First day back to school

Last week Colin started back to school. On the first day, the whole family walked to school which made Colin very happy. At the door, Colin gave Nathan a big hug and kiss, it was sooo sweet. Too bad I didn't have the camera ready to capture the moment. I did manage to get a great action shot of Colin running on the path on the way to school.

Last year, Colin reverted back to his first year and went through a separation anxiety thing. So far this year, this has not happened ... yet. I hope last year was the end of it.

Here is a picture of one of Colin's classmates, Nicolas on his way to school the first day. He was traveling in style! Although his mom was very tired.

Grace turns 5

Colin's friend Grace turned 5 and had a pizza/pool party. It was a blast as usual.

Newest bootcamp instructor!

That's right ... you got it, I took the next step after doing bootcamp for seven months and asked if I could join the instructor ranks! Yesterday was my first day leading a warm-up. I was nervous but everything went smoothly.

Tomato plant

Nathan watering the tomato plant.


Last spring when I was on one of my many Target runs, I found a little pot with tomato seeds for $1. I'm no green thumb, but Danni has done a couple gardening things with the kids, and Colin loves that kind of stuff. So I gave Danni the pot and seeds and they planted it in the planter next to the Rosemary and Lavender that Colin had from an earlier project.

While we were in Paris at the beginning of the summer, everything died except for the tomato plants! Now the tomato plants are huge, and there are little green tomatoes on them. I can hope that once the tomatoes ripen that the kids will expand their diet a little bit and eat them ... but I'm not going to be disappointed if Bob and I have to eat the tomatoes. Colin has talked about making tomato juice with the tomatoes. Personally, I think that would be a waste of home-grown fresh tomatoes.

Gramma Mary and Colin inspecting the roses.

Art school

Colin and Nathan's Gramma Mary is an artist and loves to paint with the boys. We just finished a new art room, so they had lots of opportunities to paint while she was visiting Atlanta.

Gramma Mary and Colin painting.


Nathan busy at work painting too!


Colin's work-


Gramma Mary's work-

Grandma & Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Sandage made it down to Atlanta this month! The kids were so excited, they were talking about the trip non-stop before they arrived.

Ian and Roxanne came over a couple nights while the grandparents were here. The kids were very happy to see them too!



And a picture of Colin, Nathan, Bob and me.

Nathan & preschool

Last Tuesday, Nathan had his follow-up interview at Colin's school to see if he was ready to start. At Montessori schools (which is where Colin goes), the start is based on readiness and not necessarily age. Potty training (or "independent in the toilet" as the school likes to word it) is only part of the readiness evaluation.

Nathan is fully potty trained ... I mean, "independent in the toilet", so we were hopeful that he would get the green light to start soon. Both Colin and Nathan are really looking forward to Nathan going to Colin's school. I'm looking forward to quiet mornings! They will be in different classes, but they can play together on the playground.

So I got the call today from Nathan's teacher, and she asked if we would like him to start September 29!

The dentist

Yesterday I went to the dentist to get some cavities filled (hopefully Colin and Nathan inherit their Dad's teeth and not mine!), and I realized that I meant to blog about Colin's trip to the dentist. At this point Colin has been twice, and has been the perfect patient.

Before Colin's first appointment, I brought him to one of my check-ups and had him sit on my lap watching the dental assistant while I got my teeth cleaned. He was so good and just watched the whole time.

I can't remember very much about his first check-up, especially many of the small details. I do know that Dr. G gave him a glowing report, a coupon for ice cream at Chick-fil-a from across the parking lot and a gold dollar coin.

This time, Colin was very apprehensive about going and wasn't very excited about it at all. I told him that it was his choice whether he had fun at the dentist. That he could pretend that the dentist's chair was a rocket ship and have a good time, or he could choose to not enjoy it. But the choice was his.

At the dentist office, I sat in the chair first and had the dental assistance look at a tooth of mine that felt a little funny, like a popcorn kernel was stuck in it. It was the truth, but it was also a good example for Colin to see me in the chair too. I think I'll do that when it's Nathan's turn. After it was all over, I told Colin how proud I was of him at the dentist, and he said he was proud of me too.

Then it was Colin's turn to sit in the chair. I sat at his feet and tried to stay out of the way of the cleaning. Colin was so cooperative for all of it.

In the end he got another good check-up, no cavities, a coupon for ice cream at Chick-fil-a and a two dollar bill. Our bank is in the same parking lot so I suggested that Colin put the money in his savings account. He really liked that idea, so we went to the bank.

Colin also was anxious to go home to play with Nathan and wasn't interested in getting ice cream at Chick-fil-a. I know, my kids are kinda weird that way and not into ice cream sometimes. I don't mind. I used the coupon after getting my cavities filled.

Colin cut

While we were in Austin at NI Week, Colin decided to give Nathan a haircut! This is what it looked like after the hair stylist "fixed" it.

Beer engine?

Bob mixes beer and business when he designs a PXI-Beer Engine for use at NI Week in Austin, Texas. Too bad we couldn't serve Bob's own home brew in it!

A crane big enough

Stone Mountain in Georgia is the largest monolithic exposed piece of granite. This was our destination Saturday, August 2, 2008 after Colin saw a brochure with a picture of the mountain and the skyride. The skyride was the highlight of the trip.

After going to the top, Colin said he wanted to get a crane big enough and move Stone Mountain closer to our house. That would be one very big crane!

Extra-cising

This is what Colin calls exercising!

Also a switch is a stwitch.