Popcorn Day!

We cranked out 36 batches of Kettle Corn (with a little cayenne pepper) for the neighbors. We packaged it up in gigantic ziploc bags with some cute toppers. It took (2) batches of Kettle Corn to fill up each ginormous ziploc bag, so we ended up with 17 bags to give to the neighbors. (Yes, if you did the math, you can safely assume that we ate the other two batches. :)) We all had jobs and worked together for (2+) hours to get everything made and assembled. Jeremiah said, "I like doing this much better since we're doing it for someone else."

It was snowing out - that super-beautiful kind of snow that you love to get in December. We bundled up, loaded up the popcorn onto the sled and tromped over to several of the neighbors' houses. We sang the chorus of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," and little Jeremiah stood in the front holding the bag of popcorn out for them to see while we sang and then walked it up to the door while we all yelled "Merry Christmas." It was a great night.

The best kids in the world!

I'm pretty sure that I have just about the best kids in the world! Josiah wore his new ScrapRoom T-shirt to school! He was way-braver than his brothers, who told me they wouldn't wear a T-shirt that said ScrapRoom in purple to school (even though the shirt itself is a very masculine brown). But, Josiah proudly wore his shirt to school, so I took his picture!

Okay, more reasons why I have the best kids in the world... if any of you know my 5th-grader, Jesse, you know that he is just about the calmest, most easy-going, go-with-the-flow 5th grader that you could know. He's cut from the same mold as his dad, which makes him pretty even keel. Anyway, last Monday night was Jesse's 5th-Grade Christmas music program at his school. Jesse isn't a big fan of music class at school, so it was no surprise that he didn't want to go. However, we didn't have a good excuse to not go, and Jesse hasn't scored a lot of "participation points" with his music teacher this year, so we thought it best to go. The music teacher is a big fan of hand motions and lots of movement during every part of the songs. Dramatic presentation is not exactly up Jesse's alley. So, I told Jesse on Monday morning that I would give him $5.00 if he was "over-the-top-animated" during every song of his musical. I told him he had to do all of his movements really big and dramatic and to act like he was really "into it" during the whole program to get the cash. And, I couldn't believe it - but that is exactly what he did! All of his hand motions were big and his arm movements were big and his gestures and swaying - all big! We were sitting in the back row of this huge performance hall, and we could see him "getting into it" clear from the back row. Oh my gosh... we were all cracking up at him down there "acting" like he was Mr. Musical on stage. And he did it throughout the whole program - every song - Jesse was in the second row (center) of the choir risers and he was just down there going to town like this was the performance that he was living for! We just hope his teacher caught a glimpse of Jesse participating with enthusiasm! Now, for most of the audience looking on, Jesse wouldn't have looked out of place - just enthusiastic - but if you know Jesse, even a little bit - it was a riot! I've never enjoyed a program performance more! Fortunately, Jeremiah taped the whole thing with our video camera, and as soon as we can find the cords to watch it on the TV, we'll enjoy it again! (Maybe I'll even learn to upload it to the blog someday!)

And another reason why I have the best kids in the world... I'm sitting at the table playing another defeating game of Spider Solitaire yesterday afternoon, and I complain out loud that I can never beat that game. My oldest, Jacob, pipes up with, "Oh that game is easy. I could beat that game every time." I look at him and say, "This is Spider Solitaire, not regular Solitaire. It's harder." His reply, "Yeah, that's easy. I can beat that." I tell him that he must be a genius if he knows he can beat it easy when he's never played it - and then I challenge him. (I'm thinking to teach him a lesson here since he piped up with how easy something is that he hasn't even tried yet. I'm hoping to teach him a little humility here - when it comes to shooting off the mouth... yeah... you can probably see where this is going, can't you? :)) So anyway, I say, "Alright Genius, I'll bet you $1.00 that you can't beat Spider Solitaire (at medium difficulty) the first time you sit down to play it." He agrees to give it a go - and I was prepared to collect on that bet. So he sits down at the computer and I give him a quick crash course on how to play and he starts. He sat there for about an hour and it took him over 350 moves (he used the Undo button a lot), but he beat that game! With me smirking at him from the side and $1.00 and his respect on the line, he was pretty determined. So, everytime he got stuck, he would undo until he could find an alternate way to play - and he actually won. Maybe he is a Genius! :) I paid up, and I'm not sure who learned a lesson in humility yesterday... (I'm thinking maybe it was me.)

