Keeping up with Tucker

Here we go!

2010-07-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

Tucker wants us to post on the blog since we have been neglecting it. We had a great weekend at the lake with all of our cousins! Tucker and Tanner did their best to support the firework stand at Lake Nocona. They had some much fun blowing up cans and watching the fireworks. I am so glad that they are starting their own memories at the lake just like I did over 35 years ago.

Goodbye 2009

2010-01-01T22:30:00.000-06:00

Well, I am afraid that I didn't document 2009 blogging very well. So, instead of trying to catch up, I think that I will do a little recap of the year and just move forward. So glad I thought of that. :0) This will definitely ease the burden of me trying to catch up on some much needed blogging and just start over fresh with the new year. I guess that will be one of my New Year's resolutions...more blogging about Tucker. Let's just hope he gives us some things to blog about.

2009 started off easy enough and has been a great year for our family. Tucker made it through Kindergarten without too many incidents and his poor teacher even returned for another round. He started reading and found a love for math and science. But, his ultimate joy in school is to entertain the other students (not exactly the highlight of the year for his teacher.)

Tucker continued to play soccer for the Jedis and they had a great season. The spring season was extremely cold, but we persevered a made it. I vowed to only participate in indoor sports from January to April, but we will see how that goes!

Spring Break we went to Las Vegas. (I blogged about it here.) Tucker and I spent most of our time playing xbox 360 and swimming in the hotel pool. (I am so glad that we drove all the way from Texas to Vegas just to play video games and swim...this is something that we certainly never do at home!) HA! John set out to win millions in the casinos, but ended up leaving with a few $. We did walk around with Tucker and see lions, tigers, and dophins.

The highlight of the spring for Tucker was getting to go see Montreal play the Dallas Stars at the American Airline Arena. Tucker has become very passionate about hockey and more specifically Montreal Canadien Hockey. He logs onto the internet to NHL.com first thing in the morning and right before he goes to bed to check the most current hockey statistics. He basically eats, drinks, and breathes hockey!

Summer came upon us quickly and so did the hot weather. John and Tucker decided to escape by driving with Willy to Montreal for a couple of weeks. Did I say a couple of weeks....somehow a couple turned in to 6 weeks!! I was still working, so they enjoyed visiting with family, friends, and the Bernard Cantina for poutine. The weather was beautiful and they stayed outside playing hockey, roller blading and Tucker learned how to ride a bicylce!

I had a lot of quality time to myself and actually got to just float and read in our pool for the first time ever! I finally got a 2 week vacation and flew up to Canada to be with my boys and enjoyed every minute of the time I got to spend with them. While I was there, we picked strawberries and made strawberry jam. We also was able to attend the Montreal Canadiens summer rookie camp. Tucker loved this!! He also had the priveledge of meeting Jean Beliveaue. Jean Beliveaue played for the Montreal Canadiens and helped win the Stanley Cup 10 TIMES!!

Finally the boys had to return home and 1st grade was waiting on Tucker. He has a wonderful, patient 1st grade teacher and we are seeing a lot of growth. He is reading more fluently, but still doesn't have my love of reading. He is a numbers kind of guy!!

The starting of the new school year, also means that Tucker's birthday was fast approaching. After going through many ideas, we invited about 25 boys and girls to join us for some broomball at the local ice rink. They seemed to have a great time, with only a few injuries! Next year, I have sworn to a quiet movie/slumber party for 4-5 boys. I think it is time for a smaller affair.

Soccer season also started up and Tucker was the high scorer for his new team, the Blue Dragons. Although we had a hard season (almost losing every game), the boys have seem to get a little spunk about them and we are hoping for a great new spring season! I am NOT looking forward to the cold, outdoor games.

Halloween was spent as a Ninja. We didn't really know what a ninja was, but the costume has some really cool weapons! Peaches and Papaw visited us on Halloween and Tucker ended up with WAY more candy than he could eat. After trick or treating, we sat outside and gave away the rest of our candy. Tucker's favorite costumed visitor that night was a whoopee cushion. He could hardly give the whoopee cusion kid any candy for laughing so hard. It was very funny!

We made it throught the rest of the holidays and 2009 safely and happy. We have watched Tucker grow and become the little boy that we love more and more every day. I love to talk with him and hear is insights into his young life and see the innocence through his eyes. (I could do with a little less farting topics!) So here is to the memories that we have made and to the future memories that we will make for 2010!

Snow in Texas? HA!

2009-12-26T18:43:00.006-06:00

I really can't remember if I have ever had a white Christmas in Texas. I think that we have a had some close calls and that it has been icy, but this time we got it good. We were in Nocona at my parents house when it started gently snowing about 8:20 Christmas Eve morning. It was so pretty and clean! But by 11:30, we were in full on blizzard conditions.

Luckily, John had just arrived and said that the roads were just starting to get slippery. Our original plan was to go back to our home after eating our Christmas Eve turkey dinner, but Mother Nature had her own plans. Since mom and dad live out at the lake, they really don't have anyone to come snowplow, so basically we were snowed in for a while. I had to send a few emails Santa's way so that he knew where Tucker was going to be. (John also called before he left, thinking that we would get snowed in and brought along Santa's loot.)

John arrived with snow clothes, gloves, hats, and goods so that he and Tucker could enjoy the snow outside. Willy played along with them, as well. I stood around and took as many pictures as I could. We had the best time playing in the cold and then coming back in to warm up. Here are a few of the pictures...

Long Time Coming

2009-12-26T18:25:00.005-06:00

Ok, ok...I am going to try to do better this year of keeping you all up with Tucker. I haven't blogged in so long that I am a bit overwhelmed as to where to start. Do I try to catch up or do I just keep going like I have been blogging all along? I think that I will start with the present and then catch up as I go along.

Watch out for Redheads...and homework

2009-10-13T22:03:00.001-05:00

I have to be out of town for the few days to go to a tech conference, so tonight I was doing my best to get Tucker organized. Each night he has homework to do to help him learn good study behaviors. (These are words from his teacher's newsletter.) So, I was trying to get him to do as much of the homework as we could together, so that he didn't have to rely so much on his daddy. They tend to get busy playing and forget about that kind of stuff when I am not around! Part of Tucker's homework was just to properly write upper case and lowercase ABC's. Sounds easy enough, right? We are doing fine until we hit G. For some reason, Tuckers starts losing concentration and does a lower case a, then q, pretty much every letter but lowercase g. Let's just say I really don't have a lot of patience anyway, and this just about did me in. So, I just got up from the table and told him to finish his homework on his own, and I start cleaning the dinner dishes. Tucker huffs at me and says, "So, I guess it's true what they say about redheads...they ARE violent." I couldn't help but giggle a little bit when he said this since I had my back to him anyway and all I did was get up and do the dishes. I don't know where he heard that, but I would like to exchange "impatient" for "violent", please. :0) I can't wait to hear how John and Tucker do with the rest of the homework this week.

Last Weekend of Lake Fun

2009-09-06T21:46:00.003-05:00

Labor Day for us means that it is the last weekend to spend at our lake cabin. There is sadness because the lazy days of summer are officially over and there is a little bit of excitement knowing that we are in the beginnings of a new school year and upcoming fall season. We spend our time at the lake with mom & dad doing the usual...riding the jet ski and boating. Tucker's cousin Eleanor came along on Saturday with my brother and Tucker played with her in the lake. They found our kayak and Tucker paddled Eleanor around. She looked like a little queen telling Tucker to go faster or turn around.

We enjoyed hot dogs by the lake, which for some reason makes them taste better than just having them at home. Dad and Jeff also grilled bacon wrapped jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese. Very yummy!! We all swam and ate while John and Willy fished. It was a nice, lazy weekend at the lake for us all.

Another one bites the dust

2009-09-04T21:36:00.002-05:00

I guess Tucker became tired of only having 1 front tooth out. I had a feeling that he would figure out a way to get rid of the other front tooth. By the time I picked him up from school today, he had yanked the other tooth out. Once again, I had to do a little bit of my happy dance just because I didn't have to deal with it. So, for now we have a really wide non-toothy grin.

He was so excited that he is now missing his two front teeth! I thought he was happy because the tooth fairy would be visiting again. However, I overheard him tell his daddy, "I am like a real hockey player now, since I am missing my teeth." Should have know it had something to do with hockey!

Toothy Tuesday

2009-09-01T21:08:00.006-05:00

As I picked up Tucker this afternoon from after school care, he met me with this big partially toothy grin. He pulled his front top tooth out this afternoon after school! We went to his dentist a couple of weeks ago, so I knew that his front teeth were getting loose, but I still didn't expect it to happen this soon. So far, Tucker has lost three teeth and they have all been remove during school. I am actually very happy about that because for some reason the thought of pulling teeth just really seems yucky and gross to me. So, I was just a little bit excited that this big event happened away from my eyes.

I was concerned about how Tucker would take not having a front tooth, but he is doing great. (He does seem to care about the way he looks these days.) He said that it is hard to say "s" sounds, but he also told me that he would manage. He goes around smiling just hoping that someone will notice that he is missing a tooth, almost like a trophy or something. That's my child, never one to shy away from attention or being able to tell a story! Now, we just have to wait for front tooth #2 to come out which I think is probably just a few days away. I have caught him trying to wiggle it, so Tucker is pretty determined to get it out too. Let's cross our fingers that his teacher gets lucky enough to deal with this one too.

First Day of First Grade

2009-08-24T20:19:00.003-05:00

Today was the first day of first grade for Tucker. He seemed a little bit excited and a little bit nervous. We had our backpack ready and clothes laid out anticipating the first day.

This year seems to be a bit easier for us all since it is our second year to be at this school. Tucker is familiar with the layout of the campus and even seems to know most of the faculty. (Not sure if this is a good thing, though.) The principal and assistant principal knows him by name and both gave him a big hug on Meet the Teacher night. I guess they are ready for the munchkins to be back, too.

After meet the teacher night on Friday, he was able to see that he already knew a lot of kids from last year, so he was excited about having friends in his classroom. I was excited to see his new teacher and learn that she has about 10 years of teaching experience and a son entering kindergarten. I think that we can relate!

Tucker has had a fabulous summer, but I think that he was ready to return to school. Throughout the morning while getting dressed, he kept repeating, "I can't believe that I am a first grader!" I don't think that I could get him to school fast enough! He was ready to go and get on with the day.

His only disappointment was learning that I was going to walk him into the classroom on the first day of school. You would have thought that I was making him walk around in public without any clothes on! He tried every tactic he could think of to keep me from walking in the building, but I was just as determined to see him to his desk! I really don't know where he gets his stubbornness from. So, we made it to the classroom along with every other classmate AND THEIR PARENTS. Once Tucker was safely in his little desk. I gave a little wave goodbye (I promised not to kiss and hug him at school) and headed out the only to glance back and see him already talking to the other kids at his desk, laughing away.

Real or Fake?

2009-08-23T00:50:00.000-05:00

Tucker seems to have time on his brain constantly. Everyday all day long he is asking, "how many minutes will that take?" I usually give him an estimate of time, but sometimes I will say that "whatever" will happen 'in just a minute'. I tell him that I am cooking supper and he wants to know how long it will take. If we watch a movie, he asks again, how many minutes long is the movie? I am not even sure that he understands the concept of a minute or not, but he loves to ask about it!

On Saturday, he wanted to play a game and I was in the middle of folding laundry. Not that it takes much for me to give up folding the laundry, but I did tell him that I would play "in a minute." I watched him walk away, but then he paused and turned to me and said "Are you talking about a REAL minute or a FAKE one"? I guess his concept of time is a little better than I thought.

We are Jammin'

2009-07-10T20:07:00.009-05:00

After a morning of ~~eating~~ picking strawberries, we went back home with Oma and Peepaw to start making our favorite (and requested) fresh strawberry jam. Oma had all of the ingredients ready and waiting for us.

We started by washing the strawberries and then Oma and I cut off the tops of the strawberries while Tucker had the job of smashing the strawberries with the potatoe masher. I must say that Tucker's job looked like a lot of fun to me! I don't really know how many strawberries were smashed in the process of jam making, but Tucker grew kind of tired of smashing after a while. There is only so much fun that can be had right?

Moving on to the next phase, we then added A LOT of sugar to the smashed stuff. We were able to rest for 10 minutes while the sugar and strawberries did their thing, then we added the Certo gel and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Tucker then had to stir the mixture for 3 more minutes. Then it was time to put the jam in the jars. This was my job since it can get kind of messy, but Tucker continued to watch and make sure that he knew which jars "his jam" was put in. We continued this process the rest of the afternoon unitl we had about 25 jars ready and finished. Now, I just have to figure out how to get this stuff back to Texas to share with some of you. Heide keeps laughing as we buy more and talk about bringing all kinds of things with us. There really is a limit to what the Cherolla can hold you know. :0)

Poutine - Yumm-o

2009-07-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

With all of the hard work strawberry picking, we had to stop by John and Tucker's favorite place to eat. It is called Bernard's Canteen (you say it with a French accent, right?) It is basically a burger and fry kind of place but they have some local favorite foods. I usually get a burger, but their fries are why we go there. They are freshly cut and of course fried. But, the goodness according to John and Tucker doesn't stop there. You have to trick up the fries to make them into a yummy, messy goodness called POUTINE.It is basically brown gravy and cheese curds on hot French fries. The brown gravy is similar to a roast beef gravy and the cheese tastes a lot like the pull cheese that you buy in the store. I think that it is an acquired taste. I sort of think of it as the French version of our Chili-Cheese fries. Tucker likes it because John likes it. I can usually eat poutine one time while we visited John's parents but I think that my guys could eat this for lunch everyday if it wouldn't clog their arteries (and if it was available in Texas). So, there is a little bit of Montreal cultural food info for you. Enjoy!

Strawberry Fields Forever

2009-07-05T18:15:00.000-05:00

It has been raining a lot in Montreal, but we did get a break in the rain enough to go pick fresh strawberries! Tucker and I were very excited about that. We love to come to Montreal during strawberry season because there is nothing like picking and eating fresh strawberries. The only bad thing is that I can hardly eat a strawberry at home because they do not taste as yummy as they are here!

