Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

I love the University of Kansas Jayhawks!!! And, I love basketball!! My favorite sport!! So when basketball season rolls around every year three members of our family are excited to see how successful the Hawks will be, Landon, Emerson, and myself.  Unfortunately, two other family members cheer for the Longhorns. LOL

Last weekend my dad called to tell me that they were going to the game on Saturday and he had been given two extra tickets.  He was offering them to my brother and me.  I was super excited!! Not only was I getting an opportunity to go to a game, because getting a ticket is very difficult, but these tickets were on the SECOND ROW!!! Wow!! I had been to many games, but NEVER sat that close.

Then reality hit..."Danielle, you're a full-time working mother of three, and you have 2 Saturday's left before Christmas."  I knew I couldn't go.  It was hard for me to tell my parents that I wasn't going to be able to do this...so I did the next best thing, I called my brother and asked him if he would take Landon instead.  He was happy too.  My folks would be down a few days later so we decided to keep it a secret and let my dad tell him when he got here. 

We all met for dinner a few days later and my dad told Landon that he was going to the game on Saturday. Then he said he had an extra ticket and they were going to give it to him.  I was SO EXCITED to see the expression on his face....and then, there was none.  He looked at my dad and very casually said "well, I don't know if I want to go, I can just stay at home and watch them on TV."  I was freaking out!! Who's child is this??? Are you kidding me kid???  Then I collected myself and thought, of course this was his reaction.  Landon is a slow mover of change.  He likes routine and predictability.  This was not in his plan.  He had just given up the last 5 weekends of his life to be in a play and was looking forward to playing video games and Legos this weekend (he can only play video games on the weekend).  So this was going to be a BIG sacrifice for him to give that up. BUT IT WAS THE JAYHAWKS!! AND IT WAS SECOND ROW SEATS!!!

I said "buddy, I think it would be so fun to go, and mom can't go so I would really like you to go for me.  You get to sit in the second row, and I'm sure you'll get to eat all kinds of junk food!"  He still would not commit and I said we would talk about it later.

We got home and I told him he was going.  He got a little choked up because I wasn't going and I assured him he would have a great time.  I told him that tomorrow (Friday) he was going to call his Uncle JJ and tell him he was going.  I said we were not going to talk about it anymore.  And that was the end of that.

By Saturday morning he was getting excited.  The only thing he was not happy about was the 3 hour drive to Lawrence.  But my brother, the baby of the family, and total kid himself, made sure the drive was all about fun! Pizza, REAL Dr. Pepper (not the diet stuff I make him drink), and snacks for the road.  Watching movies in the car and playing video games on his DS, and showing off his lyrical skills by singing every word to every song that came on the radio.  Landon was in heaven!

My brother kept sending me pics of him as they shopped around town.  Once at the Fieldhouse, they toured the Hall of Athletics.  They faced-timed us right before the game.  I could tell he was so excited!

After the game was over, he called us.  This is how I remember the conversation. "Hey mom! THIS WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!" "I got to give Releford and Bill Self a high-five!!!" "IT WAS AWESOME!!"  And those capital letters by all means, signify him yelling in the phone!



Beware of the Phog!
 



KU Hall of Athletics.



Oh yeah, I'm lovin it!!

 

Uncle JJ, Landon, and Pa


 

Standing in the tunnel....gives ya goosebumps!

 



Rock Chalk Baby!

 



Waiting to High-Five Bill Self.

 



LOVE!

WJHS Christmas Concert 2012

I love going to holiday concerts, especially the ones at school. There is something about hearing children sing and perform that warms my heart and puts me in the Christmas spirit.  Jackson is in the choir at WJHS.  He is in the all boys choir.  Now, if you think about Jr. High boys, other than their complete insanity at this age, I think about all the voice changing that is going on during these years!  God Bless a Jr. High choir instructor, I can't image his frustration...one day you have 30 kids singing tenor and the next day only 20...10 have now become a bass! HaHa  I just laugh thinking about it (reminds me of that episode of "The Brady Bunch" where Peter's voice is squeaking)

About 2 days before the concert, my fourteen-year-old very casually says "oh mom, I am going to sing a small solo at the concert." Oh, OK great...thanks for giving me the heads-up!  I didn't lead on that this was a big deal, but on the inside, I was so excited for him!  I was more impressed that in these vulnerable years of Jr. High my kiddo felt confident enough in himself to stand up and do this in front of his peers, especially all boys! 

