn't last for long, because the nurse had assured me that they put the babies under almost as soon as they are in for just that reason. After he left, I ran down to the cafeteria since I hadn't eaten in ages to grab lunch. In the time it took me to get my lunch, get back to the room, and eat one chicken strip, the tubes were in. The doctor came back to the room within 15 minutes to tell us it was done. They brought Andrew back about a half hour later, and 45 minutes after that we were able to head home! By the time we got home, he was already back to his normal, happy self. He ate a full supper that night and headed to bed with no problem. All in all, it went perfectly!

Now, if I could only get him to start talking. . .

What a Day!

Well, it has been quite the day today. The boys and I headed to school this morning, and I taught until 9:30. Then, I left to take Andrew to his pre-op appointment at Children's Healthcare at Egleston. This hospital is closer to us than Scottish Rite where he had his surgery last year. It's actually on the Emory campus and right across the street from Emory hospital where my Uncle Ron got his new heart almost two years ago. His appointment was at 10:30, and I arrived at the parking garage before 10:15. After driving through all four levels of the garage, I finally found a family that was getting ready to pull out of their spot. Thankfully, it was right beside the elevators, so it didn't take me too long to get Andrew out of the car, into his stroller, and up to the right floor. I signed in at 10:29. :) Then, the wait started.

First, we waited to get called to registration. Then, we waited to get called back. Then, we waited for the tech to get his vitals and take a history. Then, we waited for the pre-op clinic nurse to come and ask me the exact same questions that the tech asked. Then, we waited for someone from anesthesia to come and ask me the exact same questions. Finally, we waited for the doctor to come to look in his ears and ask me some of the exact same questions. (Are you sensing a pattern?) We didn't leave until after 12:30. I zipped through the drive-thru at Chik-fil-A and got us both some lunch, raced home (without speeding on 78!), and dropped Andrew off so I could get back to school at 1:30. I was actually only about 3 minutes late.

Then, tonight, I went to our church's training for KidzLife. This past spring, our church decided to drop our Awana program and begin their own. I will admit that I was a little disappointed at first. Matthew and Nathan really enjoyed Awana, and Matthew only had one more year left of Sparks. I liked that it really gave him a goal to finish his book twice each year so he could get his review patch and go to the skating party the church sponsored for book finishers. But after seeing what our church has put together, I'm really excited. We're going to spend the year studying the Sermon on the Mount. And the lessons will encourage the kids to really think about what they are studying and how they can apply it to their lives. Plus, the journals that the K-2nd grade kids will use are incredibly cute! I'm going to be working with a group of Kindergarten kids, and I can't wait until next week. We have over 1000 kids registered to start next week! It will be awesome!

Musings about our First Week

One thing I will say for the first week of school: It seemed to zip by. It feels like it was just Monday morning, and suddenly I'm already getting ready for another week of school.

Nathan's love/hate relationship with school has not diminished over the summer. On the way to school on Monday, he was complaining about how he didn't want to go. I told him he could be miserable for the next 179 days, but on the first day of school he had to pretend to be happy!

Matthew still hasn't learned that there are times when he needs to zip it so his teacher can talk.

Even though I hoped that starting school would cut down somewhat on the fighting, that hasn't proved to be the case.

I think I'm going to really enjoy my group this year. I had a fabulous first week. While I was exhausted at the end of it, I had a great time. I'm diving headfirst into both Writer's Workshop and organizing my reading time around something called "The Daily 5". Both went really well, and I'm very excited about the rest of the year!

On another note. Andrew's surgery is this Friday. I still don't know what time it will be. I'm not sure if I will take my laptop or not with me to the hospital. Either way, I will be sure to post something by Friday evening.

Working for Free

Tomorrow, instead of heading into school to start the year, I'll be at home. Thanks to the economy, I'm furloughed for the first two days of August and one day in October. On principle, most teachers I know aren't going in to show the governor that we won't work for free. Of course, what were lots of us doing last week?

Going in to get our rooms ready.

Working for free.

Ironic, isn't it?

Not the Sunday I Wanted!

