THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

Here is the conversation that Colson and I had on Friday afternoon as we were enjoying our lunch in the beautiful sunshine....

Colson: Is that a ham sandwich you are eating?
Me: Yes
Colson: I invented the ham sandwich
Me: Really?
Colson: Yea. Grammie invented the turkey sandwich
Me: Well who invented the peanut butter and jelly sandwich?
Colson: Obama

IT'S DOUBLE DIGITS!

While Calli is asleep and her BIG DAY is almost over, I must say that I can't believe that my baby girl is TEN today! Wow do they grow up fast! I can't tell you how many times that I hear that a week/a month/ a year and it never really sets in. They really do grow up fast!

I feel like we've celebrated all week beginning with her birthday party last weekend. On Sunday she took her birthday money and as part of our gift to her, we paid for the other half of the most talked about gift in the last 3 months. She got an iTouch for the big one-o. I felt really good about getting it for her AFTER I thought of the "you pay half" deal. This way I think she'll take better care of it and keep up with it since she has a horrible habit of not having a place for things and then never knowing where they are.

On Friday I took a cookie cake up to her class. Everyone loves a good cookie cake...especially me! And today we celebrated out at Lupe Tortilla with us and my 3rd child...Carson. I didn't even get a picture so use your imagination.

We kicked off baseball for Colson on Saturday with a parade at 8 AM. Pictures at 10:30 and his first game at Noon. We had a whole cheering section for him with all the grandparents and the cutest kid in Montgomery County, Hudson, there. Colson played okay and certainly miles ahead of where he ended off in the Fall. He can catch the ball pretty good. His throwing is getting better and his hitting is so-so. Him and I were throwing the ball on Friday afternoon and I was trying to get him to put a little more umph in his throws. The coach had him playing at 3rd base a lot in practices and sometimes he would just lob the ball to first. I was kidding and told him that if he didn't quit throwing like a girl, the coach would move him to the outfield and move the only girl on his team to third. So during the game he played 3rd base until the last inning. I looked out to watch him walking to the outfield staring at me and shrugging his shoulders as if to say "what are you looking at? So what if I'm walking out here to the outfield." Luckily the girl didn't take his 3rd base spot or his girl throwing arm would have been joined wtih some girl like tears.

Later Saturday evening, Calli and I headed to her cheer banquet to finish this season off. It was quite the affair and semi-formal attire. Calli enjoyed getting all dressed up, hanging out with her team mates and dancing a few songs shakin what her mama gave her!

We ended one season last night and started the next one today. She had tryouts. She's moving up a level, or she tried out for it. The parents couldn't watch but I asked her who evaluated her. It was Kevin and Jessica her current coaches. I laughed...as if they needed to see what she could do. Seemed kind of pointless to me. Oh well. We get one week off and then new team practices start next week. We'll be taking it VERY lightly though the end of the school year and the summer. One day a week will be plenty!

Crazy week ahead as we prepare for Easter and get in full swing with baseball!

PETA members DO NOT READ!

So you may know by now that we at one time, not too long ago owned a hampster affectionately named Taco. Taco disappeared. We hope he escaped for his life but the odds have it that if he did escape, he probably didn't get too far before being laid to rest somewhere. So apparantly Calli speaks often of Taco, especially at lunch (weird). So her friend Michaela thought it would be pefect to get her a new hampster for her birthday. It was a great idea...she asks for one daily.  After clearing it with me, Dorito entered our home on Saturday, March 20th. Since he was a gift, he was Calli's so Colson had to get his own the next day. 

Dorito was much sweeter than Taco. He would let you hold him and pet him. He wasn't near as fast so he was easy to get out of his cage and you didn't have to worry about him quickly escaping your hands. His lack of speed may have been his detrmient though. He only survived 2 days at our house before the dogs jumped up on the table, nocked the cage down and chased him to his death. I walked in on the attack shortly after the crash but it was too late. Colson's hampster, Sox, was with Colson so he was safe.

It was about 10 minutes before we left to pick up Calli from school and as she climbed into the car, Colson said it best..."It's going to be a bad moment Calli. Get ready". I told him not to tell her becsause I had some unrelated questions to ask her and I needed answers before the drama unfolded. So, once I finished my "business", Colson again prefaced the moment with another "you better get ready Calli, it's gonna be bad". Calli asked me to wait until she got her sweatshirt off because "I'm gonna cry aren't I?" she asked. Do birds fly? Of course you are gonna cry.

