Fox News, Macon

Evan & Alex experienced 2 seconds of their respective 15 minutes of fame! Yesterday, as we waited for our car to be painted with Cherry Blossoms for the upcoming Macon Cherry Blossom Festival, E & A wandered around and danced to a bluegrass band -- while Fox News was filming. If you watch VERY carefully, at about 19 seconds, you will see the boys walking toward the camera (Don't blink; you'll miss it!). The white mini-van that is in the background of the segment is ours, too. In fact, when the reporter is speaking to the camera, it is beside our car. Evan and Alex had their faces pressed to the window during this filming, but the tinted windows (or Fox) hid them!

Another first: Alex Camping

It was snowing 5 days ago.

Today was in the 70s.

Tonight, all THREE boys are camping. In one tent.
This is Alex's first time camping and he
assured us that there would be
"no bats or spiders in my tent!"

Snow-day!

Our relatives and friends in Colorado, Iowa, Illinois and New York will especially love this:

School is canceled today!

YES! Snow

It is snowing in Macon, GA.

Between the flakes, we can see our yellow jonquils
and pink azaleas blooming!

snow?

According to the weather channel, here is the forecast for Macon tomorrow:

A steady rain in the morning tapering to showers and becoming mixed with snow in the afternoon. High 47F. Winds NNW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of precip 80%.

Could it be? Snow in Macon in March?

More pictures

At long last, a SLIDESHOW
of pictures from Sarah's visit. Enjoy!

We have a host of pictures to share from Sarah's visit.

Sarah's Visit

We are having a wonderful time with Sarah!
Many more pictures forthcoming...

We miss you, Grammie.

2.5

Alex is 2-1/2 years old today. Happy 30 months old, buddy.
We love you.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We've had a fun day already, full of reading books, opening gifts from grandparents, and eating red pancakes!

Ski team vests from Nana & Gramps

Books and pretend food from Gramie & Bapa

airplane food

This afternoon we played airplane. The kids loved pretending to be flight attendants, push fake carts down the "aisle," take food orders, bring plastic food, ring our sales on their little cash register, etc. (Gone are the days of free meals on planes.)

Evan announced that we were flying to Japan, although later we discovered that he changed his mind; we were headed to New Jersey?! We pretended to watch The Rescuers on the in-flight movie, too (Alex's choice). It was such fun, we even ate our real dinner on the plane as well (pictured here, eating pizza).

If only it were this fun to really fly with the boys!

Call me Ishmael.

Will has been reading Moby Dick to Evan (in my children's illustrated version from 30 years ago). They finished the book tonight and Evan immediately wanted to read more stories about Captain Ahab. He also wanted to build an "activity set" and it took us some time to determine what he meant... a diorama? How does he know about such a thing?

He settled for a wooden pirate ship as the Pequod, several plastic bath boats as the whaling rowboats, a wooden engineer from his Thomas set as Ahab, and a flashlight as Moby Dick. After a brief test in which Moby Dick overturned two of the rowboats, Evan decided the rest could wait until morning. He told Will, "I can't wait to play with this tomorrow. I'm really going to give Ahab a chance."

worst dinner ever

I tried to make something different for dinner tonight. It was a disaster. Thank you, Will, for eating it and even pretending you liked it. I love you!

Now -- what to do about the greasy deep-fried smell all over the house.... and the lingering smoke.

Get well soon, Grampa!

Here is a message for you, Grampa. The boys wanted to show you their hearts. Hope yours is better soon. We love you!

Go Bears!

What an exciting Mercer Bears game this afternoon!

Grampa

We miss you, Great Grampa!

Can't wait to see you on the 4th of July!!
Love, Evan & Alex

An Afternoon at the Park

Last week, we met the Stewarts at the park.
We all had a wonderful time!

back in business

After an afternoon of dusting and pulling/replacing plugs all over my computer, I'm back in business. My speakers work again and the camera chip is finally downloaded!

Here are a few pictures from the Museum of Arts and Sciences. We joined this local museum last weekend and the kids were sick by Wednesday. Next time... Purell. Germs aside, it was a fun morning. They have a few cool exhibits, including a place to search for dinosaur bones in the sand!

Donuts With Dad

Tuesday was Evan's morning with Will at school. From 8:30 - 9:00, he and Will joined other kids and dads to eat donuts and drink orange juice. Evan ate 2 donuts and drank 2 cups of the "most delicious orange juice ever." When I asked him how many donuts Daddy ate, he replied "like, a-hundred." Will tells me otherwise.

Below is a conversation Evan had with his teacher:

E: Mrs. Logue, do you know the best part of Donuts with Dad?
Mrs. L: What, Evan?
E: DONUTS!

- - - - - - -

Wednesday was Alex's day. He only ate one donut, but enjoyed FOUR cups of orange juice! The whole way home from school, he told me again and again, "Donuts Daddy Alex! Donuts Daddy Alex!" He loved it.

