All American

I think it's a coming of age thing here in America, well in the south anyways, that if you are a young school age boy, you will at least attempt one season of Little League Baseball.  Not sure who it's more of a coming of age thing for....Chance, or me who is now at the age where I have a son playing it. How'd I get so old so quick?

This season was fantastic.  Chance loved it and grew every game and practice.  I was hesitant at first after hearing stories of Kindergarteners having private batting coaches, but we didn't see a too-competitive side to the sport YET. 

Chance said his favorite position to play was catcher, and you could tell with his focus.  Sometimes in the outfield, anything could be a distraction and you could always hear the coach saying over and over "Chance.....ready position"!

So, all in all it was a great experience, and I am so proud of Chance for stepping up there and trying something new!  Looks like for the winter we'll be back to playing basketball for our second season!

Ladies Man

Yesterday Chance gets off the bus and whispers in my ear, "Guess what I got at school"?  Then hands me a small pink slip of paper with a phone number on it.  A GIRL's nonetheless.  I met this little girl at the park the night before, and Chance introduced her to me saying she was in his class.  He was so excited about having her number, he went home and plugged it in "his" phone.

No, he doesn't really have his own phone, well, okay, yes, maybe he does, but only for emergencies or when he goes to friends houses and I want him to be able to contact me. 

Somehow this seems to be the trend lately, and really it blows me away at how he manages to get chick's numbers seeing that he is increasingly shy these days. 

The other week we went to McDonald's before baseball practice as I was too tired to cook.  Chance was running about with other kids there on the play equipment, one of them being an outgoing girl he had just met.  They are playing for an hour or so, and when it's time to leave I am packing up our stuff, totally unaware, and willfully hand him a pen and paper when he asks.  AS IF.  I should have questioned this act, but there I was again, a deer in the headlights.  I look up, and this little girl, who had apparently been there with her dad on "custody" night, was dictating her name and phone number to Chance as he is eagerly writing it down.  I then come to and wonder, is this really happening?  My six year old is getting the number of a girl?  And the dad was sitting there giving me the evil eye, like "he BETTER NOT call her".  I just nervously snickered and said, "I'm sure he just wants to schedule a playdate, and don't worry, he won't call".  What was I supposed to do?  Not sure what the American customs are here these days with regards to phone calls amongst munchkins who don't need their own cell phones.

So the exchange happens, she is about to leave and the little girls asks, "How old is Chance anyways?"  I say 6 and she hesitates, rethinking what she's just done.  "Well, I am 8 she says" and wonders off, leaving Chance in awe chanting her name over and over as she drives away never to be seen again. 

I need a class in parenting these kids of situations.   

A Nice Reprieve

A couple months ago my college roommate Cristin called to say that she and her beau were getting married in New Orleans.  My immediate response: "We'll be there".  It'd been over 4 years since we had seen each other last and over 3.5 years since Ryan and I had been away from our kids for a night.    Apparently we don't get out much.  We were blessed to have a fantastic sitter watch our kiddos for us while we jetted away for the weekend.  Ahh, the dreams of not having to get out of bed in the morning.

It's funny to me how the entire just of our overseas experience I was always looking for comforts from home.  And now we are back, somehow "home" has been redefined.  Our trip to New Orleans druddged up a lot of nostalgia from Zurich and our travels abroad, bringing me a much needed feeling of "home" that I have been longing for since being back in the US.  I am not exactly sure what I was expecting, perhaps a bit of grunge combined with a city still in recovery mode. I was completely surprised with a quaint, super cute, European feeling town in full tourism swing once again.  Granted we didn't leave our little bubble of the downtown area, despite my one mentioning to Ryan that it would be nice to take a tour of the "aftermath" of Katrina......his reponse, "Sorry honey, but I don't think we'll be venturing down to the 9th ward today." 

In stealing some words from our friend Stirling, New Orleans is like a mix of Spanish, French and Carribean architecture.  It made me feel for an instance that we were back in Europe on a little weekend adventure.  If only.  But at this point I'll take what I can get. 

Friday night we ventured out to Bourbon street to meet up with Cristin and her hubby and friends.  We did feel totally out of place.  Why you might ask.  Let's just put it like this: we're OLD.  And this fact was proven by the loads of people in front of us trying to get in to Pat OBriens, each was being carded.  Then they get to me and I get the "come on in" wave.  Really?  I don't look 21 any more?  And the same damn thing happened the next morning when we ventured in to the casino early in the morning to hang out with the alchies that had yet gone to bed.  Shoo in again.  Not one time in that whole weekend did I get carded.  It's quite a blow to the ego I might say.

Saturday morning before going to the casino to blow our $20 on the slot machines, we went to the famous Cafe Du Mond. 

No trip to New Orleans is complete without it, and the fantastically heavy beignets. 

Or if you are Ryan you call them bidets.  I was over the top happy about their Cafe Au Lait, again another comfort from "home".

That started my weekend of photographing my cute little hubby, although his mug shots show is disdain.

It must have been all the time I got to spend with him and being just down right giddy.  No strollers intrupting hand holding time here, no stress of children misbehaving in restaurants to over shadow the pleasant atmosphere.  At one point we looked at ourselves and said.....it may be another 5 years before we get to sleep till 8 am again. 

Saturday morning after filling our bellies with 3 orders of beignets, yes, that would be 9 total, plus 2 coffees each, we walked down to see the Mississippi river.

