In the Middle of a Burger King

(I feel like I need to set up this post 
with some info on our Saturdays.)

Most Saturdays are spent at the soccer fields.
With 3 kids playing and one those kiddos reffing also,
we are there all day.
(Brookelynn will ref games before or after her own game.)
So we usually are leaving the house no later than 8am.
And getting home between 5 and 6:30.
The soccer fields are about 35 minutes from our house.
With gas prices the way they are,
once we leave home,
we don't come back until we are all done.

It gets a little old.
And the boys might complain a bit.
But she's earning some money.
So it's worth it.
I guess.

Which brings me to our little story:

This weekend was our last weekend for the fall season.
Brookelynn reffed a game at 9:00.
Since none of our kids had to play in a game until 12:00,
we had some time to kill.
If it's nice, we typically just hang out there.
But it was cold Saturday morning.
And Ryan needed to get some work done.
So we went to a nearby Burger King
for some coffee, orange juice and free wi-fi.
They also happen to have a play place
that the boys love.

So, there we are.
Sitting at a booth.
With our coffee.
Ryan with his ipad and phone.
Me with my phone.
(I left my book at home.
So was reading one of 
Francis Chan's books on my phone.)
Still with our coats on.
(It was cold in there.)
The boys running around the play area.
For nearly 2 hours.
Are you getting a good picture in your head?
We look like...moochers.
And I was feeling a bit conspicuous.

Oh, but it gets better...
The boys, after drinking their oj,
naturally need to visit the restroom.
Often.
Jobe, also naturally, is holding himself.
Every time he heads to the restroom.
After one of those trips for both Ez and Jobe,
Ezra comes out of the restroom without his brother.
Walks to our table and says:
Jobe pooped his pants.

He was in the men's restroom.
So, guess who got to go help the boy?
Not me!
I'm just sitting in the booth thinking:
what are we going to do with those undies?
I sent Jake into the restroom to get the car keys from Ryan.
Went out to the car.
Got a Dillon's sack.
Stuck my head in the restroom door.
Handed the bag to Ryan.
Then went back to the car to drive to the nearby Kmart .
To buy some undies.

When I got back,
Ryan was back in our booth (ha!)
with the Dillon's sack sitting at his feet saying:
What do I do with this?
I handed Jobe a new pair of undies.
Told him to go put them on in the bathroom.
Picked up the plastic bag.
And threw it away.

Jobie comes out of the restroom.
Happy about his new dino undies.
And goes back to playing.
While I just look at Ryan,
put my head in my hands and say:
I feel so redneck.

A bit later, a gentleman,
who had been sitting alone nearby,
came over to our table
and introduced himself as a pastor of a local baptist church.
He gave us a brochure for a basketball program they have.
And told us he would personally scholarship 2 of our boys.
So sweet.
But also, further evidence of how we looked.

We had a wonderful visit with him.
And found out that his son
was actually engaged to a girl that I know in our little town.
It's a small world.

It was a humbling morning for me.
I'm a proud girl.
Appearance means too much to me.

Thank you, Lord, for teaching me little lessons.
In the middle of a Burger King.

K, 2nd & 7th

My boys.
All growing up so quickly.

First day of school for 2012.
First day of school for my baby.

It was an emotional day for me.
A shocking admission, I'm sure...ha!

(I'm telling Ezra to please stop swatting my bottom.
Sometimes he just gets so excited.
He can't control himself.)

We had walked almost half way to school
When I finally said:
Jobie, aren't you going to hold my hand?

Then, just before we got to the doors he said:
Mommy, can we quit holding hands now?

 But at least he let us get another pic or two.

We dropped Ezzie off in his room first.

Then walking through the halls to Jobie's room,

he grabbed my hand once again.

Before I was ready, we were at his classroom door.

He found his seat.

And sat down.

Ready to start his day.

And I managed to keep my brave face on.
Until I walked out of his classroom.

