Day 3 Spring Break

Sleep late. Check.

Spend morning at aquarium. Watch the boys almost fall into the sting ray tank with excitement over petting both sting rays and horseshoe crabs. Check.

Eat Italian ice and homemade fudge. Buy candy at the biggest candy store ever. Check and check and check.

Play some football on the beach, collect a few shells, and wish I had that beach house and that beach house and that beach house... Check.

Leave the pool area with a slight sunburn. Check.

Crab for dinner. Check.


I am already wishing we were booked for more than four nights.

Spring Break Day 1

Day one of spring break....Keagan battled the pavement, and the pavement won. However, the looks we have received the past two days have been priceless.

Pillar's 5th Birthday

For the past five years we have attended a church plant that meets in a local elementary school. The second Sunday we were in Dumfries, we attended Pillar Church, and we showed up knowing nothing about planting a church. It never crossed our minds to try something else until we were so involved with the group that leaving was not an option. Two and three years later when no one we invited took us up on the idea of coming to church with us we certainly entertained the idea of trying something new. There were many Sundays when I wanted to trade in the stackable chairs for church pews and drive across town to First Baptist.

And I am sure that I am not the only one that entertained that idea.

We celebrated the church's five year birthday with a party complete with cake, games, and food. It was all a bit non-conventional, but pretty much everything the past few years has been anything but traditional.

We plan doing much of the same once we get to Georgia. We are on the look-out for a church that meets in a school cafetorium complete with posters advertising healthy eating habits and banners that teach "hello" in the five major world languages. We have officially given up on stained glass and a choir loft.

However, in the center of it all we do expect to see a cross. A reminder that it makes no difference where you meet as long as the cross is the reason for your meeting.

Good-bye Indoor, Hello Outdoor

This weekend we said goodbye to Keagan's winter indoor soccer season, and we began practice for the spring outdoor season. At today's end of the season party, Keagan was awarded the "Most Intense Player" certificate. 

I think he might be related to his mother.

Keagan Learns to Read

Word Walls all over the Living Room Walls

Dolch Site Word Flashcards

Bob Books - Levels 1 AND 2

Leap Frog DVD and Hooked on Phonics Youtube videos

I had tried it all, and Keagan didn't respond well to learning to read. Although he desired to know how to read, he was not interested in applying himself to the arduous task of learning how to read. With Wes and Evan out of the house on Sunday afternoon, I pulled out a book I randomly selected at Borders and decided Keagan would read.

As my daddy would say, "come hell or high water", he was going to kindergarten in Georgia knowing how to read. I was ready to fight to make sure that happened.

I couldn't believe my sweet little boy's voice when he was able, having never seen or heard the book before, to read the story. I was even more surprised that no battle was required.

Convinced this was just a fluke, I had him read it again the following night. This time he had to read it out of order, with random pages selected, so that he was reading it out of context (and hence not memorizing the text). And, again, he was able to read the book.

Maybe he felt more comfortable with Evan out of the house.

Maybe he wanted to read something brand new - something that had never been in Evan's hands.

Maybe it was timing.

Whatever, the reason, I found success with The Big Red Blanket, and we are going back for more of the "I'm Going to Read" series.

Adventure Saturday

If you have never been to see a performance at Adventure Theatre at Glen Echo Park in Maryland, then try to take the kids to see one soon.

We saw the musical "Flat Stanley", our second show, and we loved it as much as we did the last. After the performance, we took the boys to the playground to play and have an ice cream. 

He Said It

Keagan: I need some of that "whipped cream that you put on your body to stop itchin'. Can you find me some?"
After several more clues I was able to deduce he was in need of lotion.

Evan asked during church last week: "Has anyone in our family ever robbed a bank?"
I responded in the negative and asked why he wanted to know.
His answer: "Well, that is a pretty bad sin, and I want to know if my family does that kind of bad stuff."

Keagan: "Daddy, are you going to fight the Navy today?"
Wes: "No, Keagan, I don't fight the Navy."
Keagan: "Well, are you going to shoot them with your gun?"


Me: "Keagan, put on a hoodie before you go outside to play."
Keagan: "I'll wear this one. What does this one say on front?"
Me: "Old Navy"
Keagan: "Oh, no! Not that! I don't cheer for the Navy team. Only Army."

Air and Space Museum

Today we took my grandmother, aunt, and cousin, who are here for the week, to the Chantilly museum. We have been many times before, but the IMAX always has something new for us to see. Today we saw Fly!, and because it was Girl Scout Saturday, we were also able to participate in some additional activities. 

While Wes and Evan took pictures of the planes, Keagan and I made candy airplanes, engineered towers out of straws, and made a star clock. And then we all came home and took naps that lasted in the hours. Not bad for a rainy Saturday.

The Big 4-0!

