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Adam and the other kindergartners sing at the PTA meeting (Adam is in light blue second row from top second from left)
We finally got around to setting up the Wii Friday night

Derek puts the finishing touches on his Mii (the little character you design to represent you in various games)

Adam and Ryan compete against each other at the school carnival (Starnival)

Helen slowed Derek enough to get a quick picture

Last Monday, Adam skipped his baseball game to sing with the other kindergartners at the school PTA meeting. He worked hard with the kindergartners preparing and learning the songs, so he chose the PTA meeting over baseball. Derek wasn't happy that the PTA meeting was the only thing to look forward to and worked himself into a migraine. I left work early so that we could all walk to the school to see Adam, but Derek was in no shape to go so I ended up staying home with him. Helen said that the kids were very cute and Adam had a good time.

We questioned Derek as to why he seems to get headaches mostly when he has to do something he doesn't want to do (e.g. homework and piano). We assured him that we believed that he really did have a headache, but that we expect him to be more aware of what he needs to do to avoid the headaches. We explained that he may have them the rest of his life and he's going to have to learn to take care of himself by controlling his emotions; practicing good diet, sleep, and exercise habits; and being aware of when he needs to shut it down in order to avoid a full blown migraine.

On Tuesday, Helen had her weekly tennis practice\Calcutta round robin. She's usually tired and not fully looking forward to it, so it's good that there are assigned matches. If she doesn't go then she messes up all the pairings. She always has fun when she gets there and is glad that she went. Whenever she complains that she's too tired or doesn't feel like doing something (like exercising), I always ask her to try to remember one time when she didn't feel better after she exercised - even when she didn't feel like it before she started. She doesn't like to make commitments to activities. The thought of having to show up every Tuesday for tennis is constraining to her - what if she's tired or doesn't feel like going?

On Wednesday, I met Derek at piano lessons and took him to his baseball game. Helen stayed for Adam's piano lesson and then met us at Derek's game, so that I could head to tennis practice. I ended up staying for the whole game because it was so good. Derek's team edged the undefeated Mets 10-8.

Thursday was so nice not having any activities. The boys wanted to setup the Wii, but we chose to finish watching August Rush, so we could finally return it (we had rented it for the beach a couple weeks ago). It was a feel good story (albeit somewhat contrived), but we all enjoyed it. Adam said his eyes felt funny and Derek said that he felt like crying for some reason. We always seem to watch movies in halves or even thirds, especially when the boys are involved. We would probably watch more On Demand movies from Comcast if you didn't have to watch the entire movie within 24 hours.

On Friday, Helen made a family favorite, skillet lasagna from America's Test Kitchen. I really like it because the noodles are cooked in the pan and not boiled, so they are al dente rather than soft and mushy. After dinner, we finally setup the Wii. It took some time for me to read everything and set it up, especially with the boys bouncing off the walls. We finally got it setup, but only had time to setup our Mii's before the boys had to go to bed. Helen and I stayed up and played tennis, boxing, and bowling. She took me 2 out of 3 in tennis and boxing, but I got her in bowling. We were laughing and sweating and having a good time. Helen claimed she was sore the next day.

On Saturday, I had my ALTA tennis match and Adam had a 9:00 baseball game. We told the boys the night before that they could not get up before 7 to play the Wii. Adam slept in a little, but Derek was up and ready to play at 7. He and Adam played some Super Smash Brothers before the game. After baseball Helen and the boys came to the tennis courts to eat snacks and watch the rest of the matches. We went into the match tied for first, but ended the season in 2nd place. We're still in the playoffs next week, but we would have liked to have finished in first. Spring Break week cost us with all the lineup shuffling we had to do.

After tennis we came home and had a quick lunch before riding bikes to the school carnival at 2:00. The boys had big fun playing on all the slides and things. Derek's FOCUS teacher, Ms Crumbley, made a point of coming over and telling us all kinds of great things about Derek. We told him how proud we were of him and how we LOVE hearing those kinds of things and to keep it up. He did a decent job of interacting with Ms Crumbley, but not with Ms Brewer. She was the helper in Derek's kindergarten class and just loves Derek. She always makes a point of coming over and talking to us, but Derek just kind of ignored her. We had to have a good talk about engaging with people when they are talking with you.