After we had cleaned up everything from dinner today (Sausage, Bean and Spinach Soup, yum!), I decided to go to Staples to get the last few things on the boys' supply list. Matthew needed eraser caps and both of them need dry erase markers, and both were on sale this week at Staples. Plus, they had a spend $30/save $5 coupon, so I thought I'd get the rest of what I needed. I headed over there, and got everything I wanted (except for the crayons which were NOT a quarter a piece like I thought), and headed out. I decided to stop at Kroger on my way home and get some pudding mix since I had a graham cracker pie crust I needed to use. I headed in there, grabbed the couple of things I needed and headed out to go home. I jumped in the van, turned the key, and got. . .

NOTHING.

That's right. The car was dead. I called Jeremy, but there wasn't a lot he could do since he had all three boys, including a napping Andrew at home. I stood around for a while, hoping that someone would notice my distress. Finally, I decided to put the hood of the car up. Well, nothing attracts men like a woman staring blankly into the engine of her vehicle. I had a guy come right over and ask if I needed help. He pulled his car over, and then pushed the van into a better position so the jumper cables could reach. We kept the cables on for a while, and while they were attached, I could get the electronics on the car to work, but it still refused to turn over. We kept trying, but it just wasn't working. So, I used my Emergency Roadside Assistance I have through Progressive :-) and called them for help. The first question the lady asked me was if I was in a safe place. I guess the parking lot at Kroger's is pretty safe, though I was getting a little warm. (J/K, I know what she was really asking) She also asked where I wanted the car towed to. Not really the best question for me. I'm standing there in a hot parking lot, under the beating sun, and I can't come up with anything. Finally, I told her Pep Boys. Thankfully, that was within the 15 miles they will pay to tow. I called Jeremy to have him bring the boys, so I could go home and he could go with the car. Repair shops are a man's job in my book, plus, I was really hot and wanted to go home. As I'm waiting for the tow truck, I put the hood down and close the doors, having conveniently forgotten that the keys are in the car, and the locks engaged the last time I tried to start it. Now, I'm standing in a hot parking lot, next to a locked car with nothing but my cell phone. (And Cool Whip probably turning into a hydrogenated mess in the car!) Before disaster struck, though, Jeremy came with the boys, and the tow truck showed up at the same time. I headed home, leaving them to tow the car. I went home, laid on the bed in the air conditioning, and had a glass of water. Nice.

Of course, Pep Boys is going to charge us $95 just to figure out what's wrong, and who knows how much more to fix it, but my Service Engine light had been on anyway, and emissions tests are just around the corner, so it was an expense I was going to have to pay anyway. But finding out this week I'm losing $750 in salary between now and December and now the car expense is a little stressing. Guess we'll see what happens.

Too Many Books!

Ask anyone who knows me (and especially people who knew me when I was a kid), and they will tell you my absolute favorite thing to do is read. I literally do not remember a time when I wasn't reading. I know that by the time I was in first grade, I was reading Little House in the Big Woods. I have more books in my house than I have bookshelves for, and we could have gone on three or four vacations with the money I've spent on books since we've been married.

Well, God knew what he was doing when he brought us here to Gwinnett County. The library system here was named best in the country a few years ago. What I love about is that it's a county-wide system. As long as I live anywhere in the county, I can go to any branch in the county. Plus, the entire catalog is online, so if I find a book I like, I can place a hold on it online. It's fantastic.

The only problem? Actually, there are a couple. One, I always forget to return the books, so I'm pretty much keeping the entire library system afloat with my fines. Two, I get too many books! Right now, I have three that I'm in the middle of reading. I started A New Kind of Conservative earlier this week. Then, I got World Without End by Ken Follett from my hold list. Finally, today, the library sent me a notice that three other books I had put on hold were ready. So now I'm reading The Other Boleyn Girl. My problem is that I worse than a little kid about books. As soon as I get a book from the library, I want to read it right away! So, I have three books floating through the house, laying on the arm of the couch, or the firplace mantle, or on the floor beside my bed. No wonder I can never find them when they're due.

What is a Red Letter Christian?

Okay, before I start, this is a REALLY long post, and I didn't even say everything I wanted to. But most of it can be condensed into three words: READ THIS BOOK!

