Around the World and back home...

It seems so hard to find time to update the blog, even when I've been off work for the past two weeks! We left the day school ended and headed to Orlando to visit Mickey. Matthew didn't know - when he finally asked why we hadn't arrived home from Samford after over an hour, Andy said, "We're taking the long way home." "Aww, How long will this take?" "4 Days - we're going around the world and in the back way. I sure hope the car floats when we get to the ocean," Dad replies to which MVP says, "Mom, is this true?" I said yes, and with a giant sigh Matthew said, "OK" and didn't question again until he woke up about half an hour from WDW. :) What a trusting child...:)

We relaxed, played the week away and had a wonderful time. Matthew was very excited to ride a couple of the big roller coasters - Big Thunder Mountain (twice!) and Space Mountain. He also loved Test Track and his very favorite ride was Buzz Lightyear. You can see him and Andy racking up points to beat Mom here! Dad is smiling for the camera but MVP is very focused! You know we had to ride this one more than once. :)

Matthew loved standing inside this giant sign in front of our resort!

We loved the Seas with Nemo and Matthew always likes the "big golf ball!" I think it's so pretty in this pic with those colors - Disney does great lighting.

The weather was so nice - we all enjoyed the sun and Matthew loved the pools!

Here is MVP "driving" the monorail - so fun!

Matthew loved meeting all the characters at lunch and dinner - he said his favorites were Eeyore and Judy (from Little Einsteins) - here he is leading a parade with Piglet at dinner at the Crystal Palace in the Magic Kingdom.

Matthew and Mom at EPCOT

MVP tries his hand at a spinning plate - he LOVED this. If you ask what his favorite parts of the WDW trip were, the spinning plate is likely to rank in the top 3.

He has rhythm and he loves to use it! We made a stop here for quite a little while...big drums, little drums - he played them all!

We had a great trip but were ready to come home!

No More Home Living

Today Matthew related that he no longer chooses to play in the Home Living center at school. This used to be his very favorite center and the one he always hoped to get to first! A limited number of students can be at each center so he always hoped that there was room for him. But, today he says,


"The girls there try to rule me and are bossy. They say 'Matthew do this.' And there aren't any other boys there. Most other boys don't like to play there. They don't like Home Living, and they don't want to go there when I ask them, so I don't want to go there any more."

Maybe I shouldn't be, but I am disappointed that for the first time (at least the first time he's voiced to me) he is choosing an activity that he doesn't really like just because of his classmates. He said that today he went to "the little round things with holes that you connect with sticks, but I didn't really like them, but I went there because Tripp went there." What?? At 5 years old he's already following people to activities and he already doesn't go to Home Living because "boys don't do that" ??? hmmm.

I have a feeling we're in for a rough next 20-ish years.....

Fall Update

Wow! We've been away from our blog so long - I hope you haven't given up on us. We are all still here, just busy with...well, all that life holds!

Let's see, our regular week includes a violin lesson for Matthew on Mondays, after school choir for Mom on Tuesdays, library and the park on Wednesdays, and a trip to SoHo sweets on Fun Fridays! Of course, other things seem to sneak up on us as well.

Since we last wrote, Matthew enjoyed Grandpals Day at his school (Edgewood Elementary) with his Grandmama and Papaw. I wish I had pics to show you of that, but parents were not allowed! Matthew is loving school - his favorite things are still PE and playground time. :) We are so proud that he reads beautifully - ask him to read you a story the next time you see him! Together we are reading Gertrude Chandler Warren's The Boxcar Children. Matthew has always loved trains, so this is right up his alley! Kids living in an abandoned traincar with no parents....too cool!

Halloween was so much fun this year - Matthew decided he would dress up for the first time. He wanted to be the Dread Pirate Matthew. These first few pictures are from Boo at the Zoo the weekend before Halloween at the Birmingham Zoo...you can see MVP brandishing his hook, which he used to carry his pirate trick or treat bucket (he had to have a free hand for his sword.)

Here the pirate finds a horse, or a tiger, I think...

So, on Halloween we dressed up again and headed to Samford to visit Sorority Row Trick or Treat, where every house was themed. But to Matthew's dismay, all the houses were closed and the trick or treating was all outside...he kept saying, "I want to go inside." He wasn't interested in the candy, only in going inside the sorority

houses....sigh....hmm.



So, we made short work of that visit and headed to West Glenwood to see some great decorations (Andy was taking notes, I know it!) and Matthew walked up and down the blocked off street. Next a stop by the Homewood Police to sit on a motorcycle, jump in the "bouncy thing," eat popcorn, and we were on our way to Grandmama's. Matthew enjoyed being on the other side of the trick or treating for a change and visiting with Martha and Billy and then we were ready to call it a night. Whew...we went from trying to drag him out to "enjoy" some fun Halloween times to trying to drag him home!

