Weekend Update

Whenever Adam has any free time he loves to set up elaborate scenarios that he calls "movies".

On Friday, my Dad came over. We've been trying to get together with him for a while, but we could never work it out. Finally, I just said to name a time and we could make it work. So he came over and went with us to Derek's soccer practice and then we went out to eat afterwards. Trying to organize the time to see various family members is always a logistical puzzle and we sometimes tend to look at it like a check on a list of "ToDo" items, rather than recognizing what a special thing it is. So, it's always refreshing when we see the unbridled joy that the kids get. They look forward to the visits from the moment they hear about them and they never fail to leave the visitors with the feeling that they were so happy to see them. That may all change when they become teenagers, but right now it's great.

On Saturday morning, I had my last tennis match of the season and the boys had their soccer matches. Adam seemed to have recovered from his illness and played well. Derek's team got throttled. They all looked like they were in slow motion compared to the other team. Somehow, Derek looks like he's gotten afraid of the ball and acts very tentative, although he won't admit it.

On Saturday afternoon, we rushed home from soccer and Helen and Adam went to our neighbor, Patrick's, birthday party. Derek and I watched some of the Georgia Tech game and then went to the golf driving range. We got Derek some clubs for his birthday and we've played around in the yard with them, but this was our first trip to the driving range with them. Derek had a blast and hasn't stopped talking about it. I'm thinking that since he's not the quickest mover, golf might be great sport for him. He's already trying to get me to commit to the next visit.

The boys came home and crashed. They were still asleep when Adam's friend, Ryan, came over to spend the evening with us. We've got a reciprocal monthly babysitting arrangement with his parents and tonight was our night to babysit. Ryan entertained himself with some toys until the boys woke up. The Levy girls had come over a little earlier and invited the boys to come and play in their yard. They were having a get together with some other neighbors. So as soon as the boys woke up they headed over for a kid block party. We visited with the neighbors and by the time we got back I didn't want to wait for Helen to cook dinner, so I suggested Wendy's which set off cries of joy from the kids. The boys were wired and having Ryan along took it up another notch. Helen cringed at the noise level most of the way to Wendy's.

On Sunday, Helen gave in to the boy's repeated requests for French toast. I went on my normal long Sunday morning run. Afterwards, the boys helped me plant 6 Leyland Cypress trees. We had 2 big Bradford Pear trees taken down in our back yard and were planting the cypress trees in their place. Trying to dig through hard red clay and some left over roots from the pear trees was back breaking. I decided that it would not be good if I ever had to go to prison and work on the chain gang - I'm too soft.

Helen also worked with Derek on his book report for school. It was such a nice day so we had the doors open and I could hear Helen's frustration as she tried to convince Derek that he needed to adhere to the teacher's guidelines, which were clearly written on the assignment, and that despite his belief to the contrary, maybe at age 8, he did not know everything.

Adam's First School Sick Days

Last Tuesday, we got a call from the school saying that Adam had thrown up and was waiting in the school clinic to be picked up. Helen happened to be on a school field trip, so I picked Adam up.

When I got to the school, I saw Derek in the hallway with his class and gave him a kiss as I made my way to the clinic. We're happy that he's still not too old for public displays of affection. Adam was lying down and sat up when I walked into the clinic. He told me, "Dadda, I threw up".

Adam had a fever, but still had an appetite. He rested and took a long nap, but the fever got worse at night. He didn't throw up anymore, but had bad diarrhea. Helen took him to the doctor on Wednesday, but they said to take him to Children's Healthcare Hospital because they couldn't do an IV and they were concerned that kids can get dehydrated so quickly.

We figured it was just a stomach bug, but we were concerned about being sent to the hospital emergency room. Thankfully, the doctor said Adam seemed fine and that we should continue doing what we were doing - rest and fluids. When they were leaving the hospital, Helen said, "See, that wasn't so bad." Adam acknowledged, "Yeah, except for the butt part." The doctor had taken a stool sample and Adam was not too fond of that part of the experience.

We kept Adam home again on Thursday and he returned to class on Friday. He was pleased that his teacher and lots of kids asked about him. They also thanked him for sending in snacks for the class on Thursday even though he was out. For the month of October, each kid was assigned a letter and day to bring in a snack that started with the letter. Adam's letter was "M". He brought in McIntosh apples and M&M's. Derek dropped the snacks off at Adam's class since Adam was sick.

We got a follow-up call from the hospital and it turns out that Adam had shigellosis. The nurse thought it may have come from the trip to the Zoo. We've used the experience to drive home the importance of good hygiene to Derek and Adam. When they go to the bathroom and before they eat we tell them to scrub their hands really good for at least 10 seconds and remind them what can happen if they don't. They'll be on the toilet for a couple days like Adam was.

