First Round

Todd took Zachary out on Saturday for his first actual round of golf (9 holes). We found a short little executive course that is perfect for Zachary. It was a great day for both of them!!
Zachary loved the cart. He told me that he got to "push the things on the floor" and Todd loved Zach's little golf bag next to his. Zachary hit the ball pretty good, including driving & putting.

After their round, Todd got Zachary a new golf glove, which he LOVES (he even took a nap wearing it). So they went out to the range to try his swing with it.

Todd taught Zachary some of the rules & etiquette, like filling in your ____ (can't remember what these are called, will fill in when Todd gets home!).

It was cute to imagine my little guy playing a round of golf with Todd. I know it was the first of many.

R.I.P. Reddy Petty

Short time Atlanta resident Reddy Petty Eaker, a female Betta fish and former hospitality director of Aisle 3 at Petsmart, died August 28, 2010, at the age of 1 week. She was active until the last hours of her life, living -- as she had for nearly 24 hours -- in her comfortable glass bowl and taking short swims around the bridge in the afternoon.

Reddy Petty had lifelong ties to Aisle 3 at Petsmart, which she sometimes referred to as "this little village we call The Garden of Eden."

Police are investigating her death and have ruled it a homicide. Local mafia henchwoman Pica "The Blade" Delgado is being held without bond and has further enhanced her reputation as a mentally unstable member of the Betta family.

1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish

As part of a week long effort to keep the playroom clean, I offered the kids a reward of a new pet fish. They actually did really well keeping the room clean and I was able to use the fish as leverage for a few other minor behavior changes. Overall, it was a win-win for everyone!
At the pet shop, the fish expert was giving me "Fish for Kids 101" and we decided on a pair of low-maintenance Betta fish. Apparently Betta fish prefer to live alone, but two females will tolerate each other well enough to be in the same bowl. He did mention something about them "being aggressive" and recommended a certain piece of decor to "help minimize one from attacking the other" ...so we'll see!

Allie chose a blue one, Zachary chose red. Allie's blue one is much bigger than Zachary's red one. I'm definitely aware of the irony of Allie's fish possibly "attacking" Zachary's or eating all the food so that Zachary's fish starves to death. I hope this doesn't happen. Poor little Zachary.

Zachary cleaned everything prior to setting it all up. He's so responsible!

The naming process was hilarious. I was hoping they'd just call them Red fish & Blue fish, in honor of Dr. Seuss. However, they had other ideas.
Zachary decided on "Reddy Petty," which came from him saying he has a Red Pet.
Allie decided on Pica, which came from nowhere (although, it IS a psychological disorder characterized by the eating of "non-nutritive substances" like hair, insects, cloth, etc...She's a little psychology genius already!).

We picked a shelf that is at eye-level for both of them. We discussed the rules about not touching and not putting things into the bowl, etc. Allie started talking to her fish and Zachary said, "Allie, these fish don't understand any English." This is true, but I have no idea how he knows it!

Here they are, the red one is "Reddy Petty" and the blue one is "Pica"!

Todd hasn't seen them yet. When we came up with this idea, he said, "Yea, I saw somewhere that you can get little orange fish for like a quarter." He's right, they were $.27 but the fish expert told me those would probably die within a week.
So, I'm hoping these will last a little longer. They were, after all a whole $2.49 a piece. Hopefully Todd will be ok with that. I know the clincher for him will be the 14 day guarantee!

Day at the Lake

We had a fun weekend with friends at the lake. This was the kids' first time doing "lake stuff." I forgot my camera but took a few pictures with my phone. Zachary was very brave and even jumped off the dock many times. He rode with Todd on the jetski and tubed with his friend Kayla. We also took a boat ride and the kids got to steer the boat, which they loved! When we got home, Zachary said, "Mommy, can we get a lake?"

Funnies

Daddy: "Zachary, we're gonna go get a Happy Meal for lunch."

Zachary: "Daddy, is there a Sad Meal?"

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Mommy: "Zachary, let's read a story from your new Bible."

