Why I Rarely Post to the Blog Anymore

This weekend we:  came home from school on Friday, greeted Grandad and Gransan, had a snack, planned a science project, supervised the putting on of two baseball uniforms, went to a baseball game where Cort was a substitute coach and the boys substitute players, went out to eat, came home and went to bed, got up Saturday morning and got donuts before 7am, supervised the putting on of three soccer uniforms, left the house at 7:40am for an 8am soccer game, followed that with a 9am soccer game, came home, ordered from Five Guys and picked it up, ate lunch, went to the Travis Halloween carnival, worked one one-hour shift at the kindergarten booth, walked around the carnival with the kids, took the kids home so they could rest and two could change into baseball uniforms, went back to the carnival and worked two more one-hour shifts at the third grade booth, went back home to pick up the kids, went to another baseball game, came home, ordered food, went to pick it up, fed the kids, put them to bed, washed uniforms, showered and got ready, went to a friends' party, put uniforms in the dryer, "slept in" till 8am on Sunday, had breakfast with the kids, learned how to play Rummikub, worked on two science projects, went to Costco and bought a new TV and some lunch, ate lunch, supervised the putting on of two baseball uniforms, went to another baseball game, said goodbye to Grandad and Gransan, went to the grocery store, bought some pumpkins, cooked dinner, supervised two kids' showers, ate dinner, listened to one kid read, carved one jack-o-lantern, played Rummikub again, read a bedtime story, put kids to bed, cleaned the kitchen, and wrote it all down on the blog.

Glory Days?

This morning, because our housekeeper comes today, I ran around the house picking up all the miscellaneous unknown scraps of paper that my kids write on then leave around the house.

This one caught my eye.  It appears to be created by Joe.  Apparently, for only $1.50, I can have two minutes of glory.

Sounds like a bargain to me.

Best Answer Ever

So Will and Helen have a little over a full week of kindergarten under their belt, and things are going well.  Last night, I asked Will if he liked kindergarten.  He responded:

Yes!  I love kindergarten.

[Pause]

But Mom, I love you even more than I love kindergarten.  Definitely.

Dude is one quirky kid

While Joe was away at Gramma's house, he sent this to Cort and me via email.  Guess he was just looking out for us?  Or for the earth?

Knock Knock

Helen:  Knock knock.

Me:  Who's there?

Helen:  Why did the chicken cross the road?

Me:  Why?

Helen:  I don't know!

Me:  [laughing]

Helen:  No.  Really!  I don't know why.

Makes My Monday, Part Two

When I got home from work, at approximately 6:04pm, I found this countdown that Charlie and Joe had made on the computer counting down the number of hours, minutes, and seconds until we leave for our annual vacation to the Cayman Islands.

I'm as ready as they are.

Makes My Monday, Part One

For their last week at Cathedral House, Helen and Will wanted Charlie and Joe to come read to their class.

I'm not sure who was more proud -- Charlie and Joe to be able to read, or Will and Helen to show off their big brothers.

Or maybe it was me.

Joe reading "Thunder and Lightning" (a Cars book selected by Will)

Charlie reading "The Berenstein Bears Play T-ball," selected by Helen

Makes my Monday

Charlie has become a whistler.  He whistles around the house, everywhere, all the time.

The cool thing about that?  When Cort's out of town, I don't feel alone.  With Charlie whistling away, it feels like Cort's right there.

Just another way that Charlie is like his dad.  Makes my Monday.

Stairsteps

Last Friday Charlie and Joe did not have camp, so they joined me at my office.  A few months ago we moved into new office space on the 14th floor of a historic downtown Houston building.  When we left at the end of the day, the boys wanted to take the stairs down to the lobby.

I wasn't about to do the same in heels, but I figured if they really wanted to, why not.  They are eight years old, and it's not like they could get lost inside the stairwell.  I would beat them down taking the elevator, and I would be right there waiting in the lobby when they got to the first floor.

But when I got to the lobby, I realized that I didn't know where the stairs came out.  I looked around where I thought they should be, but I didn't see anything.  So I finally asked the security guard, who said that they came out "somewhere outside on the street."  I went outside, but still had trouble finding it.

