Team formation a.k.a tryouts

Who ever tried out for school sports in 3rd grade? I didn't even play sports in 3rd grade. Our school's CYO has something called team formation for all sports. Don't candy coat it, people...you are having tryouts. Supposedly they rack and stack the players according to their abilities. Really? At this age? There is an A team that consists of the superstars. Okay. And then the B and C teams are allegedly divided up so that all ability levels are represented. I think this is a crock. I can understand tryouts when you are participating in premiere sports but this is CYO--Catholic Youth Organization NOT Competitive Youth Organization. Now I don't have illusions of grandeur that my boys will be big time athletes but they try and they are decent. And we tell them it is not about being the best. It is about learning and having fun. But their faces fall when you tell them who is on their team. They know who are the superstars. Why can't the people in charge just equally divide the teams with different levels of ability? Kids will learn from their peers. What fun is it to have some sort of sports juggernaut that kills others schools 62-2. What does that teach the kids? It doesn't teach sportsmanship while you are running the score up. It doesn't teach them compassion when they know they are on the A team and their friends are disappointed to be on the B team. What does this teach them at such a young age? Don't we have enough time to be judged on our abilities later? How about playing to learn? To have fun? To be a good sport? Where is that league when I need it?

Pictures paint 1000 words...

Swingset

We had our swingset at our old house. We had a friend store it in her backyard when we moved to the apartment since we had no yard at the time. We moved into our new house. New house, bigger backyard. The boys kept asking when their swingset would get here. Ken kept putting them off.

"They won't play on it. They are getting too old." he would say to me.

I don't care. I don't care if they only play on it for a month when it gets here. They want it here. I want it here. I want my 10 and 8 year old to be able to play on it as long as they want. There will be a time when they won't play on it because they are too old. They aren't too old now. They can use it as a fort. As a clubhouse. As a place to just get away from us or each other. They can go in there and read their books or draw pictures.

It's finally here. A year later. And it makes me happy to see it. A reminder of my little boys that love to play.

Picture day

Today is school picture day. It is a big deal since it is an out of uniform day for the boys. I know that girls take great consideration over what to wear. With my boys it becomes "What color polo shirt are you going to wear?" The boys showered this morning so their hair could be freshly combed without a trace of bedhead. They looked handsome except for one thing. The little one has bug bite on his eyelid so his eye is almost swollen shut. He kept saying "Why am I taking this picture today? I should just wait until retake day when my eye looks better." True but go ahead and have it taken today anyway. Mom can't even pay the photographer to airbrush a swollen eye. Photoshop it open? Probably not. Retake day, here we come.

Back to school night

Tonight was back to school night. A night where the parents go to the kids' classrooms to hear their teacher talk about the year and see a sampling of their work so far. On my youngest son's desk there was a worksheet titled "In the Spotlight." The first thing on the worksheet read "The thing I like best about me is...." He wrote "that I'm nice." Okay, that's pretty good. His favorite color is red. His favorite food is apples. His favorite book is anything with the Time Warp Trio. His favorite sport is soccer. When he grows up he wants to have a family. That made me smile. The thing he likes best about his family is that they love him. Another smile and a pull at the heartstrings. After that I was hopeful about the last question.
"If I could have one wish come true I would wish....... to be rich." So much for playing the heartstrings. That child just hears "ca--ching!"

We were then rushed via intercom to get to the next classroom. "Parents, you have 2 minutes to get to your next classroom." I felt like I was in school all over again! I went to my oldest son's class and listened to his teacher. Looked around his classroom. Left a note in his desk. Nothing to mushy. Just an 'I love you and have a wonderful day' note. I left his classroom and drove home. When I got home, he was waiting for me.

"Did you see my poem?"
"What poem?"
"The one in the hall outside of my classroom."
"No."
(look of disappointment from him) "Why not?"
"Because I only had 2 minutes to get to your classroom and I must have rushed by it. I am so sorry, buddy."
(another look of disappointment with those big, brown eyes)
"I am so sorry I missed it. Maybe I will try to come by your class in the next day or two to see it."
"Okay." (Still disappointed)
I feel bad. Maybe I will go in tomorrow morning when I drop them off.

I blame the parental rushing over the intercom for my negligience. I don't think he does.

Messages from above or just Ben Stein?

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want."- Ben Stein

Back to school

Endless summer is over. No more late nights and late mornings. No more swimming in the morning or matinees in the afternoon. No more tan little boys who wear swim trunks and flip flops all day long. It's back to school. Back to routine. Back to homework and assignment notebooks and early bedtimes. Back to uniforms and tennis shoes. It's exciting for them and I think they both enjoy school. They love seeing their friends and learning new things. They love lunch in the cafeteria and the funny things that go on at recess. I am lucky that they look forward to school. Cooper was up at 6:30 this morning and was dressed and ready to go by 6:50. I was making mac and cheese for Grayson to take for lunch and here came Coop, raring to go with his hair slicked down. Grayson loaded up his backpack and talked about his friends and the latest with them. We loaded into the car at 7:30 and I drove them to school. Love you. Have a good day. Be good. Listen.

I miss you.

It's been too long....

