Tuesdays Child AGAIN

2, 4, 6, 8 (minus # 2), these are the current ages of our children. Our Isaac celebrates numero SIX today. He was born at 7:11 p.m. on Tuesday, January 25, 2005. With his Don King hair do and ear to ear grin, life sure hasn't been the same since he joined our family. He's brought us so much joy.

This is how he was 90% of the time as a baby. He had/has a happy disposition, what a gift!

I can honestly say, Isaac is a easy going kid in that he RARELY has a bad day. He's usually happy (and energetic) at all times. Don't get me wrong, he does his sharing of complaining and has bad attitudes like ALL of us do at times, but his MOOD is generally pleasant. He's not a fit-thrower or tattle-teller, and takes some pretty severe hammering when the "boys will be boys" wrestling takes place, but rarely does he get hurt or if he does, he'd never say anything. He's the kind of kid that if he's crying, you know something MAJOR has happened.

Look at that precious face. He's such a cute kid, always has been.

When Karson turned six and was in kindergarten, we decided to do birthdays on a smaller scale--meaning no big event. Simply put, we wanted to celebrate with family and make it easier. When I arrived at Plano, the secretary said, "there's been a lot of Deaton's here today." She told me that Matt's brothers came to eat lunch there. I think it's neat that they do this--Andrew and Ben have eaten lunch with the kids a few times this year--very cool!

And, since Isaac has 23 classmates, taking treats to school is a celebration in and of itself. This afternoon I took donuts and milk to his classroom at school. I bought three bags of chocolate and three bags of powdered donuts. Powdered are Isaac's favorite, but I figured lots of kids would like chocolate too and they did. I didn't come back home with many of either.

I pulled Karson out of class early so she could join us for the celebration. What a wonderful big sister she is. Ms. King was trying to convince her to come back to kindergarten with them.

Plano has rules like any other school, but one of the more "odd" rules is that you cannot leave school before 3:15 or you will be counted tardy for the day. Anyone with a 4 year old knows how SHORT their attention can be at times, especially in a school setting. Miles is NO different. We decided to leave the classroom around 3 p.m. He had had enough. We hung out on the big courtyard area at Plano waiting for 15 minutes to pass. Our neighbors Mia and Laila joined us. Isaac and Mia's birthdays are two days apart so Mia was celebrating her birthday at school today too. We sure do love these gals!

Isaac's birthday cupcake (top right) on the Plano January wall.

Miles giving me the thumbs up. I particularly like the sign next to him saying LIFE IS FULL OF CHOICES, CHOOSE CAREFULLY. I don't think that was there by mistake =).

With Isaac this year, I decided to make it extra special by letting him get a pet--hamster Justin. And, we went to his favorite place for dinner Chick Fil A.

Isaac and his cake. I should post the picture taken right after this one. Miles was up on the table too and blew the candles out. Isaac had this "look" on his face and yelled at him. Oh well, on to the presents which is all Isaac cared about anyway =).

We're fortunate that his best buddy Donovan came to CFA. They sure do love each other. When I walked into Isaac's classroom today, Donovan told me "Tiffany, I'm coming to Chick Fil A tonight." His mom and I had been facebooking about Donovan and Isaac's discussion of his birthday--how funny. We're so thankful that they could join us. They already feel like family to me =).

Isaac opening up his loot. He got some neat Hot Wheels cars, LEGOS, money, a Rocket Ship art project, an iTunes gift card and a RAZOR scooter--quite a load.

WE SURE DO LOVE THIS TUESDAY CHILD and are thankful for such a wonderful day of celebrating with him.

Introducing our NEW family member

Meet Justin the hammy. Why the formal name, not real sure, but it was Isaac's choice. I wanted something like Sergeant Slaughter or Captain Crunch, but it's simply Justin.

When Karson turned six years old, I let her use her birthday money to purchase a hamster. I'm sure those of you that follow my blog remember Princess Sparkles. Sparkles the hamster was in our possession for a whoppin' 6-8 months before she went missing at Pap and Nana's while Matt and I were out of town. The story was that Karson didn't snap the cage shut one night and she got out. Of course, Karson said Isaac didn't snap it, and so on and so on. I have no idea what happened, but I wasn't ready for a replacement at that point. I thought I had blogged about this story but couldn't find it anywhere. SO, for those of you who thought we still HAD Sparkles, sorry to disappoint. Sparkles WAS an amazing hammy. She was a Houdini and got out of her cage on a regular basis. She went through (or GNAWED through) THREE cages. In fact she was smart enough to get out of her cage and return before morning. I would find half eaten bananas or desserts on our kitchen counter, crayons in her cage, chewed up garbage bags, etc. We used to keep her in Karson's room until she chewed through the cage and would get out at night and climb into bed with Karson. I had no idea hamsters were so crafty.

