Labor Day Weekend 2011

This year we had a fairly low-key weekend, which was nice.  On Friday we were pretty tuckered out from the week's activities. 


That night, after the kiddos went to bed, Doug used his new chainsaw blade sharpener for the first time.  He has been using his chainsaw so much lately (and wearing out the blades as a result), that he thought it would actually be cheaper in the long run to buy a sharpener.  He sharpened 5 blades on Friday, which would've cost $50...So, the sharpener will definitely pay for itself quickly around here!  I tried to play catch-up on the blog.  :)

Saturday we headed to Ava's gymnastics class.  Doug kept Liam home.  I was thankful he did, as the last few times Liam has gone, he's been a bit antsy.  Before we even left to go to the class on Saturday, Ava said "I want to be the best in class today!  I will try my hardest today."  Wow, all without prompting.  I mentioned earlier in the week that if she listens to her coach that she would learn to do things really well, because her coach is watching her and sees how she could become better.  (I mentioned this because she was having fun with one of the other little girls last Saturday and not really listening to the coach well).  She seriously took the conversation to heart.  On Saturday, she did AMAZING!  Coach Alec made a (good) example out of her at least four times.  She did better than I have ever seen and seemed to really enjoy it.  She has been doing headstands around the house on anything... We seriously need to get this girl a dedicated space so she can do her headstands, cartwheels and somersaults!

She stood up in front of the mat, put her hands down and kicked her feet up before I took this photo.  The coach is trying to get them to go from standing into a handstand position here.

The coach had them jumping with both feet together here, then jumping up with both feet (together) onto each mat.  They jumped up onto three different mats.

On the way home from gymnastics, she asked if we could go to a pool.  I had already been toying around with the idea of going to Whitewater, since this was the last weekend we would be able to use our season passes.  I called Doug and told him about it, asking him if he could get Liam ready before we got there.  I thought Doug might appreciate our being out of his hair, while he concentrated on the retaining wall.  So we packed our bags (complete with contraband of baby carrots, protein bars and drinks) and were off. 

We spent about three hours there, running to all of the attractions.  We ended up at the wave pool, where both kids were wearing life jackets.  Ava and Liam both enjoyed the waves.  Liam crawled  up into my lap when I was sitting in very shallow water.  While the waves were splashing against us, he fell asleep.  In a wave pool.  Yep, he was a tired boy. He had so much fun on all of the rides while we were there.  Ava went a total of 4 times to Whitewater this year (with day care once, with Mom and the boys, Alana's half-birthday party and by ourselves this weekend), while Liam and I got to go 3 times (with Mom and the boys, Alana's half-birthday party and by ourselves this weekend).  Doug was able to go once, with our family, Mom, Daymian and Jordan.

We headed home and went out for ice cream with a very tired Doug, who came across yet another rough area of serious tree roots.  He had to use his axe to chop through them, once again.

On Sunday after church I made quite a few desserts for a cook-out at the Quinns'.  It was a party to welcome everyone to their new pool / Labor Day.  It was forecasted to rain on Labor Day, so they moved their cook-out to Sunday at 2 p.m., so we could all use the pool, weather permitting.  I made a black forest trifle, a white cake with carrot cake jam between layers and frosted with a whipped cream icing, and a creamy grape salad.  I knew no one else had volunteered for dessert, thus the lengthy list of desserts.  Everyone seemed to appreciate the goods. 

At the Quinns', Ava, Liam and I were able to swim in the pool, while Doug continued working on the retaining wall.  I had bought some new floaties (on clearance) at Target for Liam, so he wouldn't have to use Ava's fuschia ones any more.  ;-)  With a floatation vest and some floaties, he was able to keep his face out of the water.  Until we put the floaties on, though, he WOULD NOT let go of me.  Once he had the arm floaties on, I showed him how to kick.  And he was off... He really got around the pool well after that!  I was so glad to see him getting around by himself, confident in doing so.  Doug joined us later for dinner.  It sprinkled a little bit while we were there, but we enjoyed hanging out with our neighbors and catching up.  Carine took the cutest picture of all of the kids (including some of their friends that don't live in the neighborhood) up at the edge of the deck they just built.  Seeing this picture, I think Gerald plans on enhancing this area of the deck by building a bigger counter.  :)

Ava, Liam and friends of the Quinns. 
Matthew and friend enjoying a root beer.  This area is part of their new deck.