Tomorrow is Popcorn Day at our house. The boys and I are going to make a ton of kettle corn to bag up and give to the neighbors. We'll get some sort of assembly line going and Jacob has volunteered to do the cranking on the Whirly-pop. I'm thinking we'll put on some Christmas tunes and pop popcorn for a few hours before we're through. I'll try to remember to take some photos so that I can post them to the blog!

Alright, I'm pretty sure that nobody is reading this anymore, but I'll post tonight just because I'm feeling so guilty about not posting for so long. I spent the day at IKEA with my friend, Patty, shopping for furniture for the school room. Decorating our new house has been a bit of a nightmare. Decorating just doesn't come naturally to me. I think and rethink and buy and return and buy and return and buy and return until I just don't care anymore. I'm getting to the point where I just don't care anymore. :)


The kids started school last Wednesday, and my laptop fried that same afternoon - so a pretty stressful day overall. The "mother-board" fried, and while I don't know a lot of details about what a "mother-board" actually does, I think it's a pretty safe assumption that it's never a good thing if anything with the word, "mother" in it is fried! But, life rolled on... the boys like school, and my computer is being repaired, and in the meantime, I bought another gig of RAM for the desktop, so we're just skipping along here.

Jake and Josh BOTH made the 8th grade soccer team for Stephen Mack. Josh was only 1 of 2 7th graders who made the 8th grade team, so we're really excited for him even though his 7th grade friends are giving him a hard time, calling him a traitor - kind of in fun, kind of not. Their first game is Tuesday, and we've got 2-3 games each week until the first part of October. It's a short but intense season. It will be fun. Jake is going to be the sweeper, and I think Josh is going to be playing mid-field, but we don't have the final word from the coach on that yet.

I was going through some old school papers tonight, trying to get some stuff cleared out, and I came across this short essay by Jesse, written about 2.5 years ago when he was in 2nd grade... does this not sound like Jesse - saying what we all only wish we could say! We all laughed, especially Jesse!

"When I grow up I want to be a nothing. I get to stay home.
I get to stay home and watch TV. I get to stay home.
I get to stay home and ride my car. I get to stay home.
I get to stay home and drink pop.
I feel good about being a nothing." (Jesse, age 8)

I got this little questionnaire below from Shirley's blog, and I'm copying and pasting my answers here, just for fun and because I don't have anything else at all that I should be doing right now except answering pointless questions for nobody to read. (roll eyes)
1. where is your cell phone? charging in the kitchen
2. your boyfriend/girlfriend? Chris, my handsome husband for 16 years
3. your hair? driving me crazy; I can't do anything with it. It seems to be fried, just like my "mother-board."
4. where is your father? sleeping in his chair in front of the TV by this time of night, I'm sure
5. your favorite thing to do? drink coffee and chat with my husband
6. your dream last night? ???
7. your dream car? a convertible Beetle :)
8. the room you're in? the undecorated schoolroom, sitting at the desktop because of the aforementioned fried laptop
9. who did you hang out with last night? Jacob, while we waited for Josh to finish up at his guitar lesson
10. your fears? failure
11. what aren't you good at? a LOT!
12. muffins? not when I can have a Panera bagel
13. one of your wish list items? for my house to be decorated and for my hair to NOT be fried
14. the last thing you did? emptied old files out of an old plastic filing cart
15. your computer? well, there's the fried laptop that is currently being repaired by HP and the newly upgraded desktop that is getting lots of love this week...
16. your pet? do I sound like I could possibly handle the maintenance that pets would require?
17. you are wearing? jeans and a black shirt and Adidas flip-flops that unfortunately, make my feet stink a LOT!
18. your life? "If God is for me, who can be against me?"
19. your mood? pretty content right now, looking forward to seeing my good friends, the Joneses in a couple of days!
20. missing? the Joneses!
21. your car? well, there's another story... do you want to know about the Ford Tempo that we can't lock because of the big dent in the passenger-side door and the side-view mirror that is literally flapping in the wind as we drive down the road... OR do you want to know about the Dodge Caravan that smells musty because the air conditioner is draining onto the passenger floorboard and the speakers that have some sort of "short" in them and either blare for everyone in the county to hear or nothing... (but both vehicles get us around; I believe that God uses them to help keep us humble :))
22. what are you thinking about now? that I should probably stop typing in answers to these stupid questions and get to bed - nobody is reading this blog anyway
23. your work? www.scrap-room.com
24. your summer? OVER!
25. your relationship status? Married with children
26. your favorite color(s)? red and black (but NOT together, like you'd see in a batchelor-pad!)
27. when is the last time you cried? last Wednesday, after my laptop fried and I didn't know if I was going to be able to save my files (photos, etc.) (Yes, I know I should "back up" more often. Thank you.)
28. when was the last time you laughed? about an hour ago, when reading Jesse's essay on his life aspirations (see above)
29. school? Thank God it's over for me. Thank God it's on for the kids!
30. favorite 90's group? I have no idea what any of the 90's groups were.