The night of the concert he didn't seem to be nervous about it.  We sat in the back of the auditorium (it's a requirement with a 2-year-old to have easy exit access), and had our video ready to go.  The song started and as the choir sang, Jackson and another boy stepped off the risers and made their way to the front of the stage in front of a microphone.  The other boy began to sing first, or so I thought.  I couldn't hear anything!  I'm thinking to myself, we should have sat closer.  Then Jackson started to sing, and again, I couldn't hear anything...the microphone wasn't on.  I was so sad for Jackson.  The choir kept singing and then the director walked over to the microphone and turned it on, he made a few funny comments, and told the audience that the boys deserved to be heard so they were going to start again.  Then a small commotion started in the risers as the choir members were giving Jackson and this other kid a hard time because they had to do it again.  It was pretty funny, and I think it got the jitters out.

He did a great job.  We were both very proud of him.  Not just for singing a small solo, but for being such a great kid!!

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Earlier this fall I got one of those "mass e-mails" from a district employee that had an affiliation with the community theater in our area.  It said that they were needing more boys to try out for the play "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" that was going to be in December.  Immediately I thought, Landon has to do this!  Chris and I have said for a long time that "acting" would be right up his ally.  So I went on-line and found out all the details, printed out the audition script and song and took it home that night. 

Landon was familiar with this play because last year his class went on a field trip to see it.  I remember him telling me that he liked it and thought it was funny. I knew I couldn't just tell him I was going to take him to an audition, I had to ease into this one.  So when I got home from school I started talking about the play, asking him if he remembered it, and so on.  We were having a nice conversation about it and I said "You know Landon, I got an e-mail today that said they needed some boys to try out for this play, I think you should do this."  I knew it would probably be hard to convince him, but I had no idea the reaction I was about to receive.  He looked at me and his eyes welled up with tears.  He said "mom, what if I would mess up and all those people would laugh at me?"  He was as serious as he could be, and I thought "Oh my gosh kid, I just suggested that you try-out!"  But our Landon is a pretty literal kiddo, and in his mind, he had already put himself on that stage and thought of the worst possible scenario.  I told him not to worry about that and we would think about this for a while.

The problem was, I didn't have a "little while." I had 5 days to convince him to do this, and have him practice enough to be comfortable to get up and audition!  I had to come up with a quick plan, perhaps a little devious, but totally with his best interest at heart!  My plan needed another person to be involved and who better to be in on this than Jackson!  When he got home I told him what was going on and asked if he thought he could try out too, just to make Landon feel more comfortable.  He said yes and then said, "well mom, what do I do if I make it?"  I about fell on the floor laughing!  I assured him we would cross that bridge when we came to it.

That evening Jackson delivered an Oscar performance!  He told Landon he was going to try out and that he should do it too.  They started talking about it and then started reading the lines to each other.  It was fun to sit back and listen to all of this unfolding in the living room.  Then they got on YouTube and watched some of the movie.  That's when Landon decided he would try out.

The day of the tryouts, Jackson decided he was too busy to be in the play (wink, wink) and Landon was OK with that.  Chris and I had talked about this and decided that our only goal out of this entire process was to have Landon be confident enough in himself to get on that stage and say the lines and sing the song, and not have a breakdown!!  And....he did it!! :) 

He was chosen to be a shepherd, an non-speaking role.  We were pretty surprised he was chosen, but then had to say "OK, we have 3 kids and we work full time, what have we done here?" In fact, after the first e-mail letting us know he was in it, I replied to the director and said that we didn't know if we could make this commitment since his part was a non-speaking part and we had a 30 minute drive to get to the rehearsal's.  He replied to my email and gave me the names of people we could carpool with, then said that this would be a great experience for our son.....and boy was he right!

This experience was so great for Landon.  His self-esteem just sailed!  He was definitely in "his element!"  Sunday was the last performance (there were 12 in all....whew!), Chris took him and when he got home I asked him how it was....he said "Great! And next year mom, I'm going to try out again and get a speaking part!"

This is during dress rehearsal. Top row, middle.

Walking on stage.

 

The Herdman Family...what a crew!!

 

The Shepherds watching their flocks by night.

 

Cutest little shepherd a sheep ever had!

His friend from school, Stevie Grace.

Telling GGPA all about it!

 

Just some of the people who came to see the play.  Uncle Ward and Aunt
Colleen.  GGPA and Liz.  Gigi and Uncle JJ. And the one who is responsible
for Landon trying out...Jackson!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emerson's 2nd Birthday

It's hard to believe that two years have gone by.  I guess the older I get, the faster life moves.  Emerson's birthday was last Thursday November 29th.  We have been so busy lately, and the 29th was no exception.  This poor girl's mother even had to ask grandma (Gigi) to make her a cupcake so she could blow out the candles!  But fortunately for her, it was all about the "Dora gifts." This girl LOVES Dora!

