Dirty Scurry 2015

Sam and Nate got to take "getting dirty" to a whole new level this weekend. They have never had a hard time making a mess, but the 2015 Dirty Scurry was a whole new realm of mud and messiness. I have never done one of these races, so I had no idea what to expect. There were 12 obstacles on the "race" course, each of which involved running, crawling, or climbing through mud. Honestly, I was not sure how the boys would respond to this. I thought Nate would like it more than Sam since he tends to like playing in the dirt more than his perfectionist brother. On the other hand, Sam tends to be more competitive and usually likes this sort of challenge. Well, they both ended up loving this event! Sam loved the competition, and Nate loved the mud, so I guess I was right on both accounts. I had a brief "parent of the year" moment when I could not find Sam, but he went straight to the place I told them to wait for me if we got separated. With over 2,000 children, I can still hardly believe I made it to the car with both boys with me, but it all worked out.

I actually think they will want to do this again next year, and with a year of experience under our belts, it will be even more fun and dirty next year! Below are a few pictures from our adventure.

Choose hope, choose joy

You will never figure out your own life by sitting still and staring at it all day. Focusing on your own problems is the most obvious way to waste your life. There are people out there who face unimaginable hardships every day, yet they choose hope and joy. My niece, Ella, is one such person, as is the young man in this video. Hope and Joy are always a choice. https://youtu.be/iuYxGtuBSgk

Science Project Survival Guide

20150403_13025220150403_130040 When I was a teacher, I commonly gave students projects to complete at home. I don't think I inundated the parents with projects week after week (at least that is my perspective), but I did have between 2 and 3 major projects each year for students to do at home with their parents. These included inventing a new board game, Ocean Life tic-tac-toe (students could choose 3 out of 9 available mini-projects), and designing a science fair project. This was always a fun experience for me and the students, though I am certain at times it caused some stress on the family.

How do I know this? Well, the two major projects Sam and Nate have done this year have caused some major stress. Perhaps major is an exaggeration, but we definitely had to put all things aside and focus on the project for one or two days. This may have more to do with the personality of the "project manager" than it does the nature of the projects, but even so, these are a little bit of an undertaking.

This got me thinking (which is heavily influenced by my time as a teacher): What about those families who have never done this sort of thing before? Or those kids who do not get a lot of help from home? Or those parents who simply do not have any time? I can imagine even a relatively simple project could throw a family for a loop, or they just won't do it. I know I had kids like this in my class, and I did become more sensitive to them over time. If you relate to any of these questions, then I have some simple steps you can follow to make the next take-home project not seem so scary.

Step 1: Find out the due date and make it visible

The number one ingredient to de-stressing your child's school project is to make sure you know the due date from the beginning. Most teachers send home a notice between a month and two weeks in advance, which is more than enough time to get the project done. When you know the due date far in advance, you can work backwards to make sure you give yourself enough time to finish without panic. By finish, I mean your child finishes the project during the day or evening, not the parent finishing it at 2 a.m.

For example, the latest project in our household was to build a contraption that would protect an egg even when dropped off the school. I put the flyer from school in a place where I could see it, and this let me not only plan our time building it, but I was also able to see how this project fit within the context of our over-planned week.

Step 2: Look up examples on Pinterest

Probably the most important part of any school project is to carefully walk that "parameter-choice" tightrope. You want to give your child some feasible choices for what to do without making it completely open ended or totally parent-driven. Pinterest is probably the best place to look for ideas. If you are not familiar with Pinterest, just imagine a seemingly unending museum of just about every project that has ever been done in every area of life. No matter what the project, there are hundreds of people who have done the same thing, taken pictures of it, and pinned it to some board.

In the case of our egg-drop challenge, I did some homework on Pinterest before I mentioned the project to the boys. I was able to see several different categories for this project, then I showed them some pictures and asked them which category they liked best (e.g., parachute, cushion, exoskeleton, etc.). Had I just asked them to brainstrorm how to make this project without giving them some options, they would have been envisioning rocket boosters, landing gear, titanium, or some other Marvel-inspired innovation. Thankfully, they both chose the same category, making my role in the project WAY easier!

