Hmmm...

This past weekend I was contacted by my freshman (and sophmore) college roommate, Lori Kaizawa. I had not been in contact with Lori since we graduated 23 years ago. It was great to hear from her, but also daunting trying to encapsulate the last 23 years of your life in an email. I remembered this blog that I had abandonded earlier in the year and looked it up to give her the link as a way to give her a glimpse into my life now. I started reading some of my previous posts and it struck me how much I loved reading it. I'm so glad I have these everyday things preserved to go back and read any time I want. I went back to my first post in 2006 and read all of them from that year. The kids look so young!! And it wasn't that long ago. It made me want to try to start blogging again. So here goes.

The most recent events of note around here were halloween and the end of kfl football. I have already sent these pictures to Jean but thought I'd post them here for everyone to see.

Halloween night Jackson's football team had their 2nd playoff game at 6:00 p.m. That meant that we couldn't really trick or treat that night...which was not that great for Jensen. So, we sent her with a friend and she had a really great time. It also meant I didn't get many pictures. I took a couple of her at the house before we left...she looked scaaaaarrrry!




The football game did not go the way of the good guys. You can tell by the expression on the boys' faces. It is the end of KFL for most of those boys...next year they move on to middle school football. Coaches were crying, boys were crying, parents were crying. It was quite something to see.



We got home about 8:30 and Jackson got the dregs of the candy that was left on our street. He wasn't much in the mood for trick or treating anyway...

Jordan did dress up this year, as a nerd, and went trick or treating with a few of her friends but I didn't get any pictures of her.

Another interesting halloween weekend has passed...

Another First Day of School

A kindergartner (gasp!) a fourth grader (gasp!) and a middle schooler (gasp, gasp!). Jackson's face tells his whole story...not excited to be going to school. Jordan looks pretty happy and actually did seem pretty excited about today. Jensen has kind of a pained expression on her face but in actuality she was very excited to be heading off to Shadow Forest. She has her fisher price camera in her hands and asked if she could take it to school today to take a few pictures. Of course!! Girl after my own heart. Here are a couple of her photos:



Here's Jackson with his new bike he just got yesterday:


A couple of classroom photos and Jensen's new teacher, Mrs. Clift:



This was the moment of the day that pained me the most. Dropping Jordan off at middle school. When I took Jackson and Jensen I got to walk them into the school, go into the classroom, meet their teachers, see the other kids in the class. With Jordan going to 6th grade you get none of that. You drive them up, drop them off, and say goodbye. I don't know all the kids in her classes anymore, I don't know her teachers. I don't love that, I have to say, but I have to come to grips with it.

At the end of the day, all the kids seemed to be okay. Jensen had a great day and really seemed to like being at Shadow Forest. She's already scheduled a play date for tomorrow!

Everything seemed to go well for Jordan too. She got to all her classes okay, sat with friends at lunch and made it through the crazy, free-for-all dismissal process that's so unlike the orderly, sane elementary school dismissal.

Jackson had his typical first day..."horrible" was his exact word when he got home today. But that's okay. I've come to realize that Jackson does not transition easily from summer to school. It's hard for him and takes a good couple of weeks to get in the groove. I feel comfortable, though, with his teacher and his class. I think he'll end up having a good year even though he completely disagrees right now!

It's a Mystery

When Jackson opened the door the other morning to go out to play, this is what we found on the mat:



On the day before the last day of school, Jackson forgot his lunch box at school. I figured it was just gone and I'd be buying him a new one for this year. Nearly two months later, it shows up on our door step. No knock on the door; no note saying who dropped it off. Just the ice pack and the note that I had written him on that day were inside.



While I'm very grateful to whoever returned his lunch box, I am going BONKERS trying to think who it might have been. His teacher? A neighbor who might have picked it up on that day, thrown it in the back of their car and forgotten about it until now? A friend? Or maybe it was a sign from God to Jackson just to remind him that school is coming...soon. :-)

Summer Activities

These first two weeks of summer, I've kept the kids busy, busy, busy. I do this, not because I like to go through many gallons of gas (at $3.89 a gallon) driving around Kingwood, but because if I didn't this is what they'd do all day...


Thanks to Aunt Denise sending us her extra computer, we now have the coolest computer set-up on the block!

So, other than playing on the computer, this is what they've been doing.

Last week, Jackson went to a baseball camp put on by the Kingwood High School baseball coaches and players. He complained about it every morning, and I admit, it was hot (95 degrees or so) but he persevered.


That's Jackson in the red hat. If you could see the picture better, you'd see that he's smiling from ear to ear. I think he had a good time. You'll notice that he's one of the few kids in shorts. The rest are in baseball pants. Every morning I tried to get him to wear his baseball pants. He'd say, "Mom, it's so hot, I'm not wearing pants." I'd say, "But most of the other kids are wearing pants." He'd say, "But Mom, the coaches all wear shorts." True. Point taken.

Our local community college offers lots of classes for kids throughout the summer. This is something that's right up Jordan's alley, but her gymnastics schedule leaves little time for other things. Last week was the one week that her gymnastics school was closed and before her summer training schedule started. She wanted to do a class at the college and had four different classes to choose from. She chose "Wacky Weaving." Hmmmm. Over the course of the week, she made all kinds of woven projects using paper, fabric, yarn, string, even pipe cleaners. Most of all, I think she really enjoyed it. Too bad I got in a fender bender dropping her off one morning.