Tucker's motto was to pick one eat two. I think that he followed that very well. The poor farmer would have probably kicked us off the farm if he had seen how many strawberries Tucker ate. John and I eventually had to fill the rest of Tucker's basket while he filled his belly! Each of us had a basket to fill so we had 5 huge baskets of strawberries when we were finished. Heide and I started trying to figure out the different things that we could make with all of the strawberries. We knew that we would make several batches of jam (per Peaches request)! So mom, you do have several jars have jam coming your way. :0)

While we were picking, we also had a contest to see who could find the biggest strawberry. Tucker somehow won with a berry almost as big as his hand. Life is berry, berry good here in Montreal right now.

Peaches, you will be happy to know that we have made lots and lots of fresh strawberry jam, so you should have enough to last you a long time as long as we can get it all in the car.

Music to My Ears

2009-06-02T21:00:00.003-05:00

With the Stanley Cup finals going on....all we do is watch hockey. This is just a little more than this Texas girl can handle! While watching the game, not only are we pausing and rewinding to watch special moves, plays, and fights (Thank God for Tivo!), but John and Tucker also have to play their own hockey game between periods. The area between the front door and back door is the "hockey rink". Once again, a little too much for this mama to handle.

When John or Tucker scores, they each have a theme song that they sing out. Tucker's song is Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas" song chorus, and even more specifically..."shut up and put your $ where your mouth is, that's that what you get for waking up in Vegas". When John scores, he starts singing "Just a Friend" by Biz Markie.

I found myself in the kitchen playing around on the laptop and trying to ignore the two boys, when I hear Tucker just singing at the top of his lungs his "theme" song. Rather annoyed, I go into the entryway to see what provoked such a loud, eardrum busting outburst with his song rendition. He just looked at me and smiled and sort of shrugged his shoulders, "I was singing in surround sound." All I could do was laugh out loud. I am betting that he kinder teacher will really miss him over the summer. :0)

Do you feel sorry for me?

2009-05-16T21:53:00.008-05:00

I guess that John felt that Tucker was having too much fun with all of the Photo Booth business. He had to figure out a way to get in the process. I really don't know where I was when they were busy making this precious gem.

Just wanted you all to see what I deal with every day?

Anyone what to join this craziness?

Sports News

2009-05-16T21:25:00.004-05:00

As it turns out, Tucker and the macbook are getting to be really good friends. He is making little "shows" daily. I guess I am now the show "producer", so I took the liberty to do some cutting an editing for his new sports newscast. He is going to have to work on his isight camera shots. I was in the kitchen when he was working on this, but he didn't need any prompting to talk. This is a little long (even after my editing), but it is worth watching. He actually did this a couple of weekends ago. I was actually surprised at the different subjects that he talked about because they happend so long ago (like the Super Bowl). I guess when you are young, your mind just soaks it all in. I just finally sat down long enough to put it all together.

I swear this child talks just to hear himself. However, I think that he gets it naturally. My grandmama can tell you all kinds of stories about me and my mouth. I used to go with her when she would get her hair done at the beauty salon. She swears that she could never get me to stop talking either. Hopefully Tucker will turn his blabbering into something positive one day. Maybe Tucker is a sportscaster in training...Channel 8's Dale Hanson needs to watch out!

Early Mother's Day Shout out

2009-05-07T17:09:00.004-05:00

So, I am sitting in my hotel room in Austin trying to clean out some of the videos that Tucker has recently created when I come across this little jewel. Now that he knows how to make videos, that is pretty much all he does when he gets on my computer. I wish I could share them all with you, but you would get tired of the faces and crazy things that he says and does. This one is sweet and I actually don't even know when he created it! Good thing we have a bunch of tech savvy grandparents so that they can hear/see Tucker's shout out.

Mac Attack

2009-05-01T18:56:00.004-05:00

I showed Tucker how to use Photobooth on my Mac laptop. Here is a little nugget of his creation. I am afraid that there is no stopping him now since he found out how easy it was to record himself. I can see lots of silliness in the future so just get ready. :)

American Idol

2009-04-23T21:25:00.003-05:00

Tucker and I like to talk to each other about out day as we drive home. I ask about his day and then he asks about my day. Most often, I share what a great day I have had, but it has been a hard week this week. One of those weeks, where you are only at your desk about an hour total and otherwise are in meetings in various buildings all over the district. I have also been interviewing for a new tech facilitator. We had some great applicants which also makes for very tough choices.
So today was the day that I made a final decision for the new hire and offered the applicant the job. I was explaining the process Tucker and that I had to call some of the other applicants and tell them that they were not the "chosen one." This always makes me feel bad and I really hate that part of my job! I was telling Tucker that one person gets the job and four others have to be told that they didn't get the job. Tucker listened intently and asked questions. After a few moments of silence, he says, "You know, that is like American Idol. You have a winner and everyone else gets voted off ." I told him yes, but I was ALOT nicer than Simon.

Last Las Vegas Post

2009-03-30T21:23:00.003-05:00

Our last day in Las Vegas had Tucker and I looking for things to do. We decided to visit Ethel M chocolate boutique at the Flamingo Hotel. I actually wanted to visit the factory, but we never actually made it there. I had visions of Tucker and I trying to take chocolate off of the conveyor belt like Lucy and Ethel from "I Love Lucy" show. Tucker and I would be fine with shoving chocolates in our mouths! At the "chocolate boutique" we picked out a box of chocolates with lemon filling, coconut filling, caramel filling, peanut butter filling, and chocolate truffles. We loved them all, but the lemon and caramel ones were my favorite! With our belly's full of chocolate, we then moved on to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville and relaxed on a couple of painted chairs. It was a great place to watch the people go by. I didn't blow out a flip flop, but I still wasted some time away. :0)

Later in the day, we went to the Hawaiin Tropic Cafe at Planet Hollywood.

While we were there, in walked a young girl who looked really familiar, but I couldn't place her. She went on to sit in a cabana at the restaurant. When John looked at her, he immediately proclaimed that she was "bikini girl" from this year's American Idol. He would know...he is absolutely in to American Idol, which actually surprises me a bit. While I am all over reality T.V., he doesn't get into TV much at all unless it football or golf. He will watch a movie, but he will not watch any series of shows except for American Idol. When it is on, basically the world is on hold. So with his American Idol knowledge, he KNEW that the girl was "bikini girl". He and Tucker were brave enough to go to her table to get a picture (all for Tucker, right?) Sometimes being a dad is really hard work. So that was our brush with fame while were in Las Vegas, if you can call it that. Tucker was excited about meeting "Makini girl" as he called her.

Magic Show Fun? At least for some...

2009-03-20T13:26:00.004-05:00

This is Mac King. He has an afternoon magic show at Harrah's that we attended Thursday afternoon. We were trying to find a show for us to watch with Tucker and this was recommended by several people that we talked to. He has a lot of interaction with the audience and was actually very funny. Did I tell you that Tucker was with us at this show? Most of you know that the boy is not shy and can talk a bar stool's leg off. Well, at one point Mac needed a "couple" to come up and be part of the show. Little loud mouth popped off and volunteered his mama and daddy! (Yes, we were rather close to the stage.) I guess Mac coudn't say no, and talked us into coming up on the stage. So, there John and I were on the stage staring out into the bright, hot, white lights with Mac King being part of a card trick bit. We were on the stage about 10 minutes and then we were on our way back to our seats. One day I will get the boy back! Thanks Tucker!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T22:46:00.001-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day from my little leprechaun! Since his first name is actually Patrick, he seems to think that this day was invented for him. Don't know where he would get a crazy idea like that?

We managed to pull Tucker from the pool and game room at the hotel long enough to visit the lions at the MGM Grand. We just happened to get there in time to watch the trainers give the lions treats. Luckily none of the trainers became tasty morsels while we watched! The trainers would throw meat on the glass walls where we were watching so that we could get an up-close-and-personal view of the lions grabbing the meat off of the walls. Quite the show and I am very glad that I was on my side of the glass walls.

We also walked down the Vegas strip for a little bit and headed toward the M&M store. Even though it was daytime, it was still a great time to people watch. I didn't realize how much green clothing there really was out there, but I am pretty sure that I saw it all. We had a view of our own little St. Patrick's Day parade. We saw great big green hats, beads, and ittybitty green dresses.
After an afternoon on the 'strip'. We ate at the ESPN restaurant where Tucker was able to watch a hockey game at our booth. Right up his alley! Then we went back to the hotel to join the St Patrick's Day pool party at the hotel where Tucker was able to tye-dye a t-shirt and swim with new friends.

Vegas Baby

2009-03-16T23:06:00.000-05:00

Today is our first full day in Las Vegas. We are trying to adjust to the time change, but I don't think that we will ever get use to it. We were up at 6:00 AM, which is 8:00 AM Texas time. We may have been the only ones up in the whole hotel. No problem! When Tucker is awake, everyone is awake! After a quick swim and soak in the hot tub, we grabbed breakfast and figured out a plan for the day. We took our hotel shuttle to Harrah's and proceeded to walk around. Our first stop was to visit Siegfried & Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at the Mirage. We spent several hours there watching the dolphins swim and the "big cats" play. They had five 10 month old white tigers and the trainers were inside the habitat with them playing/training. We saw a couple of the tigers "play" fight when one of the trainers brought out a large ice chunk about the size of watermelon. Evidently this is a tasty treat and all of the tigers want it. We also saw a four month old leopard. What beautiful creatures all of these animals are!
After visiting the animals at the Mirage, we decided to see what other sights there were to see for the day. We went to Caesar's Palace Forum Shops to see the moving statues and then we ended up at PF Chang's in Planet Hollywood for a late lunch. Tucker had about as much as he could stand of walking and looking around. He was ready for the pool as he exclaimed about 100 times through out the afternnon! So, we started to make our way back to the hotel. As we were walking, we passed by Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. I had to go in and get a t-shirt and Tucker wanted one, too. Somehow John and Tucker left with shirts and I ended up empty handed. How did that happen? With souvenirs in hand we returned to the hotel and changed into our swimming suits. After a pit stop to the rec. room for video gaming, we then hit the pool. We had a great, busy day. I am glad I came all the way to Vegas to spend some time playing video games and swimming in a pool. That is something we NEVER get to do in Texas.

Spring Break

2009-03-15T23:38:00.006-05:00

We left Saturday, March 14 to drive (yes drive!) to Las Vegas. We really don't mind a rode trip since we usually drive 30 hours or so to visit John's family in Montreal, Canada. Driving to Vegas is actually nothing compared to that! We spent the night in New Mexico and today are driving through Arizona and will eventually get to Las Vegas later today. Before we hit Flagstone, Az, we kept seeing signs for the Grand Canyon. So, we changed our course just a little bit to stop by and visit it. It was just a little bit out of our way, and we decided that we may not ever get back there again! I must say that I was very excited to see the Grand Canyon because I have never been there before. I don't really know what I expected to see, but it was quite a sight. I would never say that I am afraid of heights, but this made a little uneasy and a bit anxious. Maybe because it is so far down to look, but I just couldn't get a grip on my depth perception. Needless to say, I did much better just looking out rather than looking down. Tucker just thought the whole thing was "cool". Well, guess we can check that off of our list of things to see and do!

Once we said our good-byes to the Grand Canyon, we still had another a few more hours before we hit Las Vegas. Traffic was fine until we were 10 miles from the Hoover Dam. It took us about an hour and a half to go those 10 miles and we had less than a quarter of a take of gas. Somehow we made it through, but it was close! We finally made it to our hotel, excited and exhausted. Now, we have to go to bed so we can start our day early tomorrow!

My Montreal Canadians

2009-03-08T23:23:00.003-05:00

Sunday night was the BIG game for my boys. The Montreal Canadiens played against the Dallas Stars. John made sure that he and Tucker had tickets to the big game! Tucker has been counting down the days to the game. However, when it was about a week before the game, he began to panic because he didn't have a jersey. One night at dinner he told the two of us that he would NOT go to the game unless he had a jersey. I immediately thought of our best resource and figured that John and Tucker would call Oma to rescue us. I figured a trip to the local store would net Tucker a nice authentic jersey, but John didn't think that it would get here in time. So, I went online and ordered the jersey. (Not only does the grandparents spoil the child, but it seems that I can be blamed, too!) The jersey was delivered in time and the boys were off to the game in style. They had a great time at the game and ended up on the very front row! According to family watching the game on TV, they actually spotted Tucker and John in the third period banging on the class behind the Dallas Stars goalie, Marty Turco. Tucker said that it was the best night ever!

"Like a nut"

2009-02-22T08:58:00.004-06:00

Tucker has developed a new phrase that is really pretty funny. Mom, Tucker and I were attempting to shop yesterday in Frisco. I say attempt because the boy wouldn't let us look or shop at anything unless it had some kind of Dallas Cowboy or Dallas Maverick logo on it. Try finding running shoes that fit that criteria! I was pretty much at my witts end with him once again during this shopping experience. I must say my patience thermometer is pretty low with him these days and I do need to work on that! So, as we are driving in the car, he says that he was bitten by a mosquito at some point during the morning. I do the sort of ignoring thing so I can concentrate on driving and looking at my email while driving. :0) I guess I didn't give him as much attention as required, so he says "I am itching like a nut." Mom and I just crack up. It was a well needed laugh!

