McKeehan Madness

Fun with Shanda in New York

2012-02-09T21:02:00.001-05:00

I decided to take Shanda along with me on my work trip to New York. We saw the city, time square, Rockefeller plaza, great food, a spectacular show ( Spiderman) and had lots of fun in the city that never sleeps. Attached are a couple of pics from my phone.

More Sugar Bowl Pics

2012-01-13T19:22:00.001-05:00

Opening introductions

2012-01-13T19:14:00.001-05:00

Coop and Cam meet the Bobcat Cheerleaders

2012-01-13T19:00:00.001-05:00

Paris' First Bobcats game

2012-01-13T18:57:00.001-05:00

Cute Paris Drawing

2012-01-07T12:07:00.001-05:00

This is a Hello Kitty face with a zebra body according to the little artist Paris.

Sugar Bowl Bound

2012-01-01T12:18:00.001-05:00

Cooper, Will and I on our road trip to the Sugar Bowl to see the Wolverines take on the hokies ( I really hope we don't lose to a bunch of turkies).

Quilt

2011-12-31T09:59:00.001-05:00

My new favorite quilt pattern! Made this for my brother's new baby Annika.

Favorite Little Chubby Toes

2011-12-31T08:35:00.001-05:00

Seriously doesn't get much better than this for me! Paris had always had little fatty feet and toes. They are getting a little stretched out but still chubby. Loved this pic of her feet in dress up shoes!

Thank you notes with Will

2011-12-31T07:04:00.001-05:00

Willy

2011-12-26T15:28:00.001-05:00

Will is a hilarious little guy lately. He often hugs me tight and says he "will never let me go." Also the other night he said, "Mommy, you are a very attractive woman."

He makes me laugh!

Merry Christmas to Shanda

2011-12-25T09:30:00.001-05:00

So excited about this exciting present Austin gave me for Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to me!!

Will

2011-12-20T19:50:00.001-05:00

I love this little nutball!!

Stairs finally done!

2011-12-19T11:49:00.001-05:00

20 Awesome Basketball Shots

2011-12-10T12:59:00.005-05:00

We live in a time when your 10 year old son can devise crazy shots with his buddies, take video on the flip cam, add music, edit the film and have it uploaded to You Tube in a matter of minutes.

For those of you who got a taste of Cooper McKeehan's first production (Awesome Ping Pong Shots), this is the sequel "Awesome Basketball Shots."

Coop was born in Michigan, and so he chose Eminem for background music (Clean version - don't worry).

For those of you who know Coop well, some of these shots are classic Coop (like the one off the roof at the end). He will always have that knucklehead factor -- but sometimes you just gotta embrace it and laugh. And if you look close you may see some of your own kids also in the video.

My only disclaimer is that I was at work while all of this happened.

Click on the link and enjoy if you have 90 seconds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99isk_OQ6fE

Thanks,

Austin

Will

2011-12-01T16:16:00.001-05:00

Will just came down in this get-up and told me he is "going to explore the coast of Egypt."

His outfit included a blanket, a hooded sweatshirt, hockey pads, a torn up pillowcase and a pair of my old leggings.

Wood flooring is here!

2011-11-30T18:12:00.001-05:00

Halle-freaking-llujah!!! Our flooring finally arrived! Installation coming soon!

Mirror re-do

2011-11-30T18:04:00.001-05:00

So when you have one of these lovely construction mirrors, you can take some of these pieces of trim and make it awesome!

AND when you have concrete floors you can spray paint right on top of them!!

Bachelor

2011-11-26T12:32:00.001-05:00

Will just announced that when he grows up he is going to be a "bachelor", but later he "might change his mind." I didn't even know he knew what bachelor means!

Old pallet to new bedroom sign

2011-11-25T22:06:00.001-05:00

An old crusty pallet, a few hours of nail pulling, some cheap paint and stencils and I have a signboard for my bedroom that I love!

Hot mama

2011-11-23T09:24:00.001-05:00

"Don't I look like such a hot mama?" Paris announced as she came downstairs displaying all her finery.

Marco Polo

2011-11-22T06:56:00.001-05:00

Cooper has been working on an explorer project at school. His explorer is Marco Polo and he had to dress up today for their living museum. We did the best we could with the costume, since he was born in the 1200s, not many reliable photos exist!

Stairs are coming along!

2011-11-20T23:13:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately didn't get a picture of the carpet demo, but here is the first shot of the staircase revamp. Just have more coats of stain and lots of white painting to do.

In other news, the kids have been loving rollerblading and sidewalk chalking all over our lovely concrete floors! We had all the flooring on our first floor ripped out a few weeks ago in preparation for our new hardwood floor. Which is taking its sweet time getting shipped to us! Maybe after next week we won't live in a scud missile anymore!

Thunder Road round 2

2011-11-12T10:42:00.001-05:00

So happy to be done with my half-marathon this morning!

Demolition

2011-11-07T11:53:00.001-05:00

We are having new hardwood installed on our whole first level and here are some pics of the demolition. These guys are working their fannies off scraping the old wood that is glued down to the slab.

Grandpa Stauder this one is for you!

2011-10-30T20:50:00.001-04:00

Just found out I can post from my iPhone! This is very exciting! Here are some pics of Austin and I off to a Halloween party. Just thought we would dress as our true selves! I have wanted to be a punk ever since I was in 3rd grade and my grandparents sent me a postcard from London of two mohawked punks on the street. The party was with our baseball friends. Austin said that they were going to be so surprised that "the grandma who knits at the games and never comes out past 9 is dressed like this!"

Words of Wisdom

2011-10-18T12:52:00.000-04:00

I am running my fifth half-marathon in a couple of weeks and I am feeling a little burnt out with running, ready for some laying on the couch time! Anyway, this morning I just finished my 12 training run, which I was seriously dreading last night and didn't want to do. So I told this to Will. Here is how the conversation unfolded:

Me: Will, I just REALLY don't want to run anymore.
Will: Then don't Mommy, just don't show up for the race.
Me: But I have already paid for it and I can't get a refund.
Will: It's ok Mommy, if you don't want to do something, just don't do it. That's what I always do.

Really? Wow, didn't notice that one.

Interesting perspective Willy! Maybe we have gotten to the root of your uncooperative attitude!

Epic Battle for State Championship Goes Down to the Wire!

2011-07-23T16:44:00.000-04:00

In an absolutely epic battle of two North Carolina All-Star Little League Powerhouses, the MARA MOJO (Cooper's team) faced the fearsome, Porter Ridge Pirates in the North Carolina State Championship. The Pirates were a hand picked "Super Team" (for those of you Friday Night Lights watchers). They essentially combined two All-Star teams and added a couple of other players from travel ball to build the equivalent of the NY Yankees of little league. These were all 120 pound, corn-fed, country strong 10-year olds. On different occasions, all but one of their players had hit one over the fence. This was in contrast to our team which had two players who had hit it over the fence in their lifetime.

We had played Porter Ridge 4 times up to this point, and were 2 - 2 against them. Without taking you through the long hard road to the state championship, we had played 12 games to get to this game. We were in the winners bracket which meant that our opponent had to beat us twice. We all knew Porter Ridge was capable of this, but wanted to beat them in the first game and celebrate early.

The coach decided to start Cooper in the State Championship. As his Dad, I was a wreck with nerves despite only watching. The state championship this year was on our home field, which made it even more special. Of all the places in North Carolina, we were playing in front of our home crowd (the same place Cooper and I had spent countless hours practicing the last few years).

We were the home team and the little league equivalent of Jeter, A-Rod, and Texiara were up to bat to start the game for Porter Ridge. First batter goes to a full count, fouls off 3 pitches before getting fooled on a change up by Cooper - 1 out. The next batter fastball, change up, cutter - 3 pitch strike out. The next batter fast ball, fast ball, cutter - 3 pitch out. Coop had just struck out the side! The place went nuts and was absolutely electric. Coop went on to pitch the game of his life in State Championship and pitched 4 shut out innings and gave up 2 hits. By rule, since he had pitched 2 innings in the previous game, he could only pitch 4 innings in this game. MARA went into the sixth with a 2-0 lead. They say the hardest three outs in baseball are the last three. That proved to be true this night. Porter Ridge scored 4 in the sixth and won 4-2. After a brilliant performance by our team in the first 5 innings, we were left crushed with disappointment. Did we just choke the state championship away?

We now had to play Porter Ridge again and this time they had all the momentum and we were pretty down. But the boys battled and we were once again ahead with a precarious 2 run lead headed into the bottom of the last inning. But Porter Ridge would not go down easy. Hit, Walk, Hit, Hit, Walk. It was now 3-2, the bases were loaded, there was one out, and their best hitter at the plate. Was this really going to happen? Back to back crushing collapses? Why not just rip out my heart and stomp on it -- I think that might feel better.

Then the coach, seeing the nerves on our pitcher who had just thrown 4 straight balls to walk the bases loaded, decided to make a change. He saved one inning of eligibility with Cooper. But this was a heck of a time to come in. If Porter Ridge even makes contact, they probably tie, if they get a hit, they win the game.

