Wordless Wednesday

6-year-old humor

Joe: "Why did the penny go in the trash can?
Me: "Why?"
Joe: "Because it wanted to get eaten be aliens! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"

This is but a mere sampling of similar jokes invented by both boys. The only thing funny about them is the hysterical laughter at the end.

Makes My Monday

And just like that, the blistering heat from Saturday is gone. Today's high was 78 degrees. Hello, fall!

Dodgers, Rapids, and Gators - Oh my!

Today was our first three-sports-game Saturday. We survived, but given the heat, just barely.

8:00am - First up, the boys' U6 soccer team at Timbergrove, the Gators. The Gators won soundly, defeating the Timberwolves 7-2. Their team did really well. Charlie scored two goals, and while Joe didn't (he came so close twice), he had some outstanding plays. At 8am, it was already hot enough to make even the spectators sweat.

Joe and Charlie, our Gators

9:00am - Next was the first game for Will and Helen's 3-year-old soccer team, the Rapids, at the YMCA. Score was not kept (which was probably a good thing for our team). Highlight was when Coach (aka very hardworking Dad) paused to help a child who had fallen and lost a shoe. Another player kicked the ball out of bounds and all the way out the gate onto the next field. The rest of the team followed, and we looked up and they were all gone! Cort also showed his resourcefulness and particular talent for coaching 3-year-olds when Keller, our ringer, suddenly refused to go out on the field. Cort took Helen's soccer scrunchy, which had fallen off her ponytail, and gave it to Keller to put on his wrist, telling him it was a "bracelet of power." It worked, and he came back out and played the rest of the game.

Helen and Will in their first soccer uniforms

9:50am - Just to keep us on our toes, I had to take Charlie and Joseph back to Timbergrove before Will and Helen's game was over, so they could take team pictures. Very sweaty pictures.

12:30pm - After a quick lunch at home, Charlie and Joe then went back to Timbergrove again, this time for soccer "opening ceremonies." This essentially consisted of all the kids baking in the sun while a director of the league droned on and on.

3:00pm - After bringing the boys home again for a quick uniform change, everyone headed back to Timbergrove one last time to watch some baseball. This was Charlie and Joe's first coach-pitch game. Their team is the Dodgers. Their baseball team didn't fare as well as their soccer team - they lost, I think 15-5. But they did well for their first game, despite heat that made me sweat profusely in the shade. Both boys got one hit (Charlie also got an RBI) and got to score a run. And more importantly from my perspective, Will and Helen were SO much easier to deal with at the game than they were a few short months ago when the boys were playing t-ball.

Our two Dodgers

Just to top that busy day off, about an hour after their baseball game ended, Cort took the boys to watch the Baylor-Rice football game, which started just before their normal bedtime. That's where they currently are, apparently weathering a delay due to lightning. Think there's any chance they'll be tired tomorrow? I know we will be.

Pioneer reunion - through the generations

This past weekend, we made our annual trip to the Clay County Pioneer Reunion and Rodeo. The trip itself was a far cry from a couple of years ago, when Will cried for a full 5 hours of the 6-hour trip. This year, armed with activities to take up every minute of the car ride (and 3-year-olds with a much better capacity to actually involve themselves in such activities), we had a practically tranquil trip. At least, we did after we made good on the old don't-make-me-pull-this-car-over threat a few miles into the trek.

The reunion always celebrates the "pioneers" that settled my home county in the 1800s. This year, the event also honored the "Greatest Generation." As was often said during the weekend by those from my hometown, "The pioneers got us here, and the Greatest Generation kept us here." It was a great tribute.

It is also nice to have the three generations of my family together. I'm pretty sure Gransan and Grandad like showing off their grandkids to everyone who gathers for the weekend. I love the chance to get home--which doesn't happen often enough--and am lucky to have a husband who is more than happy to hang out in my little hometown with me. And the littlest generation, well, let's just say that the rodeo is made for them. I've never seen anyone, young or old, enjoy a rodeo more than our four kids.

"Honoring Our Greatest Generation"

Even our little guys know how to honor the flag

All the boys in the arena for the calf scramble - it was the little ones first time to participate

Helen didn't care to stick with the boys. As soon as I explained the calf scramble concept to her, she confidently told me, "I know how to catch a calf." Then she was ready to hit the arena.

Here she is with John Greer, who is always great about hanging out with our kids during the calf scramble. But this is NOT because she wanted accompaniment into the arena. It's that if someone didn't go get her, she wouldn't have gotten out.

Me at the rodeo with Joe and Will

Helen really enjoying the rodeo

Joe always loves studying programs, even rodeo programs

Will watching the rodeo events intently

Gransan and Grandad with their grandkids

I also have to mention what the kids said the highlights were of their trip. Helen, not surprisingly, said that her favorite things was catching a calf ("but I didn't catch it," she added sadly). Joe's favorite thing was seeing Henrietta (my hometown) win the FFA calf scramble. Will's favorite thing was "saying hi to Woody and Buzz!" (The Toy Story characters were on a winning float that was featured before the rodeo Saturday night.) And Charlie's favorite thing was from the rodeo, too . . . eating nachos at the rodeo.

Look who has learned to write her own name!

Fall sports here we come!

This year, in addition to fall soccer, Charlie and Joseph are playing fall baseball as well. Baseball starts this week, and soccer starts next week.

At age 3, this will be Will and Helen's first year to play soccer too. Their practices start this week.

Three practices a week. Three games a weekend. Hopefully we will survive.

We've been talking up soccer to Will and Helen so they'll be excited. It seems to be working. When we told Helen that their friend John from school would be playing on their team, she said: "I'm going to BEAT John!!!" So her competitive spirit is intact. We are still working on teamwork.

And Will has been wearing his soccer socks and shin guards around whenever he can. He looks ready, doesn't he?

I hope we are.

High-frequency words - check

When your kids can fluently read the following:

"High-Frequency Word List - Grade One. Identify and read at least 100 high frequency words from a commonly used list."

. . . it's a safe bet that they won't have too much trouble reading the three-to-five-letter words that are actually on that list.

Thank goodness. We can check that off our "to do" list for the year.

Mr. Grown Up

Sometimes, Charlie appears to have a maturity level that exceeds his 6 years. It's not that he's actually that mature. It's just that he has a way of talking about grownup things in a grownup way.

For example, one morning I was getting ready to head to the airport for a flight and mentioned that I was planning to leave the house around 7:30. "What time is your flight?" asked Charlie. When I told him my flight was at 9, he responded, knowingly and approvingly: "OK. You're fine." (Which, of course, was correct.)

Another morning, Joseph asked Cort, who was headed to Galveston, whether he was flying or driving. Before Cort could answer, Charlie responded for his dad: "He'll drive. It's only like 45 minutes." (Also correct.)

When he talks about mundane things like this with such an authoritative, offhand, adult air, I can almost forget that he's just a small kid. And I can see a glimpse of the days when our kids are more like equal peers and less like subordinates that require constant supervision and guidance. As much as I don't want them to grow up yet, these little glimpses make me look forward, just a little bit, to seeing my kids as adults. I suspect they are going to be pretty great people.

Wordless Wednesday