Derek had a game at 4:30, but we only got an inning in before it got rained out. Helen stayed home with Adam for a nap because he was beyond tired. He told her he wasn't going to sleep and then proceeded to turn over and was gone for a couple hours. Helen's school was performing "Fiddler on the Roof" and we went to the show at 7:30. The school plays are hit and miss. This one was really good. Derek keeps remembering lines from the play to share with us.

On Sunday, Derek spent all day (with some breaks) working on a project for school. The kids had to pick a president to research. Derek wanted to do Teddy Roosevelt, JFK, or Richard Nixon and the teacher chose Richard Nixon for him. The project has been going on for weeks, mostly at school, but the culmination is a "wax museum" like experience where the kids dress up like their president and then stand there like in a wax museum until someone touches them, at which point they are supposed to come to life and give a 3-5 minute first person talk as if they were the president. Derek's done a pretty good job so far, but he's not done yet.

Adam's Birthday Party

Adam's team picture (Adam is bottom row 2nd from left)

Derek and teammates warm up in the batting cage before their game

Birthday money and gift cards finally enabled the kids to get their long awaited Wii

Helen and Adam go over the plans for the castle cake for Adam's birthday party

Derek was a great help entertaining Adam's party guests

Adam doles out snacks (fruit loops, apples, bbq chips, doritos) to his friends. Adam planned the snack menu himself although we did override his original choice of broccoli.

On Saturday, Helen's parents (Nanna and Poppy) came over to watch the boy's baseball games. This is the first week their games have been at the same time. It worked out great because their fields were right next to each other, so we could sit between them and watch both games. I took the boys early for Adam's pictures while Helen finished baking the cake for Adam's birthday party on Sunday. She came later with her parents.

After baseball we headed over to downtown Norcross for pizza at Paizanos, but traffic was blocked off for an outdoor concert by Banks and Shane so we couldn't find any parking. Helen's parents were following us through the crowd, which made the ordeal more stressful. We finally decided to go around and come in on the other side of downtown where we were able to find parking. We had a nice dinner and finished just as the concert was starting. We hung around for a few songs. The mood was festive and there were people getting up from their tables to dance. Adam wanted to get on my shoulders and we all had fun dancing to the music. It turned out to be a nice evening.

On Sunday morning, the boys went grocery shopping with Helen and I followed a little later and surprised them. I had called ToysRUs and found out that they were going to have some hard to find Nintendo Wii consoles on Sunday morning. The boys have been saving their money for a while in order to purchase one. When I found the boys in the grocery store and asked them if they wanted to go get a Wii, they screeched with delight and started hugging each other and dancing in the aisle - before running for the car with me quickly saying goodbye to Helen and trailing behind.

We got to ToysRUs a little after 9 (the store opened at 10) and were the 15th group in line. I setup some chairs and I read while the boys played their DS's. The store manager came out about 9:30 and told us that they had plenty of consoles for everyone and that they had done this so many times that the process was going to be very orderly. About 5 minutes before 10 they handed out vouchers and had us all file into the store to the electronics section where there were 2 registers ready and a person setup in front of the registers to answer the next person's questions and set them up with any extra accessories. It was all very orderly.

The boys enjoyed the whole experience. They were beyond excited. We got an extra remote, nunchuck, and the "Super Smash Brothers Brawl" game. After buying the Wii and accessories we strolled around the store looking at all the other fun stuff. I remember when I was little going through Lionel Play World and thinking it was the best thing ever. We checked out lots of neat things, but it was kind of sad passing by all the little kid stuff like Thomas the Train, etc that they used to be into.

On Sunday afternoon, we had several of Adam's friends (Ryan, Dylan, Zach, and Patrick) over for Adam's birthday party. The boys were anxious to setup the Wii, but I told them beforehand that we had a lot to do to get ready for the party and that we wouldn't have time to set it up. We still haven't set it up and it's driving them crazy. They were driving me crazy until I told them that the next time they asked about setting up the Wii that I would postpone the setup an extra day. Adam asked last night and suffered the wrath of Derek when I told them that it would cost them a day.

Adam changed his mind many times about what he wanted to do for his birthday party. It was going to be at Monkey Joe's for a long time, but he changed his mind a few weeks beforehand. He finally said that he wanted to have it at our house and that they would play games like dodge ball. What ended up happening is that the kids dressed up and armed themselves with various weapons to fight Derek. They spent most of the time chasing Derek or hiding from Derek. Derek really was a big help as far as keeping them occupied. None of the parents stayed, so Helen actually had time to grade a few papers.