I should be doing some sort of yard work or something productive like that, but I'm tired today. I'm tired of the constant running. Maybe I could take a nap...but more likely, I'll have another cup of coffee, which might encourage a bit more productivity.

Okay, so we started Club Soccer with Jacob and Joshua last week and played our first games of the season this weekend. We knew the pace of our schedule was going to be kicked up a few notches, and suffice it to say that I'm not sure how long our family will be able to sustain this chaos. If our normal "Happy Chaos" becomes "Unhappy Chaos", then we have problems. Right now, this is what our schedule looks like...

• Monday: Jacob/Joshua Track Practice 2:45-4:30
• Monday: Jacob/Joshua Soccer Practice 6:00-7:30
• Monday: Josiah Soccer Practice: 6:00-7:30
• Tuesday: Jacob/Joshua Track Practice: 2:45-4:30
• Tuesday: Jacob/Joshua Soccer Practice: 6:00-7:30
• Tuesday: Jeremiah Soccer Practice: 5:30-6:30
• Wednesday: Jacob/Joshua Track Practice 2:45-4:30
• Wednesday: Jeremiah Soccer Practice: 5:30-6:30
• Wednesday: Everyone Church/Life Group: 6:30-8:00
• Thursday: Jacob/Joshua Track MEET: 4:00-7:30
• Thursday: Jesse Soccer Practice (Chris Coaches): 6:15-7:15
• Thursday: Jacob/Joshua Soccer Practice: 6:00-7:00 (Have to miss until Track meets are over)
• Friday: ????
• Saturday Morning: Jesse/Jeremiah/Josiah Soccer Games
• Saturday Afternoon: Jacob/Joshua Soccer Game (sometimes home/sometimes AWAY - and by AWAY, we mean that the games can be into the Chicago suburbs...)
• Sunday Morning: Everyone Church
• Sunday Afternoon: Jacob/Joshua Soccer Game (sometimes home/sometimes AWAY)

This craziness is in addition to the boys' schoolwork and homework and the school band and Chris' full-time job at NCC and our family business, with the tight deadlines and everything that has to be done before the kits ship on the 6th. We've always signed the boys up for recreational soccer in the spring (8-week season), so that is nothing new. But, Jacob and Joshua outgrew the league when they started Middle School. In order to get them into any sort of competitive soccer situations when they're not playing for their school during 8 weeks in the fall, we had to sign them up for Club Soccer. Now, I know that if anyone is reading this, you might be wondering why we have decided to impose this kind of schedule on ourselves. We have truly been resisting Club Soccer for years now, not wanting to succomb to the demands that it will place on our family. But, we decided to relent this spring and let Jacob and Joshua give it a go for a season or two. After Jake's yucky basketball season, it has become painfully clear to me that the boys won't have much opportunity to play any varsity ball in high school if we don't keep them playing and training in their chosen sport year round. The competition for spots on the high school teams is just going to be too tough when they'll be competing with kids who live and breath their chosen sport and have played every year all year since they were eight years old. It is a corrupt shame that athletics have come to this point in our society, but it is our reality. Soccer is probably our older boys' only option for any kind of team sports in high school, and I don't want them to miss out on that opportunity if they want to play. (Sigh...Sigh...)

