Fire safety and stranger danger!

Jack's class visited the Fire Safety Village yesterday.

Aside from being educational for the whole family (yes, we now have a sound fire escape plan) it provided loads of entertainment as Jack recounted the day's events that evening.

First, Jack demonstrated the Heimlich maneuver. 

He did save Dad from chocking, however, if his hands had been about 2 inches lower, I think there would have been a whole other set of issues.

We also practiced stop, drop, and roll.  It's safe to say my children have rolling around on the ground down pat.

Then there's stranger danger. (I understand this is a serious subject, and we have taken steps to ensure our children are aware of what do to around strangers.  However, sometimes what they say is just downright funny.)

First Jack informed us what he would do if a stranger grabbed his arm; he would pull away.

Alex asked him if he would say anything while he was pulling away.

"Yes," Jack replied,  "I would say [and he makes grunting sounds like he's trying to pull away from someone]."

"Anything else?" asks Alex.

"Oh yeah," says Jack, "I probably just say 'NO STRANGER NO STRANGER!'"

On to the next scenario.

Me: Jack, what would happen if a stranger offered you candy to help him find something in the grocery store or something?

Jack: I would yell NO, STRANGER!

And the clincher...brought to you by Melody.

Jack, again, demonstrating how to pull away from a stranger and how to a kick a stranger.

Alex says, "Ok, guys, if a stranger is pulling at you and you have to kick him, kick him right here."

(I'm sure you can guess where he pointed...)

Melody looks at him and says, "So, basically, you want us to kick strangers in the nuts?"

Touchdown!!!

My boys love Upward Flag Football.  This is Jack's 3rd year playing and Charlie's 1st.  It's a great organization that teaches Christ-like sportsmanship and still keeps score (which I think is an important part of teaching sportsmanship)!

 

Anyway, Jack has really developed a love of this game and plays hard and tough.

 

*Disclaimer: the pics aren't great. It was at night and I had to zoom in pretty far and they were taken with my iphone and not an actual camera.*

See? Check him out trying to psych out the other team here! The other guy couldn't even maintain eye contact! Ha!

 

Defense is generally Jack's favorite position to play. He is an awesome flag-puller.

 

But he has skill on offense too.  Last Friday night, he had his first touchdown of the season.  He caught the ball, fought hard against three opponents to make in into the end zone, and then scored!!

 

During the fall months, I shout "touchdown" pretty often...but this was the best time I've said it so far this year!! 

 

After the game was over, Alex and I walked over to where the team was gathered to de-brief and Jack ran up to me, threw his arms around me and said, "I got a touchdown!" 

 

Talk about melting a mama's heart.

 

I hope he still does that when he's 16!

(Just kidding, Dad. I know you rolled your eyes when you read that!)

 

Way to go, Jack!!!

And the Mom of the Year Award goes to...

ME!!!

 

1st place for loosing my child at Six Flags.

 

Yep.

 

Don't be jealous.  With a little work and dedication this may happen for you too.

 

Here's my story:

 

Today, my crew met Aunt Mimi and cousins Lorelai and Troy for a fun-filled Six Flags day.

 

 

 

We had a fabulous day, absolutely no lines, cool weather (shocking for June) and it was overcast.

 

So, barring a little whining and skinned knees from Charlie, nothing could go wrong.

 

Until the last ride of the day.

 

The Mindbender.

 

Melody and Troy were just tall enough to ride it. (Charlie was tall enough too, but being our resident 'fraidy cat, he opted to hang with Aunt Mimi.) They were so excited...their first upside down coaster!

 

We got up to the front, and I realized that two small children, two bigger children, and me, posed a coaster seating logistics challenge.

 

It was decided that I would go with Melody and Troy would ride either with Jack or Lorelai.

 

Jack decided he wanted to only go with Lorelai and that he would sit this ride out and go with her the next time around.

 

Except the next time around, the littles wanted to go again.

But not together.

 

So, I tried to have Jack go with either Melody or Troy but no go.  Apparently, Lorelai is is favorite cousin and no one else would do.

 

 

He stomped angrily towards the exit to go wait with Aunt Mimi and Charles.

 

When the ride was over, we walked to the exit where Aunt Mimi and Charlie were waiting.

