My Gator

Before we begin, I feel like I should let you know that this post is just going to be me bragging on my boy. I debated whether it was really appropriate to use this forum to straight-out brag. Then I decided that, you know what? It's my blog, and if there's anywhere I can brag, this would be it. So please forgive me. You've been warned.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the First Grade Awards Ceremony at Gatorland. Let me tell you, those kids are cute and fun! And the teachers are sweet and wonderful. It's a good place.

After sitting through many awards, many of them given to our buddies (so proud of those cuties, too!), Jake's name was finally called. He received the GATOR Award, which was given to two children from each class.

Without boring you with the details, this pretty much sums up what we already knew about Jake. He's a really good kid. He works hard at school, does well in his studies, and is consistently on his best behavior.

Dan and I are so proud (in a good way, of course) of this kid. We sure do like him a lot!

Oh, and Jake is pretty pleased with his award, as well. But his excitement is focused primarily on the bright orange pencil and a gift certificate for nasty pizza that came with the certificate. We all have our priorities.

Lent (sorta)

I've never celebrated Lent. I celebrate Easter. But not Lent. In fact, when I brought up the subject of Lent a week ago, it was to ask Dan exactly what it was all about. He didn't know any more than I did. Hmmm...

Well, thanks to the internet, I now understand at least the basic idea behind Lent. And I love it. I love that we can take forty days, just as the Savior did, to "fast" in a way and come closer to our Father in Heaven. And I love that it leads us right up to Easter, that most wonderful and glorious of all holidays, when we can really remember our Savior's gift to us.

So, I decided I was going to celebrate Lent this year. I decided I'd give up sugar - really, my biggest vice, and one I'd love to gain a little more control over. Only one problem. I didn't actually know when it started. So back to the internet I went and you'll never believe what I found out. Lent began the next day. The next day, people!

Can you see my dilemma? Can you see how hard it would be to give up sugar for forty whole days with so little preparation time (i.e. binge eating time)?

But guess what! I decided to do it anyway! And day one was awesome. I didn't even feel too tempted. Woohoo! I'm pretty great, huh?

Day two... I ate a cookie. I really didn't mean to cheat, I just ate a cookie. And I didn't even realize what I'd done until Dan asked me how Lent was going. Many hours later. Oops.

So I jumped right back in and got back on track, right? Wrong. I figured I'd failed (and didn't even feel all that bad about it) and went ahead and had a lovely time with all my sugary friends for the rest of the week.

But today I woke up re-resolved. I am going to do this. It may not be forty days. I mean, honestly, I am not going to skip out on the Easter goodness. But from now until Easter, no sugar will cross these cute little lips of mine.

Think I can do it? If you do, you wanna give me a little of that love? Cause honestly, I'm still not so sure myself. So any encouragement would be welcome - and very appreciated!

Don't let her fool you.

That dog knows exactly what she's doing.

Thank you, Mandisa, for being so very cooperative.

I cannot tell you how much I appreciate it.

A Sunday Stroll

Yesterday morning, we decided to take a pleasant family stroll through the neighborhood.

Unfortunately, Camden's ankle started to itch.

Luckily for Cam, he's got a nice Daddy.

We all made it home. And Camden got a good ankle-scratching from his Mommy.

The End.

Wow. Again.

Did you know that Virginia gets an average of about 19 inches of snow each winter? Last year we got about two. This winter, however, we're making up for that.

The weekend before Christmas we were hit by what we affectionately call "The Blizzard of 2009." It wasn't really a blizzard. Believe me, I've lived through those elsewhere, and this was definitely not a blizzard. But for Virginia... It was pretty great. We had two feet of snow and a real White Christmas!

After Christmas break, the kids returned to school for a few days before we got hit by another snow storm. This one was much more our style - just a few inches, but as we generally like to do things around here it turned to ice... We enjoyed the ice rink that formed in our neighbors' yard. Oh, and did I mention the temperatures we experienced in January? Let's just say I think Mother Nature forgot we're below the Mason Dixon line...

Last weekend we had snow again. The kids were already off school on Monday for a teacher workday, so it seemed a little wasted. But don't you fret! We got more Monday night. That was the best snow yet. Great, wet packing snow. Perfect for sledding and snowballs. I also really liked having a shoveler in residence. The boys went to school for four and a half hours last week. That's right - part of one day!

Because... Yesterday it started snowing at 10 am. That was a full 24 hours ago. And guess what? It's not supposed to stop until 10 tonight. Given the eight inches on the ground before this one started, and the forecasted two feet by tonight, I'd say we won't be going anywhere for quite some time.

And in case you were wondering, we're LOVING IT!

(We may feel differently when our children are stuck in school all summer, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.)

A Sledding Equation

What happens when you start at the top of the hill with FIVE - count 'em, FIVE - boys (of varying sizes) on ONE - that's right, ONE snow tube?

Well, you might lose one - or THREE - along the way.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is...

FIVE BOYS + ONE SNOW TUBE = LOTS OF FUN!

Disclaimer:

No boys - of any size - were harmed in the making of this blog post.