U-Pick Blackberries

We might not be as busy in the summer as we are in the spring and fall, but about a week ago I began our summer calendar of events. Wes couldn't believe I already had the eight weeks mapped out before summer had even begun. After thirteen years of marriage, I couldn't believe he thought I would spend the entire summer without a plan.
Our first summer adventure was today: U-pick blackberries. I have three pounds of berries in the freezer, three blackberry cobblers baking in the oven, and another pound of berries in the fridge for tomorrow morning's smoothies. I think we have our fill of blackberries.

We met some friends there and the kids had a great time trying to find the biggest and juiciest berries. We had red juice dribbling down chins, red juice running down the front of shirts, red juice fingerprints in the pockets of the shorts, and Evan even had one big red handprint on his back. He also left with his feet covered in ant bites. I tried to tell him Crocs should not be worn to a farm, but he wouldn't listen. I have a hunch he might follow my advice next time, though.

We Were Hoping to Win Just One Game...Just One

This is another soccer post, and if you are not all that interested in hearing about our weekend soccer drama filled with slide tackles and harsh words, then you can stop reading. By now, you must realize that we eat, breathe, and dream about soccer. However, before we get into the weekend of sweltering heat and the run down of all four games, you might be interested in knowing that I found the missing frog from our Operation Hoppin' into Third Grade, and it should be no surprise that he did not make it out of our house alive.

Now for the soccer rundown. We went to Savannah to the U-8 Shamrock Cup hoping to win one game. We won the first game 2-0, and because this team is ranked 19th in the state, we were pretty pumped. Well, most of us were. One guy walked off the field in tears, and when we later learned he thought we lost, we had to reassure him that we had actually won a game. He was so used to losing that he had just assumed we had lost this one, too.

The second game was even easier, and we won 4-0. Winning one game was exciting, but to win two games, meant the angels must have been Gator fans. 

We won the third game rather easily as well. This time the score was 5-1. Evan let a goal get past him, but after stopping so many other goals, we turned a blind eye to it. I must explain that Evan usually plays up in the U-10 league, but because the U-8 team was short a player, Evan agreed to play for U-8 in this weekend's tournament. Evan is usually one of the biggest players on the field when he plays U-10, but in this tournament, he was so much larger that we affectionately called him "The Man Child." At one point we heard a dad from another team hollar, "Get on the big one!" He was referring to Evan.

With the third win, we were headed to the championship game. It was at this point, that my friend Maria and I agreed that the Gators before the game battle cry should not be "Praise the Lord" but "Praise the Lord and Let us Win!" We silently prayed this, but I guess it was not well received by the powers that be because we lost the championship game to the team we played in the very first game. 

We might have been disappointed for just a second, but we got second place! After hoping to win just one game, I couldn't believe that we were the runners-up. This little team has come a long way since March when we were decimated at the tournament in Charleston. 

Next weekend, U-8 wraps up its season with a round robin in Richmond Hill. We are hoping to win one game...just one.

End of Season Gator Party

The U-10 Gators end of season party was tonight. The phrase "end of season" must not be taken too literally because most players are attending soccer camp this summer or plan to play 3v3 at the local rec center. "Fall" season begins in August so none of us are really taking a break. 

One of the parents took pictures of the boys at every tournament, and she took the best shots to produce posters of the team and of each player. The boys loved them!

Make That Two First Place Winners

Today, at the second grade honor assembly, Evan won the first place prize for earning the most AR points in his grade. Back in January, I promised the boys that if they both won first place, I would take them to Summer Waves, a waterpark on Jekyll Island.

What was I thinking when I made that promise? For if you don't know, I really despise waterparks! But I said this in January when the temps were hovering at about 45 degrees and summer was so far away that I totally forgot about how much I hate wet, moldy bathrooms, screaming kids in swim diapers, and wearing a bathing suit in public.

I feel like a smuggled libation or two might be in my future. With three smuggled libations, I might just be able to spend an entire morning in the water park.

