We're Late! We're Late!

So, I know that my blog has been terribly neglected. I can't believe I haven't posted since June. I put waaaaay too much information on FaceBook. I'm going to try to stop that now. I know that people who have to take the time to click on my blog are the ones who really care about The Adventures.

Anyway, here you go:

This morning Brent had an early meeting so I had to be the one to get everyone up and ready for school. I am sooooooo not a morning person, so this is not my forte.

When I woke up and looked at the clock, I read "7:15". Crap. We're late. I flew out of bed and into the kids' rooms to drag them out of bed. We all got dressed, ate breakfast, read our Bible story & brushed our teeth in 20 minutes flat. That has to be a new record.

And then I looked outside and said to myself, "Why is it still dark outside?" And when I looked at the clock: "6:50." I woke up at "6:15", not "7:15". We were an hour early!!

Quote from Carter (my one child who inherited my non-morning personness):

"Thanks a lot Mom, didn't you look at the clock?!"

What a way to start the day.

Getting Ready For School

In the car the other day, Carter was testing Parker on things he had taught him about about riding the school bus:

C: "Ok Parker, what do you do when you dropped something in front of the bus and you need to pick it up?"

P: [waving his arms back and forth above his head like he's at a rock concert]

C: "Very good. Now, what if you think your friend is missing from the bus and it's about to leave?"

P: [raising his hand with his index finger up]

It went on like this for a while. I was very impressed that Parker had let Carter teach him all this stuff and that he remembered. The funny thing, though, is that they don't ride the bus!!

I hope Carter teaches him about staying in his seat, doing school work and following directions.

That's My Boy

The other day I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth or something when Parker came in to use the toilet. He's pulling down his tightie whities right as I'm turning around to look at him and starting to realize what I'm seeing, just as he yells, "Mommy help me! Help me!":

Ummmm, yes, the sticky part is stuck to his, you know. I don't want to use any "buzz words" here because I don't want some pervert that googles said buzz words to end up looking at my blog only to see my sweet, precious boy with a you-know stuck to his you-know-what.

How did I get it off, you ask?

Very gently.

How long was it there, you ask?

I really can't say for sure. But I'm thinking he did it first thing in the morning when he woke up to go potty (all the kids come into our bathroom in the morning when they wake up) and this was later in the morning.

Did we talk about what those are really for, you ask?

No. He didn't seem to want to know and I didn't offer any information.

I don't think he'll try that again.

And he wasn't especially pleased about the picture-taking, either.

Parker Is Great

I know that I say a lot of things about Parker. He is a very unique kid. He's full of personality and energy and curiosity. And himself.

He's also hilarious. And smart. And sweet. And he's a ladies' man. And I love, love, love to be with him one-on-one. For his end of the year pre-k celebration, I went to a picnic at the park. Whenever it's just him and me at the park, I always follow at a distance. He doesn't like to think that I'm checking up on him (even though I am). He likes to do things his own way. He doesn't need my help. It's very rare that he would want to actually PLAY with me at the park. Although he loves to play matching game with me and jump on the trampoline at home. Anyway, every once in a while he'll turn around and say "STOP FOLLOWING ME!" But I know he loves it because he also checks out of the corner of his eye every once in a while to make sure I'm still around. This time I had a camera.

I pray every day for Parker to grow up to be a loving, Godly man. I think it will be easier for him to see his need for Jesus because of his non-compliant personality. And although I often think it would be easier for me if he was more compliant, I know that he'll be a gracious and merciful person because he has needed much grace and mercy himself!

What a cool kid.




I have a pretty zoomy zoom lens on my camera, so I'm actually much further away than it seems in this photo. Wouldn't want anyone to think his mommy has to look after him or anything!

I took a million swinging pictures of him. He finally looked down at me and said, "Mommy, please stop taking pictures of me swinging!"

Parker has a lot of girlfriends. Here he is with several of them. When another parent asked him how it feels being with all those girls, he shouted "OH, YEAH!!!" One of them (who is not in the picture) actually got a little jealous and was pouting off to the side. Then later, she refused to take a picture with him. Yikes. He'll probably end up marrying that one. Her dad is the one that inspired Parker to want to become a police officer.

Parker's teachers. They have been really wonderful with him. They're actually sisters. He will miss giving them a hard time.

.

You'll Never Be An Alligator

Conversation we had in the car on the way to the grocery store this morning:

Parker: "Hey mom, I'm going to be an ALLIGATOR when I grow up!"

Carter: "You can't ever be an alligator, Parker, because you'll never be able to hold your eyes open under water without goggles."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PS I HATE (using the word "hate" here about) taking my kids grocery shopping with me. I just don't have the time or energy to do a blog post about it. Which I should do anyway because I want them to know my side of the story when they grow up and start talking about what a monster I was when we went to the grocery store when they were kids.

Let me just sum it all up by saying: Carter & Hunter think they "need" everything and were very whinie and Parker ran all over the place and while I was checking out (trying to get out my beloved coupons so we can save a buck or two), he locked himself in the freezer that holds bagged ice. Ugh.

Our Little Brownie Bridges To Junior Girl Scouts

There is a memory in my mind. It is a memory of a photograph of a fourth grade me walking (in full Brownie uniform) over a fake bridge in the elementary school cafeteria of my school in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I'm sure that picture must exist somewhere. That's one of the reasons I decided to keep a blog. So that my kids can look back at it and see pictures of themselves and read stories about their lives that don't get lost.