At the risk of sounding like a biased, over-the-top dad-about-his-own-son, Coop was made for this moment. Coop can be frustrating because he is a knucklehead. He sometimes is still immature and wants to goof around and have fun at practice when coaches want to be all business. On the flip side, he blows bubbles when he pitches and doesn't get too rattled in the big moments. When I asked him what he thought when the coach asked him to come in the game at that time he said, " I was excited the coach wanted me to pitch." That was it. Almost like he was oblivious to the fact that it was the state championship, the bases were loaded and we had only a one run lead.

And while I wish I could write that he struck out the next two batters, that is not at all what happened.

Cooper's first pitch is fouled off and inches from being an easy pop up out but goes out of play. His second pitch is drilled hard to centerfield. The centerfield makes a good play and catches the hard hit liner. The runner from third tags up, the centerfielder puts everything he can on it and it bounces at the pitchers mound. But then it took a magical MARA MOJO bounce off the mound and right towards home plate. The 120 pound man- child is running lights out at our 85 pound catcher. I don't know how our catcher keeps focused on the ball knowing this kid is about to literally knock him upsidedown at home. The ball comes in a half second before the runner. The catcher grabs it and tags the runner. The runner blows up the catcher. The ump is looking everywhere for the ball. On his back I see the catcher with both hands around his mitt shaking and showing the ump he has the ball. Game Over! MARA MOJO wins on a fly out - throw - tag out at home.

I honestly think if we tried to do this play 1,000 times again, we might only do it right a handful of times. So many things have to go right for this to happen in little league, but the baseball gods were with us on this magical night. Cooper's MARA MOJO were State Champs and now move on to regionals. I will write a report on Regionals next week.

Can you stand a little more MARA?

2011-07-20T22:36:00.000-04:00

Me and my not so small baby after the big win. Woo-hoo!

After a lot of blood, sweat, and tears...

2011-07-20T08:25:00.000-04:00

Here they are, the 2011 10U North Carolina State Champs!
(long and detailed blog post by Austin to follow)

Southside Player of the Game

2011-05-29T15:44:00.000-04:00

Cooper's baseball coach pours more love into these boys than I have ever seen before. He is also tough and doesn't accept excuses. One thing I really like is that he choses a "Southside Player of the Game" after each game. It is a great way to encourage the boys and he really makes sure that everyone gets this honor for something that they did that was better than they could have done before. Here are a couple of the times Cooper won this honor:

Swimming at the Y

2011-05-29T15:38:00.000-04:00

On the days we don't have baseball, I struggle with what to do with the kids to keep everyone happy. Cooper just wants to search YouTube for useful tips like how to make a fireball you can hold in your hand with lighter fluid. Will would rather die than leave the house (and trust me his screams when I say we are leaving to go somewhere sound like he is dying). And Paris usually just goes with the flow.

So on Thursday we decided to go swimming at the YMCA pool that we have a membership to. It was a great time! Cooper and Will played games together and didn't scream at each other at all. And Paris even jumped up and down with joy and said, "This is the best day EVER!" She also enjoyed practicing her swimming skills without a life vest. We will definitely be back!

The Treehouse

2011-05-29T15:33:00.000-04:00

Austin won a one-night stay at the Treehouse Vineyards in Monroe in an actual treehouse. It was a beautiful place, I never knew just a few miles off 74 is such beauty. We don't drink alcohol so we didn't have the wine there but we did taste some really yummy muscadine cider. We also ate at two really cute places, The Stone Table and Sweetea Cafe. The historic downtown in Monroe is great, I never knew.

The Treehouse was just what you would expect, a teeny little kitchen, bathroom and couch for the living area, then upstairs in the loft was basically a bed and dresser. It was so much fun doing something out of the ordinary.

View from the deck of the Treehouse

Another view, I was clearly hogging the hammock chair the whole time!

Ottoman Refreshed

2011-05-29T15:27:00.000-04:00

Notice the classy duct tape. I promise I only put this on to hold it down when the slipcover is on it.

We desperately need new furniture, ours is beat up, has cracks from people's butts sitting in the same place, burned marks where I had to clean off hot-pink nail polish with acetone, and various rips. We can't decide whether it is better to get new furniture so we don't look like white trash, or just keep the other furniture for awhile because the kids can't really make it worse, right? I thought about making slipcovers for all the furniture for a few minutes but I think I would regret that right after I cut into the fabric and couldn't return it anymore. But I did do a slipcover for the ottoman and I really like how it turned out.

Add caption

Last Day of Preschool for the P

2011-05-29T15:22:00.000-04:00

Paris loves having pictures taken, posing and smiling big. Then she loves to look at the pictures of herself!

My Big Project This Week

2011-05-29T15:20:00.000-04:00

Recently we had our house painted inside. We've now lived here for over 7 years and the walls were looking pretty dingy. So along with the new paint, I have been trying to do a couple other updates. We have one big great room that has really tall two-story ceilings and I have always struggled with trying to fill the space. I had a bookshelf in the corner that I liked but it was really small and this week I found something that works!

I love hunting through the old furniture at Salvation Army and Goodwill to find things that I can repaint and redo to my liking. So I found this big ole piece of oak junk at Salvation Army for $35.55. I knew it would be a lot of work but I had a vision. Here is what it looked like when I bought it:

Notice the sweet 1990s oak, the frosted glass in the doors and the lovely hardware.

I knew what I wanted to do - replace the hardware, take the bottom doors off, move the shelves around a bit and add a new shelf. Then take out the glass and add chicken wire, oh yeah, and add a back pice to hold it all together. Here are a few pics of the process:

I painted a coat of primer, and then a coat of the bluish color I liked. After letting that dry for 24 hours (did I mention the weather was in the 90s this week and it was REALLY hot working on this in the garage.) I took out my new sander and a file and my antiquing stain and went at it. The thing I like about distressing furniture is that you can't mess it up. So I had to hit the whole thing a few times with a sledgehammer to get the nails in? Who cares, love the dents it makes.

So after all that work - here it is, and I love it! Though it did occur to me that I took an old piece of crap, and made it into . . . another old piece of crap!

Bits and Pieces

2011-05-18T07:59:00.000-04:00

Is Paris 15 years old already? This morning she told me that I am "ruining her life" because I wouldn't let her have a popsicle for breakfast.
By the way, Will wore two different shoes to school today. Whatever, at least he didn't scream at me when I woke him for school.
Cooper's new favorite pastimes are searching Youtube for useful tips like making a fake quarter to hack into a vending machine and using cologne and a lighter to make a blowtorch. In case you were wondering how to do this, it really works.

You know you are getting old when . . .

2011-05-16T10:57:00.000-04:00

You wake up and are so busy that you both forget it is your 13th anniversary! I had given Austin an early present so I wasn't thinking about our anniversary today. I was focused on all the errands and cleaning I have today and how annoyed I am at the Siskey YMCA rennovations that left me with a crappy little weight room with only two sets of weights this morning. Austin was a little late for work and then had to come back because he forgot his laptop so he was a little frazzled. Then when I looked at the calendar I finally remembered that our anniversary is today!

I called Austin to tell him Happy Anniversary and we both laughed that we forgot. I also complained to him that I felt so stressed about the day. He said not to worry and just get what I can done. Then I said, "I know I will be happy when you bring home my 2-carat diamond today! " He just chuckled, alas I don't think this is the year, again.

Happy Anniversary to you Austin, my best friend, confidant and person I can always trust and be myself with. Thank you for always trying to lift me up and tell me positive things. I'm glad that we can still laugh together. It's fun when we joke that it feels like we've already been married for 20 years. I love you. Here's to 70 more great years and hopefully eternity after.

Really, Cooper?

2011-02-28T15:56:00.000-05:00

Cooper and his buddies have been working diligently on a fort in the woods behind our backyard. It has been fabulous, boys outside playing, not in front of the TV, etc. Paris and I were just settling down for a little snuggle and reading time today with the monsters outside, when they came back in all worried. Apparently Cooper was preparing to spray paint the fort. Spray paint? I didn't know that was part of the plan. Anyway, the can exploded and Cooper got spray paint all over his face, and arms. He was crying at first because it was in his eyes, but after a nice water eye bath he was fine. Then after a lot of baby oil, scrub and elbow grease, he is clean! (mostly)

Freakshow

2011-02-28T15:50:00.000-05:00

I bought Will a new suit last week for church and just wanted to take a couple nice pictures of him but instead this is what I got . . .

Gingerbread Houses with Nonni

2010-12-06T22:28:00.000-05:00

Every year if Nonni is here, she makes gingerbread houses with the kids. Here are some cute pics of them constructing their masterpiece.

Oh, you didn't know that a hair dryer is an essential part of the gingerbread making tool kit? Well it is, just need to hurry the drying process up a bit.

What, you don't use all natural, organic cleaners to polish your microwave?

Squishy face

The finished product and Paris with her Fabio hairy chest action.

Nonni asked if we were going to wait until Christmas to eat the gingerbread house, yeah right, not in a house with five candy fiends! This was taken less than 24 hours after the house was finished.

