Vernon Volumes text

Vernon Volumes text

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Heather Henry's birthday


On Friday night, we went out with some of the neighbors to celebrate Heather's birthday. We ate dinner at the new Japanese Steakhouse "Sumo" and then went to Latitude 30 for a dueling piano "Howl at the Moon" show. It was a great night out, one of the first times we both got to dance together in a while.

Ginger and Sissy



Ginger came to stay with us Wednesday through Friday this past week since Grandpa and Grandma went to Daytona Beach for a few days. The kids really enjoyed having her around and she was a good girl for us. Paige was especially fond of her and I got a couple quick pictures of them together.




Goldilocks and the Three Bears play


On Thursday, Connor's class had a field trip to see a play "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". Mommy went along and got to enjoy the field trip with everyone. She snapped a few pictures of Connor with his good buddy TJ and some of the actors in the play.





Saturday, February 16, 2013

Ryleigh and Addy go with us to the park


On Friday we decided to go to the park and took Ryleigh and Addy with us. Heather, their mommy, had a long week with the girls since their daddy was out of town on business all week. We decided to take them off her hands for a few hours and the kids all had fun playing at the park.



Valentine's day and Valentine's party!



On Valentine's day, we got the kids dressed up in their cute outfits for a quick picture before school. Paige wore the same dress she had on for the "Daddy Daughter Dance" and Connor wore a white shirt, black pants, and a cute red chevron bow-tie.

At Connor's school, the moms set up a brunch with all kinds of decorations and goodies. It was all very elaborate and a bit over the top. The kids were all supposed to dress up for the party and Connor thought he looked pretty sharp in his outfit. He tried it on for Mommy before the party and told Mommy that "All the girls are going to think I'm so cute!".








Connor smiled very nicely for his picture with his teacher Mrs. Hinton.


He had lots of fun with the other little boys there. He's made a lot of friends and it was fun to see him interacting with everyone.


Connor's stitches


Connor had an accident at school on Wednesday, the day before Valentine's day. Andrea had just arrived to pick him up from his after-school Spanish class and she was waiting in her car for him. Connor left the building with his classmates and he was walking towards Mommy's car while he was looking down admiring his new stuffed kitty cat. The walkway from the school is covered, with metal poles holding up the roof and Connor walked right in to one of the poles. Andrea looked up just after it happened and saw Connor's teacher motioning for her to come quickly. When Andrea got there, Connor was covered in blood and the gash on his head was pretty wide open.

The school nurse arrived shortly after it happened and Andrea said the school staff handled it well. They cleaned up most of the blood, taped up Connor's gash, and called ahead to the local ER so they'd know we were on the way. Andrea called me while they were on the way there and I left immediately and met them at the ER.

Shortly after I arrived, they took off the school nurse's bandage and I got a quick picture of Connor with his kitty. You can see the blood that is still on his fingers and there's some on the kitty cat too. The gash isn't all that long, but it's very deep and bled a bunch.

The doctor checked out the gash and gave us the option of superglue or stitches. The superglue would be the easiest thing, but he said that stitches always have the best cosmetic effect. Although it would hurt more, we opted for the stitches. I'm sure 5 year old Connor would have voted for the glue, but maybe adult Connor will be happy we went with stitches someday when the scar isn't as noticeable.

With stitches, they had to numb up the area and he got a bunch of shots in and around the gash.


After the shots, which was probably the worst part for Connor, he was stoic and tried to relax and listen to his music.


After the area was numb, the stitches went in. I took a few pictures and a pretty long and gruesome video too. The cut really started to bleed after the first few pokes.



Connor handled it bravely. He hated the shots and it seemed like the stitches hurt him even through the numbness, however he was such a trooper about it all.


The stitches stay in for 5 days, he gets them out on Tuesday morning. 

Paige licking the brownie spoon




Andrea made some brownies and the best part is licking the spoon and bowl with the batter! Paige made a horrible mess licking the spoon and I got a few cute pictures and videos of her enjoying herself.