Hopefully that will work.

Anyway, a few weeks ago (Things have been so busy the last few weeks that I don't even remember when this was exactly. See why I need to be good about keeping the blog?) Hunter "bridged" from Brownies to Junior Girl Scouts. This was her first year and we've been so happy with it so far. Hunter loves it and has made new friends. They do lots of fun and educational stuff.

Her "bridge ceremony" took place in a neighborhood near ours where they have an actual bridge over a creek. It was at 4:30 in the afternoon so I had to go by myself with all three kids. While I tried really hard to focus on Hunter for this momentous occasion, the boys ran around the creek with some of the other siblings. This was fine since Carter has the sense (and obedient spirit) enough to stay on the side and throw rocks in with the other kids. Parker, though?

Not so much.

I tried to take a picture of him, but once he realized how much trouble he was in, he was embarassed and wouldn't let me.

When I tell you he was covered from head to toe in mud, I'm not kidding. It was in his hair. It was all over his body. It was in his shoes. Ugh. We were supposed to go to a birthday party right after that.

But we had to go home first and give Parker a bath. This kid is going to drive me to drink.

Drink more, I should say.


Here's our little princess:
And here with two other bridging girls and her troop leader, Mrs. Nancy.

Parkerisms Defined and Parker Goes To Big School

"The day in front of this one"=Yesterday

"The day in back of this one"=Tomorrow
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I took Parker to "Kindergarten Roundup" today. He got to go to a Kindergarten class to do some learnin' (actually I think they assessed him for placement next year), do a craft and have a snack while I went to the library to go over "how your child goes to kindergarten". We also got to go on a little bus ride. After which he informed me, "You didn't need to go with me, I could have done it by myself." Sheesh!

I'm actually already aware of what happens when your kid goes to kindergarten since I have two kids at that school already. Next year, assumming that things go as currently planned (which certainly isn't a guarantee), all three kids will be in the same school for the next two years. Yay!

After which, Hunter will be in Middle School!!!???

I can't worry about that today. For today, my baby is going to kindergarten next year.

And I'm already starting to feel nostalgic about the years that I had all three of them at home. About which, I used to complain.

*Sigh*

God bless my very patient husband.

Carter Needs Understanding

I had watched these Dr. Phil programs called "Parenthood Bootcamp" wherein these families in crisis moved into a house together and got a kick in the pants from Dr. Phil himself. Most of it was about communication, showing affection and love for each other and understanding one another. So, the next time I saw Carter (it just happened to be him), we had this exchange:

Me: "Carter, do you feel like Mommy understands you?"

C: "Not really."

Me: "How come?"

C: "Because sometimes when I say something to you, you say, "What did you say? I didn't understand you.""

LOL!

Get Outta My Spot!

So, Brent and I were watching a movie over the weekend and I was all snuggled up on the couch with my blankie. Unfortunately, I had to use the bathroom. I was not even gone 5 minutes (and yes, I washed my hands) and I come back to this:


Ummmmm, ascuse me??!!

I know that in his head he's telling himself, "Shhhh, pretend you're sleeping and maybe she'll let you stay here!"

I. don't. THINK SO! Get outta my spot!

You would chuckle to yourself if you saw me trying to wrestle this 100 pound baby to the floor. He literally pretended to be asleep and was like a rag doll.

Next time I'll have to get video.

Our Daughter Is Friendly Update

You know how on some blogs if the writer wants you to have access to another post they will write "click here" and you click on the word "here" to be transferred to that place? Yeah, I don't know how to do that. But this is an update to the following post that I did a few weeks ago about Hunter passing out our number for playdates and what-not:
http://mccaigers.blogspot.com/2009/04/our-daughter-is-friendly.html

We did have Hunter's new friend spend the night. It went really well and they had a great time. We had pizza (we got a Little Ceasar's--YEAH!!) and made sundaes. We watched the movie Despereux (msp?). They had trouble falling asleep, but that was to be expected. Hunter had a lot of trouble. She gets funky when she's out of her routine. This we know about her for sure. But she did eventually fall asleep. I think the last time I saw her awake it was close to midnight.

The next day we went to church and then that was it. We dropped her off at home. It was an interesting experience for me. It was a little foretaste of things to come. Trying to teach our children to "live in the world but not be of it". I say this because our new friend is a little bit more...let's say "worldly" than Hunter. Not in a super bad way. Let's just say that she has a tv with full cable in her room, unlimited access to the internet, no bedtime, no guidelines about healthy eating and she doesn't understand why Hunter's not allowed to eat in her bedroom, watch the news or drink Coke with breakfast. It made our house seem like Alcatraz. Hunter was definitely feeling it. Not that any of these are necessarily bad things but we just think Hunter's a little young to be expected to make good choices on her own in those areas. This was very difficult to explain to Hunter.

Oh, and I have since had to have a "birds and bees" talk with Hunter that was...Ahem... a little deeper than I was ready to have. (In my opinion, that's what happens when kids have unlimited access to tv. Many programs (even ones that are marketed toward kids) are full of sexual innuendo that they are not able to comprehend.)

We pray every day for God's grace and wisdom as we train up these children to be salt and light in a very, very scary world. And for at least a few good friends of the same mind-set to fall back on when the going gets tough.

I Am Love

Carter gave me this note yesterday. It says "You are love Momy." With one "m". And the picture is of me as a stick figure with my pony tail flowing out the back and three hearts above my head.

