Grieving for Tech

The face of Tech football, our quirky pirate coach, has been scammed. Here are some published comments because I don't even feel like coming up with my own words to express my thoughts about all of this. I am so depressed.

1. I will be adopting whatever school Leach ends up at. I encourage everyone else to follow.

2. Hello 3 -- 9 seasons, we missed you.

3. Bust out the All-American Bowl t-shirts...not even that. Maybe the Uncle Joe's Pizza Parlor Bowl shirts...at best.

4. I'm not only stunned, but a bit near teats. This is very upsetting.

5. I'm turning in my guns, and walking away from a program I've loved for forty plus years. Tech wrecked him!

6. Man, if this had happened during the semester I would expect the streets of Lubbock would look like those in Baghdad. It's gonna get ugly in West Texas.

7. It's official. I'm not getting any work done today.

8. Good Lord, we even have Aggies on our side!

9. Back to being a women's basketball school...and they're not even that great.

10. The highwater mark for Tech football will be visible somewhere in the empty stadium expansion.

11. Can Marsha Sharp coach football?

12. Just think, season ticket renewals are coming out in 6 weeks...Maybe they already printed Leach's face on them!

13. Coogs, lock up Sumlin now!

I'm just glad I didn't sign us up for the Alaskan "Cruise with the Coach" this coming summer. Maybe he'll still go! It would be a great trip. Wherever he ends up, sign me up as a fan! Looks like we'll be getting a new slew of t-shirts! Oh, I am so depressed.

Cockrell Butterfly trip with Michael

One of my favorite places in Houston is the Cockrell Butterfly Center at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Nick wanted to take Nathan to the Planetarium, and I knew Michael would be more interested in watching plants grow than being in there...sooo, I took him down the hall to see the butterflies.

Nancy Grieg is one of those people who I'd like to befriend. I met her just a couple of times and I instantly liked her! She is head curator and entomologist at the Cockrell Butterfly Center. Back when the neighborhood around West 11th Street Park was trying to SAVE the park, she guided my students through the park on a walking tour. It's an easy walk to this park...so why do we not do that more often? Darn testing. She was so kind and kid-friendly, and really made the nature walk come alive for all of those urban kiddos--and ME! What a neat lady! Anyway, she was at the Cockrell Center yesterday. Except yesterday, she was patrolling the center carrying around a giant orange IGUANA! How cool! Michael stepped right up for his turn to see the iguana AND pet it! He had no reservations, no skiddishness, no fear. I am proud of that quality in Michael. The butterflies, by the way, were SUPER COOL too. I was so jealous of this woman sitting in the butterfly center just sketching little butterfly scenes in her sketch book. I'm going to put that on my bucket list...Sketch butterflies at the butterfly center instead of chasing after a preschooler! HA!

Big Boy Bed

I love that my Michael is growing and changing into a big boy. And, I hate it at the same time. Our house looks a little bit different than it did last month. We donated the high chair. We bought a full mattress. We converted Michael's crib into a full size big-boy bed. Gone is the crib. Well, some of the crib's skeletal remains are again tucked up in the attic. Today we packed up more baby clothes. They're up there too.
When we packed up all of these things when Nathan was growing up, it was sad for me. Yes, it was sad. But, there was more of a chance then that those things would eventually come out of their hibernation at some point than there is now. THAT is the sad part. Will I someday bring out these things again for a third go around? Or are they retiring for good? Why did my years with babies in the house go by so wickedly fast?
Right now, my sweet little boy is sleeping in a monster of a bed. I remember when his crib seemed huge compared to the itty bitty newborn swaddled inside.

Christmastime Brunch

Christmas Card Photo

If it were up to my boys, there would be no Christmas card photo. There probably wouldn't be any Christmas cards. Except for those on the store shelves waiting for someone else to buy them. Why do I feel like I am going into battle to get them to pose for a few snapshots? Smile. Be sweet to your brother. Just for a minute. OK, pretend to be sweet. Look here. No, not down there...or over there...don't poke him...or strangle him...AAAAAAH!

I think Nick is a double agent, secretly working for the enemy. He isn't all fired up over the process either. They sense his "excitement."

I remember, back in the day, when I could gently place Nathan under the Christmas tree. His eyes filled with wonder seeing all the lights and ornaments. He sat there while I snapped probably a hundred photos. He never complained, never fidgeted. We'd take some more on the brick hearth, and even more outside in the yard. He so patiently put up with this obsession.

Now, fast forward. I'm lucky to get 5 shots to choose from. "Lean together" translates into "who can leeeeean enough to knock the other off the step stool." "Hold this candy cane" becomes "wouldn't it be a jolly good time to WHACK my brother with this candy cane?"

