Category: Tom and Jodi
Happy 40th Birthday, Tom!!!…
Tom turned 40 today, and he wears it well!!! Â The boys and I gave him cards and presents this morning, and we enjoyed the funnest birthday party ever with him and friends and family this afternoon. Â Here’s to the next 40!!!
Xander and Roman’s Last Day of School…
Xander and Roman had their last day of school today!!! Â We love HFLC so much…on the last day of the school year, they invite parents into the classroom after morning drop-off and present each child with a photo album with pictures taken of them at school all throughout the year. Â It is the sweetest thing. Â It’s tough with two celebrating at the same time and having to choose where to be (last year and this year) but Tom is so thoughtful and offers to go into the classroom with the younger one so I can be with the older one. Â I enjoy loving on the boys, hugging and thanking their teachers, and looking through their yearbooks with them. Â Here’s Xander with his precious teachers, Mrs. Kapolas and Mrs. Hindes. Â I’m so thankful I was able to capture a moment with Roman and his dear teacher, Mrs. Lindsay, when I dropped him off because by the time I stopped into his classroom after being with Xander, he was a super crank and was NOT into having his picture taken with his sweet teacher, Mrs. Michele, or with me for that matter. Â He was happy with Daddy, though, so that’s good. (His long suffering teachers had 7 two year old boys and 1 two year old girl in their classroom this year…I think the look on their faces was as much relief at the end of the school year as mine was fear mixed with dread…haha). Â Yay for Xander and Roman and their last day of school. Â Here’s to summer!!!
Field Day…
I was so excited to get to volunteer for Field Day (I’m so grateful to my dear friend, Rebekah, who kept Roman for me…she said he had a blast playing in the backyard with her sweet girls). Â I worked the Pitch to Catcher station with the mother of one of Jonas’ favorite friends in his class and my precious friend, Jenn. Â We had fun cheering the kids on and marveling at their varying approaches, skill levels, and personalities. Â Jonas visited and got the ball in the net several times. Â It was so fun to see his smiling face and hug him!
Mother’s Day Luncheon…
Can I just be honest and say that for some reason these Mother’s Day luncheons never seem to work out for us? Maybe it’s just that what’s on the outside doesn’t match up with what’s on the inside sometimes, and my boys and I are not very good at pretending. All of the smiling, dressed-up mommy faces with their cooperative, sweet children beaming up at them (glaringly with one child or two children, with one being a sweet sleeping or giggling baby who isn’t mobile and can’t talk back). It could’ve been that at my table were two other moms, each with two GIRLS. I felt like they were staring at my boys and I like we had two heads apiece. Roman, for some reason, that always happens these days (geesh…I thought we’d already been through the terrible twos and paid our dues…but wait there’s more…the gouge-your-eyes-out threes) decided to cry and pitch a fit the entire time over EVERYTHING. Mommy’s trying to take a picture with just Xander (waaaaaaaah), he wasn’t looking where he was going and bumped into Xander (waaaaaaaah), Mommy didn’t open his present first (waaaaaaaah), he’s hungry at the table (waaaaaaaah), he’s hungry in the lunch line (waaaaaaaah), he doesn’t know what to dip everything in (waaaaaaaah), he wants more oranges and sour cream….right now (waaaaaaaah), his plate is messy (waaaaaaaah), etc. With tears streaming down his face and feeling my heart pound with the heat of stares and just wanting it all to be over, we bailed. Happy Mother’s Day to me…I get to bring my boys, who were sick and home from school all last week, home early with me today for a sweet end-of-the-year Mother’s Day gift (kick in the pants). Xander actually did a great job this year (unlike last year when we left early because the Oreo cookies I brought from home, because I’m such a bad mom, to substitute for non-peanut-free desserts were NOT BIG ENOUGH waaaaaaaah). Xander walked to the van…followed by me, with two backpacks and two truly precious handmade gifts in tow and…Roman, having a massive throw-down because I wouldn’t pick him up and carry him too. I went ahead and buckled Xander in and sat in the front seat waiting for Roman, who at the bottom of the stairs several feet away stood stock still and then, when he realized I wasn’t coming to carry his three year old self, muppeted his mouth open into the biggest Mommy-has-abandoned me wail and magically started walking to the car. Ah life, for which I am thankful…and ah kids, with whom I’ve been richly blessed…sometimes it just gets to me and sometimes I just have to laugh…or cry…or both. Why does God continue to put up with us…his children? I know we’re like this with Him…even as adults. I guess it’s because He loves us. I love my boys. Happy Mother’s Day!