How I kid! For this guy, I would spend an entire weekend in a waterpark!

May he remember next fall the feeling of success captured in this photo when he wants to watch another episode of Big Time Rush when he should be reading. 

Frog Tales

I thought I would faint when I learned Evan was responsible for capturing a frog and sending it to school for the second annual second grade frog races. Whereas last summer we had dozens of frogs EVERYWHERE, this year we have spotted fewer than a dozen. The fact that I had to help find one for Evan to take to school was bad. Couple this with a frog shortage, and we had a really bad situation on our hands. For weeks, I have been totally dreading this entire frog search process.

Sunday we decided to get a head start on our search. I had been outside fewer than two minutes, when I pulled back a cushion on the outdoor patio furniture and found a frog. A FROG! We boxed that thing up in a shoe box and felt mighty proud of our record time in Operation Frog Search and Capture. The next morning Evan decided he would open the shoebox and check on the well-being of his race winning frog. He opened the box and the frog was still. Absolutely still. He declared it dead, took it outside, and emptied the box in the yard. A few minutes later, he learned that frogs play dead. His race winning frog had hopped away to freedom, and Evan was in shock to learn he had been duped by an amphibian. There may have been a tear shed on this morning.

Monday we gave it another go. I couldn't believe our luck when I looked out the front window and found not one but two small tree frogs! Wes captured these beauties in our ever handy shoe box habitat and taped up the sides for safe keeping. On Tuesday morning Evan gingerly carried the box to the bus stop feeling confident that at least one of his little tree frogs would have the strength to cross the finish line first. When he arrived to school, he asked his teacher to be very careful when opening the box. These frogs were rowdy and could easily get away, he advised. Imagine their surprise to find the box empty! Imagine my surprise when I learned the box was empty! An empty shoebox could mean only one thing: two tree frogs are loose in my house. They have yet to be found.

Tuesday we gave it another try. It was our last chance before the big race on Wednesday. When I opened the backdoor to begin the, now nightly, frog search, one medium sized toad sat on the welcome mat. Just like that I, I mean Evan, had another frog. This one made it safely to school and found its way to the starting line of the Let's Get Hoppin' to Third Grade frog race without incident. 

There's been no word on the winner. I imagine that with 110 frogs sitting on the starting line Evan, along with every other second grader, lost track of which was which. However, it was a really cute idea and lots of fun for the kids. I would feel even better about it if I could locate the frogs currently living in our house.

Academic Athlete

Today Keagan was awarded seven awards at the kindergarten awards assembly. He won the top prize having earned the most AR points of any kinder student and was given a medal to wear and a gift card to Wal-Mart. This afternoon, though, with his little hands struggling to hold all of his certificates, medals and gift cards, he pulled out the most precious certificate and said, "Mom, this is my favorite award of all." You know which one he pulled out?

The Physical Education Award

So while I was sweating bullets in the audience wondering if Keagan would earn more points than the cute little blond girl in the uniform skirt and the ponytail, while I was a nervous wreck wondering if he took the last AR test before the cut-off, and while I crossed my fingers hoping that all of the shouts of "YOU WILL READ FOR 20 MINUTES TONIGHT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! would pay off in the end, Keagan was willing to call it a day and leave with his PE award.

When his name was called, I was so thrilled for him, that I shed a tear. For so long I have worried that he would never meet the academic expectations of his big brother. I worried that he would always live in his shadow, and for Keagan to win this award, proves so much more than he can read and read well. While I basked in his success, my little boy was thinking of only one thing.

"Where's Coach? I want to thank him for my PE award."

America's Kids Run

We haven't slept in on a Saturday since February. On our one Saturday free from soccer we were up at dawn for the America's Kids Run on post. The boys were registered to run in two separate races. The 5/6 aged group was to run 1/2 mile and the 7/8 aged group was to run 1 mile. 

