A Special Week

This is our family after Drew's First Communion Ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony and Drew was honored by getting to carry in the bread and lead the church in song as the cantor for the ceremony. He had a three solos during the service and didn't get nearly as nervous as he did when they lit their Baptismal candles! Mommy made it through the entire ceremony, but finally cried at the end. Dawsyn spent the ceremony checking out the girl's dresses and making mental notes for next year when she will get to make her First Communion. After the party, she got on-line and started searching for her dress for next year!


Drew during the ceremony, very nervous about the lit candle in his hand. More nervous about the little boy across the aisle from him who "doesn't behave very well in Sunday School and may just torch the whole church!"

Delaney at "Take Your Child to Work" Day. She is eating her breakfast at Mommy's desk! Although the sixth graders "were a little scary", she still helped pass out papers, make copies, and drew beautiful pictures on the white board.

Dawsyn all ready for her First Grade Music Program. She did so well, and brought tears to Mommy's eyes when her class did Sign Language to "America the Beautiful". She loves the stage!

Drew ready for "Take Your Child to Work" day. He insisted on wearing the tie and taking the briefcase Grandpa Chuck gave him. He enjoyed his day, except that he no longer wants to be a computer programmer like Daddy and he did get a little concerned and had to call Mom to let her know that ***gasp*** Daddy was talking to another woman!!! But, he reassured Mom that he thought she was much prettier!

A Big Step

Drew is making his First Communion on Sunday. Yesterday was his retreat. Shawn and I went with him and my parents came to our house to watch the rest of the crew. I was a little concerned because the retreat was for 5 hours and I wondered what activities we would be doing. Last weekend, he had his church scavenger hunt and he finally finished, 45 minutes after the last kid left. It wasn't because he couldn't find things, it was because he was so into it!!! I was proud of him, but when the priest even began to roll his eyes, I got a little nervous. So, we head to church and they start by setting up stations with activities. We got through the first few pretty well at a normal pace, but when we got to the station about finding stories in the bible, then reading them and answering questions, Drew put the brakes on! He wondered at every story, insisted on finding them and reading them aloud to Shawn and I, and then discussing them with us and adding his own commentary. For instance, when we got to the story about Jesus multiplying the fish and the loaves, I commented, before we read it that this was one of my favorite Bible stories because it was such an amazing miracle. Drew looked at the passage, skimmed it quickly, and then looked at me in disbelief saying, "the fish and bread one? Seriously, Mom? You're impressed by the fish and bread miracle??" I tried to defend myself and say that Yes, I thought it was a neat miracle. To this, he responded that he didn't really think turning fish and bread into ....MORE fish and bread was all that impressive. He even said, "I mean, as far as miracles go, Jesus, I guess it was great, but not really all that impressive". Ok--so I want my son to have opinions and to feel free to express them, but I'm not sure criticizing Jesus and his miracles falls in the range of acceptable! Overall, though it was a great evening and a good experience for all three of us. I only teared up twice--once when Drew wrote a paper that said his mom's greatest gift from God was her love, and once when I was laughing so hard at the expression on his face when he first tasted the wine. He sat back down and said, "I have to do that every week!?!" I know he is ready and I am hoping it is a beautiful ceremony that we can all enjoy. He even made a sign for the pew our family gets to sit in at the service. It has a picture of Jesus' face on it that he drew. And, even though it looks more like Cheech from Cheech and Chong, I'm sure Jesus appreciates the mention--especially considering that whole "fish and loaves" disappointment!

