They Were All Stars!

Where else but on a military installation would you have a white kid, a girl, a Hawaiin and a Puerto Rican on an all star basketball team? This is one of the best group of boys and one girl you will EVER meet! And to think we considered not accepting the invitation. I may be biased because after three years at Stewart, I already knew eight of the ten kids from past teams/events/school. We were honored to be apart of such a great group - so much heart and so much talent.We came up short in last night's game against Camden County, but we left the court knowing they are ALL STARS! I can't wait to see each of their names on college rosters in just a few short years.

Copy That!

When Wes was home this weekend, he took the boys to Wal-Mart to buy science fair materials. They came home with the necessary supplies and a pair of walkie talkies. It all seemed like lots of fun until we learned the neighborhood kids also have walkie talkies. Can I say neighborhood fun overload? They have long distance capabilities and do not recognize brick wall barriers. Walkie Talkie technology has obviously made some technological advances in the last few years.

The boys have begun clearing a path in the wood line that leads them to an open field where a small family of deer live. Lately, they have ventured through the thickets to watch the deer and leave apple cores. You might remember that we seem to have a plethora in our house.  On Monday I suggested they take one WT with them and leave one with me. For safety reasons of course. It has nothing to do with the fascination I have with code names and trucker language.
This is an excerpt from Monday's adventure:

10-4, M-to-the-Mom, do you read me?

Loud and clear, Lightning. Be careful in the woods. Over!

We will. We are trying to follow the deer tracks into the clearing. Over.

Be careful. Tell Thunder to watch his step.

Wait! What do you think this is, Mom? It looks like a nest under this tree limb. What do you think is hibernating in here?

Snakes! Stay away, Keagan. I mean it! Stay away!

Some time passes.

Emergency! Emergency! Mom, do you read me? We are in danger! We are being chased!!

Keagan, what is chasing you?

SNAKES, Mom! BIG BLACK SNAKES!

Interestingly enough the snakes stopped their chase just as the house came into view and the tree line cleared into our backyard. Be sure M-to-the Mom was ready for battle...with a walkie-talkie and a shoe.

I think it's safe to say that the boys know what a snake den looks like.

Over.

Welcome Home...Now Get Crackin' on the Science Fair Project

It's a four day weekend in the military. Wes took a pass and was able to come home for a couple of days. He picked a great weekend to come home, too, because it's science fair time and Evan needed to get started on his Cleat Sack project. I think there was a moment when Wes thought about reneging on his promise to come home when I mentioned science fair and Evan in the same sentence, but the lure of a home cooked meal must have been stronger. He decided to come home anyway.

We didn't get off to a good start with the experiment. The constant beeping of a code language on the newly purchased walkie talkies was pulsating through the house. A game of night tag was in the making, and we, the worst parents in the world, had Evan in the dining room constructing cleat sacks and debating the powers of air fresheners. Clearly there were better things to be done. However, I think we crossed some imaginary line in our ten year old's mind and hit our limit when Wes decided three Cleat Sacks weren't enough and we needed a fourth Cleat Sack labeled control. Evan started crying. Bad words were spoken or yelled, depending on your definition of extreme decibel levels. We even had several episodes of glue-gone-wild on the precious display board.We went from bad to worse when I found Evan gluing crooked pictures on the said precious display board;  my OCD went full throttle and every boy was banned from the room.

After a couple of drinks, as evident in the below photo, we were all smiling again.

We are now in the data collection process. Keagan's job of smelling stinky cleats and rating their odor is in full swing. I am,thankfully,not needed until it is time to add the data to the display board. After all, it must be glued just so.

30,000 Reasons for Loving Our "home" town

One of my best friends from college asked if we would help her and her son Henry with a Flat Stanley project. We were asked to take Flat Henry to special places in our home town and then write about them.

This posed a problem. There are no special places in our Georgian "home" town. What to do?

We decided to become  ex-pats for the day and claim Savannah as our home. Flat Henry would look great standing on River Street! Then we realized we would have to drive to River Street. Um...no,not on the one day I don't have to drive!

Our next idea was, of course, the beach. Flat Henry would certainly enjoy some time in the sand. Except the sand gnats are so bad right now none of us wanted to risk losing an ankle, or two, to a nearly invisible bug.

We then discussed an afternoon on the coast dolphin watching. What second grader wouldn't be impressed with dolphins in our own backyard? Evan was sure we could get a photo of a jumping dolphin and photoshop Flat Henry riding the waves with him. That seemed like too much work - even for a best friend!

As our deadline approached, we finally decided it might be fun to take Flat Henry to post and make him a 3rd ID Dog Faced soldier for a day. There is a certain cool factor, with a boy anyway, with big tanks and a fleet of helicopters.

Flat Henry loved it...we think. He didn't have too much to say about it. More importantly, though, we also remembered that there are 30,000 reasons why our home town is special...even if most of them are currently in Afghanistan!

Come for a visit next year, Flat Henry, and you can be a Screamin' Eagle for the Day!

Fast Break Furies

Keagan's basketball season came to a close on Thursday night with a win and a final score of 9 to 0. His team earned third place. Before you congratulate him, though, you probably need to know that there were only five teams in his age group.

My dad was in Georgia earlier this week and got to see both boys play basketball. Unfortunately, he attended games that were against first place teams and therefore only saw losses. He also happened to see the worst ref'ed game EVER. If anyone wonders where my sideline behavior originates, one should look no further than my father. I had to quieten him down. Seriously. At least I yell the loudest when others are too so that my voice isn't the only voice heard in the gym. This was not so when Daddy yelled. There really isn't anything better to see than Keagan making a fast break down the court preparing for a lay up. So I totally understand the excitement one must feel seeing it for the first time. It's okay, Daddy. We'll allow you back to Georgia any day and next year's season in Tennessee is just a few short months away. Keagan has already asked if he will be old enough to be on an all star team once we get to Campbell. I feel like his dream of becoming the next white Durant won't die anytime soon.

All Star

Good news! Tonight Evan made the All Star basketball team! After meeting the coach, he decided he just can't say no. If you only knew how much drama has surrounded this past week of basketball, you would know how big a decision he had in front of him. I am somehow going to juggle three soccer practices, two running clubs meetings, and four basketball practices next week. Some where in there I must go to work. Lord help me!

So proud of my boy, though, and his desire to be the next Dirk!