Black Friday Bonanza

2010-11-26T10:52:00.000-05:00

Cooper and I and our stash - actually the nicest picture of Cooper I have seen in awhile!

Cooper and I went on our yearly black Friday shopping sale this morning. After looking at the ads yesterday and doing some online shopping, there wasn't really anything that I felt compelled to wake up at 4am for, but Cooper had his heart set on it, so we went. I told him that I would prefer to wake up closer to 6am than 4am but that he could choose. In the middle of the night he came down and woke me up, and guess what? It was 4am. ( This is from Cooper, the boy that likes to have a 40 minute window to drive to MARA 2 miles down the street to make sure we get there on time.)

Our first location was Gamestop. Cooper decided that he wanted to get a new xbox 360 so I told him he could try to trade in all the Wii stuff to see if it would be enough money. So he lugged the Wii system, the remotes, the accessories, the Wii Fit Balance board and all the games. Cooper called Gamestop before we arrived and they told him that Wiis are worth $160 and the Wii Fit is worth $30. With all the extra things he brought, he thought he would definitely have enough for the $199 price tag on the xbox 360. When the lady at Gamestop told him that all his stuff was worth a grand total of $70, he was fighting tears as we figured out that the pre-owned Wii and Wii Fit prices are what he was given on the phone, not the trade-in values. So we took back all our Wii paraphernalia and he picked out a couple of new games and accessories for Christmas.

This was the drama of the morning, we next visited Target; Kohls; Bed, Bath and Beyond; Hancock Fabrics; World Market and Costco. We got lots of great presents, stood in long lines and are happy to be home!

Will

2010-11-25T19:52:00.000-05:00

Will has been especially sweet to me lately, often surprising me with a big hug and telling me that, "I just wanted to tell you how much I love you mommy." He also has his moments where I feel like I am going beserk, but I guess that is all part of the deal. We took this picture when we went on a speical date recently, he was pretty easy - a quick trip to Bruester's for a dinosaur sundae and then we came home and played Mancala.

It is finished!!!!!!

2010-11-25T19:49:00.000-05:00

Over a year ago, a couple friends and I had the crazy idea that it would be fun to make a copycat Pottery Barn advent calendar. After many hours of blood, sweat and tears, it is done! Halleluah! I sent mine off for an early Christmas gift with fun ideas for each day of December tucked inside the pockets. I hope they like it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T19:47:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was a great day for us today. Austin and the boys left early to play in the annual Turkey Bowl leaving Paris and I to a leisurely morning. We went for a short run - I ran, Paris rode in the jogger. Then we came home and Paris helped me make our special Pumpkin Crunch Cake and then peeled potatoes. Later we ate dinner at our beloved friends', the Gunsons, house. We stuffed ourselves silly and ended the day giving thanks for all we have. Here are some snaps from the day:

Paris working hard on the pumpkin cake

Peeling potatoes is so much fun! Cooper was trying really hard to get out of the picture, he hates having his picture taken lately.

I told Will that it would be the happiest day of my life if he would wear a button up shirt and jeans to Thanksgiving dinner today. I don't think it was the happiest day of his life though - he said he kept tripping over his jeans.

Austin and I at dinner

Paris, Cooper and Will in a forced by mom pose

Happy and stuffed!

Hand Sanitizer

2010-11-21T23:49:00.000-05:00

Looking for a way to save time? Maybe you can start by slurring some of your words together instead of taking time to pause between. After Paris goes to the bathroom, she always asks for some "hansitizer, please" instead of the more lengthy hand sanitizer.

Thanksgiving Feast at Pleasant Plains Pre-School

2010-11-18T12:00:00.000-05:00

My attempt at an artsy pose of Paris before we left for preschool.

Paris and her teachers Ms. Jennifer and Ms. Sarah. They are standing in front of the turkey that has feathers to show what the kids are thankful for. Paris was thankful for "Cooper, Will, her blankie and Mommy and Daddy."

Paris and her handprint turkeys.

Paris and Mom

San Francisco Trip

2010-11-18T11:53:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, my sister Shawn and my sister-in-law Tiffany and I visited my parents at their lovely penthouse apartment in San Jose. My sister-in-law Brandi was supposed to come too but was too sick with pregnancy throwing up and nausea. We missed her but could understand how horrible she feels and why she would stay home. My dad loved spending so much time with his girls though we might have done a bit more shopping than he was hoping for when we were in San Francisco.

Below are some shots from our trip. I was FURIOUS when I found out that I forgot my camera on the day we actually went into San Francisco so I will rely on my mommy hopefully emailing me some pictures to add.

Shawn claimed the blow-up bed next to the fireplace as soon as she arrived, so Tiffany and I slept in the guest room and I am sure she got to know me better than she may have planned!

This was a cute place in Los Gatos called Sweet Pea. They served delicious quiche and crepes, we ate ours so fast that we forgot to take a picture.

Me, Shawn and Tiffany

And the infamous "craft" I made us do on the trip. Beaded watches! My mom is going to love this picture, but I thought it was so funny of Shawn deep in concentration and my mom squinting to read the directions. Tiffany is fine though, she actually likes to do this kind of stuff!

My mom and dad have been religiously attending several ball-room classes a week for the last year or so and so they took us to a dance class at the Cheryl Burke dance studio they go to. It was more fun than I thought, though a little nerve-wracking. My dad was my favorite partner. And he of course loved taking four ladies to the class with him!

Adorable note Will wrote to his football coach

2010-11-18T11:38:00.001-05:00

It says, "Dear Coach Bryan, Coach, I'm going to play football next year and I'm going to be on the white team. I wanted to give you something that glows in the dark. A football and a football hellmitt. Thank you, Will"

For all his drama and screaming, Will has a very tender heart. He came up with this note to his football coach all on his own and even cut out a football and "hellmitt" out of glow in the dark paper for him.

Halloween Fun

2010-11-18T11:30:00.000-05:00

Dolly Donations

2010-10-18T14:38:00.000-04:00

I've been working with some ladies at my church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to create these beautiful rag dolls that will be sent to orphnages in Haiti. They are so much fun to make and only need scraps and things that you probably have on hand anyway. If you want to help, check out this awesome blog here.

Crafty Day with Paris

2010-10-18T14:30:00.000-04:00

I wasn't feeling very good today so Paris and I had a little craft day at home. I've had this shirt for a long time that I like but forget about because it is kind of boring. So I decided to jazz it up a bit with some lace and trimmings my grandma gave me and Paris worked on painting some blocks for me.

Don't mind the big wet spot in the middle, I just had to do a bit of spot cleaning.
From drab . . . .

to fab!!!

Hopefully when I try it on the flowers won't be in any awkward spots if you know what I mean.

Paris must have told me a million times that I am the best mommy in the world because I let her paint.

Braids, Braids Everywhere!

2010-09-27T19:05:00.000-04:00

When I was little my mom used to braid my hair and put pink spongy curlers at the ends resulting in a fantastic afro in the morning, I loved it. So Paris finally sat still enough for me to do the braids. We'll see what happens in the morning.

The hardest thing I have ever done, otherwise known as the Blue Ridge Relay

2010-09-25T18:47:00.000-04:00

My lovely friend Alison recently set up a weekend of torture for 12 of us. We decided to participate in the Blue Ridge Relay; it is 208 miles through the beautiful blue ridge mountains, separated into 36 legs. So we each took three legs and each ran a total of 15-20 miles. We all knew this would be challenging, but I don't think any of us realized HOW challenging. The elevation, hills, carsickness and lack of sleep made running really difficult. And all of us are experienced runners.

You would not believe how indiscriminating you become about where you lay your sleeping bag to rest when you are this exhausted. Plus, you start to realize the value of a good baby wipe bath (no showers, three runs, 36 hours, I'll let you figure it out). One of the great things about the race is the beautiful setting. We had absolutely breathtaking views of the blue ridge. All in all, it was a great experience, but one I don't think any of us are ready to repeat again.

The night before the race - still feeling pretty good, pretty clean and excited.

Night before carbo loading dinner.

The team (minus Heidi who was currently running)

Couldn't beat the green trees, white clouds and blue skies.

Ready . . .

Let's go already!

A story problem Will recently wrote for 2nd grade math class.

2010-09-25T18:32:00.002-04:00

This is an assignment that Will completed this week for his math class. It says:

Nick has 8 balls then he bought 2 more. How many balls does Nick have now? 10

Will shared this story problem with Cooper and his friend Brady and they all burst into a fit of hilarity. So did I. If you don't know why it is funny then I guess you aren't a 7 year old boy. Balls is one of the funniest words around these days!

Paris' first dance class

2010-09-25T18:28:00.001-04:00

I love how her tights are baggy and look at those tiny little feet.

Anyone guess where she learned this pose?

Paris recently started her first dance class! It is half tap and half ballet. I think we are currently paying $60 a month for her to flit around and "jump over the ducky." But it is adorable and hey, after we spend all our money and time on the boys' sports careers, it's about time!

