Tag Archives: sports

Last Friday in May?!?! or 7 months until Christmas…..

— 1 —

We’ve been in a rut (according to the kids) as far as dinner goes, so I’ve been letting our youngest (8) pick out a few new dinners from our Publix Apron Meals collection.  (We grab the recipe every week while they stalk  chat up Rick, the cooking dude and see if he has any grub ready.  Last week was a Rib dinner (not so great), Scallop dinner (delish!) and Honey mustard chicken pasta (pretty tasty).  This week, she picked out Peanut Satay chicken.  I figured it would be tricky, since we aren’t a very spicy or Thai craving people….however, OH MAN!  Huge hit.  Especially the Edamame sauté side dish.  We’ll keep up with this…it’s shaking up dinner in a good way!

— 2 —

I finished the Kite Runner.  I can’t say my Hubby didn’t warn me.  Multiple times.  I just finished yesterday.  It was “difficult”.  In that heart wrenching, yanking it out of your chest, stomping on it, trying to shove it back in “difficult”.  A glimpse of a life I really can’t bear to think about most days.  I’m still processing the book.  Rest assured, the next book will be light and fluffy.  Maybe the next two books. I need to regroup.

— 3 —

We hit the beach for Happy hour last night.  I needed it after finishing my book (see #2).  It was great.  Nice breeze.  Refreshing water.  Fun waves.  Ahhhh.  My soul rejoiced.  Heart refreshed.  Zero calories and no hangover 😉

— 4 —

Adoration.  Lunch break.  Never disappointing.  I went for peace regarding a few things in my life right now…ask and you shall receive.  (Matthew 7:7) Super cool.  I don’t ALWAYS get my prayer request answered so quickly!!  Sadly, I did NOT get the handout with bullet points and step-by-step instructions as to the direction I should take.  It’s coming though.  Probably in the format I least expect, seems to be how it usually works out.

— 5 —

The kids all received their FCAT scores from their teachers and everyone passed.  Hallelujah!  There wasn’t a “doubt” per se, but there’s been a lot of controversy on the testing changes this year and they had to have an emergency education meeting for the state to address the scores (they were THAT bad).  It’s an awful test.  Every year they take it is another year I mourn the fact I can’t home school (sorta) and not subject our kids to this ridiculous test and the immense amount of pressure it brings to the teachers and the students.  EVERY.  YEAR.  There must be some growth in it for us.  somewhere.

— 6 —

Apparently, my our lazy summer plans just got less lazy.  Our youngest wants to do Pop Warner cheerleading.  She’s been interested before, but dance and soccer have always won out in prior years.  This year she’s committed.  And our oldest daughter wants to play Club soccer.  She’s been conditioning with DaddiO this week, running and biking and will start drills next week since tryouts are in about 10 days.  She’s better than she thinks she is, she’ll just need to find that “competitive” spirit and learn to dump the “nurturer” to the curb during game time.  Thankfully the boys will be focusing on skateboarding and practicing French Horn and Xbox.  And they have their little lawn business.  So they are set.  phew.

— 7 —

We’ve been hitting the old home movies this week.  The girls LOVE to see themselves as babies (their baby scrapbooks are worn. out.)  The movies are putting them over the moon.  Meanwhile, Hubby and I have vacillated between sadness, laughter and absolute AMAZEMENT that we made it through those years mentally intact–for the most part.  It’s such a bittersweet, tangible thing to see your sweet BABIES and toddlers and now you look UP to look them in the eye.  Surreal.  And I did not enjoy those years enough.  I am, however, relieved that I am not really shrieking or scolding anyone (on camera), and I have video proof that I did laugh, so maybe I enjoyed it more than I think and it just went so quickly I don’t remember.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

and my other May blogging friends!

Laura

Lynnell

Apurva 

MB

Brite  

Amanda 

Lea 

Spring football: American Style

Our first foray into tackle football.  Spring football.  A little less intense, short season, short field.  Good intro.  Great exercise.  Full Saturdays.  With 3 games to go, we finally get a “W” on a cloudy (briefly rainy) Saturday.

