Nicole's Visit and Baseball

May 14-16, 2009---We were excited when Nicole called to ask if she and her boyfriend, Ben, could stay with us for the weekend. Their high school baseball team was competing in the championships that were being played in Jackson. Of course we said YES and prepared for their coming.

It was so good to see Nicole. I haven't seen her in two months!! I miss her so much. She is growing up way to fast (as I have blogged about many, many times). This was our first time meeting Ben even though they have dated for 1.5-2 years. And yes, we did live near her for over a year of this time period and she still never brought him over for me to approve!! But, that's another story...

She and Ben arrived on Thursday with just enough time to drop off their bags before heading to the Mississippi Braves stadium for game one of the high school class 3A baseball championships. The winner is the team who wins 2 out of 3 games in the series. I had Pokeno that night and Rick stayed home with the kids. Nicole texted me with updates and South lost 10-4.

We had a lazy Friday at the house. Rick had work, Anna Catherine had school, and the kids and I hung out with our guests (plus one--one of Ben's friends also spent the night on Thursday). While Chloe was napping the teens took Jackson to the neighborhood pool. They seemed to have had fun. Then it was time for AC to be picked up from school and the teens met up with some of their friends who were also in town for the game. Friday night we grilled and just lounged around. It was nice.

On Saturday, Anna Catherine, Jackson, and I went to the second game in the championship series. We sat with Nicole, Ben, and 30 other SPH students. The students got into the game, beating our rhythms using drums and tapping sticks on the seat backs while they chanted. They had about 6-8 different chants...very impressive!! It was quite entertaining. Wish I had a video :(

Unfortunately, the Cougars just couldn't keep up with the Bobcats and lost 11-1. Granted, Sumrall scored all of their runs in just two innings, South was not able to compete with the champs, Sumrall High School Bobcats, who ended the season 36-0.

South team members receiving individual runners-up medals:


South receiving the 2nd place trophy:


It was quite an accomplishment to get to the final game in the class 3A series and we are proud of the South Pontotoc Cougars!!!

Swim Lessons

Anna Catherine and Jackson took swim lessons from Maley Swim School the first two weeks of May. We wanted the kids to have some lessons before we go on vacation. Not that I expect them to be advanced swimmers in two weeks but I do want them to be comfortable in the water and to be able to get to the side if there were some sort of accident. In hindsight, I wish I had enrolled them for the weekly spring session. I know that many people who give lessons have to wait until summer because they use their own outdoor pools. But, if you think about it, why wait until summer to give swimming lessons? What good does it do to give lessons during the swim season? That would be like sports teams not having practice until the season has already started. How can the person improve their skills if there is no practice during the off-season? Ideally, I think children should learn to swim during the fall/winter so they are ready to swim in the summer. Enough of my ramble...


Jackson is afraid of water...at times. He screams bloody murder when you get his head wet in the bath tub. He also loves to play in the rain and will stand under the downspout for long periods of time. This makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever!!! How can you hate water one minute and love it the next?!? Only Jackson could be capable of this. We enrolled him in the beginner class. He was freaked out and held onto Miss Jessica for the first week. He was terribly afraid to put his face in the water and he would barely kick his legs. Eventually, the teachers would let go of him and let him sink to the bottom of the pool. They would swoop him back up to the surface and let him regain his composure. Poor fella. He was the worst student in his class. I am hoping he will get more comfortable in the water this summer. We have a pool in our subdivision that we plan to use a few times a week.

Even though Anna Catherine has taken private lessons in previous years and absolutely LOVES the water, we enrolled her in the same beginner's class with Jackson to refresh her memory. By the end of the two weeks she was able to swim the width of the pool without taking a breath and she swam the length of the pool while only needing to take a few breaths. She was also able to roll from her stomach to her back while swimming. Not to brag, but she was the BEST in the class. The other mothers said the same thing.

Anna Catherine is eager to learn the different strokes and would like to be on a competitive swim team. We will enroll her in the next level for the fall session. We will also be enrolling Jackson and Chloe for the fall session. Jackson will remain in the beginner class and Chloe will be in the waterbabies class.

From cast to brace

I am several weeks late posting this update on AC's arm. Sorry! Things have been hectic (as usual). On May 4 the doctor removed the waterproof cast. We were excited because swim lessons started that day and we have vacation coming at the end of the month.

Her arm was a little discolored and had some bruising and blisters.

We were surprised when the doctor came in and told us Anna Catherine would have to wear this brace for a month.

It will take her arm another month to completely heal. He had never mentioned this while discussing his plan of action for her arm. If he had, I would have insisted on keeping the waterproof cast on until we return from vacation. The brace can not get wet. Luckily it is removable so she takes it off when washing her hands, before bath time, and when we go swimming. The doctor said to be careful not to bang it, slip at the pool, limit athletic activities, etc. WHY!?! WHY didn't he leave the waterproof cast on her arm? He knew about the swim lessons and our vacation. It would have been so much easier to have kept the waterproof cast. I am so afraid she is going to hit her arm on the side of a waterslide/waterpark ride, slip at the pool, fall while running/playing, etc. It would have eased my mind to have kept the waterproof cast on for another month. It was hard and indestructible and made me feel safe. Oh well, there's nothing I can do now except hope and pray that she does not have an accident and re-injure herself.

Nicole's Prom

Nicole's prom was in mid-April but I am just now posting some casual pictures from it. The professional ones have not come in yet. Prom was held in the Johnson Commons Ballroom on the Ole Miss campus. She said it was a lot of fun. Isn't my baby beautiful?!? She is just growing up way too fast!!! She should still be a little girl, but she'll be 17 on her birthday. Where does the time go???


with her boyfriend Ben:

She has the most beautiful eyes!!!