Pressure Washing…
Tom pressure washed the treehouse and the patio this weekend…the boys were all standing up on the deck, watching him in awe. Â He asked if they wanted to try it, and they all jumped at the chance and had a BLAST spraying down the old chalkboard.
Strawberry Picking…
We loaded up and went strawberry picking yesterday at Valley Home Farms in Wartrace (near Bell Buckle). This has been one of our favorite spring traditions since Roman was a brand new baby. There is just something about being way out in the country on a fifth generation farm in the middle of a strawberry field with rows and rows of strawberries as far as eye can see…it’s so peaceful and soul filling. We picked and picked…enough for strawberry pancakes for dinner, two trays of frozen strawberries, nine jars of strawberry jam, and a basket of strawberries to take with us to share with family at Pops and Maw’s for lunch on Sunday!!!
Mommy and Me Trip with Xander…
Xander and I took a special trip…just the two of us…to the Atlanta Zoo and to the Georgia Aquarium. Â We drove down on Sunday (that was the quietest car ride I’ve had in a long time…he worked on his road trip binder, listened to books on CD, looked out the window, watched a DVD, colored in his dolphin coloring book, played a few games on my phone, ate snacks, and rested). Â We spent the afternoon at the zoo. Â He did all of the navigating, and his favorite parts were seeing the otters and going for repeat rides on the carousel and the train. Â We made it to our hotel in downtown Atlanta around dinner time and walked down to the Waffle House for dinner. Â Xander was super pumped about his bed at the hotel and loved cozing up under the down comforter with his dolphin pillow pets and looking at his books by the light of his built-in reading lamp. Â He passed out pretty quickly after our long drive and afternoon at the zoo. Â He enjoyed going downstairs in the morning to have breakfast at the hotel in his pajamas. We walked to the aquarium through Centennial Olympic Park, and Xan-Man was over the moon when the first thing he saw was a statue of a dolphin just outside the entrance. We were both pretty much walking around the aquarium the whole time with our jaws on the floor. Â I just followed his lead on the exhibits he wanted to check out. Â We checked out the Ocean Voyager first which was absolutely amazing with whale sharks, manta rays, and countless interesting fish swimming in tanks overhead and in a tank as big as a movie theater screen (that was my favorite place to be…so peaceful just sitting and watching). Â Next, we walked through the Coldwater Quest and visited with the penguins, the beluga whales, and the sea otters. Â After that, we spent some time looking at the Tropical Diver with the jellyfish, beautiful coral, and brightly colored tropical fish. Â There was actually a diver in one of the tanks…cleaning, adding coral, and feeding the fish. Â He had a microphone on him while he was in there and talked about it all with the crowd who gathered around to see. Â We enjoyed watching one of the bigger fish nurse from the fish food bottle…so funny! Â It was time for a snack after that. Â Then, we headed to Dolphin Tales for the reason for the whole trip to Atlanta…the dolphin show!!! Â I was totally amazed at Xander’s patience waiting in line and waiting for the show to start. Â He sat on my lap the whole time, mesmerized. Â It was hands down one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life and SO can’t-find-the-words special to share it with my dolphin-loving Xan-Man. Â The pictures do not come close to doing it justice…dolphins diving and flipping, skating on the water on their tail fins, gracefully pushing their trainers around the pool so it looked like they were walking on water, and winning the hearts of children and adults alike in the process. We passed through the gift shop on the way to lunch at Baja Fresh and picked up a few dolphin friends for Xander and a few souvenirs for his brothers. Â After lunch, I was delighted to find that he was ready for a rest at the hotel. Â We walked back through Centennial Olympic Park and checked out the Olympic Ring splash pad and fountain. Â When we got back to our room, we rested in the quiet and in the dark, cozed up in down comforters for a good hour and a half. Then Xander flipped on the lights and said, “I’m ready to go now, Mom.” Â I’ve never met a little boy who knows himself better than Xan-Man. It was such a privilege for me to be able to take the time to slow