Miss you Dad!

Our annual tradition....our Christmas trip to the cemetery.  My dad loved Christmas, every year we go out and put a miniature tree on the grave site.  Makes me sad that he is not here with us...Dad we miss. 

Who needs those tonsils and adnoidoids?

My poor sweet little guy has had strep throat 9 times since last September 2012, not to mention the flu and mono.  After the 6th or 7th time we scheduled his surgery.  I knew we couldn't make it without getting strep again but because of the recovery time we had to wait until Christmas break so he wouldn't be out too long from school.  He had it 2 more times since then but the day finally came to get those things out!  He was so brave, me, I was nervous, he had never had surgery before.  We got there at 830am and filled out paperwork.  They make you pay even before the surgery has taken place, well actually they called me 3 days before and asked for payment and I said no way!  Sorry I am digressing!  I had a little word with the financial department about paying for something that hasn't even happened. 

The staff was just great, the nurses were wonderful.  The anesthesiologist even came in and talked with us and told us his story about having his tonsils out when he was 14 years old in Belarus in the late 1980s.  He said his parents weren't allowed in the hospital and they only used a local anesthesia, holy cow, so glad we live in the good ole USA!

Look at him so happy in the picture above, this is after his 'happy juice'.  Surgery went well and Dr. Puri said that they looked bad when he removed the tonsils.  He looked so small when we came back to see him, he was all curled up and was just waking up.  He had a bad reaction from the anesthesia. He doesn't remember ever vomiting before, so the first time we didn't quite make it to the toilet thankfully I had just taken off my new suede boots! Slippers and socks can be washed!! Poor kid was sick the first day.  But little by little he has been feeling better, day 5 the scab came off, that caused more pain but right now we are on day 11, he was able to enjoy Christmas dinner and is starting to eat more and more!  His friends were great.  His best buddies and Alex and James came by to see that their friend was ok.  James and his mom came over with balloons and a container of ice cream!  Alex and his mom came over with a gift card to Cold Stone Creamery!

So glad we are on the mend and hope that strep doesn't come back again!!

A Christmas Carol

Justin's 7th grade Language Arts class read a Christmas Carol and then each student had to write a speech accepting an invitation to Mr. Scrooges' Christmas party.  They had to make up a character and then write about 'their family' and what they did.  They presented it in front of the class and parents.  They had to be that person.  Justin was Mr. Cornelius King and he was a wealthy older man, who was married to Beatrice King, they had no kids.  Cornelius made birdhouses for a living and had inherited his money from his father.  Justin got the idea from my dad, since my dad loved to make birdhouses.  He did an awesome job and took the part very seriously, dress shirt, tie and even gray hair!

 

He wore one of my dad's favorite hats for the presentation. 

Recommended 2nd Degree Black Belt

Well it is official I have a recommended 2nd degree black belt in the house. Ryan has been taking karate for almost 4 years.  He worked for 2 1/2 years to get his 1st degree black belt and now a 1 1/2yr later he will be ready to test for his 2nd degree black belt in February 2014.  He has shown great commitment and dedication to karate and has made some great friends along the way.  When he was 6 years old and wanted to take karate I explained to him what commitment meant, apparently I did a good job explaining and he did a great job understanding it because here we are 4 years later and I couldn't be prouder. Below is Ryan getting ready to smash his boards for recommended 2nd black belt testing with his buddies, Alec and Blake Houff.

 Always silly after belt ceremony with his friends.

 

 

Let Me Run

Ryan and his friend Alex ran their first 5k this past weekend.  They were on the Waxhaw Track and Field team in the spring and ran sprints, did a Triathlon this summer and joined Let Me Run through their elementary school this fall. It is a great program for boys.  They met twice a week after school, the program is to build relationships, live a healthy life and be courageous to be themselves.

So proud of Ryan and Alex for all their accomplishments.  They announced each boy's name as they crossed the finish line and each one got a medal for finishing the race.  There were  over 600 boys from different elementary schools in the area.  It was a great day!

 

Unexpected Bobcats

The day after Thanksgiving, boys are home from school, nothin' to see at the movies, so we decided to meet Don for lunch.  Got a tour of Family Dollar and Don's friend from work had 4 really great tickets to the Bobcats game that night they wasnt using.  Just our luck!  Dinner in uptown Charlotte, and great seats at the game against Milwaukee Bucks. We were 10 rows from the floor and it was FREE hat night too! Some good family fun!