This is a keeper.

So's the kid who wrote it.

Summertime Is On It's Way or The Boys Are Hairy

Both of our boys were born with unbelievable amounts of hair. When they were babies, we used to say they were like Chia Pets: just add a little water and the next morning, their hair has grown two inches. Carter had his first "cut & blow-dry" at 5 months old.

Seriously.

About 3 summers ago, I noticed something not-so-fun about having boys with lots of hair. When it starts getting hot outside, they sweat. Their hair is wet all the time. And they start to smell like dogs. And yes, they were being bathed every day.

So, I started shaving them. At the first hint that the weather has warmed up for good (it hit 90 last weekend!), I do a "3" on the clippers and then I let it grow out over the next year with just a little trim to keep it out of their eyes and over their ears. Thought you might like to join us on this journey this year:


A whole winter's worth of hair.

Wow, that's a lot of hair.

Bring on Summertime!

About their new hair do:

Carter said, "My head is like a forest of tiny trees."

Parker said, "It feels like I have a balb head." [Not a mistake in spelling.]

Keep Your Sleep Friends To Yourself

At pre-k, Parker has to have "rest time". You know that this is not his favorite subject. He actually will fall asleep though (which is amazing because he rarely takes naps at home anymore), as long as he has two things: "Finger Blanket", which is a blue blanket that his Nana made for him and "Stitchy", a stuffed version of Stitch from Lilo and Stitch which was also given to him by Nana. His teachers call these items "Sleep Friends".

On Friday, he forgot Stitch.

When I picked him up from school we had this conversation:

Me: "So how was your day, Buddy?"

P: "Very good except for one thing."

Me: "What's that?"

P: "I forgot Stitch so Allison let me borrow her Smelly Cat."

Me: [Ewwww!] "Why is it called "Smelly Cat?""

P: "Because it smells a lot!"

Me: "What does it smell like?"

P: "Like nuffin!" (nothing)

Me: "Oh. So, were you able to fall asleep?"

P: "No because Smelly Cat doesn't smell the same as Stitchy."

Note to self: If your child starts to refer to his/her sleep friend as "Smelly" as though it's part of their name, it's probably time for a bath.

Of course it's probably the same thing as Hunter referring to her sleep friend (which she has had since she was a newborn) as "Brown Nye-Nye".

He's supposed to be pink.

RIP: Ded Brd

While I was cooking dinner, the boys were outside doing who-knows-what. This is normal. They came in to get me so that I could see what they had done.

They built a grave site for the baby bird and buried him in it.

Here they are sitting watch over it. You can see the mound in between the two chairs. And, in front of Parker is a stick with a marker attached to it that says (in Carter's handwriting): Ded Brd:

Close up of the mound:

I know it's hard to read, but this is the marker that says Ded Brd.

This memorial is located right next to the sidewalk where we walk to get up the stairs to the back deck. So that every time we walk by it we will always be reminded: Never, ever, under any circumstances, remove a baby bird from its nest.

Baby Bird Update

Parker just brought me one of the baby birds. It was dead.

He found it under the tree from yesterday. :(

Ummmm, What?

We have had strep throat running through our house. Last Wednesday, Parker had it. This Monday, Carter had it.

Yesterday Parker was acting like he was still feeling a little sick, so we had the following exchange:

Me: "How do you feel?"

Him: "Not so good."

Me: "What's wrong?"

Him: "My lungs are tackling my throat."

Ummmm, what?

The Kids Are Baby Bird Rescuers or The Kids Are Baby Bird Killers

So, yesterday I was on the phone with my very best friend in the whole wide world of 19ish years, Kim. We hardly ever get to talk anymore since we both went back to work this year. Well, I hesitate in calling what I do "work", but I'm away from home 3 days a week. Let's put it that way.

Anyway, Carter was on the couch sick with step throat, Hunter & Parker were playing in the back yard. Hunter comes running in, shouting something about Parker in a tree & baby birds.

Not a good sign.

I went outside (phone still in hand) and my eyes landed on a very sad looking tiny figure, squirming around on the trampoline. Parker was stuck up in a tree, holding another such figure.

Me to Kim: "Oh my, Oh heavens, Oh no, Oh dear. Papi, I have to call you back..."

Me to the kids: "What did you do???????!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Hunter: "We heard these babies crying in the their nest because their mommy abandoned them."

Me: "Honey, they just hatched. Their mommy probably went to look for some worms for them!"

Hunter: "Oh no, what have we done? Now she won't take care of them because we touched them! We didn't know! We didn't know!"

Parker (still in the tree holding the poor, helpless bird): "Help me! Help me!"

I instructed the boy to put the bird back in its nest very, very carefully. Then to get out of the tree. After I spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out how to get the other baby back in the nest, I ended up putting it in a sand bucket, sending Parker back into the tree and having him lift the bird out and back into the next.

O. My. Gosh.

All I have to say is that there is a mommy bird weeping somewhere. I actually think I heard her when we were trying to get them back in the nest. I don't have the heart to go back and check and I hope the kids don't either because they will be devastated if they find the little babies not alive in there.

What a harsh lesson.

Our Daughter Is Friendly

It's fairly easy for Hunter to make friends. (Keeping them is another story.) Everywhere we go it seems that she makes a new "best friend". She doesn't seem to care about race, color, creed, or sex for that matter, which is a very good thing. At the lake, the mall, the park, McDonald's Playland, she can be spotted dragging some poor kid by the hand over to meet her mom.

