Thursday, December 13, 2012

Growing Into His Paws

I really do want to be blogging again. I promise. It's just harder than it used to be. Allen's not a toddler anymore. Everything he says and does is not hilarious (sometimes, it's downright infuriating!). He's in school from 8:00 to after 3:00 everyday, and on days I work, I don't see him until almost 6:00 in the evening.

So it's hard ... he's not providing me with witty one-liners or hilarious stories or funny dances on a daily basis anymore. He's still hilarious -- don't get me wrong -- but he's so much more independent now, that we just don't see it as often.

Please bear with me, and don't give up. I may not be able to blog every single day, but I will continue to blog. So keep checking, and if you haven't heard from me in awhile, nudge me with a comment.

Now, onto some cute/sweet/funny things from the last week.
  • Last week, he saw a commercial for the new Ice Age Movie coming out on Blue Ray & DVD on Tuesday, December 11th. Don't you know that he remembered! He said multiple times over the last several days, "On the 11th we have to get new movie!" (he kind of sang it and did a little dance each time). You can imagine his excitement Tuesday morning!
  • Sunday we had some friends over (hospitality after the meeting). He was so excited for everyone to be there and sat at a table with friends who were all probably over 60 years old. But he loved it. He has such an affection for the friends at the Kingdom Hall, especially the older ones. In fact, he made one man ride up the elevator with him so Allen could show T his room (T is in his 60s). 
  • He decided on Sunday that he wanted to start picking his chores again each day (we use the fisherkids system) and did really well earlier this week. The past couple days he's slacked off though :/
  • This morning, because we all had an early meeting to attend, Nana, Papa, and I all took Allen to school. As he got ready to get out of the car, he gave us all kisses. The staff member helping the kids in, said, "Oh, you've got a lot of love this morning." To which Allen replied, "I've got three loving givers today!"
  • Tonight, we're home from our meeting because he's running a fever. However, he's not acting sick ... he's been waving his light saber around, putting puzzles together, playing games on my computer and iPad, and now he's whining that I'm NOT playing a game on my computer. So, he has the fever, but I'm the one who's feeling dizzy and sick.
    • Since I wrote this, Allen's fever has suddenly disappeared. He has been super hyper, and as he was taking pillows off my bed (and hearing me warn him over and over again to watch my wine glass), knocked a pillow into my glass -- at full speed -- and spilled wine EVERYWHERE. Seriously it was like a wine massacre in our room. Splatter all over the place. Good times for Mama.
  • Lest I forget the title of this post ... Monday he had a tennis lesson. It was just he and another little girl this time, so he was able to get more personal attention. And it was Coach Warren. Coach Warren (not my dad) tends to be a little harder on the kids. He's not mean at all. He just really makes them focus. So during a water break, he came over to talk to me. We discussed Allen's progress and what Coach has been helping him with, and then Coach said the greatest thing: "Kids all grow into their paws at different times." He went on to tell me that his 14 year old just grew into his paws. It made me feel so much better. Because Allen is SMART (he scored in the 95 percentile in Math and 99th in Reading in standardized testing)! But, he doesn't want to ride a bike ... or take risks ... and he can't consistently catch a ball. So to hear Coach reassure me that Allen is OK ... that Coach has seen kids like Allen before (maybe even his own child) ... made me breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. My child is not destined to be an athletic loser like me. Whew!
I guess that's all for tonight. Sorry for the lack of pictures. Still trying to remember to include them/take them in the first place.

xoxo!+

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Dancing in the Kitchen and the Red M&M

Apparently, when I announce that it's bath time, it means that Allen should strip in the middle of the kitchen and dance around ...


Evidently, he was still in the dancing mood, because we got this little show after his bath. Do you think maybe he watches too much TV?


Let Me 'Splain

As I was deciding -- rather suddenly -- to begin blogging again, I began composing my first post in my head. I kept hearing Inego Montoya from The Princess Bride saying, "Let me 'splain ... no that will take too long ... let me sum up."