If you have read the blog, then you know that we have promised Keagan an ice cream cake when he weighs in at 40 pounds. It is our way to celebrate an accomplishment a long time coming. Last week he decided to weigh himself, and within minutes I heard lots of cheering and statements like "ice cream cake, here I come!" Keagan bounded down the stairs telling me he weighed more than forty pounds. When I asked him how much he weighed, he told me 176! It was definitely time to change the batteries in the scale, or at least double-check his measurements. So I asked him to read to me the numbers on the scale.

He responded with 1-7-6.

And that meant it was time for me to intervene.

He did weigh 1-7-6, but the scale was set to kilograms, and that meant 38 pounds. Not forty. And that meant no ice cream cake.

Tonight Keagan weighed himself again and after two glasses of juice, a bratwurst, a spoonful of macaroni salad, and grapes, he weighed in at exactly 40 pounds.

Wouldn't you know we would be in the market for an ice cream cake the day that I make the bimonthly trip to the commissary and purchase two gallons of ice cream!

The No Good, Very Bad Day

If you have kids, then you probably recognize the above title. It is one of my favorite children's books and I have read it countless times to the boys. This month it has taken on special meaning to me because I have been living the no good and very bad MONTH. This has been our month.

1. Orders for Georgia are finalized. Resign from my job. Put contract on house in Georgia.
2. Learn the Army might keep us in DC for another three years.
3. Pull out of contract with house in Georgia.
4. Beg HR to pull my resignation that has already been approved by the school board and get my old job back.
5. Search for a house to buy in Virginia.
6. Find out the Army will not keep us in DC for another three years.
7. Give up search for house in Virginia; search again in Georgia.
8. Begin envisioning the boys in Georgia Bulldogs jerseys. I think it looks promising because both boys can wear red.
9. Get a call this week. Army would like to keep us in Virginia.
10. Listen to Evan cry about having to endure another winter in Virginia.
11. Try to persuade the boys that football can be just as great in Virginia.
12. Get another call. Army will not let us stay in Virginia.

I will have no more. We will listen to no more job offers, unless it is for me in Georgia because I will absolutely, positively move to Georgia. Do you hear me?

That is until the Army changes its mind again.

Terra Cotta Warriors

We drove to the National Geographic Museum today to see the Terra Cotta Warriors traveling exhibit. Last fall Evan read The Magic Treehouse book about the Dragon King, and along with my seven year old, I learned all about the Terra Cotta Warriors. I am sure my 9th grade world history teacher must have mentioned it at one time, and I was so taken with Egyptian history and King Tut that China slipped right past me unnoticed.

I couldn't believe my luck when I learned the exhibit would be in DC for a few months this winter. Although only fifteen of the original 7000 warriors were actually brought here from China, there were several replicas and other artifacts. Forget the actual warriors, Evan was transfixed with a piece of artwork that depicted the attempted murder of the first emperor. 

Keagan, on the other hand, was more impressed with a photograph of a penguin in the mouth of a seal on display in the museum lobby.

All of this history. The stories that were told around every corner in the museum. The beautiful pieces of jade. The beauty in such detailed stone work. And both boys were taken with violent images. The death of a man and the death of a penguin. 

Finally He Grows

Diagnosed with hypothyroidism late last year, Keagan has been on his thyroid medication for three months now. His second set of labs came back this week, and his levels are now normal! We assumed they would be because he has outgrown all of his clothes. The sleeves in his long sleeved shirts are too short, his pants are too short, and his hoodies are now tight in the chest! I have never been so happy to buy a whole new wardrobe - for a little boy anyway.

Unfortunately the side effects of frequent naps and sensitivity to cold have not diminished. We hope that he is now sleeping because of rapid growth and the sensitivity to cold will decrease once he actually gains some body fat.

We return to Walter Reed at the end of the month, and if the labs are this good at his next appointment, then he will remain on the medicine indefinitely. Here's to breaking the forty pound mark. We plan to celebrate the accomplishment.

Famous American Project

This month Evan had to complete a research project on a famous American that has made a significant difference in our society. After we nixed the idea of choosing Tony Romo, he chose Henry Ford. Because we had just been to Georgia the week prior and we had driven past Henry Ford's plantation, he had a story or two to add to his project. 

After completing the project, each student presented theirs to the class. On the day of the presentation he came home to say his presentation went really well, and he liked the project on Walt Disney the best. After pondering for a moment he looked up to me in deep thought, and said, "Ava did her project on someone I didn't know. It was some girl that when Ava said her name all the kids got really excited. Everyone but me."

When I asked him if he remembered the name, he replied, "Taylor Swift."

Evan suggested we google her to research her accomplishments. When he learned she was "just a singer", he replied, "Well, she is kinda pretty, but why is she so important?"