Fun Run!!

Today the kids ended Spirit Week at school with a fun run. This year we used a company called Boosterthon and I think the PTA ladies chose this group because of the young cute guys who run the program. The kids were brainwashed all week about getting pledges, but they were also learning about good character traits. Both kids did great, especially for the weather being 105! October is still considered Fall isn't it...

Another project complete!

I have had this idea of making blankets (I would say quilts, but I did not want to learn or try that yet) out of squares of the kids clothes that I could not part with due to memories and such. I started cutting the squares out when we were in CA, probably 2007?? I finally got them out, finished cutting the rest and whipped them out in four days!! Well, two days for one and a week later for two days because I needed to get the sewing machine out of the family room. They are not quite what I pictured, however, I like them and I can remember every outfit that I used and how old the kids were when the wore them. I sure hope they want to have them when they get older!

Small Pox???

No we do not have small pox in the house, but guess how surprised I was to hear that Nathan has a version of it!

Back story...for a few months now Nathan has had couple of bumps on the inside of his right arm, just below the elbow. I did not think too much of it since he did not complain about them. Then I notices a couple weeks ago that they had multiplied...again, did not worry since they did not seem to bother him but I thought I would bring it up at the next well-kid visit (in February). This Saturday I noticed one was inflamed. Over the weekend I had to puncture it and lots of white yuck (technical term) came out and I thought it might be a good idea to see the doctor. So this morning I called and we went in after school.

He was diagnosed with

Molluscum Contagiosum

Yes...see that last word....contagious!! It is a viral infection. If you google it you will find that each bump can last 6-9 months and is very contagious and can keep spreading making it years before it goes away. It is especially dangerous to immune challenged people. So we have a cream for the one that is infected and the doctor told me to "pop" the others and it will go away faster...this should be fun.

Wow...forgot I had a blog!

Geez, I can't believe it has been so long since I updated this, guess I am just not a journaling type person. Since the last post of the trees falling, we have been to California and started school.

The trip to CA was wonderful, the longest trip I have ever taken at 3 weeks and 4 days. The trip home was terrible. What should have been a 7 hour travel time, turned into over 20 hours. Our plane had mechanical problems in Denver. We were set to leave at 7pm...the mechanics worked until 10pm...we loaded the plane, pulled back and sat....pulled back in, unloaded at finally at midnight they cancelled the flight. By that time Nathan was passed out and Andrew and I were just exhausted. Had to get out of the airport, find the hotel shuttle (ended up taking a ride from another hotel shuttle guy which was not one of by best mothering choices as he was off duty and it was close to 1 in the morning, something bad could have really happened), all three of us were in one bed, make it back to the airport, get new seats on the same broken plane....whew we finally made it back to Orlando.

Then finally school started. Andrew LOVES second grade and his teacher...Nathan tolerates Kindergarten, I think it has been a bit too much review of pre-school so hopefully they step it up soon.

TODAY...we had baseball skills assessment (a nice way of putting try-outs) which I still can not watch, makes me way too nervous. Then Andrew and I sat outside the Publix grocery store for 3 hours selling Cub Scout popcorn. After dinner we decided the kids need to get out some energy. So off on the bikes we went to the park. Nathan threw a fit that his training wheels were too high and then Andrew fell flat on his back off the thing you hold onto and slide...scared the you know what out of us as his eyes rolled back in his head, he went white as a sheet and knocked the breath out of himself...this day is DONE!

Falling Trees

We finally decided that the king palms needed to come down. Brent was about ready to purchase a 40 foot ladder to trim the dead fronds, however, I think he finally came to his senses (or decided it might be a good idea to live awhile longer) and agreed to have them taken down. Here is the tree falling and I will soon post the new trees that went into their place.

Kamp Kerr 2009

Summer vacation began June 4 with a visit to the dentist for both boys to have more cavities filled...we are working on better brushing/eating habits so we don't have our flexible spending account drained again just by the dentist. I started calling the week of June 8 Kamp Kerr since we did not have any outside camps scheduled. Monday we started at the gym so I could have someone else look after them for 1 1/2 hours, then off to the other Y where there is a water slide!! They loved it so it looks like we will repeat that adventure a few more times this summer.

Today, Tuesday, we headed to the gym earlier so we could make the 10am $1 movie and then home for afternoon swim time with mom and smoothies (special since they were made with sherbert instead of just yogurt). I looked out at one point and they were toasting each other.


