Why?

Why do Santa pictures cost $20? And why did I ever start a tradition of getting them done? I have them all framed and get them out for display every year. Every year, when the picture is worse than the year before, I say I'm not doing it again. And yet, when I get all the pictures out, I convince myself that I'll be sorry if I don't continue it. As of right now, I'm just sorry I don't have my $20 back.

Please feel free to laugh. At all of them. Sure, Rhett is the most obviously funny, but if you know what my girls really look like, it's kind of funny too...Reese looks slightly psychotic and Avery has the Chandler Bing "freeze-when-a-camera-appears" smile.

The silver lining: Bringing the Santa pictures out in twenty years!

General Store

I had to do some baking this morning and it's freezing outside so it's an "indoor day." I didn't want the kids to watch TV all day and I sure didn't want them to be bored, because, as we all know, boredom leads to fighting with each other and asking Mom 400 questions per hour. So I tried to think of something that they could do together that would take a while. The Princess cash register in the middle of the floor gave me the idea: Pretend grocery shopping! Oh how I loved to play grocery store when I was a kid. I LOVED to unload my mom's groceries while tapping away on an adding machine of some sort. My one unrealized dream is to be a grocery store checker. I know, I know, I could probably be one really easily right now, but the automatic scanner ruined it for me. I need to be able to punch in numbers really fast to enjoy myself.

Wait. Where was I? Oh right...grocery store for the kids. So, I set up the "store" in the kitchen, got them some grocery sacks and told them to get after it.

Honestly, they weren't that excited when I mentioned it, but they got pretty pumped when they saw it all set up and realized I was letting them use real groceries.

First things first, of course: Reese had to make a list.....

Note: The "Health and Beauty" section is kept separate from the food section. Even a pretend store has to be somewhat organized if you want to streamline your shopping experience.

Rhett did some shopping at first, but gave up after Reese made him be her baby and then became impatient with him. That could not have been part of the game. How in the world would she ever get the idea that a mom gets impatient with her precious child at the grocery store?

Clearly, Reese had business to take care of, so as soon as Rhett balked at being her verbally abused baby, she forgot all about him and got busy shopping.

I think my favorite thing is that she actually read the list she made.

She looked at it every time she picked up an item. I had to get a close up of the list, without her knowing, just so you could see why I find it hilarious that she referred to this list a gazillion times this morning.

If you ever need to get something done, or if you are just in the mood to laugh at your kids, set up a store. It's worth what little time and effort it takes to set up and clean up!

Sweet Girl

She and her big sister are coloring at the table...most of the time has been filled with silence as they both concentrate on their "art." Reese spoke after at least 10 minutes of quiet: "Avery, I miss you when you go to school." Back to silence.

These are the moments that erase all of the arguing, crying, screaming, fussing, and time-outing that goes on in any given day.

The newest family member...

This is my sister's baby, (her 3rd boy, bless her heart!) born at 9:30 this morning. Isn't he the sweetest thing? It's times like these, I wish I had never moved to Texas! It kills me to be 5 hours from this little face!

We interrrupt the scheduled post...

It snowed yesterday. For about an hour. I got a picture of Avery and Reese out in the snow and it's pretty cute. I was sitting down at the computer to post the picture, along with a long diatribe about how Rhett was afraid of the snow at first and it was all adorable and blah, blah, blah.
But I was interrupted mid-post. Reese is rubbing my back as I type (I pay her in chocolates. Seriously.) and she came to my bra strap. I said "That feels really good" because, you know, that strap gets a big tight and it feels nice to have it all scratched. I closed my eyes to enjoy the moment, when her little voice came from behind me. "I like this fat part the best, Momma."

Forget the snow picture...I'm headed to the treadmill.

The excitement begins...

We put up our Christmas tree last night. I didn't think I was ready - I'm OCD about the order and organization of things and to me, Christmas decorations come AFTER Thanksgiving, despite what Hobby Lobby, Wal Mart and the mall throw at me the day after Halloween. But this year, we're traveling to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving, so we either had to put them up before or wait until next week to do it. I asked the kids what they wanted to do, fully prepared to put up decorations that very moment. Their response was as expected: "Now! Now! Put them up NOW!!!"

