Kodak Moment

Dear Ian,

Before we get into the "meat-and-taters" of this post, I feel obligated to explain the title of this post.  "Kodak Moments" was the marketing campaign of the Kodak film and camera company based in Buffalo, New York.  This is important because a bunch of us "olden days" people still use this catch phrase (as you can now plainly see), and because Kodak was from Buffalo.  Papa Davis will agree with that last bit being important the most.  I bet Mr. Kodak even had a Regents Diploma.  Which I will have to explain one day as well.  But back to your Kodak Moment.

Look at what we just got!

 A few weeks back, we had this photo taken by Whitney Fletcher as part of our Back To School festivities.  I was so excited to see it today, and it turned out just fabulous!  She captured a great smile, and we got to add some of your favorites to the photo to commemorate you at this age.

Man, did I have the hardest time coming up with all-about-yous to go on this print.  You answered a majority of them by yourself; your favorite toys, favorite foods and sports...  But what about the other things that make you you?  Should I have put on there that you ask the most random questions?  What about your love of cooking?  There are so many quirks and interesting facets of you that to list them all would have covered the whole picture.  In the end, we went with what you see above, and I am totally thrilled with it.  But, I am worried that as you grow and change that I will forget all of the funny little things that you do, say and love RIGHT NOW.  Hence the reason for this blog and the constant cataloging of memories.

I hope that you will appreciate this craziness of mine when you're all big and grown.  It's the little bits and pieces that will make you who you are and who you'll become.  It's always good to remember where you come from.

Much love always, sweet boy.
Your Mommy

New Beginnings

Dear Ian,

Hooray!  Today is the second day of school, so that means we officially survived Day One.  And it was a great day.  You are really enjoying your new room, your new teachers, and of course the new toys and friends to play with. 

Monday was your orientation day where you got to first find out all of this newness, and since I was in my classroom, you got to share the fun with Daddy.  You and I arrived early, so I was able to take a couple of quick photos, though. 

 

Here's our obligatory First Day of School photo.  Our grass was (is?) really tall from all of the rain as of late, so we borrowed Mr. Patrick and Ms. Christina's yard next door.  You look so big and grown up and handsome.  Sniff.  Sorry.

A close-up photo of your cute little self.  I can't believe this is your next-to-last year at Advent.  I'm not going to think about that.

This is a picture of your hook outside your classroom window.  VERY important papers will hang from here.  VERY important.

This is your class list.  Look at all of those kids!  It's a really good group, and you know a whole bunch of these kiddos already.  Ben, Bryce, Avery and Ellasyn were in your class last year, and you know Brooklyn and Spencer from your first year at Advent.  Sarah Payne is the same Sarah that used to come to our house to play.  How fun is that?!  And Ella Stephens is the daughter of Mommy and Daddy's friends Mike and Maria.  Wow!  

So tomorrow is Thursday, day three, and then we are finished with your first week at school.  Already you've had homework; we had to decorate a bag and put a few things you like in it to share with your friends.  You drew a rocket ship on your bag and filled it with a mini John Deere tractor, a magnet from one of our family cruises and a picture of your family.  It was sweet watching you decide what to pack.  The tractor for Grandma and Papa's farm, the magnet from the cruises with Grandma and Grandpa Brooks and then the picture of us.  It made me smile.  On Friday, we need to bring in an ingredient for Friendship Snack.  I have it written down so we don't forget, and I cant wait to hear all about it after school on Friday. 

Our school year is off to a great start, and I know you are going to do so well.  You're teachers are great, you are surrounded by friends, and I get to peek in on you every now and again. It's the perfect combination.  We're very lucky.

Happy New School Year, Buddy.

Love you,

Mommy

Those Summer Nights (and Days)

Dear Ian,

Tomorrow night is a school night.  Yup, it's that time again.  Tomorrow night we will lay out your orientation day outfit, pre-make your lunch, and get to bed on time because the next morning we will get up, run around, eat breakfast, get dressed and start another school year.  But not today.  Today is still Saturday.  Sadly, I am sick and feeling quite like poo, but you and Daddy are off having an adventure.  I honestly don't know where the two of you are; you left around 8:15 or something, and here I sit in an empty house at 10:34.  I'm not complaining much, but I do sorta miss the loud wildness.