First tooth gone! Just waiting patiently for the tooth fairy to come.

2010-09-25T18:25:00.002-04:00

Cool pictures our talented friend Jessica took in Oregon . . .

2010-09-25T18:19:00.000-04:00

First Day of Preschool

2010-09-25T18:06:00.000-04:00

First day of preschool for Paris. I love how her backpack is bigger than her.

It's the beginning of the end! Finally our last baby is starting preschool. She was so excited about going. I felt really sad and told her so, and she said," Well mommy, I just have to go to preschool." She wasn't sad at all!

Mara Colts Season Opener

2010-09-11T14:56:00.001-04:00

Today was the first football game of the season for Cooper and Will. They played Southeast Charlotte and beat them with a score of 19-0. Both boys played great and tried hard. My favorite part of the game is when a kid told his mom, "Did you see when I pushed that guy down?" And the mom said, "Yeah, that's awesome!" Can you imagine this conversation happening if he had a friend over or was at the park. Encouraging violence is acceptable at the field. I got some cute shots of Paris on the sidelines a few of Will and only one of Cooper - he was in the field pretty much the whole game so it was harder to catch him with my non-huge lens camera that all the other moms were using.

She looks like a teenager already!

Just in case Will wants to become a male model; agents could be lurking. Austin is going to love this picture.

Will ready to go!

Paris loved this picture of herself.

Cooper on a quick field water break. I don't know if they do this in the pros!

Paris all set for the big Mara Colts opener game ( and then she is set for the UM vx. Notre Dame game later!)

Audobon Society with Uncle Sean and Aunt Candace

2010-09-10T17:09:00.000-04:00

We decided to have a picnic and hike the trails at the Audobon Society in Portland. Aunt Candace and Uncle Sean took us and all was fun and games until Will dropped the camera and gave it a permanent "lens error."

Hard at work searching for cool stuff.

Paris found special things too in her little basket. I think they were algae leaves that we told Destiny she had to eat as she has recently become a vegetarian.

Megan, Aunt Candace, Destiny, Paris, Uncle Sean, Porter and Cooper. Cooper looks so old to me in this picture!

A big slug Will found. There are tons of these all over the place. We wanted to bring it back home to show Will's class but thought it might dry up.

Destiny, Megan and Porter searching for newts in the very dry stream.

Paris' new little buddy and cousin Jack. Just this morning she looked at the picture and said, "oh there's Jack, he's so cute" in a cooing voice.

A really neat owl we saw. She was actually recused by some humans when she was a baby and they took her in. She imprinted (a real word that the volunteer used) on the humans and now can't care for herself in the wild so she has lived at the society for several years and will the rest of her life.

I am loving the beautiful greenery of Portland and couldnt' resist snapping these huge ferns. And it's this green year round!

Fun times around town . . .

2010-09-10T16:48:00.000-04:00

We decided to take the kids to downtown Portland one day and on a whim we jumped on the Max. The kids really liked it. Paris even tried to swing around the pole that we were holding on to. Always good people watching on the Max! And downtown. Definitely not in Charlotte anymore. If it wouldn't have been rude we could have taken lots of interesting pictures. When we jumped off the Max we were excited to see the Lego Summer 2010 tour. Perfect!

Silly Nuts in the back of the car.

I've always liked this sign in Pioneer Courthouse Square. You can get anywhere from here!

This is a really cool minotaur made completely from legos. If you guessed the correct number of legos, you can win a prize. I think we guessed somewhere around 500,000.

Paris loves these seals that live in the fountains in downtown Portland.

Nothing beats free Jarritos at Bandito Taco.

Visiting our Grandma Nina in Oregon

2010-09-10T16:19:00.001-04:00

I love this picture of Grandma Nina with Paris and Cooper

Three smiling sweeties

We had a nice Sunday afternoon with our 98-year-old Grandma Nina. She is the most smily and spunky woman I have ever met. She told us this time about her high school career of basketball and softball. In those days the girls wore long skirts with bloomers underneath to play basketball. When Grandma was playing basketball one time, a player grabbed her by the waistband and her bloomers came off! So scandalous!

Oregon Trip 2010

2010-09-09T23:38:00.001-04:00

We just flew in this morning from a lovely trip to Oregon. And yes, I mean this morning, it was a red-eye flight that could have been a nightmare, but luckily the kids mostly slept, we got in almost an hour early and everyone came home and went back to bed until 1 p.m. By the way, we got some beautiful pictures there but surprise, surprise, Will dropped our camera while we were there and it seems to be having some serious problems so I'm not sure we will ever be posting pictures again.

Highlights from our trip:

Hugs and snuggles with Nana
Lots of playtime with Destiny and her beloved dog Colton
Some adult-alone time for Shanda and Austin at Manzanita
Seeing Grandma Betty for the first time in awhile - she is happy and looking better than last time.
Visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory
Running miles through breathtakingly beautiful hills and trees
Spending time with Uncle Sean, Aunt Candace, Megan, Porter and Jack
Paris singing songs to Colton the dog
The adorable friendship between Paris and Jack
Visiting Grandma Nina, 98 years old and still as beautiful and spunky as ever
Riding the Max into downtown Portland and stumbling upon the Lego Games Summer Tour that we forgot we meant to go to.
Beating another family in a tournament at the Lego Games Tour and winning a new Lego game!
Will giving hugs to Poppy every time he saw him
Trampoline time with cousins and Destiny
A night out for the girls at Nordstrom, Elephant Thai and REI
Uncle Sean, Uncle Austin and Poppy giving everyone back-to-school father's blessings
An Un-Birthday party with Nana at Out of this World - a fun inflatable playground
A trip to the Portland Zoo with Nana and Aunt Candace
A delicious lunch at Bandito Taco, Austin's first place of employment when he was 15. Always fun to visit Ahmed, the owner, who is charming and kind
Hiking in the woods at the Audobon Society, looking for newts in the water and seeing owls and vultures up close

Also, there was a powerful lesson on journaling and personal history at church on Sunday and now I am committed to blogging and keeping this up even if we don't have pictures and nothing interesting to say.

Photo Dump Summer 2010

2010-08-28T22:47:00.000-04:00

Completed my first sprint triathlon this summer, loved it, (except the swim) and will be training for more!

A couple of buddies to celebrate Will's 7th birthday.

Happy 7th Birthday my crazy, sweet, exuberant Will!

Congratulations NC 9U baseball state champions!

Paris wants to pose like big brother WIll

Will's take on Pop Warner Football at MARA

My big nine-year-old! Hopefully he loses the 5 pounds to get down to 75.4 lbs to stay on his team

New pads and helmets!

Beautiful double rainbow we caught, and notice Will is wearing his new football pads over his clothes

Tailgate Kick-off Mara Pop Warner Football!

2010-08-28T22:30:00.000-04:00

Will, the youngest and possibly smallest guy on the team but plays with lots of heart.

Big Coop ready for the weigh-in and scrimmage

Two Mckeehan boys ready to play

Today was the big MARA tailgate scrimmage or opening day of the Mara Colts football team. The boys played hard. Cooper started middle linebacker with four sacks and a few catches, but unfortunately ending up with a cleat to the hand when tackling. Will played hard as the smallest right guard on offense and defense. Can you tell this is Shanda writing, no exciting play by plays here, just trying to get stuff up on the blog.

The Final Hurrah

2010-07-31T00:51:00.001-04:00

Cooper's team had played so good up to this point I think I started to forget that they were 9. I started expecting them to make every play, get every clutch hit, always make the right decision and walk away victorious. I was ready to chronicle this into a movie that would battle the likes of Hoosiers, Rudy, Miracle on Ice, and The Natural.

Cooper's team battled fiercely against a stacked Florida team. They did not give it away, but they did make a couple of mistakes. We had opportunities to win, but Florida had some great pitching and our bats never really got going. Florida won 6-4. We bounced back with wins against Tennessee and Virginia, before losing to South Carolina and being eliminated from the tournament. But after winning the area and state championships and finishing in the top 10 out of about 600 little league teams in the South East Region, it was tough not to be pretty proud for the boys.

Highlights of the Trip:

Buying a printed program with my son's picture and name in it and having him autograph it for me.
Watching my son pitch in the South East Regional and have guys with radar guns behind the dug out (he only throws between 48 - 50 MPH, which is good but not exceptional speed for a 9 year old incidentally) but it was still a rush.
Pool Parties -- until the Baby Ruth in the pool incident (it wasn't our kid)
Painting our car with the team before we left
Having the whole family together

Football starts next week -- Both Will and Cooper are playing. Only in the South can your 6 year old sign up for full on tackle football!

State Champs and on to the Southeast Regional -- Day 1 Opening Ceremonies

2010-07-21T22:28:00.000-04:00

Day 1 -- Arrival, check in and Opening Cermonies --

After a 5 hour car ride we arrived at the pride of Richmond, Virginia -- The Comfort Inn. We immediately hit the pool. Forecast for tomorrow, the first day of the tournament, is an even 100 degrees. Add in the humidity and Weather.com says it will feel like 107 or something like that. Sounds like a great day to play a doubleheader!

