January 2014

Happy New Year!  And Happy Birthday to KING GRANT!  Two years old on the 24th.  We celebrated at home, with family.  I laugh every time I look at the cake which was supposed to be a perfect sphere.  However, when Grant saw it, he squealed “Basketball Cake!!!”  Recognizable equals success right?

He also celebrated with cupcakes with his little Tues/Thur morning ‘Mother Morning Out’ class.

We love this little guy so much, we all have such a soft spot for him.  His truck obsession seems to have been replaced by a basketball obsession.  Grant is to basketball, what Jackson was to baseball at that age.  He has a particular fondness for Jackson right now.  At the bus stop he talks to himself “Daxon here yet?  In a minute.  Bus here?  Not yet”  Jackson receives a hero’s homecoming everyday!

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor.  We continue to get reports such as “Taylor is such a gem to have in class.”  I am almost tempted to let out a sigh of relief that her difficult stage really is over!  I often think I am thankful to have a girl because she really brings such a sweet and caring presence to our home.  The 2 of us snuck away to a salon where we both got our hair cut.  It was a fun girls morning!  Everyone ate her up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jacksons basketball season wrapped up.  It was so fun to watch this year because it was more or less ‘real’ basketball.  Because of his birthday, Jackson could have played in the 6 year old league, but we decided to follow his dedicated coaches to the 7/8 year old league.  It was a good fit for Jackson, even if he was a head shorter than everyone.

He also had a strong showing at the annual MLK chess tournament.  He went 4-1, losing only to the top guy there (who had a rating of 1230, which is kind of insane for a 1st grader.  Jackson is 912).  Jackson gave him a great game though, and as always we were super proud of him.

Probably the most fun news to report was that it finally snowed in Atlanta!  It was fun for us because we were fortunate enough not to be trapped on the highways for hours and our kids were delivered safely by the bus before all craziness broke loose (Scott was blissfully clueless, and warm, in Miami).  Unfortunately Jay and Angie didn’t have the same experience.  Angie got trapped on the roads in North GA, while Jay was trapped on the roads in South GA.  Luckily Derek was safe with us for the night, and Jay eventually made it to Trey around 7pm who was safe and happy at school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grant hated the snow, but loved the hot chocolate and played with his birthday present (light up scoreboard/basketball) for HOURS with Derek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the snow week, the kids had 4 days off of school, and multiple play dates/spend the nights.  They had a ball.

(eating icicles). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scotty’s team did so well on ‘phase 1’ of the cruise ship project in Miami, that they hired the team on for ‘phase 2.’  So 10 more weeks.  I was hoping they would do well, but not quite so well as to get hired on again. :-)  Scott is enjoying the project though.  He has to fly to Panama at least once a month, to decide if the company should expand into Central America.  On one of these occasions Scotty was in Miami, about to load the corporate jet headed to Panama, when he realized he didn’t have his passport.  So instead of taking the cooperate jet, he flew Delta back to Atlanta, had his driver come to our house, grab his passport, then bring it to him at the Atlanta airport.  Then Scott flew back to Miami that same evening, got 3 hours of sleep in a hotel, before heading back to the airport to catch an international flight to Miami.  Poor guy!  And poor BCG, it ended up being a $1,000 mistake!  But the meeting went well that morning in Panama so all was forgiven.

And nothing too new with me.  Just busy making all the magic happen :-).  I was slightly sad that Scott missed all the snow days with the kids.  Facebook was replete with dad’s building snowmen, sledding, and having snow ball fights with their kids.  But what can you do?  When he arrived for the weekend though, he started building a tree house with the kids, so they definitely get their sweet daddy moments.  Plus, occasionally Grammy comes to spend the night when Scott is gone.  And she is instantly more popular than me :-).

 

 

 

 

 

 

With love,

TFK

p.s.  Jackson is playing chess on the computer, Grant doesn’t care that it’s boring, just wants to be right next to (and eating the same snack as) big brother.