Recently in Dad's Constant Drone Category

While I was at work today, I wrote a post about Myra's first game.  When I got home, I saw that Chris had done the same thing.  You've heard the "She said" so now I guess it's time for the "He said."
Myra's first soccer game was last Saturday and it was a doozy.  She looked so grown up in her Pirate-green uniform.  Their opponent was in a girly, powder-blue uni so I knew we were going to beat them.  Coach didn't pick her to start the game so she headed to the bench for the kickoff.  She later told me that her second favorite part of the game was sitting on a bench that was "just her size."

She plays on a team of 5, 6, and 7 year olds so there were a lot of "injury" timeouts.  The first time one of our kids turned on the water works, Myra got the call to sub in.  She ran out and jumped right in.  They immediately kicked it to her and she passed it over to a teammate no problem.  I was afraid she would panic, but she handled it like a pro.  I was SO PROUD.
When the second quarter rolled around and she was put in to stay.  She is still kind of timid when there are a lot of feet kicking at the ball, but any time the ball squirted out of the mass of kids, she would chase it and kick it.  She was winded by the time halftime rolled around.
She got back into the game in the 4th quarter and took a hard ball to the chest.  I could tell that it hurt and she ran over to the coach.  He told her to rest and she ran over to us.  When she finally got to Mommy, she burst into tears.  It didn't take long to pass and she went right back into the game.  She had a GREAT corner kick that should have been an easy score if any of her teammates would have been in the right place.  She also had a chance to score late in the game on a throw-in when one of our boys tossed the ball in to her.  She ran for it and kicked it, but was unable to get it to turn to the goal.  It went out of bounds on the end line.

The game ended--we won even though they don't keep score--and she got her snack and drink.  She was beet red and very tired.  She collapsed into our lawn chair while we went over the game with her, talking about all the coool things she did.  I think she enjoyed it.  I know I did.  I found myself constantly fighting the urge to yell out instructions to her, but I know I don't want to be "that parent."  I tried to just cheer.  I succeeded...most of the time.  Being a soccer parent is really fun!

Myra used to have a picture of a soccer ball as a user icon on our old computer.  She used to tell everyone she met, "I'm a Soccer Ball Girl."  Well, now she finally IS.  We signed her up for soccer yesterday and she is REALLY excited.  I know absolutely nothing about soccer and neither does Chris.  She is happy to finally be a fully accredited soccer mom.  We went down to Academy and bought her cleats, shin guards, and a practice ball along with some practice clothes.  She thinks her pink ball is so pretty she doesn't want to kick it because she's afraid of getting it dirty.  I think she'll get over that soon...I hope.  Here's a pic of her doing her best Soccer Star pose.

We spent some time with our friends Brenda and Leon over the weekend and while we were there, Brenda shot some family portraits.  It's been a long time since we've had one of these so we were pumped.  Noah wasn't too hot on the idea, but he warmed up to it.  It was a lot of fun hanging out with them and their sweet babies.  Jasmine is getting so big and walking all over the place.  Alex is like a little man he can talk so well.  I had some pics of the visit uploaded to Flickr but apparently, we've reached the limit of our free account.  So, while we decide whether or not we're gonna shell out for a pro account, I went ahead and uploaded one pic of the visit to our server. 


I had to shoot it with no flash because Brenda's fancy flashes kept flashing in time with my camera and making everything look weird.  As you can see, Jasmine is helping out while Brenda and Chris do the hard work of making Myra smile.  You can see some of the end result of Brenda's hard work up in the new masthead.  We haven't printed any yet, but we plan on doing that next week so we can send some updated pics out.  They look great and we love them!  Thanks Brenda!

I went ahead and put together a little slideshow of our Denver pics.  I used Animoto again--big shout out to Walt and Angie on that one--because I already paid to be a member, so I'm gonna get my moneys worth!  Plus, they do a lot better slideshow than I do.  Click the link to see it.

I finally got around to posting some pics to our Project 366 Flickr group and I thought this one might be fun.  It's a picture of a climber in El Dorado Canyon just outside of Boulder Colorado.  We went hiking there on the 4th of July and were surrounded by massive cliffs and crazy people climbing them.  You might have to go to the large size to spot this guy.  He is actually rapelling down in this pic after climbing to the top (I guess). 

