Spring Break!!

Spring Break started today. After this weekend I am looking forward to not doing too much. Everyone keeps asking me what I have planned. I have nothing planned. We are going to live in the moment.

Basketball season ended last week. Mason's team didn't end
up placing in the season or the tournament. Tanner's team
ended up with first in the tournament. In their first tournament
game they came back from being down 12 points at the half.
They were so excited.

I thought with basketball season over things would slow down. Unfortunately, I had two late days at school and Mason got sick. He had some stomach bug. I win the Mother of the Year award. When he got up Wednesday morning he told me his stomach hurt and was laying around moaning. I guess I should have taken this as a clue. I kept encouraging him to go to school and kept reminding him we only had 3 more days to go. I dropped the boys off at school at 7:30 and my phone rang at 8:30. It was the nurse telling me Mason had been throwing up.

This weekend both Mason and Tanner were suppose to have baseball tournaments. Mason's was in College Station. It got cancelled because of the wet and cold weather. Tanner is playing at Big League Dreams. This is the stadium were they have the famous MLB parks like Yankee stadium. The fields are turf, so they don't cancel games. We had to be in League City at 7:00 this morning. I am hoping we don't have to be there too early tomorrow. We won one and lost one. I am waiting for them to post the rest of the results, so we know what time we play. Pray for at least 10:00. And while you are at it, pray for it to be dry and warm. Today was miserable. I don't think the temperature got out of the low 40's and it rained all of our second game.

Sax

Once again we had a busy weekend. Between both boys we 7 games. It started Friday night. Mason's team played at 8:15. We played a team we have played before and has beat us. Not on Friday. Our boys played great ball and we won 8-3. Saturday Mason had a basketball game at 11:00. Unfortunately they lost. He wasn't really on his game. Then we rushed over to Tanner's game which had just started. They won that game and then played again right after the first game and won that one too. Mason played their second baseball game right after Tanner's game and we won that game too. Tanner had to miss his basketball game because it was at the same time as his baseball games.

Sunday Tanner had a game and they lost 4-3. That ended the tournament for him. Mason played right after that and it was a very exciting game. We played the same team we had played on Friday. That team was out for blood. At one point we were behind 12-4. One inning we really looked like the bad news bears, with one error after another. Finally, in the 5th inning they started playing baseball and got a few runs. When it was 12-9 we had the bases loaded and one of our really good hitters got up to bat. I said, "It sure would be nice for him to hit a homerun." He didn't get a homerun, but he did hit a triple. This tied the game. The next batter walked. We had one out. Mason got up to bat and his coach told him to hit it up and in the outfield. Mason did just what he said and slammed that ball way out between left and centerfield. This brought in the winning run and the game was over. It was very exciting. We played again later that night for the championship. We won 6-1. This is the first time the boys have placed first place in a tournament. It was a very long weekend, but it was really fun.

Monday after school I took Mason to try out the instruments. He decided on the sax. They gave me a list of everything we will need to purchase before school starts in August. I am a little nervous at the price. I wasn't in band, so I have no idea what is in store for us.

This is the last week of basketball. They start their end of season tournament. Tanner plays tonight. If they win they play Saturday for the championship. If they lose their season is over. Mason plays Thursday night and it works the same way.

Kyle called me today and asked if he could come home. I was so mad at him when he left last time, I told Brad he wasn't welcome back. He left crap all over upstairs and he knew he wasn't coming back for a month. I had asked him to clean up before he left. He asked if he could come home and said he was sorry about leaving things out when he left, but he really didn't think it was that bad. He would take my word for it. He leaves Monday for two years. Maybe he will grow up some while he is gone.

Gearing up for Jr. High

A couple of weeks ago Mason brought home the course selection for Jr. high. Jr. High, how did that happen? We had to decide whether to take the pre AP classes or academic classes, and what elective to pick. When we initially talked about it Mason decided he would do choir, then they took a field trip to the high school and all the elective teachers talked to them. He came home and told me he would be joining band. He said he would like to play either the sax or the clarinet. Even more surprising was learning that Brad was in the band when he was in Jr. High. He played the trumpet. Mason has to go to the Jr. High on Monday after school and let the band director meet him. He looks at the kids and lets them try several instruments and then directs them into the instrument that looks like the best fit for each kid. Who knows what we will end up with.

The pre AP classes we decided on were reading, language, and social studies. We decided to do academic math and science. After talking to several other parents I might be changing that to all pre AP. I really don't want him to be overwhelmed, but I was told it is better to start them in these classes. If it gets to be too much we can always go back to academic. The Jr. High we are going to has a pretty diverse group of kids. I was told the majority of behavior problems are in the academic classes. I guess it will all work out.

