Date Night, Songs and Sticks

This should actually be better as a possible guest post from the Wild Things' babysitters for tonight. After all they are the ones who actually got to deal with them. Because the Moma and I were on a date! That's right we went on a date and it wasn't a birthday or anniversary or any other kind of holiday, it was just Saturday and we decided to go on a date. We went and saw the Quitman Community Theater's production of Moon Over Buffalo. I have to say it was a very funny play, in particular the second scene of the second act. We had a great night though and it was nice to be able to get out of the house and be just the two of us. I love my Wild Things, but there are times you just have to have a date with the wife. To commemorate the experience we even took pictures:

We look like we are getting ready to be part of the cast of The Biggest Loser: Couples Date Night. But the Moma wanted a different pose so we went back-to-back. It works.

Got to have lunch today with the rest of the office staff and meet our soon to be new pastor, Dick White and his wife JoAn. They seem to both be really very excited about moving here and I am ready as well. I think it will be a good, smooth, easy transition from Ken to Dick.

Speaking of Ken, tomorrow is his going away party after the 11:00 service. As part of the party those of us who were in the dinner theater cast for "Murder, Mayhem and Marshmallow Salad" will be roasting Ken after the meal. I'm not gonna lie, this should be a lot of fun. I do hope that Ken appreciates it and knows that it is all done out of love for him.

Finally the girl Wild Things have been working on a couple of songs for our upcoming talent show and pancake dinner fund raiser. Puck is going to sing "Tomorrow" (we hope) and Boo is going to be performing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." For the last couple of days now I have had the song "Tomorrow" lodged in my brain from listening to it online as Puck tries to learn it. Right now she sings the words that she knows and then kind of mumbles through the words that she doesn't know. Boo on the other hand seems to be trying to add her own stylistic twist to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and that seems to throw off her timing. No worries though as I'm sure we will get it all worked out before the actual time for the show.

Well I believe that is all that is really going on as of late. Little Bull is simply being a two year old boy. He has started throwing all the balls over the fence in the backyard and then looking at me like he can't believe what just happened. Other than that he is having a fantastic time tormenting his sisters and hitting them with sticks. So things are pretty normal for him. I hope that all of you have a fantastic day tomorrow (Sunday) and that if you have a place where you worship that you will have a great time of worship there. Peace and Love y'all.

1-0, 6-6, and All White

Well I guess I should update about Puck and her first ever foray into organized sporting events, as well as a bit about Boo's second softball game.

Puck's team "won" she informed us after the game, which is great I suppose for her to think that. I don't know maybe we should feel bad for letting her think that. I mean after all, it is developmental t-ball. Everyone bats, everyone crosses home plate, there are no outs, and they don't actually keep score. So really, technically the score was like 20-20 and the commissioner decided to let the game end a tie. The main thing though is that Puck had a blast getting to play. I guess one of these days she will know what's really up with it, but for now, well no sense is bursting the 4-year-old "I'm the winner" bubble.

Tonight Boo had her second game. I have to say that it didn't go quite as swimmingly as the one on Monday night. Our team played the team from Raines this evening and I do believe that we tasted defeat for the first time. Boo played pretty well, but we a nervous moment with her in the first inning. We were a player down tonight so she ended up starting the game at first base, which is a place that she has never played before, not even in practice. She was nervous going into the game and then she's in a place where she has never played before and so that added to it.

Well early in the inning a ball was hit to the middle infield and the fielder got it and threw it to Boo. She missed it and it rolled past her and to the fence. Instead of turning and running to get the ball like she normally would, she kind of hung out there at the base like she didn't know it was up to her to go and get the ball. After the play ends though, the first base coach goes and gets the ball for her, and then starts walking toward home and is motioning for one of our coaches to come over. The next thing we know all our coaches are headed that way and are around Boo helping her to walk back across the field to the dugout. Turns out that she got really dizzy and her vision went all white and her stomach was hurting, and she got close to fainting out there.

Her Moma of course hurried out of the stands and into the dugout and they got her a nice cool, wet towel and got her cooled down and calmed down (from the nerves) and she was fine. In fact she went up to bat fairly early on in the inning and got another hit (she had three more hits tonight which brings her total up to 6 and makes her 6-6 batting so far this season). When she went back out in the field she got moved back over to shortstop where she has been playing in practice and did pretty well the rest of the game. It was a little bit of a tense moment though at first. Of course, the Moma has lots of experience with the whole passing out thing, so it's good she was there to sit with her. I'm going to post a couple of pictures here from Boo's first game this past Monday.

Tomorrow will be yet another adventure with The Wild Things I'm sure. Peace and Love y 'all.

Sacred Cows

We were headed out this morning to distribute our bunnies for our fund raiser when we passed a field with a small herd of cows. It just so happened that there was a group of them all standing together as we passed. When we did, Puck informed about what was actually going on with that group.

Puck- "Those cows are having a meeting."

Moma- "Really? What are they talking about?"

