2 days until Christmas

I am amazed Christmas is almost here. I haven't posted much lately, because really nothing too exciting has been going on. Work, school, turned 41, etc.... Did I say turned 41, how the hell did I get so old? Just seems like yesterday I was 21.

In the last month this is what has happened with the boys:

Mason made the basketball team for KJH, they had two games and won both.

Tanner had a baseball tournament and has begun basketball practice with Katy Youth Basketball.

See nothing too exciting. I finally got our Christmas pictures taken last night. It is a record for me. I have never waited so long. Bad news is this means no Christmas cards will be sent this year. Today my plan is to go to the grocery store, bake, clean, and go see a friend that is in the hospital.

Brad is off this week. I am not used to him being home with me during my break. This has thrown me off a bit. He goes back to work on Monday. The boys are anxiously awaiting Christmas. I am anxiously awaiting it to be over. Just joking, I love Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!!

emotional basket cases

It has been a real long time since I posted anything. Football finally wrapped up a couple of weeks ago. Mason's team ended up doing pretty good finishing 3rd in the district. I think their end of the season record was 6 -1-1. He ended up loving football and is really looking forward to next year. He played quarterback on the c team and scored at least 4 touchdowns during the season. He kept wanting me to record him throwing the ball, but I never had the camera running when he did. It is hard to anticipate when the play is a throwing play and when it isn't.

Mason tried out for basketball last week. He said there were about 100 kids trying out for about 30 spots. He made the b team. He was very excited about that. Right now he is in fear of one of the coaches and isn't too happy about that. He has complained about this coach since football season started. He says all he does is yell and he can't stand him. He is scared of him. The last couple of days Mason has been home "sick". Monday I got a call from the nurse saying he threw up at school. He stayed home Tuesday and then this morning I got a call from the nurse saying he was sick. I went and picked him up and finally determined he isn't really sick. He is scared of the mean coach at practice. They are having to run the width of the gym 6 times in 30 seconds. He says he can barely make it in 30 seconds and they have moved the time down to 25 seconds. He was crying and yelling saying he couldn't do it and the coach is going to kill him. He will have to stay after practice and do it over and over until he gets it done. He doesn't want to be punished by this man. I brought him back up to school and told him to deal with it. I don't really know how to handle this. Why coaches have to be so mean sometimes I really don't understand. I know part of it is okay, but there is a line that I think some of them cross. What worries me is if Mason can't handle it, I don't know how Tanner will ever handle it.

I had Tanner's parent teacher conference and his teachers told me they are concerned because he cries a lot in class. He will be in Jr. High next year and they don't want him to be teased. Tan has complained all year about his teacher and how he doesn't like her. He says she yells all the time and he thinks she is stressed out. I couldn't get him out of bed one day because he was crying and saying he didn't want to go to school. This has never happened. He wasn't even the crying, clingy type of baby when I dropped him off at daycare.

Why are my boys so sensitive? I know I have always been sensitive, but I don't remember it interfering with my school or sports. How do you teach your kids not to let one person ruin things for them?

Fall Ball

Fall baseball has begun for both Mason and Tanner's teams. Mason played a couple of weeks ago with his new team. They played in an elite tournament and his team is a select team. We got beat all three games, but overall I think the boys didn't look too bad. This past weekend they played two games on Sunday in the open league. They won both games. I think Mason is happy he decided to change teams and is playing 13U.
Tanner's team was moved from the select level to the elite level this fall. They played their first elite tournament this weekend. Tanner got ejected from the game. His first ejection, and hopefully his last. He was running home to tie the game up and tried to run through the catcher. Apparently you are only allowed to do that in the pros. He was very upset, but I think he has learned from it. His big brother was very proud of him and wanted to know if he broke the kids arm. I don't know what I am going to do with him. We lost that game, but won all the others and ended up the champions of the tournament.

Tanner started playing baseball with the local pony league because his tournament team isn't playing or practicing much this fall. We went to the first practice and I realized we had made a big mistake. He was the oldest kid on the team. None of these kids have ever played kid pitch baseball. They were calling Tanner the "Little League Professional" by the end of practice. His coach came up to me and said he didn't really know what he could teach him. Not a real good sign. He played his first and last game with the Rangers yesterday. It was painful to watch. I didn't realize Tanner would be so much more advanced. I figured he would at least be on a team with kids that had played kid pitch before. Tanner threw the ball from short stop to first base and the first base mans glove flew off when Tanner threw the ball to him. Tanner was very frustrated, so we decided to hang up our hat. It was supposed to be fun and Tanner was getting upset with these boys that couldn't help that they didn't have the experience he has.
Mason played his second Jr. high football game. It was really kind of comical. The O line couldn't block to save their lives. Mason is playing quarterback and that isn't really good for him. They didn't get a first down the entire game. We did win because the defense intercepted a ball. Mason said the coach changed the whole offensive line, so hopefully they will do better tomorrow.

