Illegal Wheels on our Pinewood Derby Car

9:37 AM the day of the Pinewood Derby here is Evan's car: (they bought at kit off a website so it came pre-cut and sanded but they did give it several light coats of paint earlier this week): Looks like there is still a lot to do before the start flag goes up at 1:00 today!

10:54, following some assistance from Daddy and Papa (Papa's hat) here is the finished Pinewood Derby car of 2010!!! Looks awesome Evan!

They arrived on time, got the weight right and now they're ready to roll.

AND here's....

NADA. Nothing. Nunca.

The car started down the track 3 separate times and NEVER, not once, crossed the finish line! It did look good though!

So, Evan and Daddy arrive home and I asked, "So how did it go?" (remembering last year that Evan and his Vette placed Second in his Den) John BUSTED out laughing and said "It didn't even finish. I dono what happened, I even took all the weight off at one point, thinking the drag was too much, and it STILL didn't get near the finish line." Then Evan chimes in, "Yeah Mom it was fun. I didn't care that it didn't finish." (with a big smile on his face and a medium Grandy's Sweet Tea in hand)

Maybe next year boys. It IS a GREAT looking car!

Great-Grandma Judy arrived from Tennessee

Yesterday evening Great-Grandma Judy arrived at Nana and Papa's house in Alachua from Tennessee! She made the car drive all by herself in about 9 hours (not too bad)! Today she came to our house and met the Flock (for the first time). Ashlyn Grace and Colson were SO excited to meet her. Shortly after she arrived this morning, and they had overcome their few minutes of shyness, AG and Coly each took a hand and escorted her on a tour of our home. They wouldn't let her have TWO seconds to herself the entire time she was here (hopefully she had had enough alone time during the big car ride to Florida).

Shortly before noon John and Evan left for the Pack 82 Pinewood Derby and Nana, Papa, Great-Grandma Judy, and Aunt Yvonne left to grab some lunch and tour campus. Mommy fed the Flock and put everyone down for nap. (wew- love the quiet time)

Everyone arrived back here and we decided to go to Ballyhoo Grill for dinner. EVERYONE wanted to sit next to Great-Grandma Judy...and Colson was all about dominating her attention. :)

Braxton and I were at the other end of the table passing the time with popular circus tricks- Look Mom, I'm gonna have no hands!

After dinner we mixed-and-mingled and Evan got his turn next to GG Judy!


Then the bill arrived and you can see just how serious that tabulation was for the Oldest and Youngest Fleming.

Bye Bye Great-Grandma Judy...come back real soon!!!

Two Places at Once ?!?

Today I took Ashlyn Grace on the K-4 Fieldtrip to our local Publix grocery store. I had all but one of the girls from K-4 in my car. Gracie and Scout were in the back and Ciera was in the middle row. The only other girl in the class (yep- that makes 4 total girls in the K-4 Explorers) was home sick. AND Mrs. Nick (pictured in the mustard argyle sweater) was my co-pilot, in the front seat.

Here is everyone- hair nets on- ready to split into two equal groups and tour the store behind the scenes! (the sweet girl out of uniform-brown shirt- is Reid's sister who joined us)


How cute are we?!?!



We started out with the cake decorators and they gave us a few quick tips, then we made our way over to the bakery, deli, and then produce where we: got sprayed by the produce waterer, passed around a bunch of odd fruits, observed the pineapple cutter in action and learned about star fruit. Then we headed REALLY behind the scenes, to the back of the store to see: how boxes are compressed for recycling, where items are received and sent before they are put out on the shelves and a tour of the milk cooler. Here are Scout and Ashlyn Grace sitting on a dolly at the receiving dock.



After the dairy cooler we got to try on some safety gloves in the meat department...I think they are a little big for Gracie.

Then we all met back up front and each child got to practice ringing up items and bagging. The K-4 Explorers seemed to have a great time and were sent back to class with a grocery cart full of YUMMY snacks!

