Adam and His Numbers

Adam was very proud when he completed his Kumon book last week. He struggled quite a bit when we first started working on his numbers, but he's doing much better now. He even pulls out his book sometimes and asks if he can do a page.

Dr Pepper

Helen has been eliminating High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and other "bad" things from our diet recently, so I’ve become more interested in food labels. I was not happy to find that my beloved, Dr Pepper, contains HFCS like almost all other soft drinks. In reading about HFCS it seems that there’s at least one Dr Pepper bottler (the nation’s oldest) in Texas, Dublin Dr Pepper, which refused to switch from cane sugar to HFCS. They have quite a cult following and have their own web site where you can order their product. I ordered two cases which came out to about $.78 a can after shipping charges. They arrived on Monday and I passed them around the office. We all thought that the Dublin Dr Pepper had a smoother after taste. I thought I could really taste the cane sugar, especially at the end. I'm going to do a "blind" taste test one of these days to see if I can really tell a difference.

Weekend Update

On Friday, Adam was excited that he got to take a book and a show and tell toy to school. He took a book about Clifford and 2 helicopters (in case his friends wanted to play with one of them).

Derek's been riding his bike down the street to the bus stop, which means I have to ride it back with Madison in tow. It's somewhat small for me and it feels like I'm one of those circus clowns riding the tiny bikes.

Helen took Derek to scouts and then played outside with the boys. We put the boys to bed and I watched the Norcross boys basketball team win their 2nd consecutive State Championship. Although the game was a nail biter, Helen only watched for a couple of minutes before falling asleep. I had stayed up until 1 am the previous night watching Georgia Tech lose to Wake Forest in double overtime.

On Saturday, Helen had to chaperone her school robotics team. The teacher that normally leads the team lost his wife to cancer a couple months ago, so the rest of the science department is helping out.

I took the boys to their baseball practice. They had a clinic to evaluate the players before choosing teams. I helped out with Adam's clinic some and threw with Derek.

After Adam's clinic we went to Target to get a present for a birthday party that Adam was going to in the afternoon. We grabbed some lunch at ChikfilA before heading back for Derek's baseball clinic. It was all good until Derek spilled his milkshake in the back seat of my car. While Derek was at his clinic I spent an hour cleaning up the milkshake spill. I had to take out the back seat and pull up some of the floor trim. Helen met us and helped me.

We went home and caught our breath for a minute and then I took Adam to the birthday party at the bowling alley. Helen decided that she wanted to walk up there and maybe run back. Derek went with her and rode his bike. Helen ended up running more than she wanted to in order to keep up with Derek. The boys had a great time and got all sugared up.

We came home and played outside and visited with neighbors. Helen and the boys made pizza while I applied some water seal to the porch. We had homemade chocolate ice cream for dessert. Helen bought an ice cream maker recently and this was her first attempt. It was really good.

On Sunday, the boys woke up and watched a little tv. Derek had to watch Adam's shows because he lost his tv priviliges when he got a "needs to control talking" on his weekly report from school. I took my car up to Firestone to have an oil change and tire rotation and then ran back home. It was a beautiful day. Adam had a massive battle going on with all his toys strewn across the living room and kitchen. Derek struggled with his piano and needed a lot of hand holding. Helen graded some papers.

After lunch I went to pick up my car and drop Helen's car off. Helen and the boys went on a run\bike ride and I painted one of the windows. Then we played baseball and some other things. Derek struggled through some more piano and then we hustled to pickup Helen's car before the shop closed.

Helen started on dinner and cut Adam's hair and, after dinner, did mine. The boys stayed up too late because it was still so light out with the early Daylight Savings Time change. We struggled to get everything cleaned and ready for tomorrow and then shut it down.

George The Gerbil

Adam and George inside his exercise ball

Me and George before his teeth got big

Grayson the cat and George the gerbil taking an interest in each other

George The Gerbil has been a popular addition to the family. He was a present from Santa this past Christmas. Derek is enamored with the name, George. He says, "he just likes it." We found a couple of small turtles in the back yard last Summer and Derek named them George and George Jr.

George sleeps in his cage next to Derek on his bedside table. Derek brings George downstairs in the morning and puts his cage on the kitchen table, where George stays until dinner. Adam and I feed him cereal and fruit from our hands in the morning. Derek takes George back upstairs and puts him in our room where we read stories after bath time. Sometimes Derek takes George out of his cage and lets him run around his room. I made the mistake of picking George up recently and got a bite on the finger that drew blood. It seems that George's teeth are much bigger and sharper than they were when we first got him.

