Trip to the Zoo

Lately, Daddy's travel schedule has been crazy. This weekend, he was home for a 24-hour window in-between Saturday afternoon and Sunday. We decided to maximize our fun time with him so we ventured to the Atlanta Zoo after church on Sunday.

We are embarrassed to admit that we have rarely visited the zoo since we've had kids. Eleanor and Hayes had both probably been two times prior to this visit, and this trip was Ben's first. We felt compelled to go, though, because one of our good friends was selected to head up the zoo this summer. Every time we see him at church, he asks us if we've joined the zoo. Our answer had been "no" . . . until yesterday. Wouldn't you know, the first person we see once we walk through the turnstiles is our good friend who is working on a Sunday. (A rattlesnake had gotten out of a cage two days prior, and the zoo employees were still frantically searching. Raymond had to be there as part of the crisis management. )

With overcast skies and a new baby giraffe to see, we were all excited to be there. Ben, really, could not contain his excitement. When he saw an animal, his face LIT UP and he screamed, "Wook! There's a ZEBRA (fill in the blank with another zoo animal), Mom!" Daddy carried Ben on his shoulders throughout much of the park. Towards lunch time, the older two kids' blood sugar started to drop, and they were ready to go. Luckily, near the end of the route around the zoo, there is a carousel. It came to our rescue as the smiles returned to both Eleanor's and Hayes's faces. Dad and Ben even got in on the carousel fun, though their bear looks a little small for the two of them!The kids had a great time. Ben, this morning, even asked if we could go back to the zoo today. When I told him no, he started to cry. I promised him that we'd go back and visit the animals soon.

What's My Hayes Singing?

Yesterday morning, the boys and I went walking around a neighborhood park. During the walk, Hayes began singing a song. On hearing Hayes's sweet voice, Ben turned to me and asked, "Mom, what is my Hayes singing?" I was not in a position behind the stroller to hear Hayes's words so I answered with, "I don't know what he's singing, Ben." I was startled when Ben's immediate response was "Bon Jovi," and had an affirmative head-nodding to go with it. I stopped the stroller, and asked Hayes to turn his head towards me so that I could truly hear what he was singing . . . Ben was right! Hayes was singing Bon Jovi.

When It's Too Quiet

When I hear silence upstairs where the boys are supposedly "playing," it used to mean trouble. Now, when I go upstairs to check on them, this is what I usually find . . .

either the two boys reading books on H's bed (love Ben peeking a look here) or Hayes reading books to Ben.
It is good to know that they don't have to be rambunctious all the time!

I like THIS Tuesday afternoon better . . .

than the one we had last week! Eleanor and Hayes had their street friends Maddy, Francie and Eva over to "trade" bracelets this afternoon. I rarely choose an indoor activity over an outdoor one, but after last week's excitement, I'm grateful for some inside time with friends.

By the way, Silly Bandz are still the rage, even eight months after I first wrote about them last December!

Ben's Many Faces

Currently, Ben is very interested in showing his emotions through his facial expressions. His "facial expression repertoire"now includes a happy face,some sad faces,
and a few scared faces I am not looking forward to the years down the road when he masters his poker face. :-)

Sweet Notes from Big Sister

As the summer draws to a close, Eleanor and Hayes have had more than their fair share of fights. Luckily, Eleanor has reached the point where she can communicate any regrets she might have regarding these fights. Just last week, after she had been a rather mean big sister, I found these notes surrounding Hayes. I love her efforts to make amends, and I think the notes had their desired effect as E and H were busy playing together shortly thereafter.

First Stitches for Eleanor

After school, the kids on the street often gather for a casual game of baseball in someone's yard. It was during this common occurrence this week that Eleanor got hit in the mouth with a plastic bat. (I believe she was standing too close to the batter and not paying attention.) We spent Tuesday night at our children's hospital waiting to see if she'd need stitches. In the end, they gave her three, her first three of her life.

Since Tuesday night, we've worked hard to try to get food in her tummy. It was easier said than done those first few meals. Finally, last night, she figured out how to push food to her back teeth and actually chew some solid food. It was a great sign of her rapid return to more-normal eating. Hopefully, the healing will continue to progress, and we'll get positive reports at both the dentist and doctor next week!

Bye-Bye Tooth #2

Sunday night, we discovered that one of Hayes's bottom front teeth was hanging by a thread. Thomas thought about pulling it out before dinner, but Hayes would not let him. We asked Hayes to be on the look out for his tooth because we were fully expecting it to come out while he ate.

Wouldn't you know . . . once Hayes was all done with his dinner, I could see him running his fingers all over his mouth. He could not find his tooth! Thomas quickly felt around Hayes's mouth too unsuccessfully, and then searched on the window seat to see if it had fallen out anywhere. Unfortunately for Hayes, he must have swallowed it while eating his quesadilla. We told him that the Tooth Fairy would know that he had lost his tooth, even if he did not have the actual tooth to put under his pillow, because we would write her a letter bringing Hayes's situation to her attention. Well, by the time we got everyone upstairs and ready for bed, we forgot all about the tooth AND the note. The next morning, it was obvious that the Tooth Fairy had not gotten word that Hayes had lost tooth #2. On Monday night, Eleanor helped Hayes script a note to make sure that the Tooth Fairy did not miss her next nightly opportunity to visit.I am happy to report that due to this sweet note, the tooth fairy did come to see Hayes that night and he was thrilled-beyond-belief to find something under his pillow the next morning.