OK, so it's been FOREVER since we've posted but man have we been busy.  We headed up to Stroud to get ready to celebrate the little man's birthday and to catch up with Troop 136 so we could head up to Will Rogers Scout Reservation outside of Cleveland.  Let's start out with Noah's birthday.

Papa is the Camp Director this year so we got free reign of Scout Camp on the Saturday afternoon before camp started.  We started off swimming in the pool there. and then grilling hot dogs and eating birthday cake.  It was a very Thomas birthday with Noah getting all sorts of train stuff.  He was really excited about getting a remote control Thomas.  In fact, as soon as he got the paper off, he excitedly said, "MY THOMAS TRAIN!!!!" and was ready to stop opening presents.  The cake was blue and mighty tasty.  I posted a few pics here.

The next day, I was off to Scout Camp with my old Scout Troop.

Ricky and I were helping Papa out since he was busy running the camp.  Our job was to keep the scouts in line and make sure they have fun.  It was a total blast!  Of course it was hot and sweaty, but the ice cold outdoor showers helped cool us off.  I usually took 3 a day!  Nate's son Brandon came out from North Carolina to attend camp with his cousin Skylor.  The two boys shared a tent that was stuffed to the roof with snacks.  It's a good thing there aren't any bears around there.  Brandon got up every morning and earned his mile swim badge.  One of only 3 given out that week.  Sarah's husband Mike came up on Wednesday night and helped cook some amazing deer steaks.  Another old scout from our troop, Ricky Shields, joined us on Thursday afternoon and we had a lot of fun reminiscing about the old days.  At the end of the week I was exhausted.  After sending the boys back to Stroud, it was a wonderful sight to see Chris and Myra come to pick me up.  The week may have been a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun, too.  I can't wait to go back next year.  Check out this video I made about it.

Last weekend, we attended a birthday party for Myra's pal Abraham.  Saginaw built a sweet little city water park last year and we've gone before, but this time was a lot more fun.  Why?  Because SOMEBODY is tall enough to ride the big slide now!


Last year, she was an inch too short, but this year she is just right.  I even went down it a couple of times.  I got a nasty wedgie and about a gallon of water up my nose.  I guess I'm too old for waterslides or something.  Noah had a great time in their water playground.  They have a fort with a little slide and a MASSIVE bucket that dumps a tsunami of water every minute or so. 


They also have water cannons which Noah showed me more than once.  There's just something funny about blasting Daddy in the face with water.

This afternoon, I was watching TV and surfing the web.  Noah was playing with his trains on the floor in front of me.  Suddenly, he shoves something in my face and says, "Here, Daddy, eat this!  It's for you!"  It was a chewy so I opened up and he popped it in. 

"That is so nice sharing your chewies with me!"  I said.

"I don't have any chewies," replied Noah.  "I found that one down here," he said, pointing under the couch.

I have NO IDEA how long that thing was under the couch before I ate it.  It tasted OK, though.  I guess its true.  I WILL eat anything.

We met the Gode's down at Willow Creek Park for the Saginaw Fire Department's annual Easter Egg Hunt.  Noah was pumped because there were fire trucks everywhere.  Myra was pumped because the real, live Easter Bunny was there and he was GIVING OUT CANDY.  It felt like being part of the Oklahoma Land Run or something as we all gathered around our little areas.  The longer we waited the more the crowd edged onto the field.  Finally, they blew the fire truck horn and it was chaos.  Myra's field (4-6 year olds) was picked clean in about 2 minutes.  Hannah and Noah's field (0-3) took about 5 mintues.  It brought back great memories of the Easter Egg hunting parties our elementary classes used to have down at Foster Park.  I still remember how excited I was when I found a silver prize egg (with a dollar in it!) stuffed inside a coffee can back in 1st grade.

Big News! Christina is a Big Loser! I know what you're thinking. How could I be so mean? But this time, it's really true. She is a big loser. In fact, she's such a big loser that her friends got together and decided that she is the biggest loser they know. I didn't even get to vote on it. They did it all themselves. Not only that, they also felt so sorry for her that they gave her money! Lots of money! I guess they decided that she could use that money to be less of a loser or something. Who knows.

Truth be told, Chris's Mom's group had a Biggest Loser contest and she WON it! She got to take home 90 smackers and I couldn't be more proud. She looks great and she feels good, too. She's been eating very healthy and hitting the treadmill like a maniac! I can't keep up with her. I better watch out or she'll trade me in for a better looking hubby!