Max's First Day of School at the Byrd Nest

Today is Max's first day of school at the Byrd Nest! He was SO excited to go. All school year he has been asking when he could go to school and he kept saying that the CDC at Forst Rucker (Nolen's old preschool) was his school because he is three years old. Well, today was the big day. Of course he isn't going to the CDC but that doesn't matter. He ran in to the Byrd Nest this morning. I told him to say hi to his teacher and he ran into his classroom waving and saying hi. I hope he does well. The only thing I worry about is that Max can be stubborn and tempermental sometimes. He does well if you lay down the law with him.

Yesterday was Nolen's first day at the Byrd Nest. We LOVED the Primary School at Fort Rucker but the drive and afternoon schedule was too hectic. He had a great first day yesterday. They reviewed the letter "N", had cookies for snack (which Nolen was happy about) and Nolen said his teacher called him a "smarty pants" because he knew that "1-0-0" is called one hundred. Sounds like a good first day to me! I think many of the children in his class are going to go to Hillcrest Elementary School with Nolen next year so that is pretty exciting too! My boys are growing up!

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful family Christmas here in Enterprise...we had too many presents, too much food and the boys had TOOO much fun. It was so cool to watch them get so excited about it all. Our tree had so many presents around it from spoiling grandparents that I was worried it was going to take the boys all day to unwrap them. My fears were (opposite of realized) when they had everything opened in a half hour flat! They spent most of yesterday playing their new Nintendo Wii. Well, Edward plays mostly, Nolen plays some, and Max mostly watches. Today they opened their cash register, Tinker Toys (love them, thanks Grammy) and Hi-Ho Cherry-O. Yesterday Nolen and I played Ker-Plunk and Magnetix and Max and I played K'Nex (love those too!). Fran has spent many hours already playing the Scooby-Doo game with the boys!

I'll have pictures in a few days. I was lazy and let Mom take them all but I couldn't get them off her camera so she'll have to send them in a few days. We have been having wonderful visits with everyone. I'm so glad that we are back in the south where our family can easily come to see us. Thanks to everyone for making the trip! We love you all!
Edward and Melissa

Wordless Wednesday

Wild Hair

I got a wild hair yesterday and bought a pub table for the breakfast nook! I love it! I hope Edward does too!

Air Nolen

Well, I've caved in and signed Nolen up for a sports team before he is old enough to actually DO the sport at all! Ha! Our church participates in Upward Basketball and I wasn't going to sign Nolen up, but we are always there for Jazzercise when the kids are practicing. Last week, Nolen was playing with the kids and I felt bad that I hadn't put him on a team. I mentioned to the coordinator that if he has an extra spot I would like to sign Nolen up - and now here we are!

Nolen's team are the Warriors. He hasn't officially been to a practice yet, but he played in his first basketball game on Saturday morning complete with a "team shirt", cheerleaders, game clock and buzzer (this will be important later). The announcer introduced the players as they ran onto the court...they even had a smoke machine and music going. It was so exciting! Nolen seemed pretty cool with it all until the buzzer from the game clock sounded. After that, he spent most of the 30 minute game with his hands on his ears. He managed to take them off of his ears to "dribble" the ball, throw the ball to the opposing team and to put his hands up to play some awesome "D". It was SO fun to watch. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of him dribbling the ball because it was hilarious!!! He kept copying what the older kid on his team did...which could work out since that kid made a few baskets.

They don't keep score on these teams and they really are fun to watch. We had a blast and hopefully Nolen will get used to the buzzer!



I'm not sure if Nolen is clapping or praying here.

(Right) If you look carefully, you can see that Nolen is gaurding the kid from the other team. Good D Nolen!

Breakfast with Max

I love how independent Max is. The boys choose their cereal every morning and THIS morning, Max decided to pour his own cereal too! You can't be mad at a kid for trying to make his own breakfast! What a cutie!

Disney Mania

I (apparently) cannot travel to Orlando with my kids without getting the "Disney Itch". This is a condition that many Florida born children of the seventies and early eighties are especially prone to. Symptoms include, but are not limited to:

• Singing Disney songs way too loudly in the car complete with arm waving and dancing that scares other drivers at stoplights
• Collecting brochures and excitedly pointing out Mickey Mouse to your kids who don't understand why you're so excited since Mickey is on TV everyday
• Debating whether or not to "splurge" on $200 of tickets so that you can spend quality time standing in lines for hours with your children
• Staying at Disney World way past your kids' naptimes and praying that they won't have a temper tantrum during the hour long trek back to the car
• Taking your kids into gift shops on the way out of Disney, "just to look", which you know deep in your soul will cause them to "need" everything with Mickey or Pluto stamped on it, i.e. everything in the store!

People most at risk of developing Disney Mania are adults with small children who, as kids themselves were SPOILED with annual passes, birthdays at the park, holidays at Disney, etc. Also at risk are those persons who may have worked for Disney at one time. However, not all former employees will develop Disney Mania (Edward). This condition is also genetic. Parents willingly and excitedly pass Disney Mania on as if its some type of tradition.

Some positive side affects of the disorder include awesome trips to Disney World where your children light up as they walk under the train station. They are further thrilled at seeing grownups acting like children...for example, seeing their Mother skip down Main Street singing "Zip-a-dee-doo-da" at the top of her lungs and high marching back to her car after a long day singing "Its Time to Remember the Magic!"

We had an awesome time! A BIG thank you to Chris and Julia for getting us in!!!

We started at Animal Kingdom and I was a little worried because the kids were not that impressed by it. We all enjoyed the very cool, new Nemo Musical. And I liked taking them to the Bug's Life show. Nolen was on my lap by the end of it! Apparently he doesn't like being sprayed and sneezed on by bugs. But who does really?

Riding the dinosaur ride in Dino-Land USA!

The kids were not impressed with Animal Kingdom. Here we are in front of the Tree of Life.

This is better Mom. A place where we can sit and chill. We got the MK right at 3 o'clock so we stopped and waited for the parade.

Mom, this place is awesome, we get to play Duck-Duck-Donald here...almost like at school. Wait a second...

Max got up and ran without actually being tagged! My little clown!

Look at that face! Either he is really having fun or he is really proud of himself!

I think this was the highlight of their day. We waited in line for 30 minutes to see Mickey!

Nolen had a horrible time. Haha!

Waiting in line to ride Goofy's Barn Stormer roller coaster. The boys loved it and they were so big. They sat together in one car and I sat in a separate car behind them. I'm so glad they have each other to pal around with.

Favorite picture spot (with flash)

No flash

We caught the castle lighting before we left. Mickey, Minnie, the Fairy Godmother and Cinderella all showed up to decide how to decorate the castle. Cinderella chose to decorate it all sparkly like her glass slipper.

What better way to end a day at Disney than with a lollipop??? Nolen was a little whiny when it was time to leave. He wanted to go on four more rides...which would have taken four more hours! They enjoyed picking out a candy from the big candy shop on Main Street. I told them they each had $2 to spend and then gently guided them towards the lollipops. What good boys!