Musings from the Field

Keagan had field day on Thursday. His class won first place.

That's him in the back row making some gang symbol (or is that a peace sign gone wrong). It could be either after living here for two years. He said, "Don't worry, Mama! I was the fastest one out there. You would have been proud...and probably doin' a lot of screamin'."

Evan's class had field day on Wednesday. His class won third place, and, of course, it was all because the other class cheated. His class really won. Just like always. He also told me a dad from another class tried to recruit him for a local baseball team, and Evan said, "I play football, soccer, and basketball. I don't have any more time on my calendar." I think that was a quote he stole from his mama!

Keagan had a field trip to the zoo on Wednesday.

He said it was a great trip because he got to take a nap on the bus on the way home (it was a three hour bus ride). Evan asked, "How long did you sleep?" Keagan said, "I don't know. But it was a nap where I woke up and thought, 'Man, that was a quick trip." And Evan said, "Oh, Keagan! Those are the best naps!" Evan was not jealous of the trip; only the nap. And so was I.

Today was the yearbook signing party. Keagan came home with the Autographs page filled with printed signatures, and Keagan said, "It was like I was famous, Mama! Even a third grader wanted my signature. I totally know what it will be like to be a famous football player one day."

Cloud Nine

After last weekend's stellar performance on the soccer field, the Gators new ranking was announced today. There were a whole lot of high fives and hugs taking place when we got the news, but I don't know if it could surpass the elation felt by all on Sunday after beating the number five ranked team from Alabama.
That's Keagan with his arms around the neck of number 1, and Evan is in the orange goalie shirt falling to the ground just after his chest bump with number 3.

There were maybe a few hoots with the obligatory airplane celebration, too.

We are still on cloud nine after the weekend of wins....so much so that dribbling drills in the house are now permissible.

Weekend to Remember

Just when I thought a weekend of soccer with these guys could not be any more fun, I experienced this past weekend's tournament in Thomasville.

Even though our championship game ended in a loss after a full round of penalty shots and then sudden death, I was still able to function semi-normally today. Evan, though, lost the battle with the emotional roller coaster ride. He was in bed this afternoon at 3:56 with a migraine. Keagan is not far behind. He is on the couch wrapped in a blanket in a semi-conscious state without his usual afternoon snow cone request.

We came away from the tournament with a second place win, and an even higher ranking. Evan says he has never before had such a heavy medal around his neck, and Keagan wants to know why we have to wait three weeks for the next tournament.

It remains a mystery to me why so few people do this on the weekend.

Teamwork

He can't tie his own shoes.
He wears Spiderman underwear.
His favorite website is Magic Treehouse.
He likes to sleep with his mama.
But he plays soccer with the big boys. Today he and his brother scored back to back goals. 

BOLD

Monday night Keagan came home and said he was fed up with his name sitting in the 125 point reading club when he had earned more than 200 points in the AR program. He took matters in his own hands, and made his own 200 point club sign with a piece of printer paper and a black Sharpie. He took it to school on Tuesday, and told his teacher he wanted to move his name to the next reading point club. Then he pulled out his home made sign. He even told her he would be nice enough to hang it in the hallway for her.

Oh, the boldness!

She emailed me today to say she printed  the 150, 175 and 200 point club signs and put them in the hallway. The kids moved their names to their new categories, and Keagan told her, "Go ahead and print 225 while you're at it because I know I will have that many points real soon."

Oh, the pompous attitude!

I love him even more for his outspokenness. Except for the time last week when I told him he had better watch his tone of voice when speaking to me, and he replied, "You better watch your own tone of voice."

Oh, the audacity!

His teacher says, "I love his heart." I say, "I love his bold heart."
I love it and love him even more for it - even if he might cross the line from time to time. 

Art Fair

My kids can do a lot of things and do them well, but art is not one of them. Much like their mama, a stick figure with eyes and a mouth is about all they can handle. I decided to attend tonight's art fair, though, to show my support to the school and the teachers. I had no intention of buying my own sons' art work. At $34 per framed work, I really thought it was highway robbery.