Step 3: Do a materials inventory

Once you and your child have decided how to actually make the project, you need to look around your house and decide which materials you already have those you need to purchase. When I was a teacher, I felt guilty when I could tell from a child's project that the parents had to go out and purchase a bunch of materials. I actually had a parent tell me once that she spent more than $25 at Michael's on supplies! That was not my intention, and I began to wonder how common this was.

For our egg-drop project, I was able to determine which supplies we had and those we needed to purchase. Aside from buying eggs, which we would use anyway, we spent about $2 on some new sponges and $5 on card stock. I could have used some old sponges we had at the house, but ... ewww! We had every other supply at the house, and it was fun figuring out ways to repurpose some of our everyday household items into a hi-tech egg delivery system. Who knew that plastic Target bags could make such a great parachute?

Step 4: Pace yourself

If you are anything like my family, you have a lot going on. We are in soccer, do Tiger Cubs, are involved in our church, and my wife and I have careers that don't always end when the work day does. I had to find ways to fit this project into our packed week. The due date was Friday, which meant it had to be done by Thursday, which meant we had to have all of our supplies purchased and organized by Tuesday or Wednesday. I had to be creative when finding time to take the boys to the store to buy the sponges and card stock, but we got it done. And THEY got to pick out the color of their sponges (remember: it's their project!).

Step 5: Celebrate

I won't go into detail about how we built our project, but suffice it to say, we were able to finish at a reasonable time with very little stress. Yes, I had one child more interested in this project than the other, but he hung with me long enough to finish it. We took pictures, we Facetimed the grandparents, we sent the parachutes on their maiden voyage in the backyard. It was a lot of fun, and the boys ended up being very proud of what they did. Oh, and both eggs landed perfectly on the concrete with nary a scratch.

So, am I missing anything? What are some helpful hints you have found for successfully finishing school projects?

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Hitting the Slopes

20150311_111217 It's amazing to me where the time goes. I have done a pretty good job of keeping this blog up to date for the past 9 years or so. I don't post everything, but I tried to stay caught up with posting the important stuff. The stuff I wanted to remember. The stuff that we might look back on 20 or 30 years from now and be glad we wrote it down. Then I stopped. Did I just get too busy? Did I lose interest? Maybe I got so behind that the thought of trying to catch up was too overwhelming. I just know I have missed a lot of important events since my last post. Thanksgiving, Anniversary, Christmas, several birthdays. Then there are other events, such as my precious grandmother passing away, that I still plan on writing about. The truth is, life moves fast and if I really plan on documenting the little and big happenings, and everything in between, I must try harder to stay caught up.

So, I guess it would take a pretty big event to awaken my inner blogger. Today was one of those events, the kind that will bounce around in my memory for years and years. Gina and I took the boys skiing today for the first time. I have skied since I was their age, and it has been one of my favorite activities for many years. I would ski with my dad in elementary school, then in middle and high school I would go with friends and use it as a chance to show off. In college, I quickly found a group of friends to ski with in college, and we would explore a different resort in Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming nearly every weekend. I had to get a job just to fund my skiing habit! I moved to Texas after college, but I would still find time to ski over my school breaks. When I lived in Colorado I bought a season pass and went skiing almost every weekend. It was a great diversion from graduate school, but once again, I had to get a part-time job just to pay for the skiing.

Then I stopped going.

After Gina and I were married, we made a couple of ski trips, but once we moved to Virginia we never went. I really had no desire to go, and I didn't really miss it. Then we had twins. Then we moved. Again. And again. And again. Life seemed to be moving at too rapid a pace to stop everything and go skiing. The boys always seemed too young, or it seemed to expensive. There were just so many other things to focus on at the time.

That all changed this year when Gina suggested we come to Casper for Spring Break. I resisted the idea at first because I had become accustomed to using this week to catch up on work and rest. But after some thought, I knew this was the perfect time to take a ski trip with the boys. They have learned everything else quickly, and I assumed they would pick up on skiing just as fast.

