Tee Ball ... The Ultimate Frustration

Jack had his third game of tee ball last night and I just have to say that it is sooooo frustrating for Jim and I to sit there and NOT yell at the boy. He is on the 5/6 year old team and since he just turned five, he is one of the youngest on the team. Some of the boys are almost 7. So there is a wide variety of abilities.

But that is not what is so frustrating for us. It is the total and utter lack of concentration on Jack's part. When he is on the field, while all the other boys are paying attention and fielding the ball, Jack is in the outfield turning around in circles, shuffling the dirt with his feet, playing with his hat, throwing his glove in the air, pretty much everything BUT paying attention to the game. In fact, the coaches had to go out and tell him to go into the dugout at the end of the inning, when every other player was already in the dugout, except Jack who was turning in circles.

And this is not a laid-back tee ball league, no they keep score, count strikes, have an umpire, the whole shebang. It is the real deal. And for Jack to be in LaLa land is quite frustrating and quite frankly embarrassing. He doesn't seem to care. Even after we had a talk before last night's game when I told him that if he didn't pay attention, he would lose his PS2 game for a week. Well he has lost the game and I just don't know if that is enough to make him care about the tee-ball.

Sigh. Maybe he will get into Taekwondo this summer. So far we are 0-2 with soccer and teeball.

It Helps to Have Pediatricians for Friends

We have friends who are married pediatricians, who goes to our church and lives in our neighborhood. It comes in handy, like when Jack was having a strange rash and I just drove him over to Nichol's house to make sure it was nothing serious.

Well last night I talked to them about Jack's testicles, which by the way is kind of embarassing to be talking about. They were saying that a boy's testicles should be fully dropped by the time he is two. When I told them about Jack's having to be pulled down, but pop right back up is not that bad of a thing, as long as they can be dropped. If they couldn't be dropped, it would probably mean he would be sterile, but since they can be pulled it is a good thing. However, the fact that they pop up, means that they will probably have to go in and "tack them down" or release the muscle that is holding them up. They were a little surprised that this is the first time a doctor has mentioned anything and should of been mentioned during the two-year or at least the three-year check up. The fact that they waited till now to mention anything does worry me, but they seemed to think it is not that major of a deal, but is something that needs to be addressed.

Five-Year Check Up

Today was the day for Jack's five-year-old check up. Jim took him this morning, so everything that I am reporting is through him. It seems like he is a healthy boy. He is 45" tall and 46 lbs. Good grief that is only 3 inches away from four ft tall! Geesh.

I guess they checked his eye sight and Jim said that he did pretty well except for the really small letters, which is much better than I can do. Ha!

There is one thing that is of concern though. It seems that his testicles have not dropped the way they should of. The doctor can force them to drop, but they just pop right back up, which I guess is not a good thing for a five-year-old boy. I guess they should have dropped by now. So we are getting a referral to a Urologist in New Orleans at the Children's hospital there to see if any surgery is needed. Yeah slight flip out on the word surgery, but not too bad. Hopefully everything is okay and that won't be needed.

But other than that he is a very happy and healthy five year old boy.

Priceless

Cost of new bat ... $25
Cost of new batters helmet ... $12
Cost of new baseball shoes ... $25
Cost of new baseball glove ... $19
Cost of new bag to hold above items ... $20

To watch the excitement of a five year old boy who knows he is going to be playing baseball

PRICELESS

Take Me Out To The Ballgame...

So we started T-Ball tonight. It has been a nightmare to get to this point. I swear we are jinxed when it comes to team sports for Jack.

We signed Jack up for the t-ball in February, paid our fee and was told they would get in touch with us when practices started. Well time went by and we soon found out that our friends son was on his team with scheduled practices. I have spent two weeks trying to get in contact with somebody, which was very hard because their website had absolutely no way to get in touch with them. Finally I got the phone number of the league commissioner and gave him an earful about not being told that the season started. Well, of course because it is us, they lost our paperwork and had no record at all of us signing up, despite the fact that they cashed our check. Thank goodness I had kept our copy and proved that we did indeed sign up. At this point, the teams had been together and practicing for almost 3 weeks. So finally today I got a phone call from the coach telling me that they had a practice tonight, nothing like short-noticed.

