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Yesterday was Kaden's last Saturday game of the season and Gran and Papa were here to cheer him on.
And make sure he keeps it up.
The night before the game they took him to Sports Authority for a tee and rebounder net, and after the game he had an extra backyard practice scheduled.
Hey Batter, Batter! Swing, Batter!
So I guess we're a Taekwondo family now. What has just been something Blue did Mondays after school for a half hour is the real deal if you go for a belt test and belt ceremony. Tonight Blue got his yellow belt.
Maybe by the time he gets to orange I'll learn to tie the thing.
He was pleased.
In recent Toby happenings...
Yesterday morning I was sitting on the couch with my lap top and Toby came up, pulled my glasses off my face, and said, "Surprise." No idea where he got that from, but it made me laugh.
We have a small plastic moose that Toby insists is a camel. Note to self - buy a small plastic camel so he can see the difference.
Toby correctly identified an ostrich in a Noah's Arc picture at church. Didn't know he knew that word.
Have heard him correctly use the word "my" the past few days. Seems like progress. (In the past he would say, "My bed," and then go to, well, MY bed, because he was just repeating what he'd heard me say.)
This morning he wanted Elmo to eat breakfast but he didn't want to. Um. No.
In OT related skills, yesterday I got him some turkey slices and left him at the table with his plate while I ran to the bathroom. When I returned like 37 seconds later, he had eaten his turkey, gone to the counter and fetched the rest of the turkey (oops, I hadn't put it away), peeled one slice off and placed it on his plate, and was trying to close the bag. Well, isn't he Mr. Independent these days?
We need him to not show off these new skills on Monday. Well, we need him to show off a little, but not close enough to age appropriate. He has his testing/evaluation with the school board because three is one month away and with three comes "graduation" from the Early Steps program. I wrote more about that awhile back.
And finally, today, we tagged along with Blue's class for a beach clean up field trip. Afterwards the kids sat in a pavillion to eat snack, and after that, they ran around in an empty field next to the pavillion. Toby ate snack with the big kids but wanted nothing to do with the running around. He continued to sit and play with a dinosaur and a Woody toy he'd brought from the car. But when the kids were signalled to line up - oh boy! He threw those toys to the ground and ran right up to join 'em.
Breaking records.
I ran in my first official 5k yesterday morning. That was my number. Blue's school put together a big team of teachers and parents.
I started jogging mid-January. Well, walk-jogging. I used the Nike app on my phone and just tried to jog a little longer every time I went. Eventually I managed a mile, then 2, then a 5k. But I'm a slow jogger. One could argue I'm more like a bouncy walker. My fastest 5k time remained 40 minutes even for a long, long time.
Until this Saturday.
I came in at 37:56.
Then I was off to meet Kevin and the boys at Blue's Belt testing.
See - Blue has a white belt. That's the very, very beginning of the Tae Kwon Do journey.
He passed, so this Friday night we get to go to a belt ceremony. Then he's officially a yellow belt!
Walking to the van after the ceremony, I saw my favorite Bird.
Then we were off to Bookfest, the 3rd annual, of this local event where they give kids free books, have local authors selling their books, have book characters out and about, a tent where Mother Goose reads stories, another tent where kids read to local school administrators...
Here's Kaden reading to his principal and Blue (who picked the book).
Toby sat in this spot pulling books from these baskets for like, forever.
After bookfest we were supposed to be off to Baseball, but thanks to a downpour the night before the morning's games were cancelled. At least since Bookfest was at the St Lucie Met's stadium the boys got to watch the pitcher warm up.
So they got their baseball fix while Toby continued to page through book after book after book...
At 3pm Kevin and I then drove across the state to La Belle to meet my dad, Vannoy Banks, for dinner and then to see him at his lastest go with community theater, The Bottom Line. Meanwhile the kids were left to spend the night at my mom's, our favorite free Babysitter!
Shopping/Planning/Crafting for Toby's Seusstastic 3rd birthday party is officially under way.
And thank you, Michael's for having those ridiculous flowers on sale. They birthed the idea for me to create a Lorax Garden in our sandbox. (Four bags of colored sand, not pictured)
Now I'll just be needing everyone to save their wrapping paper tubes for me. I'm gonna need 'em for my Truffula trees.
There's a picture on Pinterest where a kid is using a dropper to drop colored vinegar into a casserole dish lined with baking soda. It promises that the kid will be entertained for hours.
If by hours they meant 6 and a half seconds then yes, exactly.
I didn't pin it. I just remembered the idea and today, when we first got home from Kaden's school pick-up, and the big boys wanted to ride scooters in the driveway, I figured it was something I could do with Toby.
So I sprinkled baking soda onto a plastic plate, colored three different shades of vinegar, grabbed a dropper, and set things up outside on a blanket.
