The Reward

Sam has been working hard in track...practicing after school every day. And he seems to be doing well so far. This week they have a "relay" meet. Which apparently means something, but is totally beyond me. What I DO know is that this meet is at home. This meet lasts 2 days. 2 of the 3 events Sam is participating in take place on day 2. And most importantly, I can not afford 2 days of concession begging from Maggie and Liam. So we stayed home today and will go watch tomorrow. Consequently, Sam texted me when it was over to come pick him up. Being the awesome Mom that I am, I didn't hear my phone alert. So, I didn't go pick him up. Well, not until he called 10 minutes later and said, "Are you coming to get me?"

When I picked him up, I eagerly asked as he put on his seatbelt, "Well??? How did you do?" Smiling in my most supportiver manner.
He replied, "I got two phone numbers, Austin got 5. But, he was just asking anybody, and I'm PICKY."

That my friends is what track is really all about.

I love you all.

Whoops!

I took Jet to the vet Monday. He and Marley both were due for shots. They both checked out well, except for one little thing. Last week, when we got home from North Carolina, he was a bit overexcited. In his usual over excited fashion, he ran around like an absolute maniac. When he ran back bleeding from his paw, I assumed he had ripped his toenail. Turns out he somehow managed to BREAK his toe! Have you ever even heard of such a thing? 

"I'm injured...don't you feel sorry for me??"

The vet said there's nothing we can do about it...just let it heal. So, he's limping around on 3 legs like a doofus. And, of course, getting lots of sympthy from mama. I love you all!

The Compromise

Maggie was a bit of a surprise, if you know what I mean. She was life lesson #12734, You CAN get pregnant when you’re nursing.
She is the only girl, which means she has an unimaginable amount of clothes. And shoes…good Lord, so many shoes. But, she’s always gotten hand-me-down furniture. She totally lucked into a lovely daybed, from her Grandma…but has been, since birth, using her brother Liam’s cast off dresser. His very SMALL cast off dresser. (Life lesson # 17682, an unimaginable amount of clothes do not fit in a very small cast off dresser. )
So, I promised her at the beginning of March, we would buy her a new dresser in April.  And she rubbed her little hands together and giggled maniacally and plotted and picked out this…

And the arguments began. I said, no, absolutely not. That dresser will NOT work. And she cried and moaned and ripped her clothes from her chest. Well, ok, that’s a slight exaggeration, but you get the idea.
For a full month, we bickered and fought and I held firm. I was not going to allow her to pick out a dresser that she would hate in 5 years…because Jon and I are NOT going to buy her another new dresser in 5 years.
I was having nothing but that she was getting a solid white dresser. She hated me. HATED ME!!!
But, as we wandered through the dressers at American Freight I had a “Mommy Moment” . That is right, a stroke of GENIUS!! For just a moment, I turned into my mother… and I made a promise to Mags.
If she would agree to the solid white dresser, we would go to Wal-Mart and let her pick out wall stickers to use to “decorate” the dresser. Stickers that would PEEL RIGHT OFF when she got tired of them. And the girl was happy.
This is what she ended up with…

…the compromise.
I love you all!

My Girl

 Ahh, my girl. Things are changing so quickly with her these days. In addition to the all drama, all the time…she’s turning into a giggly socialite. She has taken to receiving phone calls in the evening. She takes the cordless phone and disappears into her bedroom. Occasionally, she will come out to get a drink or something from her locker…talking and giggling all the while. It’s so funny to me. I can vividly remember doing the same thing…in the 3rd grade, no less. The 3rd grade must be the magical year of the phone call. It was a bit different, I confess. There was no such thing as “cordless phones” when I was her age. So, I had to lurk in the kitchen.

She has started begging me for a cell phone. That is NOT going to happen. I worry she has enough privacy to get herself in trouble with the cordless. I may have disliked having to be in the thick of the family when I had my pre-pubescent gab and giggle fests…but it certainly served as a form of accountability. By God, if she’s gabbing and giggling about boys I want to know it. Now that I’m thinking this whole thing thru, I think I may need to go buy a corded phone for the kitchen, just for her use. What do you think??

 

I love you all!

Who'd A'Thunk It???

I confess, I was expecting the worst...my awkward, gangly, 6ft tall boy was participating in his first ever track meet yesterday. I went expecting to see a live version of America's Funniest Videos. That was NOT what I got!

To help you understand my position, I give you exhibit A...

This is what Sam usually looks like to me...now the setting changes, but the posture does not. He's my "gamer". NOT my runner.

But, he blew me away and was actually pretty good! I'm completely new to the "Field and Track" world. I was totally lost initially, on what in the WORLD was going on. So much chaos, so many things happening all at once. So MANY kids!! Highland has 78 kids on their track team. I think yesterday was an invite...so there were also 3 other schools there: Centerburg, Marion Grant and Mt Gilead Christian.

Amazingly, Sam took 1st place in the long jump. His jump was 13'8"...which he said, "sucked". He was sure he wouldn't win that one early on. His longest jump so far was 15'2" and he felt pretty confident that yesterdays jump would get trumped easily, but what do you know? It DIDN'T!

He also took 2nd place in the 100 meter Hurdles...

...by .2 of a second... and i'm guessin' that's about all he won 1st place in the 200 meter Hurdles by...

It was a close finish. It shouldn't have been...

He started out really well.

Then on the second hurdle, he landed wrong and stumbled. Scraped up his hands pretty good, but he didn't go down, he recovered.

And he prevailed...he did great. Jon and I are both SO PROUD if him...he's GOOD at this! GO SAM!!!

I will keep you posted on how he does! I love you all!