New Cub Scout Alert

That part at the end where he adjusts his neckerchief?
Sign me up for a thousand bags.

I'm Not Above Bribery

 

Another season of soccer is upon us.

 

We kept Narls in the same team he's been playing for, per his request (which Clay and I are both thrilled about).  We're about six games into the 8-week fall session and unfortunately the Sharks just experienced their first loss last week. Their first loss after three seasons. They still have a remarkable record.

 

Narls' passing and dribbling and attention and knowledge of the game have improved so much. You guys, this kid is on fire. He's yet to make a goal though, so I told him if he scored in today's game, I'd get him the diamond mod pack for Minecraft. Now, I know nothing about Minecraft, only that my kid loves it and talks about this diamond mod pack obsessively.

 

His response? "I don't know how you'll do that since the technical launcher (huh?) isn't ready but I'm down." Um, what? It's not important because he then proceeded to play his absolute best. It was awesome to watch! Sadly no goal; not today at least. The offer is still on the table though and we have two weeks left.

 

Please have the technical launcher ready by then.  Whatever that means.

First Day of School!

Don't mind me; I'm just over here trying to stop time.

 

 

Last year.

 

 



Swing Batter Batter!

 

Narls' baseball season just wrapped up. 

 

Since May, Clay and I have had a ball game and/or a soccer game for both kids almost every single night of the week. It's been crazy.  And what's especially crazy? I've thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

This is Narls' first year playing in the 8 & Under division and it's super cool to see everything these kids have learned in teeball and 6U start to make sense to them. They're making plays and tagging runners out and throwing to first and hitting hard. 

 

 

They're playing like real ball players.

 

They have had great coaches, including Clay who was on the field every game, who taught them a lot.

 

Narls played a good rotation of infield, outfield, and even catching, my old position.

 

I think my favorite part about his games though, is just being there. Sitting in the field with sunshine on my shoulders as Em plays on the slide and Lainey and I watch our boys on the field.  The simpleness and goodness of it all. Before things like standings and RBIs and divisions really start to matter. Seeing Narls get an amazing hit and smiling as the first thing he does after he runs home is come out to me with the biggest smile on his face and ask if I saw it. Watching Clay throw balls to the team with his worn old glove, as soft as butter, and with this almost magnetic draw that pulls all their wayward balls right to it.  Feeling Lainey's tail wag on my feet every time she hears Em's laugh or Narls' yell. Getting waffle cones of superman at our favorite ice cream place on the way home, win or lose.

 

Those are the reasons I love these baseballs games so much.

School's Out For Summer

I just dropped my boy off at school for his last day of first grade.

What a great year it's been. Clay and I are so proud of this kid! He's so bright and inquisitive (tested into third grade math!) and loves learning.

We had a great teacher who was thoughtful and worked well with Narls.  Clay and I volunteered when we could and we made it to every event and field trip.

I have high hopes that next year - with both of my babies in elementary school! - will be just as fun and successful.

Now onto summer vacation!

Life Lessons, Disguised as Soccer, the Conclusion (Actually, Just the Beginning)

 

Once upon a time I wrote about my boy's new soccer team. How we inadvertedly got put into a soccer division that wasn't our hometown's, how he was put on an established team, how the other boys seemed better than him and everyone seemed to know it.

 

In particular, I wrote this paragraph, "After practice, the coach came up to me and said Narls did great. That he's tough. That he has a solid soccer foundation and he'll fit right in and he'll see us tomorrow morning for their game."

 

He did see us that next game. And the next. And when the fall season ended, we were right back for spring. Narls is even signed up to play with these exact boys on this exact team in this exact division next fall, per his request. These boys have become a solid team of good friends and it was so great to watch. The skills this coach taught these boys, the teamwork and humility and encouragement they learned and received, well, Clay and I truly believe would not have been taught with the same caliber anywhere else.

 

You can see the difference from fall:

 

to spring:

 

 

Narls has tremendous confidence now, which was the biggest thing holding him back on the field. Because Coach Marc was right- Narls is tough, he does have a solid soccer foundation, that he is a right fit for the Sharks team. He knew it, Clay and I knew it, now Narls knows it.

 

They worked together this season and won the tournament.

Never lost a game the entire season, in fact.

 

This was so good for us.

 

Me and My Guy Dance

 

My son's elementary school held their first mother and son dance about a month ago.

 

And Narls was motified. He didn't want to go, he didn't want to dress up, he didn't want to dance.

He was against the whole entire thing.

 

 

Until we got there and he saw his friends and they were all dancing and wearing the same dress clothes. Then it was all good.

 

 

I even managed to get some smiles out him.

 

 

He may not have danced with me, but we both had a great time.

Stitch.

I sent my boy to school last week and by lunch I was meeting him and his father in the emergency room. He fell at recess and split his lip open. It required five stitches and lots of TLC.

 

 

As far as children emergency room visits go - and we don't have a lot to go by considering this was our first - it went pretty easy. It was a weekday afternoon so there was no wait. The nurse and surgeon were experienced and kind. Narls didn't hit any teeth or knock them out of alignment and he handled the stitches like a boss despite not being completely numb.

 

 

Four days later, the stitches came out and he was as good as new.