French horn. Football. Fabulous.

We have a funny kid in our family.  He’s the clown.  Always.  He brings the funnies potty humor or just plain funny, he’s always honing his act.  This year he entered the dreaded Middle school years and….he is flourishing.  Opting to join band and learn the French horn he has excelled.  First chair.  (okay, out of 3…but c’mon, I gotta brag)  Superior at solo and ensemble.  (that’s fo’ realz!)  The funny thing is neither Hubby nor I are musical.  Not one bit.  In fact, when I sing, the kids beg me to stop.  Except at church.  Somehow they know they can’t here.  However, THIS kid, is so self-motivated and self-disciplined it’s amazing to watch.  “Mom, I’m going to learn the French horn.  And next year, I am going into Advanced band.  (beginning this year, he’s decided to skip Intermediate)  Perhaps pick up the trumpet and join Jazz Band.”  I have no doubt he will.  When he puts his mind to it, he does it. And then, he decided he’d like to give tackle football a try after years of flag.  When a spring league opened up, he joined.  And for the first time, he’s not top dog.  Now he is the youngest in the 12-15 league and that makes a big difference in size and experience.  I’ll give it to him though.  He gets beat and bruised and exhausted and he utterly loves it.  He’s improving.  And now his brain is contemplating if he could play football and be in the band.  Hmmmm.  Time will tell.  For now, it’s pretty fun to watch. This past weekend, we combined them both.  Solo and ensemble on Friday night.  Double-header football game Saturday.

It’s the end of the week as we know it….

  • I’ve finally made some headway into writing the story of our family’s Faith walk through our years of incarceration.  For some reason, (I’m going with the Holy Spirit’s leading on this one), I haven’t been able to write.  Perhaps it’s nerves.  Either way it’s begun and to say it’s mind-blowing to look back on how firmly we were under the protection of the Lord, and still are, is truly amazing.  God IS good.  In the midst of it all, He is good, He is present and He loves.
  • We are going to attempt a photo shoot (complete with tripod) for our Christmas card this weekend.  I have a mental block on ANY Christmas shopping until our card is done, ordered and MAILED–shortly after Thanksgiving (I like to be one of the first–I’m weird like that!!).   I’d love to do a post on the pics that don’t make the cut.  You know the ones….”he’s touching me, I’m TIRED of smiling….this is boring….WHY do we do this EVERY year”…and so on and so on….at least they are a little older and tend to sit longer for pictures these days…mostly…
  • I have pinpointed my errors in lack of pre-planning for our week with the dueling football and softball schedules.  I now have a plan going forth.  Not surprisingly, it usually takes me a couple of weeks to “work out the kinks” when change is upon us!  There will be freezer meals a-cookin’ in the casa this weekend!!
  • The weather is changing, the air is fabulous and crisp.  Now to decide if we will be brave enough to go through with our scheduled stand up paddleboard trip on Saturday morning.  It’s supposed to be in the low 70’s and sunny….and I suppose if I stay OUT of the water it will be OK…
  • Had a great two days of exercise in early this week.  Mid-week…ummmm, let’s call that “recovery” and here’s to hoping the week finishes BIG with a fun and physical weekend–which of course, means I have to get off the laptop and walk this morning before work…
  • Successful purging of summer clothes into fall/winter clothes is complete with a VERY small list of “needs” for the girls (even smaller for the boys) AND I managed to make it to the Post office to send off some winter shoes I purged to a dear friend’s daughter.
  • I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since 9-11.  Wow.  There are no words.  Prayers for all the souls of the lost.  Prayers for the families who annually relive that day.  Prayers for peace in this world.
  • It’s the end of the week…the kids sweetly asked if I would have today off also for Veteran’s day, but alas….not so much.  Daddy is working from home to oversee activities and such, so for THAT I am heartily grateful!  And on that note, I think I will grab some sweatpants and go for a brisk walk and get this day started!!  Happy Weekend, y’all!!