Something So Big: August 2011

Favorite Scenes from the Past Four Days

Another shot of the boys from the other night. Moms, couldn't you just eat em up??

The girls all pitched in to buy Cy a new Lego set for his birthday. What a lucky young man!!

Our varsity offense trying to make something happen against the Warriors

We put the first score on the board in the 3rd quarter!! I was watching the play and trying to take a picture at the same time;)

Post-game celebration...such a special last-second win for our kids!

My nephew and his daughter at her 2nd birthday party...Hollie Hollie HOLLIE :)

A Good Work-out For Your Heart

If you want to get a good cardiac work-out, just watch your little boy put on a set of shoulder pads and a football helmet.

Watch as he and his friends get ready to play a little game of tackle in the yard!

Pinch yourself a few times and ask, where did the last 11 years go? Who IS this young man??

Ladies and gentlemen, here are your 2017 Potosi Chieftains. And cheerleading squad ;)

I don't know how you could get bored watching football, played in its purest form.

Our son is lucky to have sisters who support him in scorekeeping, photography, and cheerleading. Maybe they're just happy to have him tackle somebody ELSE for once!!

Maybe it's that I'm not used to it, but gosh boys are fun to hang around with sometimes. They give it everything they've got, and they are not self-conscious about it. As Dr. Leonard Sax writes, in fact, boys tend to over-estimate their abilities. That is a great thing in most instances (but can lead to risky injuries in others)!!

We kept score because, what is the point of playing a game without keeping score? My heart stretched out for both teams to win. Every kid was a friend. Every kid played their heart out. They were sooo much fun to watch and listen to!

Mark did a great job of keeping the boys focused on the task at hand. Referee, timekeeper, coach and equipment manager all in one!

Cy's stats at age 11 are weight: 110 pounds and height: 4 feet 11.5 inches. He is not afraid to make contact with other kids. Not the nimblest of fingers, but one of the quickest to make a tackle! The last play of the game, in fact, he tackled this same boy (Brady, a very good little ball player) out of bounds, right into the riding lawn mower. Brady didn't respond for a few seconds, and by the sound of the hit, we were afraid someone was seriously hurt. Parent's heart nearly stopped... Thank goodness everybody was just fine!!

My heart swells with pride, amusement, joy, frustration, confusion, and elation with this kid. He makes life a bit more messy and a lot more interesting.

The night after this celebration, our hearts got another workout at Mark's varsity game. Blackhawk is always a tough place to play and an excellent match-up. We were 0-0 after 2 quarters, then 6-6 at the end of three. We went up by a field goal and were driving for another touchdown, when one of our backs fumbled on the 2 yard line with 2:50 left on the clock. The Warriors drove down the field and scored a touchdown, going up by 4 points with 31 seconds left in the game. What a heart-ache to see their receiver make a great play to score, with little time left to come back! But my husband never gave up, his kids never gave up, and I held onto the hope that with time left on the clock, anything could happen. Two plays and 55 yards later, our quarterback threw a "hail mary" into the corner of the endzone, where our back jumped up, caught the ball, and scored!! TOUCHDOWN CHIEFTAINS!! The clock was empty and our hearts were full. The players, coaches, managers, statisticians, and fans flooded onto the field to celebrate. What a thrill!

Cy will not soon forget his 11th birthday weekend. Football, family, friends, fun, and faith to never give up hope. What more could your heart ask for?

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. --Psalm 37: 3-4

Super Heroes Never Get Old

Sportacus at age 5, Superman at ages 6-8, and now Holy Time-flying, Batman! Look who's ELEVEN today!!

Facing the forces of evil and not-so-evil with his You-tube-inspired Bat mask.....

Is it Bruce Wayne?

What a goofy, funny, awesome kid.

And look what Grandma and Grandpa got him!! In just minutes, our son turned this...

into THIS. The Bat Cave!! (all he added were the people)

That bag of assorted Legos even had a pulley system, which Ally used to make an elevator going down into the cave. It is awesome!!

In the foreground is a Batmobile that Cy made, and in the top right under the green tree (it's hard to see) is a Lego bat that Cy happened to have from another set (maybe Indiana Jones?).

Cy has been making mini-figure clothes & faces by printing off images from the internet onto paper and gluing them on his Legos. Here we see Alfred the butler, Bruce Wayne, and the batsuit in the background!

I'd post more on the birthday boy, but he's outside playing "ghosts in the graveyard" with his friends right now...so I better sign off! Happy Birthday, Cy!!

AJ, Phone Home

I never thought any of my kids would get a cell phone before they were teenagers, but she worked so darn hard for it!

"Never" should not be in the parent's vocabulary, I guess.

Especially when your eldest comes to you with an invitation to attend a presentation at the end of the week.

A few weeks ago, Ally started researching Trac Phones (and other pay-as-you-go phones) on the internet. She left a written invitation to her meeting on each of our pillows, and last Thursday we walked down to the basement to find a presentation board, card table set up with a folder, note pad, pen, place card, and ice water for each of us. Oh, and I can't forget the fresh cut flowers in a vase! This kid knows how to give a good impression.

