The satellite guy left at 10:30 last night. Yes, that is correct, 10:30 pm. I was so tired - I no longer cared if we had TV. Art figured out how to use the remotes and was surfing the amazing array of channels when I went to bed. At least he was until the storm hit, and it knocked out the satellite temporarily. (Luckily we're not sports fans here: the College World Series was in the final inning of the 2nd game, which USC eventually won.) Anyway, the point being all was well and working when I went to bed.
Then, Alex got up this morning before us. I assumed (ha!) that he'd sleep late since he'd been up later than usual while the TV guy was here. Nope, he popped up at his usual time and when I came into the living room he was trying to find his cartoons on the new super-duper TV. He had both remotes in his hand and was facing 42" of snow. Uh-oh. Alex asked if this was his fault. I told him that he shouldn't have messed with the remotes, but that Dad shouldn't have left them out either. I tried everything I knew to do but still no satellite, no TV and no picture. I went back to bed. Really. Art saved the day. He found the one tiny button that Alex hit accidentally and hit it again causing everything to revert to normal. Art said when he walked into the living room Alex greeted him with, "Dad, it's your fault that the TV is messed up." Way to deflect the blame!
At the library this afternoon Alex got another reward for 90 more minutes of reading (or being read to, in his case). The prize was a flipping frog. We had to ask exactly how this was supposed to work. It is basically a green rubber frog that you can shoot like a rubber band. Just what every house needs. Seriously, give me the word and YOUR house could have one very quickly. Alex has named it Frogaga.
Other breaking news of the day: Alex announced he has a girlfriend. Skyler is the lucky girl. Art asked if Skyler knew about this but I haven't heard. Since Skyler's grandpa is an awesome pizza maker this is not such a bad thing. In fact, we had pizza and calzones from his place for supper to celebrate. Okay, we had them for supper because the errands to the library and Lowe's took way too long and I no longer had time to cook. Either way, it's good food. While we were in Lowe's Alex collected paint chips to help him decide what color to paint the rooms in the hotel he is building in our back yard. I'll keep everyone posted on the completion date - it should make it way easier for us to have guests!
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Odds & Ends
Apparently over the last 3 weeks I lost the will to type. I think it's the heat. I've had quite enough of it, and it isn't even July yet. I did take notes though, so I have plenty of Alex stories.
Alex happily finished up the t-ball season with one final game and an ice cream party afterwards. Of course, he doesn't eat ice cream, so we just skipped the party. I think the whole family would have happily skipped the game as well, but we did go to that part. Everyone did pretty well for the first couple of innings but it was all downhill from there. It was hot, there was no shade and very few players or fans wanted to be there. At one point the grandmother next to me urged her grandson to get up off the ground. He was lying in the middle of the infield, near the pitcher's mound, flat on his back. "Mason, you might get hit!" Mason looked at the batter and said, "I don't think so." I had to agree with Mason. There wasn't much chance that anyway 10 feet beyond the tee would get hit.
Alex played third base for the first part of the game. He chatted up all the runners, telling them jokes while they were on base. Later in the game, as attention flagged, he was moved near the pitcher. He sat down and faced center field. Again, he was safe. As the game broke up, Art looked at me and said, "Well, that's the last ballgame we ever have to go to." He may be right.
I thought we were the only slackers there who just didn't care about team sports but a week or so after the last game I got an email from the Y coordinator. Three gloves were left at the ice cream party and they were in the office if anyone needed to pick theirs up. At least we took our glove home!
A couple of Saturdays ago we got up bright and early and went to The Happy Berry to pick blueberries. Alex was amazing - he picked a pound and a half on his own. Then we came home and it was like Bubba Gump Blueberry Co. around here. We made blueberry muffins, blueberry cake, blueberry crisp, etc., etc. And we froze a lot, too. The neighbors and both of our offices got blueberry cake. It's one of the recipes that I got from Mamaw's recipe boxes (she got it from Aunt Nancy). Here it is:
Blueberry Cake
1 box Duncan Hines Golden Butter cake mix
1/2 cup cooking oil
8 oz. cream cheese
3 eggs
1 can blueberries, drained well (or 2 cups fresh blueberries)
Mix the first four ingredients well. Add blueberries, stir in. Pour into greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 50 minutes.