At school this usually takes the form of handing out our phone number to new friends that she makes on the playground or in carline. She's devastated when they don't call. Because, really, if she came home with a girl's phone number, I probably wouldn't let her call them either. But this week we had a couple of interesting experiences.

On Thursday when I picked her up she informed me that she "has a friend coming over today at four and another one spending the night on Saturday night."

Ok, let's go over this again. Parents don't just drop their kids off at the home of someone they've never laid eyes on before. Especially not to spend the night.

I told her, "You did the right thing by giving them your phone number. If they call [which they won't] then I'll talk to the mom and maybe we can meet at the park or something."

Right as I'm finishing up this sentence and pulling into the garage, my cell phone rings (we use my cell phone as our home phone now) and it's a lady named Heather who states that they just moved here and haven't met anyone and that my daughter gave her daughter Avery our phone number and would we like to meet at the park to play for a little while. (!)

Wow. I was shocked. Sadly, on Thursday I had some major dental work done and was in no kind of mood to take Hurricane McCaigers to the park. (That would be a different story for a different post entitled "You Know You Might Be A Redneck When...")

Anyway, Hunter was devastated. But I promise that I'll call them next week and see if they want to try again.

Then yesterday she comes home and runs up to her room to make preparations for her friend spending the night. Now, Hunter has only had one friend spend the night and it was on her birthday last year. It went well but just isn't something that I'm really into. What if they fight? What if they won't go to sleep? What if she wants to go home in the middle of the night? (I pulled that one when I was in 3rd grade.) I can't imagine letting her spend the night with someone unless it was someone that we really knew and trusted.

Again, "Hunnie, if her mom calls then we'll talk about it. Her mom will probably want to meet us and see our house. Maybe we could go to the park together...IF she calls. And then we'll talk about spending the night." About 5pm last night the phone rings. It's a little girl named Sydney, wanting to talk to Hunter. After they talk for a minute Hunter comes and says, "Sydney's mom wants to talk to you."

And so, I talk to Sydney's mom. She's saying "are you sure it's ok" and "Sydney's really excited about it" and "Hunter also invited her to go to church with you on Sunday, are you sure that's ok too?"

Wow. My daughter, the little evangelist. I don't know what we've gotten ourselves into here, but I figure a movie (I rented Despereux for them), maybe some pizza & dessert, playing outside, then church tomorrow. (I'm just assumming that "sleep" will come somewhere between "playing outside" and "church tomorrow". Please God, let it come.)

Should be interesting. Say a prayer for us.

I've already threatened the boys with bodily harm if they pester them to death. And Parker promised to "not even look at Brittney when she comes".

Well buddy, her name is Sydney and I don't know if you have to go that far, but I'll take it.

Well Okay, As Long As There Are Napkins...

The kids and Brent eat breakfast together every morning: Organic Oatmeal and Juice. This morning Hunter missed breakfast because she came and climbed in bed with me for a little while. After the boys came back upstairs, I overheard this exchange between father and daughter:

H: "Daddy, Carter & I have made plans to play in my room right now but I missed breakfast. So, do you think that I could bring my oatmeal into my room if I bring a bunch of napkins?"

Daddy: "Ummmmm, No. We don't eat in our bedrooms, you can go eat your breakfast in the kitchen and come right back."

H: "Oh, ok."

Hunter ran back to her room where Carter was waiting and Brent and I overheard this conversation between them:

H: "Daddy said "no" about eating my oatmeal in my room."

C: "But, did you tell him about the napkins???!!!"

It makes me laugh to think of them scheming to be able to have their playdate and eat breakfast at the same time. I wish I had overheard the conversation wherein one of them (probably Carter) emphasized the importance of mentioning that there would be napkins involved.

Because that might help their cause.

Parker's Brain Is Spinning

We had a beautiful weekend and we spent a lot of time outside. At one park that we go to they have these "spinning things", for lack of a better term. The kid can stand on the bottom or sit criss-cross applesauce and then you spin them around--it can go pretty fast. I'll take a picture next time I'm there so you can see what I'm talking about. Anyway, my kids LOVE those things. It makes me dizzy just standing next to them while they're doing it.

On Saturday Parker just kept spinning and spinning. He would sit criss-cross applesauce on it and spin until he couldn't hold on with his hands anymore and then he would let it keep spinning him while his head dragged along the ground. Then he would stand up for a minute, leaning to one side with his eyes still shaking back and forth. Then do it all over again.

I was beginning to get worried. So, each time he stopped I would say "Are you ok?" so that I could assess whether or not there might be any permanent neurological damage on this go-around. Finally he stretches his ear up toward my face and says, "Look in my ear, can you see that my brain is still spinning?"

Ice Cream Sundaes and Pet Rocks

I am more of a plan "executor" than a plan "maker". If you tell me what your idea is, I can figure out a way to make it happen. I don't mind organizing who is responsible for what and making sure that everything is done on time. But the plan itself must come from someone else b/c I am not a visionary. Or very creative for that matter.

Case in point: being a room mom.

I did a post at the beginning of the school year about the fact that I'm co-room mom for Hunter's 3rd grade class (a mistake I will not make in the future). It hasn't been that bad, but it has been a lot to say the least. Two of the responsibilities of the room mom are to plan and execute a Winter and a Spring class party. This requires ideas for crafts, games and snacks. ugh.

