Hanging with the cousins (and Nana & Grandpa)

Let's go back in time to Summer 2009. Mom and I (and Hinny) went to MO to see some kin. We had an awesome time. We played and ate good food. Cousin Andrew and I had a little cousin-rivalry going but we worked it out. In the pics you can see us playing games and playing with very cool toys.

We were back over Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for more recent pics of that adventure.

I was on the Dark side... for Halloween

Look at me. I was Capt Rex the storm trooper for Halloween. At some point, I think it was "Directive 68," Capt Rex and the rest of the storm troopers went to the dark side. I am in this clone trooper outfit. And Ty, my friend, was Aniken Skywalker. And Alex Rogers was a tiger. My brother was little Yoda. Check out his site for pictures of him. Funny looking, he was.

Swimming at the Shipley's

We had a great time celebrating Labor Day with Jenny and David. Grandma and Papa were there and enjoyed their time as well. Hinny was silly. But he and I rolled down the hill in their backyard. It was fun. In fact, Mr. Shipley found my army man in the grass and was kind enough to drop it off the next day. Little did he know the army man collected vital reconniscene (sp? hey, i'm only five).

Hanging with Reppy

Here we are after church, and after a big meal at Five Guys. Nana and Grandpa are in town and they took us out to lunch. We are down town having a good time: looking at dogs and homeless people. Don't we look sharp? We are happy to not be homeless and to be so nicely dressed.

Eating at Stevie B's

Dad took me and Reppy to Stevie B's during Boy's Night. Then we went to Chuck E. Cheese and looked in the video store window. Fun times. Here I am with a big plate of food. I used to eat tomatos by the dozen. Now, like my brother, I can take them or leave them.

Notice how I eat those little corn-on-the-cobs. I eat them like big corn!

Eating

Look at me eating a slice of pizza. I was raised on pizza, but now can take it or leave it.

My gymnastics teacher

Hi. Here I am with one of my gymnastics teachers. I am missing gymnastics this fall. Monday nights aren't the same without it.

Typical Monday = Dad rushing to pick me up, get me changed, and arriving at the gym by 5:20 PM. Then we do our thing while he talks to Henry's dad, or John and Lauren's dad and mom, or all those other moms and dads. I finish up with "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn out the light," and run to dad who quickly puts on my shoes and jacket. And then we hit Moe's for free kid's night. Now it's just Moe's on Monday nights. Maybe I'll do gymnastics again in the spring.

Summer cut

Tuesday was annual "summer cut" day. Mom took us to our usual place to get shorn by the usual stylist. Unfortunately Patsy wasn't working or our hair would've looked a lot worse! Hinny really wanted a cut like Reppie's #2 cut of last summer. If Dad was in charge, we would be looking a lot different in this picture.

What's the reward to being patient and letting someone cut your hair? Right, a sucker. See Repp teaing me with it.

Assuming identities

Look at me, I’m a Power Ranger (this is a Power Ranger costume, right?). I had a great time at my buddy Andrew’s house the other night. He has lots of cool costumes. I was Spiderman as well. Mom and Dad and Andrew’s folks talked about how they could start a toy swap business and make a lot of money just rotating toys among a small set of families. Every two weeks = new toys!

Andrew was one of my soccer buddies and we’re looking to get more play time before the summer is over.

Summer swimming

I've been doing a lot of swimming this summer. If I can't make it to the pool, I don my goggles when taking a bath.

Hopefully I'll get some swim time while in Missouri next week. Instead of school, I'll have all day to swim with my cousins and assorted kin folk. See ya. The water's getting cold.

Boys in the hood

Bad guys better watch out. The vigilantes are out in full force and don't tolerate any misbehaving. Our newest member might be wee but he's the roughest of us all.

When we see bad boys, we chant, "Red Rover, Red Rover, Send them on over." No one passes through out guantlet.

Word (and pic) from Tater Tot

I just heard from my overseas girlfriend. Tatum has been getting my letters and responded back with this wonderful picture. We're going to be together for the last two weeks of school. That will be great. Tatum says she's been going to tennis camp. I wonder if it is as hot in Singapore as it is in Athens?

Some videos

Here are some videos that include me. In one, I am eating steak (I think) at Dad's birthday dinner. In another one, the Cogleys and Eifferts are singing me Happy Birthday. And in another one, I'm playing with Hinny when he was REALLY little.

Last gymnastics practice?

Here is a video of me at my last gymnastics practice. After two years, I can really do a forward roll... and tumble a bit. My Dad has a gymnast in his class and we're arranging some private lessons. Hope you enjoy the bouncing and "forward roll."

Hey Carolina!

Hey everybody, this is my good buddy Carolina. We are in choir together and hang out at various get-togethers. In this pic she has a pink ribbon in her hair but I think this was during Easter. She's been over to play before. Hmm... I have to remind Mom to arrange another play date.

The trials and tribulations of having your dad be your soccer coach

Yes, Dad is my soccer coach this year in the 4-and-under league. There is no keeping score and no winner/loser. I still haven't told my team that Dad never played soccer a day in his life and was the last one picked for kickball teams in Mrs. Booth's 3rd-grade class. What's that old saying? "Those who can't do, teach." Oh well.

He's okay in that we always have scooby snacks and juice after each practice. He even brought ink hand stamps of stars and happy faces for after the game. He definitely employs a "feel good" approach. I don't know though. He made me sit out the whole first quarter because I was the coach's son and he doesn't want to be accused of playing me all the time. But I'm pretty good this year. You couldn't get me out on the field last year. This year, I want to play and even scored a goal in the three quarters that I did get to play.