First up, Florida State Champions. We might as well be playing the NY Stinkin' Yankees. When I saw their team when we arrived, they were not just big, they were strong. They had huge, strong necks, backs and arms. I am not saying these kids were juicing or anything, but they had some serious muscle compared to the rest of the teams. They are the favorite to win the whole thing. We will see if we are any good based on how we play them. After that, we play Tennessee. Not much easier. Day 2 are teams I think we might have a better chance against, but we they are all good teams, they all won their state.

After opening ceremonies, which were pretty cool, the kids all exchanged pins with the other teams, and each of the teams walked out on the big, major league sized field and carried their state's flag. We had a picnic, but it was too hot, the hot dogs kind of sucked and we had to pay 7 dollars for them. So we hurried back to the pool and then tried to get 4 kids to bed before 9 (Cooper's best friend came to cheer him on).

We will post some pictures from the games later. Wish us luck. We got David vs. Goliath tomorrow, but hopefully we will have our slingshots ready.

9U North Carolina State Champs

2010-07-15T21:57:00.003-04:00

And then there was 1.

12 teams qualified for the State Championship. Cooper's team started off horribly going down 14 - 1 in their first game, where just about every player on the team had an error and we looked like the bad news bears in the first 3 innings. They actually came back to tie that game but it was too little too late and they started the state championship tournament with a loss.

But then the proverbial GONG went off. "What? Daniel Larusa is gonna fight?"

From that point forward, they went on an absolute tear outscoring their opponents 75 - 13 over the next 5 games in route to the NC State Championship.

While I was vomiting of anxiety along the fence line, Cooper pitched the final 3 innings in both the semifinal and state championship games (they play 6 inning games and you by rule you can't pitch more than 6 innings over 2 consecutive games).

The other team's fans were literally pulling fog horns, ringing cow bells and blowing those world cup horns while my son was pitching. When I looked over and saw him still blowing bubbles with his gum mid- pitch, I knew we were ok or atleast not falling apart in the moment. His team played amazing D behind him and they won the State Championship and advanced to the South East Regionals in Virginia.

Yahooooooooo!

Coop Action Pitching Shots from this Weekend's Area Championship

2010-07-06T17:03:00.001-04:00

Area 4 Cal Ripken Little League 9U All-Stars Championship Game

Cooper McKeehan

Nice Balanced Knee Bend

Raring back to throw

Drive off the front foot...

Follow Through....

Bring home the championship and act crazy -- Can you find Cooper in this picture?

I believe he is in the middle. I can see his dirty backside but can not see his face.

That's a little better -- smiling back row in the middle

Can you say statement game! -- Area championship goes to the Matthews - American League All-Stars 17 - 4 on July 4th weekend 2010! On to the State Championships this weekend. We have to get a hotel and travel and everything. Cooper and the whole family are excited.

Cutest Little Chubby Fingers

2010-05-11T21:18:00.000-04:00

Paris is very into painting her nails. The other day we bought a little kit that had sparkly polish, stickers and little press-on nails. We did all three. The press-on nails lasted about five minutes. Also notice her armful of silly bandz.

Quail Hollow

2010-04-27T07:46:00.000-04:00

Austin took the boys to the Quail Hollow golf tournament yesterday. They had a great time and even got a couple of autographs. Sadly Tiger didn't show up. Too busy with his local girlfriends I guess.

Will's a Redneck Now

2010-04-27T07:37:00.000-04:00

Not really shooting Paris, she just came in at the wrong time. By the way this is just an AIRSOFT gun not a real rifle. Thought we would finally embrace NC and get a couple of guns and a gun rack to put in Austin's BMW. Will begged a friend of mine to give him this sweet camoflage one-piecer.

Did you know . . .

2010-04-25T23:33:00.002-04:00

that you can eat ice cream with scissors?

Will tried it out today and let me know that it works just fine. Not real sanitary or safe, but in a pinch, it'll do.

Cooper's Philosophy on Hygiene

2010-04-20T06:54:00.000-04:00

We were packing for a recent trip to the beach and I asked Cooper and Will to each pack some shirts, underwear, shorts, etc. Then Austin double-checked what they packed (in the past we made the mistake of NOT checking and found that Will had only packed a superhero costume and some boots for the whole trip). Anyway, Will had his nice little row of five pairs of underwear but Cooper had no underwear.

Austin: "Cooper, where is your underwear for the trip?"

Cooper, "Dad, it is only five days."

Awesome.

Apparently we have done a great job instilling the dos and don'ts of personal hygiene in Cooper. Hopefully when he is a stinky boy of 12 and beyond, we will have remedied this problem and introduced showering and deodorant into his routine.

Note: With some intervention we did pack more than one pair of underwear for Cooper for the whole trip.

Happy Belated St. Patricks Day!

2010-04-19T23:06:00.001-04:00

Will and Cooper both wore green wigs to school to celebrate St. Patrick's day and we even had green pancakes to celebrate and if I can ever get my stupid picture uploader to work I will include more pictures.

Umm, Max could be dead again.

2010-03-15T07:49:00.001-04:00

Unfortunately after the joyful reunion with Max the hamster, Paris seems to have left his cage open and we haven't seen him again in a week. We have been leaving a little bowl of food out to lure him out of wherever he is, but it doesn't seem to be working. Guess we are white trash with critters running around after all.

DAY 5 -- Will Saves Max (for the second time)

2010-03-08T20:38:00.004-05:00

Max is the name of our hamster. Max was almost snake food. That is how we found Max. Our friends were going to feed him to their snake, but we decided to keep him. Unfortunately, his 9 brothers and sisters were not as lucky.

Late last night Cooper told me, Max, our hamster was lost. He said it happened before Mom left.

"What?" "We lost him 6 days ago?" "How come nobody said anything to me?"

Cooper started to look as if he were being caught in a trap --

" I , ur, don't know - ask Mom -- just ask Mom - Just call Mom!" Apparently the the two had decided it would be better if Dad did not know that we lost the hamster. While I was annoyed, Will just found out at the same time I did. He was crushed. He sobbed himself to sleep as I told him Max was probably dead and could not live this long without food and water. Will said a sweet prayer "that Max could be ok, wherever he is "

6:00 AM -- I woke the kids up for school and Will is getting his bag and shoes when he sees something scamper across the floor from our closet into the bathroom (No we do not just have "critters" crawling all over our house, but apparently we are more red neck than I thought. A hampster can live off our crumbs for 6-8 days without being phased.).

"MAX!" WIll yells.

No one else even saw him, but Will was right. He was decidedly skinnier than we remembered him but we gave him some food and water and he gobbled it down. When we saw him do his spiderman trick where he climbs up the side of his cage, we knew he was ok :)

I had to go back to work today and tomorrow, so I we had a nanny service come today. Her name is Jessie and my kids love her. We have had her on multiple occasions thanks to this sweet new benefit we found at my work. Feels like cheating but I don't see them again until 6:00.

6:00 PM -- We had dinner together, did homework and got ready for bed. Mom comes home tomorrow. We called Mom -- The kids loved talking to her. You could just see how much they love their Mom.

Mom sounded great too. I guess 6 days in Newport Beach taking in the sunshine and beaches and good food will re-energize you. Can't wait for her to come back.

DAY 4 - A Day of Rest?

2010-03-07T19:48:00.007-05:00

A few of you have made some great points like "I applaud the efforts but, I don't hear anything about cleaning the house." or "They better tell you thanks if you take them to Chik-fil-a, Five guys and Pizza (It was frozen) every day." These are all very valid points.

Let me be clear - I am in it for survival in the short term. If all kids are alive when my wife comes home, I will call it a success. I just want to make it to the end -- to see Mom again.

There is absolutely no question, Mom is way better at this than me. And these "opportunities" always turn into "Mom appreciation weeks" but honestly, I appreciated her a ton going into this. I appreciate the work all Moms do even more. It is full on, all out, never ending, I could always be doing something more, WORK. It does have some rewarding moments, and you have to savor them.

But if it makes any of you feel better, we did clean today and we did not eat at any restaurants today :).

=====

Today was Sunday, and it actually felt the most normal of any of the days so far. Knowing this was my biggest chance for Shanda's friends to leak information back to Shanda, I made sure the kids were bathed for church. They may have been dirty all week, but I am not dumb enough to leave them that dirty for church.

9 - 12:30 Went to Church. The kids were good during church overall. I was pleasantly surprised.

1 -5: Paris takes a nap the majority of the time. I made cookies with the boys. Cooper has some serious chef skills. At age 8 he may know more than me about cooking. He knew how to use our kitchen aid better than me. Will knew where aprons were for everyone (except me - come on, just cause I am watching the kids does not mean I am at home wearing an apron!). It was fun and tasty. We also all cleaned our own rooms, did the the dishes and cleaned the the front room. We will have to tackle the enormous mountain of clothes tomorrow. Made lunches for the next day.