Don't get me wrong, I COULD do it by myself if I absolutely had to, but I would a)not be very happy about it and b)probably not do a very good job. I am a "less is more" sort of person and it doesn't seem like that would go over well in the planning of these class parties. Or any kind of party for that matter, since parties are about celebrating and having a good time, excess seems to be a requirement. And that's difficult for me.

Anyway, I've been thankful for my co-room mom, Michelle. She's like me in that she does everything at the last possible second (is there any more productive way to do it? Wait, don't answer that) and is ultra-flexible. But she's also an "idea person". Excellent.

The point? Today was Hunter's class Spring Party. This is important for several reasons. The most important of which is that it marks the last major event in my career as a room-parent. (WOO-HOOOO!) Also, we want the kids to have fun celebrating Spring and the end of the school year. (Which I can't believe is upon us already).

Michelle came up with the idea for a Zen Garden and Pet Rocks and a Sundae Party. Photos of which are as follows. The kids really had a great time decorating their rocks into pets. I wish I had gotten more photos, but (of course) my camera's battery was dying.

All this to say, "Happy Spring!" Spring Break is next week and we're just going to be Chillaxin' at home.

Awesomeness.



Sundae toppings. Yum.

Hunter and her Sundae.

Decorating pet rocks.

This is Hunter's pet rock: "Samantha McCaig". She's laying on the beach on her beach towel, under her umbrella, next to beautiful blue water, surrounded by pebbles and seashells.

Man, I wish I was a pet rock right now.

This one belongs to a boy next to Hunter. I liked it b/c it looks like it's really laying on the beach and the blue rocks are the ocean. Cuteness.

By the way, most of the boys were confused by this craft and couldn't figure out what the point was of a pet rock. Or a Zen Garden. I said, "Just keep the rocks in the box until you get home, then do whatever you want with them".

Boys...

The Boys Are Boob Men

So we were walking through Target tonight and we passed the lingerie section, where there was a huge display of bras in all different colors. This exchange took place between the boys:

Carter: *huge grin* "Look Parker: BOOOOOOOBS!"

Parker: *smiles & giggles*: "Yeah, Boobs!!!!!" *more giggles*

*Sigh*

What The Boys Do In The Shower

When Brent went to go check on how the boys were doing with their shower, he found them doing each others' hair:

Turn to the right!

Other right, Parker.

Hey, at least they're soapy.

Late Nights and Homeruns

I posted already about the fact that we spend most of our free time as a family at the ball field. It's just the phase of life that we're in. I don't know if I mentioned previously that of Carter's 12 baseball games this season, ONE of them is on a Saturday. The rest are on weekdays. And that of those eleven weekday games, HALF of them are at 6pm and the other half are at 7:30.

COME. ON.

So last night was our first 7:30 game. I already shudder at the thought of Carter playing baseball until 8:45 at night then coming home to get bathed, settled down and asleep by...??? There's no way I can do that to all three kids. Plus Parker had basketball class from 6-7. So my original plan was to stay until Carter batted once. I ended up staying until his second at-bat and we left around 8pm. (He got out once with an RBI and got another hit that he scored from, pretty good night!) I was able to get home successfully, bathe H&P, do devotions/pray together and get them in bed by 9pm.

Then Brent calls and says they have a story about the game that they have to tell me in person. I can't believe I didn't get my camera to capture the joy in his face (actually, both their faces) as Carter told me about the HOMERUN he hit off the coach. It was their last at-bat. They had 2 outs and 2 guys on base. They were winning by only a couple of runs. If Carter got out, the other team would probably win b/c they were good hitters too. It's one of those situations that you don't really want your kid to be in unless he's really good. Brent said he was just hoping for a base hit and no outs so the kid behind him could hit a good one (he's a big hitter). And our little Carter-man knocks one to the fence. Yayyyyyyyy!!!

He was so proud. Everyone was proud of him. He gave me a demonstation of how all the coaches and parents and teammates were giving him a high-five.

And, he got the game ball.

And, I wasn't there. O well. Hopefully there will be more.

Congratulations Carter!!!!

Update: What's In A Name

I just wanted you to know that Hunter has decided that she wants to be called "Hunnie". This is fine by us since it is a version of her name. So, next time you see her...

She's also decided that when she grows up and has a daughter, she's going to name her Hunter b/c she loves it so much. I'm sure that's totally true...

12 Years and Counting!

On Sunday, Brent and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. Seems impossible for that much time to have passed in some ways. Seems like forever ago in others. I was away this weekend on a womens' retreat with our church, so I got home on Sunday afternoon. My sisters came up to watch the kids and our plan was to go to dinner and a movie. I really want to see Slumdog Millionaire. We went to a Mexican restaurant that we haven't been to in a long time and we both wanted a margarita. The server asks us if we would like the small one or the large. I was thinking the small margarita glass or the "jumbo" ones that you usually see. So, we both said large.

They show up in a gigantic beer mug.

When I tell you these margaritas were big, I'm not jokin'. People were staring at us like we have a drinking problem.

And we missed the movie because it took so long to drink them.

So instead, after dinner, we went to a dessert place and had ice cream.

Good times. Happy Anniversary to us...

1997

2009

Unreal!!!

My family has a love affair with sour cream.

It doesn't matter what I put on the table: Mexican food, chile, chicken, pork, even pasta. Someone will look around and say "Hey, where is the sour cream?" It's a shame.

