PROFESSOR TURNS 7

Seven years ago today (officially at 5:39 p.m.) William Grant Norton was born.

He wasn't in a hurry to make his entrance into the world, and he's still a lot like that today. He doesn't get in a hurry for much of anything. Grant is intelligent and kind-hearted, a serious thinker who is curious to learn about everything. He asks questions all day and with every answer you give him, another question follows. He loves his Sissy and little brothers and is protective when he needs to be. He is quite a daddy's boy and shares Chris' love of hunting, fishing, and baseball. He shares his mama's love of all things chocolate. :) He could eat his weight in chocolate cake, cupcakes, and chocolate chip cookies. Most of the time he's Mr. Follow-The-Rules. I wonder how long that will last. HA!

He's our first-born son, the first boy on my side of the family. He's our sweet Professor. We're so blessed and thankful for his life. This link will take you to last year's post for some through-the-years pictures.

We decided against a big party this year. Instead we celebrated by going to a Biscuits game last night and will have ice cream and cookie cake with his class at school and then with his baseball team this afternoon. He is very modest but even he thought it was pretty cool hearing "Happy Birthday to Grant Norton" over the loudspeaker and seeing his name on the scoreboard at the Biscuits game.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANT! WE LOVE YOU!!

MUFFINS FOR MOM

Grant's class had "Muffins for Mom" yesterday, a special time to honor all us mommas. We walked in to a classroom filled with sweet treats made just for us.

They have been working really hard, and Professor has been looking forward to today. I think he reminded me of it every day last week. :)

Some of our treats were edible:

Some were really fun to make:

And some required Professor to step out of his comfort zone a bit:
(WARNING: This video is of the entire song purely for my benefit. Each student had a little line to say and/or sing or an awkward combination of both. :) Feel free to skip it. It does get a bit long.)

I think they did a fabulous job. The Backstreet Boys would be proud.  :)

The performers making their best silly faces:

Professor, ever so modestly, even participated in the silliness if you can believe that!

ALL were treats I'll treasure forever but one of my favorites was the book he wrote telling me why he loves me:

I love you mom.

You are the best mom ever.

I love you mom because you care about me.

You'll always be in my heart.

I'll always love you.

Happy Mother's Day!

FAMILY FISHING AND A BISCUITS GAME

I couldn't let Chris and the boys get away with catching all the fish so Sunday we headed to Marion Junction to spend the day fishing at Big Daddy and Grandmama Norton's. The boys had such a good time when Chris took them the other weekend so they couldn't wait to do it again. We didn't quite slay them the way they did but we brought home a mess of fish (87 to be exact), and most important we had such a fun day.

I love being with my guys, especially doing things like this.

We fished for bream off the bank for a while and let the boys practice their casting skills. Poor Big Daddy. He was a nervous wreck with three little boys each having their own rod and reel. :) They did great, though, and were very careful. The only thing hooked was fish.

Turbo was excited he caught a "bask." :)

Then we decided it was time to get in the boat for some bass fishing. Since we were witness to the casting that took place earlier we decided it was best to leave it to Chris and me to throw out a line then let the boys reel it in. I love to bream fish where you just throw it out, watch the cork and wait, cork goes under, set the hook, bring in the fish. Bass fishing is all about casting out, reeling in, casting out, reeling in. Actually I'm sure there's more to it than that but when you're fishing in a pond with little ones, that's the "technique" we use. Which is fun as long as there's a fish to reel in. But there's no cork (or bobber as the boys like to call it). So it's all about feeling a fish bite then setting the hook. There for a while either Chris was catching a few or no one was. Or I would think I had caught one, would get it to the boat and it would get off the hook. I think the phrase of the day was, "You gotta set the hook." Patience: Not my strong suit. I think I probably mentioned to Chris that I wasn't a fan of bass fishing. I thought I much preferred a worm (although I don't bait my own hook... eww) and a cork.

