The Fair

Well, I am going to be awarded the worst Mommy award this week. I had promised Jack since last fair time that he could enter something in the Fair. He loves to cook and has been wanting to make fudge since last Christmas. He does a good job. So this year I promised him he could enter his fudge in the Fair. We even created a new recipe to make it his own. I made my pound cake to submit as well. I have always wanted to enter something at the Fair too. Today is the day you have to take everything up there to be judged. I went on the website to figure out how to submit everything and found that you were supposed to send in an entry form by Sept. 1st. I did not do that, so I cannot take our entries today. Jack is going to be so mad at me. He has looked forward to this for so long. His fudge is really good too. I don't know how I am going to break this to him. Anybody want a really good pound cake?

First Football game

We played our first football game yesterday for both boys. I love football but I do not like it in the rain. It rained all day yesterday and was a little chilly too. Since our club was the host for the games that meant we had to work the gate, the concession stand and do clean up. Just throw the rain in there and you have a party. I think my family changed clothes 3 times each during all that fun and to boot Mark wanted to go out to eat after the last game. Yuck! We went out to eat with me looking like a drowned rat. I must have been really hungry because I did not care that I looked like a drowned rat.
The boys played good games but Thomas's team got beat. They are a young team so some of them like Thomas still have a lot to learn. Thomas is still learning the finer points of the game. One thing he has not learned is that he is going to get knocked down. He still takes that personally. Yesterday he and one of my best friends' son knocked heads and they both came off the field crying. I think my friends' son got the worst end of the hit. Thomas is my little drama queen though so everything is major to him. In the middle of the drama they both said at the same time, "I don't want to play football anymore." I think it was a heat of the moment kinda thing. I think they will both be back at it on Tuesday for practice.
Jacks' team did well they won despite the rain and yuck. Jack scored a TD and a two point conversion. Of course I did not find that out until after the game. It is so hard to see who is who on the field. I just cheer for all of 'em.

Football Jamboree. . .

Both the boys had their jamboree for football this weekend. Jacks' team scrimmaged against 4 other teams and did pretty good. They are still working on fine tuning a few things. I thought they looked great but of course I am a little prejudice. Mark on the other hand is very critical so he saw a lot of things they needed to work on. I was so excited one time because we were running for a touchdown and I looked to see who ran the ball and it was Jack. I jumped up and said that was Jack he's mine, that's my son. Yeah!! In all their gear you cannot tell who is who. I just know his number. They have their names on their jerseys but I can't see that far so that does not help. Thomas did well at his jamboree. This is Thomas first year of football so he has a lot to learn about the game. Several of the kids that are on Thomas team played last year so that is a big bonus. They know what to do. Thomas only played one team instead of multiple like Jack did. Thomas team won. Yeah!! I looked up one time and all I saw was Thomas feet fly in the air and then he got up rubbing his head. He was quite upset about that. We told him that's football, he did not like getting knocked for a loop. He bowed up at the boy and looked like he wanted to go after him but his coach grabbed him and brought him back to the line where he was supposed to play. He did not get any flags but he tried really hard. I think other than getting knocked on his fanny he had fun.

They both play on Saturday for real. They are playing at different times so I will get to see both games.

New Bible Study . . .

I have started a 40 week Bible study through our Church called Gemeinschaft. It is a small group Bible study only seven people and we are reading our Bible and daily text and also creating a journal. Since the Moravians' are German then a lot of our names for things are German. Part of our study is creating our Lebanslauf which is German for spiritual autobiography. I was a little worried about that one. I have started it and surprisingly it is not as hard as I thought it would be. This has brought back many memories of my childhood and church. I have remembered things that I have not thought of in many years. One of the things that brought back great feelings was when I was about five or six and I got to be the star in the live nativity scene. I stood on a ladder behind the little shack they had built to represent the barn.
I also remembered all the pot luck suppers we had too. Our Church now has a few suppers but they are not really pot luck they are fixed by the members of the Church but they are not their own recipes. I think that is one thing I miss.
I hope when my kids look back on their childhood they will have fond memories of going to Church and Vacation Bible School.

Double digits. . .

Well, my baby has reached double digits. He will be ten this week. He is getting a new bike for his birthday. I feel old! Yuck! I have a ten year old son? He thinks he's twenty. We had a family get together at the Lake yesterday and fun was had by all. The kids played in the water, Mark fished, and I got to gossip with the ladies. HA HA!! Don't think that Mark was not gossiping to. You know men do it too. If they say they don't they are lying. My husband has gone to the kids basketball games and come home with more dirt on people than I could even think of. He never solicits information people just like talking to him and will tell him anything.

I made Jack a cake to go to the Lake for his Birthday Celebration. It was devils food with chocolate icing. Yummm!!! It turned out pretty good. I spelled his name on top with M&M's. He liked it and everyone else thought it was really good. I told' em you can't beat Betty Crocker. Jack got gift cards to the toy store so I guess tomorrow we will be shopping at the toy store. He already knows exactly what game he wants. He has been saving his commissions, that is what we call his allowance, for several weeks now to buy it. Now with birthday money rolling in he will be able to get it sooner than he thought. He is also very excited about his bike. He has already picked it out so all we have to do is pick it up. He did need a new one really bad. The one he has now is too small for him. Unfortunately, it is too big for Thomas right now. Thomas is at that in between stage. He is too big for his bike and his legs are too short for Jacks' bike.

Whiney kids

Ok, so why is it that when you tell your child to do something that they immediately respond with the highest pitch whine ever. Oh, mom whyyyyyyyyyyy? Can't they just know that they are supposed to do what we ask when we ask it. Then of course you get the stomping of the feet and the loud huff. I am trying a new response to those things. If they give me the oh mom bit I simple point to their room and tell them ten minutes. I know this is lame and to close to the old time out thing. But, when their time is up I tell them again what I need them to do and they seem to do it without arguing.
I know they need boundaries but goodness does it have to be this hard. Do we have to do this every time. (whine, whine, whine.) Life is such a vicious cycle.
I was looking through some old pictures again of the kids when they were just babies. I miss that age sometimes. I don't miss the 2am feedings and diaper changes though. I miss their little laughs as they see something for the first time. I miss that baby smell too. You know the one I mean. That sweet clean smell. I have two boys and they just stink now. They have that sweaty, stinky, little boy on the playground all day stink. They whine and complain why do I have to take a shower? I took one yesterday. Mark just tells them to smell under their arms. That is the male approach to getting them to bathe. It works so I don't complain. Mark does have some parenting skills, it has just taken them almost ten years to kick in.