I told her what happened and the tears poured. We went straight to the pet store to get her another one but as of now she hasn't found one that she really likes. We'll check back next week. I felt really bad for Michaels who gave her the hampster and replied "Well that didn't take long." But considering that he was a memeber of our family, and we aren't the best pet owners, 2 days may be pretty good.

"

DOWN AND DIRTY

On Saturday we celebrated Calli's TENTH birthday with some big, messy fun! We've spent the past couple of weeks scouring the internet for the dirtiest games we could find. Calli picked every game we played and we were both very excited for the big event. The weather has been absolutely beautiful the past couple of weeks but of course a front blew in Saturday and the morning started out cold and rainy. We had prayed for a couple of days for no rain during the party and God answered that prayer. There was no rain come 4:00. But it was really cold! We forgot to pray for that.  So I brought the party inside. I had put down plastic all over the game room floor and let the kids go to town with some good old messiness! My mother in law was completely out of her comfort zone being the neat freak that she is (I mean that in the most affectionate way...she's not really a freak). When we played the popcorn/peanut butter game, there was popcorn everywhere. All of the sudden the teacher came out in her and she was ordering all the kids to pick up the popcorn while we were cleaning the peanut butter off the faces...yes I said faces. I realized later though that she knew she would be the one to clean up and she just wanted some help. Her and my mom always play maid after every get together I have. It's very nice although I'm sure this party was one they wished they had broken arms or something.

Whoever found their 10 M&M's first in their pile of whipped cream won this game.

Colson didn't care about the M&M's, he just wanted the whipped cream in his face.

Throw the cheese popcorn at your partners peanut buttered face and see how many you can get to stick. This one was disgusting but the one Calli was MOST looking forward to. 

Make an ice cream sundae on your partners face. The partner on the ground held a cone with ice cream in it in their mouth. The partner above had to put the whipped cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles and don't forget the cherry on top.

And of course Hudson who's all about the snack at any place he goes, followed closely behind all the food mess and nibbled when he could. Then I can't tell you how many pieces of cake he ate because my sister reads this blog. But who cares....when you are this darn cute you can eat whatever you want in my book.

All had a great time and although things didn't go quite as planned, the kids had fun, everyone got along and Calli loved it!

MEET DANI

Pray for her.

Danielle, affectionately called Dani, is one of Calli's friends from cheer. Calli cheered with her last year at our gym in Willis and then was on the same team with her this year in The Woodlands. In October, Dani complained of being dizzy during cheer practices. Upon an initial once over by the Doc, he thought she had an inner ear infection and cold and gave her some meds. By December, things were getting worse and to the point where she couldn't tumble it was so bad. Danielle's mom took her back to the Dr. and asked for an MRI to be done. The MRI showed a 1" tumor on her Cerebellum. She had surgery the next day. The type of cancer is rare. It's Medullablastoma and treated with radiation and chemo.

She obviously had to quit cheer. She had to quit school and her teachers come out twice a week now. She just completed her radiation at the end of February and was given a month off before she starts chemo. Her Dr. allowed her to come to the teams last cheer competition in San Antonio and it was a good spirit lifter for Danielle. She's weak. She's lost 17 pounds. Nothing tastes good when she's not nauseous, she's lost most of her hair and your heart breaks for her. We went to dinner with her one night and it was good to see her laughing and smiling. The coaches let her stay with the team all day both days....kinda like a manager and I think she liked that. It sure beat sitting on the couch or sleeping all day. 

She starts chemo on April 9th. She will have to stay in the hospital for 6-7 days at a time getting constant chemo treatments. Then she'll be released for 30 days going back daily to check her blood levels, platelets, etc. That happens 4 times, hopefully within 4 months but there could be set backs.

Woodlands Elite held a fundraiser and blood drive for her....WOW! I was blown away, I can only imagine what Danielle and her family felt. Yes, these are some of the same OTCM that I have this love/hate relationship with, that organized this amazing event in honor of her. Keep in mind that they only came to the gym in May of 2009 and she had to quit in December 2009. Yet, they still don't want her to be forgotten. They held a silent auction that raised $11,000 and a blood drive that brought in 101 units of blood...all on Valentine's Day. I think that's pretty amazing!

We'll keep praying for her. I know, and her family knows, that God can heal her. Her spirits need to be lifted and one day she'll look back on this and see God's hand carrying her through. It does make me so grateful for the health we have and the realization that it could all change in AN INSTANT!

WILL I EVER LEARN?