Just when I was about to tear my hair out, they both smiled, AND looked at the camera, AND didn't do anything for one split second to annoy each other, ANNNND I caught it all on film...well, digital film, or digital whatever that captures those magical moments. They do love each other, and there are many moments when they are sweet as pie with each other. Until I want to take Christmas pictures. But now, I have one to smile about. But, ohhhh, the anguish that it took to get it! :)

Pretty Flower and Pretty People

I like to consider Mike and Cindy my own personal friends, but they've been dear friends with my folks since before I was even around. They don't come to Houston often, but nor do I make it to west Texas very much either. They're coming tonight for supper and I am so excited! My boys get to meet them, and it will be so nice having them in the house tonight for a get-together. So much time passes in between our visits, but it is always nice to see them and catch up. Such wonderful people!

Weekend Moments

It's tough when your dad is a soon-to-be-dentist and you have a loose tooth. In Nick's defense, the dern tooth hung on by a microfiber for months it seemed like. But, it came out...on its own in good time. Nick tried to persuade Nathan to let him perform services, and I know it took restraint. I'm sure he could've gone in there with precision accuracy and lobbed it out before I could blink, but thankfully he heeded to Nathan's concerns and my mother tigerness that was going to pounce if he stepped too far away from the "daddy" line and into the "dentist" territory! :) He's a good dad, and let it take its course.

Nathan was blabbering to Michael. I was in the livingroom. They were playing back in Nathan's room and he was in the middle of giving Michael specific, strategic directions for something. In mid-sentence I hear this "AHHH"--not "there's a bug" urgency in the pitch, and it wasn't directed at his brother either. He later said that just seeing the tooth on the ground is what spooked him first. The duty had been done. His first tooth had just popped out in the middle of his talkin'! There was no tugging, floss/door drama, extraction pliers, nothing.

It happened to coincide with Pawpaw Dean's birthday, too! Happy Birthday Dad! My mom wrapped up grandson presents for my dad and the boys' faces were confused-elated to see the surprises inside!

Last night, to Nick's COMPLETE shock and surprise, the tooth fairy had fluttered in sometime before morningtime! How does she keep track of all those kids with all of those teeth??? She must be incredible! Don't you love the FLAME tooth fairy pillow? It's so dainty and frilly and fairy-ish. Ugh.

This Weekend

A COOOOL and wet weekend it has been. We spent two great days with all of the grandparents this weekend. Saturday, we zipped on over to the Houston Zoo with Barbara and Odis. It was almost too cold. Maybe I should not have worn sandals and short sleeves. We had such a nice morning visiting the animals and walking around together. Burgers and cookies topped off the field trip. Yum!
Today, we woke up early and drove to Columbus. It started raining about the time we were on the beltway flyover, and despite my hopes that it would cease, it continued. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Nathan got car sick at the breakfast stop. And, I wasn't so thrilled to be amongst the target shooting practice. However, the bonfire was warm, the jackets slicked off the rain for the most part, and we enjoyed a nice picnic. After toes got damp and too cold enough to stand, we packed up and came home. The boys sure did enjoy the 4-wheeling, fishing, throwing stuff into the fire, and playing in the mud.
This old mama is tired. A fun, busy weekend of family togetherness and it was fun. I hope the coolness sticks around a bit longer!

Some Recent Photos

Cobb Caterpillar Conservatory

A species of sulpur butterfly is sowing its oats all over my candlestick plant. I'm not sad about the caterpillars' slow destruction of my beautiful candlestick flowers and leaves because the plant served as the dating locale for their parents in the last several months. Ever since this plant was not much more than a stick in the ground with a few cute leafy stems, there have been two little buttercup yellow butterflies skittering about. It has been a frequent dance routine. In the mornings, we'd see the flittering. They'd land for a blink of a sip of nectar, then go about their fluttering.

Somewhere in the dancing steps, somebody deposited eggs that have now grown into yellow butterflies. I am not familiar with these as much as I have become with the monarchs since just across the yard, there lies a milkweed heaven that a few months ago was bustling with monarch caterpillars.

My first glimpse this morning was from the bedroom window. The caterpillar's contrast against the leaves caught my eye from clear inside the house. Upon closer observation, other siblings were there too, more camouflaged. I looked up candlestick plant caterpillars and there is strong resemblance, although slight differences between my little sulphur offspring and the model online. The others were from up north. I was happy to connect the caterpillars with the butterflies that had so daintily (is that a word?) flitted around the plant before.

Reading over my caterpillar commentary, I'm now wondering if I am a complete dork. Do I have a million other things I should be doing right now? SURE! Did my Saturday morning come to a screeching standstill because of a caterpillar? Yep. But, do you see the caterpillar INSIDE the candlestick flower? So cool.