Obviously, it would take far too long to catch up on the last year-and-a-half, plus. So, I will sum up:

  • Allen is 6 (can you believe it? Neither can I.)
  • He goes to Kindergarten at Beaufort Elementary and loves it.
  • He's reading -- a lot!
  • He's still into Cars and Dragons (we're reading the How to Train Your Dragon series), and he's added  Dinosaurs and Star Wars to the mix (thanks, Uncle Josh!).
  • We live with Nana, Papa, and Gigi.
  • We still have Mia and Murphy, and have since added to the brood a mutt named Ginger, a Bearded Dragon named Buck, and an assortment of fish. Plus Nana and Papa have three dogs. Yes, we are crazy.
  • He takes tennis lessons.
I'm sure there are other things I will realize after I start blogging more frequently, but these are the highlights for now.

Thanks for coming back and reading. I'll get to the good stuff now.


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Oh Bailey

It is with sadness that I tell you all that Bailey the Betta Fish passed away this evening. He died peacefully in his bowl surrounded by family. He had just spent the afternoon playing with Allen and a Batman action figure, and then (likely after some trauma) relaxing while watching some television with Allen.

Allen is taking it well. Maybe a little too well. As we timidly explained to him that Bailey was no longer, he looked at the dead fish in Daddy's hand, picked it up, put it back, and said, "We'll have to go to PetSmart and get another one that looks like him." Then, as we went to say our goodbyes before the porcelain grave, he took Bailey out of Daddy's hand, threw him in the toilet, and flushed it. So much for that.

He did, however, sing a song to Bailey while playing in the bathtub tonight ...

xoxo,
AHC

Monday, May 9, 2011

My new obsession ...

I recently purchased this. I purchased it because I love letterpress, but I've ended up using the die-cutting feature more. Letterpress takes a lot of patience and precision, so it's been a bit slower. Anyway, this purchase has led me to a fabulous relationship with my girls at Carolina Stamper. It's also cost me a lot of money.

But, it's also enabled me to make some handmade gifts. For instance, for Teacher Appreciation Week, I made books of Allen's "Favorite Things" about his teachers. Ms. Avril (hers is the one in yellow tones) left us a message in tears. She loved it! I've also started making some cards that I'm going to sell in the shop if they're good enough. Wanna see what I've been up to?

I'll post more soon about Allen's antics.

xoxo,
AHC

Please don't hate me ...

for being so remiss with my posting. I'm sorry! It's been a busy couple of months, especially last month. Brian and I auxiliary pioneered and I'm happy to say that we made our time!

Onto some pictures ... last month D&H came to visit, and we went to Charleston for the day. Allen came home with this crazy getup ...


You know I had to try it on, too! More to come ...

Sunday, March 6, 2011

International Noturno Aventura

This past Thursday night was International Night at Allen's school. We were away last year, so we had no idea what to expect, but we were very excited. Allen's been talking about Brazil for the last few weeks. Plus we were making Brazilian food!

Here's what we made:

Little Coconut Kisses
 Creamy Corn Cake (which we made as muffins, obviously)
Interestingly enough, both items were Gluten free (an experiment Brian and I are trying).

We arrived at the school, and Allen got a passport, which he was to get stamped in each country. The countries were: Brazil, Antarctica, Thailand, Ireland, Chile, Aruba, and India.  Here are some photo highlights ...

Annie the Anaconda. She's a life-size model -- 22 feet long! The kids stuffed her with recycled paper, and painted her. She was gorgeous!
 The Amazon Rainforest
 The children cut out different insects and animals from the Amazon and colored them. Then Ms. Avril and Ms. Jennifer stuck them onto the trees. You can also see part of Annie the Anaconda here.
 Chilling out with a snow cone in Antarctica (get it?)
 Ireland!
 The elementary students made a topographical map of India
 Allen's future bride, Amelia (according to Allen) showing off her henna.
 Ms. Amy decorating Allen's hand with Henna.

 Allen's passport. Which was stamped in every country!
You can see more pictures here, but these are the highlights. Allen's classroom was by far the best. Brazil had the most food, and the most creative decor. Overall we had a fantastic time!