Alyssa won county

Alyssa won the Georgia Young Authors contest for 5th grade for our county. Her story will go on to the state competition.
All the 5th graders had to write a story. She had a story she had already written and wanted to turn in. Her teacher had said that would be ok. I told her that wasn't fair, since everyone else had to start from scratch. After complaining, she wrote a new story and it won 5th grade for her school and went on to the county competition. And now she won county for her grade. I think points go to me for being a mom who makes my children do extra work for school.

Odd Looks at Sam's Club

Sam's Club is about a 20 minute drive away and I try to only go every other week or so. I got some odd looks and comments at Sam's Club the other day and didn't realize why until I was loading my purchases into the van:

a package of toilet paper
a box of diapers
10 gallons of milk
and a case of hamburger

I also had some cheese, bar soap and a tub margarine.
The cashier and the man in line ahead of me asked if we really drank that much milk. I said yes, it is about a 1 1/2 week supply, half being Logan's whole milk. The man asked if there were anymore at home (I just had the two boys with me). I didn't realize they were probably wondering how I fit all that milk in the refrigerator, even college students living six to an apartment aren't that good - I freeze most of it. And the hamburger was $1.84/lb for 90% lean!! how can you pass that up! Sure it was the "case only" price, but after repacking it into quart zip lock bags and freezing it, I just figure I now have a year's supply of hamburger! Jake was amazed at the big long tubes the meat come in.
To me it was a normal (besides the hamburger) trip to Sam's Club. I guess it is not so "normal"!

Easter Weekend

Our Easter weekend started with an Easter Egg Hunt at Larry's house on Saturday. Larry's wife Dana went all out and the kids had a blast. She even had a special area just for Logan to hunt in. Robert got a migraine earlier that day and couldn't join the festivities.

A bonus for Alyssa was finding the perfect climbing tree. She has been on a search ever since moving to Georgia. After hunting for eggs, she spent most of the time climbing in the tree.

Sunday, we made the kids wait until after church (we meet at 9am) to find their Easter baskets. We hoped that this would focus them, at least for a little while on the Savior and why we celebrate Easter in the first place. I don't know how well that worked since all the way to church Jake kept talking about how excited he was to find his Easter basket and wondered what candy the Easter Bunny would bring. Logan found a favorite candy in Whopper Robin Eggs. (If you look closely in the picture with the baskets, that is what he has in his mouth.)
Later that evening when we went to the Ritz's house for Easter dessert and another egg hunt. Logan kept going for the Whopper eggs on the table and was on such a sugar high, that all the way home (which was late enough that he should have fallen asleep in the car) he was drumming on his legs, dancing, and singing - la, la, la!! I'm just glad that he went to bed, soon after getting home, as easily as he normally does.

First Kiss

Last night Logan gave me my first unsolicited, spontaneous kiss. And, it was when I was putting him to bed - of all times! But, let me give you a little background to show how this warrants its own blogging post.
Logan, now 19 months old, learned how to give kisses months ago. His first spontaneous kiss was to a stuffed Uga (the UGA bulldog mascot). He picked it up, said "woof, woof" and gave it kisses. I was holding him at the time! He will often bring stuffed animal dogs to me (and others) and make kissing sounds, wanting me to give it kisses. When I told Robert about the Uga incident, he told me that Logan had given him an unsolicited kiss the day before when he took him for a ride on the tractor. Logan was so excited to be with his dad AND on the tractor, he would turn around and give him kisses (more than once)!
Well, I was a bit distraught knowing that I wasn't Logan's first or even second kiss. Since then he has given spontaneous kisses to Robert, Natalie and even Jake. He would give kisses to anyone who asked for one, except when I asked for one. I was getting a bit perturbed about the whole thing, but after last night all is right with the world. :)
Although, this morning when Robert was leaving for work Logan gave him a kiss goodbye. I asked "where's mommy's kiss?" Logan leaned in, a blank look on his face and didn't even pucker! and then gave Robert two more "real" kisses. I was not impressed. I guess I just have to hold on to the one I got last night.

Boys and Broccoli

Believe it or not Jake's favorite vegetable is cooked broccoli. Most dinners he can't stomach (see "yea! I can eat!" posted 2/21/08), but if there is broccoli he will eat a dinner portion of that and be done.
That might seem odd for a boy of almost 5 years old, but the crazier thing is that Logan loves broccoli just as much! If he sees broccoli he starts screeching for it. You have to have him eat some of the rest of dinner before letting him see any broccoli or he will stop eating the other food and only eat broccoli until he is full! Jake was having some leftover broccoli once, Logan saw it and started screeching until he got some!
They definitely don't get it from their dad (so it's not a Y chromosome thing). Robert got sicked out when Jake was fine eating cold, cooked broccoli leftovers because he didn't want to wait for it to be warmed up (we ended up warming it up first). The 4lb bag of frozen broccoli I got at Sam's is dwindling fast. At least there is one food the boys will eat for dinner!

Chicks!

Last week some chicks at the Poultry Science Department hatched. We went for Family Home Evening to see them. The girls were thrilled. They have been waiting, since moving here, for chicks to hatch. Logan was so excited and kept petting them like he was petting a dog. We had to keep an eye on Logan, because he would reach into the box to pick them up on his own. Jake, who has been the the chicken farm and knows how loud and stinky they get when their bigger (see "Feeding Chickens" 11/11/07 post) wasn't too sure of the chicks and we had to make him hold one and only for the picture before he wanted to put it back.
Only Jake was excited to leave when we were done.

Freak Tornado

A freak tornado touched down in front of our house this morning. It took out all the pine trees, leaving the oak trees unharmed, and did not damage the house or any vehicles. If you wish to donate to the clean-up effort we are accepting checks sent to our address and/or will house and feed anyone wishing to come and help with the clean-up effort in person. We will provide yellow t-shirts to all volunteers.

Please disregard the clean cut trunks of the fallen trees and how they fell with only a flat stump left level to the ground . . . remember it was a "freak" tornado!

We named the tornado "Robsey" after Robert and Casey, the two responsible persons for the mass of fallen trees. The trees all fell, mostly, were planned and there was no damage to the house, vehicles or the power lines across the street (the biggest tree was a little off target and got mighty close as is fell across the road instead of staying in the yard).
After an exhausting morning, for Robert and Casey (my exhausting days will come this next week as the clean up effort begins - Robert cuts them down and I take care of the rest) we have one less yard project. We also found out it was a burn day, got a permit and spent the early afternoon burning our tree cuttings from the back yard as well. We had a gorgeous day! and took advantage of it.