 

Without Jack.

 

We looked all over the place.

 

Finally, Aunt Mimi sent me along the walk of shame to the Lost Parents booth.

 

So, I walked (ok ran) over there, trying to keep the rising panic at bay.

 

And there he was.

 

Apparently, he had come out of the ride and somehow he and Aunt Mimi missed each other.  He just continued walking up the hill and out of Gotham City and finally sat down on a bench to rest.

 

Where a lady in a "dress with swirls" on it walked up.  She asked him if he was here with his mom, to which my son responded, "Yeah, she's on the Mindbender and I have an aunt around here somewhere."

 

(Thanks for throwing me under the bus there, honey.  I'm sure that lovely lady thinks I just dump my kids in Six Flags and go gallivanting off)

 

She then took him over the the Lost Parents booth.  Where I found him about 10 minutes later.

 

We went back to the Mindbender where he finally got that ride with Lorelai.

 

And then we had a discussion about staying at the exit until the other people you are with finish the ride.

 

The excitement never ends!

 

 

 

Only 363 Days...

until I have a double-digit kid.

 

How do I know this?

 

Because, yesterday, this guy turned NINE!

 

 

Happy Birthday to my sweet Jack

 

who is so smart

 

so loving

 

so curious

 

so silly

 

and so perfect for our family.

 

The Lord knew what He was doing when he blessed us with this little guy

 

nine years ago!

 

Doesn't he look like a little Buddha?

 

I think he was mediating and trying to recover after the horrendous labor and delivery we had to suffer though. 

 

 

John Marc Powell

06.04.04

9lbs 4oz

21 1/4 inches

A camping we will go, a camping we will go...

Well, not me, of course, but the boys did!

Alex, Jack, and Charlie headed down to Dothan, Alabama for an action packed three days with two other dads and their boys.

There was tent sleeping

gun shootin'

Weenie dog roastin'

S'more makin'

Fishin'

and fish fryin'

Sounds like the perfect weekend.

(Well, not to me, of course! Melody and I enjoyed some time together doing much more lady-like activies such as pedicures and sleepovers.)

Since it was up to Alex to take pictures, I hardly have any.

But....

Here's Charlie with a fish he caught all. by. himself.  He is quite proud of the fisherman he has turned out to be.

Things I want to remember...

One of the reasons why I started this blog is to keep a record of all the things I want to remember about my children's childhoods.

Near the top of that list is all the funny, cute, adorable, hilarous, crazy things they say.

They've had some doozies lately...

Melody: My favorite donut is a chocolate blaze.
Jack: I think it's glaze.
Melody: Nope, it's blaze.

Charlie was helping me clean up the kitchen and I told him "thank you".
He responded: You're welcome. What would you do without me?
Me: Yep, what would I do without you?
Charlie: Probably just sit around and look at things.

Melody: Daddy, how big do you think a baby whale is.
Daddy: I'm not really sure but probably bigger than me.
Melody: Oh definitely.

(Alex enters the room wearing a Home Depot t-shirt)
Charlie: Why are you wearing a Walmart shirt?
Jack (yes, he is the child that keeps up all in line): It's a Home Depot shirt.
Charlie: Oh, why are you wearing a Home Depot shirt?
Daddy: Because I work there.
*silence while Charlie looks confused.*
Mommy: Charlie, did you think daddy worked at Walmart?
Charlie: Yes!

Melody, after falling out of her chair onto the floor: I'm ok! Good think I have my head to land on!

Charlie is currently in speech, and while I'm glad we are getting to the root of his speech problem, I am a little sad to see some of his cute word pronouncations go.

A few of my favorites are:
Mel-wee (for Melody, a slight improvement from his first word for his sister, Bubby, still not as cool as what Lauren's kids call her)
Grace-you (thank you)

And lastly:

Melody: Mom, I just love Jesus sooo much I can hardly stand it!

Charlie: I love Jesus more than anything in the world!

Jack (once again, keeping us in line): Please don't forget to pray for me today.  I think it's very important for us always to pray.

8

8 Facts about Jack

He LOVES Transformers

His favorite food is shrimp

He's an avid reader

Math and History are is favorite academic subjects

He's a very caring brother

He has the most handsome brown eyes (not that I'm biased or anything)

He a morning person all the way...for him, morning starts around 5:30

and...