Up and Adam

After Helen left in the morning, I was downstairs getting things ready and heard footsteps upstairs. I figured that it was Derek because he's been getting up early lately. But when I went upstairs I was surprised to see that it was Adam getting dressed. He seemed pleased with himself and was eager to tell me how he had gotten up first and gone in to check on Derek. Derek had woken up and asked him if he wanted to cuddle so he cuddled "a little" in Derek's bed. Adam usually takes a while to go to sleep and is the last one up. I usually have to peel him off the bed. He doesn't resist. He just grabs his blanket and sleep walks to the bathroom. He doesn't like anyone to talk to him for about 5 or 10 minutes and then he's fine.

Derek was excited to bring the "black and white" cookies, which the boys made with Mommy last night, to school with him. Since he brought a special treat with his Mercury project, Ms Mashburn asked Derek to get up in front of the class and share his project with the class. He never seems to mind getting up in front of the class.

Adam is the "book bag" keeper this week for his class so he gets to bring in a book each day for the class to read. He ran upstairs to select a book and came back with "I'll Love You Forever." I was surprised and asked if he was sure. It's a good book, but a tear-jerker. If one of the boys picks it to read, Helen usually makes me read it because she can never make it through without bawling.

The weather's been sunny and beautiful with high's in the mid 60's. When the weather's nice Adam and I play outside after dropping Derek at the bus stop. Lately, Adam's been on a tire swing kick. He gets so tickled when I push him high enough to see over the fence and into the neighbor's yard.

I've been reading Harlen Coben's "Promise Me" and it's got me. I stayed up too late last night reading it.

March Is Here

March is here already - Wow! That means birthdays, beach trip, and Easter are just around the corner.

On Friday, Derek's school had RAD (Read All Day). The kids got to bring pillows and blankets and their own books. Derek took comic books and Harry Potter. Derek also brought home his class picture above.

Adam's school celebrated Dr Seuss's birthday. The kids got to wear pajamas and listened to readings of Dr Seuss books. Adam was more excited to bring his "Pirates Caribee" (Pirates of the Carribean) action figures for show and tell. Derek didn't have scouts. Helen mowed the lawn and the boys played outside and then over at Ryan Morgan's.

On Saturday, I started prepping one of the windows on the front of the house for painting. Then we went to Derek's basketball game and end of the season party. Everyone on the team got an award. Derek got the "defensive stopper" award. After basketball, I finished prepping the window and power washed the porch. Helen finished mowing the lawn while the boys played. Then Helen went on a run and the boys rode their bikes. I helped Derek with his piano lesson and Helen made dinner. Adam played with his knights and pirates. After dinner, we read stories and put the boys to bed and then we did our weekly sweep, vacuum, mop.

This morning I was anxious to get the porch stained so that we could go grocery shopping. I had some left over stain from the last time and thought there would be enough - there was not. I got to within about 4 square feet of finishing before I ran out. I went to the Duron store to get some more and, of course, they changed their formula. The new formula wasn't even close to old formula so I had to restain the whole thing!

Helen and the boys went to grocery store and then to Ryan Morgan's birthday party. I was disappointed that I didn't get much family time. I finally finished just as they got home from the birthday party.

Everyone got kites at the party and everyone on the block that went to the party was outside trying to fly their kite. There were gusts of wind, but nothing sustainable so nobody got their kite up. The kids didn't seem to mind - they had a blast. Adam is trying to fly his kite in the picture above.

Helen graded some papers while Derek cleaned George's cage. Then the boys helped Helen make "black and white" cookies for Derek to take to school to go along with his project about Mercury - since Mercury has a sunny side and a dark side.

Wash Out

It rained all day yesterday - morning till night. We were fortunate to avoid the worst weather. There were fatal tornados to the south. The rain had paused as we headed to the bus stop yesterday, so we didn't take an umbrella - bad idea. I was talking to a neighbor after the bus had left when the skies opened. Adam, Madison, and I made a mad dash all the way back down the street to our house. It was like the time Helen and Poppy got caught in the surprise downpour when we went camping last Summer (above picture).

Since it was raining Helen decided to make snickerdoodles - sugar cookies with cinnamon. Derek and Adam set up an assembly line. Derek rolled the dough and Adam covered it with cinnamon. They were very good.

Helen's watercure is still holding up. It's a struggle to get through all the water, but she's seeing some improvements. She's not as congested, although there's still a lot of drainage.

Wednesday was a bummer at work for me because one of my close colleagues was let go. It brought back bad feelings from when I lost my job a few years back. Everyone was in shock and the normal close-knit atmosphere was rocked. I've been trying to let everyone know that he would appreciate a quick email or call and any effort to drum up opportunities that might be of interest.