Hopefully the rest of the week goes by as nicely as the first two days... tomorrow is the gym (again) some shopping, and crafts at the library. Thursday brings another dentist visit for Andrew and Friday more swimming at the Y and my first water aerobics class!

Who knew the dentist could be so boring

here is Nathan at his appointment for a pulpotomy (take the pulp out of a baby tooth) they did the numbing and while waiting for it to take effect, he decided to take a nap.

Drip, Drip, Drip

On Saturday Brent decided that the drains in the house needed to be cleared. He started with the kids bathroom where he cleaned out disgusting old hair from the drain, then moved to our shower where he found more hair, of course this is not disgusting because it was mine. Then he thought, how about the kitchen?? Here he found the wood under the sink soaked! Hmmm, maybe a problem here?? By the time he got to this sink it was dinner time and I was trying to get dinner on the table and here he is fiddling with the faucet, turning the water on...turning the water off...finally I got dinner ready and we sat. Not for long though because when Brent has an issue he has to devote all his energy to fixing it....now. He called our neighbor for a second opinion. It was finally decided that the old faucet was dead. (Picture Amy doing a happy dance, in her head of course). I really did not like the old faucet! However, now it was closing in on 7pm and out I go to Lowes. It would have been nice to have more time to really think about what I wanted, but here I am alone in the hardware store staring up at multiple faucets. Once I narrowed it down to the brand and color I had three choices. Low price, medium price and high price....now which one did I like?? Of course the one down the way in the "special" section where there is not a faucet under $400...but I kept myself in the reality zone and bought......

TWO! I could not decide so I came home with two different ones. Once again we called on our neighbors to help decide what looked better and then that nice, nice man helped Brent install the new one!

I guess my tampering to get a new faucet worked...what I can I move on to next?? HA! Just kidding, it is nice when what you wish for comes true, even if it is a kitchen faucet.

Church Choir...Holy, Holy, Holy

I did not get the best sound quality, but I had to record this.

Nathan turns 5!!!

Hard to believe my baby is already five. Since we celebrated on Sunday at the bowling alley, his real birthday was pretty low key. I worked in his classroom today and stayed for lunch with him. We went to choir practice this evening at church. I must make a note here, for the last 4 weeks we have gone to practice where Andrew concentrated and learned the words and hand motions, took it rather seriously...Nathan on the other hand poked and prodded Andrew and pretty much goofed off...however, today the music director had them stand on the riser that will use this Sunday for church and wouldn't you know it, Nathan knew all the words and hand motions without ever doing any of it at practice...

We opened presents when we got home and since Nathan does not like cake, I made a cookie pizza for him.

Valentines Day and more

This last week has contained Valentines Day, another basketball game and building at Lowe's (all in the same day). The next day was bowling for Nathan's birthday and then the Science Center for the boys day off from school.

Nathan continues to amaze us with his natural abilities at any sport he decides to participate in, he does really well as point guard since he is on the short side of the other players (I had no idea that was the position, I was educated by Brent on that one).

The boys built jewelry boxes at Lowe's prior to the basketball game. We then stopped at a park and took the boys to Baskin Robbins courtesy of Grandma Cathy's valentine.

Nathan has been wanting to go bowling since he thinks he is so good on the Wii (well....he IS a pro), so we invited his good friend Bennett that he met at the gym. They boys had a fun time, but found out that real bowling is a bit more challenging than virtual bowling, but they all did well.

The next day was a trip to the Orlando Science Center. They have a new exhibit called Grossology... http://osc.org/...it is advertised as a place that Uses Humor to Teach the Impolite Science of the Human Body (basically a learning experince about vomit, farting, belching, snot and so forth...) The boys had a good time shooting snot balls into a nose and climbing the skin wall.

Pinewood Derby and Basketball and Baseball and Golf...OH MY!!

This weekend was FULL of activity. On Saturday this was our line-up...
Pinewood Derby 8:00am
Basketball game for Nathan 11:00
Baseball tryout for Andrew 11:15
Birthday Party 2:30....

Then Sunday we took the kids for their first miniature golf experience.

Here are the results of the weekend...

Pinewood derby - Andrew's car came in 3rd for his age group so his car raced again later, but we had to leave for the other activities. We are proud of his work with the car this year since it is the first year for him and it has been at least 30 years since Brent and I made our cars! There were some very last minute adjustments for weight and I think that helped.

