Joe the poet

DEAD BEAN

A Dead Bean Its Slippery

And To Many Beans To

Walk

CLOVERS

I see

I see a hole lot

CLAY MATHUE'S TAKLE MACINE

It Was Twenty To Twenty-Six Packers They

Had The Ball On The Eighteen He Hicked

It Was In The Quaterback's Hands

Clay Went Back To The Quarterback The

Quaterback Had Nowone To Trough

To He Went Back Ten Yard Takle!

Ball On Twenty-Eight

Another sack - 12 Yards

Three Sacks Ball on 50

Fourth And Thirty

To Go They Kicked It Fake! Gain Of Forty-Nine Yards

Ball On One 1rst Down Til Fourth And One Hicked

Touchdown Ravens!!! Tied Overtime We Get

The Ball Touchdown!!!! 53 seconds Fourth down Hut

missed

WE WIN!!!!!!

He didn't get a very good grade on his poems. But he's still pretty good at math!

Wordless Wednesday

Dinner and games and books, oh my!

Tonight, even though Cort is out of town, I took all the kids out to dinner. It was truly enjoyable.

After we got home, the kids got ready for bed quickly and we had time to introduce Will and Helen to the game of UNO. We played four times. Everyone loved it.

We still had time to read after that. I got to spend one-on-one time with Will and read his new Curious George book to him. Joe read on his own, and Charlie read Richard Scarry to Helen with no problems whatsoever.

What a wonderful evening. A definite improvement over last night!

Makes My Monday

Yesterday, on the way home with all the kids, there was some work being done in the road near our house. And I hit it. More precisely, I hit some of the equipment. My tire was slashed and much of the passenger side of my (new, to me) car has a large scrape.

Cort is on business in Oregon, and his car is in the shop while he's there. So I don't have another mode of transportation. The shop closes at 5:30. This happened at approximately 5:29.

Also, while I was trying to call to make a police report, Will fell and split his lip on the floor. He also pulled down his pants and peed in the front yard while I was trying to take care of things with the car.

But Tony Montalbano of Montalbano Tire is a saint. He sent someone out to my house, after hours, to put my spare on. It took the guy quite awhile. The charge was $15.

Then, after I put the kids to bed (amidst tears because all this caused dinner to run late, and we ran out of time to read books before bedtime), I ate SIX of these dark chocolate granola things we just got at Costco.

So, what made my Monday? Tony Montalbano, Costco, and dark chocolate.

Happy Easter!

Channeling his inner sports fan

I think anyone who knows our family the slightest bit knows that Charlie and Joseph are HUGE sports fans. That's good for us, because Cort is a big sports fan, and I like going to games as well.

We've been taking Charlie and Joe to sporting events since they were 3, and regularly since they were 4. And they'll watch the game. The WHOLE game. They sometimes refuse to go to the bathroom, and while they are fans of the concession stand, they want us to go get it for them so they don't miss anything. They have no idea that there is a kids' play area in Minute Maid Park. They have been known to cry if we leave before a game is over.

We clearly got spoiled by this behavior. Turns out, most 3 and 4 year olds aren't really that easy to take to sporting events. Who knew?

We've now taken all four kids to a couple of baseball games and a football game. It hasn't been terrible, but it also hasn't been much about watching the game, either. For Will and Helen or, therefore, for us.

We've been hoping that they'd grow into loving sports. Especially since we've got a family baseball stadium tour planned to commence next year.

Then last week, I figured it out. Like his older brothers, Will loves numbers. I actually even remember explaining to Joe at a Texans game when he was 3 that "Football is all about numbers." Once I explained the concept of 10 yards in 4 downs, he was hooked. Even today, Joe is all about the score and the scoreboard.

So, at the Rockets game last weekend, when Will was getting antsy, I pointed out the scoreboard. I told him that if the ball went into the net, the numbers would change. He was entranced. I explained how the numbers under the "R" word showed the score for the Rockets, which was our team, and the numbers under the "H" word showed the score for the Hawks, which was the other team. He watched intently, getting excited with every basket, and going crazy when the Rockets (and the Hawks) reached 100. I also showed him the game clock and told him that when it got to 0:00, the game would be over and the team with the most points would win. Well, the Rockets won, and he was so excited that he is still talking about it.

We've since been to a hockey game and several of Charlie and Joe's baseball games. He likes to watch the scoreboard every time. He now knows that if there is a runner on 3rd and the batter hits the ball, the runner on third will run to home plate and that if the runner is safe a run will score. If there is a runner on second or first, he talks about how the runner has to go to each base and then home to score a run and change the number on the scoreboard.

It's all about figuring out what makes your kid tick. We are cautiously optimistic that we've got another sports fan in the making.

Just another family trip to Costco

Note how many people are looking at us.

Weirdly, I've gotten pretty used to being a spectacle.

Wordless Wednesday

Well, crap

Yesterday I picked Charlie up after school and just as we got to the car, he suddenly started sobbing that he had gotten in trouble in homework class and it was "all your fault!!" He was completely not understandable for awhile, but he finally explained to me between tears that "You and Dad never told me that 'crap' is not an appropriate word for school."

Apparently, he had been helping other kids with their "making words" homework. This is an exercise where they are given a bunch of letters and have to make a certain number of words out of those letters. Charlie, trying to be helpful, had given Jack the word "crap." And then Zane told on him for saying "crap," and Charlie had to "go sit in the chair" (whatever that means).

I told him that I was sorry that had happened, and that I was sorry that I had never told him that "crap" was an inappropriate word, but I just didn't know that he knew the word.

"Of course I know that word," he told me. "Dad says it all the time."

That's what he told his teacher, too.

Busted, Cort. You're busted.

Will helping Daddy count to 100

Will is turning out more and more like his brothers - a numbers whiz. He can now count to 100, and loves to do so. Here he is with Cort, looking at a page of a Sesame Street counting book. He told us he wanted to help Daddy count to 100.

Watch out ESPN

Charlie brought home from school his "warm up" notebook, in which he writes every morning as a warm up for starting the day. This was one of his entries. Tell me this kid shouldn't become a sports announcer.

Monday, March 7, 2011

It was yesterday. It was a baseball game baylor vs. rice. The game was tied eight-eight in the bottom of the tenth. Ware hit a double, Dalporto hit a sac bunt. Ware to third. Then 2 intentional walks came, with one out bases loaded for Muncy. Muncy hit the ball high up in the air it went past the infield all the way Out of the park! OH MY GOSH! A WALK OFF GRAND SLAM! Crazy! unbeliveable! I don't believe it a walk off grand slam. The bears win vs. rice 8-12.