Category: Kids

Husbands should be like kleenex: soft, strong, and disposable

A very wise woman once said that (Madeleine Khan as Mrs. White in Clue).  She also said several other things, but I’ll reserve those quips for future titles if needed.

Actual transcript from a conversation my daughter had with one of her many suitors.  This occurred yesterday at the pool.

background notes:  Crisana and her friend Timmy had found a yellow kickboard in the pool and were playing with it.  Crisana had been playing with it and Timmy asked for it.  Crisana didn’t want to share it, so I reminded her that it wasn’t ours, so she had to share it.  She handed it over and let Timmy play with it for 5-10 minutes.

Crisana:  Can I please have the kickboard, Timmy?

Timmy:  No, I’m surfing.  You can have it later.

Crisana  (Seeing her first tactic didn’t work, tries another):  If you do, I’ll marry you…

Timmy (popping right up): Here!

C:  Thank you.  Now I am going to marry you. (big sweet smile)
Timmy, very pleased with how things have worked out for him, turns away to go play with some other toys, ostensibly airplanes or trucks or cars or something.

C (under her breath): Actually, not.  I’m going to marry Michael.

Kids today.  Where do they learn these things?  *shakes head*

Woot! The Texas Pool is OPEN!

Yee haw! The day has finally arrived for the Texas Pool to open for the summer. For the past 9 months, we’ve been treated to questions of “When will it be May?” “When can we go swimming again?” “When will it be May?” “How long is it until the pool opens?” “When will it be May?”

And now, that day is here. That wonderful, blissful, relief-inducing day when the whining finally stops and the giggles and splashes begin. When the whine of “I’m bored” is replaced with “I’m so excited!” When the pleading of “Mommy, play with me” becomes “Mommy, watch this!” When our pasty white skin begins to glow a beautiful sun-kissed brown, and our hair streaks with golden highlights. (and for a few brief moments, my cellulite doesn’t seem all that obvious) Ahhh, that glorious first day at the Texas Pool.

And it’s raining.

UPDATE: It is still raining. (Sunday)
UPDATE 2: It is STILL raining. (Monday)

UPDATE 3: Rained in the morning, but now have a sick child. Ear infection. Can’t go underwater until Saturday. (Tuesday)
UPDATE 4: It is STILL raining…the wrath of God was unleashed this morning. High winds, heavy rain, hail.. (Wednesday)

UPDATE 5: Hallelujah! No rain! Sunshine! It’s hot ‘n’ humid!! Hooray! But…oh yeah, I’m helping a neighbor out by watching her grandson for a few hours this afternoon…*sigh*…(Thursday)

UPDATE 6:  Well, I was nearly thwarted by a pesky im’er (you know who you are, rc) and a flat tire, but we made it!  An hour later than planned, but we made it!  We enjoyed a glorious couple of hours in the cool clear waters of the pool.  Puffy white clouds sprinkled throughout the heavens played peekaboo with the warm golden sun.  The joyous sounds of happy children wafted through the air, and I watched as my children merelyAnd picked up where they left off last summer. It’s good to be back.   And my 3 hour mini-vacation was just the pick-me-up I needed to get through the day.

It’s a miracle…..

This weekend was a sprint. We had two soccer games, a Cub Scout graduation camp out, one Praise Kids choir rehearsal, and one Praise Kids Concert. All of that was Trey. I have no clue what Crisana did this weekend, or even knew that she was alive. I ended up helping run the sound during all this as well.

The important news……TREY LIKES HOT DOGS!!!!! Dad failed to make a PB&J for Trey before camping, so he was going to have to eat some hot dog for dinner. I told him this early in the afternoon, and he had been dreading it for hours. Almost to the point of tears. Well, the time was at hand, and I forced him to eat three bites. Well, just one bite. After one bite he exclaimed that he liked hot dogs and ate the entire hot dog! My seven year old son like hot dogs! Will the wonders ever cease?

The rehearsal and concert went pretty smooth too. Trey had one of the lead parts, and really had to earn it. Mom was not going to let him in just because he was her son. He did earn the part. He did a great job and I am very proud of him. I even got teary eyed when his character had to fess up to a mistake. I will get a copy of it that I can watch, since the sound duties precluded me from really watching it.

I have to say this before tonight. My DWTS prediction is Joey and whatever partner he has….Kim?

UPDATE: Joey’s partner is Kym, not Kim. I still want them to win, but I think Apolo Uhoh Uno’s fan base is too strong.

UPDATE 2: Uh-oh Ohno.

Out of the mouths of babes….er…children

Short & sweet.

