Atlanta Baby & Child Expo is coming! #AtlBabyExpo #ad

Back for its sixth year, the annual Atlanta Baby and Child Expo is considered THE premier event for expecting and new parents in the Southeast.  We bring in the ultimate in parenting and baby products and professionals.  It’s an elite experience, intimate in setting and notoverwhelming.  We like to think of it  as a party for expectants, new parents, grandparents and their family and friends.

When:  April 16th, 11a - 2:30p  (VIP ticket holders get early entry, starting at 10:30a)

Where: Fox Theatre Ballrooms, 660 Peachtree Street, NE, Atlanta, GA 30308

Tickets: www.atlantababyandchildexpo.com has all the details and tickets This event features a Cravings Corner, Red Carpet Photos of attendees as they enter, awesome baby gear to buy and try, thousands of dollars in giveaways and so much more!

Make sure to watch WSB Family 2 Family and Living Social for possible deals on new ticket purchases!

It's Back to School with Medieval Times #wintickets @MedievalTimes #MTAtlanta

My son starts back to school this year as a sophomore in high school.  Hard to believe he's that old.  Hopefully we'll be more successful this year than last.  He'll be taking is first AP class (World History), precalculus and more.  To say he'll be busy is a minor understatement.  My daughter has one more year in MS before I have to take her to the HS as well.  She'll stay with Gwinnett Online Campus while my son stays with Meadowcreek HS.  She doesn't officially go back until the 11th (Monday) so she gets a bit more time off. 

With that, as summer draws to a close and a new school year begins, keep the kids’ (and your!) spirits up with an evening of Feasting, Fighting and Family Fun!

Now through Sunday, August 10^th, all seats are just $29.95 as part of Medieval Times Atlanta’s Back to School Special! Ring in the new school year with jousting knights, damsels in distress, a free-flying falcon, and an abundance of medieval pageantry. 

A great way to celebrate going back to school as well as to end summer with a bang!  My daughter and I always have a blast when we go.  My son (generally a bottomless pit when it comes to eating) comes away full.   For whatever reason, every time we've gone (but one) we've had the red and yellow knight.  Something we always find funny, especially as he never seems to win when we're there.  The biggest win for us, though, was when my daughter finally got a flower.
 

Visit http://bit.ly/29BTS for more information and to book your tickets today!

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#ThrowbackThursday Flasback to July 2006

My two playing with the reactrix mat at the mall.

Friday First

So, I didn't get first day of school photos for my kids out on time as they didn't have the same start date.  So, here are my two on their first day of school.

#WW Day at White Water

I took the kids and two of their friends to White Water this past weekend. It was their end of summer day of fun. We stayed out there 6 hours. I think I spent a total of about 2 hours with the kids. I do believe they enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

#WW #MonthofMom Smile

Braces: THE END!

My kids are getting their braces off this morning. Hard to believe it's been two years for my son, a little less for my daughter. I know they're looking forward to the change and to be able to eat/drink what they want without having to worry about loose brackets or wires. I'll have post braces pictures later.

Update:
My kids didn't actually get them off. They had more troubles with brackets than they realized. They'll go back in a couple of weeks to be reevaluated.

Friday School Report

I haven't really done an update on how the new school is doing lately as I've been in crisis management mode. With a new school and a new grade came a new attitude for my eldest child. Not one that I care to have remain in my house. By now, we've worked out most of the kinks (I won't say all, as I doubt I'll ever have it totally handled) and gotten him back on track. So, now I'm relatively comfortable to explain what happened (or didn't, in this case).

The primary issue is my son decided that doing his school work wasn't on his priority list. Going in to the new school, I had told him that the work was pretty much on him as my checking on it wasn't like what we had at GCA. He took full advantage of that fact and decided to not do anything.

The first call came from his Spanish teacher a couple of days in. I had a talk with him about it and thought we'd gotten it corrected. About a week later (at the school's first event of the year) his science teacher tells me he hasn't turned anything in for a week. OK. We have more than a basic issue here. I then go in and investigate ALL of his classes (and open dialogue with all of his teachers) only to find out that he's behind 2 weeks on all work. This is NOT acceptable. I know I am as much to blame for not checking in on him as it is his for not doing the work to begin with. It makes for some very restless/sleepless nights.

So, I came up with a plan for him to work labor day weekend and try to catch up. He did ok. I furthered that during the week by giving him a written list of assignments. He improved. Last weekend, he worked again to finish catching up. The problem, though, is that when I go check on him, he appears to be working. But when I go to check on what's turned in, half of it isn't there.