After a few days of sledding, snow shoeing and playing in the snow, I knew the boys would love skiing. Just to make sure they got off to a good start, we signed them up for a ski lesson. It was also a great time for Gina and I go exploring a little bit. We checked on them a couple of times, and they seemed to be doing fine. When we reunited with them at lunch, it was hard to read their reaction. They were a little tired and hungry, and I think they envisioned themselves flying down the mountain and jumping off cliffs ... just like on TV.

After lunch we took them back out, and they seemed to do a lot better. They did so well, in fact, that we took them down a REAL slope and they got to ride the chair lift. There was a little drama, but they both made it down and did great on the lift. They even wanted to go back again for another run.

This was such a fun day with Gina and the boys. Everyone had fun, we got to spend a lot of time together, and the boys got to learn something they potentially could enjoy the rest of their lives. We are thankful for such a great day, and we look forward to many more.

https://youtu.be/QtMpDFxpR2M

Alexander News 1.31.2015

One of the things the boys love to do is give news updates. We have created a few of these, and they are always fun to make. Well, our news broadcasts got a lot more hi-tech this week when I bought a green screen (a huge green sheet, really). This allows us to layer images and video clips with our video, creating a kind of special effect. Here are two clips: their news broadcast, and a test we did with the green screen just for fun. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5maxZMQkqXs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGitMGUqm3Y

Future Professors

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Sam and Nate had the day off school today (all week actually), but I still had to teach two classes. When Gina asked them what they wanted to do on their first day of vacation, their answer was unanimous: go watch Daddy teach.

Based on previous visits to my class by the boys, I was a little nervous about how this would turn out. The boys tend to act silly when they get nervous, and what else would make a kid nervous than a room full of college students staring at you.

Well, it turns out I was half right. Sam was definitely silly, running around, playing on the computer, writing on the white board, and sliding on the floor. It was quite the display, trust me. Nate, however, stayed composed and talked with the students. He asked them some questions and finally dismissed them to leave.

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When they went to meet my second class, things went a little better. We talked to Sam about what is appropriate and what is (cough) obnoxious (cough) ... not. Sam read the class his report on Slingin' Sammy Baugh while Nate controlled the slideshow from the iPad.

After they met the students, they walked around TCU for awhile then we all met for lunch. It was a fun time and a good lesson on how to behave in the future. We all need those reminders from time to time. 10487185_10205123283624161_771919477963326875_n1724402_10205123284784190_3311133517921399614_n10150708_10205123285144199_2613115020086438496_n

History Day 2014

20141119_175631 Yesterday, the boys finished their National History Day project, and we are quite proud of how it turned out. The theme this year is Legends and Legacy, and the boys chose to do their project on Slingin' Sammy Baugh, a TCU and Washington Redskins football player. I realize this may not exactly be the kind of "impact on our country's history" that History Day folks are looking for, but we gave the boys a choice and this is who they chose. No matter what, they had a great time researching, reading, and learning about this fascinating man. You can read the essay we wrote together below:

Sammy Baugh was an All American football player at TCU. He played quarterback, and helped the Horned Frogs win the 1936 Sugar Bowl and 1937 Cotton Bowl.

He also played third base for the TCU baseball team. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals, but thought he would be better at football.

Sammy Baugh was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1937. He was paid $4,000 his first year as a professional football player.

Known for his ability to pass the ball, Sammy Baugh led the NFL in passing 6 seasons. Most teams liked to run the football, but Slingin’ Sammy Baugh liked to throw it.

Many people believe this changed the way football was played forever.

Besides playing quarterback, he played defense and punter. In 1943, he got 4 interceptions and 4 touchdowns in one game.

Sammy Baugh played in the NFL for 16 seasons. He set 13 NFL records. Some people think he was the best football player who ever lived.

After playing football, he tried to be an actor in Hollywood. He lived on a ranch with his wife and 5 children.

Sammy Baugh was entered into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on September 7, 1963. He was one of the first 17 in all football history.

UPDATE!! As Gina and I entered their hallway at school today to see a performance in Sam's class, we noticed a blue ribbon on the boys' poster. Yes that's right, their poster won FIRST PLACE! We are very proud of them for working on this project and doing such a great job on it. The victory photo is below.