Hungry Squirrel

We put a simple wooden bird feeder in our back yard. We thought it had been hung so that the birds could easily eat without the squirrels getting their food or scaring them away. Well, we don't know how many times the squirrels have attempted to get to said feeder but today one of them was successful. Rick watched as he climbed onto the grill and then jumped onto the top of the bird feeder.

He would then lean over the side scooping food out of the feeder. He also tossed food down to the ground where four more squirrels sat waiting for the seeds:

Then it would hang there and eat before curling up for another helping. Can you imagine the abs on this squirrel? He did crunches for a good five minutes while we watched him eat. I can't imagine having that kind of core strength.

Fondue Anyone?

Rick and I registered for a fondue set when we got married. We had eaten at The Melting Pot and loved it, so we thought, 'We can do that at home'. We've only used it twice in the almost eight years that we've been married. It is a fun concept but it's just not as easy to do it at home with one little pot. Well, Rick decided he wanted to use it this weekend and of course I did not object when we opted to have chocolate fondue for dessert!!! We gave the kids the option of marshmallows, strawberries, and graham crackers as dippers.

AC liked crushing her graham crackers and rolling her chocolate covered marshmallow in the crumbs---I guess you could call it a form of s'mores...

Chloe couldn't decide if she wanted to use her fondue fork or her hands:

Either way, she was covered in chocolate by the end of the night:

Jackson tried two chocolate covered marshmallows before he declared that he would prefer a plain marshmallow. How could you NOT want chocolate?!?!?! We loves both marshmallows and chocolate. I guess the combination wasn't appealing to him.

I believe the fondue set will get much more use now that the kids are aware that it exists!

Kindergarten Field Day

April 30, 2009---The American Lung Association sponsored field day at MAE. There were eight games during the field day activities---egg on a spoon race, dizzy bat race, bean bag toss, sack race, hula hoop race, animal sprint relay race, and sea animal riding relay race. Each of the eight kindergarten classes split into two teams and competed against the other classes.

AC and her peeps:

I worked the sea animal race. It was an easy game---There were two pool noodles, one with a dolphin puppet head and the other with a sea horse puppet head. Each team member had to put the noodle between their legs and ride it to the end of the course, around a cone, and back to their class where they handed off the animal to the next person in line. It was an easy game to monitor and still watch Chloe. Due to me working the race, I do not have pictures from the other events.

At the end of field day, the eight kindergarten classes competed in a "tug-of-war tournament". There were brackets and each class was eliminated after one loss. AC did not participate because of her arm. Her class lost in the first round.

Afterwards, I checked AC out of school and the girls enjoyed lunch at Chick-fil-a before picking up Jackson at preschool. It was a good day :)

Zoo Field Trip

April 25, 2009---The MAE kindergarten classes enjoyed a field trip today to the Jackson Zoo. The babies and I went along as chaperones. We had 12 parents from AC's class there so each had their own child plus one more. I had my three plus Anna Catherine's best friend, Marie. It was nice to only have to be responsible for a few children because the zoo was extremely crowded that day. Apparently Rankin County kindergarten classes and West Lauderdale kindergarten classes had the same plan, thus there were several hundred kids running wild. I felt sorry for the "regular folks" who just decided to take advantage of the nice weather and visit the zoo that morning!






This was our first visit to the Jackson Zoo. It's okay, but I'm used to the Memphis Zoo. I know that the Memphis Zoo has come a long way since I was a kid. All of their new and updated exhibits are magnificent and I really enjoy going there when we're in the Memphis area. I would have to say that the Jackson Zoo is still at the level the Memphis Zoo was about 25-30 years ago. I would say that 40% of the zoos cages/animal areas were empty. But the kids didn't care! They were just excited to see the animals. I am only posting a few animal pictures...

The Zoo has been boasting about "Penguin Plunge", their new penguin exhibit. We paid an additional $2 per person to see them. This is what we saw...



that's all there was---COMPLETE RIP-OFF!!!!! There were five penguins in a tank that was the size of the built-ins in my den. This thing was tiny and smelled horribly. The children weren't impressed at all. And of course, the only way to get out of the exhibit was to go through the new Penguin Gift Shop. We didn't purchase anything, even though Jackson saw several things he just had to have!

The girls enjoyed walking Chloe around on her monkey leash. This was the first time we've ever used a leash with any of our children (although we should have!). Chloe loves to run away from us and there was no way I was going to let her get away from me at the zoo! Oddly enough, she really likes it. She even wears it around the house.

We stopped to "rest" in one of the play areas:

Chloe liked the "crock-a-gator" (as she calls them):



The BFFs enjoyed picking and eating honeysuckle, which was abundant throughout the zoo:

We were allowed just under two hours to tour the zoo and then we joined the rest of her class for a picnic lunch in the park across from the zoo entrance. All of the kids were worn out. They ate as if they hadn't eaten in days (in their defense, it was almost an hour and a half past their normal lunch time). I checked AC out and took my kids for a ride on the train that has a short route through the park. We then hiked a good half mile to the van, loaded up, and headed home. Chloe and Jackson were asleep before we got back on the interstate. Once we got home, the little kids continued their naps while Anna Catherine and I hunkered down on the couch and watched the movie "Annie".

Even though the Jackson Zoo is not very impressive I bought a year-long family pass. Why you might ask? Because a family pass was cheaper than us paying for two visits and you know that we will be going back several times. Also, having a zoo membership allows you free or discounted rates to over 150 zoos in North America that take part in the Zoo and Aquarium Reciprocal program---which includes the Memphis Zoo, the St. Louis Zoo (which we are going to in three weeks), the Henry Vilas Zoo (in Madison, Wisconsin--which we are also going to in three weeks), and many others that we can easily make day trips to in the South. I am thinking we will definitely get our money's worth from this pass!