Kids Weekend with Dad

This weekend, I escaped to the beach with two friends. While gone, Thomas kept me up-to-date on the family's activities through pictures he took with his phone. Though he did not document their every move, he captured many of the key moments.

Their weekend with Dad started off with a dinner at Six Feet Under on Friday night. Saturday, they went to see Toy Story 3, the boys got haircuts, they all played on the street with the neighbors and E and H had a mean game of Battleship. (The game reportedly ended shortly after this photo when they both quit in anger at the other.)The night ended at Mellow Mushroom where Eleanor colored pictures of her family. (I'm the one with the orange face.) On Sunday, they all ate a big breakfast before Dad took them bowling.Luckily, the only drama of the weekend came when Ben flushed all of the pawns to our Sorry board game down the toilet Saturday night, much to his sister's dismay.

I told Thomas that the kids probably had so much fun with him that they might not want me to come home! :-) Good job, Dad for keeping them entertained. Thanks for letting me get-away, family!

One Shoe Ben

Ben spends many-a-day walking around with one shoe on and one shoe off. It is as if he does not even notice that he's missing a shoe because he thinks nothing of it. As you can see from the pictures, there is no pattern as to what shoe stays on and what shoes is either pulled off or falls off. But, if he has his Crocs on, it is guaranteed that by the afternoon, one will still be on while the other will be off (and probably lost somewhere!)

First Day of Second Grade

Today was E's first day of second grade! I must admit that it was hard for me to wake up early this morning, but she hopped right out of bed without a problem. She was dressed and ready with time to spare, which is always a nice treat. We ventured over to the bus stop a few minutes early where everyone else was already busy marking the occasion with pictures. Here is the "first morning of school bus riding crew" minus a few late-comers. I could not miss out on taking this picture of the new second graders to go with the prior pictures from first grade and kindergarten.
After school, once I got a quick, "Mom, my teacher is super nice!' summary of her day, we ventured over to the Djuric's house for some yummy iced alphabet cookies and drinks, an annual Beaverbrook tradition. Since it was E's special day, she got to pick our dinner, and she selected her favorite teriyaki pork chops.

Here's to another successful first day of school!

Tubing in the River

The highlight of the excursion to Blue Ridge was a brief trip in a tube down the Toccoa River. Dad and another father floated without a tube down a small section of the river on Saturday. No one else was brave enough to get into the cold water and fight the strong current. Sunday morning, though, the kids were eager to give it a try. We found some tubes for the kids, assigned an adult "chaperone" to each given the strong current, and away they went down the river.

Eleanor was in the first group to go. I think she was startled by how cold the water was, but the smile on her face lets you know what she thinks of the ride. Here is the crowd watching the first tubers come to shore after a successful run. Once Hayes saw E do it and enjoy it, he decided he wanted to give it a try. You would have thought that just putting on this Spiderman life jacket would have been enough of a thrill, though he looks a little reflective before he ventures down the river. (Notice how the life jacket matches the Spiderman bathing suit he packed. How cool is that?!) Once he got in the water, he was all smiles. Thomas really could not take his hand off of the tube at any time because if the kids missed the break in the river bank where they got out, some small rapids were awaiting them just downstream. While Dad, Hayes and E were tubing, Ben was largely concerned with the "fishies in the wiver" as he was eager to see them. I kept trying to tell him that the fish were taking a nap, but my explanation for why they were not visible did not suffice. Luckily, his attention turned to playing in a tiny stream where he splashed to his heart's content. The kids had a ball floating in the river. On the ride back to Atlanta, Dad expressed how much fun he had too, as he declared that the adventure was one of the more fun things he's done in long time!

Poker

After spending a night last weekend at Lake Toxaway, this weekend we went up to north Georgia for a night in Blue Ridge with some friends. Thomas used the time away from home to teach our kids Blackjack. Last weekend, they learned the basic strategy (under the guise that they were working on their math), and this weekend he incorporated the gambling aspect of the game (notice the different colored chips). Eleanor and Hayes have enjoyed playing, and I know their dad probably enjoys teaching them even more!

H's Song List

Hayes came up to me one day last week and told me that he wanted to make a list of his favorite songs AND he wanted to make a baseball bracket for him and Dad. I told him that the song list would be easy and that I'd help him with it. I then tried to explain to him how complicated I thought the bracket would be (he didn't buy it), and we finally agreed that we'd wait until the baseball playoffs to make a baseball bracket.

For the song list, I thought he just wanted to make a top 10 list. Instead, I think he really just wanted to list all of the songs he knew. I wrote 1 - 10 and stopped. Hayes took over from there. Here is the final list (with a little bit of water damage):