That seems to be the end of every sentence in my world lately. “My parents came to town…” “We checked the mail and there were more Pokemon cards…” “Your aunt and uncle called and they are coming to visit next week…” “The computer says the hard drive is failing…” “Hey, let’s get a better printer for the Tyler house…”
So there’s been attempted computer repair, setting up a new computer and printer and installing all the new software and explaining how all that works to my dad (a process which will be ongoing for the next couple months despite me installing & tweaking things that make Windows 8 feel more like Windows 7), frantic cleaning, the reorganizing of ALL THE POKEMON CARDS.
Nick sat the kids down last night and asked them to bathe and put themselves into bed without bothering me or I might explode and kill all the people. Umm, yeah. So they did. Quietly, quickly, without drama. All while I holed up in my bedroom and drank soothing beverages and ate British chocolate and reread one of my favorite novels (84 Charing Cross Road – if you haven’t read it yet and you love books and reading, GET THEE TO A BOOKSTORE!!!). It was soul and sanity saving, to say the least. (And where did the spouse go? To hang out with my dad. hahaha.)
This morning one of my most soothing friends and her children came over for coffee and snacks and playtime. It was loveliness. Just what I needed in my week.
After that, we went to my parents house and ate chili cheese dogs I bought us all from Sonic (there was a sale!). The children are STILL at my parents house right now. The Pokemon reorganization can’t be picked up and moved back and forth at this fragile stage of the process, so I left them there and told my parents to kick them out when they got tired of children/cards/the dog underfoot. My house is cool and quiet and I might just go back to reading my book now instead of folding the laundry…you just never know…it could happen…
Yesterday was so busy that at one point I found myself crying in the bathroom. Yeah, I felt like a real winner. LOW POINT!
Even before school was insane. One child told me he needed a monkey costume for that night, one kid told me that the shirt I’d ironed & starched for the event he had going on that day was mysteriously in the bottom of his laundry basket, my third child kept wandering around muttering “never mind, never mind.” I still have no idea what he needed.
After dropping everyone off at their various places, I spent my morning battling technology (changing passwords FTW!), organizing kid’s room closets, and preparing for my next-to-last PTA meeting as president. I didn’t get to eat lunch because the food I thought was in the fridge for me wasn’t there and at that point there wasn’t time for anything else or I’d be late (I was getting texts from people 15 minutes before the meeting telling me people were there already.) The meeting went well, although lots of little date changes and still a TON going on before the end of the year.
I left there and ran to Chapel Hill (next town over) High School for the Middle School UIL Concert & Sightreading Contest. I got to follow David’s band through warm-up, the concert, and even into the sightreading room. They did so well. I’m so proud of them! (And I loved meeting some of the other parents chaperoning there as well)
This program had so many bands listed in it and it was all in 10 point font and so hard to read!This was one of two band halls in the building. This one was the warm-up room. I loved all the instrument cages along the walls. 🙂On stage during the concert portion of the concert.
From there, I ran to pick up my younger kiddos from a friends house, stopping only long enough to pick up a much belated lunch. We discussed yet more PTA (she’s my VP) before we ran off to change clothes for my youngest’s Mama Goose program. We got there and it turned out he didn’t need a monkey costume specifically, he could have been any nursery rhyme character he wanted. I nearly lost it at that point. We have a huge costume box and could have made many different nursery rhyme characters happen if I’d known about it. (The teacher pointed out that the original note that went home about the event a month or so ago told us what they needed, but I pointed out to her that that note was also the permission slip and I’d sent it back in. I need this stuff to be sent back out a second time closer to the event or put on the school website. It makes me insane.)
Anyway, my kid wore a monkey hat and I just have to be okay with it.
Greg and his friend Sutherland (who didn’t bring a costume either. See, it’s okay!)During the program: Greg was on the back row anyway.
After that we came back home (finally!) and started on homework, instrument practicing, cleaning for the Days of Unleavened Bread, and eating dinner. WHEW! Fortunately there was wine and The Big Bang Theory for after the kids went to bed.