Ryan took the day off.
To comfort me.
Some comfort he is.
He says things to make me cry more.
Like: well, how does it feel to have your very last baby in school?
And: didn't he look so cute?
Then he tries to hug me.
Which will only makes me cry more.

Meany.

Brookie doesn't start until tomorrow.
So I had 2 people home with me today.

Tomorrow.
I'll be walking home by myself.
Tomorrow.
Might be harder than today.

I'm so proud of Jobie.
(Just a few short months ago,
he was insisting he did not want to go to school.)
And I really am looking forward to the ability to
1) visit the restroom uninterrupted
2) make phone calls uninterrupted
3) grab my bag and run out of the house
    without searching for little people socks and shoes

But, man, is the house going to seem quiet.

Until...
I find an amazing station on Pandora.
Crank up the music.
And sing as loudly as I want.
Uninterrupted.

Life

We've had so many things happen lately.

In the past few weeks:
1. I've lost my favorite coat.
Left it at a ladies' retreat.
In the closet of my hotel room.
A housekeeper must have really liked it...

2. Brookelynn lost a brand new hoodie.
Her new track hoodie.
She loved it.
Wore it in 80 degree weather even.
Another jr higher must have really liked it...

3. Ezra basically poked a hole in the top of his head.
Ran into the corner of an open drawer .
It bled a lot.
And he has a lot of hair.
So it was hard to see how bad it was.
I told him we might have to shave his head.
He didn't cry until I said that.
He really likes his hair.
That same day he bumped it again.
And it bled a lot again.
I got a little woozy.
Yuck.

4. Jake fractured his wrist.
Playing basketball.
In our yard.
It took a week and a half
for the doctors to decide it was indeed fractured.
He has to wear a brace for 4 more weeks.
He's not happy about it.
But at least it's not in a cast.
And it's his left hand.
He still is out playing basketball everyday.

5. I messed up one of our van doors.
In a big hurry.
Backing out of the garage.
Jake didn't have the van door shut yet.
Whacked it on the garage.
It will shut.
If you slam it real hard.
Nice...
Ryan says there goes my master bath.
Boo.

6. KU lost.
We are all sad about that.
Jake's the most upset though.
You can't even talk about it around him.
The morning of the championship game.
I had a migraine.
The worst I've had since high school probably.
I didn't even pay attention
to what the boys put on that morning.
All three were completely decked out.Ezra even made a sign for our door.Inspite of all that,
KU still lost.
But we did have some yummy wings to eat during the game.
And key lime bars.
Made it all a little more bearable.
And the kids got to drink pop.
Always a treat.

This is life.

And I'm not whining.
Things could be much, much worse.
And good things have happened too.
Fun soccer games.
Seeing friends.
Shopping...I love to shop.
Bargain jeans for me.
$6!
Cute easter clothes for the kids.
And me.

I've got a beautiful life.
Messy sometimes.
But beautiful.

One last thing.
Totally unrelated.
Other than this is my life:
I'm a dork.
I had to make a little visit to the restroom.
In the middle of this post.
And realized my undies were inside out.
Really?
How does that happen?

Did I switch 'em?
Nope.
Why bother?
The day is half over already.

Let the Madness Begin

It's obvious that March Madness is here.
I think the brackets had babies overnight.
They are all over our house.This morning all of my boys were filling out more brackets.
From youngest.To oldest.
Brookie and I filled out brackets too.
We are normal about it though.
We each only do one.

This is Jake's favorite time of year.
Pretty sure it even trumps Christmas.
He's filled out 11 brackets.
Probably did another one at school this morning.
Before the games started.
I doubt he's focusing very well today.

He and Ryan even did a bracket for our cat.
I'm not kidding.
All the teams with "cat" mascots were the winners.
Who knew there were so many mascots involving felines?
Even then, they couldn't have the K-State Wildcats winning.
Sorry to you K-Staters.
Please still be my friend.

The #1 choice at our house is KU.
Even though we all realize it's a long shot.
They let us down nearly every year.
But several brackets do have Kentucky as champions.

Does your family go all crazy this time of year?
Who are you picking to win it all?