Anyhoo.  I've been sitting here with my germs and a cup of hot tea trying to get my voice back, because hey, what's more ineffective than a teacher with no voice?  And I was reminiscing on all the things we did this summer.  I didn't get to finish our weekly blog posts from our summer chain, but I did take pictures, so this post is going to be a lot of photos from those last weeks.  Things around here just got a little to crazy for me to sit down and write, but I made sure that you and I and Daddy made a ton of memories this summer.

Remember how our 4th of July celebrations were rained out?  We didn't let that hold us down!  The week after, we all trekked up to the lake and got to enjoy some time on the boat.

 You and Papa driving the boat around the State Park

Boat babies.  You with your cousins, Taylor and Payton

You even caught a fish off the dock!

The weekend after that we headed up to Atlanta to celebrate your cousin Nole's first birthday.  We took Payton up with us in our car, and the two of you had a ton of fun and adventures.

 

Here are the two of you riding and reading books.  

Didn't take long, though, before the ride got a little dull and lulled you into naptime.

For dinner that night, we had a special treat:  Hibachi!  You loved watching the chef prepare the food right in front of us, and you inhaled all of your lo-mien.  Eating with chopsticks was an adventure, too, and you and Pay both did really well with them!

Nole's birthday party was a lot of fun and included an awesome water slide.  You had a blast!

It was super fast, but you loved every second!

The trip to Atlanta was our last traveling bit we did this summer, but you and I had a ton of fun at home, too.

 We got to have a pool party/water balloon war with Carrick and Carter, our neighbor's sons.  They are so good with you.  Us grown-ups also had a good time sitting in the cul-de-sac drinking wine while the three of you entertained yourselves with basketball, scooters, bikes and toy guns.

 One rainy day you and I used a cardboard box to make our own tv.  I had gotten a little tired of you being glued to the boob tube, so we did this instead. You had a lot of fun with it.  We drew a bunch of different "shows," and here you are "watching" Star Trek.

 It rained a TON this summer, so we had lots of puddles in which to play.  Here you are working on your fishing skills in a puddle at the end of our driveway.  It was cute.

We made home-made chocolate chip cookies!  This was part of our July Challenge, which I guess I will need to blog about next...

This adventure was a ton of fun.  At the end of the last school year, you mentioned as we were driving home one day that you wanted to ride the bus.  To be honest, I had never ridden the city bus other than the Garnet Express that takes you from the Civic Center to FSU football games, so I figured, why not. After some research on routes and such, you and I walked to the bus stop nearest our house and rode all the way down Thomasville Road to the stop closest to Winthrop Park.  We got off, walked to the park, and you got to a bit.  Then we walked back, caught our return bus and came back home.  You really enjoyed the adventure, and it was actually kinda cool!  And we can officially say that we've used the City of Tallahassee transportation.

You on the bus.

Rain, rain, rain took up a lot of our summer.  We did some science stuff, though.  This was dropping colored vinegar onto baking soda.  This occupied you for about 20 minutes :)

Camping in your bedroom: another fun thing to do.  Sad to say, you were coming down with a summer cold when this one happened, so as peaceful as this photo looks, that night was a big rough  But we still had fun.

So there you have it.  I'm sure I missed taking pictures of a few more fun things we did this summer,  like all the time we spent in the pool, Rough and Tumble Time with Daddy, mini golf and Fun Station and art at our dining room table.  But all those memories are locked in my mind and in my heart.  This summer was so much fun, and I am a little sad that it has to end.  But that just means I have a whole school year to plan next summer's adventures.  

Happy Beginning of the School Year, Bear!

Love,

Mommy

Ohmygosh

Dear Ian,

Son, I swear I am going to get to weeks seven through whatever on our Summer Fun Chain posts, but lately you have been running me ragged.  My goal this weekend is to knock out the rest of the summer's posts, because believe it or not, school starts in one week. 