He is 8 years old today!!!

Extreme Closet Makeover

Anyone who knows me, knows I can be a little obsessive when it comes to cleanliness and organizing.  (Alright, Lauren, I see you rolling your eyes. Ok, fine. A lot obsessive.)

Lately, I've been having issues with my boys' closets staying organized and just all around neat looking.

So, I decided to do a closet makeover...

Both their closets have sliding doors and essentially take up a whole wall in their not-too-large-rooms.

Here is a "before" shot of Charlie's closet.  Clothes, toys, random stuff up on the shelves, etc.

I decided to remove the doors and utilize the closet space as a play/reading area.  It worked great and added substancial space to their bedrooms.

This is what Charlie's room looked like after I took the doors off (which was surprisingly easy) and took everything out of the closet.

The "after" shot:

It's a little hard to tell, but I painted both closets the same color as the walls.  Both boys have a light blue in their room (SW Icicle).  With the doors removed, there's not only space to play in the closet, but all the space the open doors used to take up.

I used canvas bins on the top self to hold out-of-season or not-yet-grown-into clothes and any other miscellaneous items.

Charlie's room theme is airplanes.  I decided the carry a "sky" theme into the closet and got some glow-in-the-dark space wallies to compliment the airplane theme.  (You can see them if you look closely.)  Charlie LOVED how his room "glowed" last night when he went to bed.

Jacks' room is pretty much the same layout as Charlie's room.  I was too lazy to walk downstairs to get my camera to take a "before" shot.

In Jack's room, I used half the closet to hold his dresser and hang his clothes. The other half, I designed as a reading nook (his bookcase is right outside the closet).  Jack asked for Transformer (his latest obsession) wallies and decorated the inside of the closet himself.

I am so happy I did this! I think it turned out great.  The boys have more room in their bedrooms now and I feel like their closets are better organized and have more functionality.  All in all it was an easy and super-cheap project.  It only took a few hours (including drying time between coats) to paint.  Since I painted the closet the same color as their rooms, I used paint I already had.  So, the only expense I really incurred was the storage bins.

I did initially consider painting the closets a different shade of blue or another color all together.  However, since one of my goals was to make the room seem larger, I opted to streamline and use the same color.  Since this color is so light to, needing to repaint in the event of a move, etc, there's really no need to repaint.

And, yes, now Melody wants her closet done as well.  Of course.  Her room is quite large and so is her closet, so I think that's going to have to wait for now!

Goodbye

This is one of my favorite pictures from our last beach trip.

I just love the way my children are holding hands.

I love the way that they are gazing out ove the ocean.

I love all the hair in Melody's ponytail.

I was thinking about this picture today.  Mainly because, for me, Labor Day is sort of the day I feel we all say goodbye to summer.  I'm excited about the new school year the four (yes, I said four! I'm finally back in school!) of us are embarking on.  I'm excited about activities and events that are already cluttering our calendar this fall. But I love summer.  I love the lazy days.  I love the freedom.  I even love the heat.  I love the heat a lot.  And I will miss summmer.  This was a special summer for my children and I.  And think of this summer fondly.

This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it!
Psalm 118:24 (NKJV)

My handsome boy...

on the first day of 2nd grade!!

Upon first look, it might seem like I took both pictures today.  But this second picture is last year's picture; the first day of 1st grade.  If you look closely, you can tell what a difference a year has made.

Happy first-day-of-school, Jack! I hope you have a wonderful year!

Putt-Putt

Last week I blogged about our beach trip.  While the sand and surf was fun, that wasn't all we did.  We played an exciting game of...putt-putt!

Jack was thrilled when he saw that there was a putt-putt course right outside our room.  He has played a few times and is a self-proclaimed expert.

On Saturday night, after dinner, the four of us decided to tackle the putt-putt course.

This is how our game went:

We spend a lot of time decided what color balls to get. (Yes, much to Melody's dismay, Charlie also insisted on a pink ball.)

Jack announced to everyone else on the course that he was a putt-putt expert.  After all, he has played before.  Twice.

Charlie misunderstood the purpose of the game and just ran around grabbing balls.

