Harlem Shake Mag Deaton

What my family does on a Saturday while Mom is at home sick.

Isaac "Orville" Wright

The second grade classes at Plano presented their wax museum on Wednesday afternoon.  I decided to go ahead and purchase Isaac an outfit suited to his character, mainly because I figured it could double for an Easter outfit as well.  I don't normally purchase hats and vests, but this ensemble was to cute to pass up.  It's hard to find a picture of Orville Wright not wearing a suit.  I really didn't want Isaac to look that formal for the wax museum so I tried my best to find something that was "dress casual".  

His finished poster which really turned out well.  It's hard to capture the true spirit of an aviator without an actual airplane.  I thought this poster board prop helped bring out that side of his character.

I didn't snap many pictures or visit with the other children becuase I've been suffering with a nasty cold/sinus/congestion thing for a few weeks now.  I really thought I would have this thing kicked by now, but it's still lingering around.  I didn't want to spread my germs to much so I hovered around Isaac most of the time.

I did snap a picture of him and Albert Einstein though.  This kid cracked me up.  He had powder in his hair, for the graying effect.  Powder was all over the place.  He kept smacking the top of his head and showering powder all over the place.

All of the completed projects made it to school last week.  Whew.  Karson got to turn in her William Taft paper and bio bottle.  Miles's African American poster was displayed in the school entryway.  And, I was relieved to get everything out of the house to make way for my over-sized box of Valentine's candy.  I'm fairly easy to please on V-day.  I just want a giant box of chocolate, and Matt certainly delivered that this year.

February Catch-Up

Do you ever have one of those months that's just the perfect storm of events?  

You are constantly busy, and there is no shortage on things to get done.  I applaud single parents.  I have no idea how my children would function if it wasn't for one "sane" parent (eh-hem, not me) in our house.  

 The beginning of the month is just a blurrr besides getting our taxes done--yes!  And, I have began bowling in a league on Wednesdays to help my mom out while she is working for the state school testing.  SO, let me start with the end of last week.  On Friday, I decided to pull the kids out of school for the day and head to Louisville.  We went there because Matt's SWHS bowling team won the regional tournament and got to compete in the state, which was in Louisville.  Our trip was actually two-fold because my family lives in Louisville as well.  My Memaw had a mini-stroke on Wednesday afternoon so I was anxious to visit with her.  We headed to the 'ville on Thursday afternoon after Karson's quick recall match.  Matt and the team were all staying at the Crowne Plaza hotel which had an INDOOR pool, woo hoo.  The kids were so excited, bouncing off the walls, squealing every second--I think I sprouted a few more gray hairs that night.  After our 8 p.m. swim session, we got them all settled down and in bed.  Matt's team didn't have their match until 1:30 that afternoon which gave us plenty of time the next morning to visit with my grandparents and my Uncle Mike.  My Memaw is doing okay, trying to rest and recover.  We didn't stay long.  I knew she didn't feel well, and the kids energy level doesn't make for a good combination with that.  We ate lunch with them at Pizza Hut and then headed back to the bowling alley for some state tournament action.  The team ended up placing 7th in the team bowling and lost the first match of the baker bowling.  The team that beat South actually ended up winning the entire thing =(.  I felt sad for the boys.  I know they weren't ready for their season to end so soon.  However, they are a young group and have a couple more years to compete.  We got home late Friday afternoon.  Isaac was begging for a playdate with his friend Patrick so we picked him up once we arrived in BG.  They had a ball playing together, and it allowed me time to get everything back "in order".  Sometimes overnight trips, although fun, are serious work for us moms, even when the kids get older.

Matt got home later because the team all went out for dinner after the match.  He was supposed to attend a men's retreat (that night) with friends from Greenwood Park church.  He was waffling with his decision to leave that night or go the next morning.  He ended up going that night--I know he must have been worn out though.  Saturday was fun.  Evan and Elizabeth came over that morning to play and went to Karson's basketball game.  Between Karson's basketball and academic team commitments and Matt's bowling schedule, we stay "on the go".  I can hardly wait for next Tuesday when it will all be OVER.  Yee HAW!  

I had to work Saturday night which turned out to be incredibly busy at SKyPAC.  **Speaking of work, isn't it fun when you show up for work and your co-worker and you have the SAME dress on? BFF's certainly think alike and shop at the coolest stores.  Jennie is my neighbor, our kids are the same age, and I can't imagine life without her.  We walk together, work together, gripe together and apparently have GREAT taste in clothes =).** Back to Saturday night, I was ready to crash and burn that when Matt called at work and said Isaac had a fever.  Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing big--all of us have been coughing, had scratchy throats and all that comes with constant weather changes.  Miles had a fever last Sunday which only lasted that afternoon?  Weird fevers.

Sunday night our church hosted the HFC Dinner at the campus house at WKU.  It turned out to be "hipster" night so we decided to borrow some of their glasses and make a fun picture.  I SO needed a girls pick-me-up.  It's nice to hang out with girlfriends and act silly.  Our theme was breakfast for dinner.  The students were very appreciative and floods of my HFC memories came back to the surface.  I'm thankful for this ministry, and that it is still thriving.