Even though I thought the nut phrase was pretty funny, I just figured it was a one-liner that he is so good at saying. Evidently the phrase is going to stick around for a little while. This morning, he is determined that one of his front teeth is about to wiggle out of his mouth, so he runs into the kitchen to tell me that the tooth is "wiggling like a nut." That just makes me giggle a little bit. It seems to be a good phrase to add for a big emphasis. So anytime you are at a loss for words, just add "like a nut." It seems to do the trick or that is at least this is the way Tucker rolls...like a nut. :0)

Glad today is almost over

2009-02-17T22:02:00.003-06:00

Today has been rough and I am glad that a new one starts in just a few hours. Our day started off ok, but just went downhill from there. At lunch, all I wanted to do was squirt a little lime into my tortilla soup. You would have thought that the little slippery sucker was a bowling ball the way it slipped out of my hand and landed in my soup. Let's just say I had soup all over the top half of my sweater. SH&#$ was all I could say. I wiped myself off and ate what was left of the soup in my bowl. I went back to work smelling like Mexican food in my soup spotted sweater. Good thing I was just going to be at my desk the rest of the afternoon!
So then at 5:30 pm, I get off work and go pick up Tucker. I just knew that our "talk" on the way to school today was going to hit home and we were going to have a green day today. Well, forget about that. It wasn't blue like yesterday, but we had another yellow day. Then to top it off, he decided to throw his sweatshirt on top of the school building. What the heck? Needless to say, we had another "talk" on the way home this afternoon and then when we got home, I sent him to his room. I put talk in quotes, because it is me doing the talking and Tucker doing the listening. Grandparents don't worry...I never touched the child, but we did have a night without any technology (no computer, no xbox or wii). The child was so bored, he went to sleep on the couch by 7:45. Hmmm, maybe this should be our nightly routine? At this point, this is when I am saying in my head that he is driving me crazy. This is also usually when the next day or so Tucker gets sick and I end up staying home from work a day or two. I hope that he feels fine and doesn't get sick. Hopefully this is just a phase that he (we) are going through and him coming down with a cold. I am hopeful for a new, better day tomorrow for us both!

One more celebration

2009-02-12T23:48:00.001-06:00

Today is my one-year blog anniversary. It isn't a big deal, but that fact that I have actually stuck with writing Tucker's blog for this long is an accomplishment for me. (Although, with Tucker as my star, I don't think that I will ever run out of material.)
Originally, I started our blog as sort of research for my job. We were embarking on Web 2.0 applications, and I needed to be able to talk about what blogs were. I worked with different applications to spice up the blog, and I must say that my journey with the blogging world as been a fun, personal learning experience. The bonus is to have recorded time and have a log of events of Tucker. How many times have we heard from someone, "I wish I would have written down all of the funny things that my kids said!" While I missed some major moments when Tucker was younger, I now have the opportunity to write it down. I know I have a small audience, but it is nice to be able to share with our friends and family. Looking back, we have had a busy year. We have celebrated birthdays, graduated from preschool, gone on summer vacations, spent time at the lake with cousins, started kindergarten and celebrated holidays. Wonder what is in store for us during the next blog year?

Papaw's Turn

2009-02-12T23:16:00.005-06:00

February is the month for birthdays in our family. Peaches just had her birthday and now it is already time to celebrate Papaw's birthday, too. Tucker started off the day by calling dad and wishing him a happy birthday. That's a good way to start off your day, don't you think? We will visit them soon so that we can have cupcakes or birthday cake. According to Tucker, it really isn't a birthday without some kind of party (or at least eating party food).

After Tucker got off the phone, he started talking about all of the fun things that he does with my dad. The list went on and on about boating, jetskiing, riding in the Ranger, going to Grapevine to ride the train. He finally just said, "you know, I am a lucky kid." That made my feel all warm inside to hear him say that. I will have to remind him of this statement the next time he gets mad at me! Actually, I think that I am the one that is lucky! :0)

Happy Birthday, Papaw!

Molten Chocolate Cakes - Recipe

2009-02-11T19:08:00.003-06:00

Here is the recipe for the chocolate cakes that Chef Tucker made.

4 squares Baker's Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
6 Tbsp. flour
Cool Whip Topping or Vanilla Ice Cream
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter four 3/4 cup custard cups or souffle dishes and place them on a baking sheet.

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 min. or until butter is melted. Stir with a wire whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar until well-blended. Blend in eggs. Stir in flour. Divide batter between prepared custard cups.

Bake 13 to 14 min. or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute. Carefully run small knife around cakes to loosen. Invert cakes onto dessert dishes. Serve immediately, topped with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream.

Makes 8 servings, 1 half molten cake each.

Chef Tucker

2009-02-08T23:12:00.003-06:00

I was so use to having some kind of yummy dessert while in Austin, that I was feeling a bit deprived now that I am back home. Tucker and I decided to make Molten Chocolate cakes to celebrate being home after the week away. The recipe is just right because it makes four custard cup size cakes with a warm gooey center.
Just out of the oven, we also like to add a little vanilla ice cream on top, as well. I will post the recipe later, but here are some pictures of Tucker working on the batter. He wanted to be in charge and do most of the work. Any time that I would try to help, he would say, "Chef Tucker is in charge, so back away, Mama." Fine with me; I was able to take pictures of the Chef at work.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Play some Online Games.

Happy Birthday Peaches

2009-02-04T22:56:00.002-06:00

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

While I was in Austin, my mom, had a birthday on Feb. 4. I did call her and Tucker was able to call her, as well, but we felt it was also worthy of a blog shout out.

Tucker refers to her as "Peaches". Her 'grandma' name, Peaches, started as sort of a joke, but it has definitely stuck. In fact, one day I was reading a book to Tucker about grandparents and it mentioned "granny" in the book. Tucker had a really hard laugh out loud moment and thought that is was absolutely crazy that someone would be called "Granny"! Little does he know that Peaches is really the name that isn't so common.

Peaches and Tucker are about as close as they come. I have yet to hear her really tell him "no", which is probably why he loves being with my parents so much. Funny that they didn't seem to have that same problem when I was growing up. :0)

When we are together visiting with my parents, you can always count on Tucker and mom huddling together and playing cars or building with Legos. We always just laugh and say that they deserve each other. If Tucker wants to do something crazy, Peaches (& Papaw) are usually right there with the him. Tucker is always ready to be with them and especially likes it when he can visit them without me there with him. We hate that we couldn't celebrate her birthday with her, but we will get together soon! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEACHES!

Lunch Date

2009-01-29T22:02:00.003-06:00

After looking at the lunch menu for Thursday at Tucker's school, he asked me to bring him lunch from Sonic instead. No problemo, little man! Here was my chance to meet the love note queen. :0)

I did meet Tucker for lunch. As part of the lunch ritual at his school, Tucker is allowed to invite one friend to also join us at the special "parent" table. As soon as Tucker saw me, he was ready to pick a friend and all of a sudden a girl grabs him and tells him that she is eating with us. Mmmm...little bit pushy, but the girl isn't afraid to get what she wants. As luck would have it, I am now sitting face-to-face with the love note queen. She is a cutie and a little spitfire, definitely one who can hold her own against the mighty T.

We had a fun time during lunch and they were excited/silly enough that I was ready to hand them back to their teacher. Let me just say that 25 minutes can be very long when you are sitting at a table with Kindergarteners. I think that they ate in about 8 minutes and had rest of the time to play around. This is a very uncomfortable feeling for the teacher in me. I felt like I needed to break out a book to read to them or something.

As Tucker was finally able to line up to get ready to go back to the classroom, I had a little reflection of his first day of school and how anxious I was to let him go to the classroom without me. I am glad that I get to spend lunchtime with Tucker every once in a while. I enjoy seeing him confident and content with where he is and who he is. I was concerned that it would be a challenge making friends just because he is not attending his neighborhood school, but that seemed to never bother him and he has made friends with everyone in his class. Friends, I can handle...I am just hoping that we don't receive any more letters from the girls.

I'm not ready for this!

2009-01-26T21:40:00.002-06:00

So, evidently, we have a little budding relationship going on in the old kindergarten class. Tucker swears that he has nothing to do with it, but some priss pot is trying to sink her little claws into my son. :0)

What is this? You learn to write a few little letters in the past few months and then suddenly compose a "you are my boyfriend" note to my son. He probably had to get some help to even read the note! She didn't even give him a chance to check yes or no! Look at the note, she isn't even old enough to use capital letters properly.

I think that it may be time to play private investigator and eat lunch with my boy to see who this little girly is. We have been working on memorizing our phone number, but maybe I should rethink that...imagine if we started getting phone calls? I really thought that we had until at least 3rd grade to deal with this kind of stuff, but I guess I was wrong. I actually had to giggle just a little bit when I saw the note, but still think that its a bit crazy. Tucker told me not to worry...it wasn't like he was going to talk to her or anything. No, I guess not, you seem to be communicating just fine in writing. I guess this is one way to practice your newly acquired writing skills. Is this an example of "real world learning"?

Movie Marathon

2009-01-19T21:12:00.003-06:00

Since we had the day off on Monday, Tucker and I decided to go see a movie at Studio Movie Grill after a doctor appointment. We time is just right to see Hotel for Dogs.

We love being able to eat our pizza and chicken tenders while watching a movie! It was a cute movie and we enjoyed just being together. Afterwards, we decided to run to the mall to look around. While at the mall, we shopped around for more Heelys for Tucker. Evidently it is a little more "cooler" if we have black ones now. As we passed (rolled) by the mall movie theater, we saw the poster for Bedtime Stories. So, Tucker and I decided to see movie #2 that day.

We really liked Bedtime Stories and I almost always like movies with Adam Sandler in it, anyway. Tucker gave it 2 thumbs up and said that we would definitely buy that one on DVD. So, out we go with the rest of the crowd.
As we are walking out, we see another poster for Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Tucker looks at me with a little twinkle and grin and asks to see movie #3.

We are having so much fun that I can hardly tell him no. We had about an hour to waste so, we decided to go enjoy a drink and cookie from the food court. I really didn't know how Mall Cop was going to turn out, but we actually enjoyed it as well. It was a great day with Tucker and I think that seeing three movies in the same day will be something that he remembers for a long time. John was busy that day so he didn't get to share in our marathon madness, but Tucker couldn't wait to tell him about it. I couldn't help but giggle when I heard Tucker talking to his daddy, telling him about our day...In Tucker's words, "Daddy, we saw three movies today, because I am wild like that!"

Too much info

2009-01-11T21:15:00.006-06:00

Tucker, for some reason, has really started watching all of the infomercials on TV. In case you have been hiding under a rock, here is a list of the most common infomercials: Big City Slider Station, Snuggie, Blendy pens, Bendy hangers, etc.
For some reason a lot of commercials are played during cartoons on Nick. I really didn't think much of it until the other day he paused the TV with a big phone number across the front, ran to get the phone and started dialing away. He is absolutely convinced that we NEED the Big City Slider Station for the ultimate mini cheeseburger. Excuse me...he doesn't even like burgers!

I thought that I had talked him out of ordering anything on the TV by telling him that none of that stuff ever works, you have to been 18 and older, and that is just a scam. He replied back with a "you are probably right because the Snugglie looks very soft, but it probably feels like a towel, right?" Yeah buddy, not to mentioned that we would all look pretty silly sitting around watching TV in our Snugglies. Basically last Sunday, we would have bought about 5 different products if I would have let him. I really thought that this conversation was over, but I guess he was still trying to figure out why I still wasn't for the whole TV product thing. We were driving home from school the other day, just talking about school and such, when he suddenly says, "Mama, the bendy hanger is probably something that you need, but I bet it doesn't bend like they show you on TV, right?" Hmmm, we have got to get that boy away from the TV.

We are making it

2009-01-07T23:25:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to say that we are making it just fine after our Christmas break. Tucker popped out of bed Monday morning ready to get to school. Got dressed and brushed his teeth without any nagging from me. I had to pinch myself to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. He was ready to "present" his star student poster to "his kids" as he refers to his classmates.

Tuesday, my how things change so quickly, he was grumbling out of bed and referring to how much school stinks. What a different 24 hours make! Come to find out, it was just going to be a normal day and not fun anymore because he didn't get to present anything. Really? He already likes to talk in front of a group of peers. Who in their right mind REALLY enjoys that? I do it because it is part of my job, but I can't see that I look forward to it.

This morning, I would rate it as being in between the two above mentioned scenarios. We made it through the morning without too much stress and even are making it to school on time. Tomorrow, I am just praying for a early start. We have our clothes ready to jump into because we have to leave the house even earlier than usual so that I can get to a meeting.

I had to laugh a little as Tucker called me out earlier. He and Willy were doing there usual thing of playing tag and being too loud, so I guess I was a bit snippy in trying to calm the boy and the dog down. I heard Tucker sort of reply to Willy, "someone's a bit grumpy, aren't we Willy!" I just had to laugh at his response. I pretty sure he has heard me make a similar comment to him. I guess he listens more than I realize.

Hello Cupcake

2009-01-04T19:10:00.003-06:00

Today is the last day of our Christmas vacation. I am usually ready to go back to work after being home for two weeks. Tucker is actually looking forward to going back to school and seeing his friends again. Hopefully this semester will be better than last semester. He is very excited because he was chosen to be the "Star" student for this coming week. We worked on his "Star" student poster this morning, so he is ready to go! I, however, could use a few more days home with Tucker. We have had so much fun reading, playing with new toys, and playing games on the Wii. I have actually read 5 books, but now that will come to a halt. I tend to not be able to put a book down until it is finished, so I can't really fit in reading all night with the whole working thing.
I have also spent a lot of time cooking, and have actually enjoyed it. This morning, I started thinking about a fabulous cake that my Aunt Carol used to make at our family Christmas gatherings. It was a white cake with white frosting and coconut sprinkled all over it. I think that she called it a Martha Washington cake, but I just remember it being a yummy, pretty, coconut cake. I found the recipe in my cookbook, so I decided to try to make it. After making the batter (from scratch...not from a box!) I decided that we needed cupcakes instead of a 3 layer cake. I figured it would be easier for our family to eat. Once the cupcakes were baked and decorated, Tucker and John quickly grabbed a one. Tucker really didn't like it much; he is more of a chocolate cupcake lover, as he explained to me. John seemed to think that they were pretty good. I haven't tried one yet, but I did have plenty of nibbles of the frosting and cake batter, at least that tasted pretty good. Oh well, my cooking streak is over...back to work, which means the kitchen is now on vacation. :0)

Deer Golf

2009-01-02T21:20:00.005-06:00

John had won a free trip to Horseshop Bay resort outside Marble Falls, Tx in a golf tournament a few months ago. It was about to expire so we decided to go as a family (as Tucker would say). It included one night at a hotel and 2 rounds of golf. We left early Sunday morning and as soon as we pulled in, we played our first round of golf at Apple Rock. As we were checking in for our starting time, Tucker and I looked out on the 18th green and saw about 10 deer eating grass in the fairway! It was an amazing site to us, but as we started talking to the locals, they said that they see this everyday. Throughout our 18 holes of golf we pretty much saw deer at least 16 different times. Sometimes they were in the fairway or appeared where we needed to tee off. They were always in at least groups of 2-3 and sometimes even more. I just never got tired of seeing the beautiful creatures!

