Epic Failure

Well, I had one of the top mom Homecoming failures in Homecoming history last week. Here's how it went down...

Matthew asked a friend of his to the Homecoming game. This is a new experience in our house! I'm trying not to freak out and just go with it. After all, this girl is JUST a friend, and she is a smart, sweet girl in lots of his classes. Of course, I spent quite a bit of time on the phone with most of my friends who have older kids to try and figure out what a "6th grade Homecoming date" entails. After much discussion, it was decided that they would meet at the game (no car date) and Matthew could buy her some nachos, or something of the like, with his own money.

T minus one day until the big game, and I get a call from a friend of Matthew's mom. Apparently, the big group of guys going to the game had made mums for their "dates". Or rather, the moms had made the mums. I got this call right before 2 football practices and a soccer practice across town. I was against the idea of making a mum, but didn't want Matthew or his friend to feel funny about it. Knowing that I had to get a mole taken off my face the next day, I knew it was Thursday night or never if this mum was going to be made.

After Mary Beth's soccer practice, I sputtered over to Hobby Lobby. I say sputter, because it was 8 o'clock in the evening, and we hadn't even had dinner yet. Not to mention that the next morning was "Crazy Hair Day" at the elementary and I needed to run to Walgreens to get hair dye spray. I walk into Hobby Lobby and see a huge line of woman at the counter buying ribbon. (Think HEB at Thanksgiving). These said women were from all sorts of 1A and 2A tiny schools within a 60 mile radius who all seemed very experienced in the whole "mum production".

I, on the other hand, had not really studied a mum since I last wore one in 1989, and was a COMPLETE novice. After waiting behind the other mothers for a good 20 minutes, it was my time for professional help. Fortunately, there was a kind older woman there who took pity on my deer in the headlights expression and gave me the top 27 steps in making the perfect Homecoming mum.

Joyous.

After purchasing tons of ribbon and other mum paraphernalia, Mary Beth and I wearily drove to Walgreens to pick up our final purchases of the evening. Walking toward the hair dye spray aisle, I see a display of pre made, cute, 50% off mums for our school. Not only did they have a wide assortment of mums, but they had one left that was smaller than the rest. I thought that this one would be perfect, since it was sort of borderline that we even buy this girl a mum, and as a smaller 6th grader, she would appreciate her mum not trailing on the ground.

Mary Beth and I quickly pick up the final small mum and head home to dinner, thrilled that I would not have to spend the remainder of my dwindling evening making a mum for a girl that is just a classmate of Matthew's! I did personalize the pre made mum with the letters of the girl's name. Matthew beamed with pride. DONE!

Fast forward to Homecoming night. We tailgated with Matthew's football team, and enjoyed watching the boys throw the football. I felt a little bad when I saw all the 6th grade girls walking around with ginormous mums that touched their ankles, but still felt reasonably good about my decision. One of the girls had gotten one of Matthew's friends a garter to put on his arm. Now, the garters the boys wear now are NOTHING like the simple garters that the boys wore in 1989. I looked closely at the garter that the friend was wearing which had a mum, shorter ribbons, a little glitz, and thought, "That looks exactly the the mum I got for..."

Oh. Snap. On Matthew's first Homecoming date night, I bought this poor girl a BOY MUM.

I felt a little like throwing up, but tried to keep it together. Not a few minutes later, his little date showed up and Matthew wanted to show his guy friends the mum he had gotten Lauren. After the boys saw it, Matthew came up to me with tears in his eyes and told me I had gotten the wrong mum for Lauren, and was there anyway I could run home and put longer ribbons in the mum? I looked at the clock and saw that there was no possible way it would work out time wise. After apologizing to him a million times, he put on a brave face and put the mum on his "date".

Matthew's sweet friends made him feel better by saying that Lauren wasn't a girly girl and probably didn't want a huge mum anyway. Lauren loved it and seemed very happy to be hanging out with Matthew. Crisis averted. I was able to look over several times to see them that night (Intermediate school kids do NOT sit with parents!) and could tell that they had a ball.

The next morning, Matthew and I went for a walk. I told him that one of these days we would laugh about this. One of the few downfalls to being and oldest child is that the parents are doing things for the first time as well. Next year I will make a huge mum, with all of the ribbon I had bought for this year's Homecoming, and will never make THAT mistake again!

Are you ready for some football?