Last night Trey informed me how caramel is made.  (He had the remnants of it around his mouth at bath time.)

You just mix ketchup and mustard together to make caramel.  Maybe not so great with apples, but sounds really good on a hot dog.

The calm after the storm

Literally.

We had our first *real* brush with supercell thunderstorms last night.  Unconfirmed reports stated that several “rope” twisters touched down in Ft. Worth last evening, and confirmed news reports documented straight-line winds in our area with gusts of 70-80 mph.  For the first time in years, I witnessed the power and ferocity of severe weather, and saw firsthand the damage these storms can wreak.

The most frightening part about it was that I was TOTALLY UNAWARE.  I watched the weather report on Tuesday night, where the “slight” possibility of rain was briefly mentioned and then passed over.  The day yesterday was not unusual – a foggy, misty rain in the morning with periods of showers, warm, and then brightly sunny by mid-afternoon.  Puffy white clouds dotted the sky, and I remember thinking it had turned out to be a pretty good day.
Continue reading The calm after the storm

Superstar!

Yes, it’s true.  Both of our children are…

say it with me in your best SNL pose…

SUPERSTAR(S)!

It all began with Trey’s soccer game this morning.  Another windy Saturday morning, but this time about 30 degrees warmer than last.  We were wearing shorts and flip flops for crying out loud.  THAT’S more like it.  Sunny, breezy, a perfect soccer morning.  And though we had a back-to-back doubleheader scheduled, you would never have known it from the way the team played.  They played hard all the way through both games.  And they remain UNDEFEATED!  They won their first game by the ridiculous score of 9-0, and the second one, a “rematch” of last week’s game (as they called it) ended with another victory, 3-1.  Though Trey didn’t score any goals, we saw him make some good defensive stops, and helped on offense by passing to his teammates.  We still need to work on cultivating ball awareness (Trey enjoys watching his own fancy footwork when he runs), and that killer instinct to get the ball and not be afraid of it.

This afternoon, it was Crisana’s turn to be the star.  We attended her Tumblebugs spring show, and it was amazing.  We were able to see performances from every level: mommy & me classes all the way up to competitive team.  Crisana loved her bright pink leotard, and looked so cute with her hair in a ponytail.  She performed her routine (up until she had to do the forward roll, at which point her ponytail started to come loose, so she stood on the mat and called out to me to come fix her hair!!), then did the circuit like they do in class.  After each child finished the circuit, they were able to stand up on the platform, do their “ta-da” and wave.  Crisana relished every moment of it, finishing by blowing kisses to mommy, daddy, Trey, and Grandma before exiting.  Watching the different skill levels, I was reassured that this is definitely the right place for Crisana to be, and excited about all that she’s learned and will be learning in the future.  She may never be a gymnastics “superstar” but she sure sparkles with delight when she’s being a Tumblebug!

We finished the day with some “superstar” ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s (Yes, there’s one in McKinney!).  Grandma kept up the Edwards tradition with some Heather Bar Crunch, while Mom branched out and tried the Phish Food…phish is delish!!  Dad chowed on some chocolate mint crunch and the kids enjoyed chocolate cones with sprinkles.  It doesn’t get much better than that, I tell ya.

Yeah, it was busy.  But it was a superstar day.  Just like my superstar kids.  Life is good.  And sweet, especially with a little Ben & Jerry’s thrown in along the way.

What do you get when…..

you mix 43 degree temperatures and a 30 mile an hour wind? A soccer game of course! Trey had his first soccer game today. Let’s just say it was a little chilly. In fact, it was so chilly that the people, who set up the fields, slept in and made all of the games late. Such nice people. Trey’s 9:00am game started at 9:45 instead. The Bobcats scored the first goal, quickly gave up the next, and the game ended with a tie. Our goalie had three great saves toward the end of the game. His first game was supposed to have been two weeks ago, but that one got rained out. It was fun, but very chilly. I like this soccer team, and the parents more than last years. I certainly hope they do better.

I’m Dreaming of a White Easter

Just like the ones I used to know…

Wait a minute!  White EASTER?  Are you kidding me?  It’s April, and this is Texas, for crying out loud.  And not the panhandle, either.  This is North Central Texas – you know, the land of mild winters and blazing hot summers.  Yet we’ll all be wearing white shoes this year…because they’ll be covered in SNOW.

Okay, so we didn’t get an actual accumulation, but it DID snow in parts of North Texas today, and we received a flurry of “God’s confetti” to grace our church’s Easter Egg Hunt today.  What an interesting site for those of us who earlier this week were wearing tank tops and shorts, basking in 80+ degree weather.