So we did. They love all the decorations, but there is something about the tree that just mesmerizes them. Avery said "I don't know why, but I could just stare at this tree all night." It's almost hypnotic. I wish I had one year-round so I could just park them in front of it when I needed to get things done. Wouldn't that be awesome? Every time I needed a break, I'd just say "Go to the tree," and I'd have all the time in the world to clean the bathrooms, run on the treadmill, paint my nails, waste time on the computer....wait. Where was I?

Oh, right. The tree.

When I told the girls to brush their teeth and get ready for bed, they said they just had to look at the tree some more. They wished they could sleep by the tree so they could see it all night. I was like "Well, I wouldn't really mind, but the floor is hard. I don't think we can put enough blankets down to make it comfy." They didn't care, but I didn't particularly want them running in my room at 2 a.m. telling me the floor was too hard, so I told them no. Then I thought about it....and remembered the trundle bed in the office/guest room.

It was perfect. At first, I thought they would be too excited to sleep, but eventually, they both dozed off. They actually made it all night long. We may have created a new tradition at our house...

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Again with the crafts

I like for them to do them themselves, with minimal help from me, for this very reason:

I like to see the range of abilities from ages 2 to 6.

I'm especially liking Reese's artistic vision today...

See those black dashes in the midst of the "feathers?" Those, according to her, are eyebrows. Eyebrows on the turkey's feathers. Interesting concept. I love the vision of a 4 year old...anything goes!

Hel-LO!

Remember Uncle Leo from Seinfeld? Every time he and Jerry saw each other, they both said "Hel LO!" in a particular manner.


This morning, I came home from the gym and had a few minutes of alone time. I was actually spending it voting for my brother, Bo Atterberry, as coach of the year at http://www.coachoftheyear.com/. (I've been wondering how I could casually work that in to conversation.)


I was in the kitchen on my laptop so I wasn't visible to anyone coming out of my bedroom. I was deeply engrossed in my computer when I heard a little voice saying "HelLO! HelLO!" ala Uncle Leo. I peered out of the kitchen into the living room where I saw this:


Luckily, I had my camera on the counter directly in front of me so I could document proof that he did, in fact, come into my room around midnight last night, coughing and hacking and that I did have to get up, get medicine and give him a drink, which he promptly spilled on his shirt that I then had to remove. He wasn't pleased that he was greeted with the bright flash of the camera instead of his usual good morning hugs and kisses, but I think it was worth it, just this once.

First Boyfriend?

Ok, I don't think it's quite that serious yet...in fact, we never discuss boyfriends and girlfriends. Avery and Reese both know they aren't allowed to get married until they are 30, which means boyfriend talk is a LONG way off. Plus, as we all know, Avery practically IS a boy, so the last thing she is thinking about is having a boyfriend. Well, that's what I thought, anyway.
Last night, I was getting her schoolwork out of her backpack and came across a piece of red construction paper with dinosaurs drawn all over it. At the top it said AVERY JACK with a heart in between. As in Avery loves Jack? I couldn't imagine it, but I had to ask. I said "Hey, Ave, what's this?" She said, "Jack made that for me." "At school?" I asked. "No, he made it at home and brought it to me." hmmmmm...interesting. I pointed to the heart and said "What's this?" She said "Mom, it's a heart. It means Love, Jack. Because Jack made it." I asked her why she thought he would make her a picture and she said "'Cause he's my best friend, Mom." Then she got busy making him a picture. It also had AVERY (heart) JACK.
I waited until later to ask her, "Why is Jack your best friend? I mean, why do you think you like him the best out of all the other boys in your class?" Her answer is Classic Avery. "Mom, he's the only boy who can take me down."
Gotta love a tomboy!

p.s. This may be one of those messages that I shouldn't share with everyone but I just HAD to have it documented. I can't ever forget it. So if you happen to run into Avery, ixnay on the ackJay. Ok?