I just finished the book Red Letter Christians by Tony Campolo. To say that it challenges you would be too trite. What it does is look at the politics and culture of America through the red letters of Jesus. To be honest, after every chapter, I had to stop and think about what I believed and ask myself whether it lined up with the teachings of Jesus. I'll admit, I am a product of my upbringing when it comes to social issues. That's not to say that my parents didn't teach me to care for others. They did. But, I grew up in a middle class household, in a middle class town where I went to a middle class school and hung out with my middle class youth group. While I heard about people in need, I never really came "face to face" with them, so to speak. However, here in Atlanta, I see, almost everyday, people who break the heart of Jesus. Atlanta is the center of child sex trafficking. In 2004 almost 12% of people lived in poverty. I'm sure that number is dramatically higher now since the unemployment rate here in Georgia has reached 10.1%. In addition, I teach in a school where over 50% of our students are on free or reduced lunch. According to the federal government, my school is considered high-poverty. It has caused me to change many of my own beliefs of what a Christian should be.

What does a Red Letter Christian look like? Well it is someone

who espouses an evangelical theology, but who rejects being classified as part
of the Religious Right. We don't want to make Jesus into a Republican. On the other hand, we want to say it loud and clear that we don't want to make Jesus into a Democrat either. (pg 17)

I'll be honest. The beliefs in this book will make people angry. They are not what we hear from religious radio, and they're certainly not what "mainstream" religious leaders are saying on Fox News. Campolo admits that.

The message in those red letter is radical, to say the least. If you don't believe me, just read Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount, found in Matthew 5-7. In the red letters of this sermon, Jesus calls us to an "upside-down Kingdom," far away from the dominant values of the modern American consciousness. For instance, Jesus tells us that we cannot be sucked into a system that seeks life meaning and satisfaction in materialism and self-gratification while still claiming to serve God. Furthermore, he
challenges many of the social policies that too many Evangelicals fail to question. Consider the fact that he calls us to be merciful (see Matt. 5:7), which has strong implications for how we should think about capital punishment-and since Jesus tell us to love our enemies, we probably shouldn't consider it an option (see Matt. 5:44). These words should cause us to examine our attitudes about war, as well. Most important, when we reflect on all Jesus had to say about caring for the poor and oppresses, committing ourselves to His red-letter message just might drive us to see what we can do politically to help those He called "the least of these" (see Matt. 25:31-46). (pg 22)

This book touches on the global issues of the environment, the War, Palestine, and AIDS. In every chapter, it challenges the mainstream Evangelical beliefs. Are Christians supposed to be the caretakers of the creation God has given us? Is the War in Iraq a just war, and how has it affected the Iraqi Christians who are now terrorized by al-Qaeda? Is support for Israel a Biblical belief, and how do Christians reach out to the 15% of Arabs that are Christian? Do we lump them into the "all Palestinians are terrorists" group? How should the Church respond to those who are suffering from AIDS, especially those in third world countries who cannot afford the medicine they need to survive?

It also hits on the hot button issues of today. He discusses gay rights and gay marriage. He believes that government should get entirely out of the business of marriage and only offer civil unions. Marriage should strictly be a religious institution. I don't know how I feel about that. I am firmly opposed to gay marriage, but some of the issues he brings up have caused me to do some serious thinking. He also discusses gun control and education (a topic near and dear to my heart). In both of those issues, what we need to look at is how to help those who cannot help themselves. Every day, 8 children are killed with a gun. How can we, as Christians, stand opposed to control these deadly weapons? In the same way, why is ensuring that our children learn in the safest of environments not important to us? I do disagree with his assessment of NCLB. I feel that it has harmed our schools in numerous ways. He also talks about abortion and reaching out to those who find themselves in a crisis pregnancy. He also covers immigration and crime, including capital punishment.

Finally, he talks politics. What should we expect from those who lead us? Where do special interests come in? How should we, as a nation, view the Federal Budget? Is the fact that we have record deficits be a concern for Christians? (In his view, absolutely) The book is almost prophetic as it talks about how our borrow and spend approach to life will someday come back to haunt us. (This book was written in 2007 when unemployment was at approximately 4.5%)

One point he talks about in-depth is health care, a topic that is something that we are definitely hearing alot about today.