This post is just a quick little annotation on what you are up to lately.  Sorta like Ian-isms, here's a snapshot of what's happening around here:

You have taught yourself how to whistle!  It's not perfect yet, but as of today, you can at least make a tone.  And you are so very excited about it.

And here's a funny Ian-ism from a conversation we had the other day.

Mommy:  Hey Daddy, there's a truckload of fruit in the fridge.
Ian: Where's the truck?
Mommy:  There's not really a truck, but there's so much fruit it could fill a truck.
Daddy: Yeah, Ian. That's a figure of speech. A colloquialism.  Can you say colloquialism?
Ian:  No, I can't say that word. I don't have the right kind of mouth.

We love you, Boo Bear,
Mommy and Daddy

Summer Fun, Week Six

Dear Ian,

Week six.  Sigh.  I wont bore you with another "the summer is going by. so quickly," but man oh man.  Anyway...

Here we are at week six, and Mother Nature has not been kind.  Almost every day this week we've had rain, and for two days of the week it literally rained ALL DAY.  As I write this letter it is not raining, so I am about to kick you out of the house for a bit.

On Monday you and I visited Downtown Tallahassee and enjoyed the planetarium.  After a short show about our current night sky, we got to watch a cute movie called "The Perfect Little Planet," and I think you really enjoyed it.  I didn't get any pictures inside the planetarium, but I did get a couple shots of you running around the green space near it.  And there were fountains, so you had to make a wish. 

The movie was about aliens looking for a perfect vacation spot.  Of course, they ended up on Earth, but along the way, the visited the other planets in our solar system, so we were bombarded with facts about all of them.  It was really fun, though. 

 Running around in the green space on Kleman Plaza.  After sitting for an hour, it was time to RUN!

Making wishes in the fountains.

On Tuesday, we took a very special tour!  You got to visit a fire station!  Mommy's friend, Ms. Bethany is married to Mr. Doug, a fireman, and we went to his fire station to check things out.  On the way we stopped by Tasty Pastry Bakery and sweetened the deal with some cookies.  I think the firemen really enjoyed them!  Our visit coincided with them doing practice drills, so you got to watch them spray water at pretend fire, and that was super cool!  Then Mr. Doug showed you all around the firehouse.  You got the grand tour!!  When it was over, he even gave you a cool cup that changes color, a hot pad (that was really for Mommy but you adopted it into your play kitchen) and some awesome stickers.  It was a really fun morning!! 

Watching the hose drills.  500 gallons per minute!  Mommy would love that kind of water pressure in her shower.

 Taking in all the action.  You were really impressed!

 Mr. Doug demonstrated the fire pole for you, too.  The drop is 15 feet! 

 My sweet Bear posing with the fire truck.

That brings up Wednesday, which was very, very rainy. So we had to find some indoor fun.  You and I put on our engineering hats and made a marble run out of paper towel and toilet paper tubes.  It took some serious patience, but we ended up with a really cool run!  We used your bristle blocks to help out with our construction.

This was a lot of fun.  You had a blast building and testing it.  It kept getting longer and longer! 

The sun came out a little in the afternoon, so we took advantage of the puddles, too.  We also took a fun family bowling trip, and that was fun, too. 

 This is your sunflower we planted. It finally bloomed on the rainiest day of the week.

Thursday was the Fourth of July!  And this year, it was raining cats and dogs.  Normally we head up to Lake Seminole for crazy family festivities and fireworks, but with Great Poppey being sick and all the rain, it just didn't end up happening like usual.  This made Mommy so sad.  I haven't missed a 4th at the lake in a very long time.  We did get to have a fun dinner with some family friends, and then we headed home for sparklers!  That made you smile.  Oh, and ps.  Grandma and Papa went up after all and Bainbridge was dry.  Argh.

 Sweet Sparkler Boy.

 You had so much fun!

So did Daddy.