Super Artist

Can you guess who made the pumpkin on the upper left?




If you guessed "Dash" from The Incredibles, you were correct.

(I never noticed that he looks like he's carrying a small squirrel in his pants. Sorry, Buddy...it was the smallest one they had!)

Having trouble keeping track of your pumpkin?

(Is this what happens when you refuse to get your kids a pet? They'll just start putting a leash on anything?)

Seriously?

So, I took the kids to the playground yesterday after school. We went to the one across the field from the school because it has swings, so it wasn't too crowded. There were just a few little girls there, all around Avery's age. We hadn't been there 10 minutes when one of the girls walked up to Avery and said, "Are those real Uggs?" I learned later that she also said "How much did those cost?"
May I remind all of you that Avery is a first grader? She, for one, had no idea what Uggs are and whether hers were real or not. For the record, they are, but let me explain: My mom, her Grammy, saw them at Dillard's after Christmas about 3 years ago. They were on sale for, like, $25. Mom thought they were just too cute to pass up even though they wouldn't fit anyone at the time. They just now fit Avery and the reason she likes them is because the "fur feels good" and because "Grammy bought them."
What I want to know is, how in the world does a first or second grader know anything about "real" Uggs? More importantly, WHY does she know? I already know that answer and, if I had met that child's mother, I would probably not be surprised to see her look me up and down in my Target t shirt.
It's none of my business what values (or the lack thereof) any other parent teaches their child, but I felt a bit disheartened that the materialistic cattiness is starting so early. I didn't expect it until at least the ripe old age of about 9. Ah, girls.

And speaking of girls and Uggs, I caught Reese talking to Avery in a southern accent last night...she was imitating a country girl from our Wii bowling game who says "Aw, shucks" in a very womanly, sexy southern drawl. But Reese wasn't saying "Aw, shucks." She was saying, "Aw, shugs." She was batting her eyes and flipping her hand in that dismissive fashion that all southern ladies do when they are professing disappointment. She said it over and over. "Aw, shugs," and "Well, shugs."
Ok, this has nothing to do with Uggs except that shugs rhymes with Uggs. And I thought it was funny. And my heartache over catty little girls melted away into laughter at my little 4 year old goofball.

Happy Birthday Sweet Reesie!

Good morning, Birthday Girl!

It's hard for me to believe that it was four years ago today that I first met this sweet little baby girl. My heart still swells when I see this shiny little face grinning at me first thing each morning.

Maybe it's because she had such a tough time getting here that day four years ago, maybe it's because she's the middle child and gets overshadowed so much of the time, but I wanted to make her day as special as we could. She doesn't go to school and isn't in any activities (we've tried) so she doesn't really have any little girls her own age to invite to a birthday party (bless her little heart), so we just decided to make it a special party weekend! Her actual birthday is today, but we celebrated with my mom, Grammy, Saturday. She chose bowling as her official party. Here she is with Grammy at the bowling alley:


She had her cake and presents on Saturday and I was kind of worried that today would be somewhat anticlimactic, but my sweet friends agreed to do a special playgroup today, in honor of Reese. Jennifer hosted and turned playgroup into a little surprise party. Reese couldn't have been more proud to be the guest of honor.
(Before we got to Jennifer's, I said "Are you going to go in and tell everyone it was your birthday?" and she said "No. They will just know because I am four now." Remember the days when you thought you would somehow be bigger on your birthday?)

She may not be any bigger, at least not that I can tell, but I still think it turned out to be one of the best birthdays ever, even if there wasn't a "real" party to speak of - we partied for three days with our closest family and friends. You can't beat that!

My favorite thing about today? This morning, soon after Reese got out of bed and walked into the kitchen to see it decorated for her birthday. She said "I'm four today!?" almost as a question. I said "I know it, can you believe it?" She said "I'm a big girl now!" I responded with "I know it...you have to stop growing up!" She looked at me, then ran into her room and came back with her "tippy taps" that Grammy gave her Saturday.