Today (2007), nearly 47 million American, 8.3 million of them children, are without medical insurance. These uninsured people are hardworking Americans who face financial ruin if they, or any member of their families, are hit with a catastrophic medical emergency. That we as Christians [do] not support. . .a plan that would provide health coverage for every man, woman and child in this country should be viewed as far more than an embarrassing failure of the Church.

Those who declare that they are pro-life are hypocritical if they do not recognize how providing universal health coverage for the working poor is a pro-life issue. It would be one thing if the rest of the Christian community were like the Amish and chipped in to pay the hospital bills for those who lack health insurance. But we don't! Instead, we stand by the sidelines, shake our heads and say 'Isn't that a shame?' (pg 190)
(bolding mine)

Where did this book leave me? Realizing that I need to view the world through the eyes of Jesus. I see so many people saying "I'm a Christian, but I don't want my money to pay for other people's problems." According to Jesus, other people's problems are ours to take care of! In Matthew 25, Jesus commands us to take care of the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger needing clothes, and the one in prison. So what am I going to start doing? Dumping the self-righteous attitude that says "God helps those who helps themselves" and looking at those who are suffering with eyes of mercy. I'm lucky. In just three weeks, I'm going to be standing in front of 20 kids who all need to see Jesus' love. Many of them will come from homes I couldn't even begin to imagine. My prayer is that instead of being frustrated by the fact that they don't have their supplies, and their homework's not done, and they're always late, I will instead ask how I can be Jesus to them. How can I be a Red Letter Christian?

Andrew

We've always joked that Andrew's been our "high-maintenance" baby. He was early, he spent time in the NICU, there's his whole skull surgery deal, he was a late walker, and he's still not talking. That's what sent us to the doctor today. We had a hearing and speech evaluation done about three months ago, and the hearing evaluation showed some hearing lost in both ears. His pediatrician recommended we go to an ENT to see what was going on, so I made an appointment with a pediatric ENT. His name is Dr. Todd, and he was wonderful today. He looked into Andrew's ears, and even though Andrew's only been diagnosed with one ear infection, the doctor thinks that he's had mild ones on and off for a while. I guess there was some scarring on his ear drum. We also did another hearing evaluation. This time, his hearing tested in the normal range, but the tympanogram they did showed a negative pressure in his inner ear. The way the doctor explained it to me, negative pressure means that there's isn't enough air entering the inner ear through the Eustachian Tube. He said that most children outgrow this problem, and it is common for children who had oddly shaped heads to have this problem. It's also hereditary, but that not the case here. He told me that what's happening is every time Andrew swallows the pressure in his ear changes, so his hearing goes in and out. He said that makes it more difficult for language development that an across the board hearing loss, because the sounds are always going in and out. To solve this problem, Andrew will get tubes put in fairly soon. They'll stay in for about 8 months and probably fall out on their own. I would assume that we'll see if his speech improves before making any determinations about speech therapy. (The doctor did tell me that most speech evaluations, especially in young children like Andrew, are not very accurate since it's more subjective than anything else.)

I'll post when we get a date for surgery. It's outpatient surgery that will be done at Children's Healthcare at Egleston near Emory. I know it won't be the weeks of August 3rd or August 10th since that's pre-planning and the first week of school for me. I would also like it to be on a Friday since I'm pretty sure that it will take a day or two for Andrew to get back to himself. Hopefully, this surgery will get him hearing and talking soon!

By the way, the picture had absolutely nothing to do with the post, but I thought it was so cute, I had to put it up! I took this on the 4th of July.

Summer Fun!

Here's some pictures of the fun we've been having this summer.

On Nathan's birthday, we went to the pool. It was TOO HOT to go to the one close to us, so we decided to go to a pool that is completely indoors. Ahh, the joy of having a pool pass. I can go to any pool in the county. Nathan actually went down the little slide too! Matthew, of course, has no such problems. There's nothing he fears at the pool. He's like a fish. Nathan is a little more cautious.

Here are some of Nathan's cake and opening presents. He really liked everything he got, plus he's rolling in some dough. My Aunt Cheryl sent him $10 (Your thank you card's coming!), and Jeremy's parents sent him a gift card, so he (or I) will get to do some shopping. I'm trying to decide if I should be practical with it, since he could use another pair of jeans or two for school.