(It will also make two loaf pans. Mamaw notes that you can substitute sour cream for the cream cheese, but I haven't tried it.)
Here are my quotes from Alex for the past few weeks:
On the way to school he asked me if we could have a Bakugan Battle when we got home that afternoon. I avoid this when at all possible because Alex is the only person in the house who "knows" what the rules are and how it is played. He had his little Bakugan figure ask me to play, speaking in a sort of faux-Mr. T voice. When I told him that I didn't really want to because I always lose, the little blue figure told me, "Sure you can. You just have to believe in your self!" We definitely need to cut down on the heroic, uplifting and inspiring Japanese cartoons around here.
In the car, with Art teasing him way too much: "I'm not here for the jokes, Dad."
In an echo of what they are probably told a million times a day at school, whenever we tell him to hurry with something, Alex replies, "Be patient." This is very annoying.
While I was explaining a rule of polite society that he'd failed to follow in the grocery store, Alex listened quietly as I talked. When I'd finished he looked at me and said, "I'm starting not to like you so much." I told him to get used to it - we had at least 13 more years to put up with each other. He started muttering about his rocket ship then.
Last week we were called in to the director's office on the way out of preschool. It seems that Alex had thrown something hard and hit Alba in the head. There was a scratch and a knot. Mrs. Karen was trying to get to the root of the problem. We couldn't quite tell if Alba was the target, or if she was collateral damage. I pointed out that we shouldn't hurt our friends. "She is NOT my friend." (I'm new at this.) Mrs. Karen corrected that, we don't hurt PEOPLE. We still couldn't get a reason out of him. Finally in a fit of frustration Alex said, "It's not like I have a control switch!" Ain't that the truth.
Part II of the Alba injury story: Alba is 5 and her sister is 3. When they got home that evening, Alba was showing off her boo-boo. When her sister asked what happened, she explained that Alex had hit her. Unfortunately, their father is also named Alex. Her sister went to him, shaking her finger and telling him that he should not hurt Alba like that. It took some explaining all around.
Last but not least, the weekend excitement in our house. In a money-saving effort (sort of), I consolidated our phone bill and satellite television. It was decided in a 2-to-1 vote that we needed a new television for this adventure and to celebrate the end of cable. We headed to Walmart Sunday afternoon. After looking at many seemingly huge screens, Art chose one. (I have no idea what the criteria were, other than my feeble attempts to get them to look at smaller TVs were definitely ignored.) Alex and I went off to another area while Art took care of things and got the TV out to the car. On the way out, Alex, who hadn't seen Art take the TV out, asked why we hadn't gotten one. We explained that we had. "Oh. Is it HD?" Why does he even know that? Yes, it is. "It would be better if we had satellite." Sigh. We're getting it this week. "Will Spongebob still be on it?" Now, we missed a golden opportunity here. Yes, all of your shows will still be on the new TV. We are now waiting for the Direct TV guy to finish up with our dish so we can see how it works. I'm sure way better than we ever needed. Art does say that the big rigs on Ice Road Truckers now look way bigger than they did on the old TV.
Alex happily finished up the t-ball season with one final game and an ice cream party afterwards. Of course, he doesn't eat ice cream, so we just skipped the party. I think the whole family would have happily skipped the game as well, but we did go to that part. Everyone did pretty well for the first couple of innings but it was all downhill from there. It was hot, there was no shade and very few players or fans wanted to be there. At one point the grandmother next to me urged her grandson to get up off the ground. He was lying in the middle of the infield, near the pitcher's mound, flat on his back. "Mason, you might get hit!" Mason looked at the batter and said, "I don't think so." I had to agree with Mason. There wasn't much chance that anyway 10 feet beyond the tee would get hit.
Alex played third base for the first part of the game. He chatted up all the runners, telling them jokes while they were on base. Later in the game, as attention flagged, he was moved near the pitcher. He sat down and faced center field. Again, he was safe. As the game broke up, Art looked at me and said, "Well, that's the last ballgame we ever have to go to." He may be right.