About 11 years ago, when we first moved to Tyler, I was invited several wonderful places to get plugged in to the local community. One of them was Bible Study Fellowship (hereafter known as BSF). I went to a couple meetings towards the end of their year, met some lovely people, but ultimately decided to join the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPs) group at the church I actually attended (BSF meets at another church across town), which also on Wednesday mornings.
Fast forward 11 or so years and here I am again at the end of a study, joining into a new-to-me group. But this time it’s better. Well, not BSF. BSF has always been good. I’M better now. I’ve had 11 years to find my way through life, make friends, lose friends, finally get some sleep, and to find out what’s important to me and what is not.
I went to my first real meeting this morning (last week I attended a one-on-one welcome session with the lovely lady that had been my HR director at a former job, oddly enough). It was such a good morning. I’d finished all my personal Bible study during the week and was prepared for conversation. I made my way to my classroom and found a group of women that I found delightful. It was such a nice mix of women willing to speak out and ask the kind of questions that might intimidate others (either with their incisiveness or with their apparent lack of knowledge) and women that were quiet until a specific thing they felt passionate enough about to warrant speaking and still others who, like me, just had what seemed to be the most simple of answers.
I am so glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone and made my way to this group. I think it’s going to be a very good thing in my life. 🙂
The Camp Site – I’m trying to decide if it is really on a hill or if Nick took this photo while he was falling over. I keep forgetting to ask.
I, personally, didn’t camp with them (David and I spent the night comfortably at Nana & Pa’s house and had dinner with the cousins), but Pack 369 went out to Gilmer this weekend and set up camp.
Our Boys’ Tent. It is small and warm.
My husband forgot the camera AND his phone the first night and they all came home the second night because Nick and I had an ETSO performance to attend, but they got pictures this morning, finally, when they went back to pack everything up to bring home.
When we were planning Spring Break originally, Nick wasn’t taking time off. I’d thought about going to see my parents or staying here…and then at the weekend we had a Teen Regional Weekend for church. Plans changed.
Nick looked at the schedule and realized this was a great time to a) do our family vacation (a mini one this year due to other travel going on later in the year) and b) to go see the Magna Carta (on display in Houston). So we added that to the schedule.
Meanwhile I realized that my much postponed visit to see my bff needed to happen during that week, too.
So our break became one long car ride with interruptions here and there.
We started off our break with a Holcomb Family Dinner at Nick’s parents house.
Cousins all watching a movie
Adults all talking about “boring stuff” (according to the kids)
Saturday, this happened:
There’s free time! We should Bedazzle something! What do we Bedazzle? Our Phineas & Ferb shirt!
Saturday morning Pokemon obsessing
Floppy David is floppy
Then on Sunday we started the first leg of our journey… to College Station, where I spent a lot of time sitting around while the kids went exciting places, like the ice skating rink.
Ben & Greg start off pretty close to the wall.
David is a speeding blur!
Now Ben’s got it going on.
I did break free and run off with Steph for a while to do some catching up and shopping. My favorite thing we saw:
I am absolutely certain that we do.
While I was gone:
Time for Poker!
Then on Tuesday we drove down to Houston to tour the Houston Museum of Natural Science and to see the 1217 copy of the Magna Carta.
At the Magna Carta exhibit, there were many good things for the kids to do hands on.
The chained books made the kids excited: “It’s just like your Library screensaver!”
The Writ of the Magna Carta (the instructions that travel with it)
The 1217 Magna Carta
The parts of this chair that look like wood are actually carved and polished stone.
TRILOBYTES are EVERYWHERE!!
Alligator?
Mineral that formed in the shape of a dragon
We had lunch nearby at a place that only did sliders and sides.
Our skyline view
These chili fries taste weird. Yeah, that’s cause they taste like curry!
Sliders, sliders, and more sliders
On Wednesday, we drove back to Tyler, dropped Nick off, then the kids and I drove to Quitman to visit the cousins at the park near their new house.
Teeter-tottering with the cousins
Wandering down the nature trail
Sitting on the cute front porch of the historical building.
That’s a really tall slide!