Puck- "Jesus."

It made me wonder, would that make those sacred cows?

Peace and Love y'all.

First Game(s)

Tonight was the night. Boo had her first coach pitch softball game in Alba and her team did great. They won the game by virtue of the 10 run rule, 13-3. In the game Boo went 3-3 with a couple of RBIs and scored a couple of runs as well. I was a proud daddy for sure.

Tomorrow will be Puck's first game EVER. She will be playing T-ball and I'm sure that if nothing else it will very interesting. She will be in the developmental league so there are basically no rules for her. There are no outs, and everyone gets a chance to bat every time. When they field the ball, well it's more about running after the person that hit it than it is about trying to throw them out. All I know is that it's going to be very interesting to watch.

I guess that Roni was "told" tonight (though not exactly directly) that it was rather cruel to strap the leash/backpack on Little Bull. This did not sit well with the Wild Momma, and she casually mentioned that perhaps if the person who felt this was so cruel was the one having to chase Little Bull all over the place they might feel differently about the backpack/leash. Have I mentioned how much I love my wife and her good natured sassyness? All in all it was a good day, and I look forward to tomorrow and more time and adventures with The Wild Things. Peace and Love y'all.

Wild Kingdom

Yesterday we went to Dinosaur Valley Park in Glen Rose. Great place to go and take the Wild Things, mainly because it is outside and gives them a chance to be out and about and use up some energy. Also it's pretty cheap, $5 for adults and kids 12 and under are free, so that's what I'm talking about you know?

One of the cool things about the park is the fact that there are actual dinosaur tracks there that you can see and take pictures of...or in.

These prints are cool for sure, but not quite as cool as the prints that are at the water's edge a little further into the park. Then of course there is the Paluxy River that runs through the valley and it is easily crossed to find tracks on the opposite bank. Of course the rocks are a little slick with moss so you have to be careful or else you end up like Boo and Puck:

Millions of years of history to experience here and I'm pretty sure that the thing they enjoyed the most was the playground.

Overall though we had a really good time, and Roni even cound some bluebonnets to make us all sit in and take pictures.

Peace and Love y'all.

Brotherly Love

Sweet. Affectionate. Loving.

There are few things that, as a parent, make our hearts swell more than seeing and hearing your children be this way with each other. These are precious moments and I cherish them when they come along.

Today we had one of those moments on our trip back from Glen Rose. Puck and Little Bull were in their seats in the middle section of the van when Roni saw them being this very loving to each other. She was listening to the sweet words Puck was saying to her baby brother.

Leaning in toward one another, heads together, her hands hugging his head Puck doing the talking.
Puck: "I love you too much...Ughh, stop picking my boogers!"

Yes these are the moments we live for with the Wild Things. Peace and Love y'all.

Long Days and Wild Things at Rest

It has been a long day it seems like. I had a camp curriculum meeting with Virgil in Canton starting at 9:00 this morning. It went well and we were able to get a few things done (or at least get started on the road toward the direction we are going for me). Got home about 2:45 and then had to do more camp stuff. Looks like we are going to have at least 7 campers this year so that's awesome really. Only problem is that to get the early bird rate I have to have things postmarked by tomorrow...or it's an extra $25...and there was no one around that could write a check for me today, and they were both supposed to be gone tomorrow. Tried to call two of the other directors and the registrar to find out what to do and couldn't get anyone. Thankfully our financial guy said he would come cut me a check in the morning. Now I just need to to be sure everyone gets their forms actually in so they can be mailed tomorrow.

Boo had her first scrimmage tonight as well...from 7:30-9:20(ish)...bedtime for the Wild Things is usually between 8:00 and 8:30. Very full day for the Wild Things...but they went down without too much of a fight. Puck maintained her routine and was up and down about 3 times, but what would a night be without that right?

Now it's quiet in the kingdom and there is peace, at least for a few more hours, and then we will begin again with school and Dora in the morning and practice in the evening and a trip to Gra'maw's and Dinosaur Valley Park. And the Wild Things will run wild and will (hopefully) tire themselves out and then there will once again be rest and peace and quiet. Peace and Love y'all.

Jesus Showers

Driving home tonight from making a bunny delivery, Puck informed us of something that we were very unaware of. She was sitting in her seat behind Moma when suddenly she tells us that she knows what happens to the water we drink. When we asked her what happened she told us that was when Jesus took a shower.

Gotta say I was unaware of this tidbit of information. I guess that since he lives in our hearts, this is his chance to get cleaned up. I will say that it is this kind of thing that brings me such great joy living with The Wild Things. Peace and Love y'all.

Full Weekend

Man what a crazy weekend this was. I know that it wasn't as crazy as some peoples probably, but still for us it was pretty full. We had something every day that had to do with either the youth or the church in general, and really for the most part it all had to do with the youth. Three straight evenings of doing "extra" things with the youth can really start to take it out of you I tell you.