This prompted me to repeatedly yell out, "Charlie, stop grabbing other people's balls!"  Fortunately, that provided amusment to the other families playing putt-putt in a more calm manner.

Melody wanted me to help her with each wack of the club.  This provided ample time for Charlie to continue is ball-stealing spree.

Jack continued to show off his "expert skills" by louding proclaiming all he knew about putt-putt, water hazards, bunkers, putt-putt compared to real golf...

You get the idea.

Finally, we finished.

 (I know you are all going to say how adorable Melody's outfit is and, yes, I agree.  It's a creation by my friend, Sherry, who designs all kind of adorable children's clothes and accessories.  Visit her here...and she's having free shipping until July 1!)

And what's a game of putt-putt without ice cream afterwards? (I told Melody and Charlie to take off their shirs since ice cream sandwiches and white don't really mix, and Charlie decided just to strip all the way down.  Literally.  I stopped the diaper removal just in time.)

Would you believe that, after all that, I let them talk me into playing again the next day! The sun must have really bleached my brain.

(Who am I kidding...we had a blast, ball stealing and all!)

Sand, Surf and Fun!

Our summer has been off to a fun start!  After celebrating Jack's 7th birthday, we headed to Destin, FL for a few days.  My dad had a conference there so we went down to mooch off them keep Grammy from getting too bored.

And it was anything but boring!

We immediately started our sea shell hunt

followed by a refreshing dip in the waves

And some of the waves were pretty big!

Jack learned how to boogie-board.  Yes, I taught him.  You probably don't know this but I am an expert boogie-boarder.

And what would a trip to the beach be without a rockin' sand castle!

What fun trips does your family have planned this summer?

I've been hacked!

Or perhaps a more accurate title is: My boys have been hacked!

Or maybe just: My baby boy was hacked!

For the past couple of summers, I've given Jack a short hair cut just to help combat the little boy stink unique scent that tends to accompany boys.  This summer, I was planning on letting it grow longer but he asked to have it short.  So, following his birthday dinner at Orient Express and then dessert at Yoforia, we all went out on the deck to watch the transformation.

He went from this

to this

I, personally, think he looks cute with a buzz cut and he loved it.

Then, completely against my will, my husband decided to hack of my sweet Charlie's beautiful baby locks.  Ok, I might have consented in one brief moment of insanity that I will regret forever.

I admit, he was getting a little shaggy looking.

 And don't even get me started on the sweaty mop that was his head when he would come inside from playing.

But I just wasn't ready for my little baby boy to go from this

to this!

Sigh.  At least they are both happy.

even though I feel like this.

(Alex took this right after the first few locks were shorn, which is why his head still looks funny.)

Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

7

It doesn't feel possible that's it's been seven years that this little guy has been with us.

(Jack, his first Father's Day, two weeks old)

I remember feeling that the first year just flew by...and it seems they've gone by faster and faster ever since.

Jack's been a big brother...

Twice!

He loves school...and was actually sad for summer vacation to arrive! (He's since gotten over that!)



(First day of 1st grade)

He loves to run and play and would do that all day (If he's not wanting to do school work, of course.)

 He's an Auburn Tiger through and through and fully expects to be the quarterback one day. 

Yep, he's pretty much the coolest kid I know!

Mother's Day and Warriors

In my last post, I blogged about my children's love of Jesus.  Jack just loves to soak in knowledge of Him while Melody is a huge worshipper.  She has been singing her favorite song for all who will listen, including the staff at our chuch.  Our pastor loved it so much that he asked her to sing it for the congregation at all three services!  The video was taken at the 8:45 service and getting to hear her stand up there and sing pretty much topped my Mother's Day!

Alex parents were also visiting that weekend, so after church we all went out for my favorite Mother's Day tradition; brunch! 

So all that, along with a fabulous necklace and some beautiful earrings, definitely made me feel like one special mommy!

I know. Not a great picture.  It came from my phone.

...........................................................................................................

Some of you might remember this from last year.

Yep, he made me do it again.

Pre-race with our friend, Randy

It was fun and still just as muddy.

I did a little better this year than I did last year at #109 out of 726 women in my age group (that's 15th percentile).

And, yes, of course, Alex wants to do it again next year! 


Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?