So we showed up at the baseball fields with about a gazillion other teams there (baseball is huge around here by the way) and me trying to find our team not knowing what our team name is or the color or what the coach looks like. I walked all over there asking if they knew where coach Billy was and I got completely vacant stares. I finally found the coach and the right team. I then look around and feel like I am out of my league. It turns out that this is the big league T-Ball for the 5 and 6 year olds. The other kids have the special sports bags all lined up there with their names on them. They each have their own bat, helmet, mitt and full (just like the pros) uniforms. Me? I brought my five-year-old. That is it.

So it looks like I need to go out and buy a gazillion dollars worth of equipment. Jack's first game is on Friday night and he will probably not have his pro uniform by then. But at least Jack seemed to have a good time out there in a borrowed helmet and bat tonight. The coach said that he is not behind and should do fine on the team. People it is T-BALL, not the big-leagues!

So yes we are onto another sport. I just hope that I end this season with a better feeling than I did the soccer season. I sure am not starting it on a good note!

Storms and No Sleep

Last night was another night of really bad storms. I haven't heard how much rain we got, but it has to be A LOT. The way it sounded on the roof was pretty bad. And the thunder and lightening kept going all night long. I woke up about 12:30 and was pretty much awake until 4:30 when I went back to bed and got another hour and half of sleep. Of course at 6:00 I have to wake kids up for school.

Jim was on duty last night and I called him about 2:00 and he said that he couldn't see anything while driving. Oh and he got hurt last night by some drunk guy who was resisting arrest and elbowed Jim in the ribs so hard that they thought he had broken a rib or two. After going to the ER and getting x-rays, it turned out that he just had a bruised rib. But still quite painful and he is sleeping with some percocet right now.

And another strange thing happened yesterday morning when lightening struck my boss's neighbor's house (right behind him) and burnt the house down. My boss was saying that the flames were 20 feet in the air. I drove by there today and there is nothing left of the house but the bricks. How scary is that? Of course my boss is feeling pretty lucky today. Had it been 100 feet the other way, it would have been his house.

Anyway that is what is happening around here. Lots of bad weather, no sleep, and houses burning down. I am now off to pick Brandi up from school and take her to her therapist for her weekly appointment. Thank goodness a friend just came and picked Jack up so that I don't have to wake up Jim to watch Jack. Life is very busy and complex these days. Phew!

Saturday Stuff

** Brandi is at a youth retreat this weekend at another church. She was quite nervous when I dropped her off last night and wasn't sure if she wanted to spend the night because she didn't know any of the other kids there. We found out about this retreat from a lady who runs a foundation geared to help foster kids on the gulf coast. But she was brave enough to stay and from what I can tell, she is going to have a really good time.

** For the first time in I don't know how long, we have a Saturday that is not jammed packed with stuff to do. I have to run a few errands and tonight I am going to a friend's house for a Twilight movie party, but other than that I don't have to rush off to do something. It feels really nice.

** The weather here has been beautiful. It has been sunny and around 75. Gorgeous.

** Some stupid person on a barge ran into one of the bridges across the Biloxi Bay yesterday and a 60-foot section of the bridge fell into the water, along with a car. Nobody was hurt, but it will make the traffic around here really really bad for the next however many months until it gets fixed. There is now only two ways to get across the bay and that is not good.

** Jim has been working really hard on our front-yard landscaping. It is almost done. We now have a pond with a fountain, palm trees, and pretty plants out front. I will take pics and post them.

** I am very excited because Jack will be in his new school building on Monday. This building was supposed to be finished before the school year started, but that obviously didn't happen until after spring break. It is an absolutely beautiful building and it will be his school until he is in high school.

What Does That Say?