 

♥ ♥ ♥

Narls' Solar Panel Experiment

 

Narls brought home one of those solar powered desk flowers that sways back and forth with this note from his teacher. She lent him the flower so he could do an experiment. Clay suggested we record the whole thing and make a video, and Narls was all in. He did all the experiments, chose his own words and even did quite a bit of the video editing. I think we were all pretty proud of the finished product.  

 

 Take a look.  

A Full (and healthy) Heart

At school, Narls has been learning about ways to keep his heart healthy, which is something very near and dear to my own heart. Heart disease is prominent on both sides of my family; my mom had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass before she was 50, and my dad had a heart attack and stroke by 60. I remember talking to one of my mom's heart doctors who said if you have heart disease in your genetics, you are 40% more likely to have a heart attack. Forty percent. And that's not even taking anything else into account - that's starting at square one.

 

 

The threat of an unhealthy heart was a huge motivator for when we started eating clean a couple years ago. Our diet is still a big topic of discussion in our home; Narls knows all about proteins and healthy fats and over-processing and Red 40 (he even mentioned the dangers of Red 40 to his teacher when he found out M&Ms were a topping selection at the valentine ice cream social). That's not saying he didn't eat the M&Ms, because he totally did, but he ate less of them and with a bit of 7-year-old understanding about the composition of the things he's putting in his body and how it affects his health.  

 

  

Heart disease is a huge motivating factor when it comes to exercise, too. The kids see Clay go to basketball and me to yoga and the whole family often goes swimming together at our gym. Even something as simple as taking Lainey for an evening walk is important, which I don't do with Clay & the kids enough.  It's a struggle for me to exercise every day because honestly? I kind of hate it.  But I hate being overweight even more. And I imagine I'd hate having heart disease most of all. So I do it, even though it doesn't come natural to me like it does Clay, so that it will always be a way of life for Narls and Emerson, so it will always come natural to them. 

 

And it's beyond awesome that these same goals - healthy diet and daily physical activity - are being echoed in Narls' classroom.  The school recently held a Jump Rope for Heart where the kids spent the entire afternoon at different jump rope stations being active and energizing their hearts. Parents came and we helped and cheered them on. The school also encouraged the children to raise money for heart disease and Narls took it upon himself to collect donations.  He set a personal goal of raising $25 and do you know that boy collected $121? Almost five times his goal.  We're so proud of him. And he's proud of himself!

 

We're teaching and we're learning and we're trying and we'll get there.

We have to.  For healthy lives and healthy hearts.

Toothless Wonder

Guess who lost another tooth?

 

 

This makes three!

 

He woke up at 3:30 in the morning shouting that his tooth was out. We found the tooth near his pillow and got him cleaned up while I mentioned that although it was still dark out, it was indeed morning - we may have already missed the Tooth Fairy for this particular night - because I knew I didn't have a dollar, or any cash/coins, on me. (This tooth has been wiggling & jiggling for months; I don't think any of us thought it would ever come out.)

 

Narls said he hoped we did miss her because he really wanted his dad (who was in New York for a couple days on business) here when she came.

 

That made me smile.

Made Clay happy too.

Seriously, this kid.

 

 

Basketball Superstars (or something like that)

For the past couple months we've been waking up at dawn on Saturdays, racing time to get everyone dressed & fed & basketball bags packed & water bottles filled & kids pepped & everyone loaded into the SUV to make the 25 minute drive across town to watch Em play basketball at 9am and Narls play basketball at 10am.

 

 

I'm dramatic and making it sound much more awful than it is, because honestly, watching them play is way more entertaining than I thought it would be.  Like, I 'm not one of those crazed sports moms who make sparkly signs for their 7 year olds but I'll shout the shit out of some sideline cheers whenever one of them makes a basket. Which neither has done yet, but still. I'm ready with the megaphone.

 

Em has perfected the art of traveling; homegirl will get the ball and RUN, forget all that dribbling stuff.  And Narls? Well, he's Narls and he plays like Narls, and despite Clays' best advice: "GET IN THE GAME NARLS", "These kids. When we get home, I'm going to line them up and just fire balls at them. There's no reason to be scared of the ball", "YOU'RE ON DEFENSE NARLS", and "I can't even watch this anymore", Narls still plays how he wants to play. You really got to admire the kid's tenacity.

 

They're improving though, which is cool to see. And they have fun, which is the very best part.

 

My mind is continually blown at all the grandparents in the stands.  Don't they have more important things to do and longstanding grudges to uphold? No? Who knew.

 

 

Em and I will forever be mad at Clay for signing her up for basketball as opposed to cheerleading, but seriously, look at her in those shorts. Side note: I memorize all the cheerleaders' chants and then teach them to her at home. Who loves you, baby girl?

 

 

These two.

Love them.

Homemade Valentines: The Minecraft Edition

 

In case you couldn't tell from my son's Minecraft birthday party, he's a bit enamored with this simple game.  So when I showed him these Valentine cards, he was pretty stoked to give them to his classmates.

 

I tweaked a couple of them, making them a bit more first-grade appropriate, and then we printed them out, wrapped up tiny Hersey bars, and got to work signing them.

 

So cute!

 

Past Valentine Cards:

 

 

2011: Sucker photo cards for preschool

 

 

2012 : Heart-shaped recycled crayons for pre-k

 

2013 : Star Wars glow sticks for kindergarten