It was decided that the kids and I would take a trip to the zoo on Tuesday. I didn't tell the kids until Monday night and upon announcement, Colson's brain started thinking. As he laid in bed Monday night going through our normal routine, he asked if there were Gorillas at the zoo? I KNEW where this conversation was going. Here's how it played out....

ME: Yes they have gorillas.
COLSON: How do they know if the cages are strong enough so they can't get out?
ME: (laughing) Are you scared?
COLSON: (shyly grinning as if to say, how did you figure me out?)
ME: The cages are plenty strong and the gorillas will not get out.
COLSON: I think I'll bring my bat in case they do
ME: (belly laughing)
COLSON: No, maybe I'll bring 2 bats in case he splits the first one in half.

Who showed my kid King Kong because I'm certain that's who he thought we'd see upon arrival at the zoo?
Well our outing to the zoo ended up being a joyride around Houston via the Hardy Toll Road. I NEVER watch the weather. I never get online to see what it will be like, I never listen to Frank Billingsly on Channel 2, I think I even tune out the weather when it comes over the radio. I have no excuse either because it's all at my fingertips with my Weather Channel app on my IPhone....why did I even get that app....Oh so I could check the weather. Well we loaded  up the car to the zoo and about halfway there it started sprinkling. No big deal, it will stop when we get there (proof that I live in my own little world). Guess what? It didn't. So there's nothing like making a Plan B on the spot. Plan B was not a big deviation from Plan A. We would buy some panchos and walk around the zoo and maybe get a little wet but that might make it more fun. The kids were good with Plan B so we started to the gate. Plan B didn't factor in that we were all in shorts, tshirts and flip flops. The short walk to the gate had all of us freezing, Colson was even shivering. So, onto Plan C. Main Event....indoors, fun, indoors, we hadn't been in a while, indoors, close to home, indoors.

I didn't take many pictures because I just forgot but we bowled, played lazer tag (so fun) and enjoyed too much time in the Arcade. As we were headed out we noticed some face painters. So the kids got these. What happened to the rainbow and hearts that we used to get. Colson's lady would have painted his whole body had he let her. I don't think he realized when he agreed to the dragon that it would consume his whole face but of course he thought it was really cool!

Next time I head somewhere far I'll TRY and remember to check the weather. I wouldn't bet money that I'll remember though. Old habits are hard to break.

MY DAD IS NOT SURPRISED

Along with the well know "sock black hole" that most families have, the Schubert family has a "flip flop black hole" for Colson's shoes only.

Notice we have one pair and it's the pair that's too small. Also notice that the black hole must only like left shoes because he left all of the right.

FLASHBACK

On Wednesday Calli hopped in the car from school and handed me a neatly folded note with her name on it. You know the kind with the little pull tag. Anyways, she tells me that it's really for me. I open it up and here is what it read:
       Dear Calli,
       Rember (yes spelled this way) to ask your mom if I can sleep over!
       Yours trueley (again spelled this way)
            Kenzi
       PS My mom said yes.

Once I had completed that note, she handed me another note, again for me. I opened that one and it said.
        Dear Steph
        I say yes if you Steph say yes.

There was no signature on this one but I'm thinking it was from Kenzi's mom, who also happens to be one of their teachers. I couldn't resist. I wrote back:
        Dear Tracey,
        Will you be my friend?

        Please circle yes or no

I neatly refolded it and surpised Calli with my talent to do so. If they only knew that the things that they do today were around when I was growing up, things wouldn't be so cool. I asked her to give it to Mrs. Gray.

Mrs. Gray obviously couldn't resist either and she wrote back: BFF Forever!!!

So that gave us a laugh for a couple of days. I texted her on Thursday and confirmed that I would love to have Kenzi spend the night on Friday would that be ok? She replied back explaining that Kenzi had been packed since Tuesday. This girl cracks me up.

So I decided to make it an all out sleepover and allow Colson to have a friend over too. It gives way for much less drama when I do it that way. Only here is how Colson ended up at 6 pm. Not quite what his friend Karson had in mind.

I was loading them up for baseball practice only to be rerouted when Colson threw up all over the car. Turns out I think his lunch that day decided it didn't like his belly. He slept for 2 hours and then was up and ready to go. I had already sent Karson home with a promise that we'd do it again soon.....I'm living up to my word because he's coming over tomorrow.