Seagrove Beach (Part 6)

Adam flying our big airplane kite

Adam and friends have fun with a crab they found

Jason gives Adam a ride down to the beach for picture night

Derek and Laine

Kelley roughs it up with Derek

Me and Mom followed by Katie and Todd

There always seems to be a nice bystander willing to take a family shot for us

Todd and Katie

Laine and Jason

Helen and me

Mom with her kids

Kelley and Paul

Friday was a beautiful day. We spent most of it at the beach. We finally remembered to bring our big airplane kite to the beach. Helen got it as a gift for Adam's baby shower - the theme had something to do with airplanes and sailboats. The wingspan is almost 4 feet and we've tried to fly it in Atlanta, but there's never enough wind to get it in the air. I think we never brought to the beach before because it's so big and takes up quite a bit of space, but we had the room this year and brought it along. We still almost forgot about it until Friday. We didn't have any trouble getting it up in the air on the beach - there was plenty of wind. Adam had fun flying it for a little while and then we just tied it to a beach chair and let ride all day.

Friday was also Adam's "real" birthday. We didn't do anything since he had already had a couple of celebrations, but he did ask before bed if there were any more presents.

As is our tradition, we got everyone down to the beach on our last night for pictures. There was some complaining since some people didn't feel good, but everyone made the effort.

Everyone stayed the whole week so there were plenty of people to help out getting the house cleaned for departure on Saturday morning. Of course we have more stuff than everyone else, so they all get a kick watching Helen and I run around packing all our stuff while they just have to worry about their one little bag.

Katie and Todd dropped Kelley and Paul off at the Pensacola airport. Katie and Todd were driving back to Louisiana and Kelley and Paul were flying back to Alaska. Mom rode with Jason and Laine and they all left about the same time we did. The weather was overcast and rainy. So it rained on the drive in and the drive out, but no rain while we were there - perfect. The boys were tired and slept some and, of course, played with their DS's. They also watched "The Goonies".

Seagrove Beach (Part 5)

Adam and I spend some time in the pool before heading to the beach. Derek has already gone to the beach to skimboard.

Our encampment. Todd and Jason throw the football in the background while Helen's lilly white Irish skin is protected beneath the umbrella.

The waves were still pretty big and the current was swift

We told Adam that it's ok to pee in the ocean if he had to, but didn't expect him to pull down his pants and be so out in the open about it

Adam still likes to cuddle with Mommy and Mommy doesn't mind at all - even when Adam's wet

Todd helped the boys build this sea turtle in the sand

On Thursday, the weather was mostly clear so we were all looking forward to a full day at the beach. We stayed for several hours, but the wind was pretty strong and caused us to pack it in early. My Mom was on dinner duty. She made a big southern style dinner with chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. After dinner we watched "I Am Legend". We're pretty lenient on what we let the kids watch, but it was obvious pretty early on that the movie was too scary for them. I think they realized it and didn't put up much of a fight when we sent them to bed.

Seagrove Beach (Part 4)

Adam and Derek check out the sundial in Water Sound

The kids kept hiding from the camera, but I snapped this one from the hip and caught them

Cocktails on a beautiful evening outside Nini's crow's nest

Derek and Adam check on Jason who is grilling below

Katie and Todd enjoying the evening

Jason gets some help with the grilling

This started as Katie and Kelley cuddling because they didn't feel good but turned into a pile on when Jason and Laine hopped on

Derek and Paul had some exciting Mario Kart races - you could always tell who the winner was by the trash talking afterwards

We did my family's celebration of Derek and Adam's birthday

On Wednesday we rode our bikes the other way (opposite direction of Seaside) to the Water Sound community. For some reason, riding bikes causes our boys "to starve", so we stopped at the little cafe in Water Sound and fed them. Water Sound is one of those gated communities. We were able to get in by going through the cafe. It seems really nice, but like a lot of the communities down there - it intends to be a lot bigger and better than it is right now. It seems that development in a lot of the high-end communities has slowed considerably.

On Wednesday we also celebrated Derek and Adam's birthday with my side of the family. Jason cooked hamburgers, hot dogs, brats and we had all the other cookout fixings as well. Derek got a boogie board, Mario Party DS game, $100 towards a Wii, and more. Adam got a Chicken Little DS game, $100 towards a Wii, and an annoying beeping "find the treasure box" game (from Kelley and Paul) that he loves, and more.