With Isaac's sixth birthday right around the corner (next Tuesday to be exact), I let him use his birthday money (via the great grandparents) to purchase a new hammy. We already had the cage, bedding and treats. All we needed was a ball, food and a clean habitat. Oh, and Isaac thought he needed a toy TV also--we spare NO expense for our pets. I spent last night cleaning the cage and preparing it for our new companion. We went to Petco after school today and picked out Justin. I would've loved to have gotten another Black Bear hamster, but they were out of them. And, on top of that, Isaac wanted a BOY hamster. So, we have a Syrian. I can't tell much of a difference and the pet store lady told us there wasn't much difference. I wonder if he'll be an escape artist like Sparkles. I imagine he'll be even harder to contain, he is a BOY hamster after all.

Dream Big

and BIG things will happen. Karson has some of those wall sticker doo-dads in her room that say "If you can dream it, you can do it."

The pictures in this post are just to adorable to pass up. Elizabeth spent the night Sunday night, and we did some rag rolling. I thought the girls looked so cute watching the Golden Globes and dreaming of fancy dresses, sparkling make-up, shiny nails and all the pizazz of Hollywood life.

Curls, Curls, Curls...

At the ripe ol' age of 35 Martin Luther King Jr. won the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean WOW. I'm thankful that my children are taught about important people like Martin Luther King Jr. and his dreams which were simply treating people the way you would want to be treated. It's completely ludicrous that someone would kill him for this idea. I want my children to dream big. I have so many wonderful dreams and prayers for their lives.

I can't brag on Karson and Isaac enough especially when it comes to their academics. Isaac recently came home with his 2nd round of test scores and blew them through the roof: making a 187 on his Grade test (102 is above average) and a 490 on his Gmade (474 is above average). I also received Karson's test scores today for her Grade: 468 (above average is 435) and Gmade: 501 (495 being above average). The Grade test is reading assessment and Gmade is the math assessment. Trust me though, (althought they help) grades aren't everything--the heart is what matters the most. The MOST important thing in this world are people. I love that Martin Luther King Jr. inspired my daughter to write this:

Karson D.

My dream is to help the eviorment.

I could help the eviorment.

I could tell other people.

I could go to a pet shelter and make pets feel at home.

I could have a food drive.

I could give poor part of my alounce.

I could have a yard sell where everythings free.

I could plant a community garden.

*Let us all truly think like Martin Luther King Jr. and find ways to be more self-LESS in 2011. The world is full of pessimists and people who complain ALL the time. There's no shortage in those areas. There are shortages though in people who are JOYFUL and simply dreamy! Let's SHINE in 2011!

A MAJOR AWARD

I haven't really had anything blog-worthy up until this point. December is such a busy month, and January is fairly mild. I don't normally have much to post before Isaac's birthday which falls on the 25th, AND to make January even more mild, we aren't doing anything big for that this year. My plan is to take powdered donuts and chocolate milk to school on his birthday and then take him to Chick Fil A for dinner. So, why this post, well today was an extra special day in the Deaton house. Over winter/holiday break, the kids (Karson and Isaac) participated in the local libraries Chill Out Reading program. It's a reading log with small (and large) incentives to get people to read. The kids decided they wanted to participate in it and got their Chill Out bags, log sheets and bookmarks. Karson might as well have invented the reading genie--she can flat out fly through chapter books. She read four almost immediately and logged them. For each book read, you get an entry into one of the libraries grand prizes. The grand prizes this year were a $50 cash card, $25 Barnes and Noble card, a snow screamer sled and another inflatable kind of sled. Well, Karson only made it to four and had four entries. Isaac was about as uninterested in the contest as one could get and never read a thing. However, I thought if I'm going to turn in FOUR entries for Karson, I at least want to turn in TWO for Isaac and made him sit down and read me TWO easy readers. Mind you, Isaac and Karson both read a lot. Isaac is supposed to read three books each night for homework (notice I said SUPPOSED). We usually read one, maybe two--which he flies through. I didn't count those though--so really he could've had FIVE entries.

I, like a good mommy, went to the library to turn in their entries, BEFORE the deadline. I had a total of 6 entries to choose for the prizes. Karson wanted to Snow Screamer sled SO BAD so I put two of her entries in there. I decided to put the other two in the $50 cash card--shoot, if she won this, she could buy a sled or whatever. I put one of Isaac's in the $50 cash card and one in Snow Screamer sled. Lo and behold, wouldn't you know Isaac won it! I got the phone call today that his name had been selected for the MAJOR award. It is so much FUN to win something. What a nice way to begin 2011! Maybe I'll let him play the lottery???

A Mighty Bean, Dsi, Barbie Kind of Christmas

Count your blessings...that should be the theme of our lives everyday, but I know I don't think of that as often as I should throughout the year. It's RESOUNDS in my head especially at Christmas. It's around this time of the year that I usually start working on my yearly photo book. Three years ago I decided to stop printing so many digital photos and start doing a yearly photo book to chronicle the events of the year. I still print my favorites, but with the world of digital photography, I found myself filling up loads & loads of bulky photo albums. The books are slim and compact and fit nicely on a bookshelf. As I was saying, I work on my book this time of the year and looking back through the years photos (and reading past blog posts), it reminds me of how quickly time passes. Christmas is the time of year with being with the one's you love--thanks Christmas Vacation for that great song--but it is so true. I'm especially thankful this year: thankful that I'm healthy and so is my family, thankful that Uncle Mike is alive, thankful to still have my parents, in-laws, and all of our grandparents, thankful for my sister and Paul, their kids, Matt's brothers and my sister-in-laws, my adopted family the Maglinger's and Garcia's, Ms. Windy, great friends...love getting all those Christmas cards--mainly I'm thankful for the people God has placed in my life. I want to be more and more thankful for them each year because it truly is a treasure that we take for granted.

Christmas celebrations began on Friday at Plano. Thank goodness we didn't get snowed out. Plano does a pajama day, and the kids get to watch Polar Express. This year both Karson's and Isaac's classes asked everyone to bring in stocking stuffers. I'm guessing the traditional exchanges are just to difficult. Thinking back on my school gift exchanges, I remember this girl named Amy ALWAYS drew my name. Amy wasn't the kind of girl you'd want to draw your name. She was one of those "bad influence" kind of girls--the kind of girl that probably brought a knife to school and smoked outside the gym when no-one was looking. She had really short, butchy hair, questionable language, lived with her grandmother, rough around the edges kind of gal. Let me put it to you this way, Amy and I pulled the school fire alarm on the last day of school in 5th grade--what can I say she double-dog-dared me? Anyway, like I was saying, she ALWAYS drew my name. However, she always got me some of my nicest gifts, usually from Container World which was HUGE in my elementary school days. Not sure how that applies to this, but it's a memory I have of gift exchanges. I wonder what ever happened to Amy???

My sister scheduled a bowling party at Southern Lanes on Wednesday (Christmas week). The kids had fun getting out of the house and doing something different. I think Miles out-bowled all of the older kids. He was so cute. His ball took a solid hour to get down the lane, but he sure didn't let that stop him from having fun.

Miles and Samuel would bowl their balls and lay down on the lane. It reminded me of how a golfer looks at the line of his golf ball for that outstanding putt.

A couple of beauty boats (minus one--can you guess which one??).

Christmas at my Mom and Dad's house NEVER disappoints. We started Christmas Eve morning there. My grandparents and Uncle Mike spoil them with money and gifts. Uncle Mike gave each of the kids $50 to spend a few weeks ago. They love going to pick out their things. Miles didn't go--he really had no interest in shopping and only wanted a Nintendo DSi this year (I'll get to that later). Karson and Isaac perused the aisles at Wal-Mart and selected all their items. Karson's main thing this year was BARBIE and Isaac's for some reason was MIGHTY BEANS. I selected a couple of things for Miles.

My mom also takes the kids shopping to pick our their gifts. I honestly LOVE this method and will probably do the same when I have grandchildren of my own. There are just so many toys out there. I had NO IDEA Isaac even liked Mighty Beans. He's never talked about them or expressed an interest. That's all he wanted this year.

It's been a tradition in our family to sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with different family members singing each part. I took video of the 12th day down to spare you from our terrible singing (or mine anyways).

After spending most of the morning and afternoon with my family, we went to Matt's Mamaw's house that night and celebrated with them.
Christmas morning was lovely. Blankets of white snow covered everything. I heard it was the first white Christmas since 1993 --17 years ago. We spent our morning opening up gifts and enjoying time together. Santa brought Karson a Barbie dream house. And he brought Isaac and Miles DSi's. Normally a 4 year old child wouldn't request such an extravagant gift, but Miles has been exposed to so much more than Karson and Isaac. He has four people above him in the family pecking order (Karson, Evan, Elizabeth and Isaac). K, E & E all have DSi's. Isaac started wanting his own this summer when E & E got theirs for their birthday, and then later on Miles started wanting one too. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to purchase TWO more DSi's simply because TWO will be available to Miles at anytime once school is back in session. However, it was the ONLY thing he wanted. How could Santa not bring one? In fact on Christmas morning as the two older children were BLOWING through their gifts, Miles was completely content with his DSi. We couldn't even get him to open up his other gifts. He wasn't interested--all he wanted was his DSi. After much persuasion, he finally opened his other presents (but wasn't as thrilled about them).

Let me just say that my boys are ALWAYS in their underwear. I can barely stand to wear short sleeves this time of the year, and they run around in the buff all day.

Occasionally I can get some pajamas on them. Here is Isaac intent on his DSi game with his spy glasses on. He wore these to church Sunday morning. I got him some spy gear this year (I wasn't about to buy more Mighty Beans).

The loot.
Later that morning, we went over to Colvin and Debbie's so the kids could open their gifts there.

We didn't spend anytime in the snow mainly because we had to be at Matt's granny's house later that afternoon. Andrew brought his 4-wheelers over, but we never made it out. Our kids aren't snow lovers by any measure--they will go play in it, but it's usually for about 5-10 minutes. It's not worth the bundling or persuading to get them go outside SO we spent our white Christmas indoors. We went to Granny and Grandads later that afternoon and crashed at home later that evening. It's was a special holiday!!!