Halloween Preview

He'll obviously wear pants--and probably long sleeves--for trick-or-treating.  Joshua will be a yellow m&m, but he wasn't home tonight to photograph.

Duct Tape

This week is Spirit Week at Joseph's school.  Today was Fix-It Day--they were supposed to dress as a doctor or nurse OR wear something made out of duct tape.  Because he is his grandpa's son, Joseph chose the duct tape route.   Did you know it comes in all kinds of colors now?  Here is the shirt Joseph designed and the two of us made together.

(Does anyone else think it's way too dark outside for us to have to be getting ready for school?)

Georgia Aquarium

The boys had last Thursday and Friday off from school, so on Friday we headed to Atlanta to the Georgia Aquarium.  Going on a school day is key--the crowds are much smaller than summers/weekends/spring break time.

(Let me apologize in advance for some of the photo quality--I had the flash off because of all the glass, so some pictures are a little blurry)

The first gallery we entered has a tunnel where all the fish swim over your head.  Jeremiah was a little intimidated at first--he hasn't grown up going to aquariums on a monthly basis like his brothers did in California.  He clung to Daddy for the first 10 minutes or so.

To be fair, there are some really huge fish, and they go right over your head.  This is one of the whale sharks, as seen from below:

This is a smaller side window looking into that same huge tank.  If you look carefully, you can see a giant grouper right behind Joseph:

That same huge tank has a super-huge viewing window at the end.  It's like a giant theater screen.  That's Joseph at the bottom with his arms outstretched.  I'm not sure if he's trying to measure the whale shark or what.  Joshua and Jeremiah spent a lot of time up next to the glass soaking it all in.  (The kid by Joseph's right hand isn't one of ours.)

 There were manta rays that we don't remember seeing there before.  They spent a lot of their time doing flips:

We finally left the big tank and moved on to the other galleries.  We were suprised to see the octopus right out in the open instead of hiding somewhere:

If you look closely, you can see Jeremiah peeking through the viewing bubble behind the penguins:

Jeremiah was not at all intimidated by the alligators (which he insisted were "croc-iles"):

We now pause in our aquatic life viewing to witness a first.  The aquarium includes a climbing/play structure which the bigger boys removed their shoes to play in.  When they were finished, Joshua put his shoes back on and TIED THEM ALL BY HIMSELF.  We had been close before, but this was his first time to have complete, independent success.  I was talking to Jeremiah about something or other and I looked down and there Joshua was, with his shoes all tied.  Of course, I had to photograph it:

Jeremiah thought about trying the whale slide, but changed his mind at the top.  His brothers enjoyed it, though:

There were several different touch tanks.  Joseph touched everything available except some shrimp.  They were too creepy for him.  Joshua touched most things he could reach.  Jeremiah touched only the sea star that was on the side of the tank:

This tropical tank is one of my favorites.  The picture doesn't do justice to all the colorful fish in it.  The tank arches up overhead, so Joseph and Joshua are also watching some of the fish in it.

It's pretty tiring to drive to Atlanta and back in one day, but it was completely worth it!

Joseph is 9!

Joseph turned 9 yesterday!

We've really spread out the celebration.  Instead of a party, a couple weekends ago Joseph took four buddies to a Furman University football game.  I have no photos of that to share with you, though. 

His actual birthday was on soccer practice day, which meant we had very little time to celebrate.  We took him out to dinner (Stevie B's pizza) on his birthday eve and let him open his gifts when we got back home.

 A chess set was one of the few things he'd mentioned he wanted to have.

He got an Othello game from Grammy and Granddad, then promptly beat his mother at it.  Tony just barely beat him after that.

He wanted chocolate cupcakes with footballs on top to take to school.

Jeremiah and I got to deliver them at lunch time.  Jeremiah had been waiting since the day before to try one.

I asked Joseph if I could take a picture of him at lunch, or if that was not cool.  He said I should not.  But then a friend of his said he was a good photographer and used a camera just like mine.  Joseph decided it would be OK for the friend to take his picture.

In the ten minutes Tony was home before heading off to the first soccer practice (Joshua's), we lit the candle on Joseph's cookie cake and sang to him.

There's another new post below this one--don't miss it.

Snippets of Life

Here are a few glimpses into everyday life the past few weeks.

 Jeremiah decided to play with PlayDoh one day.  His attention span far outlasted Mommy's.  He was at it for at least 45 minutes.

Why, yes, there is a tent in my garage.  Why do you ask?

 Tony and the bigger boys went on a Father/Son campout with church last weekend.  When they got home, Tony had to put up the tent so it would dry.  Then he discovered that the only way to get through the garage was to open both ends of the tent and go through it.  Jeremiah called it the "tent tunnel" and quite enjoyed using it to access the outdoors.

Watching TV.  Probably "Dora"--it's the current favorite.

 Do you like Jeremiah's footwear?  They are teddy bear slippers.  We had just gone for our morning walk (with him riding in the stroller) and decided to pull some weeds before we went inside.  Jeremiah enjoys telling me he's being a good helper.  These particular weeds are TAKING OVER, but at least they are very easy to pull out.



Matching pajamas, once worn by the older two.  I couldn't get Jeremiah to keep his hands down for the photo.  It reminds me of our Christmas card when Joshua was about that age (see below).

Cardinals Game

Last Saturday after soccer games, we headed straight to Atlanta to watch the Cardinals play the Braves.

Due to Atlanta traffic and parking insanity, we missed the first half inning of the game.  By the time we climbed all the ramps and stairs to our seats, we were hot, tired, and thirsty.

Humidity, sweat, and a hat teamed up to give Jeremiah some terrific hair:

The Cardinals tried to make it up to us by going into extra innings, thanks mostly to Albert Pujols:

Unfortunately, the Braves hit a walk-off home run in the 12th inning.  Still, that meant we got to see some fireworks.

Joseph and I were amused by the cleverness of the organ player at the ball field.  We didn't catch all of his/her musical references, but here are a few of the songs played when batters were coming up to the plate:

Pedro Feliz = Feliz Navidad

Skip Schumaker = Skip to My Lou

Randy Winn = Winnie the Pooh

Matt Holliday = Home for the Holidays (or maybe it was Happy Holidays?)

Brendan Ryan = may have been the theme song to the old Ryan's Hope soap opera--it sounded theme songish

The skies opened up and poured on us as we were walking to our van, but the kids were real troopers, and we had a great time overall.

Labor Day Weekend (Finally)

Grandma and Grandpa came for Labor Day Weekend!  We filled the time with:

opening more presents

eating donuts

soccer games

(love the sky on this one)

running through the sprinklers

building Lego towers taller than the grown-ups

and going to the zoo.

We loved every minute of it!