Bowling at Powered Up!

Our church has a youth program for K-5th graders on Thursday evenings called Powered Up! They go, eat dinner, do a craft, sing songs, play games and memorize scripture. My children LOVE it!

A couple of weeks ago, Powered Up met at the local bowling alley for a fun evening. The children had a fabulous time. Since I was there, Pryor was able to stay, too.

They loved being able to bowl, but I think the pizza and cake were high on the list too.

I didn't get a picture of Grady or Pryor bowling - but you get the idea. The whole bowling alley was five lanes, so we were able to rent out the whole place.

Between the bowling balls and the ball return machine, I thought for sure Pryor would break a finger or some bone during the evening. He normally cries after we drop of G & A at Powered Up - so he was so happy he could come too.

This night Grady had 2 pieces of pizza, Alice had 3 and Pryor had 5! Yes, five regular, grown-up size pieces and ate all but the very end of the crust. Everyone there was pretty impressed.

Powered Up will be ending for the year some time soon and I think my children will go into a state of decline. They love it, and I love them having such a good time!

GrandPatti visits

She actually visited a few weeks ago but I have been so out of it I just haven't had the chance to download pictures. (Last week I had 2 sick children.) The whole time she was here I was sick as a dog. I was supposed to go to a girl's night out on the Friday but ended up staying home instead.
She came on Friday and left Monday afternoon. We all had a wonderful time. We went down to the children's museum on Sunday afternoon. They all went out (while I rested) for a hike at the nature preserve. They even went out for breakfast at the Eat N Park (think: one step above Denny's). I think Stephen was glad to have the company since I was pretty out of it.
Poor Patti! We were going to go out shopping on Monday morning while Pryor was at school. Well, we get to the parking lot of his school and he starts coughing this completely croup-y cough! So, I ended up getting an appointment that morning at the doctor's office. We got some medicine, and he ended up sounding horrible all week. I'm glad we got the medicine in him when we did. Good thing Patti didn't have high expectations - you never know what we'll be doing here.

One thing I am so glad she was able to do was to have lunch with each of the children at school. You have to call 24 hours in advance to let the school know you are coming. Good grief, they have a lot of rules at this school!

Grady and Alice were surprised and happy to see her at their school. I was glad because I'm not allowed to take Pryor with me to the school for lunch, so I've only had lunch with them once. In Knoxville, I used to take Pryor and Alice and we had lunch with Grady several times. It's funny how some things are so different.

Young Rembrandts

The PTO offers a few after school enrichment programs per semester for a fee. We signed up for a 6 week art class entitled Young Rembrandts. Grady said he didn't want to do it and so Alice attended the first one.
I volunteered to be the PTO helper for the second class, and Grady was allowed to participate since he was there with me. He enjoyed it so much that he wanted to sign up for the rest of the classes.
The last session was today and the children really loved it. Each week they discussed a different artist/period and made a picture along those same lines. They discussed perspective, reflection, light and distance. The pictures they brought home were pretty impressive.
Grady and Alice have learned a lot and had a really good time with the program. We will definitely do it again next year.

Soccer Clinic

I signed up Grady for a soccer clinic. It was a "first email-first serve" type thing, and I was one of 12 parents to get their children in the clinic. I was thrilled! The regular season starts first of April, and this clinic is once a week for the four weeks of March.

I picked him up after the hour long practice last night and noticed half his face was red. One of the moms said a ball had ricocheted off one little boy and onto Grady's face! She said he managed it well and didn't cry at all.

He had a fabulous time and I am thrilled he is getting the extra practice. This is what we are supposed to be "working on" this week: headers upwards (good grief!), juggling (where you bounce the ball) on the thigh and top of laces, and dribbling the ball. Yikes! This coach means business.

Grady said he is the best at getting out of the pack. (I guess the coach said this.) He also scored a goal in the scrimmages they had. He had a wonderful time!

Pryor Tidbit

When it is time for Pryor to take a nap, I normally get him in the game by asking where his uh-oh (read: pacifier) and lovies (read: his blankets) are. Sometimes I'll say, Pryor, they miss you and are calling for you.

Well, he's gotten into the game and when I ask if he hears something, he'll say that they're asking for him.

Last week as we were walking up the stairs, I said, "What do you hear?"

He said, "They're calling: Pryor, where are me?"

Soon to update

Well, I'm sorry for the lack of posting in recent days. I came down with a really bad cold and still haven't quite recovered. You know I'm suffering if I've lost my voice! My mother-in-law, Patti, came in for this past weekend and I hope to post some pictures of that tomorrow. We had a really good time, but I would have had an even better weekend if I hadn't been sick the entire time she was here. Stephen and I were saying that this is the sickest I've been since we've known each other. 2009 has not been a healthy year for me thus far!
On a brighter note, Alice finally got a call that her Daisy troop (read: Girl Scouts for kindergartners) has finally started! She'll only have three meetings but it's better than nothing.
Grady is going to do a soccer clinic in March to get ready for the soccer league that starts in April. Alice is on a team too.
P-man got the croup on Monday, poor guy! He missed school on Monday and Wednesday, poor me! He is really in a foul mood from the steroids. I'll be glad when he's back to 100%.
We saw 50 degrees today and we stayed to play on the playground at school after art class this afternoon. The children loved being able to run around!

Snow Fort

This is an old picture I hadn't posted yet from a couple of weeks ago. We had so much snow and we wanted to make the children a snow cave. Stephen took our 6 foot long folding table and put it on top of the railing at the corner of the deck and surrounded it will the porch furniture. You can see the black round table in the front.

Quite honestly, Stephen and I spent all the time making it and the children barely had a chance to play in it. Oh well, we all had a good time playing in the snow.