Ally had narrowed her choices down to three kinds of telephones, and she had hand-outs prepared with such topics as "Which phone do you believe is the best?", "Discuss Pro's and Con's with your husband/wife", and "If Ally received a phone, what days of the week should she NOT use it?" Mark was feverishly writing down questions for Ally as she presented her reasons for wanting/needing a cell phone at this time (primarily because she is in a lot of after-school activities which require her to call home for a ride). I wrote down a few questions, and after her proposal we all talked about the options.

Going into the meeting, Mark and I were both against our soon-to-be-teenager getting a cell phone at this time. Even though she planned to pay for it herself, we did not think it was necessary for her to have a telephone. After sharing many valid reasons for having a phone, we tabled the discussion for a few days. We didn't want Ally to be "rooked" (paying to keep a trac phone service plan going, even if she didn't use up all the minutes on her card). After taking her to Radio Shack and discovering that simply adding a cellular phone onto our family plan wouldn't cost us anything (including a free phone) if we lowered our monthly time by 100 minutes, we decided that Ally had earned the right to have a cell phone.

Ally paid the $30 activation fee and will give us $5 a month to use her cell phone. We don't have a texting feature, and we have put a "curfew" on her use of the phone. We also told the other kids not to expect a cell phone by age 13! We still think that driving age (16) is a better time to start having a phone, but with all of the extra activities (including confirmation class starting up this fall in a neighboring town), we knew it was going to come in very handy for her to be able to communicate with us. We told her little brother and sisters that Ally showed a lot of iniative, did her homework, and is working to pay for this privilege. She's growing up so quickly!!

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?--Luke 14:28

Easter Eggs in August!

O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. Psalm 104:24

Lego Maniac

When it was super hot a few weeks ago, the kids brought the Legos downstairs and started building houses. Cy was happy to have some companionship for his day-long building sessions. Early in the morning, throughout the day, and late into the night you can hear him rustling through one of the big Lego totes that are kept in his room. When he's not building Legos, he is online looking at Legos. He adds costumes to personalize mini-figures (or "mini-figs", to the Lego aficionado), and he even added freckles to make a miniature version of himself!

Yep, Cy is a Lego Maniac. Check out our whole family! The likenesses aren't too far off, but he did inform me that he's convinved the twins to purchase new hair for themselves on e-bay (do they make light brown plastic?). Plus Mickey needs to be a bit smaller and more colorful. Don't you like Dad's crewcut and red bomber jacket? It almost takes me back to our high school days....just leave the shirttails out and he's a dead ringer!

Not sure about Wynne's evil grin. Pretty darn resourceful kid though, isn't he? I will have to take a picture of his house-slash-compound. He has a weight room, basketball court, football field, huge kitchen, and secret passageway from the back of his refrigerator. I wish I could shrink myself down to live there!!

Ally did a good job making our yellow house, don't you think?

The Bounty of the Season

No, we didn't eat ALL of that corn. Some of it made its way into the freezer last week :)

This is what my garden basket looked like the other day. Isn't it marvelous?

The more colorful your plate, the healthier your meal as they say!

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. --Genesis 1:29

The Next Chapter (A Wedding Shower)

My nephew Kyle is getting married to his college sweetheart Mary next month. They are a very nice, fun-loving couple and we are so happy for them!

The bride-and-groom-to-be's! Such a sweet couple.

The girls and I were invited to a wedding shower for Mary at my brother's house. My sister-in-law and 2 nieces (Kyle's sisters) threw a fabulous party! Kelsey was serving up some delicious raspberry sherbet punch to Wynne here.

The table spread was delightful. Chicken salad croissants, spinach and artichoke dip, hummus wraps, veggies and desserts including....

Boozy Chocolate Tart! I think I heard it had some bourbon in it and some other chocolate liqueur. You don't need much of this to taste the "boozy" :)

Wynne is right at home with any amount of people, any age. She can make great table conversation, and...

she also helps deliver and clean up at gift openings! We decided that she would make a great MC for the wedding reception. :)

Ken & Kellie have a lovely backyard! The weather has been gorgeous, too.

My girls and my sister's girls grew a little bored of the gift opening, so they ended up about a half block down the street at this very fun park!

It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. --Phillippians 2:2

America's Fun in the Country

Right before football season started, we snuck away for another "daycation". If the kids could caption these photos....

When I was 12 years old, my Mom and Dad made my brother and I lug this humongous cooler to our picnic spot.

This was fun for about 2 seconds!!

Is this going in your blog, Mom?

Hurry up, take the picture, and let's get going!!!!

I can't believe we're at LITTLE AMERRICK-A !!! It's been six years since we came here!!!

If I knew who Rube Goldberg was, this would remind me of his mousetrap!

I finally figured out which direction to drive this thing!!

"Wow, Mom, this is so cool...you and me riding on the roller coaster together!!" (She went on to ride this at least 20 times total. I kid you not. The lady attending was sooooo patient & kind!)