So Kenzi, Calli and Colson played around most of the day and tried the pool out 3 times. It's really cold so each stint only lasted a few minutes. Then they would get out and play only to return to the pool an hour later thinking that maybe it had warmed up by then. Never mind the mom voice in the background saying "It's too cold but if you want to".

OTCM

Over-the-top Cheer Moms. I think I've told a few storeis about Calli's cheer team and the ludicrousy of some of the parents. This past weekend we ended our 2009-2010 season in San Antonio. The girls had a fall on Saturday which cost them first place I think. On Sunday they nailed it and although I don't know the scores, I'm fairly certain that Cheer Nation (our rival) beat us by a VERY small margin. So, they got 2nd out of 5. Still nothing to be ashamed of. And everyone behaved themselves so it made for a pleasant weekend. The over the top part came into play on Wednesday when we got an email from one of the moms asking if there was interest in getting a limo for the girls both days to take them from the hotel to the convention center. OTCM flashed in my head....the new term that Jennifer and I gave some of the other moms.

A limo? Really? In my head I'm thinking shouldn't they be focused on the routine they were about to do which lead me to the rabbit trail of thinking maybe I too was an OTCM. But in all seriousness, these girls are 7-12 in age. Aren't we spoiling them a little by taking them in a limo? And what would the folks walking by from other teams say when the white stretch limo pulls up and the zebra print carpet is rolled out (oh yes they did) for our girls to step onto. Jennifer and I laughed that we'd don our non Woodlands Elite gear, hat  and sunglasses and stand off to the side looking like by standers so we could hear what others were saying.

The cost of the limo was $20 per girl for the two days and is it really worth the battle to have my child be the only one not riding for $20? I decided no and when ahead and paid my dues and let Calli ride. On Saturday the girls got all excited when a black limo was waiting outside. We were quickly informed that it wasn't for us, it was for a WEDDING and ours was white. Wedding....cheer competition....wedding....cheer competition....does anyone else see the craziness?

It turned out to be not as big of a show as I was expecting because the drop off point was not in the line of heavy traffic so hardly anyone saw them gliding out. It's still something to laugh about for year to come though. I think I should start saving for a helicopter fund for Calli's wedding. A limo may be old news by then. Wes will give them a 4 wheeler to ride off in and think nothing of it.

SILLY BOY

Here are some pictures that I confiscated off of Colson's camera. This was on our way home from the rodeo Monday night (another post) at 10:00 at night. Notice he has no shirt on. Why does he do this kind of thing? He gets in the car and usually immediately takes his shirt off or his shoes. It's just strange I tell you.

As part of AWANA at church, Colson is learning the books of the New Testament in the Bible. Here is Colson's version that seem to roll off his tongue every time...

Galations
Confusions
Olympians
Colossions

So cute!

ALL THINGS FEBRUARY

So I've missed a lot in February. It's just life. It's just me. So while I still have a few more hours left in this glorious month, I'll fill in a few of the memories along the way. And can I say how is February 2010 already over?!?!?!What is February most well known for? The month of L-O-V-E! These are my 3 Valentines. Aren't they just adorable? Yea, I know, I can think of many words that describe Wes and adorable is not one of them.....regardless...this is my world...right here captured in this sweet little picture. My kids, my husband and sweets!

So of course we had parties! Colson had his party.

Calli had her party.

Then the kids were off the day after Valentines Day so their "love" gift from me was a trip to Build A Bear. And each got one of recording sound inserts and I recorded a special message to each of them. Tuesday Colson brings his Longhorn (I know, gag) home and the recorded message is no longer his sweet mom but a muffled singing of something. How in the world did he manage to rerecord over me, I don't know. He's boy. Enough said.

Colson also had Pajama Day. I'm wanting to send a petition around at my office and see if we can get a Pajama Day. The story lady came and had some interactive story time with them which my office could probably do without but these kids loved her.

And Colson also had Super Kids dress up day. Every week or two, the class is introduced to a new "Super Kid" as part of the curriculum in teaching them to read. After they were all introduced, they had a Super Kids party where they all dressed up as their favorite. Colson, and several other boys, was Sal. The funnest part was coloring his hair black. It's hard to tell in this picture, but it really changed his whole look.

And finally, these parts of Texas received snow....real snow!!! It started late one afternoon and actually stuck to the ground. There wasn't enough to do anything with it at our house but in selective spots around the city there were some who could make snowballs and even very small snowmen. Of course it was all melted by the morning which resulted in pouting and disgust by 2 rugrats. Here's Colson trying to catch the snow through the car window.

So, now we start into March, MARCH really?!?!