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.