We found the first grade aisle, and we found Keagan's blue cat. Every first grader drew a blue cat, but Keagan's was the only cat drawn on the upper 1/3 of the paper and the only cat sitting in a field of grass with the sun brushing the tip of  his whiskers.

I took my obligatory picture, told him how beautiful it was, and hung his art work back on the rack. Keagan asked, "Mom, what are you doing? You are supposed to go buy it now." One look at his little face, and there was no way I could say no...not even to a blue cat drawn on only 1/3 of the paper.

Then it was time to walk to the third grade aisle. Every third grader used water colors to paint the ocean, and they each created origami sailboats to place in the ocean.

Evan had an orange sky when everyone else had a red/orange sky, and he had a small tear in the paper that became a representation of lightning. No one else had lightning in their pictures.


What could I do? Leaving behind Sun Kissed Cat and Lightning Strikes the Ocean was not an option. We headed out the door minus $64 but with two perfect pieces of art work created by the most talented artists I know.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Look what the Easter Bunny left for two sweet boys...

If it survives the summer, I will be surprised!

Coat of Many Colors

We made it back from the beach sun kissed and sun kissed some more. I really don't know what I was thinking when I asked my seven year old to spray sunscreen on my back. I should have known that when I shimmied my back right to left multiple times to try to even out the spray that he held in one spot for an extended amount of time, that I was doomed. Sure enough. My legs, however, if you are looking at the front side only, are rockin' one golden tan. Sadly, the backs of my legs saw little sun as I was so engrossed with "A Game of Thrones", I forgot to flip, and today they remain a pasty white.

It's as if I am wearing a coat of many colors.

We left the resort this morning after a rousing pick-up game on the ocean side basketball court. Let me just tell you that I think the suburbanite tweens wearing their Abercrombie t-shirts thought they had their two-on-two game wrapped up when they saw Little Bit and Tongue Wagging Man Child on the courts warming up. They had no idea, though, that my two boys have spent the last two years playing ball with anything but white suburbanites and they had GAME. Final score: 30 - 7. I warmly wished them a wonderful vacation and whisked my two away before a rematch was called. The tweens could do nothing but gawk at Little Bit and Man Child as we gathered our plastic Ninja toys and sand castle buckets and headed for valet parking.

Or were those two gawking at my coat of many colors?

No, it had to be all of those mad basketball skills that left them in utter confusion.

He Is Risen

Dear Mom and Dad,

Thank you for sending the boys Amazon gift cards for Easter. As soon as we got the codes applied to their Amazon accounts, both boys began shopping for apps, books, and music. Keagan bought an Easter egg hunt app and an UNO app. If he isn't hunting for Easter eggs, then he is playing card games on his Kindle. He also found a book on dogs that he bought and read in all of 15 minutes. We're all about non-fiction animal books; there can't possibly be any we haven't read in the school library.

Evan bought book three in the Sweet Farts series. After two books, it is somehow still funny. And he found a new series from the same author that he decided he had to have since reading about farts has proven to be so entertaining. But, by far, the best purchase was the $3.99 app for MONOPOLY. Evan has played for three days against unknown opponents, and I haven't had to move my little silver shoe along the game board all week. In fact, he is so taken by the app, he decided on Wednesday that I could pack up the marathon game that has been sitting on the leather ottomans for the past 15 days. For this, I will be eternally grateful!

Happy Easter! He is risen!

And my living room is now free of paper money!

He is risen indeed!

Baby Boy No More

We made it! The weather is perfect. The beach is beautiful. However, sometimes you must be taken out of your own environment to a new place to really "see" something.

At the resort we are surrounded by families, most are families with tweens and teens. As I sat on my lounge chair today, lulled to near sleep by the sound of the waves, I see this boy run towards me, and I say to myself, "One day my own boys will be this big." Slightly relieved I still had some time before I reached that half grown stage, I was shocked to find it was my own child now standing in front of me.

