Backyard Basketball

Backyard basketball games have returned to our house, courtesy of the new basketball goal that arrived on Thursday. Since then, both Eleanor and Hayes have spent a good bit of time working on their skills. With the beautiful spring-like weather we had this weekend, we also had some neighbors join us for some intense basketball games.I look forward to sending the kids outside after school each day to get some fresh air and exercise, under the guise of "improving their basketball skills."

Finally . . . E's Birthday Party!

Though her actual birthday is December 31, Eleanor's 8th birthday party was not held until yesterday, January 27! It was originally scheduled for January 12, but since that was one of our 5 snow days that week, we had to reschedule. Luckily, even with all of the rearranging of schedules, the party went off without a hitch. Eleanor and 14 of her girlfriends were treated to an awesome peace sign making party from our favorite Art Chicks.

Miss Holly and Miss Lannie started out by explaining the peace sign art project to the girls. Once they heard their instructions, away the girls went painting!We paused briefly during the creating to enjoy some peace sign cupcakes (in Eleanor's requested color scheme of hot pink and aqua with white cake). Ben was even feeling jovial enough to give his big sis a birthday party hug. After the yummy cupcakes were inhaled, it was back to the art. How did Eleanor's finished product turn out? Unfortunately, we forgot to get a picture with all of the girls and their creations, but we did make sure that we got a picture of the birthday girl with the Art Chicks. Even though she had to wait a month after her actual birthday to celebrate with her friends, she had an absolute ball once the day finally arrived!

Ben's Ordinary Day

Following the lines of the other two "Ordinary Day" entries, it is now Ben's turn . . .- wakes up when he hears his older siblings walk next to his room and down the stairs for breakfast
- once he's up, he's up as there is NO falling back to sleep for him
- we rarely get him out of his crib, though, until E has gone to school
- for breakfast, will usually order whatever Hayes is having such as a waffle or granola cereal with OJ
- really into his grazing right now; likes to stand and eat his meals off of the window seat (which I try to discourage since we've lost many a meal to our constantly-hungry dog Baxter)
- requests his "bitamins" exuberantly
- loves watching PBS's "The Cat in the Hat" and "Super Why" if I let him in the morning
- currently obsessed with Eleanor's "Do-A-Dot" markers and will not spend any time upstairs without having them in his sight; no one else can use them; he even takes them into his room so that he can look at them as he falls asleep for his afternoon nap
- constantly looking for "someone to play with me", especially games; I try to play games with him but we go through them all so quickly (less than 5 mins each) that we run out of games to play in no time, though he still requests to "play more games"
- snacks in the morning with a preference of a Nutragrain-like bar and a cheese stick
- most reliable lunch for him consists of hummus with pretzel chips, apple slices, and yogurt; he's a very picky eater; if I try to vary it up and move away from the hummus, we do hot dogs for him
- heads upstairs for an afternoon nap around 1:30; I read to him before putting him in his crib; he's always picked out the book but over the last two weeks, he tells me that I have to select the books now
- has Doggie, books, his pillow pet and baby pillows in his crib with him when he sleeps
- wakes up somewhere between 3:30 - 4 and is ready to play with his siblings
- loves playing outside if the weather cooperates
- still enjoys watching me cook dinner and prefers to sit on the counter to see
- rarely eats anything I cook for dinner; I try to make sure I serve one item that I know he'll eat but sometimes he won't even eat that
- ready to party after dinner and is usually CRAZY
- eager to play hide-n-seek after dinner upstairs
- likes to listen to the book Hayes is getting read to him on Hayes's bed
- always demands a book in his room; if no book is read, he will throw a fit until we succumb
- usually in his crib around 8 or shortly thereafter, but generally does not fall asleep until sometime after 8:30
- he's a sound sleeper so we rarely hear from him during the night

Hayes's Ordinary Day

One day last year, I wrote about what Eleanor's typical day was like after watching this. I did not realize that months (and almost a year!) would pass before I revisited this subject.

An ordinary day for Hayes goes something like this . . .- wakes up between 6:30 and 7
- loves his bread products and grains for breakfast as he usually eats waffles, bagels, or a few bowls of cereal for breakfast with OJ (I swear he would eat bread all day long if I let him)
- always asks for his vitamins
- usually throws his football to himself for a good 15 minutes throughout the living room/kitchen/family room before school
- has started to have a strong opinion regarding what he wears to school; his preference is any Atlanta team's jersey with dark pants (not jeans).
- kindergarten carpool picks him up by 8:30
- home from school by 12:30
- eats a pb & j sandwich and apple slices for lunch
-often starts to ask for a snack less than an hour after lunch
- always eager to watch NFL Blitz in the afternoons ON DEMAND where they show highlights from the past weekend's NFL games
- will go shoot the basketball outside if it is not rainy or too cold
- always asks to go play out front, though I'm rarely letting him right now since the ground is so muddy from snow/rain
-starting to read a lot to himself; if I send him to his room, he's quite content reading a book or studying his NFL poster
- usually gives me a sweet hug at least once a day
- dinner often consists of just 1 or 2 of the 3 or 4 items I'm serving for dinner; usually try to make sure that I have one veggie or fruit that he will eat as his tastes are not very varied
- loves to play hide-and-seek with his siblings before we get ready for bed
- usually tries to pick LONG books for Dad or me to read to him; just now starting to ask for chapter books, especially Magic Treehouse books
- generally has lights out at 8pm and never really argues with us about his bedtime
- always gives me a big hug and kiss before he falls asleep and he will not fall asleep until he has done so

Jumpy!

Thank goodness for our jumpy! We have put it to good use over the last two weekends when it has been so cold outside. We blow it up in the garage and then let them jump until their hearts are content (or until someone comes upstairs crying).

