Big Time Bragging!

Guess what? T1 got straight A's again! With the exception of one B in the third grading period, T1 had all A's for the entire year. He also got almost all E's (for excellent) in conduct during this grading period (he had one S (for satisfactory)). Overall for the year, he had 21 E's and 3 S's. I'm so darned proud of him for having such an awesome school year!

While I'm bragging on T1, I'll also share something that made me proud of him the other night. He and Matt went to the hardware store and he begged Matt to buy him a trash picker upper (you know, like a long claw). Matt gave in and bought it and T1 was thrilled. He's now begging us to take him to the park so he can pick up trash again. What a great citizen!

Oh yeah, and he wants to be an Oprah Ambassador so he can help build schools and water wells in Africa. He has such a kind and genuine soul!

To celebrate, we're going to visit Rene this weekend and take T1 to Six Flags. Should be a blast!

Whoo hoo!

Carrots and Cheerios

Matt told me something funny about T2 tonight. Apparently, he's taken a liking to sliced canned carrots. Yuk, I know. However, he won't eat all of the carrots. If the carrot slice is broken at all (i.e. if it's not a perfect circle), then T2 sets it aside and refuses to eat it. He's had sliced carrots 3 times this week and he's sorted them and refused to eat the broken ones each time.

On a similar note, he sorts Fruit Cheerios (or Fruit Loops) by color and won't eat the green or blue ones.

He's so weird.

Can someone please tell my children that...

• toilet paper is not food?
• it's not clean to crawl around the toilet?
• smacking your brother isn't funny?
• dog food is not for human consumption?
• the dog water bowl is not a mini swimming pool?
• it is not cool to cry all Memorial Day weekend?
• it is cool to start sleeping at night?
• our dog, Rusty, is not a jungle gym?
• sharing is a good thing?
• putting tree sap in your hair is not temporary?
• biting doesn't solve anything?
• having your diaper changed is a good thing?
• listening to Sexy Back a thousand times is annoying?
• listening to The Armadillo Jackal a thousand times is annoying?
• you can't communicate in grunts?
• making fart noises with your arm pits is not funny? (Well, maybe it is funny the first time.)
• coffee tables are not for carving in?
• walls are not for coloring on?
• food is not for throwing?
• balls, bats, and sticks do not belong in the house?
• shoving any and everything in your mouth serves no purpose other than keeping your parents nervous and up-to-date on the Heimlich maneuver?

Can someone also tell them that...

• their big blue eyes are beautiful?
• their huge grins bring us such joy?
• we love listening to stories about school and friends?
• we love hearing them talk about their dreams and aspirations incessantly?
• we love watching them grow and learn?
• they are surrounded by many fantastic people who adore them?
• their mom and dad are insanely crazy about them and we thank God every night for the happiness they bring us?

Roadkill

Okay, so I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this, but it's kind of funny. I've been playing nursery rhymes for T2 and T3 lately and they really aren't into it. Instead, T2 is showing favor towards Robert Earl Keen. His favorite REK song is about a man who wants to kill and sell roadkill so he can buy belts and boots for a rodeo. As this man is on a roadkill rampage one night, he ends up crashing and burning his car and dying. Well, T2 loves this song! He sings the chorus and portions of the verses. As soon as the song ends, T2 says "more more". So, we listen again... My family is so weird. Read the lyrics to T2's favorite song and then look at a couple of silly pictures of T2 and T3 below.

The Armadillo Jackal

By Robert Earl Keen

The evening sun was sinkin' down, a chill north wind a-blows

The new-plowed ground was coolin' fast, the river rolls and flows

Beneath the two-lane concrete river bridge

between my place and town

On that hot-bed Farm to Market road they call 1291

I'm sayin' son you'll see me searchin'; sizzlin' down that broad highway

Dollar signs in both my eyes, I'm seekin' out my prey.

I'm prayin' "Jesus, will you send me just another three or four?"

They pay two-fifty down in Halletsville, 3 dollars, maybe more.

And more than likely they'll be out tonight a-wanderin' from the farms;

Waddlin' down 1291 to keep their bodies warm.

I'm talking walkin' belts and neckties, and boots for rodeo;

They don't run too fast, don't waste much gas. I'm makin' lots o'dough.

The armadillo....o....o...o

The armadillo....o....o...o

The armadillo never sees me when I hit him with my brights.

His life don't flash before his eyes, he's blinded by my lights

and so I hit him with my bumper doin' sixty, sixty-five;

they take 'em frozen down in Halletsville

They don't take 'em alive.

The jackal cri....i....i...ied

The jackal cri....i....i...ied

The jackal cried, "Look there's two of them a-walkin' down the line.

I can't believe my luck tonight this here makes twenty-nine!"

And so he rolled the first one runnin'. The second was too fast.

His breaks and laughter squealin' as he stomped down on the gas.

Good-God, his car was sideways flyin',

when the bridge wall met his door.

The impact shook the river bed his foot went through the floor

Forevermore....or....or...ore

Forevermore....or....or....ore

Forevermore was his last moment from the bridge wall to the stream;

from the speckled blood around his smile a-spewin' gasoline.

And then he screamed his raspy epitaph, before he turned to flame:

"They pay two-fiftydown in Halletsville.... I ain't the one to blame....."

