Did I really say never a dull moment?

How do you avoid road rage?  When you know you are not a perfect driver, you really should not be angry at others on the road.  I give you Exhibit A to prove that I am not a perfect driver.

This is what I did to the van today.

I was pulling away from a mailbox where I had dropped off a letter and hit the mailbox.

I know it was meant to make me feel better when two of the post office employees stated that I would be surprised how often this happens.  Instead, I had to ask why it does not have a curb set up or it isn't pushed back further to avoid this.  It was not my usual post office.  The set up there would make this almost impossible.

We have had only one accident claim on our auto insurance in 20 years, but when we talked to the insurance company we were told our premiums may increase as a result of this upon renewal.  Nice!  To add insult to injury, we have a hefty deductible and have probably paid more than the cost of this damage in premiums in just the last year.  We have also had maybe two speeding tickets in 20 years.  

We drive safely because we cannot afford accidents or tickets. The dings from other cars and a hailstorm have gone without repair.

It is frustrating just how much damage can be done in a slow moving vehicle.  This may involve more than the deductible expense if the body shop does not clean up the glass in the interior.  I got as much of it as I could with a car wash vacuum, but it is in crevices the vacuum won't reach, so I believe we are going to have the van detailed inside after having the damage fixed.

Merry Christmas to me.  Actually, Merry Christmas to Andy.  My next stop would have been to buy his gift.  I think I will order it online if I buy it at all. He won't have anything under the tree to open on Christmas day.  Honestly, I would feel much better if he didn't have anything for me under the tree, but I know him better than that.

Can I just add how insulting my daughter is?  Of course I called Andy right away, and he was in the middle of an already rough day as he is sick and was called to an extra shift at work after an already frustrating shift.  He shared what happened with Savannah, and she asked, "how could this happen?"  Julia responded with, "Oh, I can tell you exactly how it happened.  I have seen her almost do this before."  Gee thanks.

Then, I decided to watch "The Family Man" tonight.  The movie starts with a scene set in 1987.  I explained to the girls that there was a problem with that scene.  Girls did not wear straight hair in 1987, no way would this girl have had straight hair.  Julia burst out laughing, her contagious laugh, and stated, "you were alive in 1987?!"  

Really?  She is not the math wiz of the family, clearly.

About "The Family Man" - I love that movie, love the message and all that, but it is PG-13, and I think letting a 13 year old watch the movie is a stretch as this one should probably be "R".  It's a shame too because that is one movie that did not need the language and scenes that put it in that category.

For the record - no post office boxes were harmed in this incident.  Apparently, they are constructed of the metal that used to be used for cars.  Personally, I am ready for a dull moment or two.

Friday update:  $1700 and some change for the damage, and yes, that's quite a bit less than our annual car insurance premiums.  That's actually better than I expected.  We probably should not have risked increasing our insurance premium for that.  However, one advantage to the insurance is having a rental car covered because the holiday will slow down getting parts.  I am looking at a week and a half without the van.

Never a Dull Moment

I visited a mall every weeknight last week.  That's what happens when you start shopping a week and a half prior to Christmas - even when your normally modest Christmas is being scaled back.  On Thursday night, Julia had gymnastics.  A mall I rarely visit is close to the gym, so Zach and Savannah joined me for the trip out to the gym so that we could shop while Julia flipped.  For those in my local community, the J-mall has a spectacular ornament shop - well worth the trip out there even if you just browse for fun.  While we were gone, Andy ran a short errand.  We arrived home to find Wyatt in a sad state.  He had Zach's football CD, a keepsake sharing the slideshow from the banquet, firmly planted on his middle finger.  How did this happen?  

Wyatt's story went like this: I was watching a video, and I got distracted, and the CD ended up on my finger.

Sigh

only Wyatt

We couldn't help but laugh, but this really was not funny.  Zach, being the loving brother he is, shared the possibilities - saw through the CD, emergency room visit, cut off the finger.  Oh boys!  Wyatt's finger was swollen, and WD-40, soapy water, butter, peanut butter, ice, and Ibuprofen all failed to change the situation as we tried to save the CD.  Andy arrived at home and snapped the CD in two.  I think I am far more disappointed than Zach that it had to come to that though Andy is contacting a coach about a replacement.

Fortunately, Wyatt suffered no permanent damage.  In fact, when I picked up from school on Friday, we had a conversation that went like this:

me: How's your finger?

Wyatt: It's great!  It's like new, except it's not, because I have had it for eleven years.

I instantly mentally recorded that comment from Wyatt.  I mean that's just great, right?  A bit witty, don't you think?