Friday night started us off with going to Winnsboro for the Relay for Life. We took 7 young men with us to go and walk and do the various things to help raise awareness about cancer as well as to honor victims and survivors both. The youth did pretty good, but to be honest it was hard for them (and us too) because it ended up being different than we thought it would be. It was supposed to be outside at the track, but due to the threat of rain it was moved to the City Park Auditorium. That made it a bit more crowded and harder to walk, but we did the best we could with it. Roni and the Wild Things were fantastic and seemed to have a good time.

It got a little crazy that night. It seems that sometime between 2:30 and 3:00am there was a tornado warning for our area. The main thing that I can remember about that was the phone ringing about 2:45 and me staggering into the hall to answer and there being no one on the other end. Then again about 3:00 the phone rang and when I answered it announced the warning and urged us to take cover...so I went back to bed after a few minutes. But there was a lot of wind and high wind, and there were several tree limbs on the ground as well as a few trees themselves.

Saturday was rather full with the vet clinic hosting a "Pet Fair" from 12:00-2:00 that we went to. The Wild Things all enjoyed getting to see the many dogs and horses and people that were there, as well as getting to eat free hamburgers, hot dogs and snow cones. Roni took all of their picture on a tree that we believe was taken down by the storm the night before:

After spending the morning there, Dad and I headed to Tyler to pick up comedian Bob Smiley who came and did a show for us in Quitman Saturday night. We had a great time with Bob and the show was fantastic. We had about 142 people there, and we all laughed for most of the night (all except one couple from what I heard. Why you go to see a comedian and not laugh or crack a smile I'm not sure, but oh well.). Bob was instantly taken in by my family and the girls in particular seemed to take to him. It was a cool thing to be a part of.

Then finally for Sunday night we had a dodgeball tournament in Lindale at First United Methodist Church.We took 19 youth and we had a blast. I will admit that neither of our teams finished in the top 3, and they did get a little bit of the shaft in the championship bracket. The kids all seemed to have a great time with this, and honestly the Wild Things did awesome. It was not in the plan for Roni and The Wild Things to go, but that is how it turned out. All three Wild Things spent the evening hanging out with other kids and watching the games. They are all such great kids, my Wild Things. To top it all off, and this is simply the icing on the cake, the cherry on the Sundae, but after Sunday night the Spurs are up 3-1 in their series against the Mavs. Like I said that is simply the icing on the cake.

I hope that you all had as good of a weekend as we did, even if you weren't going 57 different ways at one time. And now here's to a good week. Peace and Love y'all.

61*

Yesterday (Monday that is, since it is officially Tuesday now as I write this) was Pops' birthday. It was the celebration of number 61. It blows my mind to think that my dad is 61 now. He doesn't seem that old to me, but you know, I'm 34 so he has to be older than that.

Anyway, he was staying in Sulphur Springs tonight after working in Mt. Pleasant all day, so I went over and we got to hang out and go eat some Chinese food and Brock and Jamie came from Frisco and hung out with us too. It was a good night.

(Just so you know, the picture is NOT from Pops' birthday dinner, but instead from mine back in October, but I wanted to put a picture up here that had Pops and I both in it)

Birthdays are amazing things, you know? We both love them and hate them it seems. We want to get to celebrate with friends and family and various loved ones, and yet we don't want to acknowledge the fact that time marches on. Tonight I was happy to get to celebrate with Pops even though we didn't really do much more than to visit and eat too many pieces of chicken in various sauces. Mainly I'm just glad that we got to be with him on this day. Peace and Love y'all.

On the Run

First let me say that we are really far from being "wild", but I liked the title and when I think of my kids, especially Puck and Baby Bull (still in the "trying out" phase of nicknames for the boy on that one), the title seems to fit. As it would with any other set of children I'm sure. I just wanted to clear that up.

Got up this morning and went and ran on the treadmill at Power Quest. It felt good to get back into the groove of doing that. I've been off since last Wednesday, so I wasn't sure what was going to happen today when I get in there. Turns out that everything was just fine. I was able to run my farthest distance yet which was 3 3/4 miles. It surprised me really, but to be honest I felt like I could have pushed out one more to make an even 4, but I was starting to tire by that point. Oh well, eventually I will get there.

It's been nice to get back into the whole running thing though. I have lost 20 pounds since I get started with this, so that's nice. On top of that, it feels good to work up a sweat like that. I'm starting to feel like I can actually see a difference in the shape of my body, as the gut is starting to recede finally. I'm not sure what I want to do to commemorate all of this once I get into the shape that I actually want, but I will think of something. I always like to think that ink is a good way of commemorating things, so we will see on that.

Roni has done a great job with her weight loss as well. She has gotten up to the 3 mile mark in her running too so that's pretty awesome. She looks good, like the day I first met her, only with less hair and more kids.

It's been good for us to be doing this kind of thing together. It gives us some motivation and a reason to keep doing it. Who knew that a little high blood pressure scare could really bring about so much good stuff? Peace and Love y'all.