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Halloween 2014

20141031_191200This year may have been our most eventful October on record. Since the beginning of the month, we have attended 2 TCU football games, played 5 soccer games, gone to 3 fall festivals, been trick-or-treating, visited a pumpkin patch, and gone to the State Fair of Texas. And this is in addition to our jobs and school. We are exhausted! Thanks to GiGi, the boys had some amazing ninja costumes to wear this year. Because of all the events we went to, they had plenty of opportunities to wear their ninja gear this year. I think these rank up there with their favorite costumes of all time. They also got a lot of compliments on Friday as went from house to house.

Another really fun happening in October is that our friend Flo came to visit from Tennessee. We have not seen her in awhile, and we were so glad she could take some time away from her busy job to come see us. We got to show her all around Fort Worth (which she kept noticing, covers a lot of ground). We went to Joe T. Garcia's to eat, a pumpkin patch, and the boys even got to show her Frozen for the first time. We hope to visit her again sometime soon, and maybe we will invade her place in Tennessee!

I know November will be busy and fun as well, but this October has been one to remember. You can see more photos of our happenings in our family photo album.

 

Soccer 2014

20141004_090849Anyone who knows me well is aware of my strange relationship with soccer. It is, by far, my favorite game, yet I really do not follow any of the major leagues. I played it for years growing up. I was good enough to make the local traveling and high school team, but not good enough to actually play. I played in the adult league in my 20's and 30's and really learned the game for the first time in my life. I must be a late bloomer.  I coached with a friend at the high school level and managed to win 3 state championships in 4 years. Go figure. Now Sam and Nate play, and they are really starting to get good. After a brief hiatus from the game last spring in order to try their hand at baseball, the boys wanted to return to soccer this fall. My philosophy as a soccer dad has always been to let them play as long as they want, but not to push too hard and let them develop on their own. Well, this year the game of soccer finally seemed to click for both boys. For the first time, they were eager to jump right into the game and challenge the other players. Both boys scored goals, and they were both really good defenders. Sam has always been pretty good at soccer, but Nate showed a lot of improvement. He was more focused and assertive, and he discovered something about himself in the process: he's fast. Very fast! Gina and I were proud of they way they played this season, and the games were a lot of fun to watch.

Here are some pictures from the season. We are looking forward to another season this spring, when the boys will join a different league closer to our house.

First first

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Sam and Nate started First grade at their new school this week. The summer has been a mixed bag of moving, playing, vacationing, and doing work on the new house. Some fun, some not so much. We have been prepping the boys for their new school all summer, and the big day finally arrived this Monday. We were thrilled to find out who their teachers are for this year, and things are shaping up to be a wonderful year. We are grateful for their wonderful Kindergarten teachers at Oakmont Elementary for helping prepare them for 1st grade, and I know they will learn a bunch this year as well. My favorite quote of the week came from Sam:

Sam: Daddy, today at school a girl got in trouble and the teacher made her go sit at her desk and put her head down.

Me: Oh, no! That is really sad. Did she cry?

Sam: No, she didn't! She just kept on teaching!

You can see a few more pictures below from the big day. Go Mustangs!

Wyoming 2014

This summer the Alexanders made their usual pilgrimage to Wyoming as a way to escape the Texas heat. This summer has been a little more stressful than usual (buying a house, teaching a summer course, moving), so we were in desperate need of a break. As usual, this trip was packed with so many activities, I had to categorize them below so I didn't forget anything (which I will do anyway).

The Big Texan

This is where we had dinner the first night of our trip. If you have not been to The Big Texan in Amarillo, you are missing out! This is place is larger than life, and has a 72 oz. steak to prove it. None of us actually took that challenge, but we did watch one unfortunate soul try his luck with the big ol' slab of meat ... and fail. The food was good, the atmosphere was pure Texas, and this is a stop we will definitely make again.