Last Saturday, our church had their carnival to celebrate the end of Backyard Bible Club. Instead of having one HUGE Bible School at our church, we go out into the neighborhoods and have Bible Clubs. We had over 20 this year all over the county. There were three just near us. Then, the church has a big carnival to bring everyone together. There are jump houses, games, and free food. (That's why we go. :-D ) It was unbelieveably hot, but thankfully there was just enough of a breeze to make it bearable.

Today, we got out the slip and slide that Matthew got for his birthday. It took a little while for us to figure out how to get it to work, but we were finally able to. Our yard is not very smooth or open, so they had to be careful how they slid, but they had a good time. I only let the water run for about 20 minutes since we are still under some watering restrictions, but I decided that since we don't water the lawn, this was OK. Hopefully, no one will turn me in since this is an odd day, and my address is an even number.

It's hard to believe our summer is over half done! I go back to school four weeks from Monday, and school starts five weeks from Monday. It's going by so fast.

Blog to Read

I try to read Stuff Christians Like every couple of days. First, it's hilarious. Second, it is such an accurate reflection of my own church experience that I wonder if he wasn't following me around in high school and college. And, third, there are days when his posts hit me right between the eyes and cause me to really think about my preconceived notions of the world. This is one such post. I'd editorialize about it, but I can't say it any better than he does.

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Today is Nathan's 6th birthday. We're not having a big celebration. Nathan's not very social, so he didn't want a party. He's going to Backyard Bible Club tomorrow, and then we'll go out for supper tomorrow night. Of all the restaurants we have here in the metro Atlanta area, which one did he pick? Burger King. He told me it was because they have Transformers toys. I can't stand BK. Oh well, I guess it's cheaper than O'Charley's. Then, I made him a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. I convinced him to have that instead of his original choice. Vanilla (yellow) cake with white frosting. That just did not sound very appetizing.

He was also very hard to buy for. He loves to read, as you can tell from the picture, so I got him some books from Barnes and Noble. I bought a book about the skeleton, plus two Seymour Simon books about space. I wasn't really sure what else to get. So, I went to Target and wandered for awhile. I finally bought him two Lego sets, a Bakugan (don't ask), and the game Operation. Then, just as I was about ready to leave, I saw a box of Uno cards. I had to get them. I know that if my grandpa was here, he'd love to teach Uno to both Matthew and Nathan. Maybe tonight, I'll sit down with the two of them and teach them Uno over a 2 liter of Mountain Dew.

Vacation!

My favorite picture from vacation.

The first week of June we went to the Smoky Mountains for vacation. I live in North Georgia, which is really pretty in the fall, but there's nothing that compares to the Great Smokies. The whole area is beautiful. My parents found an RV resort in Seiverville that also had cabins that people could rent. They brought their camper, we stayed in one cabin, and my brother and his family stayed in another. Our cabin faced the river, and it was really quiet. While we were a little crowded in our one room cabin, (I would have never made it as a pioneer) we had a great time. My sister-in-law, Heidi, taught Matthew to fish. He never caught anything, but he had a great time. There was also a pool, and the boys went swimming almost every day. We didn't really do a lot of touristy stuff. If you've ever been to Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg, you understand what I'm saying. We did go into Gatlinburg one day and walked around. We found an old style arcade where you could play different games and earn tickets. (Think Chuck E Cheese) My dad changed $20 into quarters, and we split it among the four kids. They had a blast. Of course, after they got done playing, they had to spend their tickets. Matthew and Nathan got two paper fans, (I have no idea why) a spiderman that stretched, and a couple of huge plastic flies. They were happy, though, so I can't complain. Plus, $20 to keep everyone busy for a couple of hours really can't be beat. We also went into the national park one day and drove to Cade's Cove. There's a number of cabins and other buildings there that you can go through. We even got to see a bear while we were driving. We didn't stop to get a picture, though. Here are some of the pictures we did get.

Sitting alongside the river fishing.

Trying to take a picture with all five grandchildren

Matthew and Elli swimming in the pool.

