Easter Best

Happy Easter!

TCE 5K

Evan has been training with an after school club for nine weeks for his first 5K. He was able to run it today with Wes, who came home for the weekend.

He started off with a sprint and a pace that I thought for sure would have him crawling to the finish line.

By the third lap, Wes had to step off to the side. Evan was running that fast.

I had no reason to worry, though, because Evan was a lot faster than I gave him credit. He finished in second place with an amazing time of 22.16. We are so impressed with what he has been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time!

If he can keep up with the fast one, Wes has found himself a new running partner.

Scientist in the Making...Or Not

After five weeks of data collection, it's finally done. Evan put the finishing touches on the science fair display board tonight.

Our conclusion was quite simple. Nothing made the cleats smell better so we bought a new pair.

We don't expect a win. Last year's winner built an ice cream maker with a bicycle and small motor. I may be Super Woman but that was out of my league. I am pretty sure it was out of the nine year old winner's league,too. Evan told me tonight, "Mom, after all of this talk of controls and variables, I have decided I plan to be a broadcaster for ESPN when I grow up." At least the project has helped him narrow down his list of possible careers.Scientist has been scratched off the list.

Sing, Sing a Song

There really is no explanation. I have no idea why any boy would write a song about a cotton eye Joe. He has been singing this song that he wrote last fall for several months now, and I have no idea why the song was ever written. Forever the entertainer, he loves the spotlight. He will be the one on stage at the NFL draft wearing something completing outlandish so everyone will remember him, and it will embarrass Evan to no end.

He's More than Meets the Eye

Evan has a love/hate relationship with music class. He loves it because it isn't "real school" and he hates it because "it's music class." We have heard complaints about music class from day one, and I have often prayed on music days, "Lord, let Evan and the music teacher leave class unscarred today." It is truly that bad. Wes and I said just this week that he is so practical that he can find little value in anything that won't sustain life or improve his athletic skills. Therefore, he sees little purpose in learning the notes of Hot Cross Buns.

When he told me he had to learn the recorder in music class, I cringed. Loud noises and I don't mix. Then he came home with a folder full of sheet music and I prayed he would never find that recorder that was in his Easter basket last spring, the one I bought when I temporarily forgot my aversion to loud noises.

Today, though, he searched long and hard until he found it. And then he started to play. I was so impressed! I really tried to play up the success of the patio concert, but he said, "Don't get too excited, Mom. The recorder is as far as I will take this music thing."

Boys Will be Boys

Yesterday Evan and our neighbor Z walked over to the neighborhood lake, which is a nice way of saying the drainage pond, to skip rocks. The boys were enjoying the sun and some time talking about boy things, namely the powers of various Skylanders, when Z picked up a rock to throw in the water. When he attempted to pick up another, Evan quickly told him to stop. Z was inches away from picking up a snake, and it wasn't just any snake. It was a rattle snake.

But it gets better.

The boys bent down to get a closer look at a real, live rattle snake - to see if the rattle would really shake - and to count the rings on the rattle. Really? Who does that? Thankfully, the temperature hadn't been warm enough to transiiton it out of hibernation yet.

Evan yelled, "It's a rattle snake!" Z yelled, "Cool, I've never seen one before...except that one Maybelle dragged up in the yard last fall! It was already dead so that doesn't count." The conversation continued when an adult across the street asked, "Do you boys see a snake?" Thank God the neighbor drew the boys' attention away from the danger because the boys were so enthralled with the creature, it never occurred to them to back away.

The snake was eventually killed and the boys were sent home safely with a story to tell. Boys might be boys, but next time my boy better be a whole lot smarter. So many reasons to be thankful today.

Brother on Brother

Another weekend of soccer. One of our games today had brother against brother. There were many opportunities for one to beat the other to the ball. Take this example.

Keagan was able to catch up, but it looked like Evan might still have the advantage. 

 Not this time, though. Keagan was able to take it away just in time.

Evan's team came out on top, but it was a very close game. Afterwards, both boys shook hands and walked to the next field for the next game. And that was that.

It's Nothing Like Learning to Ride a Bike

The set up was perfect. I knew what Evan planned to do before he ever did it; it was like time stood still for a brief moment. Or perhaps it is because we "share a brain" that I could predict his move. We often joke that we know what each other is thinking before anything is ever said.

He stood behind the ball with a defender approaching. He had to do it. And so he did. The execution wasn't perfect and the ball slowly dropped behind him and rolled ten feet before anyone realized the ball was still in play. But Evan attempted a bicycle shot. A BICYCLE SHOT!

 I can't thank the stranger who took this picture enough. It took three facebook friend requests and several missed tags, but I have it! This will be the one I give ESPN when he makes it big. :)

Love, Love, Love

Be still my heart.

Super Woman Does it Again

I was sent to Toys R Us on a mission: to buy a Skylander. But not any 'ole Skylander would do. I was given this matrix, complete with if/then statements and a circle/square code, to interpret and to guide my purchase decisions.

As the boys were running to the field for practice, Evan screamed over his shoulder, "Forget Series 2; Just look for Series 1!" I said okay without having any idea what he was talking about.

It took me all of the two hour soccer practice to distinguish that of all 72 names listed on this piece of paper, only two of the Skylanders were actually in stock.

When I picked the boys up from practice, they immediately asked if I found the Skylander. I replied that I had, and then I heard Evan whisper in a not-so-whispery-voice, "I bet you my Skylander she didn't get the right one!"

I am proud to say that some of my super cool mom skills remain intact and I was able to find not one, but two, of the aforementioned Skylanders. I was thanked with a pat on the back and the comment, "Super Woman, you did it again!"

Nate and His Evil Twin Brother

Keagan was chosen to represent his class in a young author's writing competition with his story of Nate and His Evil Twin Brother. He read it out loud to Evan and me on the way home today, and before I could get a word out, Evan said, "Wow, Keagan, you have a well developed plot with a conflict and resolution. Most kids can't do that at your age. However, you might want to rethink your climax." Believe it or not, that is as close to a compliment that big brother can bestow on little brother. The intention to compliment was there - muddled with the unsolicited suggestion.

Which meant I had to ask Evan about his winning story. As it turns out someone else wrote a "ten page novel" that pretty much secured the win would go to someone other than Evan, but it might have had something to do with his story about moving to Georgia and learning to talk funny like the locals. I take it the "locals" didn't find that too funny.