Andrew - Age 6

I am behind on several posts from this winter, and this is one of them. Here's an accounting of Andrew at age 6, along with the pictures of his family birthday celebration before we went to Disney World.

It is so hard to wrap my head around the fact that Andrew is six! That's halfway to twelve! One third of our time actively parenting this child is done! Yikes! Let's slow down just a bit shall we? We're coming to the end of his Kindergarten year, and he has done so well. His reading and math are both at first grade level. His favorite subjects have been history and science, with history probably taking the top spot. Andrew loves to learn new things, and is very excited when he gets to teach us something.


Andrew loves to sing and dance and have lots of fun. He is very funny, and is learning that making people laugh is a talent that not everyone has. He loves to tell jokes and tries often to make up new ones. His favorite thing of all currently is his LEGO collection. Whenever there is a spare minute he can be found building away on a new creation.



His favorite color is still red. Favorite foods are tacos, Subway sandwiches, Chick-fil-A with no pickles, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, strawberries, and sweet potatoes. He still loves to role play and get into costume, especially as a Star Wars character.
 
We have seen a lot of maturing take place this spring.  Helpful, obedient, compassionate and honest are all adjectives that describe Andrew very well.  He is a great friend to others, and loves to cut up and have fun. 

Andrew, we are so proud of the boy you are becoming.  We see God's hand on your life already, and are so excited to see what He has in store for you.  We are thrilled, humbled, and astounded that He chose us to be your parents.  We love you so very much.

Every good and perfect gift is from above. . .  James 1:17

Spring Break

 Spring Break started off with an egg hunt at Jaemor Farms.  This was their first year to host a community egg hunt, and our church helped out.  If it looks like there were a kajillion people there, that's because there were.  I kind of hope we go back to our church only next year.  I know.  I'm such a humbug. 

 Andrew was campaigning for someone running for something we don't even know.  They slapped a sticker on him before we realized it.  Hope she's a nice person!

 Jonathan was not too enthused about the whole thing.  It was at 2:00 on Sunday after church.  Prime naptime at our house.  So he was tired, it was hot, and he was competing with adults for eggs.  Seriously.  The kids were grouped according to age, and he was in the 2 and under area.  I cannot tell you how many adults I saw running ahead of the toddler crowd, scooping up 16 eggs and carrying them back to their child's basket.  Humbug.

 Monday of Spring Break we visited the Lego store and got our zoo tickets.  Tuesday we went to the zoo.  The rest of the week was pretty low key.  Whenever we have a break from school, I ask the boys to choose one special thing they would like to do during the break.  Coleman wanted to go to the mall and get a cookie.  So we did.

Andrew wanted to get a milkshake from Chick-fil-A.  So we did.

The rest of the week was nice and relaxing at home without a schedule.  We were in such need of some down time, and it was great to finally get it.  

Zoo Atlanta Field Trip

Life around here is busy!  I am getting behind on blogging again, and I'm going a little out of order.  I'll post about the rest of Spring Break hopefully tomorrow.  On Tuesday of Spring Break, we took a field trip to ZooAtlanta.  Brent discovered a wonderful program that Georgia offers its residents through the library system.  The information he found said that if we watched a 25 minute video about the history of ZooAtlanta, we could get four free tickets to the zoo.  This sounded way too good to be true, but too good not to try it.  So Monday afternoon, the boys and I hit the local library, watched the video, and half an hour later, had our free zoo tickets!  We saved almost $100.00, so it was very worth it!

Years ago, a student of mine in Tuscaloosa noted that all zoos have their flamingos as the first exhibit.  Since then, we have been to zoos in several states, and his theory has held true every time.  ZooAtlanta is no exception.

 After the flamingos, we saw the meerkats.

 Here are the boys looking at the giraffes and rhinos.

 We also saw the lions and elephants in this section of the zoo.   Then it was on to the gorilla habitat.  Brent and I each visited the zoo as children, and we remember the Atlanta Zoo very differently.  While Andrew was watching the video at the library, it was like I had stepped back in time.  I clearly remember all the cages and exhibits they showed in the movie.  I also clearly remember Willie B.  For you who are not from Atlanta, Willie B was the resident gorilla back in the 1980s.  His claim to fame was that in his cage (indoors in the gorilla house), he had a TV and a tire swing.  I suppose it was a sad existence for such a creature, but he was the highlight of our zoo trips back then.  Willie B has long since died, and there is a memorial to him near the new habitat (which is wonderful, by the way).  I made the boys' picture with the statue, and then a nice mommy asked if she could take the photo so I'd be included. 

