Basketball

Ethan had his first basketball game Sunday afternoon. Practice began the first week in December and he had his first game the weekend before Christmas break but he was sick the day of the game and unable to go. Now that the holidays are over, basketball has started back as well. Caden and Dottie(Ethan's class mascot that was visiting for the weekend) cheered him on from the stands.

 I loved watching him play!

He seems to really enjoy it more than he did baseball.

Warming up

 Then they took a break for team pictures before the game started. I love his coaches! They are so kind and patient! Everyone is out there to have fun.

Game time

Ethan started the game as point guard.

 Taking a little break

 He did really well for his first game!

Hopefully, next week will be just as great for him, too.

Monster Jam Weekend and a visit with Dottie

Our first week back at school proved to be a success! It was the end of the 2nd 9 weeks and Kindergarten awards were on Friday. One of the county initiatives that all schools participate in is called Habitudes, focused on fostering good habits with positive attitudes in children. There are only a handful of students in each class that received an award and Ethan was one of them. Our principal gave him a Habitude award for curiosity. VERY fitting for this child ;-)

 That afternoon, Ethan came home from school with the Top Pup of the Week bag. That means that he got to spend the weekend with Dottie, the class mascot. He has talked about Dottie since the beginning of the year and tells us each week who got to take Dottie home so I was very excited for him to finally have this privilege. Dottie immediately got a bath upon his(I thought it was a her but Ethan was certain it was a he) arrival. Once thoroughly cleaned, they were able to play together.

 He was so excited that Dottie got to sleep with him

 It was also a special weekend because Mimi got to come into town! We had tickets to Monster Jam and the boys were beyond thrilled! They became very upset and were afraid we were going to miss seeing the monster trucks once we got downtown and traffic came to a standstill. Mimi kept things under control, though :-)

Thankfully, we were able to find parking and we made it to our seats with time to spare. The boys started out wearing the foam ear plugs because it was so loud. Notice, Dottie got to go to Monster Jam, too.

 Such a cool night!

 Seeing this truck catch fire was Ethan's highlight of the night.

It was great seeing one of Ethan's classmates, Sife, there as well! Although we started with the foam ear plugs, we quickly realized they weren't cutting it. We stopped beforehand to get noise reducing earmuffs for the boys in case we needed them and I am extremely thankful that we did. Words cannot describe how loud it was inside the arena.

Then Ben got the boys cotton candy.

The cotton candy was inside these foam monster truck hats

 The show ended with fireworks...inside the arena.

 I honestly think both boys' favorite part of the night was the very end. We hung back for a bit to let the crowd thin out before making our way to the bottom. As we were leaving the arena, the dozers and excavators had come out to start breaking everything down in order to turn it back into a football stadium. Ethan and Caden were fascinated watching them move the dirt around. The drivers also left the trucks out on the dirt track and after the show they brought out smaller tires. The boys got to watch them jack up the trucks and switch the large tires with the small ones.  

 

It was an amazingly thrilling, very, very, late night for them...and they are already asking to go again.

Fernbank

We spent one of Daddy's last days off work at Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta. The boys have been asking to see dinosaurs for quite some time so if was a perfect day to go.

I love Ethan's "ROAR" face

The museum has several different exhibits with dinosaurs being one of them. Their was also an interactive exhibit that the boys loved!

The giant bubbles were definitely a hit!

This was a really neat exhibit as well! As you put your ear to each tube, the sounds in the room are dispersed according to the length of the tube. The variation of sound is hugely different by tone and pitch. Very cool!

There were several other exhibits that we visited but I left my good camera at home. Our last stop was NatureQuest, a huge indoor playground. The boys spent a lot of time here and did NOT want to leave. We were pretty much able to keep an eye of Caden but Ethan was ALL over the place, therefore we did not get many pictures of him.

Love these silly faces!

Which is hilarious because you should have seen the temper tantrum that came right before it!

Somehow, Ben was able to grab a quick pic of both of them in the canoe before we left.

We enjoyed EVERY moment of our Christmas Break and were thankful for the extra days this year. Getting readjusted and back into school mode has not been fun :-(

New Year's Eve 4-Wheeler Riding

On NYE we went 4-wheeler riding with some long time friends. I haven't been on a 4-wheeler since I was a kid and the boys had never ridden. They LOVED it! Their sons', Carson and Mason, were our tour guides on the trails. They both had dirt bikes so I followed them until I was comfortable with my surroundings. While we rode, Ben and Jesse worked on building a shed.

Ethan and Caden rode with Carson first

Then Mommy went riding with the boys.

Ethan got a kick out of wearing Carson's helmet :-)

Ethan decided to take a break to practice on the dirt bike

So, of course, Caden had to try as well and Carson was sweet enough to help him.

Then Carson was sweet enough to take each boy on their own individual ride.

Caden decided he liked riding in the Goat. I love these terms for all of the off-road farm vehicles. At the farm in South Alabama, we used to have a Gator and now we have a Mule down there. I had not heard of a Goat until we got up to Casey and Jesse's family land that day. 

 Everyone was so gracious and they stopped for a break to let the boys feed the cows. They only have a few in their pasture so Ethan and Caden were not quite as intimidated by them as they are by the herd down at the farm. They got a kick out of hand feeding them.

 Then Ethan was ready to go again.

And Caden found a new favorite spot, too!

It was a great day! That afternoon everyone headed back down to our house to hang out and shoot fireworks. The big boys put on quite a display and we rang in the New Year just like old times. It was wonderful reminiscing about old times and sharing our stories with the teenagers ;-)