Ain't it a sha....a....a...ame

The jackal cri....i....i...ied

The armadillo....o....o...o

The armadillo....o....o...o(repeat until fade)

T1 the Trashman

T1 made me so proud tonight. We decided to go to the park tonight and before we left the house T1 asked if he could pick up trash while at the park. Not wanting to deter a good deed, I said that was fine and told him to grab a trash bag and plastic gloves. When we got there he was very serious about picking up the trash, commenting frequently how disgusted he was with people who litter and smokers who through their cigarette (pronounced "cigret") butts on the ground. He filled up his trash bag and emptied it in the trashcan over and over so he could pick up more trash. He used long sticks to bring trash out of the pond and he even waded in the water a few times so he could grab some trash in the water that he couldn't reach with the stick. When we were ready to go, he asked when he could come back and pick up trash again. He's awesome, isn't he? A few times he commented that his friends would call him a dork if they saw him doing this, but I disagreed. I told him they would probably respect him for doing it and may even follow his good example. He doubted me at first, but then this young all-American college couple (people that T1 would look up to on the surface) watched him for a while and made a point to tell me how great it was that he was doing that. I replied that the timing of their comment was perfect because T1 was scared people would think he was weird. They joked that they first thought I was punishing him for something, but then realized he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart and they were very impressed. I, too, was very impressed. What a wonderful soul!

Picky Eater

T2 is the pickiest eater ever! Matt and I have no idea how he's getting the calories and nutrients he needs. This morning Matt made eggs for breakfast (something that T2 used to LOVE) and T2 wouldn't have anything to do with them. Rather than force T2 to eat the eggs by, let's say, shoving them in his mouth (don;t think we haven't thought about that...), we tried to coerce him by cheering for T3 each time he had a bite of his eggs, hoping that a little sibling rivalry might push T2 into taking a bite. Well, it worked, or at least we thought it did. We had just cheered for T3 eating a bite of his eggs when out of the corner of our eyes we could see T2 slowly moving a fork loaded with eggs to his mouth. As soon as the eggs were in his mouth, we all cheered. Yay T2!!! As soon as we started cheering, T2 spit them out and then cheered for himself. Smart little turd.

Gotta go. T1 just bent over on the back porch and the corner of the table knocked his butt real hard and he's grabbing his rear and almost in tears. Yowzers!!!!!!!!

Fun in the sun, kisses, and big babies...

Last weekend we went to visit family in Waco and had a great time. We went "hiking" with 6 kids (which, truth be known, is only walking a couple hundred yards because they wanted to play so much) in this awesome and beautiful park. After the hike, we climbed up what seemed like a hundred steps to a playground the kids could play on. No big deal, right? Wrong. My quads were so sore for days. I'm the only person that was sore -- how weak is that? The next day we went to Tonkawa Falls for some fun in the sun and then ate a fantastic lunch at a cafe/gas station in Crawford where President Bush eats when he's visiting his ranch. I think everyone had a blast, from the littlest baby to the oldest adult. Here are a few pictures I took:

So, this Monday T1 broke up with Shelby. Why? I don't know.

On Tuesday, Shelby's best friend, Elaine, was sitting next to T1 in Music class and said "I'm bored." Without hesitation, T1 asked Elaine "So, why don't you kiss me?" Elaine got mad at T1 and told Shelby. T1 came home concerned that Shelby would tell her mom (who is the class mom) and that she would get mad at him.

On Wednesday, T1 and Shelby got back together. I guess Shelby doesn't hold grudges.

When T1 told me all of this, I just about died! I could not believe my son had asked a girl to kiss him! He's not supposed to be thinking about that stuff for at least another 3 years according to my recollection. I questioned why he asked Elaine to kiss him and he replied that he didn't know, that it just came about before he even had a chance to think about it, further explaining that there are many times when he speaks without thinking (as if that was a big surprise...). What am I going to do with this kid?

T2, on the other hand, still only has eyes for his dad. Tonight he smiled at me in such a sweet way, so I put my nose to his nose for a sweet moment when he grabbed the biggest handful of hair possible, yanked it as hard as he could, smiled tremendously big, and simply said "funny". I disagree. Losing my hair one strand at a time to the whims of a 2-year old is not funny at all.

Oh yeah, did I mention that tomorrow T2 will be 2? Wow! He's getting so big so fast. We went to the doctor on Tuesday and T2 is bigger than 8 out of 10 boys his age and the doctor was really impressed with how many words he is saying (we stopped counting at 120).

T3 also had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and he is bigger than 9 out of 10 boys his age. He has seemed happier than normal these days and it is such a joy to play and smile with him. He is just so darned sweet! He's also been sleeping through the night -- yippee! :)

Guess what? I started working from 7:30-4:00 this week and I think it's really going to work nicely for me and the family as long as I am disciplined about leaving the office at 4:00. I have to wake up and leave much earlier than I'm used to in order to maintain this schedule, so I miss some of the morning fun. However, based on Matt's call to me this morning, I think I can tolerate this sacrifice. Apparently T2 pooped in his diaper and then stuck his hand in the diaper to play with the poop. Disgusting, right? So, if this is the kind of thing I'm missing in the mornings, then I think this new schedule benefits me terrifically!

It's getting late so I better go. I have to finish watching Grey's Anatomy, something that may not be possible if T2 doesn't stop getting out of bed. This kid...

Are we cool?

I don't know what prompted this, but tonight after soccer practice I asked T1 whether or not he thought Matt and I were old. His response was "half and half". What does that mean? He explained that we weren't old compared to Nana and Grandma Sara (sorry guys!), but that we were old compared to him.

I pressed on.

"(T1)," I said, "do you think we are cool?" He immediately responded "Um, I would have to say NO." He said we weren't cool because we refuse to buy him a cell phone and also because we wouldn't let him listen to Sexy Back (for those who don't know, Sexy Back is a pop song by Justin Timberlake that was real popular over a year ago). In response, Matt did something totally out of character. He found Sexy Back on my iPOD, rolled down the car windows, turned the music up, and started dancing something fierce. I joined in the fun. T1 was mortified. He crouched down in the backseat and covered his face with his hands. Matt and I were laughing so hard we were crying.

We definitely aren't cool.