groundspeed

Mother's Day Tea... and a Hamster Named Dinosaur.

Blue's class hosted a Mother's Day Tea yesterday. Toby stayed at a friend's house so Blue could have me as his date all to himself.

The class recited some things and sang us song.

They loaded us up with goodies:

We moms did a mad lib style story with our kids, decorated cookies, and received cards in which the kids had answered questions about us.  Apparently, I am as pretty as... a goldfish. Warms your heart, doesn't it?

Blue was a perfect date, and I had a lovely time.

But this is a Blue story.

Obviously it doesn't end there.

After the party, school was done, so Blue came with me to get Toby. We were hanging our for a bit and Blue disappeared down the hallway to the boy's room and my friend and I didn't think anything of it, but then, it kinda occurred to us at the same time... the hamster! 

Blue had dismantled the hamster cage in a way that my friend didn't even know the cage could be dismantled and Dinosaur the pet hamster was running free. Thankfully, running free in this case meant that he was simply hanging out on the table where his cage had once sat. Blue got scolded and warned he was never to touch Dinosaur's cage or hold him without a grown up around. Soon enough, the cage was reassembled, the poop pellets vacuumed off the floor, and Dinosaur was safely returned. Since Blue had never explicitly been told to leave the hamster alone, that was the extent of his correction.

Then Mommies left the room, but not three minutes later there was much suspicious squealing.  Um yeah, Blue had re-released Dinosaur.  He was promptly sent to wait by the door until we left and he lost TV and baseball-attending privileges for that evening. He was told he could earn back the right to attend Kaden's baseball game, but alas, he did not.

And that's the end of a Blue story.

(Deep sigh.)

Blue Goes Yellow

So I guess we're a Taekwondo family now.  What has just been something Blue did Mondays after school for a half hour is the real deal if you go for a belt test and belt ceremony.  Tonight Blue got his yellow belt.

Maybe by the time he gets to orange I'll learn to tie the thing.

He was pleased.

B is for...

Breaking records.


I ran in my first official 5k yesterday morning. That was my number. Blue's school put together a big team of teachers and parents.

I started jogging mid-January. Well, walk-jogging.  I used the Nike app on my phone and just tried to jog a little longer every time I went. Eventually I managed a mile, then 2, then a 5k. But I'm a slow jogger. One could argue I'm more like a bouncy walker.  My fastest 5k time remained 40 minutes even for a long, long time.

Until this Saturday.

I came in at 37:56.

Then I was off to meet Kevin and the boys at Blue's Belt testing.

See - Blue has a white belt. That's the very, very beginning of the Tae Kwon Do journey.

He passed, so this Friday night we get to go to a belt ceremony. Then he's officially a yellow belt!

Walking to the van after the ceremony, I saw my favorite Bird.

(Sandhill Cranes)

Then we were off to Bookfest, the 3rd annual, of this local event where they give kids free books, have local authors selling their books, have book characters out and about, a tent where Mother Goose reads stories, another tent where kids read to local school administrators...

Here's Kaden reading to his principal and Blue (who picked the book).

Toby sat in this spot pulling books from these baskets for like, forever.

After bookfest we were supposed to be off to Baseball, but thanks to a downpour the night before the morning's games were cancelled. At least since Bookfest was at the St Lucie Met's stadium the boys got to watch the pitcher warm up.

So they got their baseball fix while Toby continued to page through book after book after book...

At 3pm Kevin and I then drove across the state to La Belle to meet my dad, Vannoy Banks, for dinner and then to see him at his lastest go with community theater, The Bottom Line. Meanwhile the kids were left to spend the night at my mom's, our favorite free Babysitter!

Easter Weekend

Matching shirts:

Egg decorating:

And counter top staining:

(not really, it cleaned up fine)

Pretty eggs:

(The swirls are melted crayon - the vibrant dye is just good 'ol warm water and vinegar and food coloring - stuff we had on hand, no need to buy any of the store packages)

Candy and treats for breakfast:

Like the little cookie basket? It was this, sorta. I just skipped the coconut because I hate the texture of coconut flakes and I used mini Cadbury eggs because I also do not like jelly beans. I made a zillion of 'em for our church breakfast (and a hashbrown casserole).

Because no, Easter basket candy was NOT the kids only breakfast. Our church does a big pot luck breakfast before the Easter service.


And a hunt. Where Toby couldn't decide... Do I want these eggs or not?

Oh, ok...

And then apparently, the day was all about the food. Because after church we had a light lunch that included Resurrection Rolls I had the kids help me make. No pictures of this, but you should still know because A. They were super yummy and for that alone a worthwhile new tradition and B. Blue has been going around saying, "Marshmallow Jesus melted." So now that sentence won't be so confusing when you hear him say it.

Then I took a nap and Kevin watched some golf and the kids were entirely neglected.

But we managed to get it together and unearth a new batch of clean shirts for dinner at the Dolphin Bar and Shrimp house.

My mom let me pick the restaurant AND paid. And then I go and post this goofy picture?

Ok, here's a better one:


Yes, of course there was also a church service in the midst of all this. But it's all church, isn't it? Celebrating life. Celebrating blessings.

Oh, Death! Where is your sting? 
Oh, Hell! Where is your victory?
Oh, Church! Come stand in the light.
Our God is not dead, He's alive! He's alive! 

(From Christ is Risen, a song by Matt Maher, that we sang at church Sunday morning)

Good Friday at the Beach

Psalm 8

¹ LORD, our Lord, 
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!
  You have set your glory 
   in the heavens.  

We HEARD the waves while still walking up the sidewalk, long before pavement gave way to sand. And then... Red flag. High tide. We weren't sure how our beach day was going to work out.

² Through the praise of children and infants 
   you have established a stronghold against your enemies, 
   to silence the foe and the avenger. 

The kids enjoyed dancing in front of the waves but even later in the day when the tide receded and things smoothed out, Kaden was too scared to get in the water. He'd heard and seen the strength of those wave breaks...

³ When I consider your heavens, 
   the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars, 
   which you have set in place, 

Meanwhile Kevin fully enjoyed God's handiwork.

⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them, 
   human beings that you care for them?

Big waves. Small man.

 ⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned them with glory and honor. 

This troublemaker? A little lower than angels? God IS gracious. :-)

⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands; 
   you put everything under their feet: 
⁷ all flocks and herds, 
   and the animals of the wild, 
⁸ the birds in the sky, 
   and the fish in the sea, 
   all that swim the paths of the seas.

And brothers. Because here Toby has his brothers under his feet.

 ⁹ LORD, our Lord, 
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Yesterday it was animals. Today it was ocean, surf, and sand. There have been times in my faith walk when my intellectual side has leaned toward atheism (just being honest) but in creation... I can't imagine it all occuring by chance. Surely this beach, yesterday's peacock were the design of The Artist.

And if I accept a Master Designer, then I can accept that He is perfect, and I am not, and there must be a bridge to overcome that gap.

Today, more than any day, I humbly acknowledge Christ's sacrifice in creating that bridge. 

But on this side of the cross, it's not such a solemn day. There may be the dark skies, heavy thunderous waves... but they give way. The skies brighten.  The sea calms.  The beauty reveals. 

I know. I've seen.

In nature. In my life. In the life of my kids.

So this solemn day was not so solemn. We played at the beach. We lunched at the Jensen Beach Mulligans. We napped and watched Star Wars. I shopped for our church's Easter breakfast and worked on vases for table decorations. Preparations... 

THE day of celebration for Christians is almost here!

Critters and More Critters

My critters had fun with zoo critters today. This having a zoo pass thing is great when the kids have a day off school.

We were greated by a peacock.

We got to watch a tortoise eat brunch (It was around 10:30am - what other meal could it have been?)

Toby gets just as excited about the tigers and otters and bears as he does watching the same birds he could see in any local pond. Beyond this pic is probably some boring 'ol duck and I think that's super cute.

I came thisclose to getting Blue eaten. A mama can try...

Toby got to ride a zebra.

Kaden battled it out with a fountain.

And Kaden's friend who slept over last night was well entertained.

We watched the Wings Over Water show. We had a stare down with Mardi, the albino alligator. We said hi to Oz, the koala bear with Toby's birthday (but two years older).

Very productive morning.

On the way home we stopped at Chik Fil A. I reminded Blue that he's been calling himself a vegetarian, but he said he wants to be a vegetarian who eats Chik Fil A. We all make our compromises I suppose. (Meanwhile, I ate fruit and fries.) I'd packed plenty of snacks for the zoo so we were able to hold off and not eat lunch till almost 2pm. The beauty of this timing was that the kids had the play area to themselves and we ended up staying almost an hour. After all that fun, I think Toby was asleep before we got out of the parking lot.

On the Hunt

Blue's class had its Easter party and egg hunt at a park near the school. Toby and I joined up for the fun. We left the house a little before 9am and didn't get back till after 12pm. That's a lot of park time! The teachers had numbered the eggs 1-12, and then handed out egg trays that were numbered, so the kids had to hunt for one of every number and put it in their trays.  There were also a bunch of unnumbered eggs for the younger, tag-a-long siblings to find.  Of course, Toby didn't get the concept that he was supposed to only be collecting the eggs without numbers, but I just followed along after him and scooped out the eggs he wasn't supposed to have set them back out.  Because they had specific numbers to find, it turned out to be quite the hunt!  And since it was with bigger kids (4 and 5 year olds) at a playground, some of the egss were placed in funny places - I had to laugh when I saw a kid climbing a rock wall to get at an egg placed at the top!

So... here's the photo dump.

Before the hunt.

This cracked me up.

Is there an egg at the bottom of that slide, Toby?

At this point I think he still needed an #8 and an #11 :-)

All done!

"Hey guys, sit side by side at the top of the slides and I'll take a picture." (Fail)

Party Phase Two - chowing down!

The majority of the class left around 11am but 1/3rd of us stayed and played, and ordered pizza for a second round of eating, and played some more. Towards the end Toby wouldn't leave my side, seated in the shaded pavilion.  When he laid down on the concrete ground and closed his eyes for a second, I finally took pity on the boy and announced to Blue it was time to go.

Tonight Kaden is having a friend sleep over because of a teacher work day tomorrow, so we'll all be off to the zoo. Then Friday, with Daddy off work, we're going to the beach.  

Busy week of fun. Expect more photo dumps :-)

Look, Mom! No training wheels!

Kevin took Blue's training wheels off yesterday.  And just like that, Blue can now ride a bike.

It's Sprung

I know spring is here because I have friends in North Carolina and Texas that are now posting pictures on Facebook with beautiful azaleas in the background. A friend in Virginia posted landscapes with blooming Dogwoods and Empress tress. One of my best friends, also in Virginia, has the most amazing yellow Forsythia in her front yard. She just posted a family picture in front of it that included her newest addition, her two week old son. (Two weeks now, more like one week in the pic.)

Blooming Forsythia AND a newborn.

Now that's a spring picture.

I'm a little jealous.

Here in Florida, our weeds are looking healthier. 

I'm all about year-round beach weather, but it is a shame we have to sacrifice spring.

Still. I try. This week I added a little centerpiece to the table that cost me all of... nodda. (Salvaged the flowers from an old bouquet, had everything else, will need to spend a little when it comes time to replace flowers, but so far not a penny.)

Earlier this week Blue and I colored Easter eggs across our driveway.

On Thursday I sent Blue to school with three hard-boiled eggs and today he came home with this cuteness:

Also today... little colored plastic eggs at the mouth of drain pipes, corners of windows, tucked into plants...

I hosted a little play date and we had our first egg hunt.

Every egg contained spring stickers so after the hunt the kiddos could use their stickers for an Easter picture.

Toby was all about the egg collecting.

Then happily stickered it up.

This was AFTER we'd already made a heckuva mess inside using shaving cream and paint to color flowers.

My sensory seeking boy could not get enough.

He liked making a mess and painting my friend's knee.

But we did manage to get a few flowers painted.

As for the set up... I don't have a table in my breakfast nook. On purpose. I like it open. I like to put my Christmas tree there. I had extra disposable plastic tableclothes from a previous party so I just taped one to the floor in this open spot. Yes, shaving cream and paint still got on the bench seats and tile, but it wiped up fine. 

As for the how-to using shaving cream to paint. Go here.

And because it was a playdate there had to be a spread.


Mini fruit pizzas. Yum!

See? Even our food is getting more colorful :-)

Happy Spring! And happy Friday!

Me... As seen by the kids.

Kaden had to write a paragraph about moms for his homework last night. He wrote, "My mom goes shopping at Walmart and Publix to buy healthy food so we can be strong. My mom takes my brother to speech therapy. My mom rests on the couch with Toby sometimes.* My mom goes on dates with us and Dad. My mom goes on jogs. That is what my mom can do."

A few days ago Blue watched an episode of Sid The Science Kid where Sid's mom comes to his class to teach them about computers. He then said I should come to his school and teach about computers. I said that Mrs. Cheryl (the computer teacher at his school) was already doing that, and besides, I wasn't really a computer expert so that's not something I could teach about. I then asked him what he thought I could come teach. What was I good at? He answered, "Spelling, cooking and cleaning."

Holy crap. I am so boring.

*And as for that couch "resting" I prefer to call it snuggle time. Every morning, our routine is that after I get Toby up and changed, I hand Toby a sippy cup of almond milk and hold him on the couch while he drinks it. But anyway...

They see me taking pictures and playing with pictures on my computer and creating albums all the time. 

Doesn't factor into their picture of Mom.

They see me reading big fat books; they know I stress that they spend independent time with books; I read to them every day, and I go to a book group once a month.

Doesn't factor into how they see me.

I throw big 'ol parties, going all out even for play dates.

Ho hum.

They hear me singing all the time. They know I sing in "big church" and have sometimes accompanied me during practice or even been in a service where I've soloed. 

No impression whatsoever.

They see me on the computer. I've shown them the blog. 

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At least once a week I'm shut into the office and they aren't allowed to disturb me because, "Mommy's writing."

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And then there's the absence of faith/Christianity in their impression of me, but faith/Christianity is something we ALL do, we ALL talk about, we ALL practice.  As do their cousins, their Gran and Papa, in Blue's case his teachers and school, their church friends.... It's part of the world they take for granted and I don't think it's yet occurred to them that others don't go to church or have school chapel (Blue) or memorize Bible verses or pray in their homes. 

All that considered, none of the things that I factor in pretty highly in my own picture of myself seems to matter to them.

Because to them I just drive them to appointments, shop, cook healthy food and excercise, clean and spell. 

Which makes sense.

They see me in terms of what I do for them. (The excercise factors in because on days I know I won't be jogging by myself, we go on two-mile walks/bike rides together. This happens at least three times a week.) They see me as a nurturer and a teacher.

Ya know, a mom.