Eventually, they came running out from the lobby.  They had come down fourteen flights to the first floor and found themselves out on the street, and couldn't find me.  Since they weren't sure how to get back to the lobby, or even to the building, from there, they decided to go back up.  They went up six floors (for a total of twenty floors navigated) before they found a place where they could enter the building again from the stairwell.  They got out on the sixth floor (someone's office, I'm sure), and took the elevator down.

They were breathless, but of course fine.  So we headed to the parking garage a block away, where I was parked on the thirteenth floor.  And immediately upon arriving there they ask:  "Can we take the stairs?"  So they headed up thirteen flight of stairs to my car.  

This is why I say, multiple times a day, that I wish I had my kids' energy.

A second grade fairy tale

Football Fairy Tale
By Joseph Maddux
Illistrations by Joseph Maddux*
(c) 2011 10/27-11/7

Once upon a time 1,000000000 (One thousand milion) years ago there was a person named Chad Johnson who wanted to play on the Baltimore Colts.  But the owner of the Colts Vince Foster did not let him.  So he waited another season to see if he would let him play on the Baltimore Colts.  Evrey night he dreamed if he was on the colts scoring touchdowns, kicking feild goals and even interceptions touchdowns and saftys [safeties] and winning the superbowl to get the Vince Lombardi trophy.  One day Chad saw a pebble and thought it was magic and wished for a Colt uniform and as soon as he snapped he saw it laying on the ground and called Vince and Chad said "I've got a uniform" Vince said "what number is your uniform" Chad said "number eighteen" "great there's no Colt number is number eighteen" said Vince "you can play on the colts!" said Vince again.  "Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" said Chad Vince said "first game verses Indianapolis Ravens but if we loose you are kicked out of the team" said Vince.  Soon it was time to play the Ravens kicked off Chad got the ball he ran and ran and ran until sombody tacled [tackled] him he was on the Ravens twenty-nine yard line.  The quarterback Alex Smith tried to pass to Oscar Tate but it was a incomplete pass to Oscar.  It was 2nd down and 10 to go Alex Smith got sacked for a loss of 10 yds.  The Colts were in troble Alex trough [threw] to Oscar it was incomplete.  It was 4th and 20 Alex pased down feild to Chad and he caugt the ball and ran it was end of 1st but play keeps going 20 15 10 5 GOAL TOUCHDOWN COLTS!  That was end of the 1st  The Colts kicked of [off] the ravens got it the Ravens fumbles Chad with the ball 5 4 3 2 1 G TOUCHDOWN CHAD!  The Colts kicked of [off] agian the stop by Sam Cushing that stoped on the 2 yd. line.  "Hut" said the quarterback.  Sacked for 3 yds.  Safty 2 points!  It was 16-0 Colts at the end of the half.  The Ravens safty bunted and Chad got the ball he ran and ran and ran and ran and ran to the 1 yd. line  Touchdown run by Oscar Tate.  End of the 3rd!  Colt kickoff he rant to the 11.  The quarterback trough [threw] to the running back ran 10 yds.  First down.  2 downs pastest [passed] away with runs and a incomplete pass and they kicked a feid [field] goal.  It was 23-3 teh Cots were wining with 1 sec. left.  They kneeled it.  It was game end Chad stayed on the Colts THE END

*Questionable on the illustrations, since there were no pictures.

Operation Summer Failure

This parenting thing sure is counter-intuitive.  School's out for summer around here, so we are working on some summer projects.  Of course, summer for my kids is not nearly the same as summer when I was a kid.  Will and Helen are still in school/daycare, so their days haven't changed except to add early morning swim lessons three times a week.  So, busier, actually.  Charlie and Joe are in a different camp every week--this week they have a full day of baseball camp and are coming home exhausted.  So depending on the week, also busier for them.  And they have been assigned schoolwork over the summer (when did schools start doing this?), so add that to the mix.  

But still, there are technically fewer real obligations, so we are taking the summer to work on a few things.  I plan to teach all the kids how to sort laundry, for instance.  I know.  Exciting stuff.  

