Coleman's Prayer

Tonight at bedtime, from Coleman:

"Jesus, Lord, I 'preciate that you died for me. Amen."

First Practice

Springtime means we are back at the ball fields a couple of nights a week. Andrew is playing tee ball again this year, and is back on the Clippers! We have new coaches and teammates though. Here are some pictures from our first practice of the 2012 season.

The team running somewhere


I am so thankful for the playground that is right next to the fields. Coleman and Jonathan love going to Andrew's practices!

Andrew is one of the oldest members on the team. I'm excited for him to experience this season with last year under his belt. Brent and I are amazed at what a difference there is this year in his skill level. We haven't been training much in the off season, but his throwing is tons better. When he and Brent play catch, he can throw straight, far, and hard. It makes that nice whacky-thud when it hits Brent's glove.





We're also getting practice being a leader on the team. We've told Andrew that since he's played before, and is bigger than the other kids, he can be a great encourager to the other players. He is taking to this new role pretty well.

March Science Club

This month our topic was invertebrates. We started off with a visit from a local author/performance artist who has written a book about honeybees. She did a cute presentation full of un-bee-lievable puns (I know. You should have been there.) and fun facts about honeybees.


Then we headed outside for our hike. Our job this month was to locate and identify as many invertebrates as we could in the woods. Here are the students looking in some leaves to see what they could find.

When they found a specimen, it went into the observation jar and got passed around the group.

Then they used picture cards to identify the creature and Ms. Angela read some information about it. She also kept a tally of what invertebrates the group found.


Here they are rolling over a log to see what they could find.


They also got to search for aquatic invertebrates. You can see Andrew kneeling down at the water's edge skimming for animals.


Showing me whatever was in the jar at the time.


To end the day, we headed to the classroom where Ms. Angela had preserved specimens of invertebrates for the students to see.

Next month we will go boating on Lake Lanier. We are super excited about that!

Wordless Wednesday: Edition There's no denying your heritage.

Pretty Smart

One day recently when it was warm enough, we played outside for a bit. Andrew and Coleman came up with this great idea.

And here's one of Jonathan riding in his daddy's "Big, Big, Big truck!"

Valentine's Day

My goodness what a lot of celebrating we did this year! Valentine's Day parties started at preschool on the Friday before the 14th. Jonathan gave his classmates little bags of teddy grahams that said, "Bear Hugs for ___________." He also took his teacher a little ivy vine that said, "Ivy been noticing what a vine teacher you are!"


Here they are during the party. Anna Grace's mom brought nuggets, fruit, chips and cookies for lunch.
She also gave everyone these cute headbands. This is the only moment Jon Jon had his on his head.
Andrew is always a big hit with the girls in Jonathan's class!



Sunday night, our church had a Date Night. Childcare and dinner were provided, as was entertainment. There was a great speaker, but the big hit of the evening was the Karaoke competition. No one could have been more surprised than he when Brent was selected (he would call it being thrown under the bus) to compete. His memorable renditions of "You're the Inspiration" by Chicago, and "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler earned him this:



Coleman's class party was on Monday. He took an ivy valentine to Ms. Sharon. He and Andrew both chose these cute Valentines to make for their friends. They are paper hearts that are filled with m&ms. They say, "Go ahead. Be a heart breaker!" You break open the heart to get the candy.

I was a party mom for Coleman's class this time. We had pizza, chips, fruit and cookies for dessert. Everyone got a stick balloon for their surprise.

Jonathan always thinks he is super big when he gets to go to Coleman's class.

The other party mom helped them make these cute flower pens for their craft.

We let them decorate their own cookies for dessert. I found the next three pictures of the yahoos and their icing quite interesting.





So on Valentine's Day, we had a pancake breakfast and surprised the boys with a trip to the museum. It was a super fun morning.


Brent and Andrew were dancing to the juke box and Jonathan showed us he can cut the rug too!







Our boys absolutely love lunch at The Collegiate Grill downtown, so we surprised them with lunch out after the museum.


Then we were off to our co-op party. We had our classes like normal and then met in the fellowship hall for the party. There were three stations we rotated through. Our first station was delivering valentines to our friends. Andrew and Coleman took turns stuffing the boxes with their hearts.



Then we made valentine cards for orphans in Kenya. Several families in our group have adopted children from Kenya, and we have one missionary family who is on furlough this year. They will be going back to Kenya in May, and will take the cards with them. Our boys were very curious about what it means to be an orphan. They worked very hard making their cards. It was such a sweet part of our party.
One of the missionary moms had set up a table with artifacts and photos from Kenya. I think it was great for Andrew and Coleman to see the faces of the children they were making cards for.


And then finally we got to eat our refreshments! Each family brought a treat to share.

That night we had a quiet dinner at home. Brent cooked steaks and potatoes for us after the boys were in bed. I do not remember ever stretching out a Valentine's Day as long as we did this one!