Playing Ball In Backyard

Today, Sidney and I picked Cleo up at 10am.  The sleepover ended 2 hours earlier than planned.  We were fine with the earlier pick up because we missed Cleo. :-)

Cleo got home, had a snack and we played a little.  Sidney took a nap and Cleo and I did some homework.  I took a nap and Cleo played on my Kindle.  Then, she went downstairs and took a nap.  When Sidney and I got up from our naps, we could not wake Cleo up. We had to move her a lot and say her name loudly to wake her up.  She finally woke up and the three of us went food shopping. We told her she could stay and sleep but she insisted that she wanted to go to Publix with us. She nodded off during the 5 minute drive to the store.

We came home, put the food away, and went outside to the backyard to play ball.

And pose.

And play with sticks.

And cast spells.

And be loving and cute in order to have Mommy wrestle branches from our sad little tree so they'd have sticks to play with.

"Abracadabra, alacazam, I turn you into an invisible witch."

Now the kids are riding Roger's back like he's a horse and wrestling on the floor. For dinner, Roger is making them  BBQ chicken drummettes and I am making mini farfalle (bowtie pasta) with an olive oil and garlic sauce.  Our vegetable will likely be broccoli, like the Obamas, it's our go-to vegetable. :-)

Cleo had a great time at Jordyn's birthday sleepover.  The kids went to bed around 11:30pm and got up around 8am. Cleo informed me that she and another girl stayed up all night and slept for 5 minutes. I know she's exaggerating but seeing how exhausted she is, I know she got a lot less sleep than normal.

Cleo said that she wants to have a sleepover for her birthday. I told her she could. It's a great idea and much cheaper than having it at a location and paying a site fee.  Plus, Cleo and her pals will have a blast because it won't be this rushed 1.5 hours of a party. We can let them decorate their own cupcakes, make jewelry, watch movies, and any other activity Cleo chooses.  Cleo keeps adding names to the birthday list, including her favorite boy pals from her class.  We will have only girls sleep over.

Have a great week!

Cleo's First Sleepover

Yesterday, we took the kids to their last art classes.  The art classes and swim class overlapped for 2 weeks.  It worked out yesterday since their swim class was canceled because of swim meets.

Cleo may continue with art at a later point. Sidney is done for now.  Come the Spring, we are looking into basketball for both of them.  Cleo is really good at softball but they both want to try basketball classes.

After art class, we came home for lunch and Sidney and I had a short nap.  Then, Sidney and I took Cleo to her school pal Jordyn's 7th birthday party.  She lives in a subdivision not too far from ours.  We got there around 3pm.  We brought Cleo's pillow, sleeping bag, Bearie (her favorite stuffed bear that our friends the Duck family gave her after she got home from the hospital in July), and Blankie, which she has had since she was born - my pal Alyson gave it to her. I need to tell Alyson how attached Cleo is to it.  The party was coed until the evening. Sidney and I left around 5:30pm.  Some of the other boys left around then as well.  Sidney did not want to leave.

Below is Cleo dancing to Wii U Just Dance 4. She loved it.

Here is Sidney enjoying some Sweet Thai Chili Doritos. They are so good. I had never had them before. After that, he chased them down with some Jalapeno Cheetos.  It was not a health food day for  them. :-)  The Jalapeno Cheetos were not too spicy.

After Sidney tried the Doritos and realized they were not too hot, he said now he can eat Hot Cheetos and Takis.  There is a song with that title that Cleo knows. The first time I heard it was at the Kids R Kids Fall Festival. The DJ put it on and all the kids danced and sang along. I don't think Sidney knew the song until he heard it at the Fall Festival.  I asked Cleo where she heard it and she was all, "Mom!"  I was like no really, where. She said either in PE at Deerwood Academy or in aftercare.  It's not a new song so I think Cleo thought I was joking that I didn't know it. I felt very old.  It's a funny song with silly lyrics.  Check it out on Youtube if you're so inclined. I still need to figure out how to embed video into my posts. You can search the title of the song on Youtube.

Sidney and I went home and picked up Roger and we went to Blue Moon Pizza in Vinings. It's near where our friends Shelly and Eric used to live. The pizza was okay - the crust was too sweet.  It was a noisy place, it reminded me of being out in NYC.  We cannot wait to go to NYC in a few weeks.  We arrive on Friday, Nov. 22, and return on Saturday, Nov. 30.  We are staying with Ahnya.

Ahnya sent the kids NYC subway maps and they arrived yesterday.  Last night, Sidney quickly started plotting out our trips.  We are thinking about taking them to It's Sugar, a candy store, in Coney Island. I think they'll enjoy the trip because most of it is elevated and they will be able to watch from the windows.

Here he is confidently explaining to us that the 2 Train makes express stops and the 1 Train makes local stops.

Friday, Nov. 8 was Military Day at Sidney's daycare.  Roger cut out duct tape to create the sergeant insignia markings.

Here is Sidney next to his diorama at school.

We are picking Cleo up at 12pm today.  We miss her a lot and hope she had a lot of fun.

Have a great week.

Games and Rides at the Georgia State Fair

On Nov. 3, we took Cleo, Sidney and Alexandria to the Georgia State Fair at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.  It was around a 40 minute drive from our house.

Alexandria milked a Jersey cow!

All three of them petted a big ox.

Two cuties peeking out.

Sidney eating a blue candy apple, Cleo's eating popcorn and Alexandria has a grape shave ice.

The kids had a really good time.

Nov. 2, First Swim Class at Adamsville Natatorium

We signed Cleo and Sidney up for swim class. The class is held at the olympic size pool at the Adamsville Recreation Center not too far from our house.  Cleo's pals Alexandria and Quintin take swimming lessons and other classes there. They have been swimming continuously since they were one year-old so that are quite advanced.

Here they are getting ready.

Here they are killing time with their swim class pal, Mackenzie.

There was lots of killing time because the swim instructor, Mr. Victor, was over an hour late.

Super boy getting ready in the locker room with Roger.

When Mr. Victor finally arrived he took the kids to the 3 foot kiddie pool.

Sidney looks hesitant here but he and Cleo LOVED the class and Mr. Victor.

All weekend Cleo kept telling us that she wished she was still in the water.  Their class was cancelled this weekend because there were swim meets yesterday.  Class resumes next Saturday. They cannot wait.

Halloween Fun 2013

On October 31, 2013, Sidney wore his wizard costume to school.  Cleo was asked to come dressed as her favorite book character. She chose Fancy Nancy.

Graceful cutie.  Focused spell caster.

Roger attended Sidney's school's Halloween parade,

 About to parade about.

Our costumes for Halloween trick or treating.

Roger was able to  create a cool photoshopped version of the above picture and added himself to it.  For some reason I cannot load it up.

Cleo and her pal Luna, who is dressed as a ninja.

Sidney is already planning out his costume for next year. It will be a friendly ghost or corpse caroling or pumpkin snowman, or some combination of all three.  His teachers read him the Thirteen Nights of Halloween and there are some great Halloween costumes in that book.