And times are tough, you know. Money is tight. It's always been tight, but it's tighter than it's ever been. Everyone is stressed about the economy and what kind of sales year this will turn out to be. Therefore, I've really been trying to pinch our pennies even more than usual. So today, before I went to the grocery store, I stopped at the Dollar Store which is in the same shopping center. You can get lots of stuff there that is needed, you know. I always forget that. Envelopes, shampoo for the kids, body wash, they even had name brand deoterant today. I got several items from my list that would have cost more than a dollar at the grocery store. Well today I thought I'd wander through the food aisles and see if there was anything there that was on my list. There were a few things. And then I realized that they now have some refrigerated and frozen foods. Wow. For a dollar. I was intrigued. And then I saw it: A big tub of sour cream for a dollar! Good deal. It wasn't a brand I'd heard of before, but I thought we could give it a try.

So I bought that stuff and then the rest of my groceries.

But when I got home and was unloading them, I noticed that something was amiss with my bargain find. Can you see it?



I think that my first indication that something was wrong should have been that it says "Unreal!!!" in the corner. But I thought that meant "unrealistically delicious sour cream". I know you see it: it says SOUR CREME instead of SOUR CREAM. What the heck does that mean? I read the ingredients which is at least a mile long (I usually do this at the store. What was wrong with me today? I'm feeling sick, you know.) Yikes.

So there it sits, unopened. Because now I am very, very afraid. I know that I will not feed it to my kids. But I bet Brent will eat because we did spend a dollar on it and all.

The moral of the story is this: Beware of the refrigerated section at the Dollar Store. And read the ingredients. You really shouldn't be eating stuff that is completely manufactured in a plant. You are what you eat, you know.

Mom's Taxi

I used to be really annoyed by those bumper stickers that say "Mom's Taxi". Seriously? Isn't there more to life than toting your kids from place to place? And indeed, there is. But my Kia Sedona has become, however much to my shagrin, Mom's Taxi. It's not like my kids are over-extended with extra-curricular activities. They don't have anxiety or performance disorders from having to be signed up for every possible option that fills up their free time. But, we do want them to be exposed to different things and if at all possible, find a "niche". I think Brent and I both wish that we had more of those kinds of opportunities ourselves growing up. Even though he was into sports and I was in the band. It's probably in our kids' best interest that thus far, we haven't been able to afford to sign up our kids for a million things. I meet people at the ball park whose sons have been playing ball 2 seasons a year since they were 3 years old. I know people whose daughters have been dancing or doing gymnastics since they were 2. And they're quite good. So at 6 years old you have kids that are hitting balls to the fence and kids that are on competitive dance or gymnastics squads.

And then, you have the McCaigs. We've allowed them to each try something that was of interest to them since they turned 4. You know, to see if any natural "inklings" show themselves. And with 3 kids, that's a lot. Hence, the taxi.

Carter is in his 2nd season of baseball. He loves it. He even gets a hit every once in a while. But while he's in the outfield he picks at the grass and twirls around, tossing his hat up into the air and I find myself saying a little prayer that the ball doesn't come to him. If it does, there's a good chance that a) he'll fight over it with another outfielder while the opposing team scores 3 or 4 runs or b) it will go between his legs and it will take him what seems like an eternity to figure out where it went and what to do with it.

Don't get me wrong. He's actually a lot better than he was last year in his first season. And he's really cute in his uniform, as you'll see below.

I sometimes wonder if we did them a diservice by keeping them out of stuff until age 4. But then I think, no. They'll be fine. They'll practice and get better, or they'll quit.

Hunter has tried ballet, gymnastics, basketball and karate. Right now she's in Girl Scouts. She loves it and so do I. First of all, it doesn't require much from me. I try to help out when I can or chaperone field trips, but it doesn't seem like I have to all that much. There are 2 or 3 moms who have made it their life's mission to be a good Girl Scout troop leader and they spend probably ungodly amounts of time planning fun stuff for them to do to earn their badges. A whole stack of which sits on my kitchen counter waiting to be sewn onto her vest. After all that work and planning? Rudeness.

Parker has just turned 4 so he has done Karate. About which he commented, "I don't like it because they're always telling me what to do". And last night he started taking basketball lessons. He is SO EXCITED I cannot even explain it. You wouldn't believe the sheer joy that was in his face last night as he tried to dribble the ball and shoot baskets. I guess that's what happens when you're the baby and you have waited SO LONG for your mom to finally say that she'll taxi you around to your own thing and not just your siblings'.

Below are some pictures of what we've been spending a lot of time doing recently. Baseball. Usually 3 days a week we're there. Plus basketball twice and whatever the Girl Scouts are doing. Plus Hunter is in a competitive book club twice a month. It's not 1/2 as much as what some people do. But I'm accepting this role cheerfully. Now I see why people want to do it. Because it's fun for their kids and they want to support their interests. I don't want it to take over my life or anything. Or the kids' lives for that matter. It is a difficult balance in today's day and age. School, extra-curriculars, Spiritual life. We want our kids to be as well-rounded as possible and to try new things. Next year I want Hunter to learn to read music. And Carter is already begging for guitar lessons. *Sigh*

I better get a job. And a bumper sticker.

Batter up!

I think this is one of those pictures where you look back and say, "Oh my goodness, look at how tiny he is!"

Cool kid.

Practice swings.