That is, until Chris gave me some pointers. Then I started to get the hang of things, and the fish started biting. Now THAT was fun! Chris said, "I thought you didn't like bass fishing." *snicker* *snicker* :) It was also fun the couple of times I was able to say, "You gotta set the hook." ;)

While we were all in the boat, hanging out, taking turns reeling in fish, etc., Chris reminded me of my dad. My dad would take my mom and us 3 girls fishing and would hardly get to fish between baiting hooks, taking fish off the hooks, and getting us out of wherever we would get our lines hung up. Yet he didn't mind it a bit. He enjoyed seeing us have a good time. I love that Chris was doing the very same thing. Well, except maybe when he would hear me say, "Crap. Uh, honey, I need your help." Then Grant would say, "MAMA THREW IT IN THE TREE." HA! And similar to my dad, Chris would shake his head and give me a how-in-the-hell-did-you-do-that? look. ;)

About half-way through the day the younger two were ready for a break. They had fun, but Professor is way more serious about it than they are. Big Daddy came to the rescue and took them up to the house so Chris, Grant and me could enjoy some time to ourselves. I cannot tell you the last time the three of us have been together, just us. It was great!

By early evening we were all sunburned, hot and hungry. We decided to call it a day. And after an afternoon with Turbo and Bueller, I think Big Daddy liked seeing our tail lights better than our head lights. haha!

The next day the boys couldn't wait for the school day to end so we could head to Riverwalk Stadium to watch Evan Longoria play his last rehab game with the Montgomery Biscuits before he headed back to Tampa Bay. I say that like we're really big Evan Longoria fans. We just know he now plays for the Rays and thought it would be cool to see him play his last Biscuits game. My parents took the boys to their first Biscuits game last year, and since then they've been wanting to go again.

What's a baseball game without a hotdog...

And popcorn...

And Dippin' Dots...

Of course no Biscuits game is complete without running into Big Mo.

Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can see the smile on Reid's face. He loved meeting Big Mo. :)

Even hyped up on caffeine (yes, I actually let them have it) and sugar, we couldn't last the entire game.  It was way past our bedtime. But it was fun while it lasted. They're already asking when we can go back.

That night as I was tucking the boys into bed, Mac looked at me and said, "Momma, we've had two special days, haven't we?"

Yes, Bueller, we sure did!!

PRAYERS FOR ALABAMA; TUCKERED OUT

I must begin by offering praise that all of my family were safe from the deadly storms that hit our beautiful state this week. Thankfully it was not too bad here but a town in our county was hit hard. The images and videos of the tornadoes and the aftermath are gut-wrenching and heartbreaking.  I hope you will join me in prayer for everyone affected.

Now transitioning to something lighthearted to end the week on...

That's one tuckered out little boy. Or would it be "suckered" out?

Either way I had to post it. After all, I'm a sucker for sleeping pictures. HA!

Ok, ok I'm done. Happy Friday!! :) And don't forget to hug your loved ones extra tight.

UMBY CHEERS AGAIN; FISHING; SHOPPING; EASTER OUTTAKES

I'm not at all surprised but nonetheless thrilled for my baby girl that she will be cheering again this next school year. Tryouts were last Thursday so the younger two boys and I made a mad-dash to Decatur to be there when she found out the results.

As you can see she has no shortage of fans! :)

It seems like just yesterday you were cheering for the local YMCA peewee football/cheer league.

And now look at you. You're big time!! We're all so so proud of you, Sissy! Way to go!! We love you and are excited to watch you continue doing what you love!

Good Friday was also Maggie's birthday. Two things Claire asked to do on her birthday was to feed the turtles, geese and ducks at Blount Cultural Park followed by a trip to California Yogurt Kraze. Martha asked if we would like to meet them at the park then accompany them to CYK. Yes and yes.

It was a gorgeous day which I thought would make for some lovely pictures at the park. Well, pictures that probably would have been lovely had I remembered to put the memory card back in my camera. I was able to capture a few with my phone.

I'm not sure if you can tell in that picture but all those little heads sticking up from the water are turtles. Turtles were kind of the theme for her birthday so it was really neat that we got to see so many. It was like they knew. HA! I'm sure it had nothing to do with the bag of Cheerios with which the kids were luring them to the surface. The picture does it no justice because there were so many of them. They decided to go up to the viewing deck to feed them.

We always enjoy spending time with RaRa and the girls and were glad we could help Claire celebrate turning 9.

Saturday was the day before Easter. As in the Easter Bunny was supposed to be making a visit THAT NIGHT. Procrastination Polly here decided I better kick it into high gear if I didn't want my children's hopes and dreams of a supernatural bunny who comes around on Easter giving out loot shattered by the fact that he skipped over our house this year. I have two people to thank in helping me accomplish this feat:  Chris and Bethany.

