Soccer Practice

Dallas and a friend, Nate, are coaching 9 adorable 5-year-olds in 3-on-3 soccer. It has been a ton of fun and the kids are learning a lot. Tonight Nate was out of town so I said I'd help Dallas coach. Do you know how difficult it is to get 8 (one wasn't there) little kids to listen, pay attention and do what you ask them to do? I have a whole new appreciation for Kindergarten teachers (and any parent who might have that many children.) One little girl (who shall remain nameless) only wanted to look up at the sky at the "beautiful clouds." One little boy ALWAYS kicked the ball in the wrong direction. Griffin and someone collided heads and Griffin has a goose egg under his left eye which left him in tears. Fun was had by all but I was very glad to see my watch tick 6:30 when practice was over! Thank you to all the parents who have the gift to coach and teach kiddos!

Cathi

BAKUGAN

Anyone with a son between the ages of 5-10 knows (0r will soon know) about these interesting toys - Bakugan balls. First of all, I took a picture next to the card, which is the size of a baseball card, so you could see how SMALL these toys are. They are about the size of a quarter but they are round. There is a little magnet that holds them together and when you roll it over the card (which has a piece of metal in it) the ball opens and reveals a little. . . . umm. . . . I have no idea what it is and Griffin isn't home to ask. I'll call it a monster for this story. It might be a robot or an alien creature but I'm not sure.

So Griffin has seen these advertised on tv for the past several weeks and has been talking about them a lot. I only half listened because he frequently has a new toy that he'd like to get. It wasn't until a week ago that some of my friends on my Internet board started talking about Bakugan that I became more interested in this toy. All of their little boys were into Bakugan balls. The kids were earning money to buy them and collect them. I thought, OK, I've got to see what these are about.

So I go to Target for some things and decide to go to the toy isle. Guess what? The Bakugan balls were SOLD OUT. Then 2 days later, I went to Meijer and guess what? They were sold out there as well. WOW, what kind of toy is this, I thought? So the other day I was at Meijer and they had a large array of Bakugan balls in stock. I near FELL OVER when I saw them. I thought to myself this can't possible be what all the hype is about. These balls are only the size of a quarter. Maybe these are the mini version (you know, like Webkins/Lil'kins). So after examining them for at least 5 minutes, I decided it was the right thing and to buy a package for Griffin. A package of one (yes, these tiny things come in ones) was $5.00. And a package of 3 was $12.99. CRAZY prices if you ask me for what you get. So I got the package of 3. There was a package of red, blue or gray. I picked the gray.

When Griffin got home that afternoon from school I told him I had a surprise for him. I seldom purchase toys unless it's a holiday so it was a big deal that I did this. I sat him down and said that I was so proud of how well he's been getting ready for school in the morning, how he's been so good at helping with his lunch/backpack, how proud we were of his behavior at school, blah, blah, blah so I got this for you. And I hand him the Bakugan balls.

OMG - he was THRILLED. Jumping up and down, totally excited. Before he opened the package I said, "G, there were other colors, do you like this one?" "Oh, yes Mommy, this is great." So off he goes to play with his Bakugan balls.

He was in the family room and I was at the kitchen table on the computer and he says, "Mommy, I want to get more of these for my birthday." (By the way, his birthday is in Feb.)
Me: "Great idea. We can do that."

5 minutes go by. . . .
G: "Mommy, I want to get more of these for Christmas."
Me: "Great idea, we can put them on your Christmas list."

5 minutes later . . . . .
G: "Mommy, you said they came in other colors. What were the colors?"
Me: "Red and blue."
G: "Red? Mommy, I want the red ones. The red ones are fire. That's what I want."
Me: "Well, I'm sorry. You just got those and you can ask for the red ones for Christmas."
G: "But I want the red ones NOW. Where is my wallet? I want to go buy the red ones now!"
Me: "No Griffin, we are not going to the store to buy you more Bakugans. You need to be happy with what you have."

So we went back and forth for a LONG time on this subject and I tried to use this as a teaching moment. But do you see what happened? He went from a) having nothing to b) having just what he wished for and was hoping for: A Bakugan ball to c) completely dissatisfied with what he had to d) wanting even MORE than what he originally wanted.

What a lesson. How many times have we prayed for something only to be given it then not been satisfied? How many times have we told God, "God, I'll be happy with __________ "- you put whatever you want in there. And then what happens? We get it and it's not good enough. Or big enough, or pretty enough or on and on.

Thank you God for my son who was able to teach me a lesson about my wants and needs.

P.S. After our little talk (ok, it was a long talk) about all of this, G has not asked one time for a new Bakugan ball.