I'm not sure who does the planning at Plano, but it seems when ONE kid has a project due, all three have one.  Miles project was the first one to come home.  He had to select an African American person to do a report on.  He was not-to-thrilled about it, which kind of surprised me because he really likes homework.  Since he was reluctant to pick a person, I made him shut his eyes and put his finger on the paper.  It landed on Garrett Morgan.  WHO? you ask.  I thought the same thing but was glad about the selection because it gave us a chance to research someone we didn't know.  The cool thing about Morgan was that he was from Kentucky and an inventor. I told Miles that his teacher would probably ask him to recite some facts about his person. We learned the basics:  his name, where he was from, when he was born, what was special about him?  By the time we completed the poster, Miles had them all memorized~hopefully, he will do as well in his presentation.  

Karson's project was the next to come home.  She had to select a president to do a BIO-BOTTLE on.  A bio-bottle  requires the student to research a president, write a report on that president and assemble a 2-liter bottle to look like your president.  Karson selected our 27th president William Taft.  Again, a person was chosen that I literally know nothing about.  How cool is that bio-bottle?  I think it's an uncanny representation of sir Taft!

I pulled this from Karson's research paper:  

"He was the largest president at 350lbs, and he was 6ft 2in tall. He was so big he had a special tub installed in the White House so he could fit . When he was nervous, he ate salted almonds, which were his favorite snack. He could eat pounds of salted almonds in one sitting.  He had a walrus mustache."

Speaking of walrus mustaches, can you spot the one in this photo taken this morning?  Matt usually isn't able to attend the Donuts with Dads event at Plano since it's early in the morning, and he has to be at South.  I call in the grandparent reinforcements to take over.  Pops and Pap came over this morning at 7:15 a.m.  Whoa, that is early!  They took the kids to school for D.W.D.  

The walrus 'stache is going to be used with Isaac's project ~ The 2nd Grade Wax Museum at Plano which takes place next Wednesday.  Isaac has selected Orville Wright to do his research on. I had ordered some classroom supplies for our church which came in giant, brown, cardboard boxes.  I knew they would be perfect for our poster presentation.  Isaac is also required to dress up like his character and be able to answer questions about him.  I'll be sure to blog about the event next week.  Karson was assigned Amelia Earhart in 2nd grade.  I've linked the blog post on it here, Karson "Amelia" Deaton. Maybe my kids are destined to be pilots?

On top of the projects, this week also includes a Valentine's celebration at school.  Trying to address 20+ Valentine's Day cards for three children is no easy task, but I've managed to make sure that is done as well.  As you can tell, February is just as busy as ever.  I'm really hoping things will slow down after this week.  Basketball is ending, quick recall is ending, and Matt's bowling has ended.  Whew. 

A Birthd8 Miracle

Sometimes birthday wishes DO come true. I saw the light from our family room TV glaring around 6 a.m. this morning and automatically assumed it was Matt. He is usually up early and getting ready to leave for school. I would've never dreamed it was Isaac--my late sleeper.  He was snuggled up in the La-Z-boy watching a show.  I said, "buddy what are you doing up so early?'  He said, "I wanted to see dad on my birthday before he left for school."~ sweet! I paused his show and checked the news to see if schools were canceled.  There was an expected ice storm moving through our area late night/early morning.  When I saw the school closing(s) ticker, I KNEW we had to be out.  When Warren County popped up, I told Isaac, "school is canceled today."  He excitedly replied, "my birthday wish came true."  

Isaac has brought so much joy to our lives.  When we started talking about his 8th birthday, immediately after his 7th, he really wanted to have his birthday party at Stakz Frozen Yogurt.  Although I agreed that would be a fun place to have a party, I told him that we could do something even more special like go to Opry Mills and the Lego store in Nashville and maybe even spend the night since his birthday fell on a Friday this year.  I was actually surprised by how much convincing it took--I mean fro yo for the Lego store--is that even a contest?  He sure does love the orange sorbet.  He finally relented, and I started planning for his special night at Opry Mills.   I decided to look into parties at Rainforest Cafe and The Aquarium Restaurant.  Since we've been to Rainforest a handful of times, I decided we'd try The Aquarium for the party place.  The package is actually really cool.

The package includes:

o   A Party Favor (Plush Sea Animal) for each child.

o   A balloon Bouquet for the birthday child to keep.

o   Choice of an Aquarium’s Kid’s Meal

o   Unlimited soft drinks in a Sharkey character souvenir cup for each child.

o   A Sharkey character kid’s plate for each child to take home.

 I knew his party would be simple, in that we wouldn't have lots of attendees, only family which is actually quite a few attendees by itself =).Since I didn't have to make many invitations, I wanted to make something extra special and unique.  I decided to do Isaac's own personal messages (or invitations) in a bottle.

I picked up some clear, corked bottles at Hobby Lobby along with some blue sand and seashells.  After carefully funneling in the sand, I sprinkled the shells on top.

I made the invitations with a brown lunch sack and scroll print out.

I cut the invites fairly small, rolled them up and secured them with a rubber band.  I slipped them into the bottles, added some twine at the top and seriously how cool are these invitations!?!?  They were so fun to make!

Isaac was born at exactly 7:11 p.m. on Tuesday, January 25, 2005.  It was love at first sight, for me and Matt and for Karson.  He was the best baby in the world--very relaxed.  I remember him sitting in his carseat in his bedroom with Karson playing around him.  She'd pile up loads of Little People in his lap and try her best to involve him.  He just looked at her in awe.  She was the coolest being on the planet in his eyes.  Karson was the best big sister always trying to help swing him in the battery-operated swing--she needed him to go a little higher (and faster) than the swing allowed.  She'd help feed him and give him baths.  She loved her little bud as she liked to call him.  Isaac has spent the last 8 years following in his big sister's footsteps.  He's incredibly smart, talented, well-liked, creative and entertaining.  His comment this morning "my birthday wish came true" is classic Isaac!  He's a lucky one.  I've come to realize that luck surrounds Matt and Isaac in many ways .  You know how some people are just lucky or seem to be luckier?  Well, we have two of those in our family.

~ AN ICY MORNING ~ as luck would have it, schools were canceled today due to icy roads.  However, I had not one but TWO cakes to pick up, both at 10 a.m.  I was to pick up one at the mall Cookie Store and another one a Wal-Mart.  I wasn't sure how driving conditions would be, but it's usually easy to tell living next to Plano Road--a main artery in our area of town.  Cars and trucks were buzzing by at normal speeds so I felt pretty safe getting out.  I made it to town safely around 10:30 to pick up both cakes.


The cookie cake was supposed to go to Plano Elementary this afternoon so Isaac could celebrate his birthday with his classmates.  The beach/ocean cake was going to come with us tonight for his party at The Aquarium.  I want you to look carefully at both cakes and see if you notice any error(s)? I didn't notice until I got home.  Okay, I'll tell you...the lady forgot to cross the 't' in Birthday on the Wal-Mart cake.  It actually didn't have any writing on it at all when I picked it up.  In fact, the bakery clerk almost seemed perturbed that I was there to pick up the cake I had already ordered days prior.  I also told her how to correctly spell Isaac to which she misspelled Issac and then had to scrape it off (can you see the bigger 'a' with white behind it).  Sheesh.  Thankfully, I had palm trees and had made Isaac a seashell #8.  I also asked her to add a sunshine to the top.  It was just to plain for me.  It needed some polishing up (and the clerk did too).

The kids are used to posing for my numerous pictures.  I love Evan's attempt to "jazz up" the picture by spreading his arms out wide!

Since we had the afternoon free, we decided to head on down to Nashville around 2 p.m. with the Maglinger's.  We made our first stop at The Aquarium to drop off our party supplies and see the place. 

We had a fun afternoon browsing through the mall shops.  We had to make a pit stop at It's Sugar.  The kids were amazed by the JUMBO sized candy.  I think Isaac could put away that Laffy Taffy in no time.  He's a sucker for the banana flavor.

We finally found The LEGO Store.  Isaac had one mission, spend every single dollar he'd collected for his birthday on Lego's.  He managed to come up a little short (thankfully).  Karson is my saver. Isaac is my spender.  I may sneak his extra cash into his savings account.  Don't get me wrong, I am glad we now own six Lego Factory Heroes, but I do think he'll thank me one day for saving his money.  Granted, that day may come when he's 16 years old, but I'm willing to bet he'll be glad.  After Lego, the boys and girls split up.  I needed to go to Banana Republic and pick up some perfume.  We also wanted to stop in some girly shops like Justice and Claire's.  The boys decided to head to Dave and Busters for some arcade action.  I'll pass, because....is there anything more fun than girl-time in an accessory store???  I think not.

The most beautiful DIVAS in Nashville!

We did end up at Dave Busters as the party time rolled around and the rest of the party goers were arriving.

Miles had the most luck at D & B's.  Matt said he hit the 500 ticket jackpot twice.  Wait, maybe we have three lucky fellows in my household?  Humph?

We got to The Aquarium right around 5:30 and were seated.

 

Isaac was anxious to open his presents.  He got a Wii Resort game and controller from Pops and Meme.

He got some BB's from Pap and Nana but was kind of confused about the gift.  We tried explaining to him that they had gotten him a BB gun but couldn't really bring that into a restaurant.  Isaac + a BB gun should be very interesting.  Well definitely need to purchase Ralphie some safety glasses ASAP.

Can you spot the diver in these pictures?  While we were there, divers went in to feed the fish.  

It was really cool.  Isaac was so amazed by that.

We are so proud of our little birthday boy!

~ The kids and their stuffed fish swimming in the deep blue sea ~

Singing "Happy Birthday" to our birthday boy!

The kids all got to decorate their own sundaes.  I think that's about the coolest, most entertaining dessert ever for a kid.  Well, it's 11 p.m. and I need to wrap this up and call it a night.  I just wanted to do this post on Isaac's actual birthday.  I am one blessed Mama!  Thank you Isaac for being such a blessing!