The big project for the summer, however, is Charlie.  Charlie is an amazing kid.  He is motivated, driven, and successful at almost everything he does.  Schoolwork?  All As.  His yearly average in one subject was a 99.  I don't think he ever made less than a 100 on his spelling tests this year, and most of those 100s came on a pre-test, where they took the test cold without having studied the words at all.  And math - he's crazy proficient in math.  He seems to have memorized most of his multiplication facts already, without even trying.  Reading - he has whizzed through all seven Harry Potter books.  One day he told me that he read four different Magic Treehouse books during his free time in class.  And of course sports, his passion?  Amazing defensive baseball player, best basketball player on his team, and a real leader on the soccer field.  Also easily picks up other things, like skiing, golf, football, swimming, etc.  

Charlie's problem, though, is that he is too successful.  He does not handle failure well.  He is super-competitive, and wants to win.  At EVERYTHING.  He does not deal well with adversity.  (Interestingly, he is generally okay with losses in sports though.)  

Well, life is full of adversity, and a big part of a person's character is how to deal with that.  So, our summer project is for Charlie to fail.  Repeatedly.  Sometimes unfairly.  And then teach him how to handle it.  I never thought I would spend a significant amount setting my kid up for failure.  But there you have it.  Parenting is weird.

"Luck" in the learning log

As the end of school winds down, the boys have been bringing home some of their work from second grade.  Yesterday, Joe brought home his "learning log."  This is a notebook that they write in every morning during "warmup" time, either to do math problems, journal, or write sentences using their spelling words.

One week in January, the spelling words all focused on different words with the "k" sounds--some spelled with "c," some with "k," and some with "ck."  One of the works was "luck," and Joe used it in a sentence:

"The Colts will probably draft Andrew Luck."

 Add spelling to the things that you can learn from sports.

Moms, Muffins, Shopping, and T-ball

This morning was my last Cathedral House "Moms and Muffins."  Sniff.  

I've been every year for the last eight years, with the exception of 2007 when I was otherwise occupied with becoming a mom once again.  (That year Charlie and Joe brought the muffins to me in the hospital.)

We are about to move on to another chapter in our lives.  A few short months and we will have four elementary-school-aged children.  

Here are the pictures Will and Helen made for Moms and Muffins.  See if you can guess whose is whose.  It's not what you would think.  Or then again, maybe it is.

Me and Mommy like to go shopping.

Me and Mommy like to play t-ball.

 (Yes, Will is shopping and Helen is t-ball.)

Look who has a nightgown

Look who has a new nightgown to wear to bed, in addition to all those PJs like the boys.  

No way would she have worn this if I had bought it for her.  Luckily, the Easter bunny brought it, so she's all over it.

And speaking of big . . .

Will has been going to the eye doctor since he was about four months old.  He has always sat in my lap while he was examined.

A couple of weeks ago he had another appointment.  He just got up in the chair by himself and sat there like a little man.  When did my little guy get so big?

Running the Bases

If there isn't another game starting, Helen and Will run the bases after Charlie and Joe's baseball games end.

Helen is the epitome of an "I can do anything my big brothers can do" child. 

But doesn't she look so big here in her own right? 

The Last Six Hours

2:45 - I leave work
3:00 - I arrive at school to pick up Joe
3:15 - Joe and I arrive home (Will is already home with Gramma)
4:25 - I leave home
4:30 - I arrive at school to pick up Charlie
4:35 - Charlie and I arrive home
5:00 - Cort leaves work
5:15 - Cort arrives at school to pick up Helen
5:30 - I instruct the three kids at home to pick up and get ready to leave
5:35 - Cort and Helen arrive home
5:40 - I instruct all kids to get in cars
5:45 - Cort and Joe leave home
5:50 - Charlie, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I leave home
5:55 - Charlie, Will, Helen, Gramma and I arrive at school for healthy chef's night
6:00 - Cort and Joe arrive at the baseball fields for batting practice
6:10 - I leave school
6:20 - I arrive at baseball fields to pick up Joe
6:30 - Joe and I arrive back at school for chef's night
6:40 - Charlie and I leave school
6:50 - Charlie and I arrive at baseball fields, where I drop Charlie off for batting practice
7:00 - I arrive back at school
7:10 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I leave school
7:15 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I arrive at the drive-through of the new Chik-Fil-A (yes, I see the irony in the fact that we have to order fast food because we were too busy at healthy chef's night to actually have a healthy meal)
7:20 - Cort and Charlie leave the baseball fields
7:25 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I leave Chik-Fil-A
7:30 - Joe, Will, Helen, Gramma, and I arrive home, followed immediately by Cort and Charlie
7:35 - Helen sets the table and everyone begins eating
8:00 - Cort and I begin herding kids upstairs to get ready for bed
8:15 - Charlie and Joe go to bed
8:20 - Will and Helen go to bed
8:45 - I make muffins for breakfast

