Velda, Keep Your Canadian Air!

Brrrr. It's supposed to get down into the 20's tonight. The first time we may go below freezing this season. I wouldn't mind that too much, except we have two 8 AM soccer games and one 9 AM game. We are all going to be popsicles before lunch. I hope the chickens out in the coop will be okay; I haven't winterized the coop yet. I was waiting until next weekend, when my friend will pick up the foster chickens and my babies can move out there. Speaking of my chicky babies, they are growing fast. Here's some pictures I just took. They are five weeks old and have most of their feathers. I still can't tell if two of my hens are really hens, or not. The roosters have a definite comb, like "Nugget" here, the brown one with Bekah. And the obvious hens definitely have nothing like a comb. But some, like this black and white one have a sort of cross between the two. In case you're wondering, yes, we did name this one chicken Nugget, since this is probably the one rooster we'll keep for breeding purposes and he won't get eaten, at least for a while. But if we do decide to eat him, at least his name is Nugget. Kenzie, for some reason has also been calling one of the hens "Hawkface" because it does look kind of like a hawk from the neck, up. Kenzie's very happy that Hawkface appears to be a hen because I don't think I could have convinced her to eat her favorite chicken, even smothered in her favorite sauce, Ranch salad dressing.

Right now, Connor is sitting in the room with me, staring at the ceiling, while all his siblings are watching a movie. I think he's trying to make me feel guilty for punishing him (no TV/Electronics for the rest of the week, starting this past Monday). He's being punished because he kicked, and broke, Bekah's chair because he got mad at Kenzie. Breaking the chair was bad enough, but then he didn't tell me about it (I explained to him, what if Bekah got in that chair and it fell apart). It was the cover up that got him in the most trouble, as always. My kids always get in more trouble for not 'fessing up than for the actual crime. With the University of Maryland football team on TV tomorrow, and the Ravens on TV on Sunday, I have to figure out how bad I want to torture him. Connor will do almost anything to watch his football. And on Sunday, we may all miss the game because Kearsyn is getting baptised at the same time. I should have thought of that before I scheduled her Christening, but I guess it really shouldn't be put off until after the Superbowl.

All right, I'm starting to ramble and I have a little girl to put to bed, so I'm outa here.

Quick Update

I've been a little overwhelmed lately so I haven't posted as much as I usually do. Still busy, but I wanted to add some pics of recent events. Connor and Kenzie performed for the county's tricentennial at the Kent Island Music Festival on the past, cold, weekend. See Vicki's post for details. It warmed up nicely in time for Halloween. Here's what Halloween Soccer Zombies look like; and one little pumpkin.

Trash Day

Some of us home school families got together today at Terrapin Park for a picnic and a little trash collection. Here are the kids that did the work. Some of them are not actually home schooled, but are daycare kids of one of the home school moms. It was kinda cool today, with the threat of rain, so we didn't stay too long, but we did get some trash picked up. And the kids found a huge jellyfish. Well, huge by Chesapeake Bay standards, about a foot and a half across. They wanted to bring it home, but I didn't think that was a very good idea. As we left the park, it started to drizzle, but at least we got a good walk/ community service in before the weather got too bad. Here's one more picture: of Bekah on the beach. She didn't pick up much trash, but she takes a cute picture.

40 Gushes

Velda said she likes my gushes, so in honor of my 40th post, here's 40 things I can gush about.

1. Alex is 3/4 done his ALgebra 1 book and he just began 8th grade.
2. Connor is at least a grade ahead of his age in almost every subject.
3. Kenzie is, too.
4. Taylor can read at a second grade level.
5. Tyler can play piano.
6. Bekah is cute.
7. Kearsyn is cute, too.
8. Vicki is an incredible mother, and she puts up with me, too.
9. I've taught my kids more than they would have learned in school.
10. Alex is a naturally nice person who helps others because he wants to.
11. Connor sings, plays piano, and is a fantastic soccer player.
12. Kenzie excels in so many areas that she can't find time to do everything she's good at.
13. Taylor loves to read to us.
14. Tyler can ride his bike for miles and miles.
15. Bekah can get her own cookies.
16. Kearsyn is still cute even when's crying.
17. Vicki can be up all night with the baby, and still cart the kids all over the place when I'm out of town.
18. My kids like me, even though I yell sometimes (that's from Kenzie).
19. Alex can prepare lunch for all the kids.
20. Connor makes up his own jokes and then laughs at them.
21. Kenzie changes diapers.
22. Taylor plays with Bekah.
23. Tyler sometimes helps McKenzie with the chickens at 6 am.
24. Bekah loves giving kisses to her little sister.
25. Kearsyn will eventually get her days and nights straightened out.
26. Vicki hasn't said "no" to kid #9.
27. I have been blessed, by God, to be part of this family.
28. Alex has been complimented by numerous other coaches on his reffing performance.
29. Connor faces his greatest fears, and conquers them.
30. Kenzie has asked to get her hair cut, to be donated to Locks of Love.
31. Taylor has been learning how to play chess.
32. Tyler thinks it's cool to go with his dad, wherever and whenever that may be.
33. Bekah falls asleep on my belly.
34. Kearsyn brings out the best in all her siblings.
35. Vicki is more than I deserve.
36. I get along with my sister better than when we were kids.
37. We have friends that bring us dinner occassionally.
38. We have family close by.
39. We have what we need, and more.
40. They say, count your blessings, but that's impossible; they're too numerous.