This past week he wanted to run in the 1m Turkey Trot at his school, but he had a fever/stomach virus and missed 3 days of school...including his field trip to the Old Baker Farm and Pumpkin Patch. He was very disappointed, but we are feeling better now and are back on track to have a good time this week! Today we were out of school for Veteran's Day and we played at the park with our friends Sam and Nathan, so we are excited that this is a "short" week!

We love you all and hope you are well and happy,

C, A, M

Manchester

Some pics from our recent trip to Granny Garrett's where we enjoyed visiting with various aunts, uncles and cousins. The slide show to the right has more and if you click, you can see them full scale. Please let me know if you have pics from the weekend - I'll send you the picasa password so you can upload yours and they'll show here too. :) We love you all!

From Matthew

On Monday morning I went to my first day of school. I went to school at Edgewood Kindergarten. It was so much fun. I played at PE my first day, I played some basketball inside PE and I went to the playground for a little bit after I didn't want to play basketball any more.

My teacher is Mrs. Sankey, I love her so much. She teaches me a lot of stuff that I really like, learning and coloring, which sometimes my Mom and Dad really like and here's the best part when I get to go on the playground. And the other best part, when I get to go on the playground and hang on the monkey bars.

I like to play with Jules, Tomas, Kennedi and Breanna. Once I'm done ordering my food, I type in my lunch number on one of those little things like you put the card in only you don't put in a card you only type in a lunch number. You know? Then I take my tray and sit at the table I want to sit at. I sit with a boy named Len, sometimes he sits by me. There are two tables Mrs. Sankey's class can sit at.

Today I went to music class. The music teacher is Mrs. McKibben. There was a song on the radio and she pointed to the group who was supposed to sing and it was real fun music. It was the best fun ever and the whole class was so good for Mrs. McKibben. I played the drums where you sit on the stool and play with a mallet only it was a little drum without a hook to it, not hooked up to the other drum. (foot tapping....demonstration.)

I had a great first week. It was so much fun. It was the best week I ever had.

It's Hot Here!

Matthew and I are enjoying our last few days of summer vacation before school begins next week. He loves to play on the water slides at Splash Beach and especially loves to play under "the cup" which is modeled after an iron forge - I'm sure it's lost on 99.9% of the visitors to the park but I think it's cool...literally. :)
This week Matthew heads to visit Memaw and Papa for a couple days and then we all head to Manchester to visit Granny for the weekend. We're looking forward to seeing some Michigan and California family too!

Thanks for the Spidey towel Aunt Reesy - it's my favorite...:)

Summertime and the livin is easy....

(A disclaimer for all the photos on the blog these days....they're all from my phone...it's just been too hard to carry a camera around all the time, so yes, I know, the quality isn't that great, but...sorry!)


Well, we are busy being bums! I honestly can't remember the last time I actually took a summer off. I have always packed my summers full of teaching workshops, camps, classes or taking my own classes, etc. I always end up starting the school year just as exhausted as I ended it, but somehow by the time the following summer rolls around, I've forgotten and I say yes to all the same folks who come calling. :)

Matthew is just growing up so fast and this year as we started making plans for kindergarten, I vowed to spend as much time with him over the summer as possible playing and doing fun things! I wanted our summer to be full of good, relaxed times and for both of us to start the new school year happy and healthy. So, we have been busy visiting Granny and Cindy, Memaw and Papa, Buddy and Reesy, Grandmama and Papaw, playing at Splash Beach, seeing movies, lunching with friends, seeing the TN aquarium, playing at the park, building a tent out of blankets in the living room, baking pies, and violin and swim lesson. Although summer is quickly winding down (school starts here in a month - yikes!) we still have plans to visit DeSoto Caverns and Lake Winnie.

I took MVP shopping with me for some school clothes...I thought it might make it easier if we didn't buy them all at once - I might forget how much they cost if they were spread out - haha! He had the salesgirls rolling...he had to pick them all out and make sure they matched. I picked out an outfit that was on the mannequin - he vetoed it - "Mom, stripes don't go with boxes" (Plaid isn't in his vocab yet) There were also shirts 2 for $18, so I picked out 2, well they are the same shirt just in different colors. He says, "Mom, I can't wear the exact same shirt in a different color - that's just ridiculous." (It is his word of the week.)

We spent the fourth of July at the American Village in Montevallo, which is patterned after Colonial Williamsburg and has grown a lot since it began when I was in school at UM. They had a great celebration for the 4th and we really enjoyed ourselves, although the weather wasn't too cooperative with spotty thunderstorms. One of the pictures above is Matthew participating in bucket brigade race, which perked him right up after he got hit in the face with a wooden bat. :) Later, we were looking through the encampment of the Colonial Army and when I told Matthew those little triangular white shapes were where they slept, he said "That's ridiculous."

Although I did drastically cut back my "work" in the summer, I do have a couple of workshops to attend in the next couple of weeks and a fun trip to NYC to see shows and friends...woohoo! So, packing and preparation for the busy week ahead is in order. We love you all and hope you are well and happy! Keep in touch and let us know what you are doing this summer. :)

~C, A, M