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This past week, while eating our first barbecue dinner in Texas (I say that only because we had three barbecue dinners and all but the first one were good - really good), Evan revealed to us that Keagan has a girlfriend. In our house, this is usually said to embarrass the other brother, and it's usually not meant to be taken very seriously. After all, the last thing that any eight year old or six year old boy wants is a girlfriend - especially when we all know how "annoying" girls are. However, on this night Keagan didn't say too much to discount the story. In fact, he later elaborated with the following physical description: She has "puffy hair like a popcorn ball", but when you look at her face "it is really very pretty."

When Keagan came home from school today, he was more than excited to tell me that he had something special in his pocket. I guessed a piece of candy because he does behave from time to time (I know, shocker!) and receive random rewards. No, that was not it.

I guessed another blue slip because it has been a week since he has been recognized for his speed and/or agility in PE. No, that was not it.

I guessed a birthday invitation, and that wasn't it either.

With one sleek move of his wrist, Keagan pulled out a tiny piece of paper and waved it in front of my face.

It was a phone number. Instantly, visions of puffy haired little girls swam in my head, and I created a myriad of excuses of why we would not be able to use any phone in our house for probably the next week. Maybe never. I was so caught up with my creative excuses, I almost missed his next sentence.

"Do you think Aidan and I can have a play date this week?"

Incredibly, all of our phones were back in working order.

When Wes got home, he commented that he couldn't believe Keagan came home with a phone number, and that's when I told him he should be relieved that it's not Puffy Hair's number.

A play date with Aidan is forthcoming.

Thanksgiving with Family

Every time we make the trip to Texas, I feel like our week is packed with appointments to see people. Every time I leave, I say our next trip will be different. We will have free time and unscheduled days. I promise that we will be able to spend the week without a calendar of events.

Unless, of course, it includes tickets to a Cowboy game.

One day this week, while visiting family, Evan met my ten year old cousin that he last saw in 2004 when Evan was two years old. Within minutes the two had escaped the adults, and while walking through the pasture outside my aunt's house, Evan and Sam were found in deep conversation. They seemed to have found something in common (even if it has yet to be identified). Later that afternoon, Evan asked, "Where's that kid been all this time?" 

Note to self: Make more "appointments" to see family so your kids actually know who they are and refer to family members by name instead of with non-descript phrases like "that kid."

When you are in Texas, in a pasture with a big red barn, hanging on a rusty gate while meeting your long lost cousin, pictures are in order. 

Tree Lighting Ceremony

Christmas already? It's really hard for me to think about Christmas when I am surrounded my warm weather, flip flops, and palm trees here in Georgia. While in Texas, though, the boys attended the annual tree lighting ceremony in Wes's hometown. Would you know the boys were seen on the local 6:00 evening news during a spot taken at the ceremony? 

Thankfully, the camera man deleted the footage of Keagan doing the robot while Christmas carols played in the background. 

Keagan thinks he is now famous, but he has no idea how famous he could have been had the greater East Texas population caught a glimpse of his version of the robot on live TV.

Deep in the Heart of Texas

For the two people that read my blog, I have to tell you that the Cowboys game was everything that we expected and then some. After whines and cries and protests with the decision to stay in a hotel in Dallas Saturday night instead of driving straight to Opa and Oma's, I had to tell the boys that we had a surprise for the next day.

The next morning we were in the rental car driving parallel to the stadium, completely oblivious that we were on the wrong side of the railroad tracks because we were all captivated by the sheer size of the stadium, and Keagan asked, "This is our surprise? A real surprise would be to go in the stadium and watch the game. Not drive by it." He said this while pretending he was totally not impressed. However, Evan, our sweet, sweet Evan, said, "Driving by it and seeing the stadium in person is surprise enough for me."

Wes and I had tears because we couldn't even imagine how he would react when he found out we were actually planning to go into the stadium.

We pulled into the parking lot of some sketchy motel with the catchy name, "Fiesta", where we had scored cheap parking, and Wes pulled out four tickets to the game. Surprise, Boys!

And nothing was said.

At all.

The boys were in shock for a good five minutes, but when it became more real for them, their ear-to-ear smiles said it all. It was an added bonus that we won the game, and an even bigger surprise for us to run into friends of ours that we knew from church while living in Virginia.

We had our fill of frito pie, more than our fill of Cowboy cheerleaders, and plenty of opportunities to cheer and raise the noise meter, but we already look forward to our next game. 

Tradition That's Hard to Break

It's a tradition that we started in Virginia and continued in Georgia. Tonight we hosted a Thanksgiving dinner that included the agents in Wes's office and their family members. Even with many agents from our office deployed and several out on a case, I think I still counted 36 people. Sadly, I knew the names of only three people in the room. I felt like a general's wife with fake smiles, offers of more potatoes, and all the while hoping to God the strangers' little ones didn't spill soda on my brand new barstools. Then I realized that I was that OLD general's wife when one spouse told me she graduated highschool in 2004. Dear God!

Next year, I am planning every detail of the event, and I am leaving the soldiers out of it. Maybe next year we will actually have someone bring forks, and we might have something other than two turkeys, 10 pounds of mashed potatoes, 5 pounds of green beans, and 100 dinner rolls.

Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats

This evening we had tickets to the see The Shangri-La Chinese Acrobats. This same show in DC would have surely cost us $50 a pop, but because the show was performed on a military installation in the middle of Lost-on-the-Coast-of-Georgia, the tickets were cheap. Unfortunately, we were about the only family who thought $10 a ticket was cheap. MWR was practically giving away the tickets this past week because no one cared that a world renown group was performing on post. Of course, most of the people around this here place think world renown includes the driver of some fast car or a fighter wearing a TapOut t-shirt. I guarantee you that last month's day out with Chuck Liddell was much better received and anticipated.

However, I wanted to see the show, and I persuaded the boys that they wanted to see the show, too. One mention of thrown swords and a touch of Kung Fu was all that was needed. I purposefully neglected to mention bright costumes, balancing acts, and anything related to acrobats. On Thursday afternoon, the boys thought we were about to watch a fight scene from Karate Kid.

Even without one fight scene, the boys were impressed, and they even clapped at all the right times. Perhaps Evan was a bit bored at times, though, because in the middle of the contortionist's act, when the young girl is doing amazing things with her body, when we are all wondering, "How is that possible?", he leaned over and asked, "When was the Korean war fought, Mom?"

And for a split second I was stumped. Not because I didn't know the date, but I realized that answering his question, would undoubtedly lead to a discussion about the reasons for a North and South Korea. Something I had no desire to address when some girl in front of me is balancing on her big toe with both legs hyperextended and resting on top of her head.

So I said, "When Opa was a teenager."

Let him ponder that for a while. He must have, too, because nothing else was said.

I feel like spinning plates balanced on sticks and/or small tables twirled on the bottom of the foot of a certain young boy could be a real possibility this weekend. Good thing we will be traveling and it won't be our own plates or tables.

Boys, Football, and Dallas

Shhh! This is a complete surprise for the boys, but on Sunday we have tickets to see the Cowboys play in the new Cowboy Stadium. For a non-Texan, this might not sound very exciting, but most Dallasites will tell you that seeing a Cowboy game from some place other than your living room couch is like a rite of passage for young boys. A rite of passage that my 35 year old husband is hell bent on experiencing in this late stage of his life. So hell bent that when I reminded him that we could take a Greek Cruise for about the same amount of money, he gave me the look, and I knew I could close the browser window entitled "Summer in Winter in Greece" without further discussion.

Allow me to mention that our seats are so high up that you must watch the Jumbotron to see the details of any play. The irony is we could probably see more if we were at home watching the game from our living room couch. And I know we could definitely eat cheaper while sitting on the couch at home. I already forsee next summer's vacation spent in the hot dog line.

But we are hoping it will be worth the money and extreme hassle of renting a car, getting a hotel room, and driving to Savannah to pick up our tickets when we see our two little boys' faces light up when we arrive at the stadium.

Just maybe we will be lucky enough to witness the third win of the season! If so, there will be two more people all smiles.

What'll Have

 What'll Ya Have? 

We'll have a weekend filled with soccer games at the annual Kohl's Cup. Our entire season was played in preparation for this tourney. No one expected us to score, much less win. But we did. We won one game, and no team felt obliged to play keep-a-way with our boys because the scores remained really close in all of the games. That was success in and of itself.

We'll have a win and watch Evan play offense. Evan has played goalie and defense all year, and in the last half of the last game, Coach put Evan in as a striker. Evan played his heart out. It was reminiscent of the good old days in Virginia when he played offense for Team United. 

We'll have a morning at the Georgia Aquarium in downtown Atlanta. We saw sharks, sea urchins, sting rays, and so much more. The boys loved it!

We'll have lunch at The Varsity, the famous burger joint in downtown Atlanta that has each cashier yelling, "What'll Ya Have" as you step up to order. We had seen this place on the Food Network and we thought it would be a fun place to stop for a quick lunch. Wes had the chili cheese dawg and said his life was complete now that he had the best hot dog chili ever. Perhaps my palette is just not sophisticated enough to recognize good chili when tasted, but my palette can tell you I had the best onion rings ever!

Bad Words

Keagan: Mom, are the A word and B word bad words?

