This and That

Well would you look at this big group of nerds? We had our fantasy football draft recently, and it was tons of fun as always. We are going into our 5th year, that's crazy! So there we all sat in Tim & Pam's living room with laptops (or iPads if you're really cool) each vying for the best players to join our team. It was fraught with ridicule and laughs at someone else's expense, as has become custom in the League. I think it's gonna be a good year.

Where were the kids? Well, we had waffles and other breakfast delights and then shunned them to the bedroom with a stack of Pixar movies. 12 kids. Wish you could have heard the riot that broke out on deciding which movie would be next.

That same weekend we made a quick trip to Jacksonville. We had lovely family dinners as usual, and the boys were treated to ice cream every night.

While there we checked on the progress of the '37 Ford or "Blue Goose" as it has been named. Matt was fascinated with the shop and all the sites in that place. While roaming through the shop with him we found 3 different pieces of snake skin. Matt of course thought it was super cool, but it gave me the willies and I really wanted to take off running. But being the awesome mom that I am, I kept my cool. (shiver) Outside the shop there were lots of cars just sitting in the grass, and Matt had a grand time looking at their license plates.

Matt also expressed to his grandpa his interest in cemeteries (this kid is fascinating and rather unusual), so after our shop tour was over we drove out in the country to Myrtle Springs cemetery. It was hot as blazes out there, but my boy ran all over that place. He liked looking at the dates on the grave markers and trying to figure out how old the person was. That was an old cemetery, let me tell you. Lots of tiny babies laid to rest there, too. And people back in the 1800's who only lived into their early 20's. So sad. So, we had a lesson about how fragile life is right there in that cemetery.

A week or so prior to that Matt had the most special treat of the entire summer: he got to stay at Josh's house! Alison asked if could come up and spend a few days with them, and when I told him about it he was ready to go right then. I double and triple checked to make sure that that's really what Alison wanted. Those two are a whole of excited when they see each other. Non-stop energy.

We decided to meet in Waco for the drop-off, and while there we spent the morning at the Children's Museum. It was totally cute and all the boys had fun running around that place. I thought the bubble room was especially fun. I mean, a bubble you can stand in?

Will found a room full of drums. His heaven. Until he had to hand over the drum sticks to another child. Tears. From what I hear, Josh & Matt had a blast playing together. They'll be reunited at the beach in a matter of days.

Before school started we did a lot of reading. Will is a big supporter of monkey-see, monkey-do. He does enjoy books though and will sit and flip through them for a good chunk of time.

We played lots and lots of games. Matt still loves Monopoly.

If there is ever a dull moment Matt will ask to play Angry Birds on my phone. He's gotten quite good at it and opens new levels and gets 3 stars quite often. He's such a fan now that he's asked to have an Angry Birds birthday rather than his previous choice of Shaun the Sheep. That's pretty major because months ago he drew me a very detailed rendition of what his sheep cake should look like. That's cool though; I've got lots of good ideas for this party!

Week 2 of school and Matt is doing great! He started an extracurricular Spanish class this morning. He told me today that his name is Mateo. I asked him if he giggled when he spoke Spanish like his father & I do, and he said no, why?