Where There Is A Will There Is A Way

We had corn on the cob this week for the first time, this year. Poor Austin was not too sure about eating it--I think it more of HOW he was going to eat it.

Austin has lost several of his front teeth this winter, and now they are growing in. But they are at all different lengths and stages of being in.

As I watched him eat, I saw this:


What confuses me a little is the fact that the side he is chewing on is the side that still has a hole. However, this is how he was comfortable eating it, and he did a pretty good job!

May Day 2010

Today was May Day at the boys school. I remember May Day from when I went to this school some years ago. It was a fun day, one of my favorite days out of the school year. I have to say I think the boys enjoy May Day just about as much as I did.

They have some new traditions now, but it only adds to the fun. One of the new things is that they set off a May Day rocket.

And this is the one day out of the year that they gym teacher brings his buggy to school, in order to go after the rocket, of course. :)

The boys did think do ask me to bring hats. That did help in keeping the sun out of their eyes! Adam had the bill of this hat pulled down so far that he actually had to tilt his head back in order to see.

2nd graders did the Virginia Reel. They all got lined up ready to start their dance. Austin is the one with the red shirt and blue hat.

Then they started their dance. Austin apparently means business when they say to sashy your partner!

Adam's class did the chicken dance. The boy on the right is Adam best buddy this year, Nick. Today was Nick's last day, as they are moving away. We were very sad to see him go.

Then everyone was invited down to the field to do "singing in the rain" I stopped long enough to get a picture of Adam doing this. I wanted a picture of Austin as well, but could not find him :)

May Day is just as fun now as it was about 25 years ago. It is really fun seeing my boys enjoy these fun days!

A Sunday Afternoon Ride

A few weeks ago, Mike saw that someone down the street was selling a riding lawn mower. As it turned out, it was the parent of one of his students. Mike talked to the man. He told Mike that this and that were not working right, you can just have it! Mike gave him something for the mower.

Mike took the mower to my parents house. My Dad worked on the mower, and it seems to be working great.

One thing Mike wanted to try was to hook the wagon up to the mower and see if he could give the boys a ride.
He got it hooked up!

And away they go....There is a church at the end of our street. The just went there and back home. But, it was a fun adventure for a Sunday afternoon.

Talking With Austin

Sometimes I like to ask Austin what he wants to be when he grows up. The answer changes from time to time. Last night, when Austin was getting ready for bed, I asked this very question. I was surprised by his answer. He replied, "I either want to do demolition or construction." I kind of laughed and said, "so you will either do DEStruction or CONstruction."

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This morning we were getting ready for church, when I noticed that Austin was putting socks on. I told him that it is getting warm enough that he could wear sandals. He said that he did not want to wear sandals because everybody is going to see his toes. I told him that was the nice part about sandals-you can wear them and not have to worry about socks. He said something about his toes being big, because he is growing. I agree with the growing part, but the big toe part, I am confused about. If he thinks his toes are big now, wait until he is fully grown!

Friday

Yesterday was a fun-out of the ordinary-day.

Mom, Carol, and I got an early start and went strawberry picking. I knew this would be a day that started before the boys headed out for school. I had their clothes picked out, and breakfast on the table. It was a lot to get done that early in morning, but very worth it for fresh strawberries!

At the beginning of the school year I took a picture of the boys with their teachers. A few weeks into school, Austin's teacher told me she was expecting. We were all very happy for her and her husband! Her last day of teaching this class was on May 14th. Earlier this week their little one arrived. She said it would be okay to come over and visit and see her little one, and Austin could come, too. I had to get a picture with Austin and his teacher (and the new baby) at the end of the year. We have been very blessed to have her as a teacher for this 2nd grade year!


After supper we had a surprise party to go to. This is someone from our church, we do not know them that well, but thought it might be a great opportunity to get to know some people in a casual setting.

As we were walking to the house for the party, I noticed that Adam had to tug at his pants every little bit. Then I realized that his pants were huge for his little waist! I found a piece of yarn in my purse and we tied some of the belt loops together. I felt so bad for him! He must had battled that all day at school!

They had some games set out for the kids (and adults). This one was really fun. Mike and the boys played this.

This picture shows better what you do in the game. The point is to throw the rope with balls on the end and have it wrap around one of the posts. There are different points for the red, blue and green post.

They have a pool there. The kids enjoyed putting their feet in the water and kicking. The water was cold. No, it was COLD. No, it was COOOOOOOLLDDD!! The boys pants got wet from kicking the water. I was talking to someone (implementing the part about getting to know people) Mike was with Adam. He had told Adam that he thought his pants were wet enough that if he sat and dry concrete he would make a butt print. Adam did this, but decided it was not vivid enough. He went back to the pool to try to make his pants a little wetter, but one of his hands slipped and he fell into the pool. Before I knew what was happening, Mike had grabbed his arm and pulled him out! He seemed to have held his breath and said he wasn't that scared (not sure about that). But more than anything he was just cold! I am so thankful that he is safe, and Mike was able to get him out quickly!

As Mike was holding him and drying him off, Adam told Mike, "It's your fault, you told me to go make a butt print!" Mike did tell him that, however....