The Quinns' new pool and deck! 

They are gracious hosts and have invited us over quite a few times already!

Monday it rained and it rained.  There were flash flood warnings for our area.  We weren't affected at all, thankfully.  It did put a stop to Doug's backfill plans for the retaining wall (levels 3 and 4).  He plans on going 9 levels, so he still has quite a bit of work ahead of him.  Luckily the worst of it is over, though, because the remaining dead-men he will have to install won't require much digging. 

We headed to McD's for a quick lunch and were going to go to the dollar show.  The rest of EAST COBB had the same idea we did...We decided not to wait in line, but did decide to check out the regular show and see what was playing.  Spy Kids 2 was playing at 1:30, so we did some browsing for shoes for Liam before heading back to the theater.  Wow.  Everyone in East Cobb must've seen a movie today!  The movie was so cute.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.  We walked out into the rain after the show, too.  We got home and both kids napped. 

After dinner, we continued on with Ava's reading homework.  She has a sheet that has 12 pencils on it.  For each 15 minutes she spends reading with us (or us reading to her), she gets to color in a pencil.  Once she colors in all pencils, she can bring the sheet back, signed by a parent, and will receive a charm ring/bracelet, to which she can add future charms for reading.  She colored in one pencil on Friday night.  Tonight she said she wanted to read 10 books!  We set the timer on the microwave for 15 minutes and would read with her.  She read "Green Eggs and Ham" and "Hop On Pop" by herself, with Mom or Dad occasionally helping with a word.  She is SERIOUSLY reading these days!  We kept resetting the timer for 15 minutes, whenever it would go off.  One hour and 45 minutes later (!), she was able to color in SEVEN more pencils.  She wants to be one of the first to turn in her sheet of pencils, all filled-in.  :)  I think this homework exercise is just what she needed for motivation to want to read.  When she went to bed tonight, only FOUR of the pencils were not filled-in.  I told her I would help her finish them tomorrow after school, if she wanted to do that.  She was excited.  I am so happy that she has such confidence about reading now!  For the longest time she seemed paralyzed and intimidated that she couldn't do it. 


The Christian-based phonics program they used at Lighthouse seems to have given her a leg-up.  At first she seemed frustrated because she didn't read "sight words" quickly.  Now she seems to have passed that up and is definitely using the A Beka phonics teachings to her advantage.  She considers herself to be reading now...I'm thankful for that!


Doug just came down from putting them to bed and mentioned how excited Ava is about her reading.  He said she wouldn't stop talking about reading, and she mentioned that Mrs. McKenzie said she is the "best reader" in the class, as well as the "best singer".  Ha.  That's my Ava-girl!  She has quite the vibrato, if she's trying to be dramatic.  If you see her, ask her to sing "Once Upon A Dream" from Sleeping Beauty!  (She sounds like she is 20 years-old singing it...)

Over this weekend...

She's hoping to turn in her sheet on Wednesday! :)

I also signed her up for the Sunshine Math Program.  It is done outside of school hours and with a parent.  They send home a packet which has to be completed and sent back within six weeks.  It doesn't count for or against her grades, but her involvement in it is seen as beneficial.  She will also receive special recognition for being involved with the program, and also if she turns in her completed packet.  She is seriously interested in patterns lately, so I think this type of program might be a logical next step for her.  I'm sure the math problems won't be too tough in the beginning.  If she doesn't want to continue on with it, we don't have to do it.  I pray she will be able to learn perserverance through involvement in this program, though.  The program continues through 5th grade, so I thought it might be nice to start her out early in it.  We'll see what it's all about!

Ava is excited to go back to school after a long weekend.  We were bummed that not as much progress could've been made on the retaining wall on such a long weekend.  We know it will happen, but we're just anxious for the end result to get here!

Back to the grind tomorrow,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam