Farragh Cousins

There were lots of pictures taken all week, but this one of Caroline is my favorite!

Keagan and Mallory Go For a Ride

Farragh Grandkids

Mallory and Keagan in Tree House

After a week of the older cousins playing hide-and-go-seek, Caroline got the basic idea of the game. The last night we were in Texas, we found her playing, too. Only instead of hiding herself, she was hiding corn muffins. We found them under the rug, under blankets, and in the kitchen drawers. 

Christmas Morning

Santa found us all the way in Texas.

Evan and Keagan both got Kindle Fires. This is the single best Christmas present EVER. It took us fifteen hours to drive back home yesterday, and they didn't have one major fight the entire drive. They were totally engrossed in reading, games, apps, and music. Thank God Santa remembered head phones.

Keagan got a Razor Riprider 360 bike. It rides like the old Big Wheels but it has caster wheels on the back, and Keagan can do 360s in the cul-de-sac. It is totally him and fulfills his need for speed. It is also the closest thing to NASCAR that he will ever see in my house.

I think the noise of the remote control car almost sent my mom over the edge, but it was the one gift Keagan had to have. This will totally become an outside toy here in Geogia, though. Keagan already has plans to chase the field mice with this thing.

On warm nights we love to sit on the porch and look at the stars. It really isn't that much fun, though, when it is 35 degrees and sleeting. Oh, to be back in Georgia and seventy degree weather! The single best thing about living in Georgia.

Vikki and Me...Christmas Morning

As always the adults on my side of the family forego presents and take a trip together in the summer. In June we are headed to the beach in Puerto Rico!

Are you ready for some football?

You  might remember that the boys LOVE football. My parents surprised the boys this year with tickets to the Christmas Eve Cowboys game. My mom placed the ticket in the box of a Demarcus Ware Christmas tree ornament. You should have seen their faces when they opened an early present to find only an ornament.

Evan was so excited about going to the game that he carried the ticket with him around the house until we left the next day. I had to pry it out of his little fingers as he fell asleep.

It wasn't just Evan, though. I think all three boys were super excited about seeing the game.

If anyone had told me twenty years ago, that I would one day attend a Cowboy game with Jamie Goates, I am not so sure that I would have believed them. He's the greatest BIL, though, agreeing to go with us to the game on Christmas Eve. 

As it turns out, we picked the worst game of the season to see. I felt like we were watching the junior high b team play. However, you can't be in the Cowboys Stadium and be disappointed. It is an experience in and of itself. 

Toole Cousins

Abbigail

Hunter

Toole Grandkids

Texas Bound

"Mom, tomorrow I think we need to leave GA at about 5:00AM. That should get us to Oma's house at 7:00, just in time for dinner.....What? You don't like that idea? But 5:00 is the time you get up for school every day. You should be used to it by now cuz I think you've been doing that for like fifteen years or something....."

A few minutes pass.

"Mom, I was thinkin'. I think we should probably try to leave GA at 1:00AM so that we can get to Oma's before it's dark. What? You don't like that idea either? Just think. We will be the only people on the road at that time and just think how fast we could go."

A few minutes pass.

"Mom, I was thinkin'. Why don't we just leave tonight after dinner? I could sleep. Keagan could sleep. You wouldn't have to listen to us fight, and then we would be at Oma's house in time for lunch and in time to play football with Opa!"

Evan, I was just thinkin'. I can't wait for you to be sixteen so that you can drive all night and get us to Oma's by lunch!

15 hours in a car with two boys, driving a car on its last leg. I think I must be crazy. I keep telling myself it will all be worth it, though, when I reach that Texas line. 

SOAR Student

Last week Evan came up with the great idea of having a class kick ball tournament. The Best of Five, he calls it. He some how persuaded every kid in his class to participate (even the girl who wears high heels), and he even asked the teacher to be the umpire (because according to Evan his teacher knows everything about kickball, and just as much as Opa knows about baseball). He went so far as to say that he thought the wins and losses should be graphed in a bar graph (he just might be my son).

He wrote up a list of names for the draft, created team rosters, and even wrote out his kicker line up. Believe me when I say he has put a lot of time into this kickball tournament. In fact, he left the house this morning lamenting the fact that he had put all of his weak kickers in the middle of the line up and he didn't think this was a really good strategy. He decided to re-write the line up while on the bus on the way to school.

If anyone knows Evan, you know he is competitive. He can't lose, just can't lose. At anything. Uno. Checkers. Soccer. So when teams were created and he began picking the kids from the class to be on his team, I was completely shocked to hear his choice. He picked a special ed student, the kid that doesn't really fit in and the kid that others laugh at when they see him in the halls. Today, in game three of The Best of Five, that kid kicked a triple and later scored a run so that his team won. The team went wild and this little boy went crazy with excitement. Eventually, the entire class was cheering for this little boy. Evan's retelling of today's game brought a tear to my eye...okay maybe two tears to my eyes.

Next month, when I am believing for the 500th time that I have made the worst decision in the world to send my kids to public school, I want to remember today's story. This lesson in life could never be taught in my living room. This lesson in life would never be experienced at the private school down the street.

Congratulations, Evan. This is just one reason why you deserve this month's recognition as SOAR student!

Night Before Christmas

It's 73 degrees and the air conditioning has been on all day, but today was the first grade Christmas program. Keagan's class dressed as reindeer.

Keagan nailed his lines and his phenomenal acting skills had everyone chuckling, or maybe it was because it was the only set of lines audible by the audience. Either way, it was awesome to be able to see it, and since the front office at my school lost my leave form, I almost didn't get to see it.

The program went off like any other program with 125 six year olds, something akin to organized chaos with really bad choreography. However, the star of the show was Santa himself. It wasn't just any old Santa cameo, though, Guys. This Santa really got into the finale of the program. He danced with Mrs. Clause, sang a few lines of the Christmas carols, and walked through the sea of little kids patting them all on the head. Until his pants fell down to his knees. No lie, Guys. Santa was standing in nothing but his underwear in front of 450 people dancing, and after what seemed like a lifetime, he finally realized his pants were wrapped up around his knees. The lady sitting next to me, a complete stranger, grabbed my arm with one hand, put one hand up to her mouth in a state of shock, and started mumbling words, words completely lost to me because I was trying to figure out how Santa's lack of pants could be related to the story of the Night Before Christmas.

We all left laughing so hard our bellies were shaking like bowls full of jelly.

Keagan said, "It's a good thing Santa likes to wear Under Armour because if he wore Tighty Whities like Daddy, then that just would have been really embarrassing." 

St Nicholas Day

The German tradition continues in Georgia, and the boots are next to the door. In nine years, this is the first time we have not used combat boots. This year they are actually being used by our soldier.

Today Keagan asked, "Mom, why am I the only one in my class who knows anything about putting my boot next to the door?"
Evan answered for me. "Keagan, you have to be Germans like us to know anything about St. Nicholas and putting your boot by the door. All those other kids weren't born in Germany so they don't understand."

I LOVE how Evan is in third grade and still believes he is German. He told me the other day that if Wes gets the job in Germany next fall, he will refuse to learn German. I asked him what he planned to speak with his German soccer friends, and he said, "Well, they will just have to learn English."

He may believe he is German, but he thinks like an American.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Sports Injuries

We got second place in this weekend's soccer tournament. It was so much fun - especially on Saturday when we came out on top at both games. In fact, it was so exciting to see my two babies play forward together that as Evan made a pass to Keagan, and Keagan took a shot on the goal, I was jumping up and down and screaming with anticipation. I might have been shouting "SHOOOT!!!" I might have been shouting, "Sweet Baby Jesus let that ball go in!!!!" Because it is the holiday season, my prayers and the birth of Christ could have mingled together in my head to form some new plea of divine intervention. I really can't remember. But I do know that I was not the mother who shouted to her son, "Push his a$$!!!" That was the opposing team's loud, vocal mom, and as loud as I might be, that type of language has never crossed my lips. My mind maybe. My lips no.

But here I was on the sidelines. The ball was moving in slow motion. I was cheering. I was jumping. I took one giant leap, as if I were going for the ball myself, and I felt it pop. My right calf. My right calf popped. I calmly took a seat and decided to stretch it out, but I couldn't. I couldn't even walk up the sideline to watch the corner kick that resulted in Keagan's missed shot.

I continued to cheer when Evan stopped a million shots on the goal, though, and I continued to jump up and down when Evan beat the other team to the ball. This time, though, it was on just one foot. After the first game, I became quite proficient at the one legged cheer.

Evan thought it was pretty cool that I had a similar injury to Miles Austin. He asked me to explain how it felt. He wanted every detail; I think because he doubted the severity of his favorite player's injury. However, I spent Saturday night scooting around the floor of the house on my butt, that's how painful it was, and he quickly understood a pop in the calf is a serious injury. Especially when it impacts the meal you are served for dinner.

The boys' coach has decided all parents will participate in the team's pre-game stretches and warm up so that further injuries to spectators on the sidelines will be eliminated. I am expected to lead the first lap around the complex as soon as I can walk again. Do you have any idea how embarrassing it was to admit to my co-workers that I tore my calf muscle cheering for my sons on the sidelines of the soccer field? I had to tell the truth because no one believed my original story: "I was just standing on the sidelines, took a step, and then I felt it pop."

SOAR Student

Keagan got SOAR student this month. A few years ago, when he was in pre-school, I would have never believed you if you told me that he would come home from elementary school with green smiley faces and excellent reports. He has always been the "funny" son, and he constantly entertains us at home with dances moves, impersonations, and his quick wit. He has also been known for a brazen act or two. Take last night for an example. He skipped through the parking lot of Food Lion yelling, "I have a rash on my butt." Evan and I ran to the car to hide because we were so embarrassed, but Keagan LOVED that we were so mortified. He couldn't have cared less that half of Hinesville was staring at him. Before he started school, I had visions of his constant talking and attempts to get every students' eyes on him with his break dancing moves or his impersonations of bad American Idol auditions.

But quite the opposite has actually occurred. He has become the model student and nothing like the preacher's kid that I had previously envisioned. With a criminal investigator as a dad and a mom as a teacher, though, I don't know that he ever stood a chance at being bad at school.

Photo Shoot

Christmas card photos were supposed to have been taken the week of Halloween, right before Wes left for pre-deployment training at Fort Campbell. But my photographer called in sick.

Photo shoot take two was supposed to take place the Friday after Thanksgiving, right before Wes returned to Fort Campbell for his deployment. But my photographer didn't want to travel all the way to Tennessee.

Photo shoot take three was supposed to take place Thanksgiving day, right before we ate our holiday meal. But I forgot the camera.

So photo shoot take four took place today in our backyard with my crude photography skills. 

With funny faces, nipple twists, and strongholds to the neck, though, my quick photo shoot turned into an all afternoon affair filled with laughter, joy, and brotherly love.

Later Evan said, "I never knew taking pictures could be so much fun!"

After taking 80 or so shots, I did manage to get one good picture. But I will save it for the Christmas card! 

Scientists in the Making

We spent our last day in Tennessee (sniffle, sniffle) at the science museum in Nashville. The boys loved it!

I don't think we have to worry with Keagan ever deciding to study medicine, though. One look into the surgery ward that had various animal parts soaking in chemicals, and he walked out with a disgusted, "YUCK!"

Nor should we worry with Evan working as a fighter pilot. Even if Wes is fascinated with flight and fighter jets, Evan walked out of the Blue Max flight simulator "bored."

The Space Chase exhibit was extensive and impressive, but the idea of building pressure to launch rockets was just a little over their heads.

So what did impress the boys? Cruising down the digestive system slide in the Body Quest Exhibit and hitting the landing with a loud fart. Evan did it over and over.
He makes me so proud!

I guess this means that his future contribution to science will be his production of gas and, thus,the even-faster-than-normal depletion of the ozone layer. I now have visions of him living his adult years in my basement, eating my food, and spending his days perfecting the arm fart.

Sadly, today, I am finding hope in his pursuit to be a professional football player. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

While cuddled in bed watching the parade with the boys, I whispered to Evan, "Happy Thanksgiving. I am thankful this year to be with my three boys."

Evan exclaimed, "Three???"

"Yes. You, Keagan, and Daddy."

"Thank goodness. I thought you were trying to tell me you were pregnant!"

History 101

We spent the morning in the Tennessee countryside hiking along the Red River.

We crossed this bridge,

walked past this tobacco field,

and found ourselves on a portion of the Trail of Tears.

A few minutes' drive back to town, and we found ourselves at the Civil War site, Fort Defiance.

We are lovin' our time here in Tennessee!

High and Tight Haircuts and Neon Lights

Hotel disaster aside, our stay at Fort Campbell has been awesome. Well, minus the high and tight haircut the post barbershop gave Evan yesterday. Wes came unglued and the poor lady finished the left side of the high and tight in tears. I wasn't there when it happened, or else I would have probably given my two cents and the whole barbershop would have gone into lock down mode. After a night of sleep, though, the cut doesn't look too bad. I think we might be able to continue with life after all.

Bad haircuts and moldy lodging aside, this is the first military town that I have actually liked, and if Wes is moved here next fall for a batallion position, I will be happy to make the move. In fact, I just might give a little happy dance. We spent day three in the downtown district at a small museum. 

Evan teaches Keagan how to find Greece on the globe.

The mall is next on our list. Although that might not seem too exciting to most, a trip to the mall is like a pilgrimage to Mecca when you live in the sticks of Georgia. To be able to drive only five minutes and find all of my favorite stores is so exciting that I have done it every day since we have been here just so I can savor the bright neon lights.

Tennessee Bound

I must really love my husband because only love would agree to drive eight hours to Tennessee to spend my favorite holiday in a hotel. It's not just a hotel, though, People. It's Army lodging complete with pink curtains, gold light fixtures, and a bathroom trimmed in mold. With last minute meetings, guest instructors, and a new farewell date, Wes just couldn't get back to Georgia, as we originally planned. Hence, the plan to come to him.

Day one was spent outside of Nashville with my long time high school friend, Rachel.

My boys couldn't believe it when I told them that Rachel and I went to school together from first grade through high school. "Mom, do you mean that you lived in the same place for eighteen years?" When I told them that I had never lived outside of Mount Pleasant until I went to college, Keagan gasped and Evan said, "That's just real sad, Mom!" 

Now whether this is sad because the town itself was Mount Pleasant or it was sad because I had never experienced anything outside of East Texas was never really identified. Clearly, though, living in one place for any extended amount of time is completely foreign to them. This was made completely clear to me yesterday when Evan asked to go house hunting outside the gates of Fort Campbell, and Keagan supported the past time choice with, "You never know when the Army might decided to move us here, Mom, and we need to be prepared to find the right neighborhood." 

Just Jack

This week  the boys' elementary school celebrated National Book Week with a storybook character day. Keagan just read his first chapter book and scored 100% on the AR test. There was no doubt who he would choose to go to school as. Armed with a big pair of old lady glasses from the dollar store, a green notebook, and a red backpack....

he went as Jack from the Magic Tree House Adventure series, and specifically he went as Jack in Dinosaurs Before Dark.

No one knew who he was, but he was okay with that. He told me he pulled out his green notebook and pencil and took notes for his own Jack and Annie adventure. Move over Mary Pope Osbourne, Keagan plans to take over the series and write book number 47!

Soccer Sequence and Monopoly Marathon

The boys have the best grandparents. Opa and Oma drove ten hours on Friday to watch them play in the soccer tournament in Atlanta. Ten hours! I think they found it worth the drive. I mean who wouldn't when you get to spend the weekend with my boys? Two wins, a tie and the end to an undefeated season were all just icing on the cake.

These grandparents draw the line at the mention of dinner at Chuck E Cheese or an hour at a bounce house, though. We ditched the team Saturday night because I too have a great dislike of over-sized mice singing and dancing in a mechanical country music jamboree, and the five of us had dinner on our own. The boys thought we were cruel to keep them from the bounce house and their teammates, so we compromised. We took Evan to Target to buy the board game Monopoly. He has wanted the game for two years, and because I remember playing it myself, I have said no to the purchase many times. Don't think for a second that while standing on the board game aisle of Target I didn't suggest a dozen other games in lieu of Monopoly because, as I am sure you know, it is the game that never stops, or as I call it, The Time Monopolizer.

After we got back to the hotel last night,  it took us half an hour to just hand out money and explain the meaning of a thimble, (and no, Keagan, the thimble is not a pot). After another half hour of explaining to Evan the meaning of mortgage, I started thinking an hour at a bounce house with hundreds of screaming kids was probably not all that bad, and because that hour at the bounce house would come to an end a lot quicker than a game of Monopoly, I was certain, an hour or two too late, that the bounce house would have been a much wiser choice.

I want to remember this weekend for reasons other than the hell of a monopoly marathon, though. I want to remember Keagan walking onto the field, marking up on the tallest kid on the opposing team and hearing the Jaguar team gasp when he started running. I want to remember his throwing himself in front of this guy so that he could block an attempted shot on the goal and block a pass to the guy playing right forward.

 I want to remember his standing on the field during a time-out and striking up a conversation with the enemy with the comment, "It sure is chilly out here." And observing the two from the sideline as Keagan continued with a monologue about the very cold weather, UnderArmour shirts, and the need to run to stay warm. All the while, number 23 stared in disbelief.

I want to remember Evan's aggressive playing, his fancy footwork, and the random comment he made about this female player and her crocheted hat. "Casey and I decided that girl talks funny and wears a funny hat so she must be from the Netherlands." Who knew you had to have a grandma that crochets ugly brown hats to be from the Netherlands?

It was a great weekend of soccer and I was sorry to leave it all behind. It was especially hard to walk off the field knowing I had a four hour drive in the car and then another marathon monopoly game awaiting me at home. Tonight's game winning strategy is to give the roll of the dice a good half hour, buy as many hotels as possible, and then whimper a despondent cry of "I think I am going to have to declare bankruptcy!"  Wish me luck!

Veterans Day

Veteran's Day came and went. I feel conflicted celebrating the good deeds of veterans when our favorite veteran leaves next week for the desert and has been gone all month for pre-deployment training. I must tell you the boys have done AMAZING with Wes's absence. So well that I am worried that our children have taken it so well. I would like to think that we have done an awesome job of preparing them for the event, but it is probably more accurate to say that, as military children, they have adjusted to a lifestyle that Wes and I never experienced as children and are, therefore, more resilient to change. Either way, we recognized the day by sleeping in, watching TV, and eating junk food on the couch. It was probably a day very similar to that of most Americans.

This long weekend, though, also means we will travel to Atlanta for our fall soccer tournament. Here's to a weekend of big wins and a plea to myself to contain my sideline cheers!! Go GATORS!

Clown Shoes

This is what Keagan wore to church this morning, and it wasn't until we were fifteen minutes into our thirty minute drive to church that I hear Evan say, "Keagan, why do you have my shoes on?" An argument ensues. I glance to the backseat and notice one shoe is on the wrong foot. I ask Keagan to switch shoes, and I notice he still has one on the wrong foot.

Let me see, I say. He props his feet on the middle console and I see that the soles of the shoes carry two different sizes and he has a right foot shoe on his left foot.

How in the world did he walk out of the house with two different shoes and two shoes for the right foot? Because at least one of the shoes belongs to our Man-Child, it should have been obvious that he had something wrong. I think the extra six inches in the toe of the shoe should have been a really big clue. He left the house wearing clown shoes I tell ya. Clown shoes.

Thank God it wasn't a school day.

Evan is Nine!

What a joy it was to be the mother of this sweet baby! I couldn't believe how lucky I was to have a baby that  never cried and slept through the night at two months.

It was even better to be the mother of this toddler. Oh, how he loved trucks, trains, and football!

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I had this adorable guy who would do anything to spend all day outside playing soccer, and you guessed it, football.

Then he started school, and it was amazing to watch him learn. He was a voracious reader and fell asleep every night with a book in one hand and an apple in the other dreaming about playing none other than football.

Just like that he became a boy with his own opinions, his own thoughts, and a deep desire to find justice in the world: at school, with his faith, and of course, on the football field.

It's difficult imagining the next year any better than the previous, but I know he is destined for great things. I can't wait to see what even better things await us!

Happy Birthday, Evan!

Smiles and Squeals

Evan is the hardest kid to buy for. He wants nothing; yet he wants everything. He is picky, and he always has very high expectations. For the past two weeks he has told us over and over and over again that he wants Skylanders for his birthday, and every time he has mentioned it, we have shot the idea down with excuses like "it is too expensive", "Skylanders...What's that?", and "I think you might need to wait for Christmas." On Sunday afternoon, I know I broke his heart when he saw the display on the aisle of Target, and I told him he would need to begin saving his money. Because he had only a dollar to his name, he knew he didn't stand a chance. It took all I had to not reveal the surprise the UPS delivery guy would bring on Monday.

We celebrated Evan's birthday tonight - a day early because Wes leaves tomorrow for an extended trip. We saved the Skylanders gift for last.

We had hidden the box for two days, but when he saw it today, I know he was secretly hoping we had changed our mind and bought the big prize.

He squealed when he opened it. Squealed! My sweet, quiet Evan who never gets excited about anything if it doesn't involve scoring a point. He says it was the best birthday ever, and I am so glad I didn't break down on Sunday and reveal the truth. Tonight's smile and happiness were well worth the heart ache.

It is well past their bed time, and yet the boys are in the game room playing just "one more level." It is the night that Wes hopes never ends, and so I am allowing a little extra Wii time tonight.