Last night as we said our bedtime prayers, we definitely thanked God for watching over Adam at the party!

True Love

I decided today was a good day to clean out my purse. As I set to work on this job, I found old shopping lists, receipts, random papers, and this...

At the very bottom of my purse I found a handful of rocks!

Then I remembered, one day Adam and I were out (I forget where we were), but he decided he wanted to find the perfect rock. He picked up several and when we walked into the building, he handed them to me. I just put them in my purse to have them out of the way. Then I totally forgot about them.

Little did I know that about a month later I would finally get around to taking them out. Now, that is true love...carrying rocks in my purse!

When Austin Has A Passion...

he has the passion whole heartedly!

Here is a picture of his latest passion:
My mistake, you may not have seen him due to all the camouflage. Camo...that is his new passion!

A few weeks ago, Mike stopped at a yard sale and found some camo glove. This past weekend Austin found a camo hat. One day, not long after all this, I found him going through of box of snow clothes. I asked him what on earth he was doing, he had remembered that a year or so ago Mamaw had made him a camo scarf. How perfect was that?! Then he remembered that a few weeks ago my sister said that she had passed a camo coat to us. He asked me if he I could find it for him. My first thought was, "what box did I put that in?" I told him one day soon, I would go through all the boxes and try to find it. Then I had a better idea, I would go to the thrift store.

After work today I stopped in to see if I could find anything. I got to the first rack of boy clothes and found a camo t-shirt. Then I decided to try my luck and see if I could find some pants. Sure enough!! They were big, but this was for play, and he could use a belt. I didn't even know how much this would come out to be. When I got to the register it came to $1.58!!

Austin was one excited boy when he saw my finds for him!
I later saw that the t-shirt arm is torn, but that is okay! I can try to fix it...one day.

Adam could not be out-done by his brother. He went and put on his camo pajamas. He also had on his dinosaur pajamas, and his school clothes.

Austin seems to think that he wants to be in the Army or hunt (I would be interested to know who he thinks will take him hunting!). If this passion is like his others, it may be history in a year or so....

When I'm not there...

I always find it interesting to hear things that my boys do or say when I'm not there.

Today we had a ladies tea at church, and I happened to be sitting at a table with Adam's Sunday school teacher. She was commenting how she was really enjoying getting to know Adam. She told me she was noticing how detail oriented he is. One example was: Last Sunday they had a Mother's Day Tea. They had all the food and cups on the table, everything was set! The Children lined up against the wall. Adam could see that there were strawberries on the table. He raised his hand to ask her a question, when she called on him he asked, "Are those strawberries washed?"

In his defense, the strawberries still had their caps on. I can see how he might ask that. But, on the other hand, that is just Adam!

Inside Of Toys

Austin brought a book home from the library about the insides of toys. Adam was looking at it the other night. We were talking about some of the pages and how some of the toys work. We got to particular page with a baby doll that would drink a bottle of water, but this baby could also cry. I was explaining to Adam that the water the baby drank went into this one section, and to make the baby cry you squeeze the tummy a little lower and the air in another section makes the baby cry. Adam sat thoughtfully, and then asked...

"So what does the baby cry? Acid or something?"

I have to say his mind works in such a different way than mine! I never would have thought of acid!!

Mother's Day Poem

Austin has been working on his hand writing this year. One teacher took him under her wing and started with him twice a week before school.

One day in March I asked him what he was doing with this teacher. He said, "We are working on something for Mother's Day, and I won't tell you." I never asked about it again.

Austin hid the surprise in Mike's room to make sure that I wouldn't accidentally find it. We got busy over the weekend, and they never made it to school to get the surprise.

Monday, when I went to get the boys, Austin was very anxious to get this and give it to me. He ran to Mike's room and then realized that he had taken it out to the car. Then we was in a hurry to get out there and get his hands on it, to give it to me.

This teacher had taught Austin how to make a flower.




Austin was so proud of this. He kept telling me, "it is only 1 tissue, and 1 pipe cleaner." I'm not exactly sure how they did this, but it is beautiful!

He also had a big poster board. There is a lovely drawing on it, and a poem. Austin chose the poem and copied it onto paper. He did it in such neat handwriting!

Here is the peom he chose:

Why God Made Little Boys

God made little boys it seems,

to answer every parents dreams.

For expectations are begun

when He sends down a little son.

A son to teach the golden rule,

to watch as he goes off to school.

To marvel at his happy face,

every time he wins a race.

Playing tricks and funny pranks,

learning to say "please"and "thanks."

Yes, God brings parents endless pleasure,

when He sends a little boy to treasure.

What a great poem! I had tears in my eyes as we left the school. I love, love, love this gift. It was well worth the wait!

Piano Recital

About 7 weeks ago Austin started taking piano lessons. He has learned so much and come so far in this 7 weeks. Last night was the spring piano recital.

Austin had some fun songs to play. He played a version of "It's a small world after all." The other songs were not songs I was familiar with, but they were fun for him to play.

What I did not know, was that 2 of the songs were duets with his teacher.

