Basketball Season

Over the last two weekends. both Eleanor's and Hayes's basketball seasons have drawn to a close.  Their respective teams, the Yellow Jackets (Hayes's team) and the Lemonheads (Eleanor's team), faced stiff competition each and every week of the season.  Both teams were also on the younger-end of the age spectrum and that meant that we were generally smaller/shorter than most of the teams we played.

Hayes and the Yellow Jackets actually finished up two weeks ago.  The team finished the season with an x - x record.

Thomas coached the team for another season and still seems to honestly enjoy it.

Does Hayes appreciate his father's coaching?  That remains to be seen!  Eleanor and Ben enjoy it because they are then allowed to sit on the bench with the team.

Eleanor did not have Thomas coaching her this season (maybe next year), but she did have the advantage of having a team full of friends.  This positive chemistry helped as they were winless for the season and were on the losing end of quite a few blowout games!

Eleanor and her teammates kept their positive attitudes throughout the season and that was refreshing to see.  

Both kids loved their time playing basketball.  Eleanor even claimed last night that she wished the sport's season was year-round!

Ben's 100th Day of School

Last Thursday, Ben's class celebrated its 100th day of school.  They did all sorts of activities around the number 100, including making a snack mix with 100 food items brought in by each child (Ben brought in 100 marshmallows), 

creating this crazy hat,

gluing100 pom poms to a t-shirt, 

and having a pizza party.  They even took some time out of their busy schedule to capture a class picture of everyone with their silly hats.  (Ben's on the bottom row, third child from the right.)

Happy 100th Day, Pre-Kers!

First Lacrosse Game

This past weekend, the lacrosse teams of both UNC and UMass met on the field at Kennesaw State for their second games of the season.  UNC was ranked #5 in the country while UMass was #13.  I was eager to introduce the sport to the kids since it currently is the fastest growing sport in America.  So, we drove up I-75, and got our first glimpse of both Kennesaw State and collegiate lacrosse.  

It ended up being an exciting game to watch.  UNC led by 1 or 2 goals throughout the entire game until the final two minutes when UMass took the lead and kept it through the final buzzer.  Carolina had a last-second shot on goal that the UMass keeper saved, sealing the upset.  Ben cried at the end of regulation because the Tar Heels lost, but we assured him that the team had more victories in its future.  

1st Pinewood Derby Experience

One of the annual traditions of Boy Scouts is the Pinewood Derby Race.  A few weeks ago, Hayes started off with a rectangular block of wood that he had to turn into a race car.  As Thomas and Hayes began to carve the wood block with a pocket knife, they quickly realized that the carving was best done by Thomas.  Once the wood took its car-like shape, Hayes was tasked with painting it red, as he had chosen an Atlanta Hawks theme for his car.

We found some Hawks stickers at Party City that we then used as decals on the car before Thomas put on the wheels as the finishing touch.  The night before the big race, Hayes's pack participated in a weigh-in to make sure that all of the cars did not exceed the maximum weight of 5 pounds.  At that initial road test, Thomas realized that the wheels were too close to the bottom of the car.  When they got home later that night, Thomas had to carve more wood off of the bottom of the car.

When race night finally arrived, the finished car was in its finest form.  

The boys were eager to see how the car would fare on the track against competition.  

The track was up and ready when they arrived at the race site, and the boys had plenty of time to sit and watch other races before it was Hayes's car's first heat.  

Hayes's first race ended with his car placing third.  

After that, his car placed fourth two times and third one other time in his heats.  Hayes was a little disappointed with his finishes, but we reminded him that it was a learning experience as he could improve on his car's design for next year.  I'm hoping that he grasped some early basic physics lessons as he observed what designs worked and what designs didn't work on the track.  Can't wait to see what changes Hayes and Thomas will make for next year's Pinewood Derby!

E's 4th Grade Colonial Days

At Brandon, each grade accomplishes one large project during the school year.  First graders have their biography book reports. (Hayes's is at the end of the month when he dresses up as Neil Armstrong.  Eleanor did Mia Hamm in first grade.)  Third graders complete their Halloween BOOOk reports.  The big annual project for fourth graders is the Colonial Days project.  When the project is first assigned, each child is given a Colonial character that they research.  Eleanor was assigned Mary Draper.  Then, over the next month, the fourth graders learn how to write a research paper about their Colonial person step-by-step.  The Colonial Day project concludes on a Friday where the children portray their historical figures in costume in a living museum.  

In addition, they spend much of the school day doing Colonial-era things - making butter, quilting, producing lip balm, weaving, punching tin and creating pomander balls.  The boys and girls finish the day in the gymnasium where they dance the Virginia Reel.

Parents and all of the other grades in the school were invited to walk through and experience the living museum.  As people walked by each historical person, the student portraying that person would give a one-minute spiel about their character.  Here is Eleanor telling her third grade teacher Mrs. Lane about Mary Draper

and then here is Eleanor with a larger audience.

Eleanor's classmates Francie Tucker portrayed Abigail Adams and while Caroline Pickel was Mercy Otis Warren.

The boys in E's class played various historical roles as well.