The signs have been there all along. He no longer orders from the kids' menu. I had to buy him an entire new set of school uniforms a week ago. This week I am buying a new set of summer shorts and t-shirts. Last night, I bought him a baseball cap to keep the sun out of his eyes, and we had to go to the men's section to find one that fit.

Lucky for me, though, he still finds it fun to cover his little brother in mud, and he still finds it just as much fun to have his brother reciprocate.

And lucky for me, I have one little guy who is still pleased as punch to be my baby boy.

Quote of the Day

Keagan: Mom, will you go running with me?

Me: I don't know, Keagan. You sure are fast!

Keagan: Don't worry. I'll turn around and come back for you. 

Spring Break Week

Day one of our spring break has commenced, and most would think a spring break week filled with dentist appointments, closet cleaning, science fair projects, and filing taxes, would be uneventful and rather drab. Not in this house.

For starters, we are on week two of our marathon Monopoly game. See? I told you. The excitement is really unbearable. I had a chance to go bankrupt last Thursday night and didn't. I don't know what I was thinking when I "accidentally" moved 10 spaces instead of 9 and totally skipped over Park Place and its $2000 fee. At that moment, for some unknown reason, I just couldn't lose. So I cheated. I justified it by saying the bonding time we experience over board games is worth it. I have kicked myself all weekend for that decision.

We bought new tennis shoes today. This is a very rewarding experience for a parent of a tween who hates to shop. Of course, both boys selected shoes with price tags nearing $60. I said, "Absolutely not. I am NOT paying that kind of money for some shoes." And then Evan pulled off his current pair of shoes, and I saw that every stitch of lining had worn away from the heels and the cushioned sole revealed daylight. I did what any responsible parent would do. I asked for a size 5 and 12 and we left with two new pairs of shoes.

I have also mediated two knock-down drag-out fights over a lost bouncy ball, and I made seven grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. I was thanked with, "Is that all you are going to make?"

Let me remember that the beach is awaiting our arrival. Only two more days and we will leave board games, tennis shoes and grilled cheese sandwiches behind for the sun, sand, and surf!

Godly Wisdom

This past week Keagan had a complete melt down about missing a soccer game to attend a track meet. It was only one game, and there are only four track meets this season. I tried rationalizing with him, and it totally back fired on me.

"Keagan, you are so very fast. God has given you a special gift, and by not running, you are not using your God-given talent. You should really think about that when you tell me you want to skip the meet."

Keagan stomps off to his room. A couple of minutes later he returns.

"Mom, I've been thinking about what you said. I know God made me fast, but He made me fast for the soccer field. Not the track. I want to run fast when I play soccer."

Needless to say, track has been scratched from the calendar, and I have learned to never argue God given talents with my seven year old. He is wiser than I.

We're Half Way There

Since Wes has been gone, I only cook two nights a week. We eat lots of left overs and lots of grilled cheese sandwiches or Cesear Salad from a bag. Tonight I found myself in the kitchen asking, "Are you boys gonna want to eat tonight?" While I awaited their response, I opened the fridge wondering how I could make beer and yogurt a presentable dinner when I saw the pizza box. SCORE!  I knew it was the right decision to buy two pizzas last night, and just like that the nightly dilemma is solved.

We are half way done with the deployment and half way done with my hiatus from cooking because just like Keagan, Wes is serious about his meats. Grilled cheese and salad won't be an acceptable dinner when he gets back home.

But I  will gladly buy out the meat department and whip up something fantastic when these guys and gals return!

Outdoor Fun

Something very exciting happened to us today. We actually saw the sun! To celebrate this, on our last day of spring break, we headed to Oatland Island Sanctuary right outside of Savannah. We invited our besties to join us and we did some hiking on the nature trails, 

we observed wild animals and got up and close with the domestic animals exhibit,

and just enjoyed being outdoors without fearing that we might float away.

Only 39 more school days and we'll have adventures like this planned for every day!