Before he went on stage, I encouraged him to mindful of his finger placement. He had been placing his left hand on the wrong keys at home. When he was done playing he came back and said, "I made some mistakes." I told him, "that is okay, you went up there and tried your best."

He has some songs he can practice over the summer. He is really interested in a violin program at the school, if they have it. If they don't he may be interested in doing another year of piano. I am so glad that he is showing some musical interest.

Austin, you did great! I am so proud of you!

Mother's Day Tea

Earlier this week I wrote about getting an invitation in the mail to a Mother's Day Tea in Adam's Sunday School class. The tea was wonderful!

At my seat I found this beautiful picture, in a beautiful frame, of a beautiful child!
Adam was very intrigued by sugar cubes. He had a small cup of tea, and I think he ended up putting 2 cubes in!! You can see in this picture, behind the sugar cubes, she had real china set out for the tea. The children did great with this.

The food was fantastic! Adam took a picture of some of it.

On the top tier there were chocolate wafers that the teacher's husband picked up in Germany, the middle tier was some sort of pastry dough, with pudding, the topped with a blueberry and a slice of strawberry. The bottom tier was something like a cinnamon bun, rolled up with icing. It was all very yummy!

During the church service, Austin became very sad that Adam had a tea and he did not (he did have a tea 2 years ago, when Ms. Diane was his Sunday School teacher. However, that did not comfort him today). He started making plans for a tea. He made a menu. He made a guest list. He even wrote out "units" we needed. (He told me these were things that we do not eat) I looked at my calendar and told him we could fit it in in about 2 weeks. He wrote me a note and said that he wanted to have a Mother's Day Tea, so it had to be today. I sat there thinking, I wanted to clean my house today, but this seemed way more important. The more we talked about it, the more I decided, "Yes, this does need to happen today!" We had decided that we were going to surprise Mamaw and have a Mother's Day Tea waiting for her when she came home from work.

After church we stopped at home and I picked up several items that we had thought of that would work for this tea.

After lunch, Austin helped me clear the table and get it ready for the big event. I started to put plates together and put them in the fridge. I even got out the China that Mom and Dad got as a wedding gift almost 41 years ago! We called Carol and invited her and her boys. Things were really coming together.

We made it more of an early supper than just a tea. We had sandwiches, chips and salsa, veggies, watermelon, strawberries, cookies, and pretzels dipped in chocolate.

Everyone seemed to get enough to eat. More importantly, everyone had a good time.

We really surprised Mamaw!

Mamaw and her 4 boys!

Mom and 2 of her girls.

(Lana, we missed you.

We'll plan one sometime when you are up here)

Happy "grand"Mother's Day, Mom!

Chocolate Is Healthy!

Very often at the supper table I will ask the boys, "Have you eaten a fruit or vegetable?" Usually, I like for them to at least try both, but that may not always happen. My thought is over the course of a lifetime, it will all even out.

The other night I did not get a chance to ask it. Out of the blue Adam says, "Austin have you eaten something that grows?" I thought, how cleaver! I have never asked it like that, but it is true that fruits and vegetables both grow.

Austin said, "I have eaten a vegetable, but I would like to have something that grows for dessert." I asked him what he was referring to. He said, "Chocolate comes from a Cocoa bean, those beans grow!"

I have to say, I like the way he thinks!

Better Than Hallmark

My Mother's Day came early!

I went to get the boys from school today. As soon as Adam saw me he started digging, and digging in his backpack. He final came up a Mother's Day card for me. We came home and sat and looked at it, talked about it, and I enjoyed hearing what he had to say about it. He was very excited for me to read the "riddle" in the card.

This card means more to me than anything that could be bought at the store!


Yesterday I happened to see his speech teacher and talked to her for a little. I told her that Adam had been giving me clues to this special project they were doing. She said that often in their speech classes it is drill, drill, drill. Sometimes it is nice to take a step back and use what they have been drilling in everyday conversation. I am so glad that she takes the time to do something fun and yet still make it beneficial to Adam.

Adam's signature

Today went I got the mail, I was very pleased to find an invitation to a Mother's Day Tea from Adam. I opened the envelope and saw what has become his most recent signature.

It tickles me that he doesn't write his middle initial then his last name. He doesn't even write his middle name out. The HW covers those two names easily.

There Are So Many Differences....

...between a 6 year old and an 8 year old. But, the one I noticed most recently is...how they deal with surprises.

A few weeks ago, I asked Austin what he did with one of his teachers at school. He said, "we worked on something." When I prodded him further, I found out that they were working on a surprise for me, for Mother's Day. He told me, "I not telling." I did not want him to tell me. I want to enjoy the surprise. I was really proud of him being able to keep this surprise to himself, for now.

Today, I asked Adam what he did today with his Speech teacher. He said, "I worked on a Mother's Day surprise for you. Here is a clue: It starts with C." I guessed some C words. Then he said, "Here is another clue: It's made out of paper....Let me give you another one: It has decorations." Not satisfied that I was not "getting" it he continued, "Here is another clue: It's folded in half.....Okay, the last clue is that it has a butterfly." I told him I can't wait to see my paper cookie that has decorations and a butterfly that is folded in half...those are my favorite!