Football

Much to my surprise and pleasure, Colin has recently taken quite an interest in football. One day, while I was watching a Cowboy game, he came and sat down next to me and started asking questions. And he watched the last half of the game with me.

The next thing I know, he is talking a LOT about football. He talked about the Cowboys, he asked who they were playing next, who were all the other teams in football, etc. Since then, he watched several Cowboy games with, although never the full game (usually a quarter or two before he'd get restless). But even when he wasn't watching, he would run into the room every once in a while to check the score and cheer on the team (or not).

What's funny is that 4 or 5 weeks prior to the season ending, another game was on TV with the Minnesota Vikings. For some reason, he really keyed into that team and kept asking me when the Cowboys would play them. I said they wouldn't play unless they both went into the playoffs. Of course, they did end up playing each other in the playoffs. Well, actually the Vikings played - the Cowboys, not so much...

Here are some pics on the boys and me playing around outside, as Colin wanted me to teach him how to juke, spin and stiff arm his way to a touchdown.

Snow.... in Texas??

Although I've lived here all my life, I don't recall ever getting this much snow at one time. I remember some good snow storms when I was younger, but I don't think it was as much as this time (and my mother and brother agree). We got about 9 inches of snow at our house, but my brother had a few inches more.

It was so exciting to be able to build a snowman, have a snowball fight, make snow angels, eat snow (not any that was yellow colored...), and other fun in the snow with our kids. They had only seen just a little bit of snow and even then it was so dry or icy that you couldn't do much with it anyway.

This snow was perfect for making snowmen and snowballs and it was so much fun to watch the boys run around in it. And they weren't ready to come in, even when we knew we'd better get them in to get them warm.

Click here for a link to see more pictures.

School Recognition

At Colin's school, they hold a student rally each Friday morning called Bulldog Boogie, during which they give different types of recognition from teachers on achievements during the week (Kindergarten-Fourth). Also they give out recognition to students who have been an example in a specific character trait that is the focus during that six weeks. At the end of each six weeks, a certain number of kids are recognized in a big way as Top Dog.

While in Kindergarten, Colin always talked about how he wanted to get one of those achievements, as they give the kids a certificate as well as a "dog tag" with that trait written on it. He was especially excited in trying to win Top Dog, as the teachers line up and form a tunnel that the kids go through to get their recognition. However, he never received any of them, which disappointed him greatly.

Not to be discouraged, Colin told us at the beginning of First Grade that he was going to win some this year. True to his word, in September he was recognized for Responsibility. Here is a picture of him getting the recognition in front of the school assembly and then with his teacher, Ms. Klea. He was so excited about it.

In November, Colin received Top Dog recognition. One of us is always present at the Bulldog Boogie, but on that day Noah was sick, so Tammy went to Bulldog Boogie. We didn't know Colin was getting recognized, so she didn't have a camera, which was disappointing as it's a pretty neat event. Here is his Top Dog Award. This is the award that Colin was most excited about (so far) this year.


In February, Colin was recognized for Trustworthiness. He had no idea he was getting recognized and it was quite amusing watching his reaction when they called his name. Below are pictures of him getting his award and a picture with his classmate, Christina.

Picture This

Colin's first grade pictures came back today and we had to share, of course. He's growing up too fast - where's the little boy in this picture?

New Pictures Posted

I've posted some recent pictures on our Picasa site, so click here to see some more like those below:

Pictures with Claus

I took the boys to the mall the other day and had their pictures taken with Santa. Only took about 7 or 8 takes to get the final result. It seems amazing to me how difficult it is to get two kids to both look at the camera and smile and not blink.

Afterwards both kids told they forgot to tell Santa what they wanted and asked if I told them. Sure hope they get some presents.... :)

Dinosaur World

Our primary purpose for visiting Glen Rose was to go to Dinosaur World. It is a new park next to the dinosaur state park, and it has over 100 life-size dinosaurs on display. Colin is just enthralled with dinosaurs right now, so much so that I don't even dare try to get into a trivia game with him about them. He can name so many more dinosaurs than I ever heard of, knows whether they are a carnivore or a herbivore, and even knows what period they lived in (Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic, etc.). As a matter of fact, he started looking at what I was just typing and reminded me not to forget the Triassic period.... so it's now listed above....