Also during this week we did some fruit picking, but I cant remember which day we did it on.  It wasn't on our list; it was just something we did to pass the time.  Judging by the lack of rain, I am assuming it was at the beginning of the week rather than later.

 We went to Grandma and Papa Davis' house to pick pears.  You had to get up in the tree...

 ... While Mommy fought off heart attacks.  But you had a blast!  And we got a lot of pears.

 There were a couple of lower hanging ones, but you still had to stand on a chair.

 We also went to Havana and picked blueberries.  That was a lot of fun!

Fresh blueberries. Mmmmm

 

And now it's Friday.  Today we spent most of the morning playing outside and in the pool because the sun thankfully graced us with its presence.  It was nice to know we weren't living in a rain forest after all.  Then after a good nap, we all headed outside for  some exercise.  And a reward.  We hoofed it, or rather Daddy and I did since you rode your tricycle, the .8 miles to Au Peche Mignon for a tasty treat.  And you rode your bike the WHOLE way there and back.  That's a mile and a half, little dude!  Now, granted we did take a 15 minute break for some chocolate in the middle, but hey. 

Daddy following along behind.  This is the farthest away from us that you were allowed to pedal.  And yes, this picture is taken on the way home.  

Totally worth any form of torture.  I mean exercise.  Same difference.

And now it's time for dinner and time to gear up for the weekend.  Where more fun is on the horizon.  For now, you and Daddy are giving me 15 minutes of peace by making a fruit run to Fresh Market.  So I better get up and finish dinner so it doesn't look like I've been goofing off the whole time.  Just some of the time.

Love you bunches,

Mommy

You Are What You Eat

Dear Ian,

We are officially insane.  Well, that goes without saying, but Daddy and I have decided not to leave well enough alone, so we created a bit of a challenge for our little family.  This July, starting tomorrow if you will notice the time stamp on this post, we are challenging our family to eat nothing that is processed.

Now, let me start by saying that we generally eat pretty healthy.  We aren't eating TV dinners every night, nor do you get overly sugary, crappy foods.  You like veggies, "meat and tater" meals, and you understand the concept that bad foods make you feel bad.  That being said, Daddy has been doing all kinds of research as of late, and it turns out that stuff that has "natural ingredients" is actually pretty gross.  The definition of "natural flavorings" or "natural ingredients," as according to the FDA is anything that is found in nature or not produced in a lab.  Let me reiterate:  ANYTHING found in nature and used in food products is ok.  A disturbing example is the ingredient in orange soda (which I think you have had exactly two times in your life) that makes the soda orange is dried locust wings. 

I'm apparently delicious?!

Yes, it's true.  That little fellow is in orange soda, and he's all natural. He and some of his buddies are probably in a bunch of other stuff, too, but I don't want to think about that!  So, when Daddy presented me with this information, I decided that challenging ourselves to non-processed, non-factory created foods wasn't a bad idea at all.  Save the locusts and stuff.  Plus, ewww.

Now, we're not trying to get all holier-than-thou and such.  This is something we want to do for our family.  We also are viewing it as sort of an experiment to see how it will affect our day-to-day selves, too.  Mommy needs to work on her blood sugar, Daddy wants to work on eating healthier in general, and we both want to establish good eating habits in you.  There's also the effect that artificial flavorings, dyes and such have on the behavior of little people.  I have been doing some research on the Feingold Diet after hearing about it this year from a mom of a boy in my class.  All those additives and preservatives can actually cause behavioral and attention deficit issues in kids.  We want to see if there's any sort of change in your behavior when we change our diet.  Yes, this sort of makes you our guinea pig, but we're swapping you from not-so-good foods to healthier foods, so I am not too terribly worried about this driving you straight to a psychiatrist's chair. 

Tonight we ate our last junky, albeit totally delicious, meal for at least 31 days.  We went to Barnaby's and pigged out on one of their awesome pizzas.  This was after a trip to Fresh Market to load up on fruits and veggies, so we are fully prepared and committed to make this work.  We have an plan.  There will probably be some leniency given to cheese and maybe bread, but we are going whole hog.  Should be interesting. 