John played all 18 holes, while Tucker and I would have a teeing off contest. We had a great time just being together and being outside in the cool, nice weather. Tucker drove the golf cart a little bit and only tried to wreck it a couple of times! Luckily not many other players were out that day, so it seemed that it was just us and the deer.

After golfing, we went back to the hotel and checked in. We knew that they had a heated pool and hot tub, so Tucker was ready to get in the water. After loading up on hot chocolate, we jumped into the pool and swam for a little while. Tucker found a couple of girls that were there as well and had a fun time swimming with them. Such a ladies man! After swimming, we cleaned up and went to dinner in the hotel restaurant. We had a nice dinner and then went to bed. We had to get ready for our second day of golf and the trip back home! The second day, we played RamRock. This time we had a playing partner, who was a big fan of Texas Tech. Tucker asked me if he was the man that was on the popcorn box...He thought that he looked like Orville Redenbacher. Even though I told him that his name was Glenn, Tucker still positive that this man made popcorn. We didn't see as many deer the second day, but the course was MUCH busier, too. We probably drove Glenn crazy, but we still had a very good time. I even outdrove John and Glenn on a couple of holes! (Although John was teeing off from the Pro box, while I was on the Ladies tee box.) I almost like golf now!

Merry Christmas from the Family

2008-12-31T07:11:00.009-06:00

This year we stayed in Texas for Christmas. Our first family Christmas started on Saturday, Dec 21 at Carol's house. It was great to see all of dad's side of the family and Tucker loves hanging out with Marlowe and Erika. Somehow, I didn't get any pictures of us being at Carol's house, but it was nice to be there.

Our second Chrismas celebration was on Tuesday, Dec. 23. My aunt and uncle have a steak house that is closed on Tuesdays, so we had our celebration there. We have about 30 people on mom's side of the family and about half of that are the great-grandkids, so it is nice to be in a place that we can all stretch out...The open bar was nice too! John ended up being the bartender most of the night and he seemed to like that little gig! I don't know if Harold and Sandra will keep up the tradition of letting us have the run of the steakhouse, but it was certainly good while it lasted! We tried to get a picture on the stairs of Grandmama and all of her great-grandkids. I think that we have them all except for Eleanor, but photoshop can solve that problem. :0)

We had a traditional turkey and dressing meal along with our tamales that we made the night before. Yummy!

Our third Christmas celebration was smaller with only Dad, mom, Tucker, Grandmama, John and me on Christmas eve. Dad cooked a beef tenderloin. While dad was cooking Tucker designated him as the "Fry Cook". It was another fabulous meal and I am pretty sure that I am packing on the pounds at this point. Tucker finally got to open his presents from Peaches and Papaw (He had been begging to open presents since we arrived on Saturday!) He received lots of clothes, Spongebob legos, and Star Wars for the Wii with light sabers. We had to immediately set up the light sabers and playing the Dueling Light Saber game. Very fun!

Since it was Christmas Eve, it was time to say goodbye to Peaches and Papaw so that we could get home and get ready for Santa to arrive and give my parents a break.

Once we got home, we opened our own presents to each other and then we got ready for bed so that Santa would come and see us.

One Christmas day, Tucker came into my room upset that Santa hadn't come. (I think that his little heart must have skipped a beat.) He thought that Santa would leave his presents under the Christmas tree. However, I explained that Santa usually leaves his presents by the fireplace (which is in a different room in our house), so Tucker hurried down to check out the family room. His little eyes just lit up as he took it all in. I think that he was also a bit relieved that Santa actually did bring gifts this year! It was so much fun watching him flitter from one gift to the next and hearing him ooh and ahh over his new toys. I thought that it was funny to see him playing his Guitar Hero instruments in his underware like on the commercials, so I had to get a picture of that. :0)

I really don't think he knew where to start first! Merry Christmas Little man! Oh, and then he remembered that the Toothfairy was also suppose to visit, so he then had to check out his Toothfairy pillow. So much to do!

Our last family Christmas celebration ended at my brother's house with his family, my family, and mom & dad. We had a nice lunch and Tucker was able to play with Eleanor and Nick for the afternoon. Whew!

We then took mom with us so that she and I could get up the next day and the after Christmas sales. (Our family in Canada calls it "Boxing day.") Friends and family think that we are crazy, but we have a lot of fun seeing what bargains we can get. I think that we have been shopping the day after Christmas for about 15 years now! We were out the door by 5:00AM on Friday morning heading to the mall. We ended up not needing anything, but getting more Christmas decor and wrapping paper to use for next year. My stuff went directly from my trunk to the attic.

Well, our marathon celebrations are now over! Now it is time to get ready for the New Year.

So Merry Christmas to you and hope you are having a fabulous New Year!

Hot Tamales

2008-12-31T06:51:00.003-06:00

Dad loves to make homemade authentic food. He has been known to make his own sausage, picante sauce and sauerkraut. For a few years now, we have been trying to figure out how to make tamales. We have made our own fair share of tamales, but we it is still a work in progress. Each year, we seem to learn something else that makes them even better. This year, we had some family over to the lake house to make more tamales. We had pork. Kyle and Amy brought over chicken. We then started the assembly line. Kyle and I put the masa on the cornhusk while Dad and Amy stuffed the tamale and rolled it up. Mom was in charge of the steaming. It is a long process to put everything together and I am begining to think that buying them would be the best, but it was fun to be with some of our family and work on this project together. I think that we finally finished with 12 dozen tamales completed. We did a few little taste tests, but we didn't get to really enjoy them until the next day when we got together for our Christmas party.

The North Pole Express Video

2008-12-31T06:50:00.001-06:00

Here is the video of our train ride in Grapevine.

The North Pole Express

2008-12-31T06:31:00.000-06:00

I am trying to catch up from all of our Christmas adventures. Here is a recap of our Dec. 20 train ride....

Every year, Peaches and Papaw take us to some kind of Christmas play, musical, usually at Casa Manana in Fort Worth. This year we decided to ride the North Pole Express train in Grapevine. Tucker's cousin, Eleanor, came along with us too. It is sort of a take on the book, "The Polar Express". We saw lots of kids and even some adults in their pajamas running around. They have a little "village" set up around the train depot where you can watch a blacksmith at work. He made a horseshoe with Tucker's name on it, which Tucker thought was really cool. We were able to talk with Santa and make an ornament inside his workshop/giftshop. Before we boarded the train, we sang Christmas carols with a few hundred of our closest friends. Once we finally boarded the train, the ticket guy came around and punched our tickets. We sang more Christmas carols on the train and then Santa showed up again! Eleanor and Tucker sat together on the train and loved every minute of it. Not sure what we are going to do next year, but we now have a year to figure it out. Check out the video above for pictures of our train ride!

Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy

2008-12-24T21:09:00.003-06:00

What are the chances that Santa and the Tooth Fairy have to visit us on the same night? It is 100% at our house! Tucker pulled his second tooth this evening while watching TV. So, we will be getting 2 sneaky visitors tonight while we are sleeping. Yikes! Tucker says that it is ok because Santa is in charge of the Tooth Fairy anyway and that she may be tagging along to speed up Santa's big job of spreading toys to all of the families. We are now missing our two front BOTTOM teeth. I need to share the "All I want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" song with Tucker now.
Hope you all are having a fabulous Christmas Eve!

Christmas Fun

2008-12-16T16:19:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Baby, It's Cold Outside

2008-12-16T14:36:00.005-06:00

From Dec 2008

We even thought Willy may need to bundle up for his walk since it was so cold last night. Little did we know that it was going to be COLD and drizzle a little bit overnight. I was surprised (and a little bit excited) to get a phone call from work at 5:30 am to let me know that school was going to be delayed for 2 hours. Woohoo! So I settled back into bed to watch TV and read for the next hour or so. At 6:30 am, I then get another phone call explaining that school was now CLOSED. What the heck happened? Now, I am concerned. I don't mind coming in late, but I didn't want to waste a bad-weather day this close to our Christmas break! What in the world I am going to do with Tucker all day long?
Well, we have been trying to stay busy and keep from driving each other crazy. I did some laundry and cleaned the house a little bit. I then got into a cooking mood and decided to make peanut brittle. I have already made 2 batches, but the third time was notta good. This is microwave peanut brittle and evidently a hot glass bowl full of peanut brittle batter and cold granite counter tops DO NOT work together. As soon as I took the glass bowl out of the microwave and set it on the countertop, I heard a "crack". The bowl cracked all the way around about half-way up the bowl. At this point, foaming brittle is leaking out. (I thought about getting a picture, but had my hands full at this time.) I grab the top of the bowl, but since it is broken, the bottom half with the brittle stays. I yell for Tucker to get the trash can and we slide it all into the trash. Oops, plastic trash can with plastic garbage bag inside! I guess you figure what is happening now. Yep, piping how brittle batter is now melting the trash bag and getting all over the trash can. What a mess!
About 3o minutes later, the mess is cleaned up and I am determined to "get back on the horse again." I start making batch #4 of peanut brittle. This time with a hand-towel covering the granite so I can put the bowl on a warm spot. Everthing turned out the 4th time and I am now enjoying a little bit of peanut brittle as I type.
Tucker has been busy helping me and creating new messes for me to clean. Finally this afternoon he settled down to watch a little bit of TV. This is the most quiet the house has been all day... Just don't let those closed eyes fool you; he isn't really asleep. It isn't often that I can get both boys in the picture at the same time. :0) Just a couple of more hours and John will be home. Whew, it has been a long day!

From Dec 2008

Christmas Cookies

2008-12-14T14:16:00.002-06:00

My favorite part of the Christmas season is cooking all of the goodies. Making fudge, decorating cookies, eating it all! When I married John, I found out that his mother has a tradition of making and decorating German shortbread cookies and no-cook chocolate balls. They are so pretty and yummy! Heide's cookies are truly a tradition that I look forward to. Once she shared the recipes with me, I turned it into a tradition of my own to make with Tucker. So, this year we spent Sunday afternoon baking and decorating the shortbread cookies. Once I made the dough, Tucker helped me roll out the dough and use the cookie cutters. He quickly got tired of that and just decided that he would do the decorating once the cookies were removed from the oven and had cooled off. Once we were ready to decorate the cookies, I made a little spread at the table with red, white and green sugar sprinkles, chocolate chips, and different colored frostings. This is Tucker's favorite part. He used a paintbrush to "paint" the frosting on the cookies and then heaviled sprinkled the cookies. His cookies were as beautiful as ever and even yummier in our bellies. I love our cookie traditions!

That's Disgusting

2008-12-10T20:04:00.002-06:00

Today is John's birthday. Tucker and I woke him up this morning with "Happy Birthday" hug from Tucker and a kiss from me. I guess Tucker didn't really like me kissing John because once we started walking downstairs, he gave me a little nudge and started whispering to me. "Mama, did you just kiss daddy?" I replied that I did. He gave another strange look then whispered, "on the lips?" Once again, I replied that I did. Tucker then said, "Just because it was his birthday, right?" Once again I nodded. Thinking that the conversation was over, Tucker then exclaims, "That's disgusting!"

First one

2008-12-08T20:10:00.003-06:00

Tucker has had a wiggly bottom tooth since Thanksgiving. Evidently, today was the day for it to come out (or get pulled out). He said that he was playing during recess at school and the tooth/gum started bleeding. His teacher sent him to the school nurse where she assisted him in pulling out the tooth. They put it in a small container so that he could get the tooth home to get ready for the tooth fairy, but somehow the tooth is now missing. Are you surprised? So, he pulled his first tooth and lost it all in the same day. He was so excited to tell me about his day when I picked him up after school. I was excited with him...a little sad that he didn't pull his tooth at home with me, but a little thankful at the same time. I am not sure how I would handle the whole tooth pulling ordeal! Looks like he has another tooth starting to get wiggly, so we may have tooth number 2 coming out soon. Now we have to write a note to the tooth fairy to explain the missing tooth. What is the going rate for a tooth from the Tooth Fairy these days?

Gingerbread Man Pictures

2008-12-07T20:20:00.002-06:00

Gingerbread Man

2008-12-07T20:04:00.007-06:00

Tucker and I carried on our tradition of making a gingerbread house this afternoon. It is a full day project because you have to put it together in sections then let the icing dry. It is hard for Tucker to have the patience to work on the house, but he manages by eating the candy and frosting as we work. He picks out the house that we are going to make and then we do our best to copy the picture. Tucker is a pro at decorating the house with the tiny bits of candy and gumdrops. He likes to make patterns with the colors as he puts the candy on the house. I am not allowed to work with the candy, I am strictly the frosting person and the rest is up to the little man. Now that the house is complete, Tucker has informed me that it needs people. I guess we now have a plan to make gingerbreak men tomorrow night.

The slideshow above were taken while we were creating our masterpiece.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

2008-12-01T19:18:00.003-06:00

Now that the house is back in order, Tucker and I decided to "deck the halls". He and I put up our stockings and Christmas tree with all of our favorite ornaments. Tucker loves to look at each one and remember a story behind it. He actually has several ornaments that are his favorites and puts them front and center on tree. I love looking at the ornaments that he has made during his years of daycare and preschool. To me, they are the most beautiful of the bunch! I hope he never outgrows decorating the Christmas tree with me, at least not any time soon!

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T19:45:00.003-06:00

I love Thanksgiving because it is a time when our family gets together and just eats. We don't have to worry about the stress of giving presents or anything like that. We get to just enjoy being together and catching up. We had a trio of Thanksgivings starting last Saturday. My dad's sister, Barbara, hosted the Tucker family Thanksgiving. Mom, Dad, Tucker, John, and I joined Dad's sisters and their families. Tucker loves visiting with them because he loves being with his two cousins, Marlowe and Erika.

Thanksgiving number 2 was in my hometown with my mom's side of the family. My aunt and uncle have opened a restaurant, so they had Thanksgiving at "Times Forgotten" restaurant. Tucker was there with mom and dad, but John and I had to stay behind because carpet installers were coming the next morning. I was very sad to miss the family get-together, but I will see them soon in December. Tucker enjoyed playing with all of his cousins and he loves seeing our extended families. I am so grateful that he values and enjoys being with all of his family as much as I do.