Zachary: "Mommy, I have to tell you something."

Mommy: "Ok..."

Zachary: "I think you should take my new Bible back to the store."

Mommy: "Why?!"

Zachary: "Mommy, that book is too long. It will take too long to read it."

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Mommy: "Allie, it's time for bed. Let's go upstairs."

Allie: "No thank you. I stay downstairs."

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Special Surprises

One of Todd's clients suggested we try a great little restaurant right on the runway of a nearby small local airport. The restaurant is called The Flying Machine and we had SUCH a good time! There were many neat surprises throughout the evening.
1) A local Blue Grass band was performing. The kids were both enamored. While they were performing, Allie asked me if they'd be singing "Jesus Loves Me." I told her that I bet they would sing it if she asked them to. She hopped right up, walked up to the stage and melted the hearts of everyone there. They asked her to stay on the stage with them and sing it. She did sing, although her singing was more of a "mouthing" of the words. It was SO VERY DARN CUTE!

2) There were two very surprising characters in the restaurant. This is 1, and the other was just inside the men's bathroom. Todd told me it startled him when he first walked in. I'm not really interested in knowing why either of these mannequins are where they are.

3) We watched planes taking off & landing. On the other side of the restaurant was a train track and, of course, we enjoyed watching the train whiz by!

4) When the band took their first break, one of the guitar players gave both kids a piece of candy (pictured below, notice their cheeks). Another guitar player then gave them both a dollar. Needless to say, these old guys LOVED the kids.

4) The sunset was gorgeous. This definitely ranks near the top of my favorite nights out with the kids. We really had a lot of unexpected fun!

Reading & 'Rithmetic

Zachary is a motivated little learner. I try to spend about an hour every day just working on some basic kindergarten skills and he willingly participates. We both get overly excited when he accomplishes little milestones.
This month, we've been working on some reading exercises.
Side note - A few weeks ago, I was using a set of flash cards that I do not recommend. They had little images or little frames around the edges that were different colors and/or designs. Zachary was memorizing the images on the cards instead of the actual words. So, his "reading" skills were misleading. I realized this after I'd written the exact same words on paper and he didn't know them. So be sure to use flash cards that have no special colors, designs or images. Or just make your own! Easy & cheap.
Today we used these three-word flash cards. He quickly got the cards in their correct order, which is super easy because of the actual pictures. So, we spent some time focusing on the letters & words. In order to reinforce the reading element, I wrote the same words on his paper (Big Chief Tablets, remember those?!) and asked him which word I'd written. I also would say one of the words and ask him to write it. Both of which he did fairly well. He's getting the hang of it.

For the math (which he enjoys more), he's been putting these cards in order, #1-50. The colored edges on these aren't really helpful hints since there are multiple cards with the same edge. Also, I'll take out 10-15 of the cards and ask him to place them back where they belong. He does really well with this. He likes numbers.

Deep thoughts

Zachary: "Mommy, I have to ask you something."

Mommy: "Ok, what?"

Zachary: "When a raccoon poops, does it hold its tail up?"

The mystery of it all

Allie is strong-willed.

I'm trying not to use these cliche terms when I describe my kids. Again, (I've mentioned this before, but I do feel strongly about it...) I don't want my descriptions of them to become self-fulfilling prophecies. So I'm keeping an open mind and making sure I see the other sides of her as well.

However, she expresses herself with strength about many things (yes, I know...).

One of them being food.
Another one being the potty.

But the food...oh my Lord. This girl is tough. If she's not in the mood to eat something I've made, there is very little that has successfully broken her.

Except tonight, we discovered something.

A little loophole, perhaps? A weakness? (we hope!)

After several requests for her to finish her strawberries, she kindly pushed her plate away and said, "bleck!" then crossed her arms in front of her chest. Like she does...often.

I noticed she had 2 big pieces of strawberry left and 2 small pieces. For some unknown reason, I said, "Allie, look, you have a Mommy, a Daddy, a Zachy and an Allie strawberry!"

She loved this.

...ate all four.

...asked for another "family" of strawberries...