Some thoughts...

1. I get to pick up the boys on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Although it makes the commute longer, I love being there to pick up my own children.
2. My three new classes worth of children are going to be fun. We have a neat group of kiddos. It should make for an enjoyable year.
3. Friday night was funny. I called a "family out to dinner" night because we had been too busy during the week to do ANYTHING. Once we vetoed fast food and some other places with Friday night wait times, Nathan emotionally pulled for Luby's. How original. On the way, we weighed some other more-tempting locales, but NO, NO, NO, we HAAAAD to go to Luby's. We get to Luby's, go through the line, sit down in a whirlwind from getting the RIGHT milks, a share-able dessert, choosing a table, getting TO the table, greeting the hypervigilant waitress (I still wish they had the cart ladies instead of waitresses) who is trying to empty my tray (I appreciate the help, but I don't want Michael to really see that Nathan got chocolate milk while he chose the blue carton because of quite possible, if not inevitable meltdown. Plus, I can empty my own tray.) Anyway, we sit down with a humph and no sooner than I unroll my napkin to withdraw my utensils do the boys start in with I'm not really hungry and the I just don't want to eat...ANYTHING business. Somehow we managed to live through it. There were a few moments of peace, and those felt good. Thankfully my mom came over Saturday and we escaped for a date.

My Baby is THREE!

While fast asleep in pleasantdreamland , Michael completed his third year of life and began his fourth. I'm so excited to see him grow and change, but so sad to see him grow and change. I love my Michael.

Back in the Saddle

I reported back to school yesterday. For the next many days we are jam-packed with meetings and trainings and updates of trainings. I'd much rather be working in my classroom or teaching.
Coming back to school, I am reminded of the scheduling craziness, testing lovefest, and the little blips of nonsense that seem to pop up here and there. I do love my job. I love the people I work for and work with, and the children who fill my days with eagerness, excitement, and...well, challenges! I got so much accomplished yesterday while working in my room, and I am anxious to get back to that. I am working my way back to getting up at 5AM. Yesterday it was 6:00, today it was 6:15; ok, so I am working away from the normal time, but I'll get there. Now, I must insert time for lunches, getting children readied, and gathering all of our paraphernalia that comes along with us. The first day last year (was it last year?), I got everything except Michael's shoes. And for the next week or two (0r two months) I'd forget something or another pretty often. Tomorrow we meet Nathan's teacher...that's exciting!

Alaska Aficionado

We are all-to-quickly back from our trip to Alaska. If I called it incredible or amazing, that would seem so bland. The trip did exactly what it was intended to do: Nick and I got some time to be a couple without the maintenance of our sons' brotherly dynamics, AND we experienced some of the absolute best scenery the world has to offer. The final goal of the trip was to give us a booster, a collection of memories, to get us through the next few years of school, school, tests, housework, school, boys, school, boys, and school. Here are a few photos of the trip. I love Alaska!

A Little Afternoon Drama

On my way home today (an hour ago it has already been?) my dad calls telling me that ADT called HIM about MY house. The master bedroom window had been "breached," which I figured out quickly that meant broken, opened, or SOMETHING not good. Somehow I drove sanely for the few miles remaining. All of the sudden a curtain of SUPERSTRONG rain showers poured onto the van. Hmmm, perhaps it could've been the rain that jolted the window and triggered the alarm. Thankfully, I was right. I beat the sheriff to the house by a few minutes. I could see at least one dog in the front window, but having the boys in the van, I didn't want to approach the house. I guess if the boys had not been in the van, I STILL would not have wanted to approach the house. How our house is situated to where I can see the back facing the retention pond. From what I could tell, no windows along the back were broken or open. Things were looking up. The sheriff arrived and stood guard by the boys in the van (in the rain, bless his heart) while I went and checked the house. I would've sent him in, however, Charlie would've chewed him up and spit him out. No broken windows, open windows, forced open back doors, or even any unlocked windows or doors. I looked at the weather radar once we had the all-clear and sure enough a dark maroon spot of storms formed right over our neighborhood out of nowhere and must have revved its engines just enough to rattle the windows and trip the alarm. For some reason I am still rattled myself. Thank you Mr. Sheriff for helping me keep my home safe.
Now that I think about it, I didn't enter the house with a shovel or something. I just went right in. Ah, the life lessons.

More Summer Photos

Holy-Bubbles-Batman! Michael was again quiet for too long today. Come to find out, he was "making bubbles" in the bathroom sink. He got soap in the sink, pulled up the drain plug, and had the water a-blastin'. He was having the best time, but thankfully I sensed unbalance in the atmosphere. Oh, how glad I was to NOT have Niagara Falls in the bathroom! Michael loves waterfalls almost as much as bubbles!