Casa Bonita

Our second day on the road was highlighted by Casa Bonita, a unique Mexican restaurant in Denver. I have been to this restaurant several times, and this is one of those places I wanted to the boys to see before it's gone. I had very few memories of the food, and all I seemed to remember was the waterfall and video games. Well, every single aspect of the restaurant has not changed at all, even to a fault. There were some areas of the building that look like they had not been updated since it opened in 1974. Casa Bonita could definitely use a facelift, but the boys still had a lot of fun. OK, Gina and I did too ... just a little.

Cam and Kit

The highlight of our trip was getting see our cousins Cameron and Kit. They decided to come visit us from North Carolina, and the boys were thrilled to get to spend time with the cool older relatives. In fact, they were so thrilled that Sam and Nate pretty much did not leave them alone the entire time they were in Casper. We had fun hiking in Elk Horn Canyon, exploring western stores, visiting museums, and taking photos. The boys are already asking when they get to see Cam and Kit again.

The River

One of our frequent stops in Casper is the North Platte River. This has everything a kid could want: water, a bike trail, rocks to throw, lots of dogs (not our own, by the way) and even minnows to catch. I like to go there to run on the trail, and the boys usually bring their bikes. We went down there several times on this trip and had a great time. Nate and I even caught some minnows to investigate while Sam, Gina and PaPa rode bikes. Yes, we put them back in the river so they could grow to be big, healthy trout that someone can catch and eat for dinner. We didn't get to go canoeing this time, but that is on our list for the next visit.

The Cabin

Of course, no trip to Wyoming would be complete without several visits to the cabin on Casper Mountain. This year we got to explore Elk Horn Canyon a couple of times, went hiking on the Braille Trail, and climbed around Garden Creek Falls. The boys got an extra special adventure this year they got to hike down to the big waterfall in Elk Horn Canyon. This is quite a technical hike and I was a nervous wreck the whole time. I was also worried that they would start to complain when they got tired, and on this particular hike there is nowhere to go but straight up the canyon when you want to go home. I reluctantly let them join Cam, Kit, Gina and I on this excursion, and they performed like champions. I guess it just proves that where there's a will, there's a way ... and no whining.

In addition to our many hikes, we also spent a night at the cabin. This is not quite the same as camping, but it's more comfortable. We met GiGi, PaPa, and Maw Maw at the restaurant at the top of the canyon, then proceeded to hike down and for the night after dinner. I can't remember the new name of the restaurant, but the food was pretty good. I was actually surprised at how many people were there, but this place can never seem to stay open for very long. The new owners did add on a little General Store, so maybe that will generate some business from cross country skiers and snowmobilers.

Tobin Ranch

Another special excursion that was out of the ordinary was going to Tobin Ranch on Tisdale Mountain. This ranch is owned and operated by Mike and Chris Tobin, and we have known them for 30+ years. I used to work with Mike in Midwest when I was in college, and dad lifted weights with Mike for years at the YMCA. Our visit included getting to ride around the ranch on ATVs, see the bison jump (where Native Americans hunted bison by running them off a cliff), and feeding calves with a bottle. The Tobin's two adult children, J.D. and Brianne, even came out to get in on the action. Nothing makes you feel like an old man like seeing two adults who you knew as babies. We spent the last half of our visit feasting on a steak dinner and remembering old times. This was one of the highlights of the trip for me, and I hope we get to see this family again on a future visit.

Other Adventures

We did many other fun things on this trip, but I want to keep this post under 10 pages. The boys got to go fishing at Yesness Pond, went to see Planes: Fire and Rescue, built with life-sized Legos, and spent a lot of time playing at GiGi and PaPa's house. I should also add, each of us had a run-in with a nasty GI bug, but thankfully we are all healed up now.

As always, we are thankful to be able to visit Wyoming every summer when the sun is scorching here in Texas. It's great to spend so much quality time with GiGi, PaPa, and Maw Maw, which makes it hard to leave. We can't wait for our next visit so we can see what adventures are waiting for us around the next bend in the river.

You can see more photos of our trip in our Photo Album.

