Field Day

Conner's Field day at Thurman Francis was last week (Thu. 4/21) and I was able to go and watch the part up to lunch and then eat lunch with him. They were all having a blast, Conner included. It was fun being there and walking around because there are so many kids from our church and close friends there that I kept running in to kids who I knew.

While I was there, all the activities were relays for the whole class - run with the ball between your knees, pass the water balloon, carry the ball on the plunger, basketball toss, sponge pass, money collection, etc. They were having a blast!


Here are some pictures from the day.


Click here to see the full album.

Cub Scout Advancement Ceremony

Conner's Cub Scout Advancement Ceremony was earlier this month. He moved up from Tiger to Wolf scout. He's still really enjoying scouts so we'll definitely be keeping it up. They had a foot race that night and Conner came in first among all the Tigers. You'll see a few pics of it in the pictures. What surprised me though was that he didn't just win, he didn't have any competition. He was even goofing around and looking behind him the whole time not paying attention or focusing on running. I've got to get this kid out sprinting and teach him how to truly run, cause he's going to be fast. Really fast.


Here are some pictures from the night.


Click here to see the full album.

Taking some pics at the Sam Davis Home

Last week, I took off from work a little early so I could go get the boys and take them out to the Sam Davis Home during sunset to try and grab some good photos before all the leaves fell off the trees. It was good timing, because it started raining the next day I think and ruined what was left of the leaves in the trees.

I was pleased with many shots. I was dissapointed in many as well. I've got a lot to learn still and I really could use a fill flash I think. I believe it would help a lot on some of these. Aside from that though. Many of the shots came out great and as always, the subjects are adorable.




Click here for the full photo album.

FERRARIS!

On the way home from church, we drove by the Legends restaurant just down the road from our house and I had to do a U-turn and go back. They were having a Ferrari club gathering to watch some Italian road race or something and the owner of Legends is a member of the club so it works out well. These were some amazingly beautiful cars. One of these days... one of these days....

..maybe I'll drive one.





Click here for the full photo album.

Grunt Machine

One Saturday morning, I was getting dressed in my bathroom when Zach rushed in and said he had to go potty. Scooting around me, he went into the "potty closet" (our toilet is separated from the bathroom by it's own door). I'm standing there brushing my hair when I hear Zach in the bathroom grunting up a storm..

"uuuunnnnnngghhhhh grrrrrrnnnnggggghh...."

This isn't completely unusual. The child does this a little too often, but whatever. What came next is what was entertaining. It's when he started talking out loud while grunting.. Let's tune back in to the action.


"unnnnggghhhhhh ggrrrnnggggggghhhhhh ... now that's a good poopie!"

"uuunnnnngghghhhhh ggggghhhhhhgrrrrgghh..... woooooweeeee, that one stinks!"


I decide to at least make sure he's doing alright in there so I say through the door, "Zach, you doing okay in there? Everything alright?"

"Everything's fine, Daddy Master Flash!"

Trunk o' Treat #2 - Church

The second trunk o' treat activity we went to was the big fall festival at our church. They had inflatables, games for the kids, face painting, a costume contest, etc. Zach one a prize in the costume contest for his adorable Captain Hook costume.






Click here for the full photo album.

Fall 2008 Soccer Season is Over.... yes! .. I mean...

Well, as much as we enjoy soccer season, we are ready for it to be over by the final weekend. It's a great activity and the boys really enjoy it - and we do too. However, the commitment of two nights a week and every Saturday through the fall is rough. It eats into our schedules really hard and makes us feel perpetually busy.

All in all though, it's great fun. It was a good season - after we got Zach to play more than cry. He did so well at practices and really loves the game - and is GOOD too - but he sure was having a hard time getting out on the field in the beginning of the season. I think he was intimidated by the actual playing of the game when it came time for game time.

We had some great games this year though and it was surprising how much better each team was by the end of the year - Conner's more than Zach's - 4 year olds are still remembering which end of the field to kick the ball toward.



Click here for the full photo album.

Halloween 2008 - Trunk O' Treat #1

Here are some pictures from the trunk o' treat we did with Conner's cub scouts pack.




Click here for the full photo album.

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch with the Hicks family (and Ashley) in tow. I got quite a few great pictures and the boys really enjoyed running all over the place. We did a corn maze, hay ride, petted animals, another corn maze, giant mountain of hay, tire swing, picked pumpkins out, etc.. It was a good day. Here are some pics of the day for your viewing pleasure:





Click here to view the full photo album.

Racers

We went to Holiday world a few weeks back with the Huffs and had a blast. There were many things to note for the weekend. One, of course, was the fact that Conner was tall enough to ride anything in the park (by 1/2 inch), and he took advantage of that fact to ride the biggest, baddest, meanest roller coaster in the place first thing. He rode The Voyage at about 10:15am just after we got there.

What I really wanted to write about though was a great anecdote that came about while we were in the water park. Jay and I were running around with Bryson (Jay's son) and Conner riding water slides and having fun while Anita and Aly had the other two boys. There was a great water slide that is a "racer" ride, where there are about 12 tracks side by side and it's just a straight slide with humps that you race down and see who finishes first.

