The Outsiders

Since returning to school in January, Eleanor has been reading "The Outsiders" in English class. In celebration of completing the book at the end of the month, the sixth grade girls and boys dressed up last Friday as "Greasers" and "Socs". Here is Eleanor with my terrible iPad camera before school

and a group of girls during school.

Eleanor was so excited to be wearing lipstick and mascara that she couldn't put on a tough face. 

MLK Drum Run 5K

As we did over last year's MLK weekend, we participated in the MLK Drum Run 5K in Piedmont Park this year. We were hoping for warmer weather than last year, but there must be something about that weekend because it was below freezing again at race time! We left Hayes home with what we thought was strep throat (though the test results came back negative the next day) and met up with the Pickel girls and Mary

  

at the park. It was decided that Eleanor and Thomas would run for times, and I was the chosen one to run with Ben.

We all finished with respectable times (E in 25 minutes, Thomas in 24 mins, and Ben and me in 38 mins), but I was especially impressed with Ben. We took only one 10 second break from running before we started right back up, and his kick at the end was stronger than mine. I crossed the finish line cracking up because my six-year-old had beaten me! 

As with last year, all family participants are rewarded after the race with a visit to Krispy Kreme down on Ponce. (We promised Hayes we would bring some doughnuts home for him too!)

Two Teeth in Two Days!

The next day, after playing some soccer in the front yard, Ben came in for some rest. He decided to grab an apple for snack and situated himself on a stool at the kitchen counter.  He took a few bites and then turned to me with a funny look on his face. "I think I just ate my tooth!" he said to me. I looked right into his mouth and indeed, the tooth was gone, and the blood was beginning to run. He seemed a bit panicked by the thought so I assured him that all was well, that his tooth was gone and that he might even one day spot it in his poop!  That final point earned me a big smile, and he returned to eating his apple.

Though this picture was taken nearly three weeks later, here is what his front line of teeth looks like now.

Ben FINALLY Loses a Tooth

In the middle of December, I noticed that Ben's two front bottom adult teeth were coming in.  One problem?  He hadn't lost his baby front bottom teeth yet!  Actually, his adult teeth were almost completely in and lined up behind his front two bottom baby teeth. With his teeth structured like that in his mouth, I lovingly started to call him "Shark".  We gently advised him to start wiggling his front baby teeth, as the arrival of the adult teeth signaled that it was time for them to come out.  

Finally, the afternoon of Ben's first sleepover later that night (the Sunday before school started back on Tuesday), he ran downstairs to report that his tooth had fallen out!  You can barely see the spot where the baby tooth was since the adult tooth has already nearly moved completely in. 

 

He was beyond excited but then immediately questioned how the tooth fairy would find him at his friend Bennett's house that night.  We recommended that he keep his tooth at home, and leave it for the tooth fairy the next night, when the fairy knew he would be home.  He grabbed a ziploc bag (one of his favorite things to use for storage) and put his tooth in there (bottom right corner) for safe-keeping. 

 

After a successful sleepover, the next night Ben placed his tooth-filled ziploc bag under his pillow and waited to see what the tooth fairy would bring him.  Thankfully, he/she came to visit (though the fairy forgot to color Ben's water to signal his/her gender) and left $5 under his pillow since it was his first tooth.  Now we need to get working on that other front tooth!

Time in Florida

It is nearly the end of January, and I'm still writing about our Christmas in Florida!  For this last post, I wanted to detail some of our non-holiday-related activities over our two-week visit.  

Almost immediately after we arrived at Mimi and Papa's house on December 23, the kids desired to swim (and they did).  They jumped into the pool at least once a day (when it wasn't raining) over the length of the visit. 

Mimi treated the kids to the customary trip to Barnes & Noble.  Eleanor and Hayes read their book selections tenaciously over the next few days.  Eleanor picked out six books and had had three of them read after two days!  (This is the only type of picture that she will let me take of her - one in which she's not looking at the camera. Ahh pre-teens!) 

In addition to a few books, Ben selected a Lego set from the bookstore and had completed the assembly of the set, in his usual spot on the porch, by that afternoon.

The week after Christmas, the boys played nine holes of golf.  They were forced to walk the course (the course wouldn't let the three of them ride in one car) so they were exhausted when they finished. Don't they look cute?

Thomas and the kids tried finishing along the Eau Gallie Causeway in the Indian River this trip after having some success over our last visit.  They had luck in catching a 16-inch Spanish mackerel

 

and actually brought their catch home to cook for dinner.  Thomas cleaned it in the backyard and then cooked it up.  I wasn't brave enough to try it, but Thomas and Ben sure enjoyed it!

The boys were eager to visit the zoo and experience its "Treetop Trek" this visit, so we walked through the zoo, and I then supervised them through the ropes course in the "Treetop Trek".  Though the picture below is blurry, it gives you an idea of what they climbed over, under and through for 45 minutes. 

On January 2, the day before we left, we also celebrated Papa's 70th Birthday.  Mimi wasn't feeling well so we cooked Papa a homemade dinner of spaghetti with eggnog pound cake for dessert. 

I wonder what he wished for?

 

 

All in all, it was a special Christmas visit, and we look forward to getting back to Florida for Easter. 

Eleanor's 12th Birthday

 

Happy Birthday, Sweets! We celebrated Eleanor's 12th birthday over a quick lunch on the 31st before the boys left for south Florida.  She had a cake with candles, and we all sang to her, but I have no pictures to prove it!  When we returned to Atlanta, I had Eleanor fill out this year's version of the Carroll Family Questionnaire.  Here are her responses: 

Happy 2015!

The girls had a low-key New Year's Eve back at the house while the boys were at the Orange Bowl.  Eleanor watched the NYE TV specials to catch their musical guests.  Around 8pm, we pulled out last year's party hats and horns to get us in the celebratory mood. 

Mom and I watched some of the Tech game before we both headed to bed at half-time.  Happy New Year!

Georgia Tech Orange Bowl

For New Year's Eve, the males in the family drove down to Miami to watch Georgia Tech play in the Orange Bowl against Mississippi State.

They attended a Georgia Tech pep rally

 

where they ate dinner and accumulated a ton of Tech gear. 

They even spent some time with Buzz!

Can you tell where these boys' allegiances lie?!

When it was game time, the boys busily banged their Thundersticks

 

and the Mississippi State fans rang their cow bells.  Towards the end of the first quarter, Ben turned to Thomas and asked, "Do we have to stay for the entire game?"

After standing the entire game, the boys were grateful that Tech pulled through with a 49-34 win.  They made it back to their hotel just as the clock struck midnight and 2015.

Legoland

On Monday, December 30th, we decided to brave the post-Christmas Central Florida crowds and treat the kids to a day at Legoland in Lakeland.

 

We were blessed with great weather and once we got there, the crowds did not seem overwhelming.

 

We started off trying out the few roller coasters they have in the park.  Eleanor was a willing participant early on by when it was time for the third and fourth ride, she reminded us that she really didn't like roller coasters. 

We were impressed by the cities and familiar landmarks built with Legos

 

and some familiar characters that lined an area of the park.

 

The park had a few rides the kids were interested in trying, but Eleanor and Hayes definitely seemed to be on the upper age-range of the park.

 

 

 

We tried to ride one final roller coaster before we left the park around 4:00pm, but when we learned that the line was 90 minutes long, we decided to just go ahead and hit the road. 

All in all, we were glad we experienced the park, but we agreed that we didn't need to return.