Our little competitor

Helen is competitive. Very competitive. She's not quite as into sports as her big brothers, but she is VERY into winning. In fact, she thinks about pretty much everything in terms of winning.

Case in point:

The other day I told Will and Helen that we needed to go pick up Charlie and Joe at their friend Colin's house. Who's Colin? Helen wanted to know. (They've been friends with Colin for two years now. She should know him.) I reminded her that Colin was Charlie's friend from school. She said she didn't know him. I tried to jog her memory--remember, Colin was on their soccer team too. Nope, she insisted she didn't know him. I said, "Remember, he has a little sister named Kiera and she is going to be in kindergarten with you." We have discussed this pretty much every time we have seen Kiera for the last year. Will and Helen have played with Kiera multiple times during the boys' soccer games and practices. Still, Helen said she didn't know Kiera or Colin. Since Kiera also played soccer last fall, I tried that tact: "Remember, Kiera was on the red soccer team?"

To which Helen immediately responded: "Oh. Yeah. I know Kiera. We BEAT them. Twice. And they LOSED!!!!"

Things that make absolute sense to a child

After eating donuts for breakfast, I told Will to wash his hands and then get dressed. His response?

"But I licked my hands. So they're good."

Tales from Our Sleepwalker

When he was younger, Joe had night terrors. Those were scary. Now that he is older, he has progressed . . . to sleepwalking.

Sleepwalking isn't scary at all. It's hilarious. Here are some of the things he's done recently.

One night we heard him upstairs walking around so Cort went up to check on him. Cort: "Are you okay Joe?" Joe: "I need Daddy." Cort: "OK." Joe: "No, I need Daddy." Cort: "I'm right here bud." Joe: NO! I said DADDY." Cort: "Joe, I am Daddy." Joe: "No, I want Daddy, not you." Cort: "Um, OK. Hey, do you want to go back to bed?" Joe: "OK."

Another night, he came walking down the stairs. We asked him if he needed something. He said yes, he needed to wash his hands. And with that, he walked over to the kitchen sink, washed his hands, went back up the stairs, and got back in bed.

And most recently, Cort went upstairs again when he heard Joe walking around. He found him in the master closet, where he was getting a pair of Cort's socks from his sock drawer. Joe took Cort's socks, went back into his room, and put the socks into the dirty clothes hamper in his (Joe's) closet. Then he got back in bed and went straight to sleep.

He never has any idea in the morning that he did these things. (Nor does Charlie, who sleeps through it all even though they share a room and Joe sometimes even turns the light on.) But it does make for some laughs over breakfast.

Way Back When-esday

Yesterday Cort turned 41.

Here's a picture from eight years ago, the day he turned 33.



His birthday present was bringing his sons home from the hospital.

Words with Brothers

Charlie and Joe have recently become avid players of Words with Friends. They play games against each other, against me, and against Gransan.

At some point, they figured out that as part of the Words with Friends app on their ipods, they can also text each other.

This is what 7-year-old brothers say to each other when they text:

Someone has been watching a little too much television

Me: Joe, you need to decide whether you want to go to soccer camp, because I need to sign you up soon in order to take advantage of the early bird special.

Joe: What's the early bird special?

Me: If we sign you up early, it costs less.

Joe: Do we have to sign up early?

Me: No, but I want to.

Joe: Why?

Me: Because I like to save money.

Joe: You can save money AND live better at Walmart.

Amazing Race: Season Maddux

Guess what is about to start again? The Amazing Race, a/k/a the best show on television.

Cort and I have loved this show since the first season. But last season, we introduced Charlie and Joe to it. To say that they are hooked would be an understatement.

In fact, they love it so much that they have taken to making up their own version themselves. Many Friday nights, when everyone gets home, we all have to play a leg of the Amazing Race.