She ran into the kitchen, holding the tippy taps and started to put them on. She seemed somewhat distressed. She said "I hope they still fit since I'm four now!" After trying them on, she yelled, excitedly 'Mom, they still fit me even though I'm already four!" Whew.

Mood Swings

I always find it amazing how roller coaster-ish parenthood is. Actually, I believe that very statement, or something similar, was made in the movie, Parenthood. Children have a way of worming their way into your heart and soul. You love them to distraction and sometimes, the things they do and say can leave you speechless - for better or for worse. Only a mother (or father) knows that you can be so joyful you think your heart will burst when your child makes you a card for Mother's Day when no one told them to, and then so angry you could scream when they kick a soccer ball in the house and it bends the blinds and breaks a plant in the kitchen. I think most parents would agree that, when it comes to kids, it's a crap shoot. You have a 50/50 shot of wanting to either hug them or smack them.
And I realized this morning that I think kids feel the same way. Here are two recent conversations between Avery and I to help support my argument:

Last week:
Avery: Mom, can I ride my bike to school?
Me: Sure. I don't think it's supposed to rain today, so we should be safe this afternoon too.

Because I think my house has been swept up in a tornado and, instead of Oz, has landed in Seattle, we're never safe from rain lately. And of course, we walk out the door and it's drizzling. Reese starts to whine because she doesn't want to be wet and cold, so I say "You know what? Let's just take the car. I don't want to walk all the way there and back with Reese whining, plus, if it's raining now, it may be raining after school and I'll have to load your bike up in the car."
Now, Avery is more than a little disappointed. She's already on her bike and wearing her helmet. I knew she would be irritated and with good reason. There's been too much car riding to and from school lately. She says "I thought you said it wasn't supposed to rain today."
Me: I didn't think it was. The weather says there is only a 10% chance and I heard them say it wasn't likely. I guess they were wrong."

We get in the car and head toward the school, where we see a gazillion cars lined up from the drop off point to the stop sign at the main intersection. I say, "Wow, looks like nobody wanted to walk today."
And Avery responds, in the most smart-ass voice I've ever heard her use,
"Wow. I wonder how come their moms knew it was raining and you didn't." Gasp. Gulp. Gasp.

I responded with something about how that was really mean and if we weren't going to school, she'd be in her room alone for an eternity and that she needed to just stop talking if she was going to be ugly. She apologized and I dropped her off, giving her a hug and a kiss as usual, but still kind of smarting from the sting of her remark.

Then, last night, I went in to lay with her. Hanging from her top bunk was a letter I had written her at parent/teacher conferences and left in her desk. It just says something about having a great day and we miss her when she's gone and she's the coolest first grader I know. And she hung it up. Went to the trouble to find tape, go in her room and find a spot for it.
When I saw it last night, I said "Hey, what's that?" She said, "It's my letter from you. I hang it there so I can see it every night." I actually had to bite my lip and hold my breath for a minute to keep from crying. My heart was as big as the helium balloon that flew away without a kid in it. I told her I thought it was so sweet of her and that I almost wanted to cry and she goes, "Hey, it helps me read and it makes me feel happy."

God, I love that kid. And she drives me crazy sometimes. But mostly I love her.
There isn't enough Prozac, Midol or booze to control these emotional mood swings. I guess, as they say in the movie, we have to just buckle up and enjoy the ride. I'm already feeling dizzy.

I did NOT make them do this....

(I just made them do it again, for the camera.)

Back to Normal

Finally! We are back to normal around here. Well, normal is a relative term, but my computer is fixed and my camera hardware and software has been reconnected. We are back in business.

And speaking of business, Rhett has been giving me the business on a regular basis lately. He is very two-and-a-half, very much a boy and very good at what he does.