For more pictures, click here.

It was fascinating to watch him see an upcoming dinosaur and say, "Daddy, I think that's a styrocosaurus" and be right on target with his guess.


The picture above is of the styrocosaurus.


At the end of the trail, there is playground and also a "fossil dig" in which they get to sift through sand in an attempt to find fossils, three of which they get to keep. None of these are dinosaur fossils, but there are things like small shark teeth, etc.


The boys thoroughly enjoyed this visit, although it was pretty hot that day (97+) and there was very little breeze. We wish we had switched the two parks around as the day before when we were in the truck with the a/c available, it only got up to 92 degrees and had a good breeze.

Fossil Rim Safari

At the end of July, we took a trip south to Glen Rose to see Dinosaur World (which I'll talk about in my next post) and Fossil Rim Safari. We all thoroughly enjoyed this, as we had animals sticking their heads in our car, slobbering everywhere, and a giraffe sticking it's head through our sun roof. And don't forget the ostrich, which can be quite an event as they stick their long necks inside (by the time we got to them, we were out of food and it was a bit unnerving as one searched for food inside the truck.

Here's a link to some pictures - click here




We had quite an eventful safari, especially when we almost ran out of gas. As we were driving down to Glen Rose, I knew I was going to have to buy gas soon. I decided that we would stop at the hotel we would be staying at, drop some things off and then we would go to Fossil Rim. However, we arrived a bit later than anticipated and we decided to go directly to Fossil Rim to ensure we had plenty of time so we wouldn't feel rushed. I completely forgot that I needed to get gas until we were already into the safari and my gas light came on.

At that point, I wasn't too concerned as I had approximately 20 miles of gas to go and the safari was about 9.5 miles. I didn't consider the fact that to do a safari, you constantly stop to feed the animals, it was surprisingly hilly. By the time we were 1/2 way through the safari, my display was showing only 6 miles of gas to go. So I burned approximately 14 miles of gas in just 4.75 miles.

Luckily for us, at the 1/2 way point there is a stopping point overlooking the valley. There they have a gift store. I talked with the employee there and advised her that we were going to run out of gas before we got out of their park. She said that since it was before 5, she could have maintenance bring me some gas. She made a call and then told me that they would bring me gas, but it would be a minimum of 2 gallons at $6 a gallon. Quite the highway robbery, but what could I do since I was the one who didn't plan properly after all. So I paid for the gas and waited. About 5 minutes later, she came up to me and apologized as apparently all of maintenance had left and there was nobody available to bring me gas.

So now we were back to square one. She then told me that we could go out the side gate and down the back roads back to the main entrance and then back into town. As long as we made it back before 5:30 we could still come back through the main gate to finish our safari.

While we didn't have a choice, it was still quite a dilemma. I had approximately 6 miles of gas (and I've never run the truck out of gas, so I'm not sure how far I can go beyond 0 miles), it looked like it was about 2-3 miles back to the highway and then 4.5 miles back to Glen Rose. I was showing 0 miles remaining at least 1 mile short of Glen Rose, but we managed to make it to the gas station and back to the safari before 5:30.

Needless to say, the second time through the safari was much less stressful for me, as I wasn't having to watch the gas gauge and wonder if we were going to make it.

Little Thinkers Think Again

It's been a while since my last post, but hopefully I'm going to catch up over the next few days. It's just been so busy.....

Once again, in a continuing series of humorous or thought-provoking comments from our kids.

