LOOKING FOR 'OLE BIG'

The boys in the Schubert house are READY to kill! (I know that sounds awful)

It's October which means it's hunting season. Wes has a lease in Trinity, about an hour away and him and colson have been together twice so far. And then they hunted on our land in Oklahoma one weekend recently.

Colson gets so excited....

he just can't stand it!

CALLI'S FIRST MUM

I’m not a mum person. I never was…not sure I ever will be. But I do like to surprise people with things THEY like. So Calli told me a few weeks before homecoming that she wanted a mum. And then I was told several times between then and homecoming that she wanted a mum. Because you know….my kids don’t think I hear them the first 4 times they mention something. So on the Friday morning of homecomeing I whipped out a cute little mum…..well not actually on that day. I whipped out the mum that I had bought a week earlier. She was so excited…she had no trouble getting up and going. She wore it to school and grinned from ear to ear as she got out of the car that morning. It's so sweet to see her so excited about something so simple. And here’s the text I got after school….

"Send me that picture of me this morning with my mum!

P.S. I LOVE MY MUM!! THANK U SOOOO

MUCH FOR GETTING ME THAT ! EVERONE

ELSE LOVED IT TOO!

I LOVE YOU!

Calli Grace"

S.O.S.

Coach Brian called it Sold.Out.Sergeants for Serving.Our.Seniors day. Last weekend the Sergeants participated in a team service project. Woodlands Elite requires that each team do a service project. Of course, not all the team has to be there but in our case I think we were only missing a few. When I tell you that Calli was so excited to participate, it is a total understatement. She talked about it all week leading up to the big Saturday and then mentioned in her Sunday School class that it was the highlight of her week. The girl has my mom’s (Grammies) servant heart. Me? I wasn’t quite as excited but mainly because I had to get up at 6:45 AM on my only day to sleep in. This '6 AM wake up every day to get Calli to school' gig really makes my weekends enjoyable….when I can sleep in.

Our service project entailed helping out Senior citizens in the community. And our group was split up into 2. So half of the team went to a Senior Citizen apartment complex and our group was assigned to two Senior citizen homes.  Our first lucky recipient was Nancy. Sweet little Nancy really wanted to move her car for us so we could cut the limbs off the tree BUT the car doesn’t work. We cut limbs, cleaned her windows, trimmed her bushes and weeded her front bed.

 And cheerleaders don’t need ladders, we just need 2 bases and a backspot. I'm not sure who is working harder here...Calli to cut the limbs or the girls on the ground keeping her up.

Before we left Miss Nancy’s house, Coach Brian wanted to make sure we had done everything she needed. She asked if we could come inside and do the inside of her windows too. So me and two moms went in to finish the inside doing our best to not hit any of her very breakable collectables (to her) that were lying around. I pondered why we were doing the windows when it was obvious that her blinds stayed shut all day. And apparently she didn’t want us to halfway do them because she went behind us a couple of times and pulled the blinds up farther and reminded us to redo that window. She was also very inquisitive on where the closest Fiesta was because “they were having a really good sale”. I was worried if we told her where one was, we might get asked to take her there since her car didn’t work. JUST KIDDING! She was very sweet…even sweet enough to pose for a picture with us.

Next we to Granny’s house. Her house was a little more labor intensive…we weeded, mulched, repaired fence boards, trimmed bushes and weeded some more. She wasn’t particular about what we did as long as we didn’t uproot her faux graveyard. She said her grandson loved the graveyard. She wanted to see the girl’s stunt and so we got them up and asked her to get in the picture. And she had a fit. There was no way we were going to get her in that picture with the girls in the air. At one point she came out with apples in a basket and I couldn’t help but feel like I was in the little red riding hood/sleeping beauty book where the witch was tempting us with (poisonous) apples. She was no witch though…a very sweet lady.

It was nice helping those in need and it was really great to see the girls so excited and willing to help those in need.