Ben joined us for the fun and enjoyed seeing all of the big kids dressed up.

After our visit back in time, we came away with some new knowledge about important Revolutionary figures, and I think the kids learned more than they care to admit about the Colonial time period.

Valentines for Sibley Heart Center

I've recently discovered a local group called Pebble Tossers that arranges and keeps track of thousands of service opportunities for children and teens around Atlanta.  Last Friday afternoon, the kids and I participated in a Valentine's service project benefitting Sibley Heart Center Cardiology.   We joined some kids from the Create Your Dreams non-profit organization based out of the King Plow Center to make valentine kits for young patients in the hospital.  We wanted to provide the hospitalized children  with valentines to share with their families.  

We also spent much of our time making valentines for the young heart patients as well.  By the end of the hour and a half, we had filled up this bag with valentines.  

We hope these valentines help brighten their hospital stays!

Mystery Reader

Last Thursday, we were signed up to fill the Mystery Reader slot in Ben's class.  Since I had read to his class last fall and Thomas was out-of-town, I decided to see if Granddaddy or Grandmommy had any interest in reading.  It turns out that Granddaddy was more than willing to help out.  I left some Curious George books for him in the preschool's front office and he brought along Dr. DeSoto (Eleanor and Hayes's favorite book at G and G's house) so he was well-armed with reading material.

When it came time for Ben's class to return to the classroom from the playground and learn the identity of that week's Mystery Reader, Ben said he knew before he walked into the classroom that it was Granddaddy.  We were shocked and did not understand how Ben could have guessed that his grandfather would be in the room.  He replied, "I heard him laugh real loud."  That would be Granddaddy!

Thanks for helping out, Granddaddy!

The Lure of Teen Magazines

This past Christmas, Eleanor found some teen magazines such as Pop Star and XX in her stocking.  Since then, I find her reading them any chance she can get.  When I walk into her room at bedtime to read to her, she's reading a teen magazine.  When we go to the grocery store, she heads straight to the magazines where she gets lost in the pages of teenage star drama.  Her current birthday present idea for friends?  Teen magazines! Where did our little girl go?!

Vietnamese Food

On Saturday afternoon while Dad's car was getting serviced, we decided to introduce the kids to Vietnamese food.  We took them to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant on Buford Highway, C'om, for an eating adventure!  I predicted that the kids would eat the grilled meats, rice and maybe a vegetable or two so that was the direction we headed with their orders.  Thankfully, C'om also had fried eggs on their menu so we added eggs for both boys to our ambitious order.  

As our food began to arrive, the kids were eager to play with their chopsticks.  They picked at a fruit salad as an appetizer and each tried a shrimp spring roll (which Ben devoured).  Then it was time for our main courses.  We ordered grilled chicken with rice patties and some veggies - a very basic dish - for the kids

while we both enjoyed our lettuce wraps of beef and chicken and a plateful of vegetables to stuff into our wraps (see the lettuce and herbs in the corner of the picture above and below).

Ben surprised us the most with his appetite because after eating my shrimp spring roll and his fried egg, he and Hayes ate all of their chicken and rice, and then Ben ate H's egg.  

As we reminded the kids throughout the meal, research shows that it takes 10 tries of a food before someone can decide whether or not they like the taste . . . so we would have to return to C'om 9 more times before we would officially accept their thumbs up or down.  

Valentine's Day

Currently, Ben is very interested in holidays.  

He's always wanting to know what holiday is coming.  On December 26, the question of the day was, "What holiday is next?"  Now that we've passed New Year's Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, he asked me what holiday was coming up next.  I told him Valentine's Day.  He then demanded that we get out our Valentine's Day decorations to decorate the house.  I explained to him that we did not have as many Valentine's Day decorations as we did Christmas ones because Valentine's Day was not as important a holiday.  His immediate response?  "Oh yes it is!  It is one of the biggest because it is the holiday of love!'

You know, he's got a point!

Ben's Dad's Day

Friday, January 25 was Dad's Day for Ben's class.  I think Ben looks forward to this day more than any other all year long. Daddy drove Ben to school and then joined him in his classroom 

for some breakfast and play time.  Dad even got to bring home a portrait Ben made of him.

See the resemblance?

The favorite part of this day for me is to see how Ben answers some questions about his dad.  

Since Ben knows that I'm older than Thomas, I'm a little worried about how old he's going to say I am in May, when Mom's Day rolls around!

Project Open Hand

Three weeks ago one Saturday morning, we volunteered as a family at Project Open Hand.  There we received an hour worth of training before heading out to deliver meals.  Our route took us down to an affordable-living retirement high rise in College Park.  We went floor-by-floor, knocking on doors delivering food to those who are sick or who are struggling financially.  We met many friendly people who were so appreciative of our efforts.  We all agreed that this community service was one we would enjoy doing on a regular basis.  

When driving home from school last week, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw this sight.

Ben was fascinated by the hair net we all got at Project Open Hand while we were "in training".  He has kept it with him and regularly chooses to don it when he's in an entertaining mood.   I never would have thought that a hair net would be such a hit with the kids!=

T's High School Basketball Video