Mother's Day

It's time for your favorite guest writer to throw in his two cents. Come on, how could I let Laura write the post about Mother's Day. That would be like the year I didn't get her a card because I believed her when she said she didn't want one. Lesson learned. 

Now I'm really good at pretending like I work hard, but here's the truth. When I get to the end of my weekend, I'm not too disappointed to head back to the office. Because my office is quiet. In my office, there is no one whipping buggers on me. In my office, there is no one asking me for milk...again. 

This is not how my wife spends her week. She spends it neck deep in small child grossness, temper tantrums, irrational arguments, and constant need. Then there's the occasional, "Thank you mommy." thrown in there to make it all worth while. 

Mother's Day this year started on Saturday with a Mother/Daughter Tea Party. The tea was good, the crafts were nice, but the picture is the real winner. I'd just like to say that it is not fair that they are both so cute. How can I say no to either of them? My blessing is my curse.

Holidays that are celebrated on Sundays present a bit of challenge. This picture was taken during the 90 minute respite we had between church in the morning at Westover and in the evening at South Church. But we did get a mostly cute pic of the kids with mamma.

I'll wrap this up by simply reminding myself- and you- that Mother's Day is a token Hallmark holiday, that barely scratches the surface of the thanks the this mom deserves. Thanks for making our world go round, love.

End of the school year CAMPOUT

       Aidan wanted to do something big to celebrate all his hard work in Kindergarten.  I believe his actual words were "Mommy, when will I get paid for all my hard work this year in Kindergarten?"  After I broke the bad news, I told him that I DID think he deserved a reward.  We decided to ask his two best friends from Fortis to have a campout in our backyard. There was much anticipation involved.  The three talked about it for weeks.  

Yes, we know it is ridiculous that they are sleeping in a tent and watching TV at the same time. But how cool is it to be able to put these two awesome sleepover experiences together? 

       We had a lot of rain around this time and I wasn't sure until that night if they were actually going to be able to sleep outside.  I looked at the forecast and it called for clear skies.  I woke up at 4 in the morning to the sound of rain.  Cliff slept outside with them and said they slept through everything. He really complained about having to sleep in his hammock. Ok, that's a lie. He threw a fleece blanket over the hammock and thought it was the greatest thing he had done in weeks. He really needs a hobby.  

                                      

        The night included s'mores, multiple nerf gun battles, two movies, going to sleep at 1,  and a night full of memories!
                                     

      

Soccer. Enough Said

Aidan is super excited that he's getting to play soccer this Spring. The kid just loves every single second of it. His favorite part is defense. Scoring goals is a close second. I'll admit, his team isn't the best in the league, but he doesn't really care. He just loves to get out there and run a million miles and hour from the kick off to final whistle. 

This is Aidan's reaction after scoring his first goal. We don't watch a lot of soccer in our house, so he doesn't know that he's supposed to run around the field waving his shirt over his head. But there's still time for him to learn that. 

I wouldn't say that Noah is a huge fan of going to soccer games. When he wasn't throwing his chair around the side lines, he was running across the field. The upside is that he kept his clothes on. We'll celebrate the small victories.

Now please sit back and enjoy the string of action oriented photos that capture his prowess on the field.

"Mom look how sweaty I am.  I worked really hard."

We totally didn't realize that our neighbors were signing their daughter up to play soccer, as well. Thus, they ended up on different teams. Perhaps they both would have had a better game had they not spent half their time flirting with each other.

The Not So Memorable Memorial Day

This one is a little embarrassing. Cliff and I grew up in tornado alley. We know what a real storm is. But freedom is found in transparency. In the month of May it rained pretty much every single day of the month. Which was great, considering we were in the midst of a hardcore drought. 

On Memorial Day we had the largest rain storm of the month. Tornado warnings were in effect, lighting was flashing, thunder shook the house. Cliff and I were watching the radar map. We finally heard that there was a tornado spotted about 20 miles southwest of us. So, we drug the kids to the bathroom, threw a mattress in front of the window and prepared for the heart of the storm. 

The kids sat in the tub for about 5 minutes while the rain poured down before they stated getting really restless. So we pulled out the big guns and set up the laptop and let the kids binge on Netflix. 

No tornados ever came within 20 miles of the house. Nor did any even touch down. Yet, we spent the better part of Memorial Day evening hunkered down in our bathroom taking shelter from the rain.

But it did rain A LOT. We topped out at just over 4 inches of standing water in the back yard.

On a more serious note, the folks downstream from us were ravaged by some serious flooding. The town of Wimberly was hit the hardest. Many lives were lost, and many more homes destroyed. So when you go to bed tonight, say a prayer for the folks whose lives were torn up by that. And if you feel yourself moved to throw some help their way, check out www.adrntx.org. 

We Miss You Nap Time

Ever since we added a second kid to the family, we've fearfully anticipated the day when none of our kids would nap any more. Don't get me wrong, we love the munchkins to death, but there's something about that sweet silence of nap time in the middle of the day to give you the boost you need to be a good parent. That day has finally arrived...and our fears were warranted. 

Noah's first experiment with quiet time had a strong book theme. This manifest itself with every book being removed from the shelf. Not some books. Not most books. Every. Single. Book.

No big deal, though. Kids will be kids, right? Day two showed promise. It was a much more minimalistic adventure that really centered around puppets. It showed progress, understanding, and hope. 

Then there was day three. Legos.... Not cool, Noah. Not cool. After day three we told him he could have a donut if he didn't make a mess during quiet time. Thank the Lord he will sell out for one single donut.

In the few weeks that have passed since these pics were taken we've seen our bribery rewarded. On those special days, when Noah is in a really good mood, he'll take us by the hand and lead us into a perfectly cleaned up room and give us "Ta da!!!!" He's now very proud of his ability to clean up after himself. Maybe this parenting thing isn't completely impossible.