Rain, Rain Go Away

I know we are not in South Texas and I know we did not get hit by a hurricane today but man have we had a lot of rain. It started yesterday morning with a mist that lasted most of the day. By evening it was pouring down rain. And today, I don't think it stopped. We have a nice puddle/pool in the low-lying spot of our backyard. The Weather Channel said we might get up to 10 inches of rain this weekend. Ike isn't suppose to be here until Sunday night. I wonder what he'll bring to the area!

Soccer was of course canceled today so Griffin and Dallas did lots of board game playing. They also went to see Clone Wars at the movie theatre. I decided to stay home and go to the gym. I had a bad headache and thought a little exercise might help. I pulled myself together and forged through the rain to LA Fitness. I only lasted 15 minutes and had to come home. I went right to the shower then bed for a nap. I'm happy to say, my headache was gone when I woke up.

We did get in half a game of "Train dominoes" tonight which was fun! It's amazing how well Griffin understands the game.

Cathi

The Ryan Tree

When we lost our infant son in 1999, some wonderful friends gave us a tree in memory of Ryan. Of course, we had to leave it thriving in our Texas backyard. Once we got settled here, we planted a new Ryan tree. We will leave one wherever we go. Dallas was in charge of picking out the type of tree (Oak) and I went to the nursery to pick it up. It's been in the ground for nearly a year and is doing incredibly well. My next project is to incorporate a garden around it. I'm going to work with a landscape architect or expert to help. I have a vision of what I want it to look like. The weather is already turning fall-like so it'll have to wait til the spring. And once it's in, we'll label it with the beautiful memorial stone that the Maham family gave us on Ryan's 1st birthday anniversary.

Here's the Illinois Ryan Tree.

Here's the Texas Ryan Tree and garden just before we moved (Feb. 2007). And if the date is confusing, we moved to Illinois in Nov. 06 and sold the house in Feb. 07. Griffin and I went back to help the packers and that's when the picture was taken. Doesn't G look little!!

I love my Ryan trees but I sure would rather have my son here with us.

Medicine

Our family has been very blessed in that no one takes any medicine of any kind. We are very thankful for this. Well, as of today, one of the furry members of our family is going to need some medicine. Shelby, our 15 year old Domestic Short Hair cat, has been losing weight over the past year. It's been gradual but you see, she was never a very big cat to begin with. People would often comment with things like, "How old is your kitten?" I think at her biggest she was around 8 pounds. I decided to take her to the vet to see what was up with her. I thought maybe her teeth were bad and she couldn't eat dry cat food very well anymore. I have found this amazing vet, Dr. B. and boy, do I love this guy. He's a grandpa and has been taking care of furry animals for a lot of years. He took one look at my girl and said, "I think it's her thyroid." He checked her teeth and gums which looked good. He did comment that several of her teeth have fallen out. Her heart was beating fast which is a sign of hyper-thyroidism and a sign that you're at the vet!

I got the call this morning that ALL of her blood work numbers came back great with the exception of the thyroid, just as suspected. I ran over to the vet's office today and have a small Rx bottle with "Shelby Maham" on it. We expect her to gain a little weight soon.

What a relief. My kitty ticks on!

Vacation

Our family went to St. Joseph, MI for vacation from August 15-22nd. A great time was had by all. First off, I had never been to the beach on a Great Lake before. It was very similar to the beaches on the Atlantic Ocean that I am accustom to. The primary difference was the salt water. There were lots of waves, sand and beautiful views.

The vacation included my parents who drove up from Hilton Head and with my sister, Barbara and her friend, Meagan from Austin. We picked a perfect week to go because the Olympics were on tv and the house we stayed in had a huge plasma tv along with extended Olympic coverage on cable! We spend any free minute watching sports, something our family loves to do.

The house we stayed at sits on top of a hill over-looking Lake Michigan. It was just a short walk down some stairs and across a small road to get to the beach. We went at least one time a day if not two! It's one of my favorite things to do - sit on the beach, read a book, take a swim, take a walk, enjoy the sound of the water. The back of the house.

The front/side of the house.

St. Joe's lighthouse on Lake Michigan

The first afternoon we were there, we walked right down to the beach. Griffin was so excited he decided to just go right in with his clothes on!

This was by far Dallas' favorite thing to do. And if you weren't sure where he was, we just checked the deck/balcony. Chances were, that's right where he'd be!

We are very much a game playing family. Here were Griffin and Aunt Barbara playing Meagan and I in Battleship. I bet you didn't know you could play this game on a team! We also played lots of Cribbage, 45's, SkipBo and Russian Rummy.

Guess who LOVED the hot tub and could be found in there at least once a day if not more??

We got in a good friendly game of putt-putt golf. Griffin has a long way to go before he's as good as his Grampie.

A great time was had by all!