5- 7 - Some friends took pity on me and invited us over for dinner. It was great, but Paris is regressing on the potty training. Unfortunately, she almost always tells me for #1 but not for #2. She is in a pull up so it is not the end of the world, but just frustrating. That's a problem I am just not going to be able to fix while Shanda is gone. I think she needs to be sent to her Nonny's for Potty Training Boot Camp. Wonder if she is reading this? What do say Ang? I know you are coming back in a week?

7:30 PM -- Kids in bed. Work tomorrow. Fairly uneventful, peaceful day.

DAY 3 -- The Return of my Daddy Swagger

2010-03-06T21:07:00.005-05:00

I started to get my swagger back on day three.

7:30 -- The kids woke up before me but played nice and watched cartoons for a bit. Feeling hapy about that I declared we were going to Chik-Fil-A for breakfast (a great southern fast food treat that we frequent often on Saturday mornings).

9:00 - 10:00 We then went to my basketball game where there was a solid pack of kids that I just let my three join while I was playing. We won by 20 and we are not that good. So they were just awful. I mean they shot a lot of air balls. If I were to guess, I would say like 15.

10:00 - 12:00 -- Next we went to Cooper's practice. The weather was great and their were lots of kids for my kids to play with. This was more like I imagined this experience going.

SPORTS TANGENT COMING (PROUD DAD MOMENT / BORDERLINE BRAGGING) -- If you are tired of me talking about my kids sports triumphs, just skip down a few paragraphs. One of my favorite parts of the day was when Jason Garfinkle, the #1 kid in Cooper's baseball league was playing shortstop (5th grader, 5 time All-Star, one game away from the little league Nationals (AKA the little league World Series)), while his Dad (the Coach) hit pop flies to all the players in the field.

Jason was supposed to be the cut off man. The other kids were supposed to catch the pop fly and then throw it in to the cut off man. The coach hit the pop flies to all the kids and then Jason went out and called for the cut off. And he did that for the first 6 - 7 players. Then it was Coops turn. He caught the pop fly and then Jason did not go out for the cut, signaling to throw it straight to the second baseman. Cooper then threw the ball in from the outfield and hit the second baseman standing on second in the glove.

The coach then asked his son, "Jason, why didn't you go out and call for the cut off?"
"Because he's got an arm, Dad. That kid has an arm, I would have only slowed the play up, if I went and cut it off."

Respect from the biggest stud in the league. No one else at practice probably even noticed, but I thought it was cool.

12:00 - 2:00 After practice we went to Five Guys for lunch. We then got Will some new cleats. Ahhhh, the-little-boy-with-a- new-pair-of-shoes / cleats never gets old. I told him to run a few laps with his new cleats on to try them out. I then told him how fast he looked. Will then talked about how he might be the fastest kid on his team with his new cleats and how he would always be the fastest "if people just didn't get in my way!". I love it. I can still remember running sprints for my next door neighbor as a kid because he told me thought I could run fast in my new shoes.

2:00 - 3:45 Paris takes a quick nap. We have to wake her up to go to Will's practice.

4:00 - 6:00 Will's Practice. Will half cracks me up and half annoys me because the coach puts him at shortstop but he rarely concentrates. He has the attention span of like 5 seconds. But if he pays attention, he is usually pretty good. But I look around and most all the 6 year olds are not paying attention, so I pause for about three minutes, and then start yelling at him to pay attention, quit dancing with his shadow, etc.

6:30 - 8:30 Came home - made pizza and all four of us snuggled on the couch to watch the new episode of Phineas and Ferb -- one our our family favorites from disney.

And that's a wrap -- Not too much drama -- We also got a new toilet today and Paris was the first to christen it.

Also of note -- I did the dishes for the first time. I wrongfully accused Paris of pooping somewhere because a nasty stench had started to stink up the place and then I realized that that the little bit of milk left in your cereal bowl actually curdles after a couple of days. The bad smell did inspire me to bathe all the children tonight.

And there was another poop story, but no one can take back-to-back poop stories.

Last thing -- and the highlight of the day. As we were eating Pizza that night, Will turned to me and said, "Dad, Thanks for an awesome day. We had lots of fun. You are the greatest." The other kids chimed in too. Will is definitely an emotional roller coaster, but he definitely has the kindest heart of the bunch.

Feeling pretty good through 3 days - all things considered.

Life without Mom (Shanda) -- DAY 2

2010-03-05T19:59:00.003-05:00

Today was considerably harder. Despite no alarms being set, the kids woke up like clock work right around 6:00 AM.

6:15 AM: Cooper asked me what was for breakfast and I gave him the "It's-gonna-be-a-long-six-days-for-you-kid-if-you- still- can't-pour-your-own-bowl-of-cereal-and-you-are-turning-9-this-month-speech." He then spilled the milk, while pouring.

9:00 Shanda calls. Wow - 6:00 AM her time. Apparently she has not adjusted yet. I find this mind boggling since she is always tired. But while I had her on the phone, I tapped her for a few of her ideas. She gave me like 50, and after like 10 I was like ok, now you are just rubbing it in. You have far superior kind watching time killing ideas than me. Point taken. You don't have to rub my face in it.

10 - Noon -- One amazing idea was to take them to the local YMCA. The kids enjoy going there and they have something for all ages and 2 hours of watching your kids daily is included in the membership. Yeah Haw -- Chester's Dead! (top gun reference for those who follow). We milked that until lunch. Coop went to kid zone for kids 7 and over. This is clearly the big ticket item at the Y and the dream of envy of every six year old in the surrounding area. Will is 6 but I felt no remorse in sending him to the kid zone. I told Coop not to blow his cover. No questions were asked -- clearly this is a tactic Mom has used as well in the past. Coop was playing Michigan Football on the EA Sports College football and destroyed Ohio State. That is as close to a big time victory as Michigan has had in recent years. Will and I played foosball. I worked out for an hour. We then picked up Paris. Genius, Shanda, Genius!

12 - 2 : We went to subway for lunch. Then off to the batting cages, Then off redeem our gift cards at Cold Stone - despite it still being unseasonable cold for Charlotte.

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY -- No nap today but caught a break -- Cooper's friend asked him to spend the night. Let me think about that for a second, "um, yeah -- I think we can accommodate. Would you like Will and Paris as well. No sleepover is complete without them? "

4:00 - 6:00 Baseball Practice -- Now this is usually the highlight of my day. I love watching the kids play baseball. But with three kids and no help, It was decidedly different. Paris says she has to go potty and is holding her croutch with both hands. I was helping out playing first base at the time and said -- Looks like someone will have to take over for me. I pick her up and run to nearest bathroom. Since we haven't had the first game yet, it appears the facilities are locked. Checked my back up -- the port-a-potty in front of field 10. It is no where to be found. Newman!

I have no choice but to take her in the woods. Can I just say this process is SO MUCH EASIER FOR BOYS? Here i am in sub 40 temperature pulling Paris pants, shoes, socks and underwear off so she can pee. And then, and I thought this only happened to boys, but not being in her natural comfort zone, she gets stage fright. Nothing comes out. She turns to me -- All done Daddy.

You gotta be kidding me, For the love of all things, "Pee Paris" "Pee like the wind."

" I no have to pee Daddy." So I put it all back on.

20 minutes later she says she has to go Poo-Poo. Now I am really in trouble. I find out there is a facility about 300 yards away. I run to the car -- Don't bother buckling her and drive as fast I can. I keep encouraging her to hold it. She is doing it valiantly. We get to the bathroom and I choke under the pressure and am admittedly slow getting everything off. Right as I am pulling down her pull up, she let's it fly. So close and yet so far away. Needless to say, Paris went commando the rest of practice.

Practice finished. We rented Harry Potter and got treats. Then I realized Harry Potter is like 2 and half hours and called it at the half way point. I am exhausted. But they are in bed and I am soon to follow.

Hoping today will be better and it will get warmer soon.

Life without Mom (Shanda) -- DAY 1

2010-03-04T21:37:00.003-05:00

So in a moment of weakness, I offered to send Shanda out to see her brother and his family and watch our three kids for six days. I am used to watching the kids for a few hours at a time, but needless to say, this will be quite an adventure. So for kicks, and for the 5-6 of you listening, I am deciding to chronicle the highlights of each day. By the way, it is only day one, but I already have mad respect for all the stay at home spouses out there.

6:00 AM -- Wake the kids up and get them ready for the bus. Had 30 minutes to get them dressed, fed and lunches ready. It is bad enough that our kids are supposed to be picked up at 6:35 AM for school, but the bus driver got to our house at 6:24 AM today. D&*% that bus driver! Oh well, got them off safe and back to bed I go.

6:37 AM -- Paris wakes up. So much for the back to bed plan.

9:15 AM -- I can not believe it is only 9:15 AM. I read stories, watched a cartoon, made breakfast, played basketball and went on a walk with Paris. I got nothing left in the tank or pool of ideas. About 2.5 hours into this I am hitting my typical time period that I watch the kids. No wonder Shanda takes these kids to the YMCA everyday. I am in trouble.