Once we lined up at the starting line, the race organizers failed to tell the kids that the first start time was for the 9-13 year olds two mile race, so when the shot was fired ALL of the kids took off. I tried to call Keagan back to the start line for his race, but he was gone. He hurdled yellow tape to catch up with the big kids. Wes tried to jog up to call Evan back, but with hundreds of adults yelling "turn back", "not yet", and "come back", Evan didn't hear anything. We thought the race organizers would turn Keagan around when they saw the smallest guy running with a pack of tweens. Then we thought he would surely turn around with Evan at the one mile mark. Instead, both boys ran the full two mile race side by side. When we asked why they ran the full two miles with the older kids, Evan said, "We weren't tired yet so we kept on going."

They crossed the finish line in front of the Garrison Commander at the 23 minute mark.

Clearly the two miles was not enough to tire them out. They met up with some friends to play tug of war, run a couple of sack races, and run through the obstacle course.

Yes, the little girl in the photos is the same girl in the previous post. When asked about her, Evan will claim that they aren't even friends. Could have fooled me, though. They hung around this morning as if they were BFFs. 

Dear Keagan

Keagan's teacher had her students practice letter writing skills this week. The students wrote letters to one another, and Keagan came home with a stack of sweet, sweet notes from his kindergarten friends. Those who are not able to write sentences yet, drew pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Kigan play wif me fooball

Keegin yo fast. Connor (Keagan you are fast.)

I like Keagan becus we have fun with the futball and socr.

I like Kagen bekus fune and fast. (I like Keagan because he is funny and fast.)

Keagan you are so sooper fas I cntat beev that you are so fast. (Keagan you are so super fast and I can't believe that you are so fast.)

Do we see a theme here?

Ladies Man

This conversation transpired at last night's media festival in front of the photo op of the adjacent "man and woman":

N (the girl in the photo): Mom, I really want to take my picture with Evan.
Mom: I know you do, hon. Why don't you ask him?
Me: Honey, I don't want you to get your feelings hurt, but Evan would never agree to have his picture made in that. He is really shy and standing there would be totally embarrassing to him.
Only a few seconds later.
N: Evan, (batting her eyelashes and giving him one big smile) will you take a picture with me?
Evan: In THAT???? (It was right here when I thought for sure he would tell her no.) OOOOOOHHH! Sure! This will be so funny.

I am positive that I sent him to kindergarten only three years ago quiet, shy, introverted, and agreeable to anything but girls - unless it was Campbell because she agreed to be Gwen when they played BEN10. Where did that all go? 

States of Matter Wins State

The invitation to tonight's Media Festival suggested students dress in their Sunday Best to walk the red carpet and receive their awards. We have attended non-traditional churches for the past six years, and although we go to church every Sunday, the boys do not have suits, jackets, or ties. To have a pair of shoes that fit AND are not basketball shoes, cleats or muddy tennis shoes is about as dressy as we get. I didn't even have that. It took two trips to the shoe store before I found a pair that fit.
Don't let me even get started on the idea of trying to find a shirt and tie. The PX didn't have it, and we had no time to drive to Savannah for any shopping. I quickly gave up on that idea, and when I announced to Evan that our Sunday best would include a shirt and sweater vest, something in the closet from last Easter, I heard him mutter, "Thank you, Jesus!" Tonight he didn't give a second thought to the one size too small vest that bunched around his waist like the wardrobe of Pat from the "Just Pat" sketch on SNL, but I did.
Forget the wardrobe malfunction, though, and the fact I am now on a first name basis with the elderly lady working returns in the shoe department. We learned his team's web page on the states of matter earned a perfect score at the state level and now the project will proceed to the national level!

Congratulations to this great second grade team!

Mother's Day

I thought for sure I would awake on Mother's Day to the smell of sausage, eggs, and pancakes. However, I was awakened with about a dozen bottles of various spices falling to the floor as Wes combed the cabinets looking for cinnamon. The breakfast in bed was a no-go, but the boys had this awaiting me instead.

I will take the purse over the calories on my hips any day.