 

Another trip around the sun

This July we got to celebrate another birthday for Gina. The boys and I always look forward to doing something special for Gina's birthday. Last year we went bike riding in the cool weather then went to a hibachi grill for dinner. We made Gina a special plaster cast of the boys' hands, which was not quite as difficult to do as you would think. This year I asked the boys what they thought Mommy would like to do on her birthday, and their unanimous vote was for bowling. We started the day with presents, which included silhouettes of the boys faces. We then went to Sundance Square for lunch with Granddad, and made a stop by the chocolate factory. We then went over to Granny's for dinner and got to have birthday cake and ice cream.

We are so very thankful to have Gina in our lives, and we love getting to do things that make her day special. This birthday came in the middle of some very chaotic new home, unpacking, remodeling stuff, so it was nice to take a break and not think about that for a day. More than anything, we are just glad to be able to show Gina how much we love her.

New Address, New Beginning

10 years. 5 moves. 6 houses. 2 boys. 1 dog. 4 cars. 1 Master's. 2 Ph.D.'s. 4 universities. 1 community college. 2 preschools. 1 elementary school. 4 people. Infinite possibilities.

This past week, we moved into a new home. We have been looking for a new house since November, and this has been quite the challenging experience. We made a total of 5 offers, and went under contract on 4. Three of those contracts fell through for one reason or another, but we finally found what we believe is the best house of all those we looked at. It has plenty of room, a lot of space for the boys to spread out their stuff, and the back yard it totally massive. Sam and Nate have already spent a lot of time out there playing and exploring.

We feel blessed by God for our new home, and we hope to use it to host and reach out to many people. You can see some images of the house before we moved in, and we hope to have some photos posted soon of its current state. If you would like to come visit, our address is ... wait, this is the Internet! You can e-mail us and we will give you our new address.

Kindergarten Graduation

When Gina and I dropped the boys off for their first day of Kindergarten, we were full of questions. How would they do with a whole new group of new kids? Would they be able to understand what their teachers were saying ((Sam and Nate were enrolled in the Dual Language Kindergarten, in which the instruction was in Spanish for half the day))? Would they be able to keep up with the work in Kindergarten?

Well, Sam and Nate exceeded our expectations and had a wonderful year at Oakmont Elementary. They made good friends, did very well with meeting their academic benchmarks, and they actually learned quite a bit of Spanish. On June 5, we got to celebrate their successful conclusion of Kindergarten with a graduation celebration (video posted below). We are very proud of our rising first graders and can't wait to see how they learn and grow during the upcoming year.

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Play Ball!

We recently embarked on a new adventure in the Alexander family: baseball. To be exact, it's modified t-ball. The players get three pitches from the coach, and if they don't get a hit they get to hit off the tee. We've had two practices and their first game, and so far the boys really love it. This has been so different than soccer, with kids set up at different stations that they rotate through. I have already bought a tee for us to practice batting at home, so hopefully we will see some improvement in the coming weeks. Just to be clear, they are both doing pretty good so far and have already improved in their catching, throwing, batting. The game tonight was very low key and fun for the kids, so this will be a fun season. You can see some photos and video from the game in our photo album.

Land of the Lost

After four years in Fort Worth, we finally had the chance to venture down to the land of dinosaurs in Glen Rose, TX. We have heard great things about Dinosaur Valley State Park, and we finally found an open weekend to go down there. On Saturday morning, we packed up the car with our camping gear, play clothes, and delicious food. It takes a little over an hour to get down there, so we were all set up and ready to camp by early afternoon. The state park has a lot of great features, including hiking trails, a river for swimming, and even some life-sized (we took the scientist's word for it) dinosaurs. Just about everywhere you go, you can see footprints from actual dinosaurs, which is pretty cool. Apparently, dinosaur tracks were so commonplace in Glen Rose that people used to cut them out of the riverbank and sell them as souvenirs. Of course, the reality of camping also has its challenges. We all crammed into our 4-person tent to sleep, which was not as magical as seeing authentic dinosaur footprints. We bumped and banged into each other all night, and there were some VERY loud birds that made a point of screeching. All. Night. Long. There were also some loud homo sapiens that wanted to stay up late and yell at each other. That's always entertaining. Other than those few issues that tend to arise when you sleep outside in nature around other people, the weekend was a lot of fun. The boys both liked swimming in the river the most, and I can't say I blame them. There isn't a much better way to spend a hot day after you've been hiking around. I am pretty sure we will go back to Glen Rose again to see some of the other sites. When we do, we will keep an eye and ear out for any strange sounds or rumblings. You never know when there might be a giant lizard looking over your shoulder. You can see more pics from our weekend below.