Detour: Choose one of two tasks to complete.


Route marker


Road block - who's going to do it?


This way to the pit stop (Joe usually plays the part of Phil, by the way. He's got all the lingo down.)


The pit stop sign in made by Joe. I came in last. Fortunately, it was a non-elimination round. Whew.

When he sets his mind to something

Joe started writing--proficiently--at age 3. Letters, then whole words. Lists, lists, and more lists. (He's still a listmaker.)

Problem is, he held his pencil in his fist. Not unusual for a 3-year-old. But then he turned 4, then 5, then 6, then 7. And he still held his pencil in his fist.

His preschool teachers tried to get him to hold it correctly. Use "alligator fingers," they said.

He didn't want to.

His kindergarten teacher got him a special pencil grip to use. And when it came time for the class invention, she steered his class toward making an invention to help kids hold a pencil right.

He was interested, but he didn't change his grip.

We discussed the issue with his first grade teacher, then his second grade teacher, at parent-teacher conferences. His second grade teacher told us that, statistically, if he had not started doing it right by second grade, it would probably be very difficult to get him to change.

We knew that. The kid writes everything down, fast. And he was comfortable with his fist grip. Change was uncomfortable, and slowed him down.

And really, in the scheme of life's problems, "incorrect pencil grip" seems to be pretty far down on the list.

He holds his pencil incorrectly. So what?

Except.

Now he doesn't.

The other day when I picked him up at school he informed me that he had held his pencil correctly all day. He came home and did his homework, then addressed all of his Valentines--all the while holding it correctly. He has never looked back. He always holds it correctly now.

His teacher told me she reviewed the mechanics of pencil grip in preparation for learning cursive writing. We don't know if it was the mechanics review, the anticipation of learning cursive, or just what was in the air that day that made him change.

It has confirmed two things: (1) it is very difficult to make Joe do something that he has no interest in doing and (2) there is no stopping him when he does set his mind to do something.

A changing of seasons

We are in changing of seasons right now.

Not winter to spring, though.

In the Maddux household, it's basketball to baseball.

Since December, Charlie and Joseph have been playing basketball at the Y. I personally was dubious, but it's been fun. The Y is very laid back, so it's nice to just play and not worry about standings for while. The boys both did very well, and their whole team (the Heat) really seemed to improve over the season. It was fun to see them start learning to pass and play more as a team.

Charlie was great from the beginning, and was probably the most accomplished player on the team. Joe was a solid defensive player from the start, but his offense really improved toward the end of the season--including one stellar game with several points. (Charlie, I think, scored in every single game.)

They won some, and they lost some, and they even tied some. But they had fun the whole time. (Well, almost. Competitive Charlie got upset after one loss, and some rule-breaking by his opponent, but ultimately he handled things just fine.)


A particularly good game for the Heat. Many points for both Maddux boys at this one.

But now, basketball is over. We've got this week off, and then . . .

it's baseball season again!

Charlie and Joe will play coach pitch and be on the Red Sox again. They've got several returning friends on the team, and are excited to get started.

And Will and Helen are playing t-ball for the first time. They are on the Rattlers, Charlie and Joe's old t-ball team, and what they lack in t-ball skills they make up for in enthusiasm.

Mom and Dad are gearing up for much time spent at the fields. Cort will help coach both teams, and I'll be the Red Sox "Team Mom" (and undoubtedly will help with t-ball too--because a LOT of parents are needed to help with t-ball).

Practices start this weekend, and games start in a little over a month. Here we go . . . play ball!

Multi-tasking

Tonight, in a little over 45 minutes, I--

Supervised preschool homework
Helped with corrections to second grade homework
Addressed a homework-related meltdown
Cooked dinner
Set the table
Helped a 4-year-old take two trash cans to the curb
Listened to a second grader reader for his required 20 minutes
Cleaned wax out of four ears
Supervised two 4-year-olds taking a shower at different times
Combed tangles out of wet hair
Solved a word scramble (designed by second grader as part of his homework)
Signed required forms for elementary school
Addressed many, many grievances
Wiped one butt

This is progress?

This is what we got on Helen's monthly progress report from school:

In the past during freework time, Helen usually would do independent work or something with Will. Lately she's choosing to spend time aggravating others in some way. When they tell on her, she shows a smirk. . . .