I could do a whole post about how much torture it can be on the siblings of a baseball player. The parents want to watch the game. Plus I am very neurotic about the ball field. Creeps hang out there, you know. Lying in wait for kids whose parents aren't really watching them. Therefore, my kids are not allowed to go to the playground or leave my side. This can be very boring for them and very trying for me. I try to make it the best that it can be for them though and encourage them that this is part of how we support each other as a family. And since they all get to do something at some time, what goes around comes around.

What's In A Name?

Our children have very special names. Each name was especially thought out, debated on and eventually chosen by Brent and me. Some are family names, some came on a whim & fancy, some just seemed to "go". And yes, we named our daughter a "boys'" name: Hunter. I can't remember if I was pregnant or if we were just thinking about having children, but I remember standing in the checkout line at the grocery store one day and there was a picture of Hunter Tylo on the cover of a magazine and in big letters next to her, it said "HUNTER". (I didn't really know who she was at the time.) I was struck by the contrast, a very masculine name on an incredibly gorgeous woman. I thought "Wow, I love that!!" I was certain that Brent would never go for it. He's way more traditional than I am in many ways. But, when I went home and told him about it, he loved it too. He said, "Wow, that's perfect, I love it". And so, Hunter it was. "Hunty", "Hunnie", "Hunt", "Hunter Jean, Beauty Queen". Etc. I think it's very femine on her and unique. There aren't very many female Hunters in the world, but there are a few.

But, being unique is apparently not a good thing when you're a girl in the 3rd grade. Hunter came home one day a couple of weeks ago begging me to send an email to her teacher stating that we were changing her name to "Nicole". I don't think so. I thought it would go away after a few days or a week but every morning she woke up asking if I had "thought about it enough yet". "Thought about what?" I would ask. "You know, the name thing?" She said that Hunter is a boys name and all the kids make fun of her (My sister Lisa did tell me this would happen), and that she just wanted to have a "normal" name. One that has more than one girl in the school with the same name. I explained to her the story of how Daddy and I came up with her name and how much we love it. I googled Hunter Tylo and showed her the pictures. I said, "Does this look like a boy to you?":

I didn't think so. She was quite impressed for a minute and it made her rethink having me call the government to have her name legally changed (this always worked with my sisters and me as I recall b/c we would get scared and change our minds. Lisa was recalling a time when Lonnie wanted her name legally changed to "Gertie" and I recall an experience with the word "Bathroom". I was confused about why this was just a word and not a name. Hunter just asked us if we would loan her the $200 we told her it cost to do get it done.) But, "Hunter Tylo is a model and I'm just a GIRL!" *sobbing*

*sigh*

I didn't want to make her feel guilty about it or anything but I want her to know that her name means a lot. I don't want to encourage her to change with the wind. Because you know, this week it's Nicole, next week it will be Isabella, Gabriella or Jennifer. So we had a long talk about it and we at least got her to hold off the official government name-change for 1 month. And then on Friday I was going through her school papers from this week and I ran across this:

Yes, it say "Alisa McCaig". Just trying it on for size I guess. I'm surprised I didn't get an email from the teacher. Aye.

Parker Gives Hunter A Lesson On Boys

Last night Parker was teasing and torturing Hunter, telling her that he was going to put crabs in her bed and they were going pinch her when she tries to sleep, etc. And she was giving the exact response he was looking for: fear and panic. At the same time Brent and I are saying, "he's obvously joking Hunter", he suddenly says, very profoundly "Yes, Hunter, that's just the way boys do. That's how God made 'em!"

Jammies & Bedhead

We have been passing this yucky illness back and forth to each other for a week now. It's just a fever, aches, sore throat & a cough. Parker had it, then I thought it was gone, then it came back, then I had it, now Carter has it. So, he's at home today. It throws a big wrench in my day, of course, when I have to stay home with them. I usually babysit for the Tuesday morning Bible study, which I had to cancel for the 2nd week in a row. He'll have to come with me to my dentist appointment this afternoon. I need to finish preparing for my Bible study tonight. And, I hate it when they're sickly anyway because they're so pitiful. None-the-less, I love these days. When I get to be home with them and they get to watch tv and drink Gatorade and eat Goldfish on the couch. I know I'll miss these days when they're gone. And so, I'm going to enjoy today with my Cartie in his jammies & bedhead:

Snow Day!

It snowed yesterday about 5 inches! It started while we were in church and snowed about 5 hours straight. School is cancelled for today, which is a little surprising to me but I guess it's better to be safe than to have people (people as in, school bus drivers) out on the roads who aren't used to driving in icy conditions. Today it's mostly turned into slush. The kids and Brent are outside right now trying to build a Slush Man. I mean, Snow Man. I'll post a picture of it later, if it materializes. The following are pics from yesterday...


First flakes...

The best part of any snow day. Sipping hot chocolate.

Notice there are no hats or gloves. I'm a Florida girl at heart. We didn't stay out very long.

Our house in snow, 2009

Is that a snow ball or an ice ball?

When we first got Kolbie I used to worry that we would lose his tennis balls that we throw for him. I quickly realized that he can find them no matter where they go. Look, he even found one underneath the snow!

Making snow angels.

Abba's Child

An exerpt from Carter's prayers tonight:

"...and thank you Lord that I get to grow up and die, and then come up there and give you lots of hugs and kisses..."

Parker's Brain Is Stuck

We have been exposed to several different intestinal viruses over the last few days, so I've been watching the kids for that. Parker has been acting a little "off", so I'm watching him even closer. Just now, while I was checking FB, he was sitting on the floor of my room watching "Martha" on PBS and he started coughing and gagging a little bit. I said, "Are you gonna be sick?" He said, "No, my brain was just stuck in my head a little bit and I had to get it out."