Delicious!!


Saturday, February 9, 2013

Connor's treasure


In Connor's class at school, if you're good, you get stickers on a sticker sheet. If you get enough stickers you earn a trip to the "Treasure Chest"! Connor's been there quite a bit because he is such a good student. The other day he came home with more treasure and he decided to put on all his loot to wear it around. Mommy got a cute picture of him showing it all off.


Flag Football - Last game


Today was our last game of the Flag Football season. It was an 11 week long season and we had some fun but we're all somewhat relieved to be done. This ends my career as an assistant coach and we probably won't put Connor in football (tackle or flag) going forwards.

Connor enjoyed himself quite a bit and he improved throughout the season and I believe he became the best all around player on the team. He wasn't the best on the team at flag pulling or at throwing the ball, however he learned all the positions, all the plays, and was a great listener. For the last few games we put him in the quarterback position and he excelled and helped the entire team. He did well listening and remembering the plays to run and handed off the ball well with two hands and consistently so the ball wasn't dropped. I was extremely proud of his effort, his good attitude and his athleticism on the field.

On the last game, we got a babysitter for Paige so we could get some good pictures and videos, however the battery on our good camera was dead so the only pictures and videos were from Andrea's phone.


Andrea did capture two of Connor's good runs on video.



After the game, Coach Clay handed out trophies to everyone and the kids got to snack on some goodies.


I'm so very proud of Connor and can't say enough good things about him.


For my part, I'm very glad to be done with coaching. I found it to be frustrating and it definitely tried my patience and nerves. It was obvious the parents had high expectations and Clay and I both worked hard to push the kids and teach them what they needed to know. I met with Clay and discussed things with him, however it was difficult for me to understand boundaries and work within the role of assistant coach. I know I was not much of an asset early on in the season since I didn't know the rules or understand the way the games would go. Once things got going, I did my best to play a part in the practices and games. It was a learning experience for Connor and for myself. I have a greater respect for the people that put themselves out there and take on the challenge of coaching.

Daddy Daughter Dance


On Friday night, Paige and I got all dressed up and went to the Daddy Daughter Dance in our neighborhood. Mommy had a really cute dress made for Paige and it turned out super cute. I'd talked to Paige about the dance the night before and she was very excited for it all day. We snapped a few pictures of us together before we left.


Of course I had to get a cute picture of Paige with Mommy too since it was all thanks to Mommy that we looked so nice.


When we got there, we snacked on some goodies and then the music started and we danced a little bit. The DJ organized a few games like "hot potato" and another where everyone joined hands and tried to pass their bodies through hula-hoops. It looked like fun, but Paige was too little for most of it and was completely uninterested.



Paige did have a bit of fun dancing. Her initial dance moves consisted of spinning around in circles until she was dizzy, then falling and crashing in to people. I eventually broke her of that and she liked dancing.


Most of the night consisted of Paige pulling me from the dance area and towards the snacks.


Yummy! The snacks were definitely her favorite part. We had some chocolates, cookies and jelly beans. I had to cut her off after a few things or she wouldn't have left any for anyone else!

I really enjoyed our special time together. Paige is my wonderful beautiful little girl!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Connor's "Red" month


For every day in January, Connor got a red day at school! In his classroom, there's a color chart, and everyone has their name on a clip and everyone starts each day on Green. If they are good, their teacher moves their clip up and if they're bad, the clip goes down. Red is the best you can get and pink is the worst. As long as the clip stays on or above green, it's a good day and we're happy with his behavior. You have to be especially good for the clip to end up on Red. There were a few days where Connor was the only child in class to have a red day. We're very proud of Connor, he's such a great student!


An adult Disney weekend


Andrea and I had been planning to go on a cruise this Spring, but due to some factors outside our control it didn't work out. Instead, we went to Orlando to have a fun and relaxing weekend together. We went to Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios. We enjoyed being able to ride the grown up rides and we loved spending time with each other.