Yep, that's pretty much what she does at home, too.

She always gets her way, one way or the other

Yesterday, Cort took Helen to the grocery store with him.

Upon arrival, she got down on her hands and knees on the floor of the grocery store. Cort told her to get up. This led to arguing, because of course she questioned why. He told her that the floor was dirty, and finally gave her an ultimatum requiring her to get up.

So she complied. Sort of. She crouched down with her hands poised about an inch from the floor. "Can I do this then?" she asked. Cort told her no. She asked why--again--and he told her because he said so.

So she stood up. But then she bent over and placed her hands on her knees. "Can I do this then?" she asked. Cort, exasperated, said sure.

And she proceeded to walk this way the entire time they were in the grocery store.

The good and the bad

One of the really cool things about having a big family is that you have enough people to do things like split up into teams and have a 3-on-3 soccer game.

One of the down sides is that as your kids get older, they become harder to defend are more likely to cause you injury.

This "small" bruise on my leg is a result of trying to block Charlie's shots.

Ch-ch-changes

Since this little blog is a chronicle (sort of) of what is going on with our family, I thought I should mention a couple of recent big changes.

First, last month, Cort took a new job as a partner at the law firm of Jones Walker. This wasn't something he was really looking to do, but a former colleague heads the Houston office and approached him. Ultimately, we decided it was a good career move for him and a good thing for our family.

The best things about his new job are (1) he is back downtown and therefore closer to home (we've even had a lunch date too!) and (2) he is back to receiving a regular income (his old income wasn't bad, it just wasn't consistent - and we aren't that great at budgeting without a clear picture of what is coming in every month).

The worst thing about his new job is that he is no longer near the grocery store we use for online orders and pickup. I tried going back to regular grocery shopping, but I am not a fan. I'll just find time myself to drive over to pick them up from now on. It's a small price to pay for having him back close by.

Second, possibly bigger news, is that as of this afternoon, we are the proud owners of a new house! Again, not something we were really planning on, and we certainly weren't planning on owning two houses ever again, but here we are.

When we found out we were having a second set of twins, we decided to build our current house. It is big, brand new, and very nice. It was supposed to be forever. But somehow, we are not in love. Several months ago, we started discussing the possibility of moving eventually.

As anyone in Houston knows, that's the first step to becoming addicted to har.com. One day on a whim, I suggested that we go look at a particular house that had been on the market for awhile (but the price had recently been lowered).

The house is a ranch style and needs some updating, but that was what we were looking for. We had decided that we really don't like new houses -- we would rather take an older house with some character, and remodel it to our liking.

So we went to look, and we really liked it. Original hardwood floors in most of the house. Lots of light. Over 3000 square feet and move-in ready if need be, but still with a lot of good "bones" to remodel and make it a really neat place. It's just west of the Heights, but still very close to downtown, which is one of our criteria. Best of all, it is on a 24,000 square foot lot--which is almost unheard of in inner city Houston.

But we decided it wasn't the right timing for us, and said no.

About a month later, the sellers came back to us with the proposition that they lease the house back. That opened up the door to us buying it as an investment property, with the idea that we would move in at a later date. So we did it. We closed today.

So now comes the fun part. We are planning what we can do. We know we will build on a new master suite. The original rooms can be divided to allow each of the kids their own room if they want it (currently, two of them do, two of them don't). We're going to put in a pool! We're searching online and learning more about the mid-century modern (doesn't that sound better than "ranch"?) style -- apparently, mid-century modern is the new bungalow, or so a friend told me.

We're still not moving for a little while, but it's fun planning the possibilities!


Here's the new house!

Wordless Wednesday

Kids can embarrass you in so many ways

Cort took my car to San Antonio last week and discovered that my car was making a bunch of noise while turning and was driving really rough. So we took it in to the dealership this morning. Cort drove it there and the service guy took it around the block to see what was going on, while I waited in the other car with Will and Helen.

I was so glad that it was Cort and not me dealing with the service department, because he was the one who got to be embarrassed when the guy returned and informed him that the only thing "wrong" with my car was that one of the kids had put it in four wheel drive while we weren't looking.