Thanks to Chris because he decided to spend the day fishing with the boys at his parent's house. The boys have been wanting to do this for quite some time, so they were beyond excited to go. They not only enjoy fishing but always love to see Grandmama and Granddaddy Norton.

They caught 240 fish in 3 1/2 hours.

Believe it or not, yes, they did leave some fish in the pond.  HA! It took a few hours to clean them too. But now they're all cleaned, bagged and frozen and have been our dinner in some form or other the past three nights. Delish! If you could see in my freezer you would see they will likely be dinner for quite a few more nights as well. :) 

While the boys were away Sissy and I had the day. We had the whole day to ourselves, and we were on a mission. We spent the entire day shopping. The ENTIRE day. I think we all know shopping isn't exactly my forte but it had to be done. This is where the thanks to B comes in because if you can believe it she actually got me to enjoy myself. In the beginning anyway. One of the missions was an Easter dress for me so she was like my own personal shopper. ;) I'm not exaggerating when I tell you I think we went to every single store that sells dresses in Montgomery, and I think I tried on every single one of them even remotely cute. Notice I said I enjoyed it in the beginning because by that afternoon I was as ill as a sore-tailed cat. I had shopped until I literally was about to drop. We refueled with a stop by Great American Cookies and accomplished what we set out to. And I'm officially over shopping until a few days before Christmas.

Did you know Satan works overtime on Sundays? But because I can laugh about it now, here are a few outtakes from our attempted Easter pictures:


First of all I wanted our picture in FRONT of the cross. You know, the front. As in the prettiest part, with the church in the background. Well it was a beautiful day with full sunshine and the front of the cross was facing the sun. Not. Gonna. Happen. However, even when I agreed to put our backs to the sun...

 

Grant still couldn't see, Mac is trying for the great escape, and 

Reid clearly wants to be there. Sissy and I are trying to keep it together.

Until...

Sissy was blinded by the light as well, Grant looks like he should be in the bathroom, Mac looks like he's in pain, and again, Turbo CLEARLY wants his picture taken. I'm still trying to keep it together.


I tried for one more. ONE more. Grin and bear it, April. You're at church. On Easter. You can do this.

 

And then...

The whining. Oh my side, all the WHINING!

And then I could no longer keep it together.

And then I needed to ask for forgiveness and repent.

And that was our weekend. Just keepin' it real. :)

HE'S ALIVE

Yes HE'S alive.

Oh HE'S alive and I'm forgiven.

Heaven's gates are open wide.

HAPPY EASTER!!

LANARK FIELD TRIP

Grant's class took a field trip to Lanark in Millbrook yesterday. Lanark is home of the Alabama Wildlife Federation headquarters and Alabama Nature Center, a conservation education center. Boy was this a field trip made for Professor! It was also one made for daddy, and Grant was pumped Chris could go.

They learned the difference between soil and dirt:

That's the "soil doctor." He was quite comical and very animated in his teaching. He told the students that EVERYTHING comes from soil. That "without soil, y'all would be butt naked." Boy did that cause a riot. HA!

They got to see a barn owl:

She showed us more times than I can count how far it can turn its head. I felt like I needed a chiropractic adjustment after watching it.

Next was a black vulture:

That is one nasty bird. I know they are much-needed (I like to think of them as the garbage disposals of nature) but nonetheless nasty. As if it weren't bad enough that they eat roadkill, they also poop on their feet to cool themselves in the heat. HOWEVER, we learned that what comes out is actually cleaner than what goes in so... it's all good. And almost perfectly on cue, it pooped. Again, riot.

Last was the grand finale...

The bald eagle. It's gorgeous. I was enthralled. That part was my favorite.

Even as fun as that was, though, I think the next part was Grant and Chris' favorite:

It was a catch and release "fishing trip" (which was good being that most of the brim caught would be better suited in my fish bowl than on my plate) but you never would've known it by the kids' reactions when they caught one. You would've thought they were catching trophy bass.  :) The students fished in pairs and naturally Grant and Seth were partnered up.

 

Hotdogs were used as bait, and if you can believe it the only things hooked were fish - no students. :)

It was definitely one for the books, and I think Professor thoroughly enjoyed having us both there. Chris and I are both soaking it up while we can because it won't be long before we're not cool anymore. ;)