It was a great time. I can't wait to go back next year.

What In the World Have I Been Doing?

I know all two of you who read this blog (Hi Mom!) are probably wondering why I can't seem to keep it updated. I mean, it's summer vacation, and I'm at home all day. So, why can't I keep up?

Well, first of all, I'm lazy. That's right. The school year is so busy that during the summer, I don't get very much done. I start the summer with projects I want to accomplish, and not very many of them get done. I'm bad, I know.

Second, I have been working on a REALLY big project. My goal for this summer was to get a grip on my writing and reading lesson plans, and I am making progress on it. So far, I've finished all of my writing lesson plans for the first four months of school. My goal is to have all of the writing plans done by the end of June so I can begin to work on my reading plans. I've also been spending an insane amount of money on Amazon for books. There's actually one more I want to buy, but Jeremy's threatened to hide the computer modem if I order it. (That's OK, I can wait until August when I can have it delivered to school. :-) )

So, I promise that I will get vacation pictures up soon. (Hopefully, before next year's vacation.)

Summer has started!

If I didn't already know, the 90 degree temperatures all week have made me sure. Good grief, I don't think I can take another three months of this. But that's not the reason our summer finally started. This is the reason. . .

We went to the pool today! I've been out of school for four weeks now, and we finally got to the pool. Of course, last week we were on vacation. (Pictures of that to come!) Of course, I only got to take Matthew since Nathan is fighting a weird stomach virus. He was sick on Monday, but felt fine by the afternoon. Tuesday he was fine the whole day, but today he was sick again this afternoon after feeling fine all morning. I'm not sure what's going on. It was a little weird going to the pool with just one child. Last year, I had to hold Andrew the whole time while making sure I always knew where Matthew and Nathan were. The rule at our pool is kids 6 and under have to be within arm's length at all times. They stretch the rule to pretty much being within sight all the time. Of course, now that Matthew's seven, I don't have to be within arm's length. So, I could sit on the towel and read while he went all over. I was so excited, until I got to the pool and realized it was too stinking hot to sit and read! So, I went back and forth from the pool back to the side where I could read for awhile until the heat got to be too much. Matthew had a good time, though, and we'll be heading back on Friday! (When it'll be 95 degrees. Lord, have mercy on me.)

Worry

I took Andrew to the pediatrician today for his 18 month check up. While she was very happy he's walking now, she's still worried about his lack of speech. He's not saying any recognizable words yet. Since he had been on an antibiotic to get rid of the fluid in his ear, she used a tympanometer to test whether his eardrum was vibrating. If he still had fluid, we were going to have another round of antibiotics with a re-check in two weeks. She also suggested waiting until he was 22 months old to see if his speech improves before we went to an ENT. That was the plan until she saw the results of the tympanogram. It showed that there isn't fluid behind the ear drum, but his hearing is still very poor. So instead of waiting, we are headed off to the ENT in two weeks.

I Get Excited over the Craziest Things

As this past school year wound down, I was already putting together plans in my head for next fall. I've been doing quite a bit of reading and just recently re-read The Daily Five which describes how to set up your literacy time. It was a fantastic book. I found out on proteacher.net that the authors just came out with a brand new book called The CAFE Book, so I ordered it from amazon on Sunday. Because of the holiday on Monday, it took until today for me to get it. I got it this afternoon, and I just finished it. What can I say? It wasn't very long, and I loved it! Suddenly, how to teach reading makes so much more sense. I went to college when everyone was doing whole language, and I never really kept up on new research when I first started teaching. Now, though, I can't read enough! I've already got three or four more books on my summer reading list. Unfortunately, the public library doesn't really carry the latest in teaching techniques, so amazon is really going to love me.

Why We Need a Schedule

So yesterday I was enjoying the beauty of a schedule and how it was working for us. Well, today proved that we really do need a schedule.

It was my birthday today, so I was lazy. :-) I got up around 8:30 am. I wanted to get up earlier, but I closed my eyes thinking I'd doze for five more minutes and ended up sleeping soundly for over an hour. I am trying to make up for five months of sleep deprivation, so I guess I deserve a few mornings of sleeping in. Unfortunately, it set our whole schedule off, and I didn't really stick with it. So what happened?