First of all, he ends just about every sentence with some variation of a potty word. Example: I ask him to bring me his shoes. He responds with, "Okay, Pootie," or "No way, Pootah!" He knows he'll get in trouble for saying "poop"so he says a combination of "poop" and "tootie." Sometimes it's funny, but mostly it's exasperating.

He also makes a mess of everything. Everyone told me boys were different but I had no idea. Really, he wants to hit everything-people, furniture, walls, toys, etc. And take everything apart. And hit. And laugh and toot and say potty words. And hit. I can't even explain it, but if you have boys, you get it. It's just a lot. That's all. Not bad, just a lot. All the time. Except when he's sleeping...which is rare these days.

He's very aware that not doing what I say gets a big reaction. And Lord Almighty, is he getting reactions. Here he is, before he realizes that I'm taking his picture:

I wanted to take a picture of what he did to his left arm when he got a hold of a Sharpie. I caught him off guard and he yelled "Cheese!" before he knew what was happening. Ah, but then he remembered that his goal in life right now is to drive Mommy nuts and not posing for the camera is an easy way to do just that without getting in much trouble at all. So here he is...

You want to know what I said to him when he covered his face? I must admit, it wasn't one of my finer moments. I looked him in the face and, in all seriousness, I said to my two year old child, "Ha ha, I already got a good one!"

My Computer Died

Not that I've had any complaints about the lack of posts recently, but just in case any of you were wondering: Yes, I'm still alive. Sadly, my computer is not. I've been having trouble with it for quite a while...actually, since the Great Water Spill, it hasn't been the same. But in the past couple of weeks, there were times I couldn't even get it to turn on. And Sunday, it finally quit completely. There was nothing I could do to get it to boot up. My first and only thought was "MY PICTURES!" I had not backed any pictures up (the backup program slows things down, so we turned it off) since May. SINCE MAY! Do you know how many precious memories I have photographed since May???? I felt like I had been punched in the chest. How can they be gone? I know people whose homes burn down lose their pictures, but my house didn't burn. Nothing bad has happened and yet, my pictures are just gone????

I was a little more than slightly distraught yesterday morning, as I considered all of the things I have photographed in the last 6 months or so. I called my husband to commiserate and he said, "Well, I think I can fix it. Don't get your hopes up, but I've been talking to some guys here at work and I have an idea." And God bless that man if he didn't spend his lunch hour searching for the right part and then spend another hour figuring out that they gave him the wrong part; another thirty minutes was spent going to the store and getting the right part. (In the meantime, we contacted our friends, Bob and Kealey, who had had similar trouble. Bob offered to go to the store with Aaron to make sure he got the right thing this time. How sweet is that???)

And would you believe that they did it? They got the right part and then my darling, wonderful, computer-nerd of a husband spent about 3 more hours recovering all of my information from my hard drive and putting it on his. God love him. Seriously, I would have either tossed the laptop in the trash and cried for a solid month, or taken the computer to Best Buy and spent $4,000 letting them recover the pictures. Thank God for husbands (today, anyway)!

I am sooooo grateful to Aaron, his work friends and our friend Bob for all the help. It really does mean the world to me that we have some of our memories back. Just look at what we would have missed:

Sea World - Part Two

Wow...the last week has flown by. Aaron left for San Francisco Thursday morning and was gone for three nights and four days. I was so worried that the kids and I would get bored/antsy/on each other's nerves, that I kept us as occupied as possible. If there was an opportunity to be somewhere other than home, we were there. Science night at the school, the park, Target's toy area, the park, riding bikes at the track, the park, going out to dinner. Did I mention we went to the park? Anyway, all of this outdoor activity served two major purposes: It kept us busy and it wore the kids out.

The problem with all of that outdoor activity is that it took me away from any lazy, wasting-time-on-the-computer activity. And now I feel like I should have something really good to say...but I don't. I do, however, have some pictures from Sea World. I have "a case of the Mondays" (name that movie) so don't expect any catchy captions. Enjoy!