Jr. High Football

The first picture is before the game. Notice his number. He picked number 12 for Colt McCoy. His favorite football player. The bottom picture is the first play of the game. Mason is behind number 24 getting ready to throw the football.

Today was Mason's very first Jr. high football game. I don't know who was more nervous, me or him. Mason is starting quarter back for the C team. We played a bunch of kids and friends from when I taught at Williams and we all sat together. When we went to sit down we looked at each other and asked if we should sit together or not. We decided we could sit together until high school football. That is when the real rivalry begins. LOL

I am so proud of Mason. He did such a good job. He passed the ball at least 5 times and the receivers did great and caught them. The first quarter we had the ball the entire time, but didn't score. We only have 7 minute quarters. The second half they had it for about half the time and then we had it and we were about on the 20 when time expired. The third quarter started and we held them again and had just gotten the ball back when it began to thunder and lightning, so they delayed the game. They ended up calling the game. We were very disappointed. The boys did great! I am looking forward for next Monday.

Back to School

We started school on Monday. Mason is beginning the 7th grade and Tanner is the top dog being a 5th grader this year. We went to Safari Night at the KJH to get Mason's schedule and locker set up the Wednesday before school started. When we got Mason's schedule we immediately went to try his locker. We tried and tried and couldn't get it open. That left us carrying around all his supplies as we went around to his classes. We began comparing schedules with his friends and I noticed he was missing a class. They hadn't assigned him a reading class. Mason was really excited about this. Unfortunately, I had to burst his bubble and let the counselor know. He had to go to school on the first day with all his supplies, saxophone, football helmet, cleats, and lunchbox. He was a bit nervous and unsure about what to do with an incomplete schedule, no working locker, and having his first day of Jr. high football practice. It all worked out in the end and he said he had fun at practice.

Tanner ended up getting a teacher Mason had in 5th grade and we really didn't like. Mason still talks about her and blames his struggles in math last year on her. He says she didn't teach them anything and would just yell at them. I am hoping Tanner has a better year with her. I think he already has 5th grade fever. Everyday this week I have asked him how school was and he has replied he hates it. You know school sucks. He didn't end up with any of his friends in his class either. Yesterday he came home a little excited. He is finally a safety patrol. It is official, he got his vest yesterday. He was bubbling with excitement because he got to get a kid in trouble. I think he is going to end up being a cop. He likes busting people. I hope having all this power doesn't go to his head.

Quiet Life

Things have been rather quiet around her the last month. Baseball has been over for a couple of weeks. I have entertained myself by reading. I started reading the Janet Evanovich series that begins with One for the Money and I think ends as of right now on 17. I am on 14. The boys haven't been too excited about my reading. They think reading is a waste of time. I hate that! The boys have been entertained by watching TV, playing video games, building with legos, playing outside, riding their little motorcycle, playing with friends, swimming, and fighting with each other making their mother crazy. Pretty typical things for kids. We went to San Antonio and stayed with my dear friend Susie for a couple of days. We got to visit with my brother and mom. It was a lot of fun.

Baseball starts today for Mason. He is going to be playing on a 13U team as an extra player and fill in when needed. He will continue playing with the Krushers 12U team for the fall. We have struggled on what to do with him. His birthday falls in June and that makes him play with kids that are a grade level younger unless they have summer birthdays like him. This means if he only plays with the Krushers he will never play on a 14U team before he tries out for the high school team. I am not sure if this is a big deal or not. The field gets bigger each year, so it seems to me it would be at his advantage to play on a team that is his grade level team. Things are so competitive around here. It wouldn't be a big deal to just change teams, but we are so close to the kids and parents on the Krushers it would be like leaving family. We will see how it goes this fall and then make a decision in January as to what team Mason will play with.

School starts for me tomorrow and in a week for the boys. They are so excited about starting, NOT! Honestly I am not either. How am I going to keep reading like I was?

Mason with Braces

We decided on getting the clear brackets. It cost a little more, but you can hardly see that he has braces. He did really well getting them on and pretty good the first day. The second day, if he could cuss, he would have. He was telling me all dentist should be shot. He doesn't need braces. This is stupid and so on....... Since then he has gotten used to them and is doing much better. I think they make him look a little more grown up. A couple of days after he got them he was batting and got hit in the face with a baseball. He hit the ball and it hit the plate and bounced up and hit him. I immediately said, "Oh no, not his teeth." Luckily it missed his mouth and hit his cheek bone. You could see the stitch marks. Hopefully, he won't be like my brother and get his teeth knocked out after spending all this money to make them look good.