 On this rock is a mommy with a tiny baby gorilla.  It was fun to watch them interact.

 Heading into the reptile house, which was very much like I remembered.

 This was a python, and Coleman cracked me up when he saw it.  It was raising its head along the glass and Coleman turned to me and said, "I do NOT want to fusterate that thing!"

 Tortoises eating lunch

 After the pandas, we ate lunch.  Blogger has updated, and I am having a hard time rearranging the photos the way I want.  So the lunch pictures are in the middle of the petting zoo, which we did right after lunch. 

 After we washed our hands, we got in line for the train.  Here's Jonathan watching the playground area which was next door.

 When we got off the train, we let the boys burn off some energy.

I feel like we can finish Kindergarten now that we have had our trip to the zoo!

Coleman's Prayer

I do not intend for this to become a regular post topic around here, but again tonight, Coleman brought tears to my eyes. I have been under the weather for the last 48 hours. Yesterday I ran a fever all day long and today my energy has been totally gone. Headaches, achy everything, general yuckiness. The two bigger boys have been very helpful today, mostly, and have pitched in a good bit.

Tonight at bedtime, I went in to kiss them goodnight and then Brent was going to put them to bed and say prayers with them. Coleman wanted me to sit down on his bed while he prayed for me to feel better. He prayed, "Dear Jesus, I don't want Mommy to be sick. Please help Mommy not to be sick." Then, reaching up and rubbing my head ever so gently, he added, "And please help her not to have anymore headaches. Amen Jesus."

With tears in my eyes I kissed my sweet four year old goodnight. I'm feeling much better already.

Delayed Gratification

Andrew and Coleman have both been bitten by the LEGO bug. Those two absolutely love building and creating with those tiny bricks. We have accumulated a bunch of bricks over the last year, mostly coming from small sets or a tub of bricks. They received several sets of bricks for Christmas, and have loved playing with them. A couple of days after Christmas, they decided they wanted to get the LEGO City Fire Station.

If you've never lived with a legomaniac, you might not realize how expensive these little bricks can be! The fire station set is a big set with a big price. Eighty dollars! I told them that was a lot of money for LEGOs, but if they wanted to save up their money, I would take them to the LEGO store to get it when they had saved enough. I still cannot get over how diligently they saved for those blocks. They kept every dollar they were given, every penny they found, and counted every so often to see how they were progressing. They would look at the set online and imagine how they would play with it and how much fun it would be when they got it.

So the week before Spring Break, I got out their wallets and counted their savings again. They had a good bit over their goal, so I told them that on Monday morning, we would head to the LEGO store. They were so excited! When we got there, they found the kit and then looked around for a bit. They had some extra money and so they each got to choose one additional LEGO toy to buy. Here they are each handing their money over to the cashier.



And here they are with their purchase outside the store. I told Brent that for our family the phrase 'kids in a candy store' should be changed to 'kids in a LEGO store.' They were in heaven in that place!
We came home and started assembling right away during Jonathan's nap. Here they are the next night working on the last of the three fire trucks that came with the set.


And here they are with the entire thing set up just the way they imagined it.


They are already saving for their next big set. I think they've decided on the LEGO City Police Station. Or maybe it was the airport. No, wait, I think they said the forest police station. By the time they make up their minds, they'll probably have saved enough to go get it!

Flashback Friday: Easter 2007

Andrew's second Easter found us in Winston-Salem, expecting baby number 2! I can't remember if this was when we thought Coleman would be a girl or not. Anyway, you can see from the pictures that he is on the way! It was very cold that Easter morning. We wound up wearing coats over our Easter outfits. Andrew wore a light green Strasburg outfit with knee socks and white shoes. He had a little white cardigan that he wore to church too.


Gigi and Papack made the trip to North Carolina for the weekend.


Andrew was fourteen months old, but wasn't walking yet. He would pull up, stand, and cruise around though. Here he is with his basket while lunch was getting ready. He got some Inchbug name things for his sippy cups, a Clifford book, a watering can, a PraiseBaby DVD, and some Reese's eggs.







We had a bunny cake for dessert. That's why Andrew is in his onesie. I didn't want him to eat cake and get it all over his sweet outfit.

We had a sweet Easter in that little house. In fact, I think most all of my memories of that little house are sweet.