26.2 Take Two!

Cade and his bud signed up again this year to run the Music City Kid's Marathon. I wish I could say that he was as gung-ho this year as he was last year but I'd be a liar.  

In fact, during about our 20th mile run he said to me, "Ummmmm, when you sign up for the marathon are you allowed to quit?" to which I replied, "Nope. This family is not made of quitters." That turned into quite a long speech about finishing what you start and giving your best and yada yada yada. I didn't tell him I quit the basketball team in the 7th grade. I loathed the basketball team but I gave it my all in that one game I actually got to play in the night I quit. We can talk about the full story over coffee sometime. That is, if I actually drank coffee.

Give up the props to the mom that ran in the chemo duck costume. She wasn't as fast as the Franklin Classic Hot Dog but I gave her two thumbs up nonetheless.
Here's a nice out of focus picture of Cade about halfway through the race. Running strong. Holding his own. No problems.....or so one would think unless you were to take a much closer look. (Let me remind you how tough it is to get a good running picture of your child in the midst of 3,000 other runners while you, too, are running. Not easy.)
I headed to try to get a decent place towards finish line. I was sidetracked by a well-meaning friend that claimed she had a great place to watch from and there was plenty of room for me. Unfortunately, as we walked to get to the "great place" she couldn't remember where it was. You know who you are, Tonya Dodd. Thanks for nothing.

I finally squeezed in between some people just in time to catch the mishap. 

Please note exhibit A as to why Cade did not, as anticipated, come in first place. With the finish line in sight his shoe fell completely off. Bummer.

We had an apparent shoestring malfunction. Note to self: If child runs marathon next year, personally tie his shoes....in double knots. The shoe fell off two times and man, that just kills your time! I asked him why he didn't tie it and he looked at me like I was a moron and said in a "duh" tone, "I was running."

He still crossed the finish strong and what's the one thing you want as soon as you get done running? Mmmmmm. A nice, cold..........chocolate milk?
Gag. In any case, it hit the spot for him. I'm proud of my boy for sticking it out even though it was tough going this year. One more step in character building and hopefully fostering a love for physical activity.
We're up in the air on next year. Running a race is kind of like childbirth in that you can never really get a true answer of whether you'll do it again right after it's over. The pain is too fresh. By the time sign ups come next year he will have forgotten all the hard work and only the shiny medal and cheap t-shirt will come to mind. Don't count us out yet!

Honesty

Grant had the major task of reading a book on an insect and then give a book report in the form of recreating the book to share with the class. He chose ants. I'm sure it was so that he could gain some insight into their lifestyle and to find out if they enjoy it when he stabs at them with sticks in the backyard.

So, he read the book. All approximately 15 pages of it. He answered the questions on habitat, food, what they look like, etc. I noticed that he had not answered the last couple questions so on Saturday I made him sit down to finish it. He got in the chair, finished the report, and went on about his business. 

On Sunday night I thought I had better take a quick peek at it to make sure it was all complete being that Monday was the official turn in date. The last question was "Write about something interesting that you've learned about your insect".
His response:
Needless to say, I appreciated his honesty but at 7:30 on Sunday night we were coming up with interesting facts about ants. Lesson learned: never assume that "done" means "done correctly". 

So How Are Those Glasses Workin' for Ya?

Considering that we have had them a total of 5 and one half days and they look like this for the second time this week:

I would venture to say that things are actually going just as I had anticipated! When I inquired Rhett as to why his glasses had one katiwompass side his response was, "Well I don't know.......I just saw 'em laying on the ground and they just looked like that." 

Good gravy. This is one time in my life I'm going to be thankful that I bought in to the warranty plan. Glasses Man: we'll be back tomorrow. I'm sure we'll be on a first name basis by the end of the month.

Specs

This week brought about some change for Little Buddy. As of Tuesday he's the proud (not really) owner of a brand new pair of specs.

He was excited at the prospect of having glasses and had fun for the first 15 minutes of our 4 hour trek over a span of 3 days to pick out some frames. He finally put a limit on me saying, "Look, I'm going to try on six and ONLY six more pairs and then this is done." When he actually got them this week, however, he told me that quote, "Welllll.....I sank I'll just pit these riiight here in this case 'cause I sure would hate if they got broked." I've convinced him to wear them despite the fact that he's completely nervous about sporting them for the first time in front of his comrades. All that to say, if you see him, please reiterate his handsomeness!

