Raine has become a pretty good little goalie. She is generally the best on our team — at least when she is trying — she is able to stop most balls that come her way. She knows when to kick it and, usually, when to pick it up. We’ve been working on her punting (drop-kick) lately so that she can move it further down the field after picking it up. Last season, someone (not Raine) was playing goalie and punted it right over her head and into our goal! Ever since that, I’ve told the goalies to stick to throwing it out. If Raine keeps practicing though, I may let her punt here pretty soon.
Raine is also a good little defender.
Carter has come a long way since last season as well. He has finally decided that he will run around the field!
Here he is on “fast” break, heading down the field.
Carter is a pretty good little defender as well.
Daddy has taken over as head-coach of Carter’s team this season.
Thursday evening was the 2nd-grade hoedown. We raced over after soccer practice; Raine changed clothes in the bathroom while Carter grabbed a snack so he didn’t die before dinner. The second graders square danced to 12 songs that they have been working on in PE.
As we were picking clothes, it became immediately apparent that we are not true Texans. Raine didn’t have any western apparel in her wardrobe, we couldn’t even find a bandanna for her to wear! My grandparents square-danced most of their married lives, and I have one of Grandma’s dresses and Grandpa’s matching shirt, but it is way too big for Raine. I’ll have to make sure we remedy this lack of appropriate clothing before the next western-themed event.
Here is a video with highlights from 3 of their dances. There are more boys than girls in the 2nd grade and Raine’s group was one of two that had 5 boys and 3 girls.
Raine and Carter have been participating in Destination Imagination this school year and they had their performance/competition on Saturday, February 20. There is a large regional DI tournament down in Grand Prairie but their team (and the other team at their school with kids this age) decided to simply do their own instead. The event was held at White’s Chapel.
DI is all about developing problem solving skills and creativity. At the beginning of the year, the kids are given a challenge for which they must create a play that meets the given criteria. They also participate in instant challenges which they have never seen before and must solve in 8 minutes. The criteria for their play included things like having props, including a map with a compass rose; the story must represent a journey and include at least one change of direction; they must also develop characters.
The adult team managers can teach the kids skills but cannot influence how they solve the challenges. This lack of adult influence is very apparent in the final outcomes! Take for example their team name: Halloween Thinking Hooties! Their play absolutely represented their individual personalities — Raine is obsessed with being a detective, Carter loves being a tiger, and little Oliver loves Bigfoot.
Here is their team, being introduced by the regional representative who ran the event.
Makenzie, Raine, Carter, Ciarin, and Oliver
Here is their play:
The instant challenge required them to make an animal using the materials provided (clay, pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, etc.). They had to come up with a name for their animal, be able to explain how their animal ate, and how it made friends. Carter opted out of the instant challenge because he was hot, hungry, and tired of being there (we sat there for over an hour watching the other team participate in instant challenges and I’ll be honest, it was painful even for an adult).
Here is Raine describing her “snizzard.” It is a half-snake, half-lizzard creature that catches its food in a sticky, umbrella-like structure on its back; it then licks off the captured insects with its tongue. Snizzards make friends by putting on a show (it had colorful feather plumage on its back end).
After the instant challenge, they were each recognized for their participation. Carter was the only kindergartner in the group. The other two boys are both in 1st grade and Raine and Makenzie are both in 2nd grade.
Since Valentine’s Day was on Sunday this year — and because Carter missed his school Valentine party due to his surgery — we had a big celebration at home.
The kids each received a gift that we knew they would love.
Carter received a dart gun while Raine received books.
He needs to work on his aim!
Daddy made a giant, heart-shaped pazookie that was DE-LI-CIOUS!
On February 12, the Friday of President’s Day weekend, Carter had surgery to insert ear tubes and remove his adenoids. He had three consecutive ear infections from Sept to Nov and his ears were so gunked up that he could hardly hear. The ear tubes were to give him immediate relief from the deafening ear gunk while the adenoid removal was to help prevent future buildup.
Carter was in a bad mood when got to surgical center because I had inadvertently scheduled the surgery on the day of his class valentine party. He had been talking about it all week so I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was going to miss it! We had to be at the surgical center in Plano by 7:05 a.m. so we simply picked up Carter out of bed and put him the car. He didn’t ask where I was taking him until we arrived at Cook’s, but then it was too late to protest. I realize this sounds like terrible parenting, but it really was the best method for this particular child. He would have gotten himself too worked up about it if he had known ahead of time. This way, by the time he knew what was happening, it was too late for him to get worked up. He just took the medicine and played video games until it was time for him to go back.
After the procedure, he woke up with a raging headache. The nurse quickly gave him a dose of hydrocodone, but the 20 minutes until it took effect were torturous. Once the narcotics were working, he dozed off again while I listened to the post-op instructions. Not long after that we headed home with a whole stack of prescriptions.
Carter decided that he had been medicated enough that day and refused to take anything else. We started negotiating and the winning bid was . . . a quarter! (You just never know what will strike this kid’s fancy.) Friday afternoon he took some ibuprofen and that night before bed his headache was returning so he took some hydrocodone, but that was the last painkiller he took. Saturday it was hard to tell that anything was different and by Monday, he was running and playing like nothing ever happened.
Here he is on Monday showing me how he does the monkeybars at the school playground. Then we went on a 2+ mile bike ride down the Cotton-belt Trail.
When Carter went back to school on Tuesday, he swore to his teacher that nobody had put tubes in his ears. He was adamant that nothing had happened after he fell asleep at the surgical center. He couldn’t be convinced until I showed him the picture of his adenoid that the surgeon had given me. He thought it was pretty cool to have a picture of the inside of his left nostril!
My birthday celebration started on Saturday, February 6 when we went to dinner at Baker Bros Deli on West 7th and then to the Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo.
This was the only photo that I managed to take!
The rodeo was great! It was finals night so the competitors were some of the best cowboys and cowgirls in the world. We’ve been to rodeos many times before, but on this night, we discovered that Raine is an animal rights activist at heart. She sat with her eyes closed and her hands over her ears during every event that included calves — calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling. She didn’t have a problem with the bronc riding or the bull riding though.
My actual birthday was on Tuesday. I was in court that morning (watching helplessly as one of my case workers sank our entire case because she didn’t read her file before getting on the witness stand), fortunately, my legal assistant had brought doughnuts that morning! As soon as we finished there, we headed to Yucatan Taco Stand where we met the rest of the office for a birthday lunch and a delicious Nothing-Bunt-Cake! When I arrived back at my office I found these beauties sitting on my desk with a nice card from my secretary and legal assistant. My co-workers are the best, I love working with them.
That night, the kids had a QR-code scavenger hunt set up for me. It led me to Godiva Chocolates, dinner at Brio Tuscan Gill in the Southlake Town Center . . .
. . . and then home for a cake from Celebrity Bakery and ice cream from Milwaukee Joes. (This family of mine knows EXACTLY what I like!!!)
It was way past bedtime by the time we finished our cake so we saved presents for the next morning.
Daddy and the kids gave me this gorgeous Pandora ring, I spent all day admiring it.
I had a great birthday this year. It was filled with all of my favorite things and favorite people!