Well, it's finally happened! After years of me begging off pee wee football, the boys (Bryon included) finally got their wish. The boys have been playing football in the backyard since they could walk, and have been chomping at the bit to play for a while. I knew it was only a matter of time. Let's face it, when you have a 900 pound 4th grader, it's not hard to see what sport would be best for him! The manager of the pee wee league saw the boys at HEB this summer and suggested that they play this fall. So far, they love it!

I was most concerned about Thomas's ability to withstand the heat. He is one tough kid, but would be happier living in a cooler environment, and full pads practices in the triple digit heat was not going to be a good thing for our guy. We were thrilled to see him practice with a huge smile on his face. He says that he doesn't even feel the heat, he loves playing so much!

Thomas started out on the offensive line, but his coaches watched him snapping the ball and realized that he had a talent for it, so they put him at center. Uncle Josh was very happy, since this was his position in college! Thomas is now doing shotgun snaps to the quarterback, and enjoying every minute on the field.
We knew that Matthew would adore football. Lots of exercise and intensity! He is kicking all the kick offs, and going back and forth between linebacker on defense and tight end on offense. In fact, he was responsible for both 2 point conversions last week when he rushed the football in, and dove for the ball making a beautiful catch as the crowd went wild on the second.

First Day of School 2011

Well, another year has started! We are looking forward to school 2011-2012 around here. The first day went off without a hitch. In many ways, this is a low drama year for us. Everyone remains at the campus where they were last year. It was a little sentimental to me this year watching Thomas and Mary Beth walk into school together. These two love each other so much, and this is their last year to be in school together for another 7 years! At that point, Thomas will be driving her to school!

Another change was that I no longer have a baby in the K-1 wing, which I have for the past 7 years. I'm not trying to rush life along, but for the first time ever, I got a feeling that my elementary years are in the waning stages. Yes, we have had 7 first days of school at our elementary, and only 2 left! How I treasure this time!
Matthew is now a 6th grader. He is in his last year of intermediate school, and is enjoying being BMOC again. Matthew claims that the teachers trust them more in 6th grade. Matthew is no longer in the pull out program for GT, and is now taking 5 advanced classes. This should be a challenging year for sure! He came home yesterday and proclaimed the first day of 6th grade to be the best day ever. Music to mama's ears!
Sweet Thomas is in his last year of elementary school! We had no preferences for his teachers, as they are all so good in 4th grade, but had been praying that he would have a friend in class this year. Last year, there were only 6 boys in his class, and none of them were his friends. While Thomas handled this with his typical graciousness, we were hoping that he could have a really fun class this year. I got choked up looking at his class list and seeing 3 good friends (and several other sweet boys) in his class! Thomas has had a permanent smile on his face since he saw the list! So far, the students can sit where they like in class, so Thomas has a fun table. We adore his teachers, who I got to know well when I was 4th grade coordinator two years ago, and look forward to the best year ever for Thomas!
And here is my 2nd grader! We were thrilled to find out that Mary Beth had Mrs. M for 2nd grade. Mrs. M is a legend at our school. The boys had wonderful 2nd grade experiences, but I had always wanted one of my kids to have Mrs. M. Third time was a charm! Mary Beth has two sweet friends in her class and has been talking nonstop about how much she loves her teacher. Her first order of business is to learn the ZYX's. She has to say the alphabet backwards for her class next week!
I can't remember being more excited about a school year starting. I love spending time with the kids in the summer, and every year, I appreciate the unstructured time more. Now that after school activities have started up, I really miss our quiet evenings! However, I function so much better on a schedule, and the kids love school so much, how could I not feel the same way? Bring on the school year. It's gonna be great!

First broken bone

Knowing my kids as I do, I would have never suspected that the first broken bone in the family would be sustained by Mary Beth!

After dinner one night last month, the boys decided to go outside and throw the football. They had just gotten all of their football gear, and their coaches had encouraged them to wear their pads and helmet as much as possible to get used to them. Meanwhile, Mary Beth and I had decided to go on a bike ride. After circling the neighborhood, Mary Beth and I sat in our front yard to watch the boys play. Then, Mary Beth wanted to ride down the street, and I told her she could while I went to the fence to get Gus out of the backyard.

No sooner had I turned my head, then I heard Bryon yell, "No!!", then crash, then screaming. I raced around the corner to see what happened. Bryon was holding Mary Beth who was bleeding badly from her ankle (most of the skin was taken off her ankle), knee, and wrist. Apparently, Mary Beth had gotten back on her bike at the same moment that Thomas was racing toward her with his head back while trying to catch a pass. They collided, and she flew off her bike into the curb.