Thanksgiving #3 was with mom, dad, Tucker, and my grandmama. We had the traditional Turkey and cornbread dressing that I love more than anything. We also had mashed potatoes, hot rolls, and black-eyed peas. Then we polished the meal off with my favorite, apple pie. We had a great time visiting our family and filling our bellies! Now its time to shop and get ready for Christmas!

Thanks Willy

2008-11-30T19:35:00.004-06:00

As most of you know, Willy the dog, and I have a love/hate relationship. I need to formally thank Willy, though, because he was the catalyst for me getting a new kitchen and replacing the flooring in every corner of my house. It was needed before Willy came along, but let's just say that he pushed us to move a little faster. Luckily, it wasn't because he wanted to use the floor as a potty, but because he dug holes in the carpet upstairs. I can't find the "before" pictures, but I promise that it wasn't too pretty. The kitchen backsplash was white tile with maroon (yes, Aggie maroon) tiles mixed in. We also had white laminate countertops and laminate Pergo flooring. So, I said goodbye to the 90's look and welcomed a more modern kitchen. Here is a picture of our new granite countertops and tumbled-tile backsplash. I also painted the cabinets dark brown. I love the new look and actually enjoying just being in the kitchen and cooking!

I'm Behind

2008-11-25T18:51:00.002-06:00

A lot has happend since the last time I had an entry in this blog. I need to catch up and plan on doing just that once Thanksgiving is over. I can't seem to get my camera and computer together at the same time, so I just gave up for a while. I promise that I will get it together and start telling more stories on Tucker this weekend.

Not much to tell about the boy right now, he is with Peaches and Papa for the Thanksgiving break. I haven't been with him since Sunday, but we will reunite tomorrow. I am excited, but he would prefer more time alone with my parents. I love my parents to death, but I keep telling Tucker that they are not that fun when you live with them for a long time. Tucker thinks that I am a liar when I say these things.

Its Catchy

2008-11-08T19:27:00.002-06:00

Whatever Tucker had on Halloween, he shared with the rest of us! Mom took Tucker home with her after Halloween night. He didn't want her to leave, so she just took him with her. That was fine with me because we are having new countertops put in on Monday, so I welcomed the offer of taking Tucker so that I could clean out the kitchen cabinets and clean off the countertops. I picked up Tucker from mom and dad on Sunday. It wasn't more than 2 hours later, they were both down for the count. It's pretty sad when you are both so sick that you can't take care of each other. Mom said that it was every man for himself. Multiple bathrooms were a necessity!

So I felt bad that they were both sick, but I was so glad that I missed it. Boy, did I get that wrong. One week later, I am puking my guts out! Whatever this bug is, it only lasts 24 hours, but boy it is a LONG 24 hours! I still didn't feel good for several days later, but I least I was able to keep my cookies down. We had a rough week or so in our family, but we have recoverd. I don't know how he did it, but somehow John missed out on the fun!

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T19:16:00.003-05:00

Today is Halloween and my poor little man is sick! He spent the night throwing up and finally stopped about 9:00 this morning. Needless to say, we are both a little bit tired. I know that he doesn't feel well because he spent the day on the couch. This, my friends, is only the second time that I can remember him just sitting and not wanting to do anything. That is one sick boy. However, he is also determinded to go Trick-or-Treating tonight and have my mother come with us.

Tucker started out just sitting outside and passing out candy, but then wanted to go to a couple of houses himself. We also have a neighbor that creates a 'haunted house' in their garage, so Tucker really wanted to test it out. He and John have been watching them build the haunted house on their nightly walks with Willy, so Tucker was excited to see what it was really like.

We ended up cutting our night a little short since Tucker still didn't feel well, but not before mom dressed up like a clown to join Tucker in the festivities. Peaches is always ready for a good time!

Weird things - I have been tagged

2008-10-30T20:43:00.002-05:00

My friend Buffy tagged me to write 6 quirky things about me. I don't have my own blog so I am using Tucker's. So, here it goes....

I do not like my food to touch, in fact, I love cafeteria trays because of the dividers!
I obsess over keeping my desk clean at work. It must be neat and tidy before I go home and I wipe it down with Clorex wet wipeys everyday, too.
When I eat plain M&M's, they have to be grouped by color and lined up from smallest number of a color to largest number of a color, much like a graph....So pretty!
I check my favorite blogs and email every night before I go to bed.
When I eat, I have to finish one food item before I can move on to another on my plate.
I am awake almost every night from 2:30 am-4:30 am then fall back asleep until 6:00 am.

Wow, as I am re-reading this, it sounds like I may need some help. :0)

Go Cowboys

2008-10-26T19:06:00.003-05:00

On Oct 26, we took Tucker to the Dallas Cowboy game. I guess that it will be our last time to visit Texas Stadium to see the Cowboys. That kind of makes me sad! I really didn't want to go, but decided to make it a family outing anyway. I am glad that we all went together. The Cowboys actually won and I got to see the "real" Roy Williams get his first touchdown as a Dallas Cowboys. There were lots of "Hook'em Horns" proudly displayed when #11 made his touchdown.
Tucker seemed to really enjoy going to the game. He ate his way through 4 quarters. We had nachos, hot dogs, and coke to drink. He took the camera from me at one point, and filled the memory card with the DC Cheerleaders.

"F" words

2008-10-20T20:19:00.005-05:00

Tonight I was helping Tucker with his homework. We had to locate in magazines or draw words that began with "F"and words that began with "L". Here is the finished product, but it took a little bit of brainstorming to get these pictures.
Instead of sacrificing my Star magazines to Edward Scissorhands, I decided to find a bunch of clip art pictures and put them in a publisher document and then let Tucker drag/drop them to the proper spaces. I figure that computer skills are just as important this day and age.
I thought that I would have Tucker give me some ideas for "f and l" pictures, so I asked him to give me something that starts with "f". (I should have known that it would go down hill from here) Without hesitating, he yelled out "FART" in such an excited voice. We seem to be all about body noises these days. Um, yes, Tucker, that is a word that starts with "f'", but I need to be able to find a picture of that, and well, it needs to be appropriate for school (although I did have to snicker a little quietly to myself). He reluctantly threw out frog, football, and fish instead. Yes, those are perfect and we can get a good pictures of them! You know, finding "f" words can be a little bit tricky...but I guess he could have said a whole lot worse! Notice that there is a Longhorn in the L section. I guess my brainwashing is working after all. :)

Oh my

2008-10-20T18:53:00.006-05:00

On Saturday, I made sure that I did all of my errands/shopping early and cleaned up the house (more or less) so that I would be ready to sit in front of the TV to watch my Longhorns play football against Missouri at 7pm. Tucker played on the computer and played with his toys for most of the game. John and I sat on the couch while I cheered my team on. I tend to get excited during the game and yell and cheer at the TV like I was really there, which I think annoys Tucker a little bit. I am not competitive at all by the way. :0)

After the game was over, John and I were discussing how good the Longhorns have been playing and how excited I am that they are "officially" number 1 since we beat OU at the Cotton Bowl. I really didn't think that Tucker was listening, but as I was tucking him into bed (another late night!), he had a worried look on his face. I knew that he was thinking about something and had something to say. He went on to tell me that "The Texas Longhorns aren't always number 1 or the best like you think they are." I am sure that I had a stunned look on my face as he continued, "You know someday, there will be a team that is better and you will have to get ready for that." What!!?? Who is this child and what happened to Tucker? I guess I am going to have to go full speed ahead with the UT brainwashing. I guess making the child wear burnt orange everyday, praying for a Longhorn winning season every night, sleeping on a pillow covered with a UT pillowcase, and singing the "Eyes of Texas" while he brushes his teeth (you know....to make sure that he brushes a long time) isn't enough anymore. :0)

State Fair of Texas

2008-10-17T23:29:00.008-05:00

This is the last weekend for the state fair in Dallas, so we decided to leave once we got off of work. Driving there at 5:00 PM meant that our usual trip to the fair (with traffic) took us ONLY an hour and a half to get there! We had to go so that we could have our fried food fix for the year. This year they had chicken fried bacon as the "new fried" feature. We didn't eat the bacon, but we did enjoy a smoked turkey leg, ketchup with tater twisters, and a chicken sandwich. The corny dogs looked really yummy, but we decided to try other things instead.

After eating "dinner" we visited the petting zoo. They had lots of animals to see and feed. We bought a huge cup of food, but I think that the animals had eaten already because they really were not too excited to see us. We also found the huge 1200 lb pig. That is always amazing to see how something can get so big!

John's mission was to find the fried Snickers bar. We walked around for a while on our own trying to find the candy bar, but Tucker grew tired of us quickly and took matters into his own hands. As we passed a small lemonade stand, Tucker just stopped and asked her where the fried Snickers were. Thanks to the boy, we found out that they were in the back of the food pavillion. It is a good thing that he asked, we would have never gone in there! We finally found the Snickers vendor and ordered the "yummy goodness". Here is a picture of Tucker getting the fried Snickers. They officially called it "Snickers on a Stick". Once we had it, we had to wait about 5 minutes before we could bite into it because it was so hot. Tucker could hardly wait. I wasn't sure about it and John was just excited that he bought the treat.

Tucker was the first to try it and he though that it was pretty good. John took the next bite and really didn't like it (but I don't think that he wanted to admit that it wasn't so good). I took a bite and just almost spit it out. That was really gross! Some things should just be left alone...I love a Snickers bar, but a Snickers with a donut wrapped around it was a bit too much. I had to get a picture of it as we were eating it, so here it is for your viewing pleasure. Doesn't look so good, does it?

While we were eating, we walked close to the Chevy Main Stage to hear Jessica Simpson sing a couple of songs. We really couldn't even remember any songs that she sang, but John was hoping that Tony Romo was hanging around. I tried to get a picture of her, too, but we were really too far away. Tucker had been waiting long enough and was sick of "the girl singing". He was ready to go ride the rides that we promised him. We rode the huge Texas Star ferris wheel, then let him ride whatever else he wanted on his own. We finally ended up home about 10:45 at night. Glad we only go once a year!

Field Day 2008

2008-10-16T09:05:00.002-05:00

Tucker had a great time at his school's field day on Thursday. It did seem a little early in the year to have field day, but the weather was nice and cool! Our class rotated through different stations, such as:

Football toss
Basketball throw
Bubble fun
Pumpkin Roll Relay
Tennis ball on a string toss
Laundry Clothesline Relay
Hula Hoop Contest
Potato Sack Race
Belly Bumpers

There is really nothing like watching 19 kindergarteners experience an organize field day for the first time. They seemed to have the most fun at the bubble station. Wow, they were laughing and running around and it was hilarious watching them. You would have really thought that they had never played with bubbles before! Every game was even better than the one before. It was fun for me to watch Tucker interact with his classmates and see who are his friends. I was really glad that I was able to be there to cheer him on in Field Day!

Is your bucket full?

2008-10-14T21:43:00.003-05:00

Last week, as we were driving home from school, Tucker told me that the counselor came to visit his class. I guess this made some kind impact on him, because he usually doesn't just volunteer school information. I am usually asking him all kinds of questions to get him to talk about the school day.

Tucker proceeded to tell me that we all have "buckets". He said that when you do good things like help a friend or tell someone that you like their shirt (his words I promise!), or hold a door open for a classmate, then you put stuff in your bucket. But when you say bad words or hurt someone's feelings then stuff comes out of your bucket. Now, I could be wrong, but I am guessing that landing on the yellow or blue lily pad would take stuff out of your bucket, but Tucker didn't seem to like my adding to the conversation! Tucker continued to tell me that your goal is to try to fill your bucket with goodness and keep it full.

This lesson seemed to really hit home with T. He has been talking about how to "fill your bucket" quite a bit and coming up with all kinds of examples of what fills and takes away from one's bucket. He even brought it up again today. It is so rewarding to see him learning and hearing the things that he retains from school. It is also nice to know that he is learning more that how to burp his ABC's at the lunch table. :0)

Camp Tucker

2008-10-12T23:22:00.003-05:00

This weekend Tucker and John went camping in Broken Bow, Ok with John's hockey team. I went last year, but figured out really quickly, that I am not a camping kind of girl. Willy and I stayed home while the boys roughed it. They went fishing, canoeing, and played games with the other kids. They also sang songs by the campfire and went on a scavenger hunt. They stayed busy and I finally had a "goodnight" call from Tucker at about 10:00!

John returned Sunday night after taking Tucker to my mom and dad. His school has Monday off for parent conferences, so Peaches and Pawpa are going to take care of him at their house. Tucker was really looking forward to seeing mom and dad since we had not visited with them since his birthday. When I called to talk to him this afternoon, he was busy playing Legos and really didn't have much time to talk for me. It has only been 2 days, buy I miss my little man!

Seeing Stars

2008-10-07T23:09:00.003-05:00

Tonight I had a conference sub-committee meeting I had to attend for work. John received some tickets from a friend to go to a "Skate with the Dallas Stars" event. So, the boys packed their ice skates and headed to the American Airlines Center for the this special event. They got to skate with a couple of the Dallas Stars, and the Dallas Star girls. They also took a tour of the facility and Tucker had is face painted. They had a lot of fun and Tucker came back excited and tired at the same time. Tucker said that this was the "best day of his life"...Hard to imagine why, right?

Happy Birthday Little Man

2008-09-30T00:05:00.002-05:00

Six years ago today, Tucker came in to our lives. It has only been six years and yet I really don't remember what my life was like without him. What a blessing he has been to my family and me. Tucker is one of those people that you just gravitate to. He just has that personality that makes him stand out...even if it means getting yellows and blues in Kindergarten!

He is smart, stubborn, happy, loving, funny, and just remarkable. I tell him often that I am the luckiest mom in the world to have such a super little man. There are days when we have our moments of fighting, pouting, and just not really wanting to be around each other, but that all passes quickly. As I think about the six short years that have passed, I am amazed at the little boy that he has become and curious about the little man that he will be. When I asked him today what kind of job he wanted when he grew up, he told me that he wanted to go to ice cream college and be in charge of an ice cream store. (I think the fighter pilot job went out the window during the Mt. Everest ride at Disneyworld this year.)

