Bubble Baths and Puzzles

No more snow pictures. Unfortunately the ones I took last weekend didn't turn out. I guess that's why I'm not the photographer in the family. Along with the snow weekend though, we did have lots of indoor time. We made cookies, played board games, took long bubble baths (after I explained to Owen why a snow day was not a good day to blow up the kiddie pool, even if we were to set it up in the garage!) and put together a puzzle. A couple more pics from last weekend...

The hour-long bubble-bath from last weekend

Riley and his 3-D puzzle of King Tut

Unfortunately neither Lance or I had the camera in our hand this weekend, but we did enjoy the nice weather (mid-50's as opposed to snow!). Saturday, Lance chopped up a dead pine tree that he and my Dad had taken down a couple of weeks ago. I helped too as we hauled most of it over to our burn pile and the smaller pieces we stacked up next to the campfire pit. The boys were busy chasing bad guys around the house and jumping on the trampoline. It was a productive and fun day. We ended with dinner at Thearon and Tracey's house to celebrate Zach and Tracey's birthdays.

Today it was sunny and warm again so we headed to Target and then to the park after church. The boys had a few bucks left to burn. Riley's from the tooth fairy and O had a few bucks from his birthday left. We hung out at the park after that for a good 2 hours before coming home. It was nice and there were tons of others who had the same idea. It was a bit crowded. Great for Riley because he made several instant-friends. Owen mostly followed his brother around or played on his own, but he had fun too.

Back to the grind tomorrow and the countdown begins towards another weekend. Hope everyone has a great week!

Snowballs and Loose Teeth

We had snow Wednesday afternoon! You read that right, it was 70+ degrees last week and snowing today. Crazy! I was on my way home from work, a little earlier than usual at about 3:15, and started seeing the flakes falling. By the time I got home, it was a full-blown flurry (we get excited about a little flurry in Georgia!). My guys at home hadn’t even noticed until I walked in and pointed it out. A couple hours later and it was falling pretty steady and collecting on the ground. The boys made their way outside and made a few snowballs. Riley ran in the house and came back out with a box of ice-cream cones. He wanted to make snow cones, so he did proceeded to eat the whole thing. Owen licked his a few times and then gave it to his brother. It was fun. Although Riley has seen snow before, neither of them remembered ever having snow so it was pretty exciting. By about 8pm or so the snow had turned into rain and by this morning it was mostly gone. They didn’t even get a day off of school out of the deal, but it was fun while it lasted.

More excitement that same night. Riley pulled a loose tooth. After eating a rice-crispie treat after school, he’d nearly lost the tooth while eating so it wasn’t hanging on by much. Sunday we’d seen an episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos where a kid pulled a tooth by tying it to a Nerf gun and shooting it. Needless to say, Riley wanted to try it and so that is what we did. The first try, the floss just slid off his tooth. The second try, the tooth popped out and went flying across the room. We found it and Riley promptly put it under his pillow where it remained until 5am this morning when I was leaving for work. The tooth fairy quickly found a couple of dollars and made the exchange before leaving for work. He would have been so disappointed if the tooth fairy hadn’t visited, I’m glad the fairy remembered! Whew!

I talked to Lance this morning. He crawled into bed with Riley to wake him this morning. As he woke him Riley sat up, reached under his pillow, grabbed his money and put his head back on the pillow, never opening his eyes. I can imagine a very different scene (tears included) had the Fairy forgotten to do her job!

Note to self - I’ve got to get our camcorder fixed! I’ve gone to grab it now 3-4 times since it died over Christmas break. The Nerf/Tooth-pulling scene would have been a perfect post for You Tube!

Faith of a Child

I’m not sure what sparked this thought or how this conversation came about. Out of the blue one day last week as I was cooking dinner and Owen was riding his Mickey tricycle around the dining room table (yes, my kitchen is officially a race-track), we had this conversation:

O - “Mom, one day everybody dies, right?”
Me – “Yes.”
O – “And then when you die they bury you in the ground, right?” (not sure how he knows any of this, he’s never been to a funeral)
Me – “That’s right.”
O – “And then someone digs you up later.”
Me – “No. Nobody digs you up.”
O – “Yes they do, Mommy. Somebody digs you up so you can go up to Heaven.”
Me – “We’ll sort-of (not sure how much I should try to explain here). You do go to Heaven, but nobody has to dig you up.”
O – “Yes, Mommy. Jesus digs you up and takes you up to Heaven. That’s what he does, Mommy.”
Me – “OK. Maybe you are right.” (I think he has a pretty good grasp on the whole concept, I decide to leave it alone.)
O – “I’m right Mommy. That’s what happens when you die.”
Me – “You are so smart, Owen. Where did you learn that?”
O – “No where. I just know it.”

Birthday Party and Weekend Fun

We celebrated Owen’s 4 year birthday on Saturday with a Mickey Mouse Magic party at our house. He picked the Mickey theme and then I suggested a magician. I had no idea that I was looking at $275-350 for a magician to attend our party. Thank goodness for Uncle Scotty. He is cheap and entertained the kids great. They especially liked the finale with the floating $1 bill - impressive even for the adults. We also had a Mickey-Mouse cake, pin-the-nose-on-Mickey game and the kids all colored their own Mickey ears to wear as party hats. This was the first time hosting and indoor birthday party at our house. January makes the weather a little unpredictable though, it turned out well and before it was over all the kids were outside on the trampoline. It was cool but not cold and sunny. O was a little disappointed that none of his friends from preschool came, but he still had fun with all his cousins, 1 neighbor and the Welch girls. He got some great gifts too: a digital camera made for kids, remote control truck, game, action figures, money and a GT bean-bag chair. He told me later, “I like my chair Mommy, but I don’t like that team!” Looks like both my boys will be Bulldogs. Oh well. Riley is at least willing to pull for Tech when they’re not playing UGA.

After the party we headed to a movie with Scotty and family. Owen opted to go home with Nana and Kaylee and skip the movie. The movie was really good – National Treasure – but not one that would have kept his attention especially for 2.5 hours. Riley loved it. There was even a character in the movie named Riley so that made it even better.

Friday, in preparation for the party, Lance sanded and painted all the dry-wall patches that the contractor had done in our house back in the Fall. I’m so glad it is done but it made such a mess – dry wall dust everywhere. Lance dusted and mopped, I dusted and mopped and we did it all again Saturday morning and by 1pm when the party started, more dust was still settling.

Sunday was a good family day too. Church in the morning and then we pulled out the fishing poles in the afternoon. It was such a nice day. We hiked some through the woods on our property. Lance went back to get his chainsaw and chop down some dead trees while the boys and I ducked under the fence bordering the back of our property and the school behind us. We were heading to the playground at the elementary school to play for a while. But, Escher followed us - unleashed. After I saw that there were several other kids at the playground we decided to walk back home with Escher. I was afraid he’d wander too far off or bark like a crazy dog at all the kids. He followed us home. I offered to drive the boys back over to the park but Riley said, “That’s OK Mom. I didn’t want to play anyway; I just wanted to go for a walk.” So grown up! I played some Guitar Hero on the x-box (I’m officially addicted, it’s so fun!) and then we all headed to Alice’s church to hear a guest speaker. Don Piper, author of 90 Minutes in Heaven. His testimony is awesome and he is an excellent speaker. I can’t wait to read the book. We picked up dinner on the way home and then watched American Gladiator on TV. The boys loved it and I have to admit it was pretty entertaining. School starts back tomorrow so I told Riley it was his last night to stay up late for both he and O. I bet he won’t like hitting the sack at 8:30 tonight. Back to the daily grind. 2008 here we come.