Today, I had a very different conversation with Wyatt - one that reveals how thoughtful he is.

Wyatt:  I can't believe you had a baby that died before it was born and never got to see any of the world.

This surprised me.  We don't talk much about this, so I did not know Wyatt knew.

My response: Actually, I had two.

This surprised Wyatt.

Wyatt: So you would have had six children?

Me: We do have six children.  Two of them just don't live here.

Wyatt: Where do they live?

Me: With God

Wyatt: How can that be if they did not live long enough to accept Jesus into their hearts?

I am so glad you asked.

We then launched into a discussion about the age of reason.

Wyatt talked about how jealous he is that we know these things and he does not.  You can know these things, I told him.  Read your Bible and ask about things that perplex you.

This boy always amazes me.

Happy Birthday to Wyatt!

Wyatt turns 11 today.  We celebrated with a Chinese dinner for him.  Zach gave him a pack of Pokemon cards, and Savannah baked him cookies.  I picked up the ornament he painted last week as I continue the quest to build up this collection.  We have barely started preparing for Christmas, so Andy and I did some shopping tonight. 

As you may have noticed from the pictures, Wyatt loves his camo, fleece hoodie.  This may have been the best hand me down ever!  Thanks, Jennifer.  One thing I did today was buy him another fleece because I kind of have a thing about washing clothes regularly which generally means they can't be worn every. single. day.  Wyatt wanted another camo fleece, I could only find one option in his size with the pocket he requires on the front, and it is not camo, but it has a nice UK blue accent color.  I am doing what I can to train him right :)

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Galations 3:29 - Remember your heritage, Wyatt.

Celebrating 11 years - It's all even now.

We spent our Saturday night with four very active boys, pizza, cake, balloon swords and an arcade.

Can you guess why?

This coming Tuesday, our December birthday boy turns 11.  This is a big deal for two reasons.
1. It's the last kid party for this one.  We only do kid parties every other year, so we will do something fun with  friends when he turns 13 and again when he turns 16, but otherwise, this is it.
2.  Wyatt's 11th birthday equalizes the time he spent in China with the time he has been in our family.  That is a momentous occasion!

I thought I would lose my mind.  It seemed that we had four Wyatts all on speed!  That's fourth and fifth grade boys for you! They are normal.

Kinsley enjoyed her first birthday party by sleeping through it.

Isaac is just content wherever he is.

I loved this.  I got ready to take this picture and asked Ira if he would smile for me.  He just stated as if it is a matter of fact, "no."  He followed through on that and did not smile.  I love hearing him talk in his sweet toddler voice.  He later thanked me for handing him his drink.

Regan just wanted to ride the carousal.

Wyatt had a blast!!  Two of the boys spent the night.  One of them really needed to sleep for family events today otherwise I would have let them stay up until whenever.  Andy separated them at 1:30 and insisted they sleep.  Who knows how long they would have stayed up otherwise?

getting her wish

He loved looking at himself on the camera after I took this.  Wow, he looks like Jonathan in this shot.

This is the year of the party for this family.  In very short order this coming spring, Savannah turns 16; Zach graduates high school; and Julia gets her last kid party.  Then, hopefully, our finances will recover :)

Shifting Seasons

We ended football season on Friday night and rung in basketball on Saturday afternoon.  Actually, basketball was supposed to start last week, but snow cancelled the first game.

Andy thinks Julia would make a good point guard, and she loves basketball probably more than any other competitive sport.  However, she always chooses cheerleading over basketball though it is always a tough choice for her.  It's too bad that they have to occur in the same season.  If only she could cheer at football games and then play basketball. I remember when she was a preschooler watching the cheerleaders at one of Zach's football games.  She wanted to do that.  She loves the stunts!

It is fun to watch Julia cheer because she gets so drawn into the game.  She loves basketball and understands what is happening on the court, so she is becoming a leader on the cheerleading team.  Andy goes to watch her cheer, but he always gets drawn into the game.  

Julia's biggest disappointment this year in cheerleading was learning that no matter which team she cheers, she will be cheering for one of the boys in her class -- so glad she still finds boys annoying:)

Celebrating the good times

We attended and thoroughly enjoyed the last high school football banquet on Friday night.

The senior boys enjoyed the head table.  This was perfect because we got there later than we wanted to, and this meant Zach and T already had reserved seats.

The head coach brought the seniors up in groups for interviews.  This was a great idea!  We really got to see the personalities of the boys, and we also enjoyed lots of laughs.  We learned that one trio of the boys decided during a bye week to see what having pepper spray sprayed in your eyes feels like. They posted their results on social media.