Parkerisms Defined

I really should start writing these down again, if for no other reason than my own enjoyment:

Hanclops: a device used by police officers to restrain a perpetrator's hands behind his/her back. As in "Put your hands behind your back while I look for my hanclops." (I overheard Parker say this to Carter recently when they were playing some modern version of Cops & Robbers).

What Am I Doing?

This picture should be at the bottom of the post. You'll see why when you get there:

Brent is at session meeting tonight which will probably go forever, so I was sitting here thinking about what we've been doing the past few months and what we're doing now and it dawned on me that I haven't recorded a whole chunk of our lives from Thanksgiving to now. Did I do Thanksgiving? I think I posted the pics on FB. Anyway, I thought I'd share some about what went on with us over the holidays and some pictures.

We had a Christmas party with our Life Group. It's a small little group, but what an amazing group it is. I know groups change and grow and get smaller, but these two couples have been such a blessing to us, we have really appreciated them and their kids over the last year.

In the blue shirt and striped shirt are Daryl & Kathryn and the other couple is David & Mia.

Both of those couples have one boy, Jonah is talking on the phone (probably long distance) and little Caleb is to the right of him. They have all been so gracious and understanding about the hurricane called "McCaigers".

Hunter's class Christmas party was a hit (despite that it almost caused me an ulcer). There was a craft. Here they are making it. They put red & green tissue paper all over a mason jar and put a piece of material under the lid. We gave them each a small string of lights to put inside the jar to light it up. It turned out really nice.

We played a game wherein the kids had to dress one of their group up like a Christmas tree. They loved it! Don't they look thrilled?

This is the day I helped with Carter's party. It was a great time. They played games, did crafts and ate lots of candy. They actually were given some pretend money and had to go to the "store" to buy different kinds of candy to decorate their "Christmas tree", which was an upside down sugar ice cream cone with green icing on it. Every experience is a learning experience...

I'm not sure how many people know, but at the beginning of December I found out I needed surgery, sooner rather than later. It's a lot of gory details that I won't go into, that ends with "I had my left ovary removed". I've been feeling much better since the surgery and I was very glad that I had it done. Until I got the bill from the hospital today in the sum of $22,000. Yes, we have insurance but it isn't very good. I think we have a $5,000 deductible or something crazy like that. But, we'll get through it, we always do. And, in the long run, B & I both know it was the right thing to do b/c this mess wasn't going to just go away. The surgery was on December 23rd. It took the whole day and my mom very graciously surrendered to the call to babysit the Hurricane for the day. So needless to say, I wasn't in great shape for Christmas!! I slept through all of Christmas Eve, was very groggy on Christmas day and it took somewhere between 8-10 days for me to feel like I was all better from the surgery. It was all good, though. Brent was home so he took care of me and everything else. Very sweet and gracious people from church brought us food (two days before Christmas!?) And it was a peaceful and quiet Christmas. Of which there are only THREE pictures. Can you believe that??!! Oh, my poor family. Now, this ruins my "25 years of Christmas" book. O well.

During my recovery, this little guy turned 6 on Christmas Eve:

Eric Clapton, that you?

Isn't it so sweet that Daddy made the cake? Everyone went to church except me, who had not been out of bed since the day before, so my goal was to be on the couch when they got back so I could watch my boy open his presents and blow out his "6" candle.

Two of the 3 pictures from Christmas '08. The third one is just a picture of the tree before the kids came down.

Carter is holding up a wooden bird feeder that you can paint and I have to tell you that he has painted it, and that across the top he painted these words: "Bird Haus Do Not Tush". I think it's supposed to say "touch", but it's really cute like that, so I didn't even tell him. Parker is opening up a huge book of Curious George stories that he calls "The Bible of George".

Auntie spent the night on Christmas Eve so she was there to open presents with the kids and it was a really nice and laid back kind of Christmas. No Christmas dinner, no lots of people around, no visitors (well, my mom and Tom came for a few minutes and brought presents for the kids). Just us and Christmas. It's all good.


And then there's this:

"I could has me some salad????"

This dog will eat anything. I'm actually very concerned about it. I bought something called "bitter spray" which has really helped with furniture, shoes and toys. But what about bills, books, pens, pencils, pillows, blankets, baggies, bras. You get the picture. We got Kolbie on January 2nd. It has been crazy, but in a good way. He's a good dog. Deep down. Right now he's a gigantic puppy. You know what puppies are like. The jump, they nibble on your hands, they bark, they want to sleep in your bed, they want to sit in your lap. Now imagine that puppy weighs 95 pounds. Nuff said 'bout that.

Kim Cates came to visit over New Year's Eve and we had so much fun laughing and playing. I wasn't feeling 100% when she first got here, but I think her being here encouraged me to get better fast. On New Year's Eve, Kim, Hunter & I went to my mom and Tom's for a little while. We got to meet Laura's boyfriend, Darryl. He's from Portland, OR and was visiting. And we got to see Aunt Hoolie, Uncle Cary, Cody & Casy. And my step-sister Erica was visiting from Cali. Brent got to stay home with the boys. We were home well before midnight and fell asleep watching a movie. Happy New Year! Man, we're getting old. Reference the picture at the beginning of the post of Kim, Hunter & me. We're buddies.

There. Aren't you glad I didn't do all the other things I should be doing tonight?