Connor's Turn

Last night, three of the teams I coach had their first end-of-season soccer tournament games. Obviously I couldn't coach all three so I took Kenzie's team, since she 's the youngest. I coach with someone else, so she took Alex's team. One of the parents took care of Connor's team. Kenzie's team got beat really bad. One more loss, and they're out of the tournament. Alex's team got beat, too. Same deal. Wouldn't you know it, but the one team (Connor's) that had no coach won the game!

Now here's today's gush. The game was tied at the end, and had to go to overtime. That means, shootout. Each team takes 5 penalty shots at the other team's goalie. The team with the most goals at the end of the shootout, wins. Connor got the winning goal. And the other coach's kid was the Goalie that stopped the other team from scoring the winning goal. Both of us coaches got to see the shootout, but neither of us had anything to with coaching the team up to that point. Needless to say, everyone was very excited, and of course, I had no camera with me. So, I tried to take a celebration photo of Connor this morning at 7 am, but it wasn't quite the same as it would have been last night.

Turn That Frown Upside Down

Okay, no more gushing. But I'm still very happy about the weekend softball tournament. Kenzie's team did so well on Saturday that they were seeded #4, out of 6 teams, in the single-elimination part of the tournament on Sunday. They were supposed to be last. Unfortunately, the pitching wasn't there and the other team scored a ton of runs off a ton of walks. The other team never got a hit, but scored 14 runs in 3 innings. That was enough to end the game early. Kenzie played second base and right field, but never saw any action at all in the field. Nobody was all that happy about losing, but it gave Kenzie and me a father-daughter day in my old college town.

She just loves exploring places I've been before she was around. A few months ago, I took Connor and her on a driving tour of Horn point Laboratories, where I spent a college summer as an intern, working on research projects on the Chesapeake Bay. The kids really enjoyed seeing where their dad worked as a young twenty-something. Kenzie wants to go back so we can tour the inside (it was closed because we visited on a Sunday), and I'd like to do that myself, just to see what's changed in twenty years. A tour would be really fun for them, I think, because I could add some personal details, which is what they just love to hear about.

Back to Salisbury. Kenzie and I visited the Zoo-Park, which hasn't changed all that much in those same twenty years. Once again, those personal details fascinated her, and it was fun for me to remember some of the good times I had back then. She especially enjoyed the story about the time when Salisbury was hit by a huge snowstorm. Now, at the time, I think Salisbury owned about two snowplows, both of which were snowed in, in two feet of snow. Nobody was going anywhere, and sane people didn't try. Vicki and I walked about a hundred miles (well, maybe not exactly a hundred) that day, feeling like we were the only two people on earth, walking down the middle of the interstate highway from the college to the Zoo-Park, and beyond. Kenzie got to swing on the same swings that Vicki and I did on that same day in the snow. I could definitely see "the girl" in her show up in that smile she had.

Well, it wasn't snowing today, so we got to see the animals, her favorite of which was the very noisy, and friendly, flamingo. Then we spent some time looking for some of the old houses I lived in and some of the old places I spent my time, except the actual college campus. Other than the mall closing down, and a few names on businesses changing, the university is the only part of Salisbury that has changed in all those years. All in all it turned out to be a great day, despite the loss and the drizzle. And, we managed to turn that frown, upside down.

Kenzie's Day

Indulge me while I gush over my daughter.

She's the youngest player, at eight, playing on a 10 and under travel softball team. Most of the girls on the team are a year younger than their competition (two years younger, in Kenzie's case), and have never played together before, except for a few practices. They are playing in a tournament against 10 and under teams that actually have mostly ten year olds on their teams. The coach told us he'd be happy if they didn't actually get beaten by the "slaughter rule". As Vicki said in her blog, they lost the first two games today (by many runs fewer than the slaughter rule) and they actually won the third game!

Now to Kenzie. Although she never actually got a base hit, she did hit the ball in two of her at-bats (and got thrown out), and walked once, proceeding to steal every base, including home. Here's a picture that Connor took of her of her at bat. He even got me in the background: I'm wearing the red shirt. Notice, I'm actually sitting down! I'm really enjoying my role as sideline parent. I am normally Kenzie's coach so I'm very proud of the fact that I wasn't pacing all day long.

On defense, she played every position, except pitcher, and first base. And, while she isn't the best player (yet) in any one of those positions, her coach already has enough confidence in her to put her just about anywhere on the field he needs a fielder. She did an incredible job at Catcher. She helped her team keep their lead in bottom of the last inning of their winning game by catching or blocking some tough pitches, and keeping the other team from stealing home. On third base, she had some great catches, but that is sure a long throw to first base. The only time I saw her get a little upset today was when struck out for the second time at her second at-bat of the day. But she got over it; she never struck out again, and she had 3 or 4 more at-bats. Talking to her on the way home, I discovered that softball has moved way up on her list. She won't be dropping piano or chorale, but she said she'd have a real hard time choosing them over softball if there's a major conflict in the Spring. She's definitely decided to give up soccer, and maybe just take this year off from dance to make sure it won't conflict in the Spring. We'll see.

Well, we're back in Salisbury tomorrow for the single-elimination portion of the tournament. If they win the first game, they have a real shot at getting a trophy, which would be just entirely beyond expectations. But, they weren't supposed to as well as they did today, so you never know until you play the game.