Tad Poles

When my parents came to visit. We took a trip to Kent Falls.



There we found a whole bunch of tadpoles in pools of water around the Falls. Since I was teaching a Joy School lesson on frogs I thought it would be fun to actually show the boys some tadpoles and conduct an experiment to see if we could actually grow a frog. The boys wouldn't see the end result because school would be over, but I thought my kids would enjoy watching the transformation. The water bottle became the tadpoles transportation for their upcoming journey.



And so the experiment began. Unfortunately there were several that didn't make it, but we had 9 survive in all. They looked like fish for a good 2 weeks. It wasn't until the 3rd week that we actually saw dramatic changes.



First came the back legs and then the front and slowly they lost their tails as we saw them transform into a frog.



The end result: We ended up with four frogs and five tadpoles. We couldn't keep them long once they became frogs because they started to climb up the bowl.



It was time to take them to their new home, THE POND.



A sad goodbye.

Joy School 2008-2009

After seeing Mr. Grumpy all too often.

Guy Smiley has finally returned.

We have seen a tremendous change take place in Garrett. He has matured. His personality is shining through. He's full of life. He's more confident and willing to try new things. He will jump into any situation and just have fun. He has discovered that he can make friends and enjoys being with them.

Here are a few pictures of the fun we had this year in Joy School. Most of the pictures are from field trips we have taken.

Joy School has been a great experience not only for Garrett but also for myself. I had the priviledge of working with some great moms. Joy School has been a tremendous amount of work. I'm actually looking forward to having a break next year. However, I'm probably crazy enough to do it again with Ty when he reaches the same age. Now the challenge will be to find some crazy moms who are willing to do it with me.

Farewell

A,B,C, FAREWELL

A is for the alphabet which we know how to say.

B is for busy bodies -- at work and at play.

C is for color -- red, black, blue and green.

D is for drawing pictures, the best you've ever seen.

E is for exeercise to keep our bodies strong.

F is for the fun we've had as we have gone along.

G is for the good friends we made throughout the year.

H is for the happy faces, filled with love and cheer.

I for imagination used at every turn.

J is for good jobs and the praises that we've earned.

K is for kindness, we use in our play.

L is for learning -- more and more each day.

M is for minding and showing our respect.

N is for never knowing what to expect.

O is for obstacles we learned to overcome.

P is for puppets and for playing rhymes on a drum.

Q is for all the questions we've asked throughout the year.

R is for reading stories, even those that bring a tear.

S is for diffferent snacks, several we have tried.

T is for talking. It's not to be denied.

U is for unusual; it fits some things we've done.

V is for our volunteers -- parents every one!

W is for the world of words, the world we dipped into.

X is for extraspecial kids -- it's him, it's her, it's you.

Y is for yes, it has been a great year!

Z is for second-grade zest. We're ready have no fear!

Tasha's cello concert

Tasha has been doing a great job with the cello. She had her concert while Grandma and Grandpa Fredericks were here. We'll let you be the judge of how well she is doing.

Just so you know, she is one of the few first graders that uses the bow. She is really proud of her accomplishments and we are proud that she is such a good learner.

Operating Room

Poor Ty has seen his share of doctors. I feel like we live at the doctors office due to ear infections, weight checks and regular well visits. It's never a pleasant visit to see the doctor. In fact Ty starts screaming as soon as we walk in the door. The doctor doesn't even need to touch Ty just look at him and you would think by his reaction that he was in serious pain. Needless to say his doctor visits do not end there due to another minor problem that requires surgery. After he was circumcised some of the skin around his manhood reattached itself. If we didn't take care of it, it would cause problems in later years.

We weren't sure if surgery would ever happen since we have been battling ear infection after ear infection. We were just trying to keep this kid healthy enough to keep our surgery date. Well this Wednesday it happened. We arrived at the Tully Center at 7:30 a.m. for our scheduled surgery at 8:30 a.m. As you would suspect nothing ever goes as planned at the hospital. The doctor showed up late. I guess he doesn't believe in alarm clocks. Two other surgeries were scheduled before ours so we had a long wait ahead of us. Poor Ty couldn't eat or drink anything and hadn't had anything since the night before. Ty tried to entertain himself, and mommy tried to keep himself preoccupied with anything and everything but there is only so much you can do to keep a child happy. Given the circumstances Ty was a trooper.



I was able to go into the operating room while they put Ty under. Ty wasn't sure about my new attire. I wasn't to sure about how I would handle this kind of situation. I found out shortly, because I COMPLETELY lost it. I could not control my emotions as hard as I tried. I thought I could be strong, but it was hard to watch them put the mask on Ty while he was screaming. I think the worst part was to watch Ty become lifeless. In fact writing this now brings tears to my eyes. I wasn't worried about the surgery, I new he was in good hands.



The surgery only lasted an hour and we were in the recovery room for about an hour.
Ty was pretty worn out due to the anesthesia. We were home by about 12:30 in the afternoon.






Ty had a hard time keeping anything down but I think by the time evening came around he was so tired of losing everything that he was bound and determined to have a three course meal which he did. I was ready to hand him over to Rob in case he became a barf fountain. Luckily nothing came up. Thursday he was back to his normal self. Although he hates getting his diaper changed, I guess he never liked it before BUT he is definitely tender in that area. Now if we can just keep this kid healthy it will be a miracle.

SURPRISE!!! (Part 2)

China Town/Little Italy



Bartering



Unwanted Finds! Chinese snacks consisting of small crabs, dried octupus, and dried fish, etc.



Chasing the pigeons.



Feeding the pigeons.





Enjoying a Canoli.



Ty sharing his snack with Grandma.





Jones Beach



Hiking in the Mianus River Park.



Park Fun



Cooking with grandma.



Is your mouth watering? Homemade cinnamon rolls...YUMMY!!!





Time to Veg out.



We enjoyed celebrating my parents anniversay and my mom's birthday while they were here. We enjoyed good food, fun and relxation. We enjoyed their visit immensely BUT all goodthings must come to an end. They left June 9th. We are looking forward to our trip out to Utah in July where we will have a chance to see everyone very soon.

SURPRISE!!! (Part 1)

Grandma and grandpa arrived late Wednesday night (May 27th). The next morning the kids were surprised to see grandma and grandpa Fredericks walk into the kitchen to join them for breakfast. (Can you believe that we were able to keep this surprise a secret for a whole month. It was ROUGH and we almost BLEW it several times.) I actually thought we would get more of a reaction but I think it took them a few minutes to process it all.





Since Tasha was still in school and Garrett in Joy School, we did our best to make the best of the time we had together. Due to the weather on Friday, Fun Day for Tasha was postponed along with the Father and Sons campout SO we headed over to New Roc City where we spent some time on the Go-Carts and in the Bowling Alley.



Why is it when you walk into an arcade room. The boys have to play every game without actually really playing it?





You know you've got talent when you can bowl with a kid on your shoulders.



Let it roll!



Its going...It's going...



...She scores!



Grandma and Grandpa were able to come to Tasha's cello concert...





...and her swim class.





Todd's Point



Kent Falls



No visit is complete without experiencing Stew Leonards.