After I took Mary Beth inside, she was inconsolable. She kept talking about how much her wrist hurt, making no mention of her badly scraped ankle and knee. This was a little shocking, since Mary Beth is one tough cookie. Growing up with two big brothers, she has to be! Also, her wrist wasn't remotely swollen, just a little scraped. After crying for a good hour, she finally cried herself to sleep, only to wake up a few hours later in pain. We knew then that this was probably more than a scraped wrist. Poor Thomas had also hurt himself in the collision (a large goose egg on his forearm) but didn't say anything about it until after Mary Beth had fallen asleep, since he felt like her injuries were worse than his.

Sure enough, an x-ray the next day confirmed that she had fractured her radius bone in her arm while trying to brace herself in the fall. Her doctor felt certain that a soft cast would do the trick, and she wore it for three weeks before she made a full recovery. Her only complaint the entire time was how hot her arm got. She could be seen frequently placing her brace in the freezer for a few moments just to cool off!

Summer 2011

Well, another fun summer is now in the record books. On Wednesday, school begins again, and the lazy, hazy, exciting days of summer will be a distant memory. This was an eventful summer for our family! Here are the highlights:

1. Mary Beth attending Midway basketball camp.

2. The kids going to Conroe for the week to attend their grandparents' church's VBS.

3. Driving 2,000 miles to Cape Cod with just mom.

4. All three attending sailing lessons, and Matthew competing in a regatta with his friend, Matt.

5. Walking the Freedom Trail in Boston on 4th of July weekend.

6. A wonderful visit with our family in New England.

7. Matthew and Bryon deep sea fishing.

8. Driving 2,000 miles in less than 2 days home.

9. Getting greeted at home by a furnace. 2011 will go down in the record books as the hottest (driest) summer in the history of record keeping. So far, 70 days of 100 degree heat this summer.

10. The boys starting football for the first time.

11. Mary Beth learning to ride her bike...

12. Then subsequently fracturing her radius bone when Thomas collided with her on her bike.

13. The boys attending Kanakuk camp for 2 weeks.

14. Bryon and I celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary in San Antonio.

15. My 36th and Mary Beth's 7th birthdays.

16. Swimming in Aunt Lauren's new pool.

17. Mary Beth getting to spend the week with Aunt Jilinda, Uncle Michael, and Lydia while the boys were at camp and Mom and Dad were in San Antonio.

18. Matthew taking full responsibility of the lawn. He has also mowed several friends and neighbors yards.

19. Thomas playing piano in the Texas Music Teachers Association ensemble in Arlington.

20. Putting 9,000 miles on our car with lots of trips to fun destinations!

Yes, it was a great summer! While I'm always so ready to be back on a routine, I love the slow paced, nowhere to be at night, sleeping in, staying up late of the summer!

Kanakuk

We have good friends who take their kids to Kanakuk camp each year. We started considering the camp last year, and were convinced after going to our friend's house to listen to the owner of the camp in the Fall. The camp is basically a 2 week long Christian sports camp in Branson, MO. My boys were sold on the idea from the beginning despite the fact that they had never been away from the family for that long.

Matthew had two good buddies going to the same session of camp, but Thomas knew no one his age going. He had no fears going by himself and I love how willing he is to try new things! At 3:20 am on July 30th, we headed up to Dallas to drop the boys off at their chartered bus. They gave us a hug goodbye and were off!

We loved getting to see pictures of the kids everyday on their secure website, and loved getting letters from the boys as well as their counselors. Seeing how happy they were in the pictures made the time go by quickly for us. They play sports all day and have to choose a sport to specialize in. Thomas picked basketball, and Matthew chose tennis, which was surprising since he had never tried it before. He told us later that had wanted to learn a new skill!

We drove to Branson last Friday and celebrated Mary Beth's actual birthday on the road. The boys were thrilled to see us, and we were amazed at how much scripture they had memorized. They seemed to have a new fire for God and want to live out the theme for camp, "I Am Third" (God first, others second, me third). The counselors were incredible. They all seemed so happy to be there and doted on the kids. Mary Beth had no interest in going until she saw the camp herself. Now, she can hardly wait to go, and the boys are looking forward to next year already! Here are a few pics from when we picked them up:




There was a huge family picnic on the evening that we picked them up. Mary Beth was happy to see her brothers!
Showing off his new skill...tennis!
Matthew got the award for best all around tennis player.

Thomas chose basketball for his sport.

These are the pictures we saw on the computer every day....