After school I picked her up from daycare and Chris came home early so we could open presents before we went to eat.  Landon had play practice and he and Chris had to leave by 6:30 so it was a little fast and furious. 

In true two year old fashion, we had to take the new Dora figurines to the restaurant.

Thanks Gigi for the cupcakes!

We had her party on Saturday with our neighbor kids and her cousin Reese.  It has been unseasonably warm this month so on Wednesday we looked at the forecast and decided that it was warm enough to rent an inflatable.  We didn't know if we would ever be able to have an "outside" birthday party at the end of November again so we did it!! It was great despite the 25 mile an hour wind! But the kids had a great time and I'm pretty sure we wore them all out, and we were worn out too!!

I made these tutu bags and filled them with dum-dum suckers for each of the little girls.  Emerson found those and wanted nothing but a sucker! :)

 

 

It was a great day, we are truly blessed!

Deck the Halls

Usually I really enjoy decorating for the holidays, but this year was not a "usual" year.  We started the day before Thanksgiving.  I was very excited that morning, Emerson and I were up eating breakfast and I decided to wake up the boys to help (they were not thrilled) but the day started out great.  I always do a few new things each year and this year I stole my ideas from Pinterest. 

Emerson and I had a lot of fun making the felt Christmas Tree and ornaments.  She and Landon colored while I was using the glue gun (Landon was her keeper), and she loved playing with it when we were finished. 

 

 

I also made a NOEL out of the cardboard letters I found at Hobby Lobby.  A little paint, and a glue gun (a glue gun to a teacher, is like a TV remote to a man!) and voila....my own little version of ones I've seen on Pinterest.

 

 

I think part of the reason it was not "usual" is because it has been a few years since I attempted to do this with a two year old in the house.  The path of destruction kept following me and as soon as I would put something up, she was taking something down or getting something out.  It was chaos!!

Just innocently sitting on an ornament box...fueling up for the
destruction she was about to unleash! :-)

  Since it was super crazy in the house I told Jackson I wanted him to do something for me outside.  Usually Chris and the boys put up the lights outside a few weeks before Thanksgiving, on a weekend when the weather is nice.  This was already done, but I wanted to add one more thing to the outside.  We have a Japanese Maple tree just outside our dining room window and I thought it would be really pretty if we wrapped the trunk and the lower branches of the tree with lights.  I told Jackson this was his "baby."  You would have thought I told him he was going to the dentist!  He learned many lessons on this day...

 

1. If you start something with a bad attitude, it's probably not going to go well

2. Always check to see if the lights "work" before you put them on the tree.

3. Don't roll your eyes at your mom...because she will take your picture and share it with everyone!!

 

This picture was taken about mid way through (about 2 hours) hahaha, I can't help but laugh just thinking about this...it was so funny...TO ME!!

 

Doesn't the body language say it all?

 

 

 

Thanksgiving 2012

This post is LONG overdue...but life has been running 100 mph, any mother knows what I'm talking about...
We had a wonderful, low-key, stress free Thanksgiving! We stayed in town and went to my brother's house.  My sister-in-law Candi had just given birth my nephew Peyton the week before, so her mother was staying with them for a few weeks.  She wanted us all to come to their house because her mom was cooking and it would be easier to be home with the baby. 
The night before Chris made a broccoli casserole...YUM....and I made a pumpkin roll ( it is a must have at all holiday meals!).  I love that broccoli casserole, but it is so full of calories and my kids don't really like it so we never make it, except for times like this.  I decided that I wasn't worrying about what I ate for the four day holiday (yes, Thanksgiving is only one day, but when you're a teacher, it is a multi-day holiday!!)

Thanksgiving morning we were not in a rush to get around. The kids ate breakfast and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV.  I absolutely love to watch this!  When I was growing up, we always traveled the morning of Thanksgiving so we never watched it, and up until two years ago when Emerson was born, we also traveled on Thanksgiving morning.  So the parade watching has only been happening at our house for the past few years.  Well, this years parade did NOT disappoint!  Emerson was so excited when she saw the Hello Kitty balloon and Elmo that the boys had to rewind it several times to make her happy...it was hilarious!

Emerson ate Cheerios and colored on a big piece of cardboard as she patiently waited for us to leave.

 

We finally arrived and the eating began!!

 

 

Darla, Ben, and Candi digging in...

Lots of food...and then some...

My niece Reese and Emerson are six months apart, and they are definitely BFF's!!

One week after having a baby, Candi, you deserve all that food!

 

Chris looks like he is up to something!

This is  the lady that made ALL of this food!! Candi's mom Connie, who was holding Miss Zoe while everyone else filled their plates. We tried to get her to go first, but she insisted....Thanks Connie for a wonderful meal!!