As I put Tucker to bed tonight and kissed him for the last time as a 5-year old, he asked me, "mama, what will I look like tomorrow when I am 6?" We have had this conversation not so long ago, and he has it in his head that he will all of a sudden be taller and older. Boy, he will be disappointed in the morning when he wakes up! He also thought that his days of being a kindergartener was up and that he would start first grade when he turned 6. It is hard to explain to him that it will be next year before he is a first grader and that time just doesn't fly by. Although, now that I think about it...wasn't he just born yesterday?

Lego Day and Presents

2008-09-29T23:50:00.014-05:00

Tucker didn't feel well this morning when we woke up, so we stayed home from work and school today. Maybe it was the busy, fun-filled weekend, but he convinced me that he didn't feel well enough to make it through the school day. Most of the morning he watched TV in bed or on the couch, but by the end of the day he seemed to be feeling much better. We spend most of the afternoon building his Lego Starwars village and ship. You don't be jealous, but at one point, Tucker proclaimed me to be the "Lego Master of the World". I guess playing with Legos with my brother when we were younger has finally paid off.

When John came home from work and asked how Tucker how he felt, Tucker replied that he was feeling much better and just needed to take a Lego day. WHAT? Evidently, he just needed an extra day off from school to play with his new Legos!

After dinner we celebrated Tucker's birthday again with cake a presents. He wanted a chocolate cake with strawberries for his birthday, so I just made it for him instead of buying one. It was basically a German Chocolate cake, but I decorated the side with chocolate butter cream. toTucker thought it needed a few extra decorations, so he added the strawberry to the top of the cake. I guess he also needed to taste the frosting, so he put a big hole in the side. Nice touch, T! He finally had had enough of us and and was ready to open presents. I think this is the only time that Tucker will pass up sweet stuff. He really didn't care much for the cake...he just wanted to open the presents! Tornado Tucker opened all of the gifts in about 5 seconds! I barely had time for pictures, but here are a few. I think that he was happy with most of the gifts, especially his new iPod Nano. I had it loaded with lots of Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus, and High School Musical songs. I also loaded Spongebob, Scooby Doo, and Jimmy Neutron tv shows. Happy Birthday, T!

More Birthday Fun

2008-09-29T23:45:00.000-05:00

After Tanner left on Sunday, Tucker's grandparents came to see him for his birthday and to watch him play soccer. Orginally, we were going to meet them in Denton, but decided to meet at our house instead. They, of course, came bearing gifts of the toy kind. Tucker has been playing a lot with Legos lately. Peaches and Papaw gave him a Lego Star Wars set. The perfect gift for the birthday boy since he loves Legos and Star Wars!

Busy weekend - First sleepover

2008-09-29T23:38:00.004-05:00

Tucker's birthday is coming up, so I asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday. He first wanted to have an ice skating party, but then he just decided that he wanted to have Tanner over to spend the night. Tanner is Tucker's second cousin and Tucker loves to see Tanner. They are the same age, but they don't usually see other unless it is summer and we are at the lake.
Between working around Tucker's soccer game and Tanner's baseball game on Saturday, we found a time for us to meet up and get Tanner. Once we got him, we started our little stay over with lunch and a movie at Studio Movie Grill. Tucker and I love to go there so that we can eat yummy food like chicken tenders and pizza while we are watching a movie. Tanner thought that it was pretty cool, as well. It is just too bad that the movie, Igor, was not so good. The boys were fine until they ate all of their food and then they were ready to go. I must admit that I felt the same, so we went on home.
Once we returned home, the boys stayed busy swimming, playing with Matchbox cars, light saber fighting, etc. It was a little strange to not be the one constantly entertaining Tucker! Somehow they managed to stay busy until it was time to go to bed. They put up a tent in the living room at one point during the day, so they decided that they would sleep in the tent. Little did I know that I would be the bodyguard sleeping on the couch just behind the tent!
After a good night's sleep, the boys were at it again playing with cars and doing whatever else 5 year old boys do for entertainment. I cooked them blueberry pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs for breakfast. After breakfast, John took the boys to a huge playground in our town for about an hour. Before too long, it was time to send Tanner back to his parents. There were a few little arguments here and there, but overall I think that the boys had a great time. This was the first time that Tucker had a friend over to spend the night and he is ready for Tanner to come back. Hopefully Tanner will be willing!

Jury Duty

2008-09-25T23:11:00.002-05:00

So I had jury duty Wednesday and today. When I got to the courthouse, the judge told us that we had a great chance of NOT getting jury duty because they only needed 100 people and there were about 250 in the room. Whew, I thought to myself, slim chance of getting called. The first case came up and needed 24 jurors to select from...of course my name was immediately called and I had to return to the courthouse at 1:30 pm. When we all meet back at 1:30, once again, this judge claims that our chances are pretty good for not getting to be a juror since there were 24 of us, and they only needed six jurors. Whew, I thought again, what are the chances! I should have known that when the song "You've had a bad day" is playing on the radio as you get ready to go into the courthouse, that things are not.looking.good. During the who voir dire process, I decided to keep my mouth shut. Most of the people talking really sounded stupid and so I just thought it would be better to keep quiet. This is probably the ONLY time I have stayed quiet and it came back to bite me! So, I was one of the six to be on the jury. That should be enough bad luck for the day right?
I go home with a knot in my stomach knowing now that I have to be a juror. Oh well, at least I don't know anyone involved with the trail and I will just do my civic duty and be done with it. Ya'll things went from bad to worse on Thursday. I am sitting in my little, uncomfortable juror chair when the prosecution witnesses march in to the courtroom to be sworn in. Oh.my.gosh. I knew one of the witnesses! In my head I am thinking that I am about to cause a mistrail. The whole time that this person is on the stand, I can hardly hear her talk because I am freaking out. My stomach is knotting up, my mind is racing, and I am thinking...should I be honest and tell the judge or just pretend that I don't know her? After about 3 witnesses we finally took a break and I wrote a note to the judge to tell him that I knew one of the witnesses. How crazy is that! Really! What are the odds that I would get picked to be a juror and know one of the witnesses? All I can say is that I am my father's daughter and that it seems that no matter where I go, I seem to know someone. So, after what seemed to be a very long break, the judge made me come back into the courtroom by myself so that they could ask me some questions regarding the relationship between the witness and myself. Yep, there I was...in a courtroom alone with the defense, prosecutor, judge, baliff, court reporter, witnesses and audience. The judge asked me how I knew the witness. I explained that we had graduate class together about 3 years ago and that we had exchanged email during the semester, but that we had not seen or talked to each other since that one class. He asked me if I could still be fair and I replied, "yes". He let me go back to the jury room and then we went on with the trial. I must admit that I had visions of being led to jail and a big ole "mistrial" label stamped across my forehead, but luckily we went on with the trial. Luckily, we were finished with the trail by 5:00 Thursday afternoon. I hope that it is a L-O-N-G time before I have to do that again!

We scored!

2008-09-23T23:49:00.006-05:00

Tonight we had a make-up soccer game. As I keep saying, Tucker is really getting better every week and I am so proud of him for that. Now, will he be playing with the likes of David Beckham anytime soon? Um, no, but he is a trooper out there. He even was at the right place at the right time and scored a goal tonight! .

As most of you know, Tucker does not lack in the verbal skills. Tonight I watched him talk smack to the other team. Oh.my. I wanted to run out there and drag him off of the the field! We had to have a little talk about that! I finally had to just tell him to leave the other team alone and do not talk to the other team. When we are winning, he just wants to keep the other team up-to-date with the score.

Where does he get this stuff? He is SO competitive! I keep trying to fool myself into thinking that he didn't get it from me, but then there I am yelling like the little guys are winning the Olympic gold medal in soccer. I really don't even know anything about soccer and yet I find myself yelling loud enough to be heard 5 soccer fields over. Maybe that is why the other soccer moms steer clear of me?

Water Cycle...In Tucker's Words

2008-09-17T19:28:00.003-05:00

When I picked up Tucker on Monday, he couldn't wait to talk about what he did in school. He loves science and likes to keep me updated on the science experiments and topics that they learn about each day. Tucker said that they learned about water. He goes on to talk about how the Earth has more water than land. Then he asked me if I knew that there was a water cycle. I told that I had heard something about that before, but to fill me in on this new idea! He continues on to tell me his version of the water cycle, so here it goes:

Tucker: Mama, first you have a puddle of water outside, or a big bowl of water, or even a lake or ocean. The sun heats up the water and it evaporates. Then the water is gassy and floats up to the sky. The clouds collect the gas that was water. The clouds fills up with the water and starts to turn gray. Then the cloud gets full and gets sick to its stomach and throws up rain back to the Earth. Then it starts all over again.

Me: Really, you have learned so much in Kindergarten so far!

When I was teaching I remember making my kids draw the water cycle or use Inspiration software to create the water cycle. As Tucker was talking, I couldn't help but wonder how he would draw his version of the water cycle and giggle a bit at the thought of what I was pictureing in my head. Now, I really don't know exactly how the water cycle was taught to the class, but somehow I really don't think that "throwing up rain" was involve. But, I could be wrong! I am sure his teacher would be so proud of her star student and the knowledge he is gathering.

Simple Saturday and playing with Wordle

2008-09-14T18:52:00.003-05:00

It has been a boring weekend at Tucker's house. John cooked blueberry waffles for us for breakfast. I must say that he did not too bad of a job! The rest of the day, we just spend the day cleaning, eating, and watching TV. Tucker's soccer game was cancelled due to Hurricane Ike and the storm we were suppose to have. That was really about it for Saturday.

Sunday was a beautiful day and I took Willy for a walk as soon as I woke up. I had my Ipod ready and had planned on staying gone for a while. My iPod had other plans and quit working after about 45 minutes of walking. To Willy's disappointment, we went on back home. Music just really makes the walk better and I really wanted to get home to see if I could repair my iPod. Somehow, my search for repair ideas led me to the Apple Online Store. HMMMM...I see that Apple is coming out with a 4th generation Nano. The pretty orange one is REALLY nice if anyone was at a loss for what to buy me. :)

We finally put on normal clothes about 11:15 on Sunday to head to Tucker's indoor soccer game. He played well and almost scored 2 goals. He just gets better and better each time he plays.

Finally, I decided to play around with Wordle. This is a great website where you just put in a bunch of words. If you put in the same word multiple times, it gets bigger than the others. Once your list is made, you hit go and it creates a neat word cloud. I made one using words to describe Tucker (above). I can see lots of fun uses for this for home and for the classroom, so I had to share. Go play with wordle...you will love it.

Lunch with Tucker

2008-09-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

One of the best things about Tucker being in the same school district as me is that I can eat lunch with him every once in a while. Now that the 1st 2 weeks of school are over, the kindergarten parents are now allowed to eat with their kids. They really didn't want us up there in the way, until a good routine was established in the lunchroom, so I followed directions and stayed away. No need for me to get a blue in conduct, either!
Looking at the lunch menu on Tuesday, we decided that I would bring him lunch. Today was the the day! We had a date and we were both looking forward to me bringing lunch and eating with my little man. Shouldn't be an issue right? Well, I failed to mention to you that we are really talking "brunch". Tucker eats "lunch" from 10:25-10:50ish. This means that if I go pick something up, I am driving through picking up food at 10:15 in the morning. If you want breakfast for lunch, this really isn't a problem. But when you have promised some kind of chicken nugget and french fries, your options are limited, especially when you leave the office at 10:15 and still need to get the lunch. First stop...McDonalds. Well, the one closest to my office stops serving breakfast at 10:30. Never.go.there.again! So next stop A&W/Long John Silver's. Not even open...who wants LJS anyway? Good ole Burger King came to the rescue and I was on my merry way to deliver the goods to Tucker. I was a couple of minutes late, but there were still classmates waiting in the cafeteria line so all was good. Tucker was allowed to choose a friend and we all sat at a "special" table to have our lunch/brunch together. Next time, we will either have breakfast for lunch or I will allow more time to make a Sonic or Burger King run. At least I know now what my choices are.

Quiet game?

2008-09-08T21:00:00.002-05:00

After picking up Tucker from after school care, I usually talk to him about what he did in school as we drive home. I ask him what was his favorite thing, what was the most challenging, etc. He loves science and I am gathering that they are talking about the senses. He recited a little poem about the 5 senses. I started joking around with him by saying "So, you taste with your ears, right?" I guess he grow tired of my nonsense because he all of a sudden said, "We need to have quiet time for 30 minutes. So, we are going to play the quiet game." I thought that he was explaining how his teacher reads to the class, but he quickly told me, "no mama, you and I are going to play the quiet game right now. So, please turn up the radio and please quit talking." Usually it is me wanting the quiet time, but this time it came from the little man. I just never thought I would hear those words from him. Wow, they grow up so quickly!

Indoor Soccer Sunday

2008-09-07T15:43:00.005-05:00

For the next six weeks we are all about soccer on the weekends! Today was our first indoor soccer game. Yes, we are crazy and have put Tucker on an indoor soccer team and an outdoor soccer team. Tucker was goalie for a lot of this game and I think that he likes being goalie just because there is not as much running involved! He didn't let the other team score on him at all and we did win the game. (Although, we aren't suppose to keep score!) When he played offense, he played better than yesterday, so each time I hope there is improvement. He tends to wait back from the group and want the perfect setup before he kicks the ball. I want him to be more aggressive and just kick the ball. We will work on that! I don't know if soccer will be his 'thing' or not, but it gives him a chance to play with other boys and exercise.

Indoor soccer has changed from when he played over a year and a half ago. Back then, it was more like herd ball, where there was just a big blob of kids following the ball around. This time we actually set up and have a little display of defense and offense. Tucker seems to like playing and enjoys being with a group of boys who can match his energy level. Although, none of the kids are at his school, they are all in kindergarten and they all seem to be a great group of kids and parents. I am looking forward to watching both of his soccer teams play each weekend and watching them get better individually and also grow as a team.