I told Jack to go clean up his room (it needs a major overhaul and major throwing out things) when we got home today. He, of course, grumbled about having to do it and asked me if I could help him. I told him that I could not because I was cleaning the rest of the house. His next question to me was "who is coming over?".

Alright what does that say about my cleaning skills or lack thereof? But to be truthful, we have our first home visit from the social worker tomorrow, so there you have it. I guess I do only clean when somebody is coming over. The social worker visit was supposed to be on Tuesday, but got rescheduled for tomorrow. If that were the case, the house would have been cleaned on Tuesday.

Just Shoot Me Now ...

Laura called and asked if she could bring a friend from California with us to Disneyworld when we go in June. I guess her friend's parents is willing to spend the dollars to fly her out here and all the other costs involved in a two week stay with us. I am not totally against the idea seeing as we do get five tickets at $99 plus Jim's free ticket thanks to the new military discount this year and we would be able to get her friend, Alyssa, in at that rate.

However, the whole idea of having THREE TEENAGE GIRLS with us is more than my brain can handle. Then I started to think about our lodging and the ONE bathroom and ONE room we have reserved at the moment. Can you just imagine trying to get ready with THREE TEENAGE GIRLS? As Jim said, he will just go sit in the bar.

So even though I totally love Shades of Green, it is looking like we will have to rent a condo with at least 2 if not 3 bedrooms and, most importantly, 2 bathrooms. I looked into some of the places and for the 6 nights stay, it really isn't much difference in the price, we would just not have the convenience of the transportation to and from the hotel. Because honestly, I just may lose my mind if I have to spend a week with FOUR kids in ONE hotel room. I don't care how nice and convenient it is.

My List of ADD random thoughts

** Today we have our first foster care home visit, so I have a lot of cleaning that I should do, whether I actually do is another story altogether.



** I really really need to clean out our office. I am really good at stacking things and then when we need to find something, I am going through stacks and stacks of "stuff". I need to create a system where stuff comes into the house like mail, important papers, Brandi papers, Jack's "art" that it all has a place to go and not end up on my counter stacked. It has overflowed onto the dining room table.



** Jim's mother gave us a gorgeous crocheted table cloth that I want to put on the dining room table and make all pretty with the new centerpiece that I got for Christmas (still in bag), but alas I need to declutter the stacks of stuff first.



** I really need to finish our taxes. I do everybody else's but ours and I hate to do ours, especially now that I know we will have to owe.



** I also have to audit the books for church for the last two years. Just another of the things I got volunteered for because they know my previous occupation.



** I have been trying to build my Uppercase Living business and I am thiiiiisssss close to a promotion. I am very excited and I do love the company.



** Jack is done with soccer finally. He got his medal and was very proud of it. He also scored a goal on the last game and I missed it because I was talking to our neighbors at the time. But he doesn't need to know that, according to him, I saw it and it was the biggest and best goal ever.



** Brandi is doing really well. I found out that she has the best GPA of all the kids in foster care in the entire county. She also is going to be pre-enrolled at Southern Miss and will get her entire college education paid for by the state. I think she is realizing what an opportunity she has and is talking about getting her nursing degree. We are very proud of her and has become part of the family.



** Jack's spring break is this week and I am trying to come up with some things to do this week that will be fun for us.

** Jim is late coming home again. Police work doesn't end at shift time.

Soccer and My Thoughts

So today is the last day of the soccer season. It has been a long three months of playing soccer every Saturday morning. There were some REALLY cold days (38 degrees) and we were out on those soccer fields. Burr.

Truthfully, I am hoping that the weather forecast is right today and it really does rain because I am so done with the whole soccer thing. I have a bad taste about the whole thing. Jack was put on this team with this coach who's son is like a little soccer dyamo. Yes he is good, but I can tell the Dad really works him with a lot of practice. There are 6 players on Jack's team and only three play at one time, so the coach is supposed to rotate the players in and out during the game. Well this coach never rotated his own son out of the game and he usually played his three best players 90% of the time. Since Jack is not one of the best players (the kid got my athletic ability) he sits on the bench moping because he's not in playing. Last week, I finally had enough and said something out loud to Brandi about how the coach's son never gets benched and the coach must have heard that because he actually benched his son ... for 2 minutes. But it was to the kid's screaming fit for having to sit out.