10:15 -- The kids asked if I could meet them for lunch at school since I am not home very often. So I said sure all flattered and then they left their orders of the food they wanted me to bring them. WIll wants hamburger and chicken nuggets and Cooper wants Sushi. But we needed something to kill the time so I accommodated.

10:55 -- I ran into the gas station for 1 minute with Paris in the car and the doors locked. I could see the car the entire time, but thought to myself, moms must be tempted to lock their kids up all the time when they run errands. I feel bad about it.

11:15 -- Met Will for lunch. Waiting in the cafeteria, one of the neighbor girls sees me and quickly takes me under her wing and explains that I am in the wrong table and how the lunch process works. It was appreciated and cute all at the same time.

You can learn a lot at a lunch table with 6 year olds. Let's start with I thought I was the starring attraction, but I wasn't. It was all Paris. They ate her up. Repeatedly asking her questions and laughing at whatever she said. Paris loved it too. Will held his sisters hand most of lunch and all the way back to his class. It was pretty cute.

By the way, I think Will is officially the class clown, but he did not really want me to know. The kids kept asking Will -- "Hey Will, tell us a joke. Come on Will, just one joke." He kind of gave them the look like, not now guys, my Dad is here.

12:15 -- Lunch with Cooper and his friends. Sushi definitely got Cooper the attention he was looking for. About 5 minutes into lunch Cooper announced "Who wants a Wasabe Sushi Bomb?" It had shades of the playground on Christmas Story and a double dog dare. His good friend Ecam rose to the occasion. " I am African," he declared. "Africans eat all sorts of spicy things. It does not bother me at all. I am an African American. "

Ecam had thrown down the gauntlet. Cooper took the entire side of wasabe meant for 12 pieces of sushi to share and pasted all on one "Wasabe Sushi Bomb." I was nervous. This could seriously do some damage I thought. I was the only adult at the table. Ecam ate it up without hesitation. Not even a blink. No water. "I am African American," he declared again in victory. Impressive stuff.

We also started beating our hands to rhythm of "We Will Rock you" on the table. The two tables next to us started joining in and then I realized, oh no, I started this ruckus. Good to know I can still hang with the 8 year olds at lunch. Good Times. I think I was cooler than Paris with the 8 year olds, but it was still debateable.

1:15 -- Paris down for a nap. Will and Coop still at school. I had a nap. This is the only perk that I found in staying at home today.

2:45 -- Kids home from School. We played baseball. Coop practiced pitching to me. We all played a little hoops. Paris dunked. Made a snack.

5:00 -- Went to the dollar movies. Snuck in drinks and suckers. I had a can of Fresca for each of the kids. Dad's don't do wussy juice boxes. I think this might have been the first time Paris ever got an entire can of pop. oops. Luckily there were only about 7 people in the theater and we were 4 of them. She was bouncing off the walls. It has no calories -- I thought it would be ok. oops.

7:00 -- late dinner. Made left overs -- Thanks Shanda. 8:30 -- Kids in bed. No school tomorrow. It is going to be even harder. And I think I used some of my best stuff today. We'll see.

Paris

2010-02-03T07:52:00.006-05:00

I've been waiting for whole life for a little baby girl who would do this. Who would also love it when I make necklaces and rings for her and then wear them on her chubby fingers. Who would pronounce the word "wolf" as "woof" as in The Boy Who Cried Woof. Who would enthusiastically clap and sing and listen at reading time. Who tells me to chew my food before talking to her. Who asked Heavenly Father to help us in this cold "feather" in her prayers. Who will sit for hours with an open book reading loudly to herself. Who loves to go shopping and say, "Ohhh, Cute" when I show her something. Who always tells me I look pretty after I get dressed even if it is sweats to go running. Who wants to snuggle face to face with her little arms wrapped tight around my neck.

Love you Paris! Thank you for making me smile!

Pinewood Derby 2010

2010-01-24T10:58:00.004-05:00

This is our first year that we had a son old enough for the Pinewood Derby. Cooper and Austin worked hard on Cooper's car (with the help of many friends -- Thanks Bro. Coombs) - a camouflage "Humvee". He managed to win a few races and come in fourth place out of 15 participants. But the most adorable event of the night was seeing Will watch the races intently and then cheer like crazy when Cooper won.

Thank Goodness for Good Samaritans

2010-01-22T22:01:00.004-05:00

It's been a pretty rotten day. I took a boot camp class at the YMCA two days ago that has left me hammered - I have never been this tremble-when-you-see-a-set-of-stairs-sore in my life - and I have taken the opportunity to let anyone I talk to know about it. So just getting around the house, cleaning and dealing with whiny children that want to be held has not been great. Add to that PMS and school off today and I think you can imagine what a monster mom I have been.

So to top it off, tonight at 9:30 Cooper and I went to Target to get him a pair of water sandals to take with him to the beach this weekend with a friend. As we were casually inspecting the sandals and perusing the 75 percent off aisle, I hear over the loud speaker, "Will the owner of the black BMW with the license plate #1UMFan come to the customer service desk?" My heart sunk, but I thought it was just because I left the lights on again - this is Austin's car and I don't drive it very often and tend to leave lights on and run the battery down and then need a jump and such. Well, it was a bit worse than that. Apparently I left the car, a standard, in neutral and forgot to engage the emergency brake. So while we were nonchalantly shopping, our car started to roll across the parking lot, scraping the cart corral on its way to Panera Bread - not real close to Target by the way. Then a stranger saw the problem, jumped into the car while it was rolling, pulled the E-brake and then pushed it into a new parking spot. Then he left.

He didn't steal the car or anything in it, or laugh as it rolled into a building or another car. A complete stranger put himself in danger by running after the car, stopping it and then pushing it to a new spot. Probably not what he was planning when he set out for Target tonight. And the car was nowhere close to where I originally parked it, it moved nearly half the parking lot away. The car isn't wrecked, there is a scrape along the side from the cart corral but nothing like what could have happened.

I feel so much gratitude for this person who did this. I never got to meet him, he was gone before I found out what happened. So all I could do is thank my Heavenly Father for putting someone in place to help me avoid a major catastrophe. It just shows how much he loves me, this could have been significantly worse and instead it was minor.

Black Friday and my buddy Cooper

2009-11-29T09:23:00.004-05:00

For some reason Cooper was really excited about Black Friday shopping this year. I am not sure whether it was the thought of quality time together or because he thought he could finagle me into buying him a lego set on sale (which he did, but won't get it until he pays me back). Anyway, this was my second year shopping, we never did this growing up. My parents were more of the philosophy that you didn't go anywhere near stores on Black Friday, with good reason.

Cooper set his alarm clock for 4 am after suggesting that I set out my clothes for the next day and sleeping in his. Then he woke me at 4:21 am and started helping me get dressed and ready. He got a stool out and stood by my closet and asked me what I wanted to wear, "Maybe a blouse, mom?" No thanks, more like a t-shirt and sweater. I didn't even know he knew the word "blouse". Then he got out other choices: a denim skirt, some brown dress pants before he finally found my jeans and we settled on a green sweater, pink shirt and jeans. He told me that my sweater and shirt would look good together because they are close together on the color wheel.

After Cooper hustled me out the door and we made our way to Walmart, he insisted that we RUN into the store at 4:55 am. Run? I was barely stumbling. But we ran in and got everything on our list. It was fun to have a little shopping buddy though I think he was expecting to find a couple of Wii games and Guitar Hero for $5. We didn't find that but I did treat him to a delectable breakfast at McDonald's when we were done.

Paris and Austin . . . Vampires?

2009-11-29T09:20:00.001-05:00

It's my own little Edward and Reneesme!

Little Girls Are Cute

2009-11-13T14:06:00.006-05:00

If I only knew how fun having a little girl was going to be, I wonder if I would have wished for boys so much initially. My favorite is her in the blanket.

Although she is all snuggled up next to the Anthropologie shopping bag -- that could make me wish for boys again.

Austin

Deliverance

2009-11-07T16:59:00.002-05:00

This week at my bible study class our lecture was on Psalm 125 and specifically deliverance from the Lord. The lecturer spoke about a concept I have forgotten along the way. We have the mistaken belief that deliverance means that our trials will end or we will somehow have relief. I like how the lecturer described deliverance:

"it means living confidently as one who is protected, impenetrable like Mount Zion . . . rest in the powerful surrounding presence of God . . . living in the storm of trials and having peace."

Lately I've been very frustrated with my life, my kids, how my brain seems to have evaporated and the constant fatigue that comes with being a mom. This lecture brought me back to what we are doing here. I am here to be tested and tried and polished through the fire of difficulty. But the silver lining is that I will be able to do it, I will be able to get through it with Christ and come out better for it.

This morning something happened that perfectly illustrated this point to me. A friend and I drove 1 1/2 hours away to attend the Columbia, South Carolina temple. Don't even get me started on the fact that I had to leave at 6:30 am and had been up since 2 am with a bout of insomnia. Anyway, after the session I was definitely ready to go home quick and rest and felt weepy and nauseated from lack of sleep.

