Ben's
loves walking around in the new tool belt his aunt and cousin gave for
Christmas.
Yesterday morning I had to take it off when I changed him out of his pajamas,
then put it back on once he had his pants on. It's incredibly cute.January 11, 2006
A Wednesday Wrap-Up
Wrapping up the past week's thoughts and photos.
Jackson loves music and loves to dance. He is enamored with what he thinks the teenage lifestyle is. He calls it the fancy life and also says that with teenagers it's all about the music and the crushes. While dancing and wearing his headphones over the weekend we realized that he was singing Bob Segar's Old Time Rock And Roll. Jackson later explained that while he does NOT like old time rock and roll (heaven forbid), he does like the song Old Time Rock And Roll. So I told him about Tom Cruise dancing sliding around in his socks to that song because all things related to und*rwear are hilarious to Jackson. You can probably guess what happened next... Risky Business (2.1MB)
There have already been at least three or four days in 06 that I thought would be the day I skipped my first post since 03, but it's a hard habit to break.
I ordered our Dora The Explorer Live! Dora's Pirate Adventure tickets on Monday. I'm such a nerd. Not only do we actually enjoy taking the kids to these shows, but I buy the tickets before they even go on sale so that I can get good seats. The show is in two months and tickets don't go on sale to the "general public" for another two weeks. I think the general public means everyone that didn't get a flyer in the mail and I am pretty sure that everyone with a kid between the age of two and ten probably got one. We had great seats for Sesame Street Live and the boys really, really enjoyed it. The trick for us is to stay off the floor, but get the front row of the next level. That way you still get to meet the characters when they walk around, you can see without having someone in front of you, it isn't as scary for Benjamin, and the seats don't cost as much as floor seats. But you have to get your tickets really early to get that important front row. I know a lot of parents absolutely hate these things and would rather have their teeth pulled than go to one, but we think they are fun and for the kids it's HUGE, like getting to see Elvis. Ben was very excited when he heard that we had tickets. But he did add, "Daddy stop Swiper?"
Ben's
loves walking around in the new tool belt his aunt and cousin gave for
Christmas.
Yesterday morning I had to take it off when I changed him out of his pajamas,
then put it back on once he had his pants on. It's incredibly cute.
The weather has been almost Spring-like this week. Amy and the boys have been able to get out of the house and enjoy some time on the walking trail. Jackson rides his new bike while Ben kicks back in the stroller and watches the scenery go by.
On the day the boys and I went on a treasure hunt using Jackson's new metal detector, they did not find the treasure they were looking for. But they did find a stash of old books in the upstairs attic space of their great-great-grandmother's house. Which made me think of this quote from Thoreau's Walden : "Books are the treasured wealth of the World and the fit inheritance of generations and nations." One of the books had a Robin Hood story and a pirate tale in it. Both Jackson and his cousin fought over that book the entire way home. Which reminds me that we need to read it so that we can let his cousin have his turn with it.
I've continued to strip more and more out of the website in an effort to streamline the updating process. I've removed the most recently updated pages section, the cute little icons on the home page that link to the four most recent months, the links to the months based on the boy's ages, the name index and more. I've also tweaked my paddling page, made table changes to the galleria de fotographia, and started experimenting with changing from the Georgia font that I have used for over five years now. I hope the font hopping doesn't get on anyone's nerves over the next few days.
Ben and Amy finally made it to our new donut store. Krispy Kreme folded up and left Mayberry a long time ago, so it's nice to know that some new folks are interested in making us hot fresh donuts. Amy said Ben sang "donut donut donut. donut donut donut. donut donut donut."
Jackson had a really big day. He got to go on a field trip to the movies for being one of the top four readers in his class. He finished the last task on the brag board in his classroom, making him the third student to accomplish that. He wrapped up the academic stuff some time ago and only needed to learn how to tie his shoes. Amy worked on that with him last night for the first time and today he did it in class. He also received an excellent report card, had a good night in karate, and got a new 10th year anniversary dinosaur transformer for all his hard work.
This morning Jackson and I noticed the biggest hawk I've ever seen in the top of a tree next to his school. It wasn't hard to notice because a gang of crows were giving it a fit or at least trying to and it was the size of a big fat duck sitting on bare limbs. I'm a really big fan of hawks, falcons, and ospreys and always have my eye out for them. This one was hands down the fattest one I've ever seen. It was much closer to the size of an owl than a hawk. If I see one of our neighbors out looking for their little lost poodle, then I'll know how he got so fat.