On Thursday, we did a bunch of laundry, repacked, and headed up to Colleyville to see Kay. Unfortunately, she was unexpectedly still in Houston. We spent several hours trying to amuse ourselves on our own before she made it back.
On Kay’s trampoline
In Kay’s backyard
Then the girls had to go to gymnastics class (and yes, at this point we were wondering why we were even invited up, and by the end of the visit there was unpleasantness), so we took the kids to the park.
Climbing at the park
My spider boy
David in a teacup?
The sleeping arrangements were weird because the bed we were supposed to sleep in was broken.
The next morning we had a muffin cook-off.
Iron Chef: Muffin Battle
Our plan for the rest of the day involved the ginormous amount of books to go through and then take to sell at Half Price Books.
These are the books I took home. There were about 20 other bags & boxes that I didn’t take home, but did dig through.
After Half Price, we went to Cost-co to celebrate Pi day the cheap way.
Happy Pi day!
Then we went back to the house for movies and a frantic search for my debit card.
Sometimes it’s easier to take photos of kids when they are facing the other way.
In the evening before bed we had one final bit of happy Pi-ness:
Happy Pi Day!
Saturday we got up and drove over to McKinney for the Dallas UCG Regional Teen Weekend.
Church a la research center
We had church and a Bible study earlier in the day, then in the evening there were separate dinners for the pre-teens/families and for the teens. After dinner, the teens had a dance and the pre-teens/families were left on their own for entertainment.
This is so obviously my kid. We sat across from each other and read. People thought it was weird. 😉
Savage Raccoon Greg
Sweet Owl Greg
Rainbow Loom bracelet making station.
Our dinner companions
Touring the Heard Museum – they were sweet and let us tour as long as we had enough adults to take all the kids through. Nick and I took some extra kids whose parents were chaperoning the dance.
Our hotel for the night. The younger kids and I went back early for sleep while Nick stayed behind and waited for David’s dance to be done. Ben thought our hotel room was beautiful.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast back at the Heard Museum before going for a little hike on the nature trails.
The Heard Museum’s Research Center
Part of the Bluestem Walking Trail
Part of the Bluestem Walking Trail
After the trail (which the kids didn’t go on because it was FREEZING!), we headed out to Garland to the Skatium.
Roller skating fun
David is a blur on roller skates, too
After the skating, we had one last meal together before we left for home.
I’m sorry I brought my 101 degree fever to your banquet. I didn’t know I had one after I baked the brownies and fed them all to you and rubbed my germy hands all over your scouts little fuzzy heads. So sorry. :*(
Nick and I took the Pack 369 Tiger Cubs up for a tour of Camp Ford, the largest Prisoner of War camp during the Civil War this side of the Mississippi.
Meeting up at the front of Camp Ford
One picture of one sign. No, really, I took pictures of ALL of them. If you want to see them, let me know and I’ll post more. 🙂
Nick starts his lecture on Camp Ford while the Tiger Cubs and their families listen intently.
At some point Greg injured himself and had to be carried for a while. This did not deter Nick in the slightest.
Apparently I lied. I like pictures of signs. Whee!
On the trail…
Greg finally gets down when there’s a sign with labels that mean something to him in real time.
Playing on the wall.
This really cool cabin/tent combination that prisoners built themselves (this is more than likely a recreation, but still). Basically they were just left out there to their own devices. If they wanted shelter, they had to make it themselves.
I had that day where I only had one appointment on the calendar, but managed to have to be away from home all day long. Attended PTA Council meeting, signed up for Fit City Tyler, tried (without success) to join my husband’s gym, got children necessary 2nd semester supplies, and finished my critique of a friends screenplay. Tomorrow there will be laundry and my own writing done. It will be good.
Last night while I was at work, Nick took the Tiger Cubs of Okee Tuklo Pack 369 to a Lady Apaches Basketball game at Tyler Junior College. The gym there is very nice and they let scouts in to the game for free.
TJC Lady Apaches Basketball
Go Apaches!
Tiger Cubs watching the game (Greg is so not amused that his daddy is blocking his view path).
Lisa Holcomb 