Nathan had a HUGE meltdown just before supper. They started fighting over the computer (because I didn't end their computer time when I was supposed to), so I told them it was time to turn the computer off. Nathan was not happy with that decision, so he flipped out. I sent him to his room, and that set off his meltdown. It's really hard to cook supper when you're listening to someone yell, scream, and kick the door. He finally settled down enough to eat supper and then went outside after supper for a little down time by himself.

So, tomorrow, I'm going to be much better about sticking with our schedule. We are going out to lunch with some mom friends, and then I want to take them to the Crocs store (I can get Crocs for $5!), but once we get home, we're sticking to our schedule like glue for the next couple of days. We really need the structure around here.

It's Summer Time!

Summer officially began for all of us today. Yesterday was my last day of work. I only stayed until about noon or so since my room was clean and packed up. We had an extra day of post planning this year since we had to use our workday in March as a snow make up day. Three days of working after school gets out is too long. One teacher said it was like sitting around watching paint dry. Someone needs to tell the county that was not the best use of their money.

The last day of school for the boys was last Wednesday. The school always has an end of the year picnic, and I was actually able to get some pictures of both Matthew and Nathan with their teacher.

Here's Matthew with Ms. Acton. He really enjoyed having her. Jeremy came to the picnic, but Matthew wanted to stay at school for the rest of the day because he wanted to stay with Ms. Acton. He also wrote her a really sweet note a couple of weeks before school let out which surprised both her and I since that is so NOT him. He likes to play things very cool, but I think that she really clicked with him. First grade was a great year for him.

Nathan's teacher was Mrs. McPheeters, and she was wonderful with him! She was so patient and understanding of all of his little quirks. He loved kindergarten even though he would have been much happier just staying home. I joke that Nathan would be perfectly happy if all five of us spent all of our time sitting together on the couch. :-) He is very much a homebody.

I started something a little different today. I set up a schedule of playtime, TV time, outside time, and computer time for the boys. If you've read any of the Babywise books, you'll know where I've gotten it from. I've never done a schedule before with the older two, but this summer I knew we really needed one. Otherwise, they would have spent the whole summer either watching TV, playing on the computer, or fighting with each other. I also set up daily chores for them to do as well. It was so funny because after we had been working for about 40 minutes or so picking up and cleaning Matthew looks at me and says, "Daily chores are hard work!" I laughed and told him it's hard work keeping a house up. We didn't stick to the schedule 100% today, but it gave us a good place to start. Plus, Nathan was checking it every five minutes, so I could tell it was giving him the structure he really needs. And there was no fighting over the computer! For that alone, I'm happy I took the time to put one together.

He's Walking!!!

Andrew finally decided to take off today. He was standing at the side of our bed, and just walked away from it. Just like I thought, he is already almost running. He has been everywhere! He walked all the way across the living room and into the kitchen. It's amazing that just yesterday he wasn't walking at all without support, and today he's walking like he's been doing it for months! Good thing, since we have two doctor's visits next week. Of course, that also means I have to go out and buy some shoes for the child now too. :-)

Here's some pictures of my little walker!

I'll update more about the start of summer tomorrow (when my summer actually starts), but here's a picture from Matthew's team party last night. This is the coach he's had for the last two years.

End of Baseball

Well, in less than a week, we went from the excitement of Matthew's extra inning game to the end of the season. Nathan lost on Monday night even though his team was up by two runs in the final inning. The other team had two outs and only a runner on first, and we really believed they were going to win. Unfortunately, they ended up giving up three runs to lose the game. It was a little disappointing since they hadn't won a game all season. They kept getting better and had a few games where it looked like they might be able to pull it out, but they just couldn't.

Matthew played on Wednesday, and his team lost 7 - 0. They really weren't even in the game. They looked like they were sleepwalking through a lot of it. I can't really explain why. It was just one of those games. They had to play Thursday, and while they played much better, they still lost 6 - 4. They were up 4 - 2 after the kid pitch, which is unusual, but they didn't field well or bat well during the coach pitch, which is also unusual. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Matthew was disappointed, but, as is his personality, he bounced back quickly. He's very laid back and doesn't get too up or too down. Our park offers a baseball league in the fall, and I think we'll sign him up for it. I probably won't sign Nathan up though. He just doesn't like baseball enough for me to justify the expense for him twice a year. He'll be much happier riding his scooter through the park while Matthew plays.