BASEBALL FEVER

Our select team is now completely formed. We've got 10 solid players and we've been playing some baseball. 2 practices a week, we've played 6 or 7 scrimmages and as of this month we've started 2 tournaments a month. The true test will be if Wes can make it. He's coaching so he can't just miss practice if he wants to do something else. And if you don't know my husband he has lots of hobbies. Fortunately baseball is one of them so there hasn't been too much complaining. I love watching the games and this team is so fun to watch because they are really good. Our first tournament was actually at the end of September and as parents we weren't really sure where we stood against the competition but we thought we had a good chance. On Saturday you play 2 games and that seeds you for the big day Sunday. And Saturday the boys brought their A game. We beat both teams and the games were cut short because of the run rule. Sunday was a different story. I think it was a good (hard) lesson. They came in thinking they were going to win the whole tournament. Our first team to play was one we beat on Saturday and the game was over in their mind before it even started. And then they got up to bat and realized Wes wasn't pitching and as everyone knows, baseball is mental. The boys freaked out. Wes plays bass in the church and hadn't planned well. He didn't want to leave the church hanging without a bass player so he played. His intention was to catch the more important 2nd and 3rd games and really thought we'd win the first no problem. Secretly the team wants to blame Wes for our big loss but I think it was a good lesson. The boys quit after the first inning.

So our next tournament was this past weekend. Again Saturday was a SOLID day. We played a GREAT team from Beaumont and won by 1 run. It was such a great game. So we went into Sunday slated 1st. And wouldn't you  know after 100 days of no rain, The Lord decided to bring a DOWNPOUR!!! So the tournament was cancelled. The boys were soooo disappointed.

So we wait for the last weekend in October and hope it's a good one. Colson's hitting is a little down but he's still a solid hitter and will hit at every "at bat" so we can't complain about that. He's a great defensive player at 2nd base too. Now if he can just master the mental part of the game, we'd have ourselves a ball game. He beats himself up if he makes a mistake thinking Wes is mad at him. I've tried to teach him some tactics to stay on point mentally but I'm just a mom....and child psychiatry is not my thing. He seems to be keeping his head on straight, at least in games so maybe it's working. He loves the game though and hasn't complained once about practice or games which makes watching him even more fun!

SCHOOL

So we finished up the first 6 weeks of school which seems really strange. Our house is so calm in the mornings now that the kids don't even see each other. Calli has to get up at 6:15 and Colson (and Wes) is still snoozing. She RARELY complains about getting up in the mornings which is a miracle! After I drop Calli off I come home and wake up Colson. And he's a breeze to get up and out the door. My only issue with him is getting him to match. He puts on the strangest things in the morning usually by passing what I have picked out. And sometimes, if I'm out of energy, he goes dressed "as is". Someone once told me to pick your battles and sometimes I choose NOT to fight the YOU DON'T MATCH battle.

So report cards came home this week and if I'm honest, I had a little disappointment when Colson pulled his out and read the note from his teacher that said "So close to all A's". Yes, he made a B...and 89...in Reading. I know...he's in 2nd grade. It's not a big deal but I was still a little sad. Of course I told him he still did good and I gave him my little pep talk about he's smart enough to have all A's. And of course he really didn't appreciate it. But my disappointment was reversed when I attended his pep rally on Friday and he received the Citizenship award for his class. This means he was a good citizen of the classroom-a hard worker, obey the rules, respectful of the teacher and his peers, etc. He told me afterwards that he wished that Shane could have gotten the award because Shane thinks he'll never get an award. This kid really is a softie even though he acts like Mr. Tough Guy! I told him that award should mean more to him than any grade he will ever get.

Calli blew me away with her grades. Her lowest grade was a 94 in Technology which is basically a glorified typing class. I am so proud of how responsible she is. How she studies for her tests. How she keeps up with her assignments. She's a GREAT student! Her other grades were
History 96
Science 96
Math 95
English 98

Only 5 more six weeks and we'll be throwing end of the year parties! WOW!

GIFTING

My kids love, love, LOVE to make birthday presents for everyone when it's time for our family parties.  Usually on the day of the party they spend anywhere from 1 to 3 hours making something for the guest of honor. And it's usually tangible, something they can take home. Sometimes Colson likes to regift instead of making his. And when I say regift I mean used regifting. Meaning he doesn't take an object that he has never used and is still in the original packaging. He takes an object, maybe even one that is broken, that he's basically extinguished all the fun out of and gives it away. Sometimes he even tries to take MY things.  He goes through and finds something that he thinks would fit the birthday girl/boy. But he still will spend a great deal of time finding the perfect gift and then wrapping it appropriately.

So this year for my birthday, they both decided to make me something. Calli made this S. I can't remember why we couldn't take the picture with the S in the correct way.

 And Colson decided to make his out of bowls.

Both very sweet and overjoyed to reveal them!