At the SAME time, Evan was with his second grade class on a fieldtrip to Dudley Farm. This was the first fieldtrip that neither Daddy nor I were able to drive/chaperon. Thank you for the pictures Mrs. Debi!!!

http://www.floridastateparks.org/dudleyfarm/

Evan said that this is a picture of the "official sugar cane grinder of the old time" (that he's helping to push). He reported that it was "easy to push, but the tour guide said it was hard for the bull".

Now they are patiently waiting to touch some "grinded wheat"!

Before they concluded they took a class picture on the front porch of a house from "old times"! Evan said he liked that he "got to learn about the Dudley Family".

Double Dippin' at the O'Connell Center

Yesterday, Thursday evening, Colson and I went to the Gator Basketball game against the Auburn Tigers. (Gators won 78-70)

Here's the first picture that I took with my phone camera (because I forgot one of our cameras)! I said, "Smile for Mommy's phone Coly." And this is what we got...

Then I saw Albert pass below so we RAN down to see him. Colson was all about going to see him, until we got TO him....then Colson was not so sure about getting close to this rowdy gator! Colson was pensive (but smiling) and looking right at the camera. Just as I took the picture Albert raised his finger to #1, Coly fearfully watched his hand go up and Mommy got THIS picture... (Colson is thinking- what's he going to do with that hand that was just on me but now moving quickly through the air)

So we returned to our seats and captured this pretty cute picture.

For the most part Colson enjoyed the antics of the game. He shook his pom-pom with as much zeal and enthusiasm as the students in the student section. He cheered and jumped and enjoyed his OWN Gatorade (which he had to take the lid off of and put back on between every sip).

And just as we were leaving we caught Albert again and this time I asked a nearby Gator Fan to take our picture together...Coly seems much more comfortable with Mommy to lean into!

Tonight, Ashlyn Grace and I got to share special times at the Gator Gymnastics Meet against the Georgia Bulldogs. (UF won 197.25 to UGA's 197.15) We brought Aunt Yvonne with us and Cousin Stephanie met us at the O'Connell Center.

Here is Gracie sitting in Cousin Stephanie's lap anxiously awaiting the meet to start.

And, of course, Alberta was walking around so we grabbed a shot with her. NONE of the kids seem to be into hugging large green reptiles. :O Sidenote: Ashlyn Grace dressed herself to keep warm, even though she insisted on wearing her jean skirt!

We still have a few more minutes to kill before the start so Ashlyn Grace tried out Effie's monocular (works like binauclars- but it's just one and WAY high powered). I laughed so hard when I saw her technique (mind you this is NOT something she learned from Effie, as Effie doesn't hold her eye closed with the opposite hand)!

On the way to the car, we stopped for a celebratory pose in front of the famous bronze Albert and Alberta.

We finally made it to the Planetarium

Evan's second grade class was scheduled to go visit the planets at the local community college planetarium two weeks prior, but it was canceled due to equipment malfunction...or lack of function. Anyway- I chaperoned and drove Evan, Keaton, Laura and Hailey, and it was a fairly calm drive to and from school. When we arrived EARLY (and by early I mean like 30 minutes before the staff even arrived to open the building), parking was no problem and we anxiously evacuated the cars only to line up and wait outside in the COLD! humm

Our fearless leader (AKA Mrs. Nelson) quickly found something for our second graders to do, inside, where is was WARM!!! So we quietly proceeded to the lobby of the Natural Science Building to look at some "cool stuff"! Can I just interject a few disclaimers comments here: Evan does his own hair for school and I've learned to just go with it, yes that is about 4 inches of belt sticking out from his jacket, not because the belt is THAT big, but because he wears it THAT tight (OUCH)...and yep the top button is buttoned. That's Evan!

The Planet Show was cool, Evan enjoyed it. Mommy had to close her eyes at various times when it "looked like we were moving (but weren't)". :O I told Daddy he'll have to accompany the next planetarium trip!

