A Major Award Repeat

Around this time last year Isaac won a MAJOR award (not really) from the library from the winter reading program. He won a snow screamer sled with only TWO reading entries. Those are pretty good odds considering this year we put at least 25 in the pot and didn't win squat--or DID WE? Oh yes, we won something even better. This year, his win was even MORE MAJOR (for real) and comes from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. I received the following email and attachment this afternoon:

February 20, 2012

Dear Isaac Deaton:

Congratulations on being selected as the first place winner in the 2012 Ag Day Poster/Essay Contest representing 1st grade. Your entry was selected as the most outstanding among entries from across the Commonwealth.

As recognition of your fine accomplishment, you will receive a $100 check from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. As further recognition, you, your parents and your teacher are invited to attend the 2012 Ag Day Luncheon to be held in Frankfort at 11:30am, Eastern Time on Wednesday, March 14. The location of the Ag Day Luncheon is the Kentucky History Center.

You will be recognized as a contest winner by Commissioner of Agriculture, James Comer, and receive a certificate acknowledging your award.

WHOA! First a sled and NOW $100. Isaac is well on his way to achieving major things in his life. I have no doubt in my mind he is going to do something AMAZING with his creative little brain.

We're so proud of our little 1st grader.

Anyone Want to Hunt Groundhogs?

I am WAY over this blasé weather. I could wring that groundhog's neck. It was in the 50's and 60's the week before February 2. I shouldn't complain because we have enough firewood to fill up Diddle Arena, and it needs to be burned ASAP. AND, I don't want to store it this spring/summer/fall and take a chance of gaining some unwanted new house guests, aka termites. At any rate, we're still trucking through February. This week has been the week of LOVE and Valentine's. Karson is getting to that age where the V-day parties are simple along with the cards and candy. Isaac is still in the full THRUSH of school parties. This year his class had a box decorating contest. Since he picked out dinosaur Valentine's, I figured, why not make a dinosaur box. However, I really wanted his box to look like a 7 year old kid decorated it. Constructing it required more fine motor skills than, honestly, I could handle--but I managed. Isaac loved putting all the finishing touches on it.

The final product, ready for the contest and ready to chomp fingers off.

I especially like the inside of his box. LAST WARNING: roar, roar. I didn't make it to the parties at Plano. I decided to sit this one out. They are always high energy, and Miles is usually attached to my hip. However, I did miss Isaac's triumphant 2nd place WIN in the box decorating contest. He was beaming with pride when he got in the van that afternoon. Here is his box filled with loot from his friends.

Karson's bag and Valentine cards. Be there, done that.

Miles had his Valentine's party at school on Monday. He was very tickled with all of his goodies. I was tickled that he wrote his name on 14 individual Valentine's. WOW. He has certainly come a long way this year. Ms. Teresa is constantly bragging on how hard he's been working in class. It makes me so proud. I'm starting to feel he is more prepared to start kindergarten--oh, what a transition it is. Gotta stop thinking about it. I got a tight grip on my baby boy.

HAPPY LOVE WEEK TO ALL!

Wild Planet Deaton

KNOW WHO THESE FUN ALIENS BELONG TO?

NASH TUTH SPRON

US!

I scored these NEW toys, Test Tube Aliens, at Wal-Mart this week. They were way to fun to pass up.

STEP ONE: add water to test test and watch the alien spew fizzzzz

STEP TWO: getting a thumbs up from three anxious alien owners

STEP THREE: clean test tubes of all debris to reveal our little creatures

STEP FOUR: feed aliens sloog so they can grow over the next 14 days.

STEP FIVE: fill test tube to approximately 150 ml of water and make sure their heartbeat is the correct color--flashing red = healthy, flashing orange = hungry, needs more water, flashing yellow = drowning, has TOO much water.

STEP SIX: purchase multiple numbers of these aliens and share as birthday gifts for friends.

Great Week, Great News

It's not hard to believe that Groundhog Phil saw his shadow with all the sun we've been having lately. I'm excited about this beautiful springtime weather. It does wonders for the mind and body. I washed my car OUTSIDE on Thursday. And, I was able to clean the turtle tank OUTSIDE yesterday. This process is quite entertaining-- I am so neurotic about making sure none of the turtle salmonella gets ON ANYTHING!

I've been walking a lot while Miles is at preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It's much easier to get a small workout in for about an hour. I usually walk at the mall but yesterday I wanted to walk OUTSIDE. I can't think of many trails that are prettierthan the one over by Lost River Cave, also known as the Bark Park area. It was beautiful yesterday. I also wanted to stop by the visitor center and talk with the directors about the Junior Naturalist program that they offer. I think it would be right up Isaac's alley. The program is designed to encourage children to explore nature all year and provide them with hands-on experiences. Of course, the program is FULL at this time, but I had us placed on a waiting list in the event they add another one.

Speaking of nature, the kids both entered a poster contest for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture. Isaac's teacher emailed me about the contest telling me that she thought Isaac should enter--she said, "he's always telling me what an artist he is." I thought his poster was very good. The scene is of people working together to build a log cabin.

Karson's picture depicts the stages of cotton growth.

I'm trying to encourage both of them to enter The Dream Out Loud Challenge which is also a poster contest. I'll post pics if they decide to do it.