2010 Favorite Christmas Songs

I know that it is nearly a month after Christmas, but after reading our blog book of posts from 2010 and December 2009, I realized that I forgot to document the kids' favorite Christmas songs for Christmas 2010.

This year, Eleanor preferred "A Holly, Jolly Christmas", as sung by Burl Ives, largely because she saw the "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" puppet show at the Center for Puppetry Arts two times in December.

Prior to reading this post in the blog book, Hayes claimed that his favorite holiday song this season was (notice the theme here) "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Once he read the post, though, and remembered "Feliz Navidad", he quickly reverted back to his 2009 response and swore that it was still his favorite.

Ben loved "Jingle Bells" and you can see his singing skills in this video.

Miss Michelle . . .

Yesterday at school, Hayes had a substitute for one of his teachers, Miss Barbara. After school today, Hayes told me that Miss Barbara was back at school. He then said, "My teacher yesterday was Miss Michelle. Not Michelle Obama, but a different Michelle."

Thanks for the clarification, Hayes.

Girl Scout Cookies!

Though we've been snowed in all week, it is that time of year for Eleanor to sell her Girl Scout cookies. Since she was home again from school yesterday (snow day #5), Thomas took her in to work with him to let her sell to his office. She was beyond excited, and I know that was largely because she was so eager to finally leave the house!

Snow Days 4 & 5!!

With the arrival of snow day #4, I decided to get constructive. The kids love to do "stations" so that was what we did. Every 20 minutes or so, I gave them a new activity to do. Eleanor and Hayes both started with some separate writing assignments (E creating a story that rhymed and H working on his letters). Their second station involved putting together two USA puzzles together.Once they had completed the puzzles, they were ready to move on to the next activity. I gave them a choice of doing something fun together or doing something more "academic" separately, as I was trying to encourage them to have fun together. Luckily, my strategy worked, and they wanted "fun." So, we opened up the box of Magna Tiles that Santa brought them (I think he heard about them because their cousin Cate also asked for them) and away they went. Once the 20 minute interval was over, I kept telling them that it was time to move to another station, but they asked to keep building. And build they did! Even Ben got in on the action!After Ben's nap, we had some of the neighbors over the play. The kids decided to put on four different fashion shows. You can watch the video to the first show here. This photo shows the group after their third show.

Overall, snow day #4 was deemed a success.

For snow day #5, we've reverted back to some football playing, TV watching, book reading and sibling tormenting. I think we are all ready for the weekend!

Snow Day #2, #3 . . .

Can you believe that we have now had two more "snow days" this week? Unfortunately, the end is not in sight!

Eleanor has spent much of the last two days outside, though it is still very cold. She can't get enough of her sledding. She prefers to be in control of the sled, though, and volunteers her time as the driver. She truly is fearless on the sled. She leads the sled down the hill, across the ice-covered street and over into the neighbor's yard. Hayes is not as secure with his sledding as Eleanor is. He preferred to observe for a while,before he decided to get in on the fun a few more times. Ben and I spent most of our time indoors since it takes so long to get dressed to head out into the elements. We've all colored, played wii, done puzzles, made fudge, read books, played games until we don't want to look at each other any more. Dad actually ventured in to work around lunch time of snow day #3, and he reported that he made it without a hitch. The situation is improving, but it is a very slow process when our temperatures don't get above freezing each day. The roads are still impassable for school buses, and I would not be surprised if the kids are out of school this entire week. We shall see!

Snow Day 2011

The much-hyped snowstorm of 2011 behaved exactly as the meteorologists predicted it would (for once), bringing about 3 -4 inches overnight Sunday and into Monday morning. With even the threat of snow on the roads, school was canceled for Monday by Sunday afternoon. By Monday midday, the snow began to turn to ice with the arrival of freezing rain. Before the ice took over though, the kids ventured outdoors for some snow fun. (I bought these snow discs the day after Christmas, when there was still snow on the ground from our white Christmas. I had ventured to Target for some day-after Christmas sales and these were showcased right at the door. Glad I did not pass them up!)

We began on our own street where some neighbors have the perfect hill for sledding. Ben and Dad even got one ride in before Ben decided that he'd rather throw snowballs.
Once everyone was thoroughly wet, it was time to head indoors for some hot chocolate and time by the fire.
Later in the morning, word on the street was that the sledding over at the Bobby Jones public golf course nearby was "awesome." Dad is always eager for a chance to relive his youth, when he and his brothers used to sled at Bobby Jones, so we decided to walk over to check out the sledding scene. There was not a car in sight on Howell Mill. Once we made it down Longwood and across Northside, I was amazed at the overall scene. It looked like a winter playground. Everyone was there for one reason and one reason only . . . to have FUN! And fun we had!

After all of that fun, the kids had a LONG walk back home, but it was all worth it in the end. With this snowstorm, we were able to actually enjoy our snow and ice since we kept our power the entire time (a rarity here in Atlanta.) We are keeping our fingers crossed that our power stays on for the rest of the week, as the temperatures are expected to drop even further.

Star of the Week

Hayes was the "Star of the Week" this past week at school. What exactly does this mean?

1. He had to fill out this questionnaire and bring it back to school to share with his classmates. (Notice that it is similar in fashion to the Carroll Family Birthday Questionnaire.) 2. He also had to make a poster talking about himself. Here is what Hayes came up with: 3. One day this week, he was allowed to bring in a snack of his choice to share with his classmates. He chose to bring in Skittles since they are his favorite candy.
4. He served as one of the two acolytes at Friday chapel.Though Hayes does not usually like being the center of attention, I think he had some fun being Star of the Week.