Our little Mia Hamm

Delaney had her very first soccer game last night. She was so excited getting ready, pulling on her socks, putting on her pink cleats. She was just beaming. Then when everyone came to watch her, she just kept waving from the field, so excited to see everyone. Shawn is her coach. This is the 3rd of our children he has coached in one sport or another (Drew-soccer and football, Dawsyn-basketball, and now Delaney-soccer). So far, she is the easiest. Whatever he tells her, she just smiles and says "OK-Daddy" and then goes and does whatever she wants anyway! They did get in a little argument over the name for the team. She really wanted her team to be called "The Girly-girls". Shawn refused to coach a team by that name! So, they settled on "The Wildcats"! When she went in as goalie last night, Dax ran over to the edge of the field, pointed his finger at her, and screamed at the top of his lungs, "Layne! Don't let that ball get past you!" One benefit of having so many kids is that they all begin to fill in the parenting duties. It seems the more I have, the more the words are taken right out of my mouth by one of them. She did really well. It was just plain adorable to watch these 5 year olds run around after the ball and Shawn trying to coach them and having to kneel periodically to re-tie someones shoe!
Drew got the results of his state-required testing last week (he came out with a high IQ and a high school reading and language level). He did really well, and will get to be in special classes next year based on the results. I am proud of him, and want him to be proud of who he is, but I also don't want him to get an elitist attitude or to use labels like "gifted" because all of my kids are "gifted" in something and I don't want them to compare themselves or feel like somehow they fall short! Besides, I knew he was smart and thought on a different level than most 8 year olds, I didn't need a test to tell me this! God gives us each gifts and we don't really get a say in what they are--if that were the case, I would be able to sing like an angel--which I don't. As Delaney reminded me last night in the car on the way home--"Mom--I really like Daddy's voice A LOT better than yours!" Thanks, Layne!

Remember when...

...your life felt like a steamy soap opera? Ok--so mine was never really all that steamy, but it was at least romantic, and exciting. My whole future lay ahead of me, there was all of this drama, and I still thought I could have a baby and be back in my skinny jeans by the next episode? I realized this morning, as I missed the turn I needed to take to get to the baby-sitters because the kids and I were taking turns looking at the taillights and trunk on the cars ahead of us and telling what kind of emotions the car looked like it had, "that one looks angry--see how it's eyes (aka taillights) are slanted!" (I have to admit Drew had the best one when he found the old Ford truck in front of us that, with the high red taillights, the Ford oval symbol and bright white license plate centered in just the right spot, looked exactly like a beaver), that my life has definitely turned from steamy romance into prime-time sitcom! Now the only steamy scenes that happen are when I leave the mac-n-cheese on the stove too long because I am simultaneously checking homework, nursing a baby, folding laundry, and cooking dinner. The paramount of this realization occurred the other night when I spent 3 hours calling everyone in my phonebook and on my contact list so Drew and Dawsyn could read each of them a poem for the "Great Poem Race" at school. I called numerous people, used up tons of minutes, and gave up three hours of time that could have been spent getting other things done to help Drew and Dawsyn out. This did not go without reward however--yesterday, Drew and Dawsyn proudly took their papers to turn in with every person's name listed and their location (they were proud that they had called Florida, and North Carolina). They were so excited they could hardly wait to get to school. The smile on their faces was worth all the used cell-phone minutes, and time taken, not to mention the number of family members bothered by listening to Shel Silverstein poems! Then, the moment we have all been waiting for...drum roll please....at the end of the day, they come out the doors of the school with.....(Da-Da-Dada-Dum) a plastic gold medal on a cheap piece of string, the type that I am sure can only be bought by the gross, and still wouldn't add up to a dollar! They throw said medal on the floor of the van, where it will forever stay lost in the abyss of papers, parts of crayons, and any amount of left-over fast food particles, and I am reminded of "A Christmas Story"--I think I would have preferred the leg lamp for their MAJOR AWARD! I tried to still keep my game face and say, "Well look at the experience you had--you got a lot of reading practice and talked to many family members who you don't normally get to talk to. Drew's response to this was, "Please mom, the medals all say #1--so even the kid who turns his in a week from now on the last possible day, with only half the names filled in, will still think he's number 1!" Poor kid is just starting to realize how much we promote mediocrity in our society! Not everyone has such low standards however! At Drew's soccer game last night, Delaney had to use the porta-potty (yet another lovely reminder of my sit-com life--did you ever notice you don't EVER see porta-potties on the soap operas???) and I run her over to it, but there is a person in line in front of us. About this time, Delaney starts doing the frantic dance with the look of absolute pain on her face (once again, never done by the cute little kids in the soaps) and I realize that the person in front of us is one of my sixth graders! I kindly ask if Delaney can cut in front of her and she agrees. When Delaney is done, I make her say thank you and as we are walking away, I tell Delaney how this girl is one of the best students I have ever had and that I hope Delaney is a student like her in 6th grade. Delaney's response to this was to look at me very seriously and say, "Is it because all the other kids pick their nose?" What exactly goes on at preschool??? Glad to know that not picking her nose is something she holds in high esteem--Kindergarten should be a great experience!

April Fools!