His Choi instructors had a talk with him Monday. I set up a conference with his counselor this past Tuesday to try to help him out before I let his Choi instructor step in. He has worked hard to become a second degree (ee dan) black belt. Having that status and his junior instructor top taken away is a pretty good incentive for him to keep working too. At this point, I'm trying everything I can to get him back on track.

He told me that finds it easier to work from a written plan on a daily basis. I can do that. I can create a plan similar to what he had at GCA for him to work from. If only he'd actually FINISH the work he starts.

By now I don't expect anything impressive for his grades this semester. I just expect him to stay on track and to pass.

So, here's praying that he gets on track and keeps the work going.

#EdCampAtl It's all about the Learning..

I went to EdCampAtlanta this past Saturday to see what I could see. I didn't have a lot of expectations for me specifically since I'm not a 'teacher', though I do have my kids at home during school. I wanted to know what an un-conference was, and I wanted to know what I could do to help out both my kids and the kids/families I work with. What I came away with will keep me busy chewing for a while.

The day started with individuals electing to 'lead' discussions on various topics. Several spoke of things they'd recently discovered, some shared what they've been working on. I rolled the dice for the most part as to what I actually went to and have to say I came up pretty well.

Having two kids in a virtual charter school and myself working for a different virtual charter, I'm aware of a lot of what's possible. What I didn't know was what the teachers were doing to take advantage of those things. Brick and mortar doesn't operate the same way, in general, so it was interesting to find out what has changed in some schools. There are still quite a few, though, that are behind what other would consider the 'norm'.

To find out that some schools (middle/high) have the kids actually utilizing their cell phones as part of their lessons was spellbinding. I love that! They're going to use them any way, why not take advantage of it? These same teachers are starting to use twitter to get conversations going among their students both in and outside of their classrooms. Wonderful! They're also utilizing a multitude of sites to get the kids to collaborate on projects and research.

What was really cool, though, was sharing the ways and means of getting the kids involved. To get the teachers connected, use what the kids use and to keep it flowing. I'd love to see more schools start encouraging this interaction among the teachers AND the students and then see what we can ALL learn in the process.

More changes around the house

My kids want a total redo of their bedrooms this summer. As we figure out what they want, we're doing the easy stuff in small phases. Phase one was to eliminate the queen bed from my son's bedroom. We replaced it with the 'spare' twin bed from my daughter's bedroom. During this, we found that the frame of one of the beds needs to be fixed. I don't have the time to really do as much as should be done to them, so we cheated and bought my daughter an inexpensive replacement frame.

Phase 2 we changed the curtains in the kids' rooms. My daughter is expressing her definitive style. Striped silky curtains with peace symbol sheers.

My son, on the other hand, went for simple. The difference is that he's hung his curtains from the ceiling instead of the wall.

Kidsignments Sale

It's Here! It's here! The big Kidsignments consignment sale of kids' stuff is out at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds this week. It starts today, though no kids or strollers are allowed until after 2p. Saturday everything not marked "NR" is 1/2 off. I love to get my "need" stuff during the week early, then go back on Saturday and check out what's left (which is more than you'd think).

For those of you that have never gone, take a laundry basket or something to carry your goodies in.. armloads get awkward after a while. They have a bit of everything.. toys, furniture, books, videos, and (of course) clothes. I think I have about as much just exploring as anything. This year, my kids are in charge of figuring out what clothes they need and then (with a budget) have to shop for it. It'll be interesting to see what they come up with.

Michael C. Carlos

My kids and I went to visit last Friday. The Michael C. Carlos museum on Emory campus is a very interesting museum to visit. They were hosting a "Free Friday", which made it even better. My kids had never been there, I hadn't been since King Tut's exhibit briefly stopped there. It took us around an hour to see everything.

The front entrance

Earrings from approx 2500 BC

Falcon funerary statue

African mask

African Diviner's Pouch

Sarcophogi from above

Girls in the Kitchen

This week started "McLure Day Camp". I had a friend's kids over during the day while she was at work. On Monday, my daughter and her friend got into the kitchen to bake cupcakes for my daughter's birthday. Amazingly enough, they didn't make a huge mess. I actually left them alone in the kitchen for the majority of it. I came in long enough to snap photos and make sure they cleaned up after themselves. The cupcakes seemed to have been enjoyed by all later in the day at the pool (they certainly disappeared quickly enough).

FurKids visit

My kids and I got out this afternoon and paid a visit to Furkids to see what was up and who was there. A bit of turn over, which is a good thing. Quite a few need a lot of TLC, but these caught our eye..