I will also mention that Evan created a magazine for me for Mother's Day. One "article" required him to take the letters in MOTHER and write something about me. For the letter R, he put "Reads a lot!!!!", for O he wrote "outstanding teacher" and for T he wrote "terrific at math." This all made complete sense to me. However, for H he wrote, "hates to be insulted." When I asked him what that meant, he said, "You hate it when people make fun of you."

This response generated even more questions for me, so I bit the bullet and asked, "Who is making fun of me, Evan?" His response: I don't know, but I know you wouldn't like it if they were.

Keagan's school craft project was just as cute. Luckily, nothing was written or said this year about my secret pleasure (so secret I was not even aware of it) of dressing up in a costume and going for a bike ride.

District Soccer Tournament

The U-10 Gator team traveled to Warner Robins this weekend to play in the district rec tourney. For a month or so, we lived with the assumption that we had earned a bye into the state tourney and wouldn't have to go to district. Unfortunately, we are in the same district with the #2 team in the state. We went to this weekend's tourney hoping to get the wild card spot. We didn't and now spring season is over for us. However, we played some really great soccer, and my sideline cheers only garnered one evil look. That's success for me because I yelled, "PLAY WIDE, EVAN" so many times in the second game that I awoke myself and both boys Saturday night in our hotel room yelling it in my sleep. No joke. Once we were all awake at the late, late hour of 9:50, Evan said, "I was dreaming about the same thing, Mama!"

During the third game, Keagan met a boy from the opposing team and the two took off for an adjacent field to kick the ball around. I had never heard of the opposing team's town, but it was obviously not near any major metroplex. When I heard the opposing coach yell something that resembled what we hear in the deep woods of East Texas, I knew we were dealing with the kin of Jimmy Carter. After playing with this other boy, Keagan came back to my seat to ask, "Mom, do you think that kid goes to speech?" Because Keagan is brutally honest, (He tells me every day that my fat on my legs or arms jiggles to

o much.) I wondered if he had made fun of the boy, and when I questioned him, he said, "That boy can't talk right." And I had to explain that the boy didn't have a speech impediment. He had a Georgian accent.

He was taken by the native tongue and tried to talk like a "Georgia person" all afternoon.

First Sleep Over

Armed with a swimsuit, a pillow, and a sleeping bag, Evan left the house Saturday night for his first sleep over, a rite of passage in the life of any elementary aged school kid.

Let me just briefly mention the fact that he was one of 25 boys. Eight, nine and ten year old boys. In one house. Spending the night. It scares me to fathom such levels of responsibility. The parents hosting the sleep over have surely earned themselves some type of award - perhaps a crown in heaven.

I will tell you that Evan was quite upset that the only sleeping bag that could be located in our house was Keagan's, and because it depicted a scene from Disney's CARS movie, Evan would have nothing to do with it. Lightening McQueen is just not cool when you are eight and going to a birthday party of a nine year old. He suggested that he take some quilts instead, and that idea was quickly declared a no-go. He finally agreed to take the CARS sleeping bag IF it was turned inside out and revealed the neutrality of a dark gray.

I know we have at least one very cool military issued Army green sleeping bag, but I looked high and low and could not find it in the ten minutes we had to pack up and go. No doubt it was sent in the luggage to Afghanistan last fall, and still sits in the Resident Agency in Kabul awaiting Wes's arrival. Wes will be there soon enough to retrieve it. Until then, it appears I must invest in a couple of extras just in case we are invited to any more sleep overs. After all, we have reputations to protect.

When we picked up Evan this morning before church, he glazed over a few of the highlights of the night:
1) The squirrel that accidentally took a seat on the power line and exploded was cool.
2) The boy who brought the headless copperhead snake that he shot that afternoon in his backyard was cool.
3) The scavenger hunt that took place in the hundred year old cemetery was cool.
4) Having Nurf gun fights in the dark with glow sticks was cool.
5) The endless supply of doughnuts for breakfast was cool.

I am going to attribute his lack of real descriptors to his lack of sleep, but I have one more thing that I would like to add. Finding damp church clothes in the overnight bag this morning, was NOT cool.