It's been too long since I have written. It's been a whirlwind during the month of July. We went to South Dakota for a long weekend to visit with my aunt, uncle and cousins. It started out rough. We left on a Thursday night. A late Thursday night, almost very early Friday morning. We drove to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Checked into a Super 8 at 3am. At 8am I woke up, looked out the window and saw glass on the ground of the parking lot. Glass from our back passenger window. I screamed. Ken and I ran out and realized that some punks broke into our car, ravaged through the contents and then took nothing. Nothing but our feeling of security. So the hotel maintenance guy helped us when we realized that no glass shops were open on this weekend. He hooked us up with plastic sheeting and duck tape. We left for our trip to SD in our trashy mobile. A rough start.

But when we reached our destination it was great. A beautiful lake with a loving family waiting for us. The boys rode sea doos and a pontoon. They watched their Nonnie and great Auntie Annie ride sea doos (and scream the whole time!). We ate and ate and ate--this is what happens when my mom and aunt who are phenomenal cooks get together. We talked and laughed and reacquainted ourselves with each other. It was a long drive with an unfortunate occurence but it was worth it in the end.

Jealous...

Is it wrong to be jealous of your sons' eyelashes? These should not be wasted on boys.....

What can I do?

Sometimes my youngest can try my patience more than anyone I know. He is a sweet little boy. He is. But he is also a bit of a slob. Sloppy room. Messy mouth. Remnants of his lunch on his shirt. Yesterday he was a bit hyper in the car. I asked, "Coop, what am I going to do with you?"

He sat for a couple seconds and said, "Love me. And don't ship me off to Boston to people I don't know."

I don't know about anyone in Boston but my heart felt a pull with the first instruction. Plain and simple.....love me. And I will. A sloppy, messy, sweet love for a sloppy, messy, sweet little boy. Always.

Broken but not destroyed

It's broken. Grayson's elbow. He broke it by falling off the arm of a chair in the living room. It was not a wrestling match, a skateboard accident, a bike crash. Falling off of a chair onto carpet. He tried to catch his fall by fulling extending his arm. He heard a pop. After 3 hours in urgent care we ended up with a temporary cast and an xray to take to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon. A week ago he got a construction cone orange waterproof cast. Very high tech and very necessary for my little swimmer. He was teary after he was told he would not be able to participate in swim team. It would have been his rookie year. Next year I told him. He can play basketball one-handed. And he glows in the dark while doing it.

Summer!

I am so far behind! Work has taken its toll on my memory keeping. School events...volunteering at school....trying to maintain a clean home. Blogging suffers due to all of this.

Summer is officially here! The boys got out of school on the 21st. We celebrated by heading to Heritage Park with several other families. They had lunch and ran around playing wiffle ball, skipping rocks into the lake, looking for turtles and frogs. Boy stuff.

It's Memorial Day weekend and it's been a busy one. Friday night Ken smoked ribs and we had the Kraljics and JC come over for dinner. The boys had fun playing with their friends and staying up late. Made some smores and caught some early fireflies.

Saturday we headed to the old 'hood. Swam in the Likes' pool until 11pm. Sat around the firepit and talked to good, old friends.

Sunday night they attended their first wedding. Our new neighbors, Chad and Catherine, got married. They loved the venue, the cake, the dancing! Cooper actually did a cartwheel on the dance floor to wow the other guests! A party animal in the making....where does he get that???

Grayson turned 10 yesterday. I can't believe my first baby is 10 years old. He no longer has toys on his birthday wish list. Toys have become Itunes gift cards and more books. That boy loves music and books! I think that is a great thing.

Today Ken and the boys are establishing Dunst and Sons Vegetable Garden in the backyard. They are planting cucumbers, carrots, watermelons, and pumpkins. They seem excited. It should be fun.

Looking forward to a fun summer and hopefully more blogging....

The holiday season took hold of me and I am very far behind on blogging! There were so many little things that Grayson and Cooper did that cracked me up.

1. Cooper was in the car and out of the blue asked, "I wonder when I will kiss Sarah under the mistletoe for the first time?" Sarah has been his first girlfriend (as he calls her) since kindergarten. I asked, "Have you already kissed her?"
"No, not yet."
"Do you want the first time to be under the mistletoe."
"Pretty much."

A few days later we went to Five Guys Burgers & Fries for lunch. There was a sign that they fry their french fries in peanut oil. Sarah is allergic to peanuts. Cooper said, "Oh, Sarah would not be able to eat the fries here."

Ken asked, "Are you thinking about taking her here on a date?"

"Yeah, someday."

Grayson on the other hand has decided the "hate of his life." Not really hate--too strong of a word--an extreme dislike. The San Diego Chargers. Grayson has become very interested in the NFL and, of course, the Denver Broncos are his favorite team. The Broncos were beaten by the Chargers in a playoff game so the Broncos are out. Grayson is holding a grudge. He doesn't like the quarterback, he makes a face when the Chargers are mentioned. We told him he had to like Darrin Sproles because he came from Olathe and Kansas State. He doesn't care. He's a Charger so he is guilty by association.

The boys and their loves and hates in their lives.