Outdoor Soccer Saturday

2008-09-06T14:57:00.008-05:00

We had our first outdoor soccer game bright and early this morning. We had to be at the field by 7:45 AM! Tucker's team has a mixture of veteran soccer players, as well as, newbies like him. He looked so cute in his little soccer uniform. Not exactly the colors I would have chosen for a boys soccer team, but no one asked me! We did have the occasional not-paying-attention moments, but overall he gave a good effort and played well. We didn't win, but we did have our share of points that we scored. Tucker has learned to sort of do a cart-wheel and he looked for every chance that he got to turn a cartwheel. I will have to get video of that next week, because it is something that you really don't want to miss out on! I can't wait to see how he improves throughout the season...cartwheels and soccer playing!

Blue-Green-Blue

2008-09-06T14:34:00.002-05:00

I can talk about this now, but I certainly couldn't last Friday...Our first week of kindergarten had some rough patches. Basically we made it through the first day with a green in conduct. I was so excited for my little angel! On Wednesday, it seems that we slipped a little and had some trouble follwing directions and talking. Really? Surely it was another child. Needless to say, we ended up with a yellow day on the 2nd day of school. Thursday was a new and fresh day and somehow we mangaged to stay green like the Incredible Hulk. After school on Friday, I went to pick up Tucker and he was so proud of himself and couldn't wait to show me his red conduct folder. He can't wait to show me and tell me that he had a blue and then the teacher out of the goodness of her heart decided to change him back to green. I guess he didn't figure on me going bonkers on getting the blue, even if the blue went to a green later in the day. Well, my teacher brain just didn't compute the story very well. Since we have about a 20 minute drive to get home, I found this to be a good time to get the story straight. As it turns out, my sweet little angel did receive blue on conduct and it should have stayed blue. My little angel just decided on his own to go ahead and change the blue to a green! Tucker found out quickly that this makes a mama RED! Tucker learned a lot from this experience and I did, too. I was very disappointed in my little boy, and he knew it. He found out that when you lie...you will get caught. While he would have been in trouble for just getting the blue, he now was in even more trouble for getting a blue and then coloring the blue to a green. I hope that he makes better decisions in the future and understands that mistakes are made and you learn from them. I am sure that one day we will remember this incident when he is much older and even find it a bit humorous (right?) Many of you have already heard this story, and even thought he was pretty clever. Thanks to my friends and family for helping me get through this!

Now, another week has passed since this incident. You will also see in the picture above that we have now completed our second week of kindergarten and that we have brought home "greens" in conduct all week long! I think that we may just be getting the hang of this kindergarten thing.

Yellow? Already?

2008-08-27T23:19:00.002-05:00

Today, I had to drop off Tucker at the school in the car line. We were told on Monday that they needed to gain independence and that parents need to let go and allow our children to go into the school alone. WHAT? So, as hard as it was (and how excited he was!) I let him open the door and hop out between the orange cones and walk up the sidewalk and into the school. How badly I wanted to quickly go park and just soft of "follow" him to make sure that he made it to the classroom and remind him one more time to be a good listener, a good friend to everyone, and follow directions. Once I made it to work, I stayed busy enough to keep me from running over there to check things out! We did talk about lunch on the way to school, so I felt confident that we are on the right track.
I go to pick him up from school and today we have the "red" folder which contains the discipline chart. Remember "D-green" is good, "A-red" is bad, and "C-yellow" and "B-blue" follow somewhere in between. To my shock and dismay, we have a YELLOW today. Oh.my.gosh! What in the world could my angel of a child do to make his frog change to a yellow lily pad on the 2nd day of school? So, we had to have our "I know that you may slip up, but don't make this a habit" speech. Of course, Tucker was on the defense and had practiced a really good story as to what happened! Then he proceeds to tell me that he "gets to start fresh and green every day." (I am sure he heard that one from his teacher.) Hopefully this was a 'get the point across' move and while Tucker quickly tested the waters, found out that he isn't getting away with anything. Good for our teacher...she needs to get her bluff in early! Hopefully we will see green from now on! We even brought our teacher a gift today, just imagine what color we would be on without the present? I have a feeling that Kindergarten is going to be expensive. :0)

1st Full day of Kindergarten

2008-08-26T22:44:00.003-05:00

Today is the first real day of Kindergarten. We were allowed to walk our children into the school and get them settled. Once Tucker saw his class walking down the hallway, he was pretty much done with me! I tried to give him little hug and smooch bye, but he quickly informed me that "this isn't how I roll, mama." What? Since when does a little lovin from the mama become "not how I roll." (Later, I was informed that I could hug and kiss him at home, just that I wasn't allowed any public displays of affection.)

So off he goes, as I see the vision of the Hulk backpack get smaller and smaller. I couldn't help but be just a little sad that my little man is taking one more step towards independence and growing up to be the little man that he is.

As I get to the car, I hold myself together. Then let out a big sigh, as I remember that we talked about the choices in the cafeteria, but I completely forgot to tell him that I had created an an account in the cafeteria to pay for his lunches! I knew that he was armed with goldfish crackers and bottle water, so he at least had something if the lunch buying fell through!
Tucker had a great day at Kindergarten and is already starting to make some new friends. There were a few times throughout the day that I just stopped working and just wonder what he was doing. I know that he will be fine and he is in great, loving hands at his school.

First Day of Kindergarten -sort of

2008-08-25T21:52:00.000-05:00

Today is the "official" first day of school, except that kindergarteners only go from 9:00-10:00 am. Not sure why, but that is just the way our school district works.

We all met in the cafeteria to hear from our principal then our kindergarteners lined up by classes and were led by different staff member to go through specials rotation of PE, Music, Art, and Computer classes. The parents lined up by classes and went to the classroom to listen to an "orientation" by our teacher. As I sit down and our teacher starts talking she says, "Sorry I am at the back of the room, but I don't have a wireless mouse to move the powerpoint, so I am back here stuck to my computer." HMMM, what is the elementary tech coordinator to do? I had lots of things running through my mind, but I just kept reminding myself that I was there as a parent and NOT as a school district employee. It is hard wearing both hats (parent and school district employee), but I am trying my best!

During the powerpoint, we learned about snacks, and discipline charts, and that they eat brunch at 10:25-10:55ish and that she doesn't have a wireless mouse (oops, I tried not to mention that again!). I learned that I could bring cupcakes for Tucker's birthday in a few weeks and that our classroom is NOT a peanut free zone.

Tucker soon returned with his classmates ready to go. He and Peaches went back over to the discipline chart one more time before we left to make sure that we had it down as to what is good behavior and not so good. "D" is a good thing..."A" is notta good! Got to get that one straight.

Overall it was a great first day of school for my little man. He had one hour of kindergarten then it was off to be with Peaches for the rest of the day. We may just get use to this kindergarten stuff, yet.

Hotter N Hell

2008-08-23T22:38:00.008-05:00

After going to Meet the Teacher night, Tucker and I headed towards Wichita Falls for the Hotter N Hell bicycle ride. Actually, I dropped Tucker off in my hometown to stay with mom, while I drove on to Wichita Falls to meet up with Dad. Dad and I have this tradition where we ride in the Hotter N Hell together. This year was the 10th year that we have been riding together or at least TRIED to ride together. I didn't ride one year because I was almost 8 months pregnant with Tucker. But, we have the memories and pictures and it is something that I love to do and dread at the same time. We only ride 25 miles, which is fine with us! We just can't seem to figure out why others want to go on and ride 100 miles? We also can't figure out who can carve out enough time to train to ride 100 miles.

The part I hate the worse is not the heat or wind, but the start of the ride. There are 12,000 crazy people trying to start the race at pretty much the same time. Not only are we crammed in the street like sardines, but mix in riders of all different ages and skill/knowledge levels. I have seen some really bad crashes within the first 6 miles of the ride. Here is a picture of the start of the ride. Dad and I are in there somewhere!

This year the start seemed even more crowded and dangerous than usual, but we manged to make it without being in harm's way. Every year that we finish safely is a good time!
We only have 2 "official" rest stops and they are great. They have volunteers lined up to cheer us on and pass out water, pickle juice (my favorite!), and gatorade. They also have sliced oranges and bananas ready for us, too. The best rest stop is in Shepard Air Force Base. We ride through and see the Air men and women volunteering. This year they had about 250 air men and woman line a street and cheer us on as we rode past them. I must say it was a bit emabarrasing, but it does make you feel good. After we rode through their cheering section, Dad said, "That was a bit embarrasing...You want to ride through them again?" He also mentioned that really we should be cheering them on instead of the other way around! Like always, they are there whether we really know that we need them or not.

The fruit and drinks at the rest stops are nice and all, but what keeps me going at about the halfway mark is thinking about the corn dog and Dr Pepper that is waiting for me when I get finished. I eat corn dogs bascially 2 times a year...at the State Fair and at the Hotter N Hell. I don't know what it is, but there is nothing better at 9:00AM after riding 25 miles than to eat a hot corn dog and drink a cold Dr. Pepper. It just makes me feel better! I wonder Lance Armstrong ate corndogs after each stage of the Tour de France? :0)

Dad and I had a great time riding this year and I am already looking forward to next year!

Meet the Teacher Night

2008-08-22T22:29:00.002-05:00

It is official...summer is over and it is time to go back to school. Actually in our case, to start school for the very first time! Tonight was Meet the Teacher night. It was a big night for Tucker and he was really excited to see his new school, new classroom, and new teacher. We ordered supplies from the PTA and as Tucker carried the long box of supplies, it was pretty much as tall as he was.
As we found the classroom, it was colorful and a very friendly classroom. His teacher introduced herself to Tucker and talked to him a little bit. She seems very nice and excited about the new school. year. After Tucker found his spot at a desk, we then took off to the cafeteria to buy tshirts. As soon as we bought t-shirts, Tucker went straight to the bathroom to change into his new school shirt. I am so happy that he is excited tonight about this new adventure!

Wal-mart Sneezer

2008-08-17T21:35:00.000-05:00

We had another quiet weekend, which is want I needed after a really busy week at work. Tucker and I did some tax free clothes shopping on Saturday, but that was a crazy as it gets. We went to Wal-Mart on Sunday just to give us something to do, plus we needed groceries.
I had already given my "we are NOT buying a toy" speech to Tucker. So, we skipped the toy section and headed for the fodd. I gave him a mental list of items to help me remember and find when we were shopping. This is sort of a game we play when we go shopping so that he is busy looking for a specific item and not always asking for a million things to buy.
While walking down the coffee/condiment aisle, I heard Tucker say, "mmm, I love the smell of coffee." Being the attentive mother that I am, I just nodded and kept going. I must say that the remark really didn't register with my mommy trouble-radar. I did notice that he had plucked to whole coffee beans from somewhere and was playing with them in his hands. The next aisle over is the bread area, so as we were checking out the buns, I heard a rather loud nose blow/sneezy sound. As I looked at Tucker to see what was going on, I see the two coffee beans shooting out of his nose like bullets! While the coffee beans were not shoved up his nose that long, I am so thankful that they didn't get lodged way up there. I just had "what if" flashes and somehow avoided a trip to the emergency room. I worried about that kind of stuff when Tucker was little, but NEVER thought that we would attempt these kinds of tricks at the ripe ole age of "5 almost 6" years old.

Creature Catcher

2008-08-15T21:15:00.000-05:00

Every summer we seem to end up with some kind of random animal in our pool. There is a creek not far from our house so it is not unusual to see a snake or four-legged creature scurrying around. Not that long ago, John and Tucker ran into the house from swimming screaming about a snake in the pool. Now, I am picturing something substantial that is at least the length of my arm. Once I got outside, I thought I would just look out into the pool and see a stick swimming around. Well, thankfully, I was wrong. The SNAKE was actually about the size of a worm. So much for the drama! My only concern was that something so small probably has brothers and sisters close by. Yikes!
I bring this up because we had another visitor on Friday morning. I was getting dressed and trying to actually be at work on time! I guess John had let Willy out to go to the restroom, when I hear John yelling, "There's a rat in the pool". Yep, I looked out the upstairs window and saw the creature swimming around looking for a place to get out. This rat was bigger than the snake visitor! John decides to use his hockey skills and scoop the rat out using a shovel. I leave him to work on this project while I continue to get dressed. About 25 minutes later, he and Tucker and still outside trying to scoop the rat, not really getting anywhere. I decided that they needed my "country girl" knowledge and assistance. I just went and got one of my fancy shmacy wal-mart plastic bags, sauntered outside and told John and Tucker to just watch! In one swoop, I scooped the rat into the wal-mart bag and gently place him outside our fence and close to the creek so that he could return back to his little home. Tucker was amazed at my ability to catch a drowning rat. Tucker gave me the Creature Catcher award for the day!

Tucker-free Weekend

2008-08-10T20:51:00.002-05:00

Tucker and I met my mom and dad for dinner Thursday night. After dinner, Tucker went home with them. He was so excited to go home with them and have them all to himself! All he wanted to know was how many nights did he get to spend with Peaches and Papaw. He loves to visit the grandparents "without a mama and daddy" as Tucker calls it. You can tell in the picture that he is really upset about going, right? :0)

Let me just say that Tucker loves going home with my parents just because it is like Six Flags. They just do "Tucker stuff" all day every day while he is with them. From what I gathered from Tucker, they ended up at the lake jet skiing, went to a birthday part for a great aunt, and played with the cousins at the lake, too.

I had all kinds of big ideas that I was going to do with the little man gone for the weekend, but spent Saturday laying down due to a migraine. Fun stuff! While I missed him dearly, Sunday came pretty quickly and I gladly met them to get my child back. I really don't think that Tucker was ready to come home, but all good things must come to an end!

Mamasita?

2008-08-05T23:38:00.000-05:00

Tonight after ice hockey lessons, we went to a restaurant for dinner. It was nice to just hang out with Tucker and John. It seems like these past few days, I have been busy with work, so even when I am home, my mind is racing. Also, after spending most of the weekend fighting/arguing with Tucker, it was nice for us to just be together in a different atmosphere and be a little bit silly. We were in separate cars, so John left Tucker and me to pay the check. He was going to Wal-mart to buy a few items and it is ALWAYS cheaper to shop without Tucker!
As Tucker and I was started to leave, I stood at our table to get one last drink of tea. All of a sudden I hear from across a few tables, "Let's roll out, Mamasita." I looked around, thinking surely there was another person this child-like voice was calling? But then I focused on my sweet, little boy and saw him grinning as he turned back around and started walking. He has such a way with words. :0)

Getting Ready

2008-08-04T20:46:00.003-05:00

I have been shopping a little bit throughout the summer to get Tucker ready for Kindergarten. Ok, well, maybe I have been trying to get myself ready for Tucker GOING to Kindergarten. One minute I am excited for the new adventures that he will have, then the next I am sick to my stomache with worry.