In this pic Dad is giving us some strategy during practice: "Just chase the ball and kick it!"

Bama-boy doo

I've gone from a skin head to a Bama boy in one year. I had one of dad's infamous "summer cuts" last year. This year I have that southern boy style of long bangs that cut left or right at the eyebrows.

With love from Asia

Hello Reppy. Here I am saying "hi" from the tennis courts in our complex. We are having fun in the warm weather and wish you were here in Singapore to go swimming and watch movies and go to school and do all the fun things four-year-olds do together. You are very lucky to have a girlfriend halfway around the world. See you on my next visit to Athens.

School picture time

Look at me the the little man! I'm wearing my tie and matching shirt just like my little brother. I've come a long way from my first school pics where I was always crying. Now I'm happy and optimistic thanks to Mr. Jim from Church who takes such good school pictures.

Growing up

I'm wearing a tie for the very first time. Check out Hinton's blog and you'll see the two of us wearing ties for Easter. Dad and mom think we both look grown up when we're all "dressed up." Nanna and Grandpa came to visit today. They will see us hit two or three Easter egg hunts this weekend.

My cousins were here!

Oh man, did I have a good time with my cousins! They flew in all the way from Iowa to spend four days visiting Hinny and me. We went to the Aquarium, hit the Varsity, fed the ducks, had a birthday party for Katherine and lots of other things. I even got to compete with Andrew the whole time. I guess we are so close in age that we do that sort of thing when together. We did bond by both getting tatoos. His is on his chest, mine on my hand as you can see. We'll probably be really close when we get older. I'm looking forward to next Spring Break.

Another snow picture

Here I am on a mountain of snow in Lowe's parking lot. This was the day after the big snow when school was closed but Mom had to go to work (she's an "essential" worker at the hospital). She got off early and all of us slowly made it to Lowe's to pick up some essentials.

Living large at Medieval Times.

OMGosh, did I have a terrific Saturday. Mom and Dad took me to Medieval Times. What a totally cool experience. I saw jousting, sword fighting, knight games, as well as witnessing the prince get saved by some super cool knights. If you've never been, it's like a 2 1/2 hour dinner theater in a horse arena. We ate with our fingers and our food was served by a "winch," whatever that is. I toured a dungeon, etc. Hinny had as much fun as me. He was clapping for the Green Knight. He liked the colors and horses. Can't wait to go back someday when my grandparents take me!!!!

I am a knight!

I am all about knights! Mom sent me to Hinny's old school over spring break so she owed me big time. I convinced her to buy me this armour. Sword fighting breaks in our house these days at a moment's notice.

Let it snow...

As you may have heard, we had a "white out" here in Athens. Up to seven inches of white stuff at our house. Dad and I made this snowman and a bulldog. Thanks to Nana for the left over nuts and to mom for the hats and gloves. Over 24,000 homes were without power because of the storm but our power managed to stay on. Dad wanted to run out for milk and bread but waited too long.

There is a mouse in the house

Man, this is a good story.

Mr. Philip says I can bring a couple of mice to school. So dad and I pick some up at the pet store on a Monday night after going to Moe's. We take them home in their little box that looks like a container for chinese leftovers. Needless to say, I want them sleeping next to my bed. One thing leads to another and Dad wakes up to find the mouse box to be very silent. He picks it up to see that they had chewed a hole in it and escaped. Dad found one on the corner of my bed but couldn't find the other one. "Oh great," he kept saying. "Now we have mice in our new house!"

Later than morning mom screams because she found the other mouse, Jerry, I named them Tom and Jerry after deciding those names were better than Tom and Jill, on the stairs. Dad scooped them up and both mice were put in one of Hinny's plastic boxes for wipes. Well, the mice didn't make it to school for some reason. Mom says it's because they froze because dad keeps it so cold during the winter. But who ever heard of mice freezing?

Guess we'll try it again once it warms up.

Samara haunts my house!

OMG, Dad captured video of Samara Morgan, the scary dead girl in "The Ring" movies, crawling across our new rug! I'm glad I was asleep while she was here. For the record, I've never seen "The Ring" movies but Dad says I'll like them when I get old enough. Here's a clip of Samara in the first movie.

Boys careening down liquor aisle

Police Blotter

Athens, GA: Early Monday evening two small boys were last seen careening down the liquor aisle at Kroger. Reports are that they hijacked an abandoned fire truck found idling outside the grocery store. The absent driver has yet to be identified. Witnesses say the back of the truck was loaded down with cartons of organic whole milk; most likely partially consumed before and during the low-speed chase. The public is asked to report the location of these two roustabouts. At this point, it is highly likely they are tucked into their beds sleeping off the Vitamin D.

I love gym-nastics

I love "gym" nastics! For the most part, anyway. This is my second year. Dad enrolled me because when he was a lifeguard, he saw two 8-year-old twins doing back flips off the diving board (not at the same time or he would've whistled them out of the pool). He asked one the boys how he learned to do flips; "gymnastics" was the reply. The boy seemed appropriately boyish so from that time on, Dad decided that his son (me) would benefit from gymnastics at an early age. In the picture, I'm not doing any flips, just jumping off a blue thing, then running through some hoops, doing a forward roll, etc, etc.