When I tried to start my car it wouldn't turn over, and the battery seemed to be dead. This was the trial and then came the deliverance. We found a man in the parking lot who was a mechanic who gave us a jump and even more importantly helped us find the battery. I'm not completely stupid, but have you ever looked for the battery under the hood of a BMW? It is in a weird spot and doesn't look anything like any other battery in a car. So anyway, this wonderful man was able to correctly hook our jumper cables up and jump us and even point out the fact that I had left my lights on, and that is why the battery was dead. By the way, I was driving Austin's car so I wasn't familiar with all these BMW quirks.

I was frustrated but just so grateful for how this played out, it could have been much different. It could have been pouring rain, we could have been boxed in by other cars in the parking lot with no way to reach the engine with the cables, there could have been no other cars there. We could have hooked the cables to the wrong spot and blown up the car! I felt like Mount Zion - we got through it with all the extra helpful things from Heavenly Father. AND I learned from my trial to always make sure to turn my lights off!

24 Hour Readathon

2009-10-27T08:39:00.006-04:00

Many people were confused or simply thought I was ridiculous when I told them about participating in my first 24 hour readathon. It was lots of fun with my friend Tricia. We spent most of the day at her house reading on her comfy couches and being served by her smiley husband, then spent the night at a Southpark hotel with yummy food from Maggianos and Cheesecake factory. (Meanwhile Austin was at home feeding the kids Cici's pizza for under $10 for the whole family).

Despite the lack of snacks to shovel into our mouths the whole time -Tricia doesn't believe in snacking while reading, or ever - we still had a great time.

I read for about 14 hours of the 24, completed 3.3 books and 823 pages, had lots of laughs and even stayed up past 9 pm for my first time!

By the way, despite what this picture looks like, we had our own beds and didn't snuggle on the same pillow the whole night.

"Punkin" House with Paris

2009-10-27T08:37:00.002-04:00

A couple years ago, I bought a few of these kits that I thought would be fun to make with the kids. I think last time Will and I tried one there was wailing and gnashing of teeth, so Paris and I tried one again together and had a great time. Here is the finished project with my cute little baby next to it.

Lucky to be a Boy

2009-10-17T15:46:00.002-04:00

Today I inadvertently stumbled upon a talk about periods (as in, once a month) with Cooper. I was trying to explain why girls have them and I got a bit tongue-tied.

Me: Uh, when the egg is released and there is no sperm to make a baby, then, um, everything has to come out to clean out the uterus.

Cooper: Uterus, what the crap is a uterus?

Exactly.

U2 Concert

2009-10-06T07:05:00.004-04:00

We traveled several hours on Saturday to see the U2 concert in Raleigh. Enduring tons of traffic and a round trip drive of 5 hours was TOTALLY WORTH IT! I haven't seen many concerts in my life and this was amazing. I would definitely go see them again.

U of M Game Day!

2009-10-06T06:51:00.001-04:00

Cub Scout Campout

2009-10-03T08:57:00.004-04:00

Austin recently took Coop and Will on the Cub Scout campout and thanks to my lovely friend Heather we have these fun pictures.

I love this one of Cooper and his buddy Tyler - they've known each other since they were little chubby 3-year-olds. I love seeing them together still.

This is what happens when mom decides not to go to the campout and Cooper decides to run in the ashes of the fire - Great idea Coop! Was it still burning?

Will is just happy to be there and by the way, notice his new glasses?

Thank you Austin for taking them!!! I really was happy to stay home snug in my own warm bed.

Always a great start to the day . . .

2009-10-02T07:46:00.003-04:00

When I have to sign my tardy kids in to school wearing my not-so-loose hand me down from my sister red reindeer pajamas with no bra and crazy hair. Good thing I brushed my teeth at least.

Yo-Yo Necklace Tutorial

2009-10-01T15:36:00.012-04:00

It's my first tutorial! I found this cute yo-yo necklace idea and thought I would try my hand at my own tutorial. Basically it's a bunch of yo-yos that you combine and anchor to your neck with a chain or ribbon. And to give credit where credit is due, I found this idea online and wanted to link to it but couldn't find the link, so this is definitely not my original creation.

I'll show you my steps but if you want a more detailed and really great tutorial just to make the yo-yos, check here.

So first I gathered my materials. Basically you need some fabric scraps, round shapes to use for a cutout, scissors, needles, thread, glue gun, base fabric piece if desired, chain or ribbon for making the necklace and I think that's about it.

Here's the stuff:

Next use several different size circular items to trace your circle shape. Keep in mind that the yo-yo will turn out about half the size of the item you use to trace originally.

Cut out your circles. I am showing just one of mine, but you will need several. I used a total of 8.

Next you will thread your needle and make a knot at the end. Then fold over the edge of the circle and use long basting stitches all around the edge of the circle.

When you have finished stitching around the edge of the circle, start pulling up the stitches so that the circle starts to close in on itself, like this:

This is what it will look like when you have gathered the stitches completely. Go up and down through the middle a few times with the needle and thread and secure with a knot on the bottom of the yo-yo.

Arrange the yo-yos in any order that you like.

Then take a piece of scrap fabric or felt to use as a base for your necklace. Just cut it in something close to what your shape looks like. You will trim it later.

You can stitch your yo-yos together if you like but I chose the faster and lazier way of using the glue gun. I just started with the biggest yo-yo and started securing them to the base fabric and each other with a little bit of glue around the yo-yo edges.

Then turn it over and trim around the glue to make a base that you won't see from the other side.

Next decide what you would like to use for the necklace attachment. I decided to use chain but I have also seen ribbon or even different trims used for this. This is a horrible picture of me sewing my chain to the back of the yo-yo base.

I'm not going to go into detail about the clasp of the chain, crimp beads, etc. But just know that you will need those if you use chain, if you use ribbon, just glue it onto the back and tie it on. Fray-check is always helpful to make sure the ribbon ends don't get all stringy.

Wa-la! Here it is! Wear, give away for gifts and have lots of fun. I love these because you don't need lots of fabric and can probably even use up some of those scraps you may have hanging around.

A GREAT Crockpot Cooking website

2009-09-26T11:34:00.002-04:00

I love this new crockpot website! I can't say enough about it. I love my crock-pot, makes dinner so yummy and easy and this blog has TONS of great new recipes to try.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com

Just thought I would share! It changed my life.

We Need your Help, suggestions and votes

2009-09-23T21:55:00.002-04:00

My sweet, vivacious wife reads about 5 books a week or something crazy like that. She has another blog where she writes reviews of all these books she reads (In comparison, I have read about 3 books in the last year, but about 1,500 - 2,000 sports related articles).

But anyway, her blog is called "Book Thoughts."

So I came home one night and made a less sensitive crack about the blog name. I mean "Book Thoughts" -- I guess that is what it is, thoughts about books, but what a boring name. This coming from my wife who has the email Stitchdiva, who is known for her style, is called a cool hipster by my colleagues at work, and just oozes with spunk and personality.

"Book Thoughts? That seems kind of unoriginal," I say.

Well it turns out it was not a good time or day to say this. This led hurt feelings which led to her changing her blog name which was "inadvertently stolen" from another book blog, which she later posted an apology for on her blog.

So let's get Shanda a name that marries her love of books with her spunky, fun personality. Book Thoughts -- That will just not do.

If you have any ideas -- please post a comment or tell me. I have listed a few ideas and if you like any of the ones I have listed, feel free to comment, but I know nothing about books or blogs, but here goes.

Sassy Synopses -- (Showing her sassy but educated side)

Book Banter -- (Showing her liveliness and spunk)

Bad Ass Book Reviews -- (Just sounds cool and she is a bad-ass)

Babes, Boobs and Books -- (Well at least books, but now that I have your attention...)

StitchDiva Diaries -- Book Reviews of a stay at home Mom

For the love of the Library -- (showing her love of the library and books)

Bedtime Stories -- (She always reads to put herself to sleep, but could be misinterpreted...)

3 men and a Baby and me -- What I do when my family actually leaves me alone

Raw Reads -- Sassy, Spunky, straight from the heart book reviews

Thats all I got -- Post your thoughts, ideas, etc. -- Not for me, but for Shanda.

Book Thoughts -- It is just a tragedy.

The Anchor

2009-09-22T13:22:00.002-04:00

I've been wanting to take a bible study class for some years now. This year I finally found one at one of the local churches and decided to take the plunge. Today was my first day, we are studying Psalms. The focus is going to be improving our prayers, instead of just saying the same rote words every time. The leader talked about how selfish our prayers have become, we don't seem to try so hard to develop a relationship with God so much as just rattle off a list of demands. We are going to learn why we pray, who we are praying to, and how to pray more effectively.

I was inspired by this teacher who is not a member of my church, but is teaching things that are helpful to me and in fact timely. I have been trying to work on more thoughtful prayers lately and feel grateful that I have this chance to learn more about prayer from the Bible.

Though it is a little weird to me in a way. Somehow part of me wonders is this o.k? To learn these truths from a different church than mine? It's a little tiny bit uncomfortable but I also like it. I like the people I have met there and everyone has welcomed me in, even knowing that I am a Mormon. I think it will be a good thing.