In other news, Grant is now the proud owner of a hole in his grill. He couldn't be more ecstatic about being the first kid in his kindergarten class to lose a tooth during the month of April.
Rhett was happy about that as well because now not only is he "twins" with Cade since they have the whole glasses deal in common, but he is "twins" with Grant because they both have missing bottom teeth. Bless him........he doesn't realize he got the recessive missing teeth gene. One of these days we'll buy him the best set of porcelain veneers money can buy.
Until then, I'll be a staunch supporter of the snaggle teeth in our family.....as long as it's not my own.

Here a Bug, There a Bug, Everywhere a Bug Bug!

Shampoo day started with one of the cutest of the cuties. We shampooed the little kids in the baby house while the big kids were in school.

Some of the boys got new do's with the handy pair of shears we had brought with us. Buzz cut central was short lived once our shears overheated. It didn't stop the boys from being treated though. Each of their heads got a good scrubbing. 
We set up our "spa day" at the wash area of the upper house. First we washed the hair in tea tree shampoo......
then a good soaping up with the Nix, a twenty minute wait, and then a good rinse.
The girls all got in on the action. Lots of laughs, shampoo everywhere, and giggles galore. Most of these girls had never had their hair lathered in shampoo. This was probably the first day of pampering they had ever had!
After the final rinse the girls all sat on the stairs and we had to meticulously comb through their hair to get the critters out. We all coveted the blue combs. They were donated by a company and were much better than the combs that came with the Nix boxes. You knew someone had a bad one when you heard, "I need the blue comb here!!"
Speaking of bad one: I ended up having to enlist Amanda to help me conquer the colony of crawlies that had taken up residence in this girls head. I have never seen anything like it before in my life. With each pass of the blue comb, it's teeth would be covered in bugs. And when I went to wipe them off they scattered to the top. Even 6 weeks later my head starts itching just thinking about it.
At least 3 or 4 times I can remember looking down and finding that my entire lap and belly was covered in lice bugs. It's really a miracle that I didn't end up getting it myself.
The de-licing ended up taking up way more time than we anticipated but you wouldn't believe the opportunities it opened up for us. We were able to spend time talking to the girls and getting to know them, girls that had never even smiled at us ended the day by giving us hugs, and women who cook and work at the orphanage for little recognition got to feel loved even if only for 30 minutes. This was one task that I'll admit I wasn't looking forward to......but it's one I'd gladly do again.

Let the Games Begin!

This Saturday marked the official opening of baseball season for the three Morgan ballers. It coincided with Mule Day this year so we missed out on the annual mule parade and redneck sightings that usually enter us into the month of April.

Let me start by saying that opening ceremonies feels like it lasts every bit of three years. Can you imagine being a coach keeping up with 10 kids like this one for two boring hours?

Then you've got these three monkeys on the field somewhere nearby.
Bobby was keeping up with these cool cucumbers since he's the manager of their team. They were hyped up when Bobby was chosen to take part in the coach's competition to race around the bases. I, personally, was a bit nervous. I had seen several others bite the dust and I didn't want him to have to endure the embarrassment. Luckily, he made it safely around and came out on top with the fastest time.
His team went bonkers and thought he was the coolest thing ever. I was thrilled (read sarcasm) when I found out the prize for winning was kid's meals for the whole team to Captain D's!! I also affectionately refer to that as a heart attack in a box, or more immediately, diarrhea in a box. Next time Cade needs a good colon cleanse I'll send him out with his certificate.

Here's to three boys starting their baseball seasons and to me not losing my mind trying to keep up with them!

Go Fly a Kite!

Grant's kindergarten class had Kite Flying Day and it turned out to be a perfectly windy day! I got him a spiderman kite and was pleased to see that he was able to get it in the air and keep it there. After flying all day at school, he was hooked. He came home and put Spidey in the air once again.

I couldn't believe how high he got that thing!
He ran back and forth through the yard until dusk. It was actually kind of relaxing to watch him work his kite.
Looks like we have a new spring time activity!