All About Dubya

We may bleed blue with most political beliefs and ideas, but we took the boys to visit the Bush Library at SMU today. We were pretty much the only ones there under the age of seventy, but that also meant all of the touch screen exhibits were open to us.

9/11 Memorial 

We watched 9/11 film footage, walked through the Oval Office, and wondered what Zaire was thinking when she gifted Dubya with a stuffed lion as a thank you gift.

Dubya, his dad, and the Boys

Truly it was a great museum; we liked it better than the Perot Science Museum. Next month the museum will highlight Bush's artwork "The Faces of Presidents",  a must see according to DFW news. I'm wondering if we can expect the portraits to look anything like Picasso's work. 

Spring Break in Big D

I realized about six months ago that both boys claim to be Texans, when they don't claim Germany, and yet neither boy has "lived" in Texas for more than ten days, the time it takes to clear one house while waiting for the next one to become available. I decided the boys needed to know the land in which they hail. We planned a few days stay in Big D.

E in Dealey Plaza

Dallas World Aquarium

Perot Science Museum

Downtown Dallas

The Grassy Knoll

K at JFK site

Do walks in the West End, stops at the tourist sites, and brisket nachos at El Fenix make my boys any more Texan? Probably not, but we've sure had fun trying!

Let's Go Mavders!

Keagan told me last month that his biggest dream in life was to see "KD play live, as in person." Evan has always been a Nowitski fan because they hail from the same Mother Land. I, of course, had to see that my boys' wish to see a live pro-basketball game came true. We decided to make a spring break road trip to Dallas to see KD and Dirk play together. 

Evan wore his support for the Mavericks; Keagan wore his Durant jersey and carried his Westbrook jersey. And the battle began both on the court and in the stands. Evan sat back in his seat calm and collected with each change in lead. Keagan sweated every missed shot and clutched his Westbrook jersey like a set of prayer beads. The game went into OT and the Mavs came out with the win. Keagan cried all the way back to the hotel, his heart broken with the Thunder's loss, wiping his little eyes on the Westbrook jersey he clutched in his hands. We returned to the hotel a few minutes before midnight and then listened to Keagan critique every bad call Coach made on the sidelines. The boy takes his basketball seriously! It was such a good game, and I couldn't decide if I wanted to cheer on the hometown team or KD's quest for MVP. So I gave up and cheered Go MAV-DERS!

Family

 We spent our first day of spring break getting our taxes done. After three hours of sorting through countless forms, we signed on the dotted lines, and the SPC completing our paperwork at the post tax center asked, "Do you know anyone that does tutoring in math? I just want to get better at math, regular math."

I think this means we can expect an audit from the IRS in the six months or so.

After all of that stress, it was so good to get to Texas and see these little girls! Let the spring break fun begin!

Up Against the Giants

This is what Keagan's team looked like before any games were played. I assure you the boys did not wear the same smiles when they lost game one by thirty points and game two by fifty points. As it turns out, our team got placed in a bracket with fifth graders. They didn't have a prayer with the big kids.

May I present exhibit number one.

And two....

But the boys worked until the very end. They never gave up!

At Sunday's game, Keagan promised to make a bucket for me, and he did! He plowed down the left side to make a lay up and drew a foul. He missed his free throw but rebounded and made another basket. We only lost that game by 25 points!

Let's look on the bright side, at least no one started a fight in the stands!

Cheers, Fights and Losses

AAU basketball tournament number two was this weekend. I will cheer like no other and readily admit that I am loud while cheering on my boys, but I had nothing on the moms from Memphis. I draw a line at organized cheers and pom-poms.

On another note, I've never been more scared while watching a sporting event than I was this weekend. Those Memphis moms can cheer and fight. When a fight broke out in the stands over a foul in the paint, it took all of my self-control to not run and hide.

Evan had an awesome game against Memphis, though. He scored 11 points and helped lead his team to a victory.

Evan heads down court for a lay up.

Evan makes his lay up.

Just a few seconds later he makes his jump shot.

And another.

The win against Memphis secured a spot in the championship game, but the boys weren't able to win first. This is what second place looks like....

Next time, Boys!

Crazy with United

Here we go with Crazy! Together the boys are playing a total of nine bball games this weekend. 

Let's go, United!

Friends for Life

Evan and Marcus are in the same class at school. They are partnered together with STEM projects, eat lunch together, and play basketball together at recess every day. They are also on the same AAU basketball team. I finally met his parents this weekend and couldn't believe my ears when I learned both boys were born and spent the first couple of years of their lives in Germany just an hour down the road from one another! The Army is an indeed a small world!

Snow Day #4

We have not left the house since Sunday when we got home from church. For three and a half days we have been living it up playing pool, sledding, cooking, eating, and sitting by the fire watching basketball.

Tomorrow the boys have another snow day. They were extremely excited to learn they would spend another day in the soybean fields having sled races!

This mama has been just as excited to spend lazy days at home and will be even happier if she gets to stay home tomorrow, too!

Our Life Just Got a Little More Complicated

Meet our AAU travel basketball players. Yep, both boys will be playing travel ball this spring and summer.

Someone told me last week that I was crazy agreeing to let the boys play both travel soccer and travel basketball. Come to think of it, Wes might have been on to something, but if our lives weren't crazy, it just wouldn't feel right.

Bring the crazy! We are ready....I think.

Snow Day

We were hoping all weekend we would get just enough ice that schools would be closed. I think we must have wished a little too hard. We got two inches of ice pellets and sleet and then two inches of snow on top of that. This morning we hunted high and low for snow gear so the boys could go sledding. After half an hour of coaxing, Evan ended up wearing my ski pants and snow boots.  He wasn't too thrilled with wearing "Lady Boots."

They finally made it outside and in the snow, and within five minutes, Evan lost his sled on the pond. Wes created a contraption that would allow him to retrieve it without walking on the ice and the boys were back in business.

But the fun was short lived. The cold was too much for my Southern boys. They later attempted a Nerf War and decided the ice made running from the enemy too difficult.

We have another snow day tomorrow. With my "Lady Boots" spoken for, I'll be spending my day indoors. I've got a bet or two going on a game of pool. Someone else is going to be cleaning toilets tomorrow afternoon.