It's Tourney Time!

For baseball, that is.

Matthew and Nathan started their baseball tourneys today. Nathan's was short and sweet. Matthew's, on the other hand? Well that's a whole other story. Let's start with the easy one, shall we?

Nathan's team, while they are all sweet, little boys, is not very good. Which is good, in a very weird way, because that's means that Nathan's not the worst player on the team. Don't get me wrong, he likes baseball, but not more than digging in our infernal red Georgia clay. (Do you have any idea how hard that is to get out of baseball pants?) But since the team is so bad, Nathan's coach doesn't have a coronary every time a ball gets past him because he's trying to dig for China. :-) The team, while they've played hard and had fun, hasn't won a game all season. They were the 16th seeded team in the tournament which means they played the number 1 team in the tournament who hasn't lost a game all season. Thankfully, in T-ball, each team can only score four runs an inning. Nathan's team started out by scoring two runs in the top of the first, but it was all down hill from there. The game was called at the end of the fourth inning. Nathan's team lost 16 - 6. The tournament is double-elimination, so they will play again on Monday. I think by Monday evening Nathan's season will be over, so here are some pictures.

Matthew's game was dramatically different. His team, the Yankees, was seeded fifth, and they were playing the ninth place team, the Dodgers. His coach is much more intense than Nathan's coach. If Matthew was digging in the dirt, his coach could very well have a coronary. He's never mean to the kids, but you can tell he gets frustrated when they aren't playing hard. Matthew's league starts with the kids pitching with called balls and strikes for the first three innings, and then finishes with the coaches pitching for the rest of the games with only swinging strikes. The funny thing about Matthew's team is that they get better both offensively AND defensively once the coaches start to pitch. This game was no different. By the end of the third inning, they were down 7 - 0. They weren't hitting anything; they were barely getting the bats off of their shoulders. They weren't fielding anything either. Balls they should field were going right under their gloves. The coach's son had even given up an over the fence grand slam. It was looking really bad. Then, they started with coach pitch. For the next three innings, they did not give up another run. (They were also helped out by the other team batting out of order in one inning resulting in two outs. That was caught by yours truly since I was keeping the official score book.) They scored two runs in the fourth and four in the fifth. In the sixth, they scored one run to tie it up, and had the winning run on third when Matthew came up (and I started pacing). This is where I write that he had the hit that scored the winning run, right? Wrong. He hit a little nubber between home plate and the pitcher's mound and froze for a second at the plate. He was thrown out by a step at first. Bummer. I think if he had started running right away, he would have made it safely. The Dodgers scored one run in the top of the seventh, but Matthew's team came back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to win the game! The tension? Awful. The relief when they won? Awesome! They were so excited! The kids were too. ;-) They'll play again on Wednesday in the next round, and I'm hoping the game is not near as exciting. Matthew did end up with his own souvenir from the game. He got hit by a pitch his first time up. It hit him right in the upper arm. I think he's going to end up with a really nice bruise, but he told me after the game it didn't really hurt.

I didn't get any pictures of the actual game, but here are some of him warming up.

Baseball for kids isn't supposed to be this exciting, is it?

First Haircut

I took Andrew this afternoon to get his first haircut at Snip-Its. (BTW, very cute, very expensive place.) With his baby dedication coming up on Sunday, and the fact that he'll be plastered all over our huge hi-def screens, I figured it was time to get some work done to his hair. Unfortunately, it didn't start out so well.

He got a little nervous when we put him in the chair, he started fussing when she put the smock on, but as soon as she sprayed his hair, he lost it.

Thankfully, the manager came to save the day! With bubbles!

He still wasn't completely happy after the haircut, so I wasn't able to get a picture at the salon, but I got one in the car on the way home. The style is pretty similar to what he had, but it's shorter and more styled. She suggested not cutting it too short since it's still pretty thin underneath and very fine. Plus, I didn't want his scar to show too much. (Or his still lumpy head for that matter!)