Anyway, I am pretty sure we will not be doing soccer next year. I mean it was for 4 and 5 year olds and I had a mother come up to me and tell me that Jack needed to get in a lot more practice to be effective on the team and maybe I should sign him up for a workshop! They don't even keep score at this age! Yes I am fed up. I just wanted Jack to get out and get some exercise and have fun and it turned into this competitve cut-throat thing at four years old!

We are starting T-ball in two weeks. I have a better feeling about this sport and I think Jack will enjoy it a lot better. Just pray for rain today and we won't have to go to the last game!

I Know It Is Two Weeks Later ...

but here are a few pictures of Jack's birthday party. It was quite a success. We had close to 20 kids and their parents in our church's fellowship hall. We even had a pirate show put on by our good friend Brandt. It was fun.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy ... Five Years Old!

I can not believe I am writing your 5th birthday post. How is it that it has been five years since you and I met? We sure have been through a lot in the last five years, but I can say that you have changed my life in so many positive ways. You have taught me to be a better person through mothering you and I have to say that I am so incredibly lucky and blessed to be your mother.



Let's see what you have been up to in the last year. The first thing that pops into my head is your vocabulary has exploded in the last year. Oh my goodness you can come up with some zingers and make everybody around laugh so hard. I am not sure what level of vocabulary a typical five-year-old has, but I am positive that you more than exceed it. One time we were in the van and following Aunt Ann in her car. She proceeds to run a red light right in front of us and of course Daddy, the cop, has to call her and tell her that she did a no no. But you had to proclaim to everybody that you were "so Humiliated". You are very expressive and will use words like "adorable" "beautiful" and "attractive". It seems like everyday I am asking you where you heard this word or that word.



Speaking of words, you have started to read this year. You are constantly asking me how words are spelled. I really hope that you have a love of reading like I do when you grow up. But right now, I understand it is a frustration for you and we can only spend about 15 minutes reading your beginning reader books. I am so proud of you.



I would have to say right now that your forte is talking. I swear child that you could talk to a wall and have a conversation. You love to talk. There are some days that I pick you up from school and you barely take a breath talking and asking me questions. And your questions are very insightful for your age. Your topics range from death, God and Jesus, to the planets and how things grow on Earth. All very weighty subjects for a five-year-old and your poor mother trying to answer the questions!



You are very aware of your age and how long you have been around. You are constantly comparing to when you were a "three-year-older". You also want to be a "big kid" so incredibly fast. When I take you to school, you will look up to the high school kids with such awe and reverence like they are gods. And you are constantly asking me when you can go to big kid school. You are growing up way too fast, can you just slow down a bit?



You will start kindergarten this fall and start going to school all day long, an extra 3 hours per day. You are so ready for this big leap, however I am not so sure I am ready for it. I really do love our afternoons together. You are my buddy helping me run errands or going to lunch just the two of us. I am going to miss those three hours with my Jackaroo come fall. But I know that the school years is a time when you need to establish yourself independent of me and your Dad. But I am still going to be the room Mom and go to all your little parties while you still want me there. Because I know there will come a time when you will not want Mom showing up at school with cookies and cupcakes. I also know there will be a time when you will not rush to give me a big hug when I come pick you up and tell me that you love me right there in front of all your friends. So I am soaking it up all I can right now.



I have to say that you have one of the most tender hearts of anybody I know. You are truly a sweet and giving boy who shows love and compassion so incredibly easily. You are so giving and sharing that you will share the last of your cookies with anybody who asks. Your family is very important to you, including all of your grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. It is so much fun to sit and watch you at family gatherings as you make your rounds from one family member to the next doling out your brand of Jackaroo love. You are also one of the most loved kids in the world as you gather up all the hugs and kisses you can get.