When the boys were in the hospitals recently (Noah having tubes in his ears, Colin's broken arm, Noah's chin), there were some amusing comments, mostly due to loopy medicine they were given:

• Colin, the day after getting the loopy medicine for the doctors to set his arm - "When I was in the hospital, my eyes were out of control and it was like I was in a dinosaur museum. Then I opened my eyes and it was like the doctors were in a cartoon show, and then they looked original again."
• Colin, after coming up from his loopy medicine. It was pretty late at this point, but the medicine hadn't quite worn off yet. "I'm ready to go to bed. I know when I see two mommies that I'm ready to go to bed."
• Colin, a few days after Noah was in the ER for the cut on his chin. We took the bandage off and Colin did not like it. "Mama, I want Noah's bandage back on. Please get it back on." Tammy asked him why and he said, "I'm afraid that I might catch it, like sneezes and coughs."
• Noah, after getting his loopy medicine prior to tubes being put in his ears. Noah looked at me and said, "Hi Colin". I said, "I'm not Colin, I'm Daddy." He gave me a strange, amused look and said, "Hello Nicky, Hello Nicky". (Nicky is Colin's friend)
  

Noah was tested a year or more ago due to a reaction to a cashew and it was determined he was allergic to nuts, specifically tree nuts like cashews, pecans, etc., but it also included to a lesser degree peanuts. While he was under for the tubes in his ears, we had them draw blood and perform another allergy test. We discovered he is no longer allergic to nuts, but they identified other allgeries, such as some trees, bermuda grass and cats. One day soon after we were talking with the boys about how Noah was no longer allgeric to nuts and started discussing the nuts he could now eat. Noah asked what else he was allergic to, and Tammy told him he was allergic to cats. With great concern in his voice, Noah said, "Mama, I don't want to eat cats because I love them!"

The other day, the boys spilled something and Colin told me about it. I asked him to show me where they had spilled it. He got up on his bed and jumped around and then stopped and said, "My research tells me that the mess is right here."

After a birthday party for his friend Emily, Colin asked Tammy if there would ever be a time when he wouldn't see Emily anymore. Tammy said that it was possible, for example if we ever moved. She told him that we don't plan to move, but that it was always a possibility. Colin said, "If we were married, we would see each other all the time."

On Colin's first day of First Grade last week, almost all of his friends from Kindergarten were in different classes, so there was definitely some uneasiness the day prior to school beginning. However, he had already met his teacher, so that was good. But on the first day, his teacher wasn't going to be there as she had a family emergency. So we took him into his classroom and I was talking to him a bit about having a great day and advising him that it would be a substitute. I thought maybe he would need some assurance that it was no big deal on the first day. Colin grabbed some crayons and started coloring a picture they had set out for all the students. He didn't even look at me and said, "Excuse me Daddy, I need to get busy." Maybe it was just Daddy that needed the reassuring....

Colin and Noah were playing some super hero game they made up. Instead of saying Red Alert, Noah was running around saying, "Red Alerp! Red Alerp!"

A few weeks ago, Noah was asking for some mosquitoes. I asked him what he meant and he said he wanted some mosquitoes to eat. I couldn't figure it out, so I asked him about the mosquitoes that fly and he said, "No, Daddy not the bug mosquitoes, the candy mosquitoes." We went to the pantry and he finally cleared it up when he pointed to the bag of Skittles.

Noah asked me, "Daddy, do worms have slides in their tummies?". Still not sure where that one came from.

One night, I was putting Noah down for bed and he told me, "Daddy sometimes I use my finger in my nose to check for boogers. I'm going to do it now."

Frequent ER Miles?

I think maybe someone should offer some kind of Frequent ER Miles, as we might qualify soon. Especially if the program offers more points when the visits are closer together.

We decided the best way to spend our Friday evening was the same way we spent our Sunday evening. However, to change things up a bit to make it new and exciting, the best thing to do was to have a different son be the focus of attention and get a different ER room.

Noah was playing on the bed and took a sheet and wrapped it around himself, apparently on his head as well. We're not completely sure, but Colin says he fell off the bed and busted his chin on the nightstand.

After we hear screaming and run into the room, we could see blood everywhere but had no clue where it was coming from (I first thought was his tongue or lip). And just like with Colin's arm, once I got a good look at the actual injury, I knew we were off to the ER.

He ended up getting 7 stitches in his little chin, but was a trooper just like his brother.

For a few pics of our walking wounded, click here