Me: (I have no idea what he is talking about but I nod my head.) Absolutely! You must not ever say those words, Keagan. Even thinking those words in your mind and heart is wrong and a sin in God's eye.

Keagan: What do the A word and B word start with?

I think this means that I'm not the only one who has no idea what he is talking about.

Fort Pulaski

It is "Vetenarian's Day", and to show our patriotism and our gratitude to all of our military friends old and new, Wes and I sat around the house this morning while Keagan played "checkards" with Oma, and Evan played football with Opa. When I decided that there had to be more to the holiday than taunts like "You're going down, Oma," and "You really need to work on your passing game, Opa," I made the executive decision to make the drive to Fort Pulaski outside of Savannah. Wes wasn't thrilled with the idea and claimed he was "forted" out (afterall, we have visited at least four since we moved to Georgia in June), but I gave him the look, and he was packing the car in no time. And it's a good thing because it was beautiful!

The boys packed their Civil War era muskets and decided the battle was on. Keagan shot every person he saw, and it was so annoying that even the elderly visiting the site were not endeared. (I say this because they are usually captivated by Keagan's big blue eyes, freckles, and quick wit.)

Evan claimed to be embarrassed by his little brother, but he did his fair share of shootin' up the place. He aimed for the alligator in the moat, though, so no one seemed to mind nearly as much.

In the midst of Civil War era battles and shoot-outs, though, the boys earned their Junior Ranger badges. Evan views this accomplishment as a perfect segway into a new hobby - Junior Ranger badge collections. This of course means we must now re-visit every battle ground in the immediate area, and I know one person who might not be up to that. However, Opa and Oma have only seen Pulaski so with some encouragement, Evan just might have the opportunity to see them again.

Gators Undefeated

Evan's Gator soccer team played its last regular season soccer game today in Savannah. After our poor performance at Jekyll this past summer, I wondered if I would ever see Evan win a game again. So we were all pretty pumped to not only win but have an undefeated season. I think Evan might have been excited.

There's no doubt that all of the boys were excited.

The coach even celebrated by allowing the kids to spray paint his hair green and white. The team's next stop is state in Atlanta. 

All of the dads, with the exception of Evan's, have agreed to shave their heads if we win state.

Aim, Shoot, Celebrate

We celebrated Evan's birthday Friday night with a laser tag party. The boys loved it, and best of all, it was great to be surrounded by family and so many of our new friends.

This next week four families associated with Heifer International will awake with flocks of chicks at their doors with the donations and generosity of our friends. When Evan first decided to do this in lieu of gifts from friends, he thought the chicks would be sent to our house, and then we would distribute them. I had to explain that we would not actually see the chicks but trust that the chicks would make it to the right people. He seemed to be okay with this, but our discussion made me wonder. When we originally visited the website, Evan had first selected a water buffalo. Where did he think we would keep a water buffalo?

Texas Turkey

 Different teacher. Different school. Different state. Yet, Keagan has been assigned the exact same assignment completed by Evan two years ago when he was in kindergarten. Evan dressed his turkey as a pirate. Keagan dressed his as a cowboy.

I am just relieved to have it done! There aren't any family bonding moments created in this family when arts and crafts are involved. That is unless you count power struggles and color wheel battles. Somehow I don't think that is what the teacher had in mind, though.

I think Keagan might be just as happy to have it done. He knows how compulsive I am, and he can't believe he completed the project with no hot glue burns!

Then and Now Eight Years Later

 Eight years ago, we were blessed with the early arrival of this bundle of joy. 

Today I have a bundle of joy that eats as much as an adult male but cries with the injustice of every little-brother-mishap. In other words, my baby is now eight.

Here Are the Eight Things I Love About my Eight Year Old:
1) Evan's smile. When I catch it on camera, it absolutely makes the picture - any picture.

2) Evan's reasoning skills. He can only think in black and white. For instance, I asked him to spray Pam on the sides of the crock pot so our roast wouldn't stick. He sprayed the sides, alright, but the OUTSIDE of the crock pot.

3) Evan's passion for football. In the yard playing football with his brother, on the Wii playing Madden, wearing his multiple jerseys, watching the NFL, reading a book on famous football players...He can never tire of it.

4) Evan's opinions. He is always right. There have been times when I have detested it, but overall, I LOVE having a boy that can think for himself and establish a well-thought out opinion.

5) Evan's ability to empathize with others. What eight year old requests that friends buy chicks for a family in Africa instead of receiving birthday gifts? After reading "Give a Goat", he did just that.

6) Evan's running. He runs with his head cocked to the side so that he can run against his shadow. After eight years and lots of races, he claims lots of ties.

7) Evan's competitiveness. Who doesn't want to win, though?

8) Evan's big brown eyes. Absolutely LOVE them.

Happy Birthday, Evan!