Here I am going on and on about how wonderful you are and you are probably wondering about the bad side of Jack. Well to be honest, there is a very very small "bad" side. I can not remember the last time your father nor I had to spank you. Yes we have to get on you to clean up your toys and eat your vegetables, but for 98% of the time you are a joy to be around. You constantly amaze me at how wonderful you really are. When we took Brandi in a few weeks ago, I was afraid that you would be jealous and show it in many ways. But you accepted her as a new sister and show her such complete and true love that has me stunned. Even when our focus is on Brandi and her issues, you do not try to compete for our attention. It is as though you understand that Brandi needs us and you are not threatened by her. You understand that you have Mom and Dad's unconditional love and now Brandi needs that same love. Again, you are wise beyond your years.



And that brings me to your faith. I know they say that everyone needs to have the faith of a child, and in your case, it is the truth. I love to listen to you pray at the dinner table and at night before bed. It has taken me 40 years to get to the level of faith that you possess in your short five years.

As always, I will always be there for you Baby Boy. I can not wait to see what the future holds for you. I look forward to watching you grow into a young man that I know I will be proud of. This is a big birthday for you. You are no longer a baby and you have all of your school years ahead of you and all that entails.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy

My Baby's 5th Birthday Party!!!

How is it that my BABY is having his fifth birthday party today? There is not any baby left in him anymore. Cry.

As you can see his birthday theme is Monster Jam Trucks! Gone are the days of Elmo birthday parties. We are actually having a combined party with another boy from church, Keegan. His birthday was Feb 20 and with Jack's as March 5th, today is smack in the middle of the two.

Since I didn't do any party last year except for small family one, I decided that this year I would do it up big. And big as in LOTS of kids. I invited all 12 kids in his class, all the friends from church and a couple of other friends, along with Keegan's cousins. In all total, there very well could be about 30 kids all under the age of 9 there today. What have I done to myself?

The plans include a big pirate show put on by a friend who does kid's birthday parties for a living. He is absolutely amazing with the kids. He hasn't clued me in on much of his plans, but he told me to plan on a 45-min show, with him dressed as a pirate with sword fighting and what not. It should be fun and I plan to video and will put a little snippet on here for ya.

Jack is way beyond excited at the moment. We have been counting down the days to the big party and I have to say that it was an advantage last night when I put him to bed. I told him that he had to go to sleep in order to wake up on his birthday party day. Kinda like Christmas. And truth be told, I am pretty excited about the whole thing myself. I can't wait to watch him today.

As far as his actual birthday on Thursday, well that will be a bit anti-climatic. I will take cupcakes into his school and then probably go out to dinner that night or something.

So I just may need your prayers today.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Mardi Gras. Before I moved to the Gulf Coast, I really had no clue what Mardi Gras was or entailed. But ya'll, it is a HUGE Holiday here. I mean business and schools close down and the entire area goes nuts. And the parades. Oh my goodness. The parades! For a month leading up to the big day of Fat Tuesday, there are countless parades all over the coast. We went to one a couple of weeks ago and came home with more Mardi Gras beads than we need. But it is so much fun. As the floats go by, they throw things to the thousands of people ranging from beads, t-shirts, toys, stuffed animals, and candy. And you would be surprised how people are downright mean by shoving people out of the way just so they can get those cheap beads! It is crazy.

I had planned to take the kids to the big Biloxi parade this afternoon, but my stupid non-existent immunity has caught the crud that has been going around the area and the thought of standing out on the side of the street with thousands of other parade-goers just didn't seem as much fun as it did yesterday when I felt better.

However, Jim gets to go to the big one tonight in an official capacity. He gets to try to police all the crazy and drunk people. Hahaha. He should have some stories to tell when he gets home.

Happy Fat Tuesday ya'll! What are you giving up for lent tomorrow? I am giving up diet coke. I thought about giving up sugar, then I laughed. Yeah right with Jack's birthday party this weekend, that ain't gonna happen. So diet coke it is.

Ummm.... (crickets)

So I was driving today and thought of a really good, funny, and cute post that I just had to post on here. And now a few hours later when I get a chance to post it? Ummm... yeah no idea what it was. So stay tuned ... maybe. That's all I have right now.

