It's started......

Football is back. Tanner had his first practice last night, they both have practice tonight, Thursday, and Saturday (same time different location). We begin our juggling act. Mason has always had a really good football experience, all sports for that matter. The coaches are there for what is best for the team. They don't play a lot of "dad ball". Tanner, bless his heart, hasn't had the most positive experiences. I already have a bad taste in my mouth after one practice. He has the same coach he had last year. This coach said at the end of the season he wanted to play Tanner as quarterback this year. Tanner was very excited about this. Then last night at practice he stated he is letting the kids try out for new positions, which is a good thing. He then named three kids and their positions. His son and one other coaches son were two of the three kids named. I just hope he really means what he says and gives everyone a chance. I just want Tanner to have a good time and feel successful. I was hoping he wanted to play baseball this fall instead of football. It is less stressful.

My Little Helpers

Yesterday my friend Kathy called and said she needed me and the boys to go on a mission for her. Her husband has been out of town and while he was away she discovered a 3 foot water moccasin in her yard. This freaked her out just a tad and was deep in her memory. Anyway, her kids wanted to go swimming and when they went outside their little pool was gone. I guess with the storms on Thursday it blew away. She just knew the pool was behind her fence in the field by the bayou. Perfect snake territory. Being a little freaked out by the friend she found in the yard, she called the Holmberg's because we are so brave! I asked the boys if they would go and look for her pool. They asked me what they would get. Which made me go into the spill of.....you don't always get something, you should just help out because it is the right thing to do and we help out our neighbors blah, blah, blah.......... They both took off (notice I am such a brave mother and sent my kids into harms way without me) and about 15 minutes later Kathy called and the boys had completed their mission successfully. I walked outside and saw them coming home and I was so proud of them. They were all smiles. Then the sweetest thing happened. Tanner pulled these squished purple flowers out of his pocket for me. I could have just eaten him up in that moment. Maybe there is hope for my boys after all. The flowers were in such bad shape I had to cut them off at the stems and let them float in water.

Later that evening we were sitting at supper and I told the boys to tell Brad about their adventure that day. Mason proceeded in telling Brad they rescued the pool out of a snake pit and it took them at least an hour, and guess what, Mrs. Kathy was bringing them a little something for helping them out. Which again made me go on and on....... you need to be grateful for whatever she gives you, whether it be a penny, a nickel, or whatever it may be blah, blah, blah, blah.... Can you believe that woman gave them $3 each? They were thrilled!! Thanks Kathy!

Bummer

I bought some beef cutlets on sale this past weekend and decided I would make chicken fried steak. Feeding my children is a real challenge. They are really picky. I am sure they are what I have created, but I have deep feelings about forcing kids to eat things they don't like. That comes from my step dad, childhood scars. Anyway, they actually like steak fingers. I made the steak, rice, green beans, ( Pioneer Woman style) and the cream gravy. I have only made this meal a handful of times, because I can't ever get the gravy right. Guess what, it didn't turn out good tonight either. It was eaten up, but it didn't taste anything like my moms. Don't you just hate working so hard on something and it not coming out right?

Be Very Careful

America has a new soldier. He will kill you with cuteness. Brad bought the boys these BDU's the other day. One of the kids favorite things to do is run around the neighborhood with their friends and play war. They make teams, build forts, and run terrorizing, I mean playing all over the neighbors yards. It reminds me of the good old days when kids could run around and play without all the worrying. Doesn't that make me sound old? I do still worry about them, but they can't live in a bubble and I figure if someone decided to take them, they would return them really quickly. I mean who else could afford them?

We are so proud!!

Today Mason's baseball team played for 3rd place against a team that is rated way higher than our boys. We started out slow and were down 7-0 at the beginning of the third inning. The boys came alive and we scored 9 runs against them. One of the boys hit a triple with the bases loaded. The boys were so excited. The final score was 11-10, we didn't win, but the boys proved they are a force to be dealt with. You should have seen the parents. I think we were even happier than the boys. It was such an exciting game. We have sat through some really long and painful games. They earned their first tournament trophy for fourth place.

Busy weekend

This week is we have been driving to League City for the World Series. Mason's team is playing. League City has a complex called Big League Dreams. The fields are designed to look like major league parks. They have Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field, Finway Park, and a few others. Mason has been dreaming of playing here for a long time. The fields have turf throughout the entire infield. We had the opening ceremonies Wednesday, played a game Thursday morning at 9, Friday morning at 9, Saturday morning at 9 and 1, and we play tomorrow morning for third place at 9. It has been a long few days.

On another note, Kyle is having a party here tonight. I put Brad in charge of this and I am going to dinner with my friend Kathy. I don't know how much trouble a bunch of mormon kids can get into, but I will let Brad hold down the fort. I figured if I stay I will just get nervous they are going to get something on the carpet. I'll let you know how it goes.

Nephrologist

I took Mason to his nephrologist today for a check-up. He is doing great! We have been in remission since December. This is the longest we have ever gone. He used to relapse at least at least every two months or so. I count my blessings daily that he is staying so healthy. I am almost scared to type this, because I don't want to jinx it. The doctor decided to keep him on all the medications he has been taking. I have mixed feelings about this. Is the medicine just a band-aide keeping him in remission? When we go off the medicines, or start weening him off will he relapse? We can't keep him on them forever. The medicines taken over a long period of time can cause lots of damage to his kidneys of all things along with other long term complications. What is considered a long period of time? We have already been taking all this crap for three years. For now I am just going to be thankful that Mason is beginning to look like himself again. He has almost lost all the weight the prednisone made him gain. He is on such a low dose of that, you can hardly tell. It is crazy having such an active athletic boy that seems perfectly normal, but I always have that nagging little reminder that it can change in an instant. The doctor told me today they have a camp for kidney kids this summer and wants Mason to go. I wonder if he would like it? They will have a range of kids with different kidney conditions. I don't know how he would react to that. I am letting him decide what he wants to do. He is concerned he will miss football practice or a baseball tournament. Something tells me he won't be going.