I'm not sure my 8 year old son will ever speak to me again, but this was my best April Fool's Day yet! We are on Spring Break this week, and so far we have had a great one. We went to Chuck E. Cheese, met a bunch of friends at the park for a picnic, and today we didn't have much planned until church tonight. So, the kids were all VERY upset to hear that the school called this morning and decided that they were going to be in session today to make up for all the snow days we had this winter. We had to hurry because we didn't know about it until this morning. So, the kids jumped out of bed, ran around brushing their teeth, getting dressed, and getting their bookbags together. We all jumped in the car and Drew and Dawsyn were so upset. They just kept saying that they hated school and couldn't believe they had to go. They were also upset because they didn't have time to eat breakfast or pack a lunch, and now they would have homework, etc. etc. etc. This went on for the entire ride to school. As we were pulling up to the school, I said to the kids that we hadn't done the calendar that we do every morning for Dax to help him learn the days of the week and months. So we started singing our days of the week song and as we pulled into the parking lot, I said, "If yesterday was March 31st, then what is today?" Dawsyn said "March 32nd?" and Drew said "NO!" "It's April 1st!" as he slapped his hand to his forehead and threw his head back against the seat. About this time, Dawsyn began to realize that there were no other cars in the parking lot, I pulled up to the front of the school and said, "April Fools!" They were so mad, until their good friends pulled in right behind us with their bookbags and their mom did the same thing (I had called her the night before and arranged it) then we took them out to breakfast together! Drew was still mad when we got to breakfast and said he refused to go in and couldn't believe how disappointed he was in me that I would lie. This only lasted until we disappeared into the restaurant and then he came running in after us (which I knew he would do). Since the kids now knew it was April Fool's Day, I told them that they had it much better than their father, who had to get up at 5:00 this morning and stumble to his dresser, open up the top drawer in the dark, pull out the first pair of underwear his hand touched, only to find out that they didn't come out so easily, nor did the next pair, or the next pair, or any underwear or socks or anything that was in that drawer for that matter. It couldn't be because his wife had secretly gone up before he went to bed and sewed everything together with a thin piece of thread! (Hee Hee Hee!) While all of this was going on, I was still sound asleep, until a wad of clothing hit me. I jumped at first until I realized that Shawn had just thrown the sewn clothes at me. It only took me a second to remember what I had done and I just smiled, rolled over and said "April Fools" and went back to sleep. I know--pure evil--but soooo FUN!
I did also take the kids to the local conservatory to see the butterflies. We played in the park and, of course, Dax was most interested in the trains! Dawsyn made her mom very proud when on the way home, she said, "Mommy--my belly hurts". I didn't react to much and just told her to take some deep breaths and try to relax. Then she said, "No, Mommy, I mean it! I think I am going to throw up!" At this point, Aunt Cassie who was in the car with us, jumps up and starts trying to grab a bag and turn around in the seat to help her, when Dawsyn announces, "April Fools!" It was a very proud Mommy-moment indeed! It was also very appropriate that this is what "got" Aunt Cassie, considering that she used to throw up every time she got in the car when she was little. In fact, Shawn was so stunned by Cassie's talent to puke on demand, he once got her a state map with little gold star stickers marking every spot she had puked at one point or another in her life. I think it was her Christmas present one year.
The kids had calmed down enough to go to Holy Thursday Mass tonight. Drew was one of the people they asked to have their feet washed by the priest. This is a tradition done on Holy Thursday at mass to represent how Jesus washed the feet of his apostles. The Catholic Church has a lot of traditions and rules, particularly around the holidays. For instance, church law says that "alleluia" is not to be said during mass during the Lenten season. Drew, being the good little Catholic that he is, takes this very seriously and came running to me last week saying that Dawsyn was saying a bad word and during Lent!!! (GASP!) The tone of his voice made it apparent how appalled he was by this. I asked him what she was saying and he just said, "The 'A' word!" I repeated, "The 'A' word?" I was confused because I didn't think Dawsyn even knew this word. That's when Drew leaned forward in a very hushed voice and whispered, "You know, Mom--"alleluia!" I tried very had to keep my composure and just said that I bet God would forgive her. Oh why can't it stay this simple? April Fool's jokes and the 'A' word is Alleluia during Lent? I know these really are the best days, but knowing it couldn't make me cherish them any more, and certainly doesn't keep them from going as fast as they are!