Brandi

It has been two weeks since Brandi moved into our home. I have to be honest that I was scared to death. Leading up to the big day, I was having anxiety attacks about what this decision would do to our family. I tried to pinpoint what exactly I was afraid of and I really could not pinpoint one particular thing, other than it was an unknown change to everything. But God would not let me back out of this and kept niggling my brain that this girl needed us. And he was right.

When I think of Brandi's mother, I can't help but get angry. She threw away three girls (from different fathers) all because of drugs and men. Brandi floundered and wasted away in the system for the past 6 years being shuffled from one home to another facility. So that when we met her last summer, I don't think I have ever met an angrier girl in my life. She was living in the girl's group home with 8 other girls whose parents threw them away as well. I remember when I first met Brandi, I did not have nice thoughts for her. But Jim could see something of himself in her and started to show her some love. By the end of the week at the youth church camp, she was actually smiling and joining in the activities. She was opening up to us and telling us a little bit about her life. She just needed love like all of us does. She never had the opportunity to feel that unconditional love that Jack and Laura take for granted. That every child needs and deserves.

Last night she told me that she has never been happier in her life living with us. She has fit right in and is a pleasure to have in the house. She goes to church with us and is enjoying being part of the youth group. She has raised her grades to As & Bs. How she managed to get to 15 without being a drug-addict, school-dropout, or worse, is beyond me. She is a good kid. And I really can't wait to see what the future holds for her.

Remind Me Again Why We Have a Dog

I came close to using Jim's gun this morning to shoot our dog Molly. It was 3:18 am in the morning and she started barking in her full grown-up voice at me. Telling me that I HAD to get up NOW not later. It didn't matter that I smacked her doggie face a few times. So I got up, let her outside to do her business and then waddled myself back to bed. But noooo she wouldn't let me do that. At 4:08 am, I gave up the fight and let her win. sigh.

I normally could take a nap after taking the kids to school, but that is out of the question since Jack has no school today, tomorrow, or Monday. Cry.

Turning 5!

I can not even believe that Jack will be turning five in less than a month. How is that even possible? Kindergarten this fall???? Five is big kid status. Yikes.

I just started to plan the birthday party. I had originally thought about doing the Chuck E Cheese thing, even though I so dislike that place. But a friend at church brought up sharing a party at the church with her son turning 7. A friend does kid's birthday parties and actually puts on a good show with kid's songs. Of course it will be crazy with all his friends from church and school, but should be fun. Oh and the theme the boy wants this year? Yeaahhhh that is monster trucks. He is over-the-top crazy about monster trucks now. We created a monster by taking him to monster truck jam last weekend.

For those who have emailed me and asked about how things are going with Brandi, our new foster daughter, things are going well. I plan to dedicate a post about her and how she is adjusting to our family in a day or two. It is an adjustment on both sides, but for the most part, it is going really well.

Yep We Are Rednecks

We went to Monster Truck Jam in New Orleans on Saturday night. We were right there with all the other rednecks and I have to say that it actually was fun to watch those big trucks smash the cars and everything else in the way. And Jack? Yeah he was in heaven. I think I had more fun watching him watching the monster trucks. And just in case anybody out there is thinking about attending a Monster Truck Jam, I have two words for you. Ear. Plugs. They will be your best friend. Below you can see we forked out $20 for Jack to get a pair of tire ear muffs.

Grave Digger flying through the air. Oh yeah and we had to buy a Hot Wheel Grave Digger for the boy. Yep we are raising a redneck for sure.

The outing was also our first family trip with our new addition to our family. Brandi came to live with us last Thursday. The adjustment is going well. She is going to school and is opening up more and more to us. She has been craving a family for so long that it is fun to see her relaxing and loving to be part of our family. Jack is also loving having another big sister around. He was talking her ear off in her room the other night as she was settling in. I am just very happy that we are able to help her and hopefully be a positive influence in her life.