Both kids made super-swell presents for Will. I'll attach some pictures here.

The Hat

My friend Jean sent this to me. I couldn't resist including it here.

picture-less

I'm not sure what is wrong with our computer, but it is no longer reading my camera card. GASP!!

Stay tuned. I hope to post some pictures soon, including "HOP ON POP" (poor Will) and highlights from our trip to Macon's Museum of Arts & Sciences.

In the meantime, here is a picture that the Byrons took of Alex a few weeks ago. It will have to hold us until I figure out the whole computer-glitch-thing.

If I Were President...

Our new favorite restaurant is Sticky Fingers. It is a rib/BBQ chain - new to Macon - and it is delicious. Their cornbread muffins are so good, Alex started calling them "little cheesecakes." The kid meals are huge, Will loves their habanero hot sauce, and I love their dry-rub ribs. Tonight, they offered free kid meals to any kids dressed in red, white, and blue who could say what they would do as President. Here is what the kids said -- with no coaching:

Alex: Sing, and dance, and spin, and play.

Evan: I would stand up and hold the flag. And I would vote. (long pause...) I would vote for someone else to be President! (Note of clarification: this was not a comment about Obama, but rather a comment on Evan's desire to be something other than Commander in Chief.)

Problem Solved

The other night, Evan had something itchy in the back of is throat. He chugged some chocolate milk and exclaimed, "All my problems go away when I drink!"

30 Hours

Mom & Dad jumped in a car on Friday afternoon and drove down from Chicago for a quick, spur-of-the-moment visit. They arrived in Macon around 1:00 on Saturday and left at 7:00 pm tonight -- yes. 30 hours, each of them wonderful. (That is only 2 hours more than they will spend in the car driving to and from Macon!) Someday, I hope they will retire, or semi-retire, or part-time live, or whatever, down here. In anticipation of that, there were a few houses for them to see this weekend. We spent time yesterday afternoon with a real estate agent. No purchases were made, but I think they were interested in what is available. Who knows what the future may hold?

Mom & Dad are not even through Atlanta as I type this, and I miss them already.

1st day of class

Yesterday was Will's first day of class. Today is mine. Vacation is officially over!

We Ski

Thanks to Mom for letting us know about Wii game rentals at Blockbusters! Yesterday we picked up We Ski for a week.
It is a really fun game.

Evan, the "downhill racer."

(Thanks for the shirt, Tanner!

It might be the secret to Evan's success!)

Classes start next week and the MOPS sale is in full-prep-mode.

Sadly, our ski vacation is about to end.

Toys

The Wii Fit just arrived. Can't wait to try it out! Woo-hoo!

addendum 1-7: we love it. totally fun. and a total time suck.

The Park

We had a fun time at the park this afternoon. The Byron Family joined us (less my friend Ellen, who is out of town). It was fun to see Grace and Julia; it has been too long since the kids played together.

Two highlights: Alex climbing the rock wall - solo -- again and again, and this story:

At one point, some wild kid ran past Grace and knocked her down. Evan put his hands on his hips and yelled, "Don't do that again to my girlfriend!"

Bonjour!

Hello to the Virmaux family! :)

My sophomore year in college I lived with a wonderful family in Paris. One could not have asked for a better host-family. I ate like a queen, we visited many places inside and outside Paris, and I learned much from everyone in the family. Helen and Christian have three beautiful children who were 3,4, and 6 (I think?) at the time I was there. In my memory, Romain, Lise et Simon will always be this age (sorry, guys). They are now successful young adults. Romain is off for Spain today, in fact! Where does the time go?

Over the last 15-some years, I've been back to visit the Virmaux family in Paris many times, and they have come to stay with me in Chicago. They have met my husband, my parents, and my sister. It is such a blessing to have such special friends.

Recently, we have been in touch through Facebook (!). I just helped Christian with some translation work, and it was wonderful to hear his voice on the phone this morning.

Of course, I felt obliged to send them my family blog address! So... in the chance that you are reading this, Virmaux Family, hello! I think of you often. Hope to see you again soon on Facebook, if not in person! :)

Mario Kart

We finally got our hands on Mario Kart. The kids love it (even if they aren't great at steering!), Will played long enough last night to unlock several new courses, and it makes me motion sick!

I'm excited about the impending arrival of Wii Fit - hula hooping is more my style.

(you can click on the image above to see the pictures in more detail. Evan begins TOTALLY serious about the game, and then he intentionally drives into the water. He and Alex burst into giggles. This sequence repeats again and again and....)

Communication

A bike ride

It was a bit misty today, but warm enough for a bike (or stroller) ride. Evan is proving to be quite the cyclist. His speciality is what he calls his "'brake-brake technique," which is used for going down hills.