Week in review

We had a big storm blow in on Tuesday night and this is what we woke up to. Our pool survived the hurricane, but not a front blowing in.




Mason helped his team win his game by scoring the last basket with seconds to go.







Mason's baseball team won second place in the President's Day Classic.

Valentine's Day

Once again I was struck by the reality of raising boys. Last night I gave the boys their Valentine cards to make out for their class exchange. I remember when I was little I would love Valentine's Day. I would take my cards and look through them so I could pick out the best Valentine for each person in my class. My best friend would get a special one, and which ever boy I loved at the time would get a special one as well. I had to pick out just the right card. I was a little boy crazy. I think I loved my first boy at age 3. I don't really remember his real name, but we called him Bubba Rooney. Why, I don't know. So back to last night. The boys got their class list and began filling out their cards. You had to attach a piece of candy to each so I was doing that. While putting the candy on Mason's cards I noticed one made out to Casey. The card read, You are my sweetheart! I started thinking, wow does Mason have a girlfriend. I asked him who Casey was and he said it was the boy that lived down the street. I said, "Well, your card to him says he is your sweetheart. Is that what you want to give him?" He said, "Man, why do these dumb cards say things like that?" I was all, "Duh, they are valentine cards, what do you expect?" Crazy kid!! He just wrote names on the cards and didn't even read them. That just really disappoints me. I thought the cards we got from the boys had been hand picked by them. I guess they were just in it for the goodies. I guess not much has changed. The men in our lives today are just in it for the goodies to. The only difference is the goodies have changed.

I did get a really cute card from Tanner today. It was his handprints making a heart. When I got it I thought, this is probably the last time I will get a handprint craft from him. That made me a little sad. He is really growing up.

Events from the week in pics

(pic 1)Tonight Tanner had the third grade program, "It's a Jungle Out There". He was an elephant. Doesn't he look excited?! He is always just so full of joy.
Pic 2) This is Tanner at basketball practice. He loves to be first. You see him looking to see how close the guy is running with him. He is usually the fastest. His baseball coach had him run against a 9 year old at practice Friday night. He told me he wanted to see how Tanner would do against this kid, because this was the fastest
kid he new. Tanner tied him.

(Pic 3)This is my sister's family. Her son, Zachary, was in the high school play "The Music Man". He was Winthrop. He is only in the 6th grade. He did awesome. Apparently his big brother in the back needs to be in drama as well.

(Pic 4)Saturday Mason was fouled with just a few seconds left in the game. His team was behind by 2 points. He had the opportunity to tie the game. He only made one shot. Maybe next time.

Independence

This Christmas Brad wanted to get the boys a mini dirt bike. I wasn't really happy with it, but like a lot of things in this house my opinion doesn't mean too much because I am the only female. There are lots of things I just don't get like guns, laughing at noises that the boys make with their bodies, talking about body parts etc..... Anyway, we got them the dirt bike. Once I saw the boys ride it I wasn't too concerned. It really didn't go too fast and they did wear helmets. Brad even agreed with me on making them stay off the roads. We have a bayou behind our house and a pond in the neighborhood. This gave them a safe place to ride. Then one day I got home and Brad was trying to figure out how to make the bike faster. Why!? He succeeded and now the bike goes much faster than I am comfortable with. The boys have also found a new place to ride. We had a public golf course that closed down during the summer. The bayou behind our house runs to the golf course. They like to ride to the old golf course now. I am not real comfortable with it, but I am not sure if I am being too protective. Part of me likes the idea of the boys getting to do what boys should do. But the mommy in me is scared they are going to get hurt. Last Sunday, Mason told me he was going to the golf course and ride. I made sure he had the cell phone. A little time had passed and Mason called crying, saying the bike had broken down and he was really far from home. Then the phone died. I tried to call him back, but it went straight to voice mail. I got in the truck with Tanner and drove down the bayou to where you can't go any further because there is a gate. Then Tanner and I walked to find Mason. At first I wasn't too nervous, but as I called for him and didn't hear him I got more and more scared. Finally we saw him. I told Tanner to run to Mason and for them to go to the building at the front of the golf course and I would come with the truck and pick them up. I ran, yes I ran, to get the truck and drove to the front of the golf course. The kids weren't there. I got really scared. I imagined someone had stolen them both. (although I know they wouldn't keep them for long) I rode all around that place looking for them. I finally decided to go home and guess who was there? Those crazy boys pushed the bike all the way home. I asked Tanner why they didn't stay and he said he forgot what I had said.

Then today the boys went with their neighborhood friends to the old golf course to play war. Brad and I rode our bikes out there and spied on them. They were fine and just having a blast. I am not sure how much independence you let the kids have. Do all moms feel this way when your babies are growing up?