So here's to a new us! 

Love always,
Mommy and Daddy

Summer Fun, Week Five

Dear Ian,

We're halfway through our summer and our paper chain.  While this passage of time kinda makes me sad, but every day we wake up excited to see what is coming next.

This Monday we kicked our week off with a Water Gun War!  Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of this, (I was trying to keep my phone dry.  Especially after the Water Balloon Fight we had earlier in the summer.) but we had a blast.  Daddy even got involved, and we all got wet!  It was fun!

On Tuesday,  you and I visited Books A Million.  I am always up for new books, and to be honest, I had a bit of an ulterior motive.  You only own one Berenstein Bears book, and that book is all about learning about strangers.  I have read that book at least 45 times, so I figured a new one might attract your attention for a bit so I could get a break from all of the stranger danger going on.  We purchased a couple of new Berenstein Bears books (all of which pertain to what's going on in your life like too much tv, and too much junk food...) and left the store happy campers.  Yes, Mommy got a new book too!  I can't leave the bookstore without a new book.  We had a nice lunch together at Subway and then headed home.  Daddy was off doing an emergency training thing for Ham Radio and hurricane season, so we had a nice Mommy and Ian morning.  That afternoon we all got in the pool and had a great time.

Wednesday was super fun.  We went on a special trip to Gulf Specimen Marine Lab.  You really enjoyed looking at all of the sea life.  This I DID manage to get pictures for, so here they are:

 

 Here's you and Daddy enjoying the touch tanks.  There were hermit crabs, calico crabs and all kinds of other critters.

It took a bit of coaxing, but you did get into picking things up.

Here you are looking at a sea turtle named Allie.  She is 50 years old and weighs more than you do!

Allie the Sea Turtle smiling for the camera.

Here you are riding a dolphin outside the Marine Lab.

All in all, I think you had a lot of fun at the lab.  You got to watch a couple of marine biologists feed a nurse shark, see and pick up star fish (ahem, sea stars) and admire a huge horseshoe crab that Daddy picked up.  There were fiddler crabs and puffer fish and sting rays.  You were not a fan of the sting rays.  You really liked the sea horses.

After our afternoon at the Marine Lab, we wandered around a bit and ended up at Angelo's seafood restaurant for dinner.  No, we did not eat anything from the Marine Lab.  We had a great seat on the deck overlooking the river, and we had a fantastic dinner.  It was so good.

 You and I took a self portrait at dinner.

 Then you took a picture of Daddy across the table.

My Bear, admiring the water.

And that was a really great family day.
 
On Thursday, we spent most of the day at home.  Great Poppey was not doing well health-wise, so Mommy was kind of on stand-by to help out.  We managed to have a fun morning, and it basically consisted of all things water.  I swear, if there is one way to keep a kid occupied, it's water.  Best to show this day in pictures:

 Here you are painting the fence.  Awesome idea, if I must say so myself.  The water caused the wood to change colors, so you really did think you were painting the fence.  It kept you busy for hours! 

 While the "paint" on the fence dried, you switched to washing your riding toys.  Another 45 minutes to an hour...

And finally, here you are "mixing fertilizer" for the garden.  I showed you how I do it in real life, so you decided to play a game with it.  You were funny to watch.  But you were having a blast! 

I did end up going to sit with Great Poppey, you and Daddy had a man afternoon. 

And that brings us to Friday.  It rained almost ALL DAY LONG.  Ugh.  But we snuggled on the couch and had an easy day.  Movies, picnic lunches and jammies ruled the day.  I will admit that after dinner we were all going a little stir crazy, so we said "so what" and headed outside.  We played catch in the rain until it started thundering again and Mommy's paranoia took over. 

What a great week we had.  I'm sad to announce that we only have about four weeks left before we head back to school for the two weeks of summer camp that I am teaching, and then it's pretty much back to school.  But we are going to have a blast this last month!  Cant wait until next week!!

Love,
Mommy