Jensen was also busy last week participating in a cheerleading camp for three days at The Little Gym. I have no pictures, but next time you see Jensen she can demonstrate the move where she was standing on a "real" cheerleader's hands and he dropped her and caught her in his arms. She thought that was the best!

This week, Jordan started her summer gymnastics schedule. She's at the gym four days a week for a total of 14.5 hours. Can you feel the pain? The exciting news, is that her hard earned grips finally arrived today. These are strips of leather strapped to your hands to use on the uneven bars to prevent blisters and rips in the skin on your hands, but the girls aren't allowed to use them until they have mastered the kip. I've heard that this skill is one of the hardest to learn in gymnastics. Jordan has worked very hard to learn this, sometimes coming home from practice with her hands literally bleeding. I'm so proud of Jordan and her attitude about gymnastics. It's really something that she loves to do, but it doesn't come easy. She works hard yet she rarely complains. I'm often in awe.

Jordan took a break from gymnastics one day to go bowling with the swim team. It was a perfect activity for a blistering hot day.


Jackson spent this week at cub scout twilight camp. Again, he complained every day about having to go but came home every night raving about it. What's not to love? BB gun shooting, paint ball shooting, archery shooting, water gun shooting. You get the idea. This is a liberal, gun hating mom's dream come true. What can I say? It kept him off the computer and he had fun.

Jensen's week was spent in more heavenly pursuits. She attended vacation bible school at Christ the King Lutheran Church. This is the church our friends the Kellers attend. Just like Jackson, she complained every day about having to go, but raved about it when she got home.



Well, that's what we've been doing so far this summer. Next week we're off to Michigan and Indiana for family togetherness. Our nephew, Ben, graduated high school and his open house is next Saturday. He's off to Notre Dame in the fall. Awesome. We can't wait to see everyone. We get home July 3rd. Will we be as busy in July? We'll see.

Weekend Update

Our weekends this time of year tend to revolve around swim meets and this week was no exception. We had our last home meet of the season which means I am now done with my volunteer duty. My job this year (and last) was to prepare the condiments (lettuce, tomatoes, onions) for our concession stand and to slice and bag watermelon to sell. It's an awesome job because I can do it in the air conditioned comfort of my home the day before the meet and be done with it. This last week was easier than usual due to the salmonella scare...no tomatoes to chop.

Jackson and Jordan have done pretty well swimming this year and have steadily improved their times since the season started. This year, they both moved up to a new age group. The age cut off is the end of May and since both their birthdays are in May they are among the youngest kids in their groups. Next year should be a better year for them competition-wise. They're still having fun though which is the whole point.




This year is our swim team's 20th anniversary and our coaches put on a show for the kids the morning of the meet last weekend. Even though the team started in 1988, their attire seems to be from '68 or at the very latest '78. But since I don't think any of them were actually alive in 1988 I'll cut them some slack. I think they would have looked just as great in leg warmers and oversized t-shirts knotted at the side and sliding off one shoulder. Too bad they didn't ask me for wardrobe advice. I have to say, though, that our coaches always go out of their way to make the whole swim team experience fun for the kids. And none of our kids know the difference between 60's attire and 80's attire anyway. It's all just old to them.



Every year I feel so grateful for our neighborhood swim team. I never had anything like that when I was growing up out in the country. It provides exercise, structure, teamwork, friendships, entertainment and so much more to summer days that could otherwise just waste away. Go Gators!

Rat Terrier vs. Rat

As my dear, sweet friend Heather pointed out, it's March and i guess I haven't posted in a while so here's one for everyone to enjoy.


This past Sunday morning while I was getting dressed, Jensen ran into the bathroom and yelled, "Mom, Bella is fighting with a rat!" I said, "No, it must be something else" but went to look out the window anyway. That tail is unmistakable. It was definitely a rat. And Bella had it cornered in the shrubbery. After a few minutes of her going after the rat, she grabbed it and actually flung it into our pool! The rat was still alive at this point and furiously paddling around my pool. Bleeding into it by the way. I didn't know what to do so called Jim who wasn't home at the time. He, wisely, told me to "call someone." By the time I got off the phone with him, the rat had clearly expired. Still bleeding into my pool though. I called my lovely neighbor, Richard, who I knew had experience fishing rats out of pools (it's actually a pretty common occurance in our little corner of paradise). He came down the street with his pool skimmer and fished it out for me, bagged it up, and hauled it to the dumpster. Thanks, Richard!

Rat Terrier 1
Rat 0

What we've been doing...

Petsitting! Molly belongs to our neighbors, the Kimberlins. They went to Italy for two weeks (lucky dogs) and Molly is a little too neurotic to spend two weeks in a kennel so we offered to take her in. Well, Jensen offered to take her in and we were kind of put on the spot...:-) In the past we've been the ones that have needed pet sitters but it has been more than a year now since we've had a dog in the house. Cosmo, I know you're up there saying "I don't know what that is, but it's not a dog." Actually, it's Jim that says that but if you were here I don't know if you'd be able to tolerate Molly either. Most of us around here have a love/hate relationship with her. For some it's a hate/hate relationship.







And for some, it's all love. Molly definitely has her quirks but Jensen has just been soooo happy to have her here that it makes it all worth it. That girl loves all critters no matter how irritating they may be. We really gotta get her a dog. Anyone have any suggestions of small, shed-free, non-yappy dogs out there?

And there has been one bonus...yesterday Molly killed a snake in our backyard. It was just a garden snake, but a snake nonetheless so at least she's good for one thing. We have her for 5 more days...I'll be starting the countdown.