This trip to Sea World was 1,000 times better than our Spring Break adventure/nightmare. For one thing, it was rainy all weekend - it even rained a bit as we drove in to San Antonio - but this was a point in our favor. Sea World was not crowded at all. If you remember, our last trip was nothing but one big wait in line. We spent 2.5 hours waiting just to get in. Not this time. We were parked and in the gate in less than 10 minutes. We also didn't have to wait in line to ride rides. Avery road the Steel Eel at least three times. Here she is after her first ride:

See how excited she is? This is how she got off the ride, each time. This is deceiving, because each time she rode it, she actually cried in terror. I rode with her twice and both times, she warned me: "Mom, I'm probably going to cry. But it's ok. I'm still having fun." And she wasn't kidding. She cried. She looked positively miserable each time we went down the huge hill at the beginning...there wasn't any part of her that looked like she was having a good time. And yet, every time the car pulled into the exit station, she said 'That was so cool! Let's do it again!" That child is strange...

After waiting for Avery to get her fill of the Steel Eel, the little ones were ready to move on. We took them to Shamu's Happy Harbor, where Reese and Avery rode this ride at least 4 times:

See them in the back car? They're there, trust me. And while I couldn't see their faces much while they were on the ride, here's what Reese looked like when she came off the first time:

I'm guessing she enjoyed it...you think?

Poor Rhett couldn't ride anything. He's just about 3 inches too short. His daddy took him over to the arcade area, where he won this frog. He didn't seem to mind missing anything once he had this - something his sisters didn't have, which is always a bonus for a little brother.

The last, but most important activity on the agenda, was watching the Shamu show...I would show you pictures of how incredibly soaked we were, but to be honest with you, I was so horrified at myself in the pictures, I just couldn't bring myself to show them. It's horrid...I went on a diet immediately after seeing my skin tight, wet, shirt clinging to my body. It was sick. I can't show anyone. It's too gross...but if I don't, you can't really get the idea of how soaking wet we were when we climbed into our car for the 5 hour trip back to Frisco...oh ok, I'll show you. But only because I'm behind this computer screen and won't be able to see the looks of horror on your faces when you see what I looked like.

But you see? It's necessary to let you know how wet we were so you can appreciate just how uncomfortable the drive home really was...I couldn't lick my lips without tasting salt water and my arms were crusty with salt residue. It was a super pleasant ride...but Aaron was right to skip a hotel for the night...we were super happy to be home in our own baths and beds. And despite the less-than-comfortable drive home, it was an awesome trip. It was sooo worth the repeat trip to get our money's worth out of the season passes we bought in March. (I also brought back the refillable popcorn and drink containers we got on the nightmare trip, so we didn't even have to spend $20 on snacks this time. That'll show 'em!)

There you have it....sorry it took so long to post. And so sorry to share that picture of myself. I'm cringing for you right now.

Action Packed Weekend

Last Friday, we got up and drove to Kingsville, TX, where my brother, Bo and his wife, April live. It's far. Bo and April said it usually takes them about 6-6 1/2 hours. We have three kids, so we planned for 7-7 1/2 hours. It poured on us from Waco to Austin, which added an extra hour to our trip. We arrived at Bo and April's after 8 1/2 hours in the car. I must say the kids did an excellent job. They only asked "Are we there yet?" about 42 times, which is really only about 5 times an hour if you break it down. Not bad at all for their first all-day road trip.
We didn't do anything on Friday night except hang out with Aunt April, eating pizza and waiting for Uncle Bo to come home.

Saturday morning, April had to work so we decided to make the most of our time near the coast of Texas. Our kids had never been to the beach, so we drove over to Corpus Christi for the morning, rain or no rain!
Corpus isn't the nicest, cleanest beach in the world - the first thing we saw on the shore was a dead fish - but the kids don't know that, so they loved it. Avery collected shells the entire time.

I'm not sure what Reese and Rhett did, but they kept themselves occupied. (Looking at, and discussing, the dead fish took up a considerable amount of time.)

They also found crabs. I'm sorry, but I cannot say that with a straight face. I'm like Beavis. Or is it Butthead? She said crabs. Huh-huh.