And down by the square in the French quarter where the artists like to sell their work.

Saturday afternoon was the wedding.

And then we rushed back to the hotel so we could squeeze in the last of the UT game.  Good thing the Longhorns won......the weekend could continue in good spirits, enabling us to some fine dining Saturday evening.  Sunday morning there was no 13 month old alarm clock to wake me at 6:15, no arguments over who would get up with this loud alarm clock, no one needed anything from me, and how nice that was! Our hungry bellies brought us back to Cafe Du Mond.  New Orleans vibrancy was in full swing Sunday morning with bands playing at every corner. 

We even ran across a blues concert in a park

and some really awesome street swing dancers.  I told Ryan we should take lessons to dance like that, and I was basically told I should start with a zumba class to loosen up my hips. 

All in all, what a fantastic weekend.  It did give me the bug to travel more, we'll see where that takes us.  Back at home the kids survived our weekend away and the newly-married sitter may never have kids thanks to ours!  So far we've lived down 2 days of the remaining 5 years until I get to sleep till 8 again. :)

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"People in jail are NOT lucky, you know why? They get bad dreams EVERY night while they are in there.  Why do they make the food so yucky when you are in jail?"

THE GOOD, THE BAD

THE GOOD: I got 5 "5-Star" tickets today.

THE BAD: A boy cut his paper in half today when he was supposed to be working on it.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I'd pay one billion gazillion dollars if we could just move back to Zurich.  I'll give you all my monies mom, EVEN my bills." 

QUOTES OF THE DAY

#1:

Me: Chance, if you'll help me prepare and set up for our garage sale, I'll pay you money.
Chance: Okay, I'll do it, but only if you pay me in ALL CHANGE.

#2:

Chance: There's a new guinea pig at school.  He's in our science class.
Me: Oh, you have a separate science classroom?  What do you do in there?
Chance: Everything that scientists do.  You know what scientists do right?
Me: No, what's that?
Chance: Scientists mix powders and stuff together and wear goggles.

Incredible Moments

I got a call around 10:20 today from the school nurse telling me Chance just wasn't right, and could I please come get him.  So Chance spent the majority of the day with Brooks and I "recuperating".

And while I spend a lot of time complaining lately about our current living situation, I must admit that today was one of those days filled with incredible little moments that you wish you could freeze frame, throw 'em in a box and replay them later.

One of the blogs I read reminded me of this project currently going on in which they are asking people around the world to film something on 10-10-10 (pretty memorable date I think) and submit their video for possible inclusion in a comprehensive video/movie they are making. I find the project intriguing, and yes I plan to film something and submit it. Not so much cause I think my video would even come close to being chosen, but because I want to be granted free access to the final video. It’s going to be pretty darn cool.

Thinking about this video made me think about our day, the moments we had together today just milling around the house. And for an instance it all seemed magical, a nice little reprieve from the stress that seems to be following me around lately.

Every day around 2:30 Brooks starts milling about the house saying “Buh Buh”, his word for Chance. He somehow has an internal clock that tells him it’s about time to take our 15 minute walk the bus stop to get Chance. The bus stop is right outside our house I might add….but Brooks walks the whole way and it takes just that long. It’s the highlight of his day, and for the first hour when Chance gets home, he is stuck by his side. So today when I told Brooks we needed to go get “Buh Buh” he was so excited, until I started to put him in the car. I finally convinced him that we had to get in the car to go and get Chance, and after some initial objection, he chanted “Buh Buh” all the way to school….falling asleep along the way singing a very sleepy “Buh Buh” song over and over.

So back at home we spend 30 minutes in the back yard playing at the water table.  Some how my phone gets chunked in to the water, ruining it.  Back inside, dirty baby Brooks leads me to the bathroom say "Bubble" the whole way.  I couldn't believe he was so direct in telling me that he wanted to take a bath.  He is getting so big!  Moments later……..sick boy is suddenly bouncing off the couches and I manage to capture it on video…..the boys dancing together. So cute in itself, and even better it was Brooks’s first time to dance without holding on to something. Each time the music would stop, Brooks would cry and scream until Chance rewinded the video and played it again.

It's these moments you can't get back.  Thank goodness we have it on video.

And Finally He Noticed

Chance has this small fan at his bedside table that he likes to blast at full speed when he goes to bed.  He likes to bundle up under his down comforter, and to counter act the 81 degree heat that we live in, he employs his trusty friend to create some coolness. How he can sleep with 100 mile per hour winds blowing so close to his face I have yet to understand, cause when I lay down with him to spend a couple minutes before bed, it is eye-dryingly strong wind. 

Every night before we go to bed, either Ryan or I sneak in his room and turn off the fan.  I have secret fears of it catching fire or blowing Chance straight thru the wall.  Possibly even creating a tornado, cause we all know we don't have enough of those around here already.  Funny thing is, he's NEVER noticed or mentioned the fact that he goes to bed with the fan on, and wakes with it off.  I keep wondering at what point he'll notice.

And finally he noticed, 4.5 months later, telling me tonight not to turn off his fan in the middle of the night.

THE GOOD, THE BAD

THE GOOD: I didn't have to miss playground time cause of my doctors appointment. At least I got to school on time.

THE BAD: I had to miss a little bit of Drama cause Ms. M was testing me for reading.  And I told my friends that I went to 13 different countries, and they said I was lying.