We Have a New Pet - Temporarily at Least

Josh absolutely loves his class and teacher. They had a pet frog named Hopper. Hopper had been around for a few years and finally "croaked" last weekend.

His teacher was devastated! She'd had Hopper for several years and the kids all loved him!

I offered to collect money and get a new frog for the class. Since the kids had no school yesterday and today - and maybe the rest of the week, I don't know yet - I took the boys out to pick out Hoppers replacement.






They are so excited about this cute little frog! He's an Australian White's Tree Frog and just a baby.




If I need to find the boys, this is where they are!




Isn't he cute? He doesn't have a name yet but Josh has his heart set on "Jumper." I told him it was up to Mrs. Crane and the class to give him a name.




But the boys won't deal with the crickets so I have to do the gross part!

I hope to bring the new frog to class on Friday if there's school. Otherwise we'll wait until next week to introduce the new frog to the class!

Sam's Ninja Slippers

Taking a break from all the flooding drama here in Atlanta to bring you the creativity of my four year old! He has such an imagination! I don't know where he comes up with some of these things.

Sam wants to be a Ninja when he grows up so he made his very own pair of Ninja slippers (paper taped to his feet).

We Need Noah's Ark Here!

I had a different post planned for today, but things happen and I'm posting something different.

Not sure if anyone is aware, but we've had a bit of rain here in the South East. Today I substituted at Sam's school. I normally only work Tuesday's and Thursday's but I do fill in when needed for teachers that can't come in.

Well, we had so much rain today that everything started flooding. The school decided to close early and cancel all afternoon activities. And as the parents were coming in to pick up the kids, we kept hearing stories about road closures, hearing sirens, and getting calls from parents who were stuck and couldn't get out.

I decided to take the opportunity and ran next door to get Josh from school. The last thing I wanted to worry about was him on a school bus in the floods! So I got Josh and Sam and we managed to get straight home.

Apparently, we hit the right time because we didn't hit any road closures on our way home - and they had been closed not 10 minutes earlier. Our friends, the Felt's, didn't fare so well. The road into their subdivision was completely flooded and the road over a small bridge is buckling at the moment so no cars can go in or out.

I took some pictures of our little "creek" when I got home.

I don't know how well you can see, but behind one of the trees you can see where the fence has fallen down - so the water must have been up high enough for that to fall over.

That's just our back yard. For some really great pictures of the neighborhood, check out my friend Maggie's Blog. She walked around taking pictures today and got some great photos.

I called Rich as soon as I got home and told him about the flooding. He decided to come home immediately. It took him just under 2 hours to get here. But we're all home safe and sound now!

We're praying for the rain to end - but at the moment it looks like we've got another week of rain ahead of us so please keep us in your prayers!

Not Even Rain Can Stop Soccer!

We've had LOTS of rain. I think it's been raining, and really raining hard, every day since last Monday. I expect to see Arc's any day sailing down the raging river (that used to be a cute creek) in our back garden.

Josh had a Cub Scout nature walk, soccer practice and baseball practice canceled this week. But Saturday we woke up and it was not raining. So we had our second week of the boys sporting events.

First up, soccer! When we got there, it was not raining and the boys looked ready to go! Since Josh missed last week this was his first game in 2 years!

I know this is a cheesy picture but it was the best I could get - they were itching to go play!

Shortly after Josh's game started the rain began to fall - lightly.

Josh did really well. He hasn't played in two years but he has a great eye. He was playing offense and he stayed down field, tried to get into position for his team mates to pass and even got a few good passes in. And one really good shot on goal. While he didn't score this week, his team won 4-0 for the second week in a row. Next week we play the best team in the league so we'll see how well they do then!

After Josh's game it was time for Sam to play and the heaven's opened up!

All the kids (and coaches) had fun in the pouring rain playing soccer!

I didn't keep score on Sam's team, but I think it may have ended in a tie. Sam had some really good chances as well. He's working on getting in there and not being so polite about keeping and taking the ball! And I'm happy to say he's not used his hands once! Although he did complain to me once, "That kid keeps pushing me!" I told him it was soccer and to push back. Oh the conflicting messages we send!



In the end, all the boys were soaked to the bone! I was under an umbrella and still managed to get soaking wet!



The afternoon's baseball game was rained out. And today it looks like soccer practice will be rained out as well.

Here's hoping we get some dry weather this week!

Wordless Wednesday: Summer Memories

This was from our trip to the Detroit Zoo this summer.



The boys are watching the Polar Bears play in the Arctic Ring of Life exhibit.


More Wordless Wednesday visit the WW HQ and 5 Minutes for Mom

Perhaps He Was a Cat in a Past Life

Sam likes to hide places small.



I can't believe he fit in this box!



I wish I were still that flexible!

Hello Out There? Is anyone still reading????

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last updated!

We're no longer on vacation in Michigan with my parents... we've been home for quite a while!

Things around here have been so busy! Here's a quick update/recap of our life the last two months...

We got home from my parent's house and Josh decided to re-learn to ride his bike. He used to be able to ride it, but then he fell and lost his nerve so he had to re-learn this summer. Well, it didn't take him long and now I can barely get him off it!




Sam got a new bike too and loves to ride his. When they come home from school all they want to do is ride their bikes!



We started school here early August. Josh LOVES his 3rd grade teacher - and so do I! She's wonderful and just what Josh needs!

I went back to work two mornings a week at Sam's preschool as the teaching assistant in a 2 year old class. I really love it! It's so nice to have something to do! And the money is all going toward the kid's activities!

Both Josh and Sam are playing soccer this year. Josh is also playing baseball AND he's joined the Cub Scouts AND he's doing a project for the school Science Fair! We are going to be one busy family!

Today was the first day of sports - and Josh was sick! So we missed his games, but Sam had fun at his!

He's a "White Bear!"



Here he is scoring a goal on Daddy (the assistant coach) during practice.


Sam and Daddy, just before the game started!


The last thing I wanted to post pictures of is a project Josh did for ALP. He had to turn a clothes pin into a "Flying Animal." He decided to make a pheasant because when we were in Michigan, we went out with Grampa and watched Annie (Grampa's dog) point pheasants and show off what she'd learned at "Doggy Boot Camp" getting ready for hunting season. After, we got some of the feathers off the dead birds.

Here's Josh's pheasant --



Then he made an "Above and Beyond" project by making a diorama of the pheasant's habitat.




The whole project:



And Sam wanted to make something too so he made a Race Track! This ended up being his class project we didn't know he'd need! The next day he came home with a homework assignment called, "It looks like a box, but really it's a....."



That's a bit of what's been going on with us -- in a nutshell. I promise to make more time to post pictures and updates. We're busy, but having lots of fun! I just need to start getting into the swing of things again!