Pumpkins At Nanna and Poppy's

Last Sunday we dropped the boys off at Helen's parent's house because Helen had a teacher workday on Monday. The boys always love to spend the night at Nanna and Poppy's. Helen's brother's families also came over to make it a big fun get together.

Lindsay was so cute in her Halloween outfit. It turns out the Lindsay had a bad sleep week, but she seemed in good spirits. Her mom, Chris, however was beat and hoping that Lindsay was going to be more sensitive to her parent's sleep requirements in the near future.

The big treat was heading out to the garden to see the pumpkin patch. The kids loved having their very own pumpkins.

Trip To The Zoo, Etc

With the great weather and the fact that the boys didn't have soccer games this weekend, we decided it was a good time to go to the zoo. We don't get to see my Dad that often, so we invited him to go along, but he had already made other plans. It ended up being a good thing since, as usual, we didn't make it to the zoo anywhere close to our original plan.

I had my tennis match in the morning. The boys worked on their piano assignments and then had some unstructured play time, which is always nice since it seems they're always going from one commitment to another.

On the way to the zoo, I surprised the boys by stopping at Krystal, which is probably their favorite. Derek downed a couple double krystals and several singles. He was also intrigued by the sign showing the results of various Krystal eating contests around the state. The average winning number seemed to be around 70!

It turns out that being late to the zoo was ok, as a couple of hours was plenty of time to see everything. Although we didn't have enough time to ride the train, which disappointed Adam. Helen said that Adam told her that I said we would ride the train, but I reminded her that I don't give hard commitments. I usually respond to questions like, "Can we ride the train?" with sayings like, "That sounds like fun" or "I want to" or something non-committal along those lines, which really infuriates Derek. But, hey, so does continually asking me to commit to something.

After the zoo, I surprised everyone again by stopping at the Varsity for frosted orange drinks and then a short drive over to the Georgia Tech campus for a driving tour. Derek was loving all the surprises. He kept saying how he didn't think we were going to do anything special today and now we were doing all kinds of things.

Although I graduated from Georgia Tech, Derek has been swayed by his classmates to pull for Georgia instead of Georgia Tech. I haven't really tried to dissuade him - after all Georgia has many things going for it like a better football team, a nicer campus, and prettier women. What's not to like? Recently, however, Derek has come to the realization that he will probably go to Georgia Tech since Georgia Tech is for engineering and he wants to be a "Lego" engineer, but he's still going to pull for Georgia in sports.

Go Lindsay

Look at me go

Adam and Derek playing a game with Aunt Chris

Teaching Lindsay about the finer things in life

Our neice, Lindsay, is officially walking...or at least taking some steps on her own. She really made progress a couple weeks ago at Helen's parent's house. We were there to celebrate Helen's mother's birthday and Lindsay was pushing Derek and Adam's old walking toys all over the house and having a blast.

Quick Update

Adam and, neighor Patrick, on the attack

Adam and Derek on the "Frog Hopper" at the county fair

Adam helping out with the planting

I thought I would do a quick blog update since I haven't updated it in a while. I get cranky when I feel like too many memories have gone by undocumented. It seems that all the weeks lately have been a blur with work, school, soccer, tennis, and football.

The boys are really enjoying soccer. Derek's team got a rare win this weekend, so they were all happy. They're finally starting to work together. Adam is a dynamo and never seems to tire. He's even getting better at staying on his feet.

Helen's not on an official ALTA tennis team, but her group does a weekly lesson and Calcutta style round robin. She wasn't aware that there would be a lesson followed by a Calcutta match each week. She likes being able to get out and have some fun, but she's not sure she enjoys it enough to be getting home at 9:30 when she has to get up at 4:45.

We managed to make it to a couple of our favorite Fall activities, the Gwinnett County Fair and Duluth Fall Festival, where we ate the usual funnel cakes and other bad food. Helen always complains that the food seems like it's going to be good, but that it takes days for her stomach to recover.

Helen's also been a trooper and gone along with us to a few high school football games. It's difficult on Friday nights since Derek has soccer practice on Friday nights and then the kids have to be up early for their soccer matches on Saturday. The kids are usually excited to go because they can eat hamburgers and candy, but they're usually ready to go after the halftime show.

I'm waiting for some rain in the forecast before I put down the fall grass seed, but the rain just won't come and with all the watering restrictions, I may just have to wait until early spring. However, I did manage to replace a couple shrubs that died, with Adam and Derek's help. One of the shrubs in the front died a few years back and I'm replacing it for the third time. It looks funny because it's right in the middle of a long row of shrubs. I replaced it the first time without doing much soil preparation and it died again the next Summer. I replaced it again and made an effort to prepare the soil, but it still died the following Summer. However, I did notice that our cat was using the bathroom around the shrub, so I'm thinking that the cat has been killing the shrub all along. I'm going to put some chicken wire or something around it this time.