In order to add some educational value to this trip, we took the kids aboard the USS Lexington, an aircraft carrier from WW2.

It was interesting for a while, but I'll be honest. Once I've seen a couple of bomber airplanes and read a few of the placards on the wall, I'm kind of done. I know, I know...between the crabs comment and my lack of interest in American History, I have no business being a mother of three kids, but that's a matter for another time.

I also didn't enjoy the cramped stairs and rooms. It made me a bit claustrophobic. Not that I ever thought about it, but I could not be in the military. The conditions are just, well, icky. And I'm very thankful that there are people who volunteer for that kind of thing.

Anyway, I was glad to get off of the ship. After a hot, sweaty, humid beachside lunch, we drove back to Kingsville. Everybody took a much needed shower and a nap. Then, it was game time!

My brother would kill me if he knew I posted this, but I'm kinda proud of him, so there!

This is the first thing you see when you pull up to the football stadium:

That's my brother on the right hand side of the billboard. He hates the picture for some reason I can't understand, but I thought it was cool.

Ok, on to the game...

Do you know what a javelina is? I didn't have the first clue when Bo first got the job in Kingsville. I soon learned that it's some sort of wild hog. Kingsville is pretty close to Mexico so instead of calling them the Mean, Wild Hogs, I guess they opted for Javelina. Some people call them the Hoggies. In fact, there was one woman in the stands wearing a t-shirt with HOGGIES in rhinestones across her chest. I can't imagine what people would think if I, with my DDs, wore a tight, white t-shirt with HOGGIES written across the chest. It makes me cringe to think about it. But I digress....the best part, in my opinion, of having a hog/pig for a mascot is the kids. Any kid whose parents want to pay (or, who are the big sister of the head coach so they can just do whatever they want, for free) can sign their kids up for Porky's Pack. Porky's Pack. How hilarious is that?

Here are my kids, looking at the javelina. According to Reese, he stinks. I can imagine.

The kids in Porky's Pack (just try to say it without smiling) get to be on the field pretty much the entire game. They get to run the football players onto the field before the game.

Note: She may look cool and calm here, but Avery couldn't sleep Friday night, after Uncle Bo told her she was going to run the players onto the field. "I can't believe I get to see REAL football players, Mom! I'm too excited!"

You can't see them, but the kids are several yards in front of this sign. Can you imagine how excited Avery was? I thought I was going to burst FOR her. Heck, I was excited to run the players onto the field in high school. She's only 6. On a college football field, for crying out loud.

They also hang out in the end zone during the game. Each time the Javelinas score, all the kids in Porky's Pack climb onto this train and ride around the track.

(See Avery? She's right above the M in Community on the blue car. Reese is on someone's lap.)
I know what you are thinking: Does the excitement ever end???? No. It doesn't.

Toward the end of the third quarter, the rain started (came back is more accurate).

Everybody went under the stadium to stay dry. Everybody, that is, except my kids. I can't even explain to you how much fun they were having.

Here are Avery and Reese when they realized the team was still playing. "MOM! Uncle Bo is still out there. And it's RAINING!"

After about 10 minutes under the stadium, Aaron decided it would be best for us to pack up and go back to Bo and April's. I felt guilty leaving - if Bo has to stand out in it, I don't want to go home and get warm and cozy - but knew the kids weren't going to sit up in the stands, soaking wet, for any real length of time. Plus, who knew when it was going to stop raining?

Ten seconds after we got everyone buckled in the car and were headed home, the rain stopped. Too late to go back to the game - the kids were already naked. (Except for diaper/underwear.)

This is the end of Saturday's excitement...if you are tired of reading and seeing pictures from that day, then you have some idea of how Aaron and I felt around 11:00 p.m. Saturday night, after bathing wet kids and trying to dry their shoes in time for Sea World Sunday morning.
Yeah, that's right...Sea World again...stay tuned to see if this trip went any better than the hellish, miserable Spring Break adventure!