I thought we were the only slackers there who just didn't care about team sports but a week or so after the last game I got an email from the Y coordinator. Three gloves were left at the ice cream party and they were in the office if anyone needed to pick theirs up. At least we took our glove home!
A couple of Saturdays ago we got up bright and early and went to The Happy Berry to pick blueberries. Alex was amazing - he picked a pound and a half on his own. Then we came home and it was like Bubba Gump Blueberry Co. around here. We made blueberry muffins, blueberry cake, blueberry crisp, etc., etc. And we froze a lot, too. The neighbors and both of our offices got blueberry cake. It's one of the recipes that I got from Mamaw's recipe boxes (she got it from Aunt Nancy). Here it is:
Blueberry Cake
1 box Duncan Hines Golden Butter cake mix
1/2 cup cooking oil
8 oz. cream cheese
3 eggs
1 can blueberries, drained well (or 2 cups fresh blueberries)
Mix the first four ingredients well. Add blueberries, stir in. Pour into greased and floured tube pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 50 minutes.
(It will also make two loaf pans. Mamaw notes that you can substitute sour cream for the cream cheese, but I haven't tried it.)
Here are my quotes from Alex for the past few weeks:
On the way to school he asked me if we could have a Bakugan Battle when we got home that afternoon. I avoid this when at all possible because Alex is the only person in the house who "knows" what the rules are and how it is played. He had his little Bakugan figure ask me to play, speaking in a sort of faux-Mr. T voice. When I told him that I didn't really want to because I always lose, the little blue figure told me, "Sure you can. You just have to believe in your self!" We definitely need to cut down on the heroic, uplifting and inspiring Japanese cartoons around here.
In the car, with Art teasing him way too much: "I'm not here for the jokes, Dad."
In an echo of what they are probably told a million times a day at school, whenever we tell him to hurry with something, Alex replies, "Be patient." This is very annoying.
While I was explaining a rule of polite society that he'd failed to follow in the grocery store, Alex listened quietly as I talked. When I'd finished he looked at me and said, "I'm starting not to like you so much." I told him to get used to it - we had at least 13 more years to put up with each other. He started muttering about his rocket ship then.
Last week we were called in to the director's office on the way out of preschool. It seems that Alex had thrown something hard and hit Alba in the head. There was a scratch and a knot. Mrs. Karen was trying to get to the root of the problem. We couldn't quite tell if Alba was the target, or if she was collateral damage. I pointed out that we shouldn't hurt our friends. "She is NOT my friend." (I'm new at this.) Mrs. Karen corrected that, we don't hurt PEOPLE. We still couldn't get a reason out of him. Finally in a fit of frustration Alex said, "It's not like I have a control switch!" Ain't that the truth.
Part II of the Alba injury story: Alba is 5 and her sister is 3. When they got home that evening, Alba was showing off her boo-boo. When her sister asked what happened, she explained that Alex had hit her. Unfortunately, their father is also named Alex. Her sister went to him, shaking her finger and telling him that he should not hurt Alba like that. It took some explaining all around.
Last but not least, the weekend excitement in our house. In a money-saving effort (sort of), I consolidated our phone bill and satellite television. It was decided in a 2-to-1 vote that we needed a new television for this adventure and to celebrate the end of cable. We headed to Walmart Sunday afternoon. After looking at many seemingly huge screens, Art chose one. (I have no idea what the criteria were, other than my feeble attempts to get them to look at smaller TVs were definitely ignored.) Alex and I went off to another area while Art took care of things and got the TV out to the car. On the way out, Alex, who hadn't seen Art take the TV out, asked why we hadn't gotten one. We explained that we had. "Oh. Is it HD?" Why does he even know that? Yes, it is. "It would be better if we had satellite." Sigh. We're getting it this week. "Will Spongebob still be on it?" Now, we missed a golden opportunity here. Yes, all of your shows will still be on the new TV. We are now waiting for the Direct TV guy to finish up with our dish so we can see how it works. I'm sure way better than we ever needed. Art does say that the big rigs on Ice Road Truckers now look way bigger than they did on the old TV.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Alex's 4-Year-Old Kindergarten Graduation
What a big day! Alex was really looking forward to graduation. When we got to school Wednesday morning he bounced into the building, then stopped suddenly. "Where is everything?" Everything what? "You know, the stuff for graduation." Well, I'm sure you guys will be getting ready for it all day, practicing your songs, what you're supposed to do - maybe even trying on your caps and gowns. "But graduation is TODAY." Well, it's tonight at 6:30. I'll pick you up from school, we'll go home and eat supper, change and come back for it. "Oh, so it's not today, it's TONIGHT." Well, yes. So he went around to all of his classmates to correct any misconceptions they might have. "Graduation is not today, it's TONIGHT." I'm pretty sure he was the only one who was concerned.
