Daily Sunshine: The Eagle Scout Project

This daily sunshine took more than a day to become a happy spot. Several months of planning and work, and four years of sitting on a Life Scout status, in fact.

But today, we delivered the four picnic tables that symbolize the end of a long Eagle Scout project for Colin. Starting with a food drive in November for the Salvation Army and ending with creating these benches from scratch, the manual labor is finished. Only the paperwork and interview remain.


Very bright bit of daily sunshine, indeed.

Sweet Sixteen

Happy Birthday, Colin!

It sounds so cliche, but it fits so perfectly...

Where has the time gone? When did my 7 pound 6 ounce boy become a 6'1" man?

This is the "legal" birthday he's waited for for so long...time to drive on his own...time to date...

Wait! Did I just say that? He's not that old! (Rather, I'm not that old, am I?)

He wants to wait to get his driver's license for 15 more days...the braces come off on March 17 and there's no way he's taking that famous photo with them on. Somehow I thought he'd be more anxious for it, but who can blame him? Plus, that permit he's been carrying gives him access to a car anyway...as long as we're with him.

And the dating? I'm so not pushing that one, but he's definitely a ladies' man so I don't think it will be too long. I asked him after school if he had a date yet. His answer? "Not yet. I'm working on it!" I think it's going to be a best friend he's had for years who's moving soon. Safe and simple.

(But still, keep working on it, buddy. We can soooo wait for that day!)

The birthday was rather quiet and unassuming for such a milestone... early morning Seminary, then school and basketball practice as usual. Then it was off to dinner with family, including grandparents, aunt, and cousin, at Olive Garden, his choice. We'll have a bigger party later, but for now we simply celebrated this rite of passage.

I have to share the sweet but silly photos of him and his cousin Catherine that I took at dinner. They're more like brother and sister. Six weeks apart in age, same grade at the same school for years...I've loved watching this relationship grow with them. But trying to get them to pose for a serious shot? No way.

This is what I got when I said "Put your heads together."



This is what I got when I then said "Really, guys."

And so I never got that perfect shot. But this one will do!



Once again, happy birthday, Colin!
We love you!

Stay off the sidewalks!

I've learned the true meaning of fear.

And it has a face...

Yep, that's Colin. And yep, he's holding a driver's permit. We waited as long as we could...but at fifteen and a-little-more-than-a-half, he won the battle he's been fighting hard since he turned fourteen and the concept was even possible. And so, a couple of weeks ago, we decided it was time to let the man-cub wield a heavy piece of machinery in traffic.

And so commenced the driving lessons. Not that Dad hadn't let Colin drive down the back alley and park the car in the driveway, without telling Mom that Driver's Ed had officially started. (Imagine my horror the first time I actually happened to catch one of these sessions in progress.) They'd been doing a little training on the sly as they prepared for the big day. Good Daddy. Save Momma the trauma.

Don't get me wrong. Colin is not a bad driver. Actually, he's a little more cautious than I would have expected, and I appreciate that. But I can still feel my heart in my throat as I sit buckled up to the hilt on the wrong side of my van. And he's learning lots of lessons on taking constuctive criticism from parental figures. Especially since he drove us home from church on Sunday and he had Dad in the front passenger seat, Mom in the back seat, and two sisters next to me all correcting his every twitch and turn. Talk about your backseat drivers! Poor kid. We made it home alive, but he's the one who probably needed Tylenol more than anyone else!

Over the past couple of weeks, I've come to forgive my own father for all the bad jokes...like bringing a broom and hanging it out the passenger window, telling me "I might as well sweep the gutters since we're driving in them anyway." (True story) And driving me to a large corporate parking lot after hours and making me park exactly in the middle of a parking space over and over and over until I got it right several times before I could even get close to a main road and a stop sign. (And this took more than one night, though I think he was just delaying the inevitable.) I understand the panic that comes when you realize your offspring is taking his own life--and others--into his hands.

And now I understand why my mom never had a single moment of driver's ed trauma with me. She was smart enough to leave it to my dad. I don't think I drove her anywhere until I'd had my license for a few months.

So fair warning. Colin's legal, and loose on the streets!

Honestly, though, I think you'll be safe. I'm proud of this kid!

Back to School, Parts 2 and 3

And now it's time for the rest of the kids to head back to class...both Colin and Lindsay started school today.




But first, I made them all pose for me outside of the building on the way to Lindsay's school. Notice how Rebekah's face says "Mom, I've already done this and I'm going to be TARDY if you don't hurry!"

(For the uninitiated, Spring Hill Middle School and Elm Tree Elementary School are attached. And they're in our back yard, so the travel time is great! To our credit, Rebekah was not even close to tardy.)

Then we took the new middle-schooler to her fifth-grade classroom. Lindsay was excited to go, but once she got in the classroom, she decided that it wasn't cool to have her mom there taking pictures. (Not like I was the only mom there with a camera!) But I appreciate that she was a good sport about it!








And then David went to work and I headed off to the Back to School Celebration at the high school. It's a great idea--parents can attend all the classes with their students the first day to meet the teachers, hear their expectations, see the class syllabus, and walk through a day in our child's school life. The best part for the boys is the two-hour off-campus lunch when the moms take them to CiCi's pizza and let them fill up and play video games.
That's my cute tenth grader in the middle.



And of course, Colin and Dallas also found some lovely friends to enjoy the day with...


So now what? We now return our lives to their normal insanity already in progress.

Lacrosse Rocks!

One year ago this month, they were a ragtag group of boys who had dreams of learning to play lacrosse. Over the last year, they've been through lots of hard work and practice in every type of weather, but it paid off. Now they're official. The NorthWest Arkansas Knights just played in their very first tournament!

Colin's been hooked on lacrosse since a friend who had just moved here from another state brought a stick to Scout Camp a couple of years ago. That's all it took for the fever to catch on. If you haven't seen a game, it looks like a combination of football, basketball, and soccer, but with nets on long sticks. (Nothing like giving a teenage boy a little padding, a big stick, and room to run!) Check out the couple of pictures I posted here. My favorite is the knee shot--we pad the head, the arms, the hands, the chest...but put them in shorts. And boy, do they hit the ground often, since tackling and attacking with the sticks is allowed. (That's my Tide-commercial kid in the middle. He's #13 in the other photos.)

We traveled to Tulsa, Oklahoma last weekend so they could play against teams from Tulsa; Springfield, Missouri; and Wichita, Kansas. Three games, and we didn't win any of them on paper, but so what?! The boys had a fabulous time, and they were playing against lacrosse clubs that had been together for several years. The first game ended in a tie at 4-4, so we went into overtime. We ended up losing 5-4 but in double overtime! The other two games weren't quite as close, but they weren't blow outs either. All the other coaches, referees, and parents were completely amazed that those were our first games ever...apparently, we didn't look anything like novices. Way to go, guys!

My proverbial hat is off to Vera McMurrin for bringing her idea to life. It was so fun to watch her watch the games last Saturday...the look of joy on her face was a delight to watch. It was her son Drew who got the boys started so long ago, and as a former high school and collegiate lacrosse player herself, she started the team, recruited the coaches, and now manages two large teams. She's found a new passion and thrill for these kids. Drew is #25 here, to Colin's right.

(But the way, if you're reading this, and you have a son aged 11-18 who's interested in learning this amazing sport, let me know!)