Despite the cold and threat of inclement weather, we had a wonderful turnout at our annual PCBC Easter Egg Hunt and Kid’s Celebration.  We made some major changes this year, most of which worked, and all of which were well-received.  We had a speaker, Bill Buchanan of Team Recreation Ministries (www.teamrecreation.com), who provided a high-energy, fully interactive program which had parents and children alike dancing in the aisles, cheering their teams, acting silly, and having a great time together.  Following that, we drew for door prizes and had our Egg Hunt.  We had a hard-working team of guys put together a fenced grid so that we had four separate quadrants for different age groups.  We “hid” over 6,000 eggs, all of which were stuffed by volunteers!  It took us about 45 minutes with 15 or so volunteers to “hide” all those eggs – but the 200 or so kids who attended had that lawn CLEANED in about 10 minutes flat!  What fun it was to  hunt eggs in the snow flurries!  Then back inside for cookies, punch, and pictures with the Easter bunny.  I heard so many positive comments on the day and the program, and it really looked like families were having fun TOGETHER.  In my position at the church, I spend so much time with children that it’s really neat when I can have a part in planning an event that brings families together to build memories, have fun, and enjoy being together.

Though the snow has ended, the memories of our “white” Easter will remain, and the Great Easter Flurry of 2007 will be an event to talk about for years to come!

I spy with my little eye…

Something that is pink!

and green!

and yellow!

and spotted!

and blue and purple and orange and fuschia and speckled and marbleized and…!

Well, that’s pretty much how our yard looked this weekend.  As Matt said, we held our annual Sloan Creek Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday.  I really felt like God blessed the whole day, from start to finish:

1)  After torrential rain and storms on Friday night, with multi-inch rainfall totals around the area, we awoke to a bright and sunny sky and a yard that was “mostly dry.”

2)  Trey’s soccer game, however, was cancelled, giving us much-needed time to pull all those last-minute details together.

3)  Skip graciously allowed us to borrow all the tables and chairs we needed, despite us not following the newly-established building usage protocol (which is now understood and will be duly followed in the future, cap’n).  Amazingly, 5 large round tables, 2 large rectangular tables and 47 chairs managed to fit in the bed of Matt’s truck and my SUV.  The kids, however, we had to strap on the hood of the car…

4)  Actual set-up time from the time we returned home was less than 2 hours.  Total clean-up time from the time the last person left to lowering the garage door for the final time was just about 2 hours.   We even had time to put our feet up and take pre-bedtime naps during the NCAA semifinal games.

5)  Our kids…what can I say about our kids.  They would have loved nothing more than to have a Saturday with mom and dad all to themselves, but they pitched in stuffing eggs, helping “hide” them, setting up decorations, setting out the food and drinks, entertaining other kids who came, and helping clean up the yard afterwards.  They were amazing, and I am constantly humbled by how delightful they are despite my parenting.

6)  We had the largest turnout yet, and everyone seemed to have a really good time.  People sat and visited, new connections between neighbors were established, and we even had neighbors come who don’t have small children.  People came with relatives who don’t live in Sloan Creek, and we saw lots of families spending time together, parents visiting with one another, kids playing all over the yard (and a dog who was reveling in all the attention!)…just one of those “postcard” moments when you know everyone is enjoying themselves, relaxing, and having fun.  The food was great, the weather was terrific, and the company was fantastic.

I don’t know where the year ahead will take us, and how our neighborhood will change over the course of the next 365 days, but I do know this: God has placed us here for a reason.  And I am so grateful for the united passion God has given both Matt and I to be ministers to our little corner of Fairview.  I felt something special on Saturday as together we prepared for this outreach – a sense of unity and togetherness in a common mission – that binds us together even stronger as a couple, and hopefully as a family.  I hope and pray that Trey and Crisana can see in our example our desire to reach out to others, to be good stewards of what God has given us, to enjoy serving and ministry, and to show God’s love to others.

The day ended with us tired, but satisfied.  We spent some family time before it was off to be for the kiddos, and I was struck by how complete and perfect my life really is.  Yes, it’s busy and hectic, and there are days I just want to call it quits…but I couldn’t ask for more.  And I wouldn’t change a thing.

Easter Egg Hunt 2007

The tradition continues….the Speer sponsored, Sloan Creek Easter Egg Hunt.  We had the hunt yesterday so it would not conflict with anyone else’s Easter plans….it worked.  We had 20 or so families drop by for the Hunt, many of them are Aggies too.  We have such good neighbors!  They all brought their kiddos and we had a great time.  The scheduled time was 2-4pm, but it took us about 9-5.  We pretty much took the rest of the day off.