We have struggled and continue to struggle with this decision. The boys enjoy playing and competing, but I just wonder what the ultimate price will be, and only time will tell. We're trying to preserve our family time together, and all of the boys are loving their opportunities to play soccer, which is unbelievably really fun for them (it just seems like a lot of hot and sweaty running to me :)). So, the verdict is still out. I hope we have made the right decision. I hope we aren't trading family relationships for soccer experiences...

My Grandpa Hawkins died on Friday. He was 94 years old. The last time I saw him was at my Grandma's funeral one year ago this month. I drove back for Grandpa's funeral this week and sat again with my Dad and Judy and my Sister at the front of the chapel, saying goodbye for the last time. I wasn't close to my Dad's parents. We didn't live very close to them most of my life and they were not easy to get to know - at least not easy when you're a busy young girl with things to do. There are a few things that I remember, though. I remember their little house in a sorta scary part of town. They always kept it nice, and Grandma always had flowers. My favorite flowers were all of those black-eyed susans that used to line both sides of their sidewalk. They were everywhere - almost growing wild - and I loved them! I remember how much Grandpa and Grandma used to love to have us come for a visit. They would meet us at the back door with enormous grins and hugs. We'd all sit down and talk about the weather. I remember their little front room, with the velvet pictures of the Mexican boy and his stubborn burro hanging on the wall above the desk, connected to one another by the thick cord. I remember their furnace in the corner of the room. I loved the sound of the furnace when the motor was running. It was loud and somehow comfortable - homey, I guess. I remember that they would often offer us a snack - usually some sort of store bought cookie or ice cream. If we stayed for awhile, Grandpa might play checkers with us, or we'd watch a game show together on TV. I always liked to look at the pictures that were all over their front room. Most of them were old photos of their kids and grandkids, and I couldn't help but think that most of those old photos should have been replaced with newer versions that somehow never got sent.

I remember that visiting Grandpa and Grandma generally involved some sort of meal out. We would usually go to Furr's Cafeteria, which was right up the road. I always liked eating there because you could get whatever I wanted, including dessert. I remember Grandpa would always get the chocolate pie for dessert. And, as I got older, Grandpa would slip me a $20 bill when I was leaving, and he'd smile and wink and say, "We love ya."

I remember my Grandma was almost always smiling. She didn't hear very well, so she couldn't always participate in the conversations, but you could just tell that she loved being with her family, and she was always smiling. She would sometimes comment on the fact that I was either gaining or losing weight (mostly gaining). I was always a little afraid to see her as I got older because I was afraid that she'd make another comment about me getting fatter and fatter with each visit, and I wasn't sure my "fat ego" could take it.)

I remember Grandpa's great big voice and his easy grin. Grandpa's voice was so big and so clear and resounding. Because his voice was so strong and clear, I always thought of my Grandpa as a strong man with a sharp mind, and I was right. I remember Grandpa's bald head; bald for as long as I can remember him. He often wore a hat when he went out. I remember a few of them. In fact, I have one of his dress hats and one of his working hats, but the hat I remember most is his Sherlock Holmes type of hat. I can't remember the hat's official name, but it was plaid and it reminded me an old-time golfer's hat. It just fit Grandpa; it sort of embodied comfort and contentment and a just a little bit of spunk - just like Grandpa. Everyone remembers him in that hat; everyone talks about him in that hat. I think everyone wanted that hat, but it was in Grandpa's hands as he lay there in his casket, and it was buried with him on Tuesday. In some strange way it brought me comfort that he had his hat with him. He didn't often leave his house without it, and it just felt right that he wouldn't be without it as he heads out to begin this new journey. I expect that when he is there to greet me on the other side, he'll have his dapper hat on. And when he sees me, he'll smile with a smile that spreads across his lips and goes all the way to his eyes and I'll hear in that stong familiar voice, "Well, Hello there Tammy. Come on in."