So Many Reasons to be Thankful....

Thanksgiving 2013....we spent the day with our friends the Basiles at their home.  Now let me tell you, Rachel is a great cook!  She had the whole turkey day planned and when I mean planned I mean planned, a time schedule of what needed to be done every 15-30 minutes. I am amazed at her entertaining skills, I really am!  We ate, we watched football (at least the boys did), walked the dog, ate some more, talked, laughed, played basketball...just such a great relaxing day!

We couldn't ask for better friends!

Snow in November?

Crazy, but Charlotte got snow in November!  Now that is just not the norm here, typically we are still wearing shorts and t-shirts in November. Although it was not much, a light dusting, the boys were so excited.  The thought of no school raced through their heads as the flakes came down.  But the snow stopped as quickly as it came.

 

 

Cherokee Tribe

Ryan's 4th grade class studyed the Cherokees.  They broke up into groups and each had to research and do a project.  Ryan and his friend James McKenna decided to research Cherokee tribal roles.  They each did their research on the internet and then worked together on the weekend to put together the poster board.

They had so much fun working together and the project came out great!  Parents were invited into the classroom and each group had a speech prepared on their topic.

Partying with Laser Tag

I wanted to have a big party for Ryan's 10th birthday but didn't want to break the bank.  I saw a deal on LivingSocial for mobile laser tag.  They come to your home and set up barriers and the kids get to choose their weapons and they get to run around for 1 1/2 hour. SOLD!  This was perfect for a bunch of 9 and 10 year old boys!  Dustin the owner of SpecialOps Mobile Laser tag was awesome!  He was great with the kids and had them organized into teams.  Ryan had the biggest smile on his face the entire party!

 

Ryan didnt want pizza for his party so I ordered a tray of nuggets from Chick Fila that should serve 15 and I had 10 boys...we plowed through them, wow they can eat. I haven't gotten around to painting the dining room and changing the light fixture, ugh now that I see the pictures. It is one of the last rooms I haven't painted since we moved in.

After eating nuggets, chips, fruit and cupcakes we still had an hour to kill before parents started picking up.  So I sent them outside, the noise level was high and I figured the cool night air would wear these high energy boys down!

Ryan wanted to have a sleepover after the party but I learned from child #1 that having 9-10 boys sleepover at a time is not good for anyone especially the parents. Just because it is called a sleepover doesnt mean they are sleeping.  I think the whole point is to stay up until the last one is standing.  So I let him invite 2 of the boys over to sleep, much more manageable!

I am now the parent of 2 boys in the double digits, 10 and 12 years old! How'd that happen?!

Fun with Friends

Don and I decided we need to entertain more so I invited some friends over, well I guess I didn't keep count because when all was said and done I had invited 15 people over for Saturday night, 8 adults and 7 kids, all boys and they all said YES!  Age ranging from 9- 14 years old!  Can I just tell you we had the best time and laughed so much, my stomach hurt!

 

I'm not use to cooking for a large crew, but Rachel the most wonderful hostess, helped and when all was said and done, we had I dont know how many pounds of chicken, 8 hotdogs, 3 pounds of fingerling potatoes, caramelized green beans (from our garden) and a huge salad (lettuce from our garden).  Forgot to mention the jalapeno poppers I made with the jalapenos from our garden.  We had apps and Rachel and Megan brought the most wonderful pumpkin desserts to end the evening.

My baby is 10!

Yep, Ryan is 10 years old, double-digits!  He has been so excited for this birthday to come! We started the day with the usual tradition of pancakes, yep on a school day at 615am, spelling out his name.

 

 He wanted a pair of aviator sunglasses, I have to say he looks so cute.

We went out to dinner and met mom and Terry, Ryan's choice of restaurant course.  They even rang the gong and gave him a free brownie sundae dessert!  Yummy!  All Ryan wanted was cash, he is saving for either a tablet or an ipad, he has yet to decide.  So grandma gave him a wad of cash, look at that smile!

We painted the school rock for his 10th!  By the time we finished it was dark because of daylight savings and Ryan was covered in paint, that is because he and Justin were spraying paint on either other and then Ryan was dipping the roller into the paint and then holding the roller in front of him and rolling it really fast so that the paint was flying everywhere!  Really?!  But we finished and I think it came out really good!

Happy Birthday Ryan!!  Party to follow on Friday!