During Zach's interview, he gave the history of his nickname and generally made us laugh.  We got to hear great stories of favorite plays from two of the boys in Zach's group.  The very best was when one of the boys was asked to share his favorite quote from one of the coaches.  He shared that before one of our tough games, Coach G told the boys to think of the other team as "uncircumcised Philistines."  The crowd lost it.  The coach lost his composure.  The rest of the boys were speechless when asked the same question.  That quote will live in CAL football infamy.  It is so good to laugh over the good times when you are facing closure.

Going forward, we know this team has a great quarterback ready to see more action next year, and they have a great D-line.  We will be back to cheer for those younger boys because  we witnessed the laying of the foundation on which they will continue to build.  

Senior boys - Look for this group to do great things.  They are not perfect, but they are basically good kids, and they have grand plans.  We have loved watching them play for the last seven years, and we have a lifetime of memories to hang onto -- lots of pictures and videos too.  We love this team!!  We have also enjoyed getting to know their parents.  Good times!!

I have to say that it really speaks to the character of a team when you do see their interactions on social media.  Players from one of our opposing teams called out one of our boys on Twitter and said he was undeserving of an award he received.  Our boys responded to the nasty attack but kept their comments clean and factual.  The other team  continues to try and turn the knife with really nasty language.  The character of this team is so much more important than what they do on the field.  I am proud to be a mom in this program.

Andy and I got to be surrogate parents for T on Friday night.  We love him and his family and were so disappointed that his parents could not make the banquet.  However, he had a great time, and he and his dad both received great awards at their banquets that night.  T received the "Special Teams Player of the Year" award. Go T!!

He shared his favorite play of the season with us on the way to the banquet.  T is not a big guy, but he loves football and is athletic.  He talked about diving for a tackle.  Normally, he just holds the guy until the rest of the team shows up to take him down.  This time T dove and nailed the guy.  Great times!

Classic T and Zach

I don't even know what this is about.

Zach loves Coach R.

Zach with the head coach.  We love watching him coach.  He is animated and encouraging.  They mic him during the seasons and play his locker room speeches and field side enthusiasm in the team video.  It is always worth the watch.  Our coaches are men of God pouring into another generation. They do this with humor, great character and an impressive work ethic.  We are so very blessed.

The seniors got to keep their jerseys.  This was a surprise as we thought this tradition had stopped last year due to budget constraints.

We learned this week that this boy was named a district player of the year for the second year in a row.  Go Zach!!

Look Mom- no cast!!  Zach's cast actually came off the morning of the banquet.  His healing looks great, and he does not have to return to the hand surgeon.  Zach was originally scheduled to have it removed on Tuesday, but we had to postpone that so that he could play in the all-star game.  He still complains of pain when asked to lift anything or do laundry - I am not feeling the sympathy on that:) His only restriction is that he can't hit anyone for a week.  Fortunately, he is not a boxer ;)

One of the most memorable things for me was watching the video.  They mic the coach and share some of his comments during games, half-time speeches, pre-game speeches etc. It is always a hoot!  This year, over and over again, he talked about how Friday Night Lights is where it is at.  These games mean more and build more memories than Saturday and Sunday games.  He would know.  He played for a great college team and has been one of their most memorable players then went on to spend years playing for the NFL and for the Canadian professional football league.

Congrats to CAL for the best season ever!!

All Star Football

Zach played the all star game tonight.  The weather caused two cancellations, and we are now thawing out from a football game played with temperatures in the twenties.

Zach and a CAL teammate along with CAL's head coach.  Four of CAL's players were chosen for the game, but one of them plays basketball and is busy with that.  Another made the state all-star team and pulled out for that game.

Zach's helmet tears up his forehead, so the rest of the photos show the unedited version and my attempt to fix the damage.

Aunt of the year - she suffered through a brutally cold game though I have to say that Tessa made it to more games.

Usually, I can take out the battle scars with some editing.  I have just basic MAC editing and clearly that did not work so well this time.  He just looks like something is smeared across his forehead in all the edited images.  I am now grateful that we actually purchased a professional picture of him that was taken before the game :)

sister of the year and definitely Zach's biggest fan in their generation

Zach told Savannah to share this picture with anyone who wants to date her :)

The East team lost, but they had fun in spite of the brutally cold weather.

That's all for the high school football season, Folks.  We attend the banquet tomorrow night and bring real closure to an amazing journey.

prior to the game - thanks to Sweet Spot Photos