This is Mango (dmh), a pretty little girl. Very friendly.

Eclair (dsh), another sweet girl. I sat down and she sat with (on) me.

Cocoa Puff (dsh) was a sweetie. She was very happy to see us and have us pet her (as you can see, she LEANS into the petting).

This little one (dsh) we couldn't find the name on. My daughter sat down and he sat with (on) her. I sat down and he transferred laps. When I stood up, he went back to my daughter quite happily. Definitely a lap cat here. As always, you can find out more information on these and others at their website: http://www.furkids.org.

To Mission or not to Mission

My kids (particularly my daughter) need service hours for scouts. As a result, they've started going to church with a friend's children on Wednesday nights. They're participating in a program called "Kids on a Mission". It's an outreach program for kids to help other kids and groups. This past week my two were invited to participate in a mission program over spring break. They'll be headed to Alabama to a church to do a mini-bible school. My kids aren't sure about it for a couple of reasons. One - they're new to the program and it's an adjustment as it is. Two- it's sleep-away with non-family which they haven't done yet. So, we have a lot of thinking to do to make up our minds about whether or not to let them go.

Shopping for Clothes

I went out this past week to the Gwinnett county fairgrounds to shop at the Kidsignment sale. I limited myself to $100 and wanted just to get uniform stuff for my kids for school. I succeeded better than I'd hoped (I spent considerably less) and my kids should be set for the year. As usual, I saw LOTS of really cute clothes for my guys and thought I might head back out today to take advantage of the 50% off sale. Before I did so, I went through both of my children's closets to get an idea of what they'd need.. they NEED NOTHING! Woot! I was actually somewhat surprised by this fact, but very relieved.. I'd still love to go back, but there's not a point without the need to go with it. We really don't NEED me to spend the money on it, so I won't (novel thought). But, if you need kids' clothes, I highly recommend checking it out. You'll find great bargains on clothes as well as toys and BOOKS today.

Vines Gardens Railroad

I did this kind of backward, post wise, but on the way to Strawberry picking Saturday we stopped at Vines Gardens in Loganville to check out their train setup. The group will be out there each Sunday until September from 11-3 running the trains.

Kidsignments

Today starts the Kidsignments sale out at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds. I won't make it out there before Friday, but I recommend it for anyone that's in the area. Make sure you take a laundry basket with wheels when you go. I use a folding crate and a small cart. It can be a mad house, so I recommend not taking kids if you can avoid it. It does, though, have a LOT of good bargains on clothes, toys and kids' furniture.

Summer Fun

It's that time of year again! Schools out Wednesday and it's time for me to plan a few things to keep my kids occupied. They do well on their own, but after a while they get annoyed with each other. Unfortunately, we don't have too many kids their age in our neighborhood which means we seek out the kids at other places. We'll be travelling some this summer, visiting my parents and the beach with my friend and her family. My sister will be sending her kids (all three of them) to my house in August. So I've got to plan ahead for a few things to keep them busy and not at each other's throats. ;)

Here are a few of the ideas I have in mind so far..

AMC Summer Movies (free movies)

Regal Family Summer Movies (free movies) (alternatives to AMC)

FISHING! Now that my kids have discovered it, we'll go and enjoy. Found a great site related to this: www.takemefishing.com.

READING! Thanks to my friend, my son has discovered the Secrets of Droon series. He now owns 19 books in the series (thank you goodwill). 15 of those he hasn't read. My daughter has discovered the Magic School Bus series. She now has 11 that she hasn't read (thanks ebay). I've also signed them up for the local library reading club and plan to sign them up at Barnes & Noble. Another person recommended this: www.bookadventure.org which allows kids to read, take tests, and earn prizes. A lot like the AR program at school.

State Parks - quite a few of our parks have free (or very cheap) programs like nature hikes and such.

Local cities - some of the smaller cities in the area have movies in the square (free or small charge) as well as other activities. Duluth has "flicks on the bricks" and "Brown bag lunches".

Swimming - we have a membership to the local county pool. We'll probably spend half our time there.

Zoo Atlanta - we have a membership here.

Georgia Aquarium - membership (mostly free as I'm a volunteer).

Pokemon Learning League - when your kids are as poke-oriented as mine, it's a great way to get them to learn or at least not forget over the summer.

If I come up with more ideas, I'll add them later.

Fun stuff

In the process of looking for stuff for me to do with my daughter (and son if he's so inclined) I found this site. It's got some cool origami projects that my daughter has now done 4 of. My poor printer. :)