On to the GREAT NEWS of the week. Some of my readers know that Karson was selected to be on Plano's Academic Lanugage Arts team back in the fall. This is an honor considering she is only in 3rd grade. The group has met for weeks at 7:15 every Wednesday morning. They have weekly homework which consists of vocabulary, assessing/reading the book Bridge to Terabithia and memorizing Newberry and Caldecott winners. On Wednesday, she had to take a test to see if she would qualify to compete in the District competition. Her teacher Ms. Woods planned to select three kids and one alternate. That's a small number. Well, my Karson was selected--her scores must have been high enough for her to participate. I was/am SO PROUD of her. What an amazing achievement. So, she will continue to meet the next three weeks and participate in the Governor's Cup on February 25. Wish my baby luck!

Weird SCIENCE

Dr. Dreadful has entered our home. Why yes, the STOMACH CHURNER is an appropriate name for this toy. Isaac and I spent a while trying to create festering blisters and oozing potions. After a while, I just let him GO and use his creative MAD Scientist juices. If I could go back in time and tell myself this when all my kids were younger, it would be this: toys, such as this one, aren't meant to last longer than ONE, maybe TWO times. Let your kid have a blast with it, making as many concoctions as possible and using up ALL the ingredients and then move on. Don't save the toy for a later time or ask them to follow directions--just let them go. Trust me, it's easier in the long run. I know that statement makes me sound like an incredibly wasteful person, but quite frankly, I find it frustrating "maintaining" toys like this. And, they usually discontinue the refills or make them impossible to find unless you want to spend $20 on eBay for bubbling blister goo or slingshot snot mix. This has happened with Isaac's Graffiti Scooter chalk (which won't be pitched), Martian Matter refills, Aqua Sand and the list continues. Those of you that know me, know I am a clutter free kind of gal--although Lego's have covered my dining room for months now. My point, let your kids have all kinds of fun with these toys but then LET THEM GO--either give them to a grandparent, a donation center or the trash can. If only my future self could've told this to my current self--stress less and have fun MORE.

Wheels of Glory

Jimmy = Isaac Chazz = Miles

The boys don't quite fit the titles above, but we're hopeful they'll eventually become skating GREATS like Jimmy and Chazz. Both Miles and Isaac got their first taste of roller skating yesterday. Our weekend was full of excitement. Our neighbor Mia has a birthday just days before Isaac and celebrated with a party at The Skate Box. Karson has been skating numerous times, but the boys have never been. Walking into The Skate Box brings back floods of memories for me--the chewing gum mountain, the cubby holes which housed loads of skates, the super slick restroom floor, sock races, the Hokey Pokey, blisters, and the list goes on.

Skating and photo taking requires much more skill than you think. I'm thankful Karson has gone "pro" with her skating and didn't require much attention on the rink. The last time she went roller skating (which wasn't long ago) she got a terrible blister on her toe. We came prepared this time around with TWO pairs of socks.

Is she not the most beautiful child?

All I can say about Isaac is that he was determined to master the art of skating on Saturday. He went through THREE skate changes in the process. He started out on bright orange skates which cannot be adjusted. He was basically pulling my shoulder out of socket trying to boomerang around the rink. If he wasn't on the floor, he was completely out of control. I told him we needed to find some different skates--preferably ones that can be fine-tuned (aka, tightened wheels). The tan skates (above pics) offer that--more controlled skating to get a feel for it. He liked those for a while but towards the end of our session was READY to trade them back in for the orange, lightening speed skates.

Uh, yep, that's him LAID out in the middle of the rink which is where he remained most of the time in in the orange skates.

Here's another shot of him maintaining his balance. By the end of the session, he really was getting the hang of it. I was proud of his perseverance. I've never seen him try SO HARD at something. I guess he's growing up in that area. He's ready to go skating again although his legs look like he's been badly beaten. I told him the next time we go he needs to wear Karson's volleyball knee pads. He said, yeah and a HELMET. Look out Skate Box.

Sweet Miles enjoyed every minute skating. He loved it. I could hardly drag him off the rink (except for drink breaks). Granted, it took almost ten minutes to make a lap around, it was still fun. I have a feeling we'll be returning to The Skate Box sooner rather than later.

My 7 year old Beach Boy

Here's the invitation that went out.

Here's the venue of the birthday celebration.

Here are the people I walked in on when the hotel gave us the wrong room. Just kidding--this picture is off the hotel website. But the hotel did make that mistake and gave us keys to someone else's room. I knew something was off when I noticed boots on the floor and suitcases on the bed. It could've been very awkward if the people had been in their room.

Here are the table decorations, sunglasses and leis, and the beach cake. I also got smiley face beach balls and water guns but realized I would give those out as favors at the end of the night. Plus, I wanted to be courteous to the other people using the hotel pool.

Here are three anxious kids waiting for party guests to arrive. We booked a hotel room for the night so Matt and Isaac could have a boys night. Since check-in was at 4 p.m., we decided to head on over right after school and make the most of it.

Here are some of our party guests.

Here the guests are enjoying pizza. Thanks goodness Domino's in directly across the road.

Here are some guests dancing under the sun lights.

Here's Isaac blowing out his 7 candles.

Here's Isaac opening up his gifts.

Here's the smile that makes all the planning and preparing TOTALLY worth it.

And, finally, here is the mantel showcasing all of Isaac's birthday cards and wishes. My friend Lisa made him the most adorable balloon wreath.

I think this was the best birthday ever for my little 7 year old. I highly recommend a pool party in January.