Grandma Fern visits

Grandma Fern visited us this past week and it was so lovely having her around.  Momma and Dad went out on 3 dates and the kids had a blast getting Grandma-time.  Unfortunately we only got one picture (kids were totally uncooperative)...

Thank you Grandma Fern for visiting!  We look forward to the next visit.

Basement DONE, framing beginning!

Work on the Holman house is happening so quickly!  Here is our addition.  Momma is standing in front of the basement.  Above the basement will be the new kitchen, living and mudroom.  Gosh, it is so exciting and it moves so quickly :-)

Talk Like a Pirate

Talk like a pirate at Sandy Creek Nature Center.

Happy Birthday Björn!

Björn turned 3 on Saturday!  Should Momma even bother saying, "time flies?"

 The morning began with PRESENTS!  Björn got some new legos (pirate ship!) and a bow and arrows.  The boys spent the morning playing with the new toys.  Bjorn got a few archery lessons and quickly became a pretty good shot!

Later in the afternoon we had a small party with some new Athen's friends.  Momma made a super yummy chocolate cake.  Odin helped out by lighting the candles and Bjorn blew them all out!  And the boys played with their new friend, Ben, until late in the evening.

Odin you are TOP DOG!

Last week Odin set a goal to receive all blue ratings for the entire week in class (blue is the best you can do).  Every day each student begins the day at green and they move up to orange (if they do something special...like participate, have good behavior, etc...) and then up to blue (if they do MORE special things) OR move down to yellow or red if they are not behaving appropriately (that has never happened to Odin).  To have a full week of blue is really HARD (we are constantly told green is good so don't expect orange and blue very often)!  But Odin did it!  He was so proud of himself on Friday when he showed me his 5th blue mark in a row.  Furthermore, he told me he received the "top dog" award for the week.  Every week one student gets chosen to be the "top dog" and they get to spend the weekend with Spike, a stuffed dog, and write about the weekend with Spike in a journal.

So, we had to think about something really cool to do with Spike...Odin decided to watch Star Wars with Spike.  Here is Odin and Spike getting ready to watch Star Wars.

But, honestly, Odin was excited and proud to be top dog, but spending time with Spike wasn't that exciting for him (he's just not into stuffed animals).  BUT, for Bjorn it was love at first sight.  Spike spent most of his time cuddled up next to Bjorn and Bjorn's other beloved stuffed animal "puppy dog."

Sadly for Bjorn, Spike had to be returned to Odin's classroom on Monday morning.  Many tears were lost and we are still answering questions about when Spike will return.  (Ahem, no pressure Odin!).

Playing with new friends

We are slowly making some new friends in Athens and yesterday the boys played hard with our new friends, Ezra and Ailynn, at the school playground and then went for pizza afterwards :-)

Day home with Momma

We returned from Odin's birthday weekend of fun LATE Monday night.  Odin wasn't feeling 100% so we let him stay home from school the following day.  He promised to help mom with lots of chores and do some school work.  We started off by putting away all the laundry from camping.  Odin did his own AND Bjorn's!  Then we did the dishes (Odin rinsed), folded all the blankets and sheets from the trip and put away all the toys scattered across the cabin.  We rewarded ourselves with a bike ride and then went right back to work doing math problems!

Odin is really good at adding and subtracting, so Momma threw in some fractions (just to see what would happen).  Odin understood the concept, answered the questions AND then told her that there are 8 halves of a quarter in a whole. Yes! He's got it!

Following math we ate lunch and then prepared veggie soup for dinner.  Odin cut carrots, potatoes and cabbage for the soup and let Momma do the onion.

We ended the day practicing our "sh, ch, h" sounding words and reading some stories.  It was a great "sick" day and Momma can't wait to do it again!  Odin said, "Momma, I like being home with you and helping you with chores.  Can we do this every other day?"  "Ah...I wish, my love, I wish..." said momma.

Odin 6 year old birthday--pool party!

After camping at Lake Norman we drove up to Raleigh and Grandma Fern threw a pool party for Odin.  So many special friends were there!

There was a piñata which everyone had fun whacking!!  Filled, of course, with candy and toys.  Kids were diving into the grass to grab the goods.

Ice cream was had by all...sometimes 2 or 3 times!

 Then there was a lot of lego building towards the end of the afternoon.  There were several star wars legos under construction along with a logging truck.

Happy Birthday Odin-6 years old--Camping Trip!

This past weekend was Odin's 6 year old birthday weekend.  It was a blast!  We started off camping at Lake Norman with Lynna, Max and Luca.  We decorated the campsite...

Momma Lynna make the BEST chocolate cake EVER! 

And Max was the life of the party! 

For Odin's birthday he got a special knife from Dad.  He's been asking for a knife since he was born (well not exactly...).

Many sticks were carved!