down and enjoy life at his pace…what a sweet pace it is. We headed back to the aquarium and enjoyed Deepo’s Wondershow in 3D, complete with some pretty cool special effects. Â Then, we headed to the Aquanaut Adventure which was super fun and educational…Xander got to walk around with an iPad…navigating, answering questions, and completing challenges. Â After that, we hit up the face painting station so he could get a dolphin painted on his face (I wish we had known about this earlier in the day so he could’ve enjoyed it for longer, but he still loved it). Â At the end of our long day at the aquarium, we were both pretty much done and ready for dinner…so we grabbed a Subway and some ice cream, picnicked in the park, and played on the playground. Â We got into bed late that night, and you can see tired Xander in the pictures at a park in Chattanooga where we stopped to stretch our legs on the way home. Â What a wonderful, tiring, beautiful trip with my precious Xander that I will remember for the rest of my life!!!! Â Here’s to many more I hope for in the future…
Click on the “Atlanta with Xander 2015” page to the right for more pictures…
New Garden…
As a nice ending to spring break, Tom had the dirt delivered for the new addition to our garden!!! Â We all enjoyed helping out. Â Tom shoveled and wheelbarrowed dirt, I tried my best to spread it out with a rake, and the boys amused the workmen with their little boy antics and got their hands and clothes as dirty as possible.
Arbor Day…
In conjunction with Arbor Day, Middle Tennessee Electric gave all of the kids at Jonas’ school seedling dogwood trees to plant!!! His tree stayed with his teacher overnight because he was using it as a weapon in class which he was told not to do, but after having a serious talk with his teacher the next day about rules and why it’s important to follow them…he was all smiles stepping off the bus with it in his hand.
We decided to start it out in a pot to let it get a little strength and height to it before planting it in the backyard in free reign of three rambunctious boys and a playful dog. We’ll see how it grows!
More Sledding Fun…
We have a really great hill in the cul-de-sac next to our house that’s perfect for sledding. So, we hit it up again this afternoon, as we needed an active outdoor outing today…the boys have been out of school all week and we’ve all been going a little bit stir crazy. It was just what we needed!
Sledding…
We have snow and ice here in Tennessee and a few snow days ahead!!! We took the boys out sledding this afternoon…
Firefighter Tom Reads to Jonas’ Class…
Firefighter Tom read to Jonas’ class this afternoon!!!
Mommy/Son Movie Night…
Jonas and I went on a date to his school for Mommy/Son Movie Night! We were both so excited and loved waving hello to friends, spending time together, and having fun snacks (hot dogs, popcorn, candy, and water). We ended up leaving after about thirty minutes, though, as the Lego Movie was getting a little scary for my kindergartener (and rightly so…I’m kicking myself for not checking the rating or previewing it beforehand…I guess I just assumed it would be age appropriate), but we very much enjoyed our plan B at home, cozing up on the couch together watching a few episodes of The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About…
Enjoying the Sunshine…
I never realize how much the gray and cold of winter affects me until there’s a mid-winter gift of sunshine and warmth and I feel myself come back to life a little bit.
Xander and Roman and I soaked up the sunshine this morning…playing with sidewalk chalk, climbing the climbing wall, riding bikes, and visiting with neighbors.
Roman’s First Day of Preschool…
Roman had his first day of preschool today!!! He was beyond excited and could not wait to get into his classroom. He be bopped in, washed his hands, and got right to work playing. When I picked him up, he didn’t want to leave and kept trying to get back into his classroom. Amazing…go Roman!!!
Gingerbread House Decorating with Xander…
I was SO excited to get to spend some special one-on-one time with Xander this morning at preschool helping him decorate his gingerbread house. He’s such a creative, exploratory little guy…it was fun to watch him work on his masterpiece.
Hanging Christmas Lights…
Once we got back home from our Thanksgiving trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s in Virginia and got settled back in, we busted out the Christmas decorations. Here are a few of the crew helping out with the lights…