Proud of my little cheerleader

Ok, I need to brag a little here, so forgive me. Hannah is in 6th grade this year, which means that she can try out for junior high cheerleader. She has been waiting for this moment since she was in kindergarten. I have been the cheer coach at Roosevelt for 6 years and Hannah has been my little "assistant" all these years. I remember a time at practice one year when my 7 year old daughter came over to inform me that some of the girls high v's were not right and that another girl was rushing the 2nd part of the cheer and that another needed to lock her knees in the extention. Cheer has obviously been her life. Well last Friday was the big day - Cheer Tryouts!! For those of you who have not been through the process of your child trying out for something they've had their heart set on for their life yet, just wait. It's the most stressful, stomach aching thing I've had to go through and I'm the coach! I remember telling moms every year to "not worry", "she'll be ok" "Your daughter is doing great" "You are going to be fine". Well when the shoe is on the other foot, now I know why they worry. It's so hard to sit and watch your child want something so bad and not have the control to give it to them. That's where I was. Well her hard work paid off. She made it! There are 8 girls on my junior high squad, 4 in each grade. We were so excited. Anyway, here is her tryout in front of the student body. Thanks for letting me brag! (btw - she's the one on the left)

Just because it comes in a pretty package

Ok, so I am officially on spring break, you know sleeping in and all that good stuff. Wahoo! Well sleeping in, if you don't have a one and a half year old who can escape from his crib. Ok, well Monday morning I'm awoken to the sound of a cute little voice calling me. "Mama! Mama!" and then his grunts and the rustling of paper. So I crack open one eye to see little Rope standing next to me begging me to open the "candy" he had found. I write candy with quotes, because he has found where I keep my tampons and he thinks that since they are wrapped in pretty green and yellow packaging, that they must be treats that mama has been hiding from him all this time. I quickly jump up, take them away and offer him his nice sponge bob fruit snacks, but NOOOOOO he wants mama's candy! So for 3 days, I've had to continuously take them away from him. I know, I know, find a new spot, or shut the door, but where and he can open doors now? You can't just keep those things anywhere you know? So anyway, I guess I'll continue to try and convince him that his candy is much better than mama's. :) Maybe he'll forget soon.

Does the tooth fairy leave money for a tooth that was knocked out by your brother?

Clay and Chance were playing basketball in the house (which they are not supposed to do, but with boys it happens!) when all of a sudden Clay comes running in the kitchen, blood pouring out of his mouth, screaming. Apparently Clay's tooth met up with Chance's shoe and knocked it loose (a complete accident of course). I cleaned him up and decided to see if I could just pull it out. He pulled back and informed me that it hurt. I reminded him that when a baby tooth is loose and ready to fall out, it doesn't hurt. That's when I found out that the tooth wasn't loose. Even though it was a baby tooth, it wasn't time to come out. So now I'm worried, but Bryan reassured me it was fine (because it was a baby tooth) and to just leave it alone, because it would either loosen up more or tighten back up if it wasn't ready. Ok, so I sent Clay back to play. Not even 15 minutes later, Clay comes running back in the kitchen, more blood, but this time with a tooth in his hands. This time while going for the rebound it seems Chance's elbow decided to finish the job! So Clay's tooth was knocked out by Chance. Thank goodness it was a baby tooth and not a permanent tooth! Boys!!


I'm sharing the picture because he's so proud that he didn't cry and as he put it "the blood is so cool!!"

Here's what's happened so far....

January - The new year started off great. The boys and I traveled to Dallas to spend a few days with Bryan. Hannah chose to stay with her Nana and Papa in Tulia for the trip. We had a great time back in trailerville. (oh the memories of the summer that brought back). We didn't really do anything exciting, but had a good time at the park and shopped just a little.

The boys waiting to go eat.

Big boy going up the slide all by himself!

Racing in the park.

My Accident Prone Child

School quickly started back for us and we were really excited about Chastin starting district play in basketball. We had a 3 day weekend mid January and he went skiing with the youth group in Ruidosa. They left early Saturday morning. We usually don't hear from Chastin when he's gone on trips from home. (You know he's a teenager, calling mom and dad is not cool.) So when we got a phone call Sunday, I knew something was up. It was the youth director, Chastin was enroute to the hospital via ambulance. Now those of you who don't know Chastin very well are probably surprised at this, but being his mom, my first question was "what now".

Quick update on the last year of Chastin's life -

1. Broke his wrist playing football when it got smashed between 2 helmets. ER visit - cast put on
2. Dropped a 45lb weight on his foot in weight room, ER visit, not broken, but needed crutches
3. Dislocated his thumb playing football, ER visit - brace
4. Severe abdominal pain - ER visit, infection,

I remind you all of this happened in the last year, so back to my story. Now don't get me wrong, I was very concerned about him, but I was not, surprised. I think this kinda shocked the youth director. Anyway Chastin was snowboarding, hit a patch of ice and fell. Xrays show that his collarbone is broken in 2 places - sling, but no surgery - thank goodness. After 6 weeks in a sling, he's still not healed. He's feeling much better and doing more than he really should. He's a trouper. If it were me, I'd still be on the couch in pain! We go back Spring Break for more xrays. Needless to say, basketball and track are not on the agenda for Chastin this year. :(

One of Chastin's friends snapped this picture of him being put in the ambulance. He managed to capture the whole event on film. Thanks JD for taking such great care of Chastin for us.
Chastin was in great spirits considering the situation. He said that the paramedics confessed that he was their first IV in a long time. LOL exactly what you want to hear in this situation.

Bryan finished the project he was working on in Corsicana and got to come home for a few days in January....so we thought. A few days turned into a few weeks. The kids and I were thrilled to have him home with us for a while. We caught up on some much needed quality time together.

Thankfully after an eventful month, January ended calmly for us.

Just getting started

Well I am going to give this blogging thing a try. I keep up with several friends and family members by reading theirs all the time and last night in the midst of my insomnia (I was up til 5 - ugh) I decided maybe I should have one of my own. I love hearing the cute and funny stories of my friends kids and daily life happenings. Surely with 5 children of my own, I can find something to write about. So this is entry #1. I will definitely share more when I can get this whole thing figured out a little more.