Egg Hunt Number 1

We have several Egg Hunts to attend this year, and our first was yesterday. After church, we ate a hot dog lunch and then headed to the elementary school down the street to find the eggs. I think there must have been 5,000 eggs hidden because they were everywhere and as far as we could see. Jonathan wasn't feeling very good, so he didn't hunt, but he did enjoy toddling around outside and seeing a special visitor.

Here are the "old pros" walking to the hunt.




The children were divided into different areas based on age, so we didn't have to worry about the boys being trampled. When the horn blew, off they went!



This was the first really big egg hunt we've been to. Our other hunts had a specified number of eggs for each child to find, but yesterday the boys could fill their baskets all the way up!


At one point, I showed Coleman where some more eggs were waiting, and he sighed and kind of scrunched up his face. It was like he was thinking, "Good grief! I've been picking these up for hours! When are we going to be fininshed?!"


We don't really do the Easter Bunny thing. I cannot find any meaningful connection to Jesus in that, so this was the first time our boys had really seen an Easter Bunny.

At Christmas, Jonathan did NOT like Santa, so I figured he'd be really unhappy about this giant bunny with a huge head and didn't plan on him having his picture made. But let the record show, that I was wrong on that! Jon Jon spotted the bunny across the playground and made a direct line for him. He was pointing and smiling the whole way. Children were in line waiting for pictures and he walked right up and gave that bunny a big hug! We got in line and when the bunny picked him up, he was beaming.



Two more egg hunts this week, so stay tuned!

All Good Things

Family life, it seems, is all about transitions. Just as we get used to one stage of life, something comes along and we transition to something new. As soon as we get used to one baby, here comes another one. One yahoo gets potty trained, and another one is ready to start the process. We begin to grow our roots in one place, and it's time to move again. I suppose it keeps things from getting boring or old. Sometimes the transitions are fun and exciting, other times they are difficult and bittersweet. Today we began a bittersweet transition in our family. Last night we lost our dear pet of almost fifteen years.

When Brent and I got married, neither one of us could wait to get a kitten. The three months we spent in the apartment in Tuscaloosa seemed so very long to wait, but finally that September of 1996 we picked out our first family pet. A lady Brent worked with had a cat with kittens and so we went to her home and claimed one as ours. He was a feisty little gray tabby with the biggest ears we had ever seen on a kitten. Constantly running around the big dog's legs in her kitchen, we knew he was the one for us. We had tried to choose a name before we met him, but couldn't agree. Once we got him home, his curiosity and constant wandering around led us to name him after a mischievous little monkey I loved as a child. Curious George Archer.



George had quite the personality. Everyone who met him has at least one "George story" they can share. George moved with us four different times and to three states. We knew when we got here that this would be his last home. George had many close calls through the years, and we marvel that he made it to fourteen and a half. The last two weeks we had begun to notice dramatic changes in George that let us know the end was nearing. He had stopped eating and drinking a few days ago, and so each day we said our "goodbyes" thinking it was probably his last. After the boys went to bed last night we went downstairs to check on him, and he was gone. Our hearts are heavy today, and we are missing our healthy, playful kitty of long ago. George helped us through the long wait for our boys, and now they are helping us through this sad time.

George, we love you. You were such a good pet for us, and in many ways you have set a high standard for future pets. We hope you are enjoying sunshiny days filled with tuna juice and butterflies to chase. There will always be a special place in our hearts for our first yahoo.

Jonathan Loves to Sweep

By, Andrew

Andrew has been learning to read this year. We aren't starting formal kindergarten curriculum until the fall, so I haven't been pushing very hard at all with our literacy practice. About three days a week, we do a lesson out of a book I have. It's great for working with preschoolers, and obviously gets results quickly. Each lesson consists of some phonemic awareness, phonics practice, reading a short story, comprehension questions, and then some writing. The lessons focus on letter formation, but I have been adding in some dictation for him.

Last week, I let him see how many -ot words he could write. I called out words ending in -ot, and he wrote down each sound to spell the word. He did great, and to say he enjoyed it would be a huge understatement. That was the first time we had tried that activity. He was very proud to show his words to Gigi and Papack and Daddy when they got here that day. Here are a few pics I took to document that first spelling dictation lesson.


That all happened last Wednesday morning. We haven't practiced it since. However, something has clicked in his little mind and he is now wanting to write non-stop. Last night before supper, he quietly got out a paper and pencil and sat working at the table while supper was fixing. I didn't know what he was up to, and he didn't ask for any help. When we sat down to eat, I was shocked to see that he was working on a story. He read the first few words to us, and then asked for some help in finishing his sentence. We made him put the pencil down and eat supper, and then he picked it right back up and kept working. He worked on his story until bathtime, and then came back to it after his bath.