I demonstrated. I did hand over hand, but Toby never got the hang of the dropper.
Toby, that's not where I showed you to squeeze it.
Toby, that's not where I told you put that!
During the process he kept saying, "Ooooo! Bubbles!" as it would fizz, but he had the most fun at the end when I told him just to grab the baking soda and drop it in the cups.
And now he has a blue foot.
So, ya know, a fun afternoon project.
(Including a Fagile X tag because surely this provided 6 1/2 seconds of sensory input for my sensory seeking boy.)
Matching shirts:
(not really, it cleaned up fine)
Pretty eggs:
(The swirls are melted crayon - the vibrant dye is just good 'ol warm water and vinegar and food coloring - stuff we had on hand, no need to buy any of the store packages)
Candy and treats for breakfast:
Like the little cookie basket? It was this, sorta. I just skipped the coconut because I hate the texture of coconut flakes and I used mini Cadbury eggs because I also do not like jelly beans. I made a zillion of 'em for our church breakfast (and a hashbrown casserole).
Because no, Easter basket candy was NOT the kids only breakfast. Our church does a big pot luck breakfast before the Easter service.
And a hunt. Where Toby couldn't decide... Do I want these eggs or not?
And then apparently, the day was all about the food. Because after church we had a light lunch that included Resurrection Rolls I had the kids help me make. No pictures of this, but you should still know because A. They were super yummy and for that alone a worthwhile new tradition and B. Blue has been going around saying, "Marshmallow Jesus melted." So now that sentence won't be so confusing when you hear him say it.
Then I took a nap and Kevin watched some golf and the kids were entirely neglected.
But we managed to get it together and unearth a new batch of clean shirts for dinner at the Dolphin Bar and Shrimp house.
My mom let me pick the restaurant AND paid. And then I go and post this goofy picture?
Ok, here's a better one:
Yes, of course there was also a church service in the midst of all this. But it's all church, isn't it? Celebrating life. Celebrating blessings.
Oh, Death! Where is your sting?
Oh, Hell! Where is your victory?
Oh, Church! Come stand in the light.
Our God is not dead, He's alive! He's alive!
(From Christ is Risen, a song by Matt Maher, that we sang at church Sunday morning)
Psalm 8
1 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
We HEARD the waves while still walking up the sidewalk, long before pavement gave way to sand. And then... Red flag. High tide. We weren't sure how our beach day was going to work out.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
The kids enjoyed dancing in front of the waves but even later in the day when the tide receded and things smoothed out, Kaden was too scared to get in the water. He'd heard and seen the strength of those wave breaks...
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
Meanwhile Kevin fully enjoyed God's handiwork.
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
This troublemaker? A little lower than angels? God IS gracious. :-)
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
And brothers. Because here Toby has his brothers under his feet.
9 LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Yesterday it was animals. Today it was ocean, surf, and sand. There have been times in my faith walk when my intellectual side has leaned toward atheism (just being honest) but in creation... I can't imagine it all occuring by chance. Surely this beach, yesterday's peacock were the design of The Artist.
And if I accept a Master Designer, then I can accept that He is perfect, and I am not, and there must be a bridge to overcome that gap.
Today, more than any day, I humbly acknowledge Christ's sacrifice in creating that bridge.
But on this side of the cross, it's not such a solemn day. There may be the dark skies, heavy thunderous waves... but they give way. The skies brighten. The sea calms. The beauty reveals.
I know. I've seen.
In nature. In my life. In the life of my kids.
So this solemn day was not so solemn. We played at the beach. We lunched at the Jensen Beach Mulligans. We napped and watched Star Wars. I shopped for our church's Easter breakfast and worked on vases for table decorations. Preparations...
THE day of celebration for Christians is almost here!
In December 2010 my mom got a dog and promptly brought him to my house because she didn't have a fence. Remember? It didn't take her long to get a fence and fall in love with that dog.
This dog.
Who had to be put down this week.
He had a piercing bark that set my teeth on edge. He'd chew things in my backyard whenever he came to play. And he often jumped putting his paws on counters or furniture. But.... he was so sweet and tolerant of anything my kids did to him. That's all that really matters, right?
When we drive up to Oma's house Toby always says, "Zack! Zack!" Tomorrow morning we will drive over there for the first time since Zack left us and Toby's going to call for Zack and... I'm crying just anticipating that moment.
He had some doggy form of Crohn's and suddenly just couldn't, wouldn't eat or, if forced to, keep anything down. After surgery, medicine, two different vets weighing in, there just wasn't anything left to be done and Mom had to make the decision to set her hound loose on the foxes in heaven.
Damn stupid loveable dog.
Say a prayer for my Mom. What a rough few weeks.