Career Day 2014

Sam and Nate recently had career day at school. They were allowed to dress up as the profession they hope to have someday. Sam decided to be an animal explorer, and Nate wants to be a commercial airline pilot. Earlier in the week, Gina and I spoke to several classes about our careers. It was a lot of fun hearing their questions and talking about college. Oddly, the kids kept asking how tall you have to be to attend college. Obviously, not very tall, if I am any indication of the height requirement.

Kids Who Care: Deep in the Heart

20140509_212754There is only so much kids' soccer a guy can watch. I mean, I love this game, but we have sat through a lot of soccer the last three years. So when Gina suggested putting the boys in the  Kids Who Care musical theatre program, I voted twice with an emphatic YES! As I've written before, I love theatre and wanted Sam and Nate to experience it at some level. Just to be clear, Gina and I are not those parents who want our boys to be famous or overachievers or even better than the next kid. More than anything, we want them to be kind, respectful, and confident in their own abilities. So, my motive was not to manufacture the next child star, but rather for them to learn to love and appreciate the great feeling that comes when we selflessly share our talents with others. I used to get this feeling as a performer, knowing that beyond the approval and atta-boys, it felt good to know I was brightening someone else's day by sharing what God had blessed me with. With a name like "Kids Who Care," this seemed like a good place to nurture that trait in my children.

Each week I would drop the boys off at the theatre, and each week we would talk about the games and songs and dances in the car on the way home. They would talk about their friends and recount some of the activities they would do in class. I would ask them questions from the newsletter that came home each week, and I was always entertained by their responses.

When it came time for the big production of Deep in the Heart, I was not sure what to expect. Just a couple of weeks earlier, I had just watched their Kindergarten program at school, and it was uninspired to say the very least (but the kids were still pretty darn cute). The parents were clearly more interested in capturing the moment with their phones than the kids were about participating in it. I knew there were some older actors in the KWC show who were serious about performing, so it had to be of higher quality than the Kindergarten program but I still had no idea what to expect.

The rehearsals leading up to the show brought back a lot of memories from my days of  being involved in theatre productions. The fine-tuning by the director, the reminders, the starts and stops. I had forgotten this aspect of performing. Of course, anyone who knows will tell you this is necessary and is the only way to get performers to do their best. We all need people to push us and give suggestions for things to do better, all the while encouraging us that we have what it takes to be more than just good enough.

The night of the performance surpassed all of my expectations and left me in absolute amazement of what just happened. The performers were fantastic, and the production seemed to just fly by. The boys did a great job with the songs they were in, and I still have the picture branded into my memory of them on stage in their cowboy gear. The songs, the dialogue, the dances, the message ... they were funny, poignant, personal, and more than anything, all about Texas. It was a great night.

I know I have gone on and on about this, but it really was a fantastic experience for Sam and Nate. I don't think they are old enough to truly appreciate the blessing that comes with being involved in something that people care enough about to go the extra mile to make amazing. To perform with purpose and passion, and to be vulnerable enough to share it with others. They remember the songs and dances and fun, but we (the parents) will remember that they got to be part of something great and wonderful. As was written in the program, Kids Who Care is a "culture that expects extraordinary things to happen, and then goes about the business of making it true." We are glad to have been part of this culture, and we hope to be involved again.

Mother's Day 2014

Another school year is nearly behind us, which means we get to take a day to celebrate Gina and show her how special she is to us. Of course, we try to do this everyday, but Mother's Day is a special excuse to spoil Mommy. She truly is a wonderful mother and wife and friend to everyone who knows her. We love her very much and are glad she's ours. We are blessed that we got to experience another year with Gina and see her amazing Mommy skills in action. We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us.