I helped him listen for the sounds in a few words, and it is not perfect, but for a first story for someone who is not in kindergarten yet, it is awesome. It is so exciting to me to see my own child using that inventive spelling and big print style that I loved about beginning writers when I was teaching for a paycheck. Here are the pictures of our author with his first piece.

He included periods and quotation marks where needed. Those had been introduced in our reading practice, so I was tickled that he could use them in his own writing. At the end of his story, I showed him how to write "By, Andrew." I think if you click on the picture you can see the work close up and may be able to read it. You can also see where I went and wrote the traditional spelling for a few of his words underneath so we won't forget his thoughts.



In case you can't make it out, here's the story: the cat ran from the dog the dog the cat sed "I will tac the dog to jal" "I will se u hlucotrr" Eunudr hlccdr the m i it the min tooc the cat teo jal. the min sd jl tac a the cat to jal. By Andrew

Translation: The cat ran from the dog. The cat said, "I will take the dog to jail. I will see a helicopter." Another helicopter had men in it. The men took the cat to jail. The men said, "Jail. Take the cat to jail." By Andrew.

He was up early this morning and first thing dashed off another story. I can't wait to read it!

Wordless Wednesday: Edition His First Pair of Jeans

No Foolin'

We love a good joke around here. So last night I told Brent I wanted to pull an April Fool's trick on the boys. This is the first year I've thought they were old enough to understand the joke. We thought for a while and finally came up with the perfect prank. Or so we thought.

We decided that Brent would pull the van out of the garage and park it on the driveway before we went to bed. Then, when he got ready to leave in the morning, he would act like someone had stolen our car. We were sure we were going to get a great reaction from Andrew and Coleman. He moved the car before bedtime and we were set.

So this morning, he told us all goodbye and gave hugs and kisses just like normal. The boys were in the living room watching tv and waiting on breakfast. Then, according to plan, Brent walked out into the garage and said, "OH NO! I think someone stole our car!" Andrew and Coleman came running, wide-eyed and bushy-haired. They got to the doorway and stopped in their tracks. Coleman said, "Oh no!"

I think Andrew bought it for about fifteen seconds. Then he said, "Wait a minute! I know where it is. It's on the driveway! Push that button and raise the door and we'll see it right there."

Brent and I were flabbergasted. Of course, the car was right there when we opened the door, and we had one yahoo who was very pleased with himself. He shook his head and said, "I knew it was there the whole time." Looks like we're going to have to get up pretty early to fool that one next year.

A Visit to Cookeville

Last weekend, we took a trip to visit our cousins in Tennessee. The boys were very excited about our break from our routine. Coleman especially was about to pop! We left after preschool hoping the boys could get a nap in the car. I think Jonathan slept for about thirty minutes the entire way. So needless to say, they all slept well that night. Here are some pictures of our fun.

Friday night, we ate supper and enjoyed playing with Amelia, Lily, and Nolan. Here's a cute shot of Amelia and Jonathan reading on the couch. JonJon was getting over a cold or something and wasn't quite himself until Saturday night.

Andrew and Coleman got to sleep in the room with the bunk beds, and boy were they excited! Here's a picture of Andrew in the top bunk. A lot of the weekend, we could find the four oldest cousins piled up there playing together.


For breakfast Saturday morning we had biscuits. Then everyone got ready for the day while Jonathan got his morning nap.


When Jonathan was ready, we loaded up and headed to the children's museum. The boys had fun playing with different, new toys. Somehow, I got pictures of everyone but Nolan.


Lily and Andrew


Coleman and Amelia are our two artists. They worked at the craft table for a long time.


Andrew was fascinated by the physics activities. His engineer daddy was very pleased to see this!


They even had a small playground outside. I would like to know who these big kids are and what happened to our babies?!


We left the museum and headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch. Then it was back home for naps, and Margie and I headed out to see some sites. We even stopped for coffee/hot cocoa at a cute little coffee shop. Our plan was to keep the weekend low-key so we could all just enjoy each other. We were hoping for "play outside" weather, but winter decided to make one last show of itself and it was rainy and cold all weekend. So after naps, we moved the cars from the garage and let the kids play in there.


Jonathan and Nolan had fun in Aunt Margie's ginormous pantry.

Saturday night, Uncle Chris cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for supper. Then we watched "The Incredibles" together until bedtime. Sunday we loaded up before church, and after the service we ate lunch at one of their favorite Mexican restaurants. It was really good, and a huge treat since we don't usually eat out on Sundays. As we were getting ready to leave, we decided to get a group shot of the cousins. When Brent put Jonathan down on the bench with everyone else, he gave his very best big boy smile. He was so happy to be part of the gang!

It took JonJon about twenty seconds to fall asleep in the car, and Coleman about three minutes. We had a good trip home, and can't wait to visit again. Thank you cousins for having us over! We love you all!