I have been checking out the "back to school supplies" wondering which kind of backpack will he want? Which lunchbox will he choose or even will he need a lunchbox? (We already have our school supplies like crayons and stuffed ordered through the school PTA!) I have never been a big fan of "character" clothes and items, but Tucker is a big fan of superhero stuff. So, I guessed that we would end up with Spiderman, Superman, or even something with a Transformer on it. Right now, the superhero of the second, seems to be the Incredible Hulk. My mom found a Hulk backpack at Target and decided to buy it for the boy. He, of course, loved it. So, what do you do with a Hulk backpack that you will use the first day of school? You rip the tags off of it and then you stuff it full with Transformers!

A few days later, Tucker and I are walking another back to school aisle, now scoping out the lunchboxes. We once again look up and down and see all kinds of character lunchboxes, even some metal ones like I had when I was in school. This time he decides on a more basic camo lunchbox. Now, I can only hope that I can get up early enough to figure out what to put in it!

Easy Weekend

2008-08-03T15:13:00.006-05:00

I don't know about you all, but I don't mind a lazy weekend every once in a while. Come to think of it, this is the first weekend in quite a while that we have spent at our house. We did manage to ride bicycles to What-a-burger and eat taquitos for breakfast. Afterwards, Tucker and John went swimming, while I started washing clothes and cleaning the kitchen.

The rest of Saturday was spent watching TV, finishing chores, and arguing with Tucker. How I get trapped into arguing with my 5 year old is beyond me! Being in education for 14 years...you would think that I would know better. :0)

We finally settled our differences long enough to go to Wal-mart. I wanted to try to make a Mississippi Mud Cake and needed to get a few items before Tucker and I could bake it. Have you ever eaten a Mississippi Mud Cake?

I can remember my grandmother and mom baking it. I can also remember my aunt Becky making it and bringing it to the lake a few times. I really didn't like it too much when I was younger, but I was a really picky eater. I hated anything with nuts, so I am guessing that is why I wouldn't eat the cake.

But today, looking at the picture in the cookbook, it looked really yummy and I wanted to try it! Tucker has a big sweet tooth, so I figured he would enjoy helping me make the cake and eating it. Tucker helped me make the cake, but it just about killed him waiting for it to cook. Patience is not something that you can use to describe this child! He was so excited when I finally took the cake out of the oven, only to be disappointed again when I poured on the marshmellows and slipped the cake back into the oven. After being asked, "mama, is it ready yet?" about twenty more times, the dessert was READY. Tucker claimed that is was the best thing we had every made. He also made sure that I knew that he was positive that it would be great for breakfast Sunday morning!

Here is the recipe:

Mississippi Mud Cake
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1 (10.5-ounce) bag miniature marshmallows
Preparation for Mississippi Mud CakeWhisk together melted butter and next 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in flour and chopped pecans. Pour batter into a greased and floured 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan. Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from oven; top warm cake evenly with marshmallows. Return to oven, and bake 5 minutes. Drizzle Chocolate Frosting over warm cake. Cool completely.

Chocolate Frosting
1 (16-ounce) package powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Preparation for Chocolate Frosting
Beat all ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.

2008-07-30T23:06:00.003-05:00

Even though it rained some this evening, we decided to go to a RoughRider game. This was my first time to see RR play, so I don't really know how crowded it gets. I am guessing that the foul weather kept the attendance low (very low!). We even got free hats and free hot dogs just by showing our Kroger card.
The game actually got interesting quickly when the Midland 2nd baseman was thrown out of the game. Then about 10 minutes later the Coach was also thrown out for mouthing off, as well. While not showing a good example of sportsmanship for Tucker, it did make the game a lot more interesting! I did try to make it a teachable moment as to how tempers, moaning and groaning really don't get you anywhere. You all know the drill!

Its Not Always about Fishing

2008-07-27T19:55:00.008-05:00

John, Tucker, Willy, and I went back to the lake on Saturday to visit my parents for a couple of reasons. My grandmother was in the hospital due to an infected cut on her arm, and I wanted to go see her. Another reason was because John just bought a 2-person kayak and wanted to try it out. Of course, the kayak is only a means to go out in deeper water so that he can fish. To most people, you may be thinking that a fishing boat would be better, but...why get a motor boat when you can exercise at the same time! (Fishing philosphy from John NOT Tucker or me).

So, John fished all day Saturday and got up early Sunday morning to fish again. Tucker at one point during the weekend looked at me and said, "Momma, you know, it isn't all about fishing all of the time." I think that he was getting a little tired of his daddy and the fishing pole!

Here is a recap of what Tucker and I did at the lake. We went swimming with mom and dad. Dad also put in the jet ski. Tucker and I rode around a little bit. Since John was kayaking, we decided to run circles around him to see how the kayak would hold up to some waves. Tucker just loves harrassing his daddy and thought that this was GREAT fun.

Tucker loves playing on the jet ski when it is "parked" in the water. He likes to climb up on it and jump off. He took a bubble wand out to it and just sat up on the seat and played with the bubbles for a while. He also likes to sit on it and pretend that he is driving the jet ski. Even though it has a safety start, I am just waiting for the day that he accidentally starts the sucker and takes off!

My parents and I started talking about how we use to knee board when we were younger. This made Tucker want to try it. He has been tubing, but that really doesn't require much except to have your brains bounce around while you are sitting in a big tube. This is fun, just doesn't require much. Since Tucker had never seen a kneeboard nor watched anyone kneeboard, that left me to show him how to do it.

I problably haven't kneeboarded in about 20 years (which is at least 1 reconstructive knee surgery and 30 pounds ago) It took dad and me a few minutes of talking to remember how I use to get up on the kneeboard. We decided that I started on my belly and then pulled myself up to my knees. After getting going behind the jet ski and trying to pull myself to my knees while holding on to the rope with one hand and my bathing suit with the other, I think that I may have actually started out a different way.

Tucker saw me go a couple of circles on the kneeboard when all parts of my body seemed to be tired of the fun. I motioned to go to the cabin, so I could stop and Tucker could have his turn. I sat behind mom on the jetski. Dad held the kneeboard and got T situated in the water. I held my breath as mom gunned the jet ski. I was afraid that the pull of the rope would push the board under and make Tucker let go, but he made it through like a champion. He stayed on his belly and rode the kneeboard for about 10 minutes without falling off. It was his first time ever and you would have thought that he had done this before! Here is the only picture we have. You have to look closely to see our little kneeboarder!

He wanted to ride again, so that he could try to get on his knees, but then our part of the lake become to crowded. Unfortunately, we never were able to try again the rest of the weekend.

We kept busy playing and swimming and we had a great time this weekend. We did get to visit with Grandmama at the hospital on Saturday. We saw her again on Sunday, but this time she was at HOME, so that was good that she was released.

By the time we returned home, ALL of us were exhausted. I don't really say much about Willy, the dog. But, he runs and swims non-stop from the time we get to the lake until we go home. Needless to say, when he gets home, he doesn't even move for a good 24 hours. :0)

Dentist and a Movie

2008-07-21T23:22:00.002-05:00

Today was a busy day for Tucker. He had to be at the dentist's office at 8:00 AM to get a filling for a cavity that he had. This was the first time to get any work done on his teeth, so he was a little anxious about this appointment and worried about it on Sunday evening.

I returned to work today, so I didn't take Tucker to the dentist. John had to take him and he said that Tucker did really well. This was a quick procedure and Tucker came through with flying colors. I called to check on him about 9:30, he was already harrassing Willy the dog. So, I guess that Tucker was feeling just fine. I am not sure how they spent the rest of the day, but the guys were in the pool when I got home.

For dinner, we went to Red Lobster to eat. Then, Tucker and I saw the movie Space Chimps. John went to buy a Kayak from someone on Craigs List. Tucker thought that the movie was good. Although he told me that he didn't need to buy the DVD when it comes out. I guess he like it, but not enough to see again. Oh well, you can't like them all!

Ice skating, Hockey, and keeping cool

2008-07-08T00:10:00.001-05:00

Tucker has been taking ice skating lessons to get him ready for ice hockey. He started almost a year ago and has improved greatly. When he first started I was really thinking that he was never going to learn to ice skate, but he is making some progress. Could the problem be that my head strong son already thinks that he skates like Mike Modano and really doesn't need lessons? Self esteem is really not a problem in this situation! Attitude aside, Tucker is improving and it won't be long before he is finally on some kind of peewee hockey team.

Meanwhile his grandparents enjoyed getting to watch him skate during a couple of sessions.

John is also enjoying his time on the ice by being part of a men's hockey league. On Sundays, we go to our local mall to cheer him and his team on to victory (most of the time, anyway)! Althouogh the other night I was trying to cheer for the team and Tucker informed me that I was to ONLY cheer for John. It always makes me a little nervous to watch him play hockey just because I know that injuries seem to always happen. Luckily so far he has only had a black eye from a puck flying up and hitting him.

Happy 5th of July

2008-07-06T21:48:00.000-05:00

For one reason or another, I have not been able to spend any part of the July 4th holiday at the our lake cabin, so this year Tucker and I had the chance to go. Ok, so it was the 5th of July, but Independence Day is celebrated over several days there. I really wanted to Tucker to go so that he could see all of his 2nd cousins (cousints, as he calls them). We share the lake cabin with my mom's sister and her family, so during the July 4th holiday, there are lots of people there now that our families have multiplied due to marriages and babies. We missed Cameron and Abbey, but managed to see just about everyone else. Grandmama even braved the heat to come out and that just made the day even more special. Tucker loves a party and with everyone around, it is a party that never stops. The only thing that he loves more than a good time with his cousins, is for Grandmama to be around, too. She is eighty-something (wouldn't be polite to give away her exact age) going on 65. I can even remember not too many years ago that she waterskiied, just to still see if she could do it. She and her brother actually owned the lake cabin before my mom and aunt, so the lake cabin has been in our family for a long time. You all are probably getting tired of hearing about the lake, but during the summer that is our home away from home and there always seems to be something that happens when we go there.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-04T22:30:00.000-05:00

We spent the 4th of July with John's mom and dad. We spend the day at home just swimming in our pool and hanging out. We cooked a good ole fashioned American meal of hamburgers and hot dogs for our Canadian family. As we were eating our dessert of angel food cake with blueberries and strawberries, Tucker notice that it was a "red, white, and blue" dessert. I didn't plan it to be that way on purpose, but thought that it was funny that he noticed.

Once it became dark, we went upstairs to view the fireworks from our windows. It was a nice, cool way to watch fireworks. Not quite as good as Disney World fireworks, but I am guessing that our little community doesn't exactly have the same budget as Disney.

ARRR Matey!

2008-06-30T20:36:00.000-05:00

While in Panama City, the family went on the Sea Dragon Pirate Cruise. John told me that it was the best money spent on the whole trip. Pirates entertained about 25 kids (plus adults for 2 hours)! They had water gun fights, sword fights (scary!). I can only imagine 20 plus young children with plastic swords acting like Jack Sparrow. That makes me shudder just thinking about it. After the water gun fight, all of the kiddos had to swab the deck with mops. I am sure that was a precious sight that would make any mother proud. :0) It really looked like alot of fun! Tucker loves pirate stuff, so this was exactly the kind of adventure that he would love!

Here are more pics....

Panama City, Florida

2008-06-30T20:05:00.000-05:00

Panama City looked to be a great place to be! (Since I wasn't there, this info is coming from Tucker and John.) They spent 3 days at the beautiful beach. It was so good that jellyfish decided to invade the same area where my boys were! Do you remember the scene in Finding Nemo where they are bouncing off the jellyfish? That was how Tucker described it to me. Pretty sure that I am glad I wasn't there. After watching Jaws movies too many times to count...I just don't think that into running into ocean life is my thing. I am especially not fond of creatures with teeth that bite and tenticles that sting. Many years ago, I had a run-in with a Coral Reef in Cancun. Somehow I didn't get the memo that Coral will sting and feels not so good when you grab on to it. Give me the lake with catfish, water snakes, and perch anyday. No matter what I think, Tucker had a blast swimming and digging in the sand. He and Oma created sand scultpures of alligators and castles...If I only had an ounce of her artistic talent, I would be delighted!
Here are some pics of their fun in the sun!

So long, farewell Mickey and Orlando!

2008-06-27T08:40:00.000-05:00

Today we are leaving Orlando. I am flying to San Antonio to attend NECC (technology conference). John, Tucker, Heide, and Nolan are driving to Panama City to hang out at the beach for a few days. We have had a great time at our resort and at all of the Disney theme parks. I hope that this will be a vacation that Tucker will always remember! I am sad that I have to go to San Antonio, but I know that my boys will have a great time with Oma and Peepaw.

NASA

2008-06-26T21:32:00.000-05:00

Today we went with John's parents to NASA at Cape Canaveral. I must say that I was very excited about going there and Tucker was, too. I think that he was even MORE excited because he knew that there were no more rides and he was going with Oma and Peepaw!

I didn't know it, but NASA is on a wildlife preserve (after reading signs once we got there). I just figured that we would see some birds, but nothing to exciting. John kept telling us to be on the lookout for alligators because on one side of the road was a swamp river thing. I thought sure I am going to find an alligator this close to the road! Was I wrong! We saw one alligator about 2-3 feet long just sunning on the bank. Of course I didn't get a picture, because I didn't have my camera out, nor would of had time with Speedy Gonzalez Juan at the wheel! On the way back, we also saw a couple of wild hogs. I did make our race car driver slow down so that I could get a picture of one of the hogs (not as exciting as the gator, but it was better than nothing!)

Once we pulled into NASA and bought our tickets, we saw all kinds of neat artifacts and 3d movies. The highlight of it all to me was listening to Astronaut Al Worden talk. Here is a picture of Tucker with him. He was part of Apollo 15 that also landed on the moon in 1971. (The year that I was born!) I thought that he was very interesting!