Winter Wrap Ups

It's been a long time since I posted, but nothing terribly noteworthy has happened.  We are wrapping up the final section of winter, which means cold temperatures, rainy days, a lot of video games, homework, tests at school, doctor visits, and muddy yards.  And otherwise time spent indoors.  But spring is on the way.

One thing we did this week that is always fun--team photos for the middle school basketball teams.  We look forward to this every year.  The coaches and kids are great--so organized, so peppy.  Even at eight a.m. on a school day, the kids were laughing, bright-eyed, and more than ready to pose for such pictures as this:

And this year, to make it even more fun, we were able to drop Sam off at class when we arrived for the shoot, because he's a student here!  Middle school?  THAT happened in a hurry.

For now, we are all looking forward to a few more sunny days and a bit more time outdoors.

Cold and Icy!

We're on day four of our big snow storm.  The temperatures have not dropped, so nothing has budged or melted.  We still have lots of snow and ice, and still no school.

Atlanta continues to have troubles with the major freeways being slippery.

We are holed up here and not going anywhere until tomorrow.  At that point, the roads should start to melt in the afternoon. 

 

 This was one big winter storm and Georgia is still recovering!

Lots Of Snow

Lots of snow.  7.5 inches, which is unheard of!  Lots of ice.  Freeway closures.  Accidents, traffic, power outages and kids playing in the snow.  The winter storm has come and gone and we have survived--so far--without losing power.  Now we're in for a deep, long freeze all week long.  Brrrr!

Winter Storm

Yep, we've got our bread and milk. And cookies and TV dinners and extra batteries for flashlights.  We're expecting a big winter storm tonight--the biggest that GA has seen in years, by all predictions.  We are looking at 4-6 inches of snow, coupled with lots of ice.   Sleet and freezing rain mixed in, too.  Power outages are feared, and "travel will be treacherous."  Flights are already being cancelled to/from ATL airport. Officials are even faced with having to postpone Governor Deal's inaugruation.  The storm will start late tonight and snow for about 24 hours, at which point it will stay freezing for several days.  So we're not expecting the snow to disappear anytime soon.   We ARE predicting--possibly--an entire week off of school.  We shall see.

Stay tuned!

Glow In The Dark

On our last day of Christmas break, we had a much-anticipated get together with some friends of the boys scheduled.  At the last minute, the friends had to cancel.  The boys were crushed.   I could see disappointment and another long day ahead of us, so I promised the boys we'd find something fun to go do.

Well, that's when I found out almost nothing "fun" was open.  But then we struck gold--we discovered a place called MONSTER GOLF.  It's an indoor glow-in-the-dark miniature golf place!!!

We packed up and drove an hour down to Barrett Parkway.  On the way we called Gram and she came and met us there.   What a treat!  This was one GLOWY golf course!  And it came complete with a monster/spooky/graveyard theme!!

The putters and golf balls glow in the dark.  The obstacles, tees, and decorations glow in the dark. Need we say more?  We got to golfing in a hurry!

For the record, the photos do not do justice to the eerie and plasma-like atmosphere.

I couldn't get a good picture of the overall place, so I had to settle for close-ups of various things.  Not pictured:  The corpse bride (always popular), the many skeletons dressed in tuxedos and suits with eyeballs that actually move side to side, the skeleton horse and rider (and yes, the horse has red eyes), and the giant monster that periodically inflates and rises above a partition in the corner to tower and snarl over everyone.  Totally cool.

After golf we jumped into the arcade of games.  Gram and Benny played Deal Or No Deal a couple of times and won!  We played skeeball, jackpot type games, skill games, etc, etc.  Very fun, and at the end, we ended up with a pile of tickets to redeem.

Naturally the boys chose wisely---they got "ugly teeth," pens that look like blood-filled syringes, and chinese finger-handcuffs.  The ugly teeth were the biggest hit of the day--the boys laughed themselves silly the entire ride home, showing each other their teeth.

Like a good Gram, Gram loaded them up with ice cream afterwards and then, when everyone was pumped with sugar, we climbed into the car for the hour-long ride home.  Fun times!

Back home there was a LOT of trampoline jumping, followed by dinner and a fairly conflict-free evening.  Then it was off to bed early to get ready for the return to school.  Though Benny really, really "didn't want to go back," Sam admitted he was looking forward to seeing his friends again, finishing a school project, and discovering what his new classes would be this quarter.

So...one more Christmas break successfully behind us.  And they're already looking forward to the next break---April!  It will be here before you know it!

Bouncy Mayhem

Though they'd never admit it in a million years, the boys have cabin fever.  Christmas break has gone on too long.  They are out of sorts from being totally off schedule for three solid weeks.  They've eaten too much junk food, played too many video games, and been cooped up too many days due to snow or rain.  And frankly, they are sick of each other.

Know what Mom is sick of?  THE BICKERING.

Today I got them outside.  Sam was quick to go, and soon Benny followed.  When the boys reach this state, I know better than to just "send them out to play."  THAT is a recipe for both of them returning to the house bitter enemies, one hurt, one angry, and both of them pointing fingers.

So---I went with them. And supervised. And tried to perk everyone up.  One sure fire way to get the boys to stop staring at each other is to bring along the camera.  It gives them something fun to focus on.

Because the fun thing to do is to flail around and try to get Mom to take a really cool picture of the action in mid-air.

It started off tame enough, with football madness and struggles and such.

Then we got CRAZY with jumps. 

Rest assured, after each photo was clicked, the boys had to run to the edge of the trampoline and look at my camera to see the photo.  Love those instant results.  And then they'd try to do better or do something different.

Isn't that one spectacular?

 

One popular move which resulted in a good thirty minutes of activity was playing "ninja."  Check out Sam's pose.......

And look at Benny levitating in mid-nap.............

Even I got on there for a while.   And yes, it's fun!!

After they were worn out, we resumed our regularly scheduled programming.

But one more day, and they go back to school.  I think it's time--though I know they'd disagree!