And ate a total of 12 more pieces of strawberry after that.

Check mate. My work here is done. For today, at least.

Family Vacation, economic shortcuts

We cleaned out the mini bar and replaced the schnapps & gin with milk & juiceboxes. Instead of spending a lot of money on breakfasts & lunches for the kids, we just brought their favorites!

Oatmeal for breakfast while watching cartoons. It's vacation!

Next year, I'll remember to bring ziploc bags. But for this year, a shower cap worked fine for the PB&J sandwiches we brought to the beach.

Too early

Before 8:00 this morning, Zachary hit me with his deepest question yet.

"Mommy, will I die when I'm 5?"

7:30am is too early for the death talk.
4 years old is too early for the death talk.

Nevertheless, my job as a mother does not include the luxury of being off-duty, so we had the death talk. At 7:30am. At 4 years old.

"No, you will probably not die when you are 5."
"Grammy said when you die, you go to heaven."
"Yes, that's true."
"What's heaven?"
"Well, it's where God lives. It's high in the sky, past the clouds, you can't see it from here. It's a really special place. You go there to be with God."
"When will I die?"
"When you're really really old. Usually people die when they are like 90 years old."
"When will I be 90?"
"A really long time from now."
"When I turn 5, that's a long time from now."
"Yea, but 90 is much much much longer than that. And right now, God wants you here on the earth to be a big brother and play and enjoy the world he created."
"Will I go to heaven?"
"Yes."
"Will you go to heaven?"
"Yes. I will."
"What if I don't want to go to heaven?"
"You will want to. It's a really good place. Everyone feels good in heaven, nothing bad ever happens in heaven. Everyone is happy in heaven. And God's there."
"Will Daddy be there?"
"Yes."
"What makes people die?"
"When you get really really old, your body just doesn't work the same anymore."
"What happens?"
"Well, your body stops moving, your heart stops beating and you stop breathing."
"Then what happens?"
"You look like you're sleeping, but your body never wakes up. Then you go to heaven."
"Will Allie go to heaven?"
"Yes. But not for a long time."
"When will you go to heaven?"
"Well, I'm 30 years old. Grandpa is 50 years old. Mimi is 60 years old. Grammy Claire is almost 70 years old. And none of them are even close to 90 years old yet. So it's probably a long time from now."
"When will I go to heaven?"
"Probably when you're 90 years old. You will grow up & become a man and have a job that you like, then you'll have your own babies & be a Daddy. Then you'll be a grandpa. It's a long time from now."

At this point, he seemed content with the progress of the conversation and I was quietly hoping he would not ask 1)Why do some people die before they're old?, or 2)Do we fly to heaven?
After a few minutes, I thought we might be done.
Then he came back in the kitchen and said,

"Mommy, can I bring Panda to heaven with me?"

I love this kid.
Even though it was too early for this conversation.

First wish

After watching The Princess & the Frog a few times, Zachary said, "Mommy, we should wish on a star!" So I agreed, and gave a little reality chat about wishing & stars, etc...

Later that night, we started looking for the first star. As soon as he found it, Zachary made his first wish. (And mommy's heart melted)...

"I wish there were more Mommies & Daddies like you guys!"

Big Day!

A little diddy for Aunt Shell.
It's her birthday, we wish her well!

For 30 years she's grown and been
a joy to others and a good friend.

She's very compassionate and super kind.
A better gift-giver will be hard to find.

She's funny and quite witty.
And, of course, she's very pretty.

An awesome aunt to her nephews and nieces.
They sure do, love her to pieces.

It's her 30th and we wish her a great year
Lots of blessings surely are near.

Happy Birthday Aunt Shell!
We love you and think you're swell.

Family Vacation, putt-putt

We took the kids to play putt-putt for the first time. Zachary LOVED it. Allie enjoyed going in all the places she shouldn't, and chasing the ball through tunnels & under bridges. I made 2 holes-in-one!! On the last hole, all four of us had to line up & make our shot at the same time. I set the camera up so it got a picture of that (fourth picture below)!