The four of us had already been down the racer slide once and had a blast so we all four decided to go do it again. We get to the top and are next in line and I thought I would hype up the boys by saying, "Alright! Who's going to win this time? Are you ready? I think I'm going to win. Are you ready to race!?" - you know, just trying to get them excited.

Conner just turns around and says in his classic deadpan, "It's not really a race. The heaviest person wins."


He was right. I won.

Zach is 4!

I find it very hard to believe little-Z is four years old now. We had a fun party for him at the splash park in Smyrna with mostly family and close friends, but he did have a couple of friends from his preschool class come out as well.

His big present from us was a bike and he took to it immediately. He took it outside and was riding it up and down the driveway in no time. I need to get him out and about and see if I can get him off training wheels before 5!


Here is a slideshow of pics from the day.





Click here to go see the full photo gallery of the pictures.

Mommy's drinks

I had a good one this morning that I just remembered.


For those of you that know us, you know that Anita and I don't drink alcohol very often at all. Anita enjoys beer or wine and occasionally will pick up one or the other and she'll have one with dinner. Well, inevitably the boys would always start in on her..
"What are you drinking mommy?"
Just a mommy drink...
"What is that mommy?"
It's an adult drink.
"Can I have some?"
No, not till you are an adult. You have to be 21.
"What is it called?"
Special mommy drink
"NO, what is it really called?"
Amber Boch
"Amber BOCH?? huh?? What's that?"
It's a drink
"But what kind of drink is it?"
It's called beer.
"Can I have some?"
No, you have to be 21.
....
etc... etc..


Okay, so one night we were cooking pasta and Anita had poured a glass of wine to have with dinner and had it sitting out on the table. Conner came in when we called for the boys and sat down in his spot. He looked at what he had to drink and then saw Anita's glass and of course was curious why he didn't have a red drink too. He asked her, "What is your drink mommy?"

To which she replied, "It's a special mommy drink."
"Can I have some?" he of course asked.
"No, not until you are older. It is an adult drink."
Immediately, "What's it called?"
"It's called wine."
"YOUR DRINKING JESUS' BLOOD!!?!?"

....
.....
......
As I turned my back to the room to disguise my laughter I thought, "Alright Mom. Go ahead. Explain this one."

Quizno's

On Father's Day, yesterday, the boys and I went out to lunch at Quizno's for lunch and had a nice meal together. As we were getting back into the car to leave, Conner asked, "Daddy, was Mr. Quizno a famous baker?"

I chuckled and replied that I didn't think it was named after a baker at all, but I wasn't sure. He then asked why they named it that and I had to admit that I didn't really know why they named it the way they did.

He thought about it for a minute and then said, "Maybe they were all sitting around and some of them wanted to name it 'Quiz', and then some of them said, 'No'. So, they just named it QuizNo's."

:).. I love this kid's logic.

Praying

This past weekend as we were preparing for bedtime, it became Conner's turn to say prayers. We all solemnly bowed our heads and closed our eyes and he said, "God, I pray that your team wins and the bad team loses."


I could barely keep my composure for the remainder of the prayer. In further consideration though, I would have to say it's a very honest and succicnt prayer that pretty much wraps up what we all want to happen.

So proud

Earlier today Zach had gone to the restroom to go "poopie". Anita and I were in the den at the other side of the house and I hear him yell, "Dadddy!"

In case he was having trouble, I got up and walked in there and as I came in the door I said, "What's the matter Z? Do you need help?"

To which he replied, "No. Look! My poop is humongous!"

Ranch

Zach had a good one at lunch today. We were having salads with grilled chicken on them. Zach had eaten some ritz crackers with his salad via dipping them in the ranch dressing. Anita was eating some sweet potato with cinnamon chips and Zach asked for some. We were sitting there talking and hadn't really noticed what he was doing and then he says suddenly as he hands the rest of his cinnamon chips back to Anita,
"Ugh. Yuck. These chips with ranch, not so good. The other crackers with ranch, good."

Surprise party for my grandmother (Mom Bon)

(click for high resolution version (3.2mb, 2436x1948)

My parents, and aunts and uncles threw a surprise party for my grandmother's 80th birthday party. It was quite a big surprise and a great afternoon of time spent with family. We had the biggest family gathering we've had in a very long time and it was excellent fun.

Here is a slideshow of some pics I took over the weekend.


Click here to go view the photo album.

Soccer Fun

I don't have a lot to say. I am just posting a slideshow and link to my photo album for soccer pictures for this season.

Conner's team is destroying their opponents primarily. Today's matchup was the toughest one we've had so far and that's only because the other team had one crazy good player. Now, we still beat them like 10-4 or something. I don't even know the final score. Last week it was 11-1 and the week before 13-2. Like I said, they've been blowing out the other teams.

Conner scored 2 goals this morning in the first 3 minutes of the game I think. He was definitely the MVP of the first quarter. He was super hyped up for some reason and he was everywhere. I think he had another goal in the 3rd quarter as well.

As it stands though, our boys are doing great and are coaches are excellent. They really work with the boys and are very patient with them. They really do coach them and help them to learn.

Anyway, here is a slideshow with some pics:


If you want to visit the album directly, you can do so here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jbteague/2008SoccerSeason