(you can click on the picture to enlarge it and check out Evan's second grade class and our Planet Tour Guide)

Mummy Making Moment

Once a month Grandma tries to come over for a playdate (usually on a Thursday- when the whole Flock is home). Today we took a little more time homeschooling AND Evan left two books at school. SO, I got out everything for Gma and Evan to make the Mummy Cat, took a few shots of their beginning and dashed off to Cornerstone to get his Scoring High and God's World News!
Here's what they had to work with (toilet paper roll, rolled up newspaper and two construction paper ears):



Next they begin the mummification process:



Until the cat is all mummified...Then he sits to dry (which took ALL day).

Then Evan finishes with a spray painted head and a orange and blue wrapped body. He added the details of the face and ears with a black marker and proudly carried it to school, arriving to the teather's desk all in one piece!

Great work. THANKS for the help and the visit Grandma!

Gator Babies

I was looking through pictures to order pictures for the First Year of Colson and Braxton (for their Baby Books). It was so awesome to be able to put all of these together:

Braxton January 2009

Colson December 2006

Ashlyn Grace March 2005

Evan
July 21, 2002

♥ GO GATORS ♥

Among Evan's Many Talents

Evan has always enjoyed building, putting things together, constructing...and it's clear that he's GOOD at it:

February 2010 - lego helicopter

February 2010- lego prop plane with wheels that come out and go in for landing

August 2009 - lego pyramid (notice the pattern)

July 2009- lego house

October 2007 - construction blocks (see the pattern...there was no model to match...he's just a pattern kind of guy)

May 2007- his Lincoln Log house..he did ALL on his own.

Colson's First Dentist Visit

Today, Colson, Braxton, Aunt Yvonne and Mommy all loaded the car, dropped off Gracie at school and headed to the dentist. Aunt Yvonne and Colson each had 9:00 appointments for cleanings! (I love an office with 9+ hygienists at once- that's what I call efficiency and convenient)

The day before Colson and Mommy started talking about the visit. From first mention, Colson stood firm on his stance: "I don't wanna go to the dentist, Mommy."


Here is our patient...in the waiting room (while Mommy completes 4 pieces of paper, monitors Braxton and consoles Colson) and this face was NOT just for the camera...this was COLSON in the waiting room the whole time:





Mrs. Whitney called him back to her station and he was clearly anxious and not cool with this. She went nice and slow.




You can see in the this shot that Braxton shares his brother's angst, as he takes a break from his Blackberry to monitor what Mrs. Whitney is going to do to his big brother.




He got himself so worked up that she couldn't even get the polishing tool "Mr. Tickles" in his mouth. The tears started to trickle and Mommy had to step in (LITERALLY). There are NO pictures of the actual cleaning- because I had to pull Braxton's chair close, lay in the chair myself, and let Coly lay on me for this cleaning, while keeping one hand on Braxton's leg so that he didn't escape his chair. (the measures a Mom goes to for her little ones)



After the cleaning- I was permitted to get up and Colson handled the Doctor's check solo. However, I kept Braxton close and (again) you can see the SAME feeling on the face of these two little boys!!!! (Maybe Braxton thought he might be next)

Gladly (Mommy being the glad one), Colson opened right up for the Dentist to check the hygienist's work.

Braxton was comfortable enough with things, at this point, to go back to work on his Crackberry. (HOW CUTE IS THIS PICTURE)

Here are pictures of those in the NO CAVITY CLUB (Mrs. Whitney even let Braxton pose with the Stuffed Dog).

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When we got home Colson went straight inside, but Braxton took his time outside and when I came back out (to sweep him up and bring him inside) I captured him playing with his shadow. I RAN back in to grab the camera and MISSED the moment. But I did want to post this one picture and blog that TODAY was the day that Braxton discovered his shadow...and how sweet he was bending forward to touch his shadow, then taking a few steps forward and bending over again to try to scoop it up. Peter Pan ain't got nothing on Braxton...now if he could just fly!