I picked him up at the usual time that afternoon. We had a little over an hour to get home, clean up, eat dinner and get back to the school. Their lunch menus were disturbed this week due to the Memorial Day holiday and graduation commotion. So, I asked Alex what he had for lunch to make sure we didn't have a repeat for supper. Thus began his lunchtime tale:
"Well, we had waffles. I had two plates and three milks BECAUSE they threw my food away."
Me: What? Why?
"Well, I was watching a video before lunch when I realized I was the only 4-year-old class there. All the rest were from the 3-year-old class."
(I made him repeat this story to Art, just so I could hear "when I realized" again!)
"They went to lunch without me! So I went to the lunch table and Noah didn't want the lunch that he brought, so he ate mine. So, Mrs. Brandi had to make me another plate. Then, while I was eating I had to go have my picture made and while I was gone - they threw my plate away!"
(Apparently they were doing graduation pictures and they thought he was through with his food.)
"So I got another plate and another milk and THEN I finished my lunch."
Me: What movie was so good that you didn't notice lunch was ready?
"It was a Tom & Jerry and Jerry was ..." I have to admit I didn't listen after that. The kid can take an hour to describe a 15-minute cartoon. At least he got his "breakfast" for lunch - waffles, sausage and goldfish crackers. It's one of his favorite meals, at home or at school. This will be important later in the story.
So, we were back at the school at 6:20 for the kids to form up for their procession. There are 10 kids in Alex's class and there were 40 or so assorted parents, siblings, grandparents and teachers. They had emerald green caps and gowns complete with tassels and a stole that said 2010.
I picked him up at the usual time that afternoon. We had a little over an hour to get home, clean up, eat dinner and get back to the school. Their lunch menus were disturbed this week due to the Memorial Day holiday and graduation commotion. So, I asked Alex what he had for lunch to make sure we didn't have a repeat for supper. Thus began his lunchtime tale:
"Well, we had waffles. I had two plates and three milks BECAUSE they threw my food away."
Me: What? Why?
"Well, I was watching a video before lunch when I realized I was the only 4-year-old class there. All the rest were from the 3-year-old class."
(I made him repeat this story to Art, just so I could hear "when I realized" again!)
"They went to lunch without me! So I went to the lunch table and Noah didn't want the lunch that he brought, so he ate mine. So, Mrs. Brandi had to make me another plate. Then, while I was eating I had to go have my picture made and while I was gone - they threw my plate away!"
(Apparently they were doing graduation pictures and they thought he was through with his food.)
"So I got another plate and another milk and THEN I finished my lunch."
Me: What movie was so good that you didn't notice lunch was ready?
"It was a Tom & Jerry and Jerry was ..." I have to admit I didn't listen after that. The kid can take an hour to describe a 15-minute cartoon. At least he got his "breakfast" for lunch - waffles, sausage and goldfish crackers. It's one of his favorite meals, at home or at school. This will be important later in the story.
So, we were back at the school at 6:20 for the kids to form up for their procession. There are 10 kids in Alex's class and there were 40 or so assorted parents, siblings, grandparents and teachers. They had emerald green caps and gowns complete with tassels and a stole that said 2010.
The class entered to the usual "Pomp and Circumstance" music and sat down, fairly calmly for this group. There are 8 boys and 2 girls in the class, so it's rowdy a lot of the time. They led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance then sang a song called "Hello Everybody." It had lots of motions and acting out and was a lot of fun to watch. Mrs. Karen, the school's director, then explained that she was going to give out "Superlatives." She told the kids that this was where they chose the friendliest student, the most athletic, etc. Alex was on the front row and could see his audience. He interjected then, "The cutest girl in the world is...MY MOM!" I would have been embarrassed if everyone hadn't said "Awwww!" The little ham.
The kids squirmed as each of them got their awards. Alex received the "Best Architect" title for his building projects in the classroom and on the playground. Mrs. Karen talked about his Lego sculptures and he told everyone how they'd built a secret hideout just that afternoon.
(An aside: he also has plans for a type of bug zapper for his adventure treehouse. He and Art discovered a yellow jacket nest underneath it and they've been working to get rid of it - and making sure it's definitely gone - before he can play on it again. His invention involves a camera that he will mount on the treehouse which will send images to space. When yellow jackets are spotted they will be "electrocuted" with a laser. His words, not mine. Art thinks we should look into patenting it.)
The kids were pretty good up until this point. Unfortunately, attached to their award certificates were packets of Silly Bandz. For those of you unfamiliar with the Silly Bandz phenomenon, count yourself lucky. These little plastic bracelets are the end-all, be-all to the pre-school and elementary set. Their very own personal pack of bandz was almost more than the awardees could take sitting down, literally. Luckily when the superlatives were over, there was a square dance. Alex had Miss Sarah as his partner. Sarah is his favorite teacher and our regular babysitter. We are very sad that she won't be working at the school after mid-June due to conflicts with her school schedule. She's assured us that she will still be happy to babysit, though. Here's a picture of the two of them together.
During her closing statements, Mrs. Karen read excerpts from an exercise the kids did (with teachers' help) this week. They took dictation from the kids, asking them: What is the best thing you've learned at preschool? What do you want to be when you grow up? What is your favorite book/favorite color?
The answers, as you can imagine, were intriguing. About half the class (including Alex) said the best thing they learned was their letters. Alex said that was so he could "write stuff down." His friend Augustus said it was learning to climb the "big" monkey bars. Julian's answer was my favorite. He said that the best thing was learning the letters J-U-L-I-A- and N.
Their future occupations were also interesting. Anna, the girly-girl of the class, wants to teach 8-year-olds. No word on why such a specific student body. Bennett wants to be a fireman. Augustus wants to play football like his brother, then work at his parents' restaurant. Alex took the cake, though. When he grows up he said, "I would like to be a Waffle House cooker. I really want to cook waffles." Art pointed out that it would save us a bundle on college tuition. Alex has mentioned this ambition before. Maybe if I take his paper in to Waffle House we could get free waffles! The teachers mentioned that he definitely likes to eat waffles. He's not much on lunch but waffle day is the one day of the week they can count on him to clean his plate.
After it was all said and done, cake eaten, Silly Bandz compared and lots of pictures taken, we are very pleased with the graduation and all the fun we had. Now on to kindergarten. There is an ice cream social tomorrow afternoon for the kindergarten class and teachers at his new elementary school. Alex pointed out that he doesn't eat ice cream. I told him we'd take brownies just in case they didn't have anything else.
One more graduation of note this week, our niece and Alex's cousin, Alli graduated today. We are very proud of her! I told her that while her ceremony was actually a little shorter than Alex's, it was not nearly as exciting. Here is Allison Suzanne all grown up:
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Playing "Press Your Luck"
I should know better, I really should. The men in my life do not respond well to to-do lists and checking things off. Yesterday I got another reminder that the 5-year-old I live with has his limits, and if you push past them, well, that way there be dragons.
Alex had a dentist appointment at 4 yesterday and T-ball at 5:45. We were actually early to the dentist, which may be a first for me. Alex is not very enthusiastic about having his teeth cleaned, but Cole's mom, Mrs. Janna, did them and he was very good for her. (It's hard for him to stop talking long enough to have his teeth done.) We were out of there by 4:15. That was even including showing all the patients in the lobby the prize he collected for coming in.
I should have gone home and let everyone rest until time for T-ball. BUT I was trying to find a time to squeeze in a haircut for the wild man before his 4K graduation tonight. So, we headed to the barber shop. Again, he was perfect. He waited his turn, sat sort of still and let Mrs. Tina use the clippers even. Life was good.
Then we went to T-ball. While we were at the barber shop there was a tremendous downpour. By the time we got to the YMCA, it had slacked off. I thought we'd be inside, which was the plan for rainy days. However since it had stopped raining they decided to play on the field. Since we missed last week while we were on our trip, we didn't know that the two teams were playing yesterday and next Tuesday. This is exciting - we are ready for the game. Except our two coaches don't show up. Apparently the storm was so bad they decided practice must be cancelled. In all, four kids on Alex's team were there, and he was the only one in uniform. The Y coordinator bravely stepped in to be their coach. The other team had seven players, all in uniform, and they'd been paying way more attention for the first four weeks than our team. Alex was ready to go after about 15 minutes. It was a long half hour after that before it was over. I consoled him when we were done: there's only one week left, then you're free.
Signs that you are at the first T-ball game of the season:
- A kid watches a bird up in the air so long that he falls over on his rear, while playing pitcher
- Your child is lapped by a runner between second and third base
- Many, many players must be reminded which way to run when they hit
- You can count on one hand how many times the ball is hit out of the infield
- When the coach yells for them to come "home" - Alex asks "Can we go home NOW?"
- Alex asks the coach to pull his finger, thankfully making fake sound effects
- Two players have to be told to "unhug" repeatedly
- There is at least one crash between a runner and a second baseman
We have learned valuable lessons during our brief foray into organized sports. One of them is that organized sports are not for us. I'm pretty sure that Alex will not voluntarily play anything with a practice schedule or uniforms for a long time to come. I won't admit that was my plan but it works out well for me!
Alex had a dentist appointment at 4 yesterday and T-ball at 5:45. We were actually early to the dentist, which may be a first for me. Alex is not very enthusiastic about having his teeth cleaned, but Cole's mom, Mrs. Janna, did them and he was very good for her. (It's hard for him to stop talking long enough to have his teeth done.) We were out of there by 4:15. That was even including showing all the patients in the lobby the prize he collected for coming in.
I should have gone home and let everyone rest until time for T-ball. BUT I was trying to find a time to squeeze in a haircut for the wild man before his 4K graduation tonight. So, we headed to the barber shop. Again, he was perfect. He waited his turn, sat sort of still and let Mrs. Tina use the clippers even. Life was good.
Then we went to T-ball. While we were at the barber shop there was a tremendous downpour. By the time we got to the YMCA, it had slacked off. I thought we'd be inside, which was the plan for rainy days. However since it had stopped raining they decided to play on the field. Since we missed last week while we were on our trip, we didn't know that the two teams were playing yesterday and next Tuesday. This is exciting - we are ready for the game. Except our two coaches don't show up. Apparently the storm was so bad they decided practice must be cancelled. In all, four kids on Alex's team were there, and he was the only one in uniform. The Y coordinator bravely stepped in to be their coach. The other team had seven players, all in uniform, and they'd been paying way more attention for the first four weeks than our team. Alex was ready to go after about 15 minutes. It was a long half hour after that before it was over. I consoled him when we were done: there's only one week left, then you're free.
Signs that you are at the first T-ball game of the season:
- A kid watches a bird up in the air so long that he falls over on his rear, while playing pitcher
- Your child is lapped by a runner between second and third base
- Many, many players must be reminded which way to run when they hit
- You can count on one hand how many times the ball is hit out of the infield
- When the coach yells for them to come "home" - Alex asks "Can we go home NOW?"
- Alex asks the coach to pull his finger, thankfully making fake sound effects
- Two players have to be told to "unhug" repeatedly
- There is at least one crash between a runner and a second baseman
We have learned valuable lessons during our brief foray into organized sports. One of them is that organized sports are not for us. I'm pretty sure that Alex will not voluntarily play anything with a practice schedule or uniforms for a long time to come. I won't admit that was my plan but it works out well for me!
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