Nathan did really well in his first Basketball game, he dribbled the ball down the court without losing it and remembered all his positions.

Andrew's tryouts were agonizing for me....just make me so nervous for him. However, he did not seem at all bothered by the row of coaches lined up to study the players. They draft this week and we should find out next weekend what team he will be on.

The birthday party was a Nerf one and they all came home with Nerf guns...now I have to go out and get one for Nathan!

Miniature golf was interesting, the boys were so excited to see what type of course was coming up next that they would just take off when they were finished and I felt rushed through the whole thing.

Finally, the weekend is over and we are back to school tomorrow and a regular week.

Sleeping with the sharks

http://www.flaquarium.org/

This past weekend Andrew and I joined the Cub Scouts on a campout at the Florida Aquarium. It was a great experience. I did not want to drive by myself in the dark to Tampa so we left early and met a couple of families for dinner. We were allowed in at 7 and they kept the kids busy until 10:30. We toured the Aquarium first, had pizza and lemonade outside, then they split into smaller groups and got to dissect a squid and have a backstage tour of the exhibits. We were then shown the area we were allowed to set up our sleeping bags. It was either in the large room in front of the floor to ceiling fish tank, down the hallway toward the shark tank or in front of the floor to ceiling shark tank. We were told that all lights would be off so we chose a nice side area in the hallway. Lights out was not until 11:30. The hallway was a much nicer space instead of being layed out like sardines in front of the tanks. Andrew slept fine and with the help of ear plugs and the air mattress I was able to sleep for about two hours at a time. We were up by 7 for a breakfast of a bowl of cereal then to the touch and feel tanks until the Aquarium opened at 9:30. We were also allowed to stay the next day and we did for a few hours. We saw the Penguin Promanade and we were about 1 foot away from seeing two of them! The drive was uneventful and we were both pretty tired Sunday night and I think Andrew is still trying to make up for lost sleep.

Strawberry picking

Our latest Florida adventure was to go strawberry picking. It took an hour to get there, but the kids enjoyed finding just the right ones to take home. We had the choice between a hybrid berry that was suppose to be sweeter but less strawberry taste or not as sweet with more strawberry taste and last longer. We picked some of each and will see what we like better.

At least he did not burn down the church

Today Andrew had his first experience of being an acolyte. He and another girl carried the torches in the processional. Then, the big test, besides not setting the church or himself on fire, was to sit relatively still on the alter for over an hour! He did so well, remembered when to close and open the gate and to bow at the alter each time. I can not say as much for his partner, she rather pranced about up there, but was cute none-the-less. In her defense, she and her family regularly attend the contemporary services in the Parrish hall which is much less formal.

Orlando Science Center

Over Christmas my parents purchased annual passes to the science center. The kids love the 4 floor building and all the exhibits that it offers. Since Friday was a no school day and it was all of 58 degrees outside we took a drive over to see what was going on. This is the weekend of gaming. All types of video games were there, including the Wii. I called Brent at one point to tell him we had to drive all the way into Orlando for Nathan to play the Wii... which we have at home. Anyway, Andrew found out that he likes to sculpt, this is stuff that graphic artists use to make creatures for movies that the animators then make real on the movie screen. They also had a display of all Mac's from the beginning of time, Brent would have loved this display. All in all we spent 5 hours there and the kids were wore out since I make them use the stairs instead of the extreemly slow elevator.

Free Pre-K starts

This is the first of a few posts since I have not kept up very well. After taking a year off from all day preschool, Nathan is now back to school for the day....ALL DAY, everyday 9-3! Well, he has only had one day so far, but he seemed quite happy and excited to be at the big school with Andrew. Florida has a Voluntary Pre-K program that schools can adopt that allows residents to use one time for their children to go prior to entering kindergarten. We ahve finally found something that we like that Florida does. Windermere Elementary chose to run two sessions in the year and we chose to enroll Nathan is the second one so that he only has summer as a break before starting Kindergarten. The best part is that it is completly FREE! We have not had a monthly daycare bill since March 2002, however, since I am not working we are not really bringing in more money, but as I keep telling Brent I can never get this time back to be with my kids. Very soon they will be too busy to want to be home with us. Already they beg to play outside with a neighbor for a couple of hours everyday. It is strange to have the house so quiet for that time. Brent is actually watching a football game.