Sassy Candy Corn

This week, Evelyn's teacher has asked that the students wear Red on Monday, Orange on Tuesday, Yellow on Wednesday, ...etc. you get the picture. Evelyn wanted to wear a shirt that is primarily black, but has three candy corn on the front (it was a Halloween shirt from last year). There is orange in candy corn, but we're talking about a pretty small amount of orange on some pretty small candy corn images. She told me about a kid in her class who confronted her about the lack of orange on her shirt: "This kid, Mom, was so sassy to me. She said I didn't have orange on in an ugly way and she was WRONG. I don't have to listen to her. I know i'm right."

Oh boy. I am looking forward to this kind of conversation with her when she's a teenager. She'll be convinced she's right at any given moment. Wish us luck.

Fun with a Rocket

Kenneth's Grandma bought him a rocket for his birthday. We used it in Houston when we visited in late July and brought it out again this weekend to have fun with it in our cul-de-sac. It shoots up about 200 feet. A couple of weekends ago we brought it to Central Market--the one we go to has a huge open area and adjacent shaded play area. Of course, it caught the attention of all of the kids that were there. What's great about it is that it's completely safe and portable--powered only by pumping air.

You can see the rocket flying up in the air in the picture.

Love at Age 5

Tonight we went to a school dance (not any dancing actually occurred--it was more of a run around the gym thing). I sold glow sticks between 7-7:30 at 3 for a $1 to help out the PTO. Evelyn and Kenneth ran around with their friends and a special friend of Evelyn's stuck by her side the whole evening. His name is Blaze and Evelyn informed me that "He thinks I'm in love with him." I think it is the other way around.

Evelyn's First Soccer Practice of the Fall '06 Season

Evelyn had her first soccer practice tonight. Evelyn is 1 of 2 returning team members to "The Titans." The coach's son is the other. The team has grown from 6 members to 9 and all of the new kids are first-time players. The coach is pretty ingenious with learning techniques that are appropriate for the age group. Three of the parents had their cameras out and were snapping away. Since I am an old school soccer mom at this point, I take photos at the games only.

A interesting domestic issue: I ordered 3 pairs of shoes online and the company sent 3 of each set! I got home yesterday to find an enormous box by the front door with 9 shoe boxes; of course 1 of the pairs I ordered were boots, and boot boxes are enormous, hence the triple-enormous box. Just another random thing to deal with.

Don't Forget Your Positive Attitude

Kenneth and Evelyn are about to start another soccer season. Ken is on a new team (whose name currently eludes me) and Evelyn is returning to her previous team, "The Titans." Ken has had one practice so far; his new team seems much more organized. There are 3 coaches heavily involved in drills and the players responded well. The only problem is the practice field, which is COVERED in fire ants. Evelyn and I showed up to watch Kenneth practice in our sandals and had to constantly move our feet in some sort of ridiculous band marching pattern to avoid getting bitten. Despite our best efforts, we both got a few bites.

Evelyn has her first practice on Thursday and her coach sent out a reminder note with several important tidbits like "Comfort is directly proportional to fun" and "Don't forget your positive attitude." Apparently there was a U14 (14 yr-old) Girls team that has been disqualified from playing for a full year because their parents thought fist-fighting was a good way to solve differences of opinion. That is so unfathomable to me. This year, Rod and I bought the De-Lux Sports Chair for both of us because we were tired of either sitting on the grass or sitting in the junky Walmart chairs that are $3.99 for a reason. I am officially a soccer Mom.

Visiting the Cousins & Salsa Dancing

We drove to College Station to see Elizabeth, Josh, Caleb and Kyle on Saturday. As predicted, the cousins were thrilled to see each other. I tried to take some decent pictures but they just wanted to play--so you can see the picture that is probably representative of every family picture ever taken with young children.

While Caleb and Kyle were napping, we went to Freebirds for lunch. Nana was visiting Elizabeth too, so she went to Freebirds with us. Later, Caleb got a haircut from his Dad and did not like it one bit. Kyle watched the process with a concerned look (Kind of like: 'What are you doing to my brother?'). Evelyn was also watching and offered her two cents: "I think he's overreacting to the hair on his neck." (ha ha)

Later in the day, Rod had a work event to go to, and Nana & Pops offered to watch the kids Saturday so I could go out. I had been invited to join a small group of people to go salsa dancing. There is a club in downtown Austin called Copa, where you can pay $5 for an hour of salsa lessons from 9-10 PM prior to the official club opening at 10 PM. It was so fun. The way they handle it is that the men and women rotate periodically so that you can work with different partners. This is good because there are varying ranges of dance experience. Once the club opened, it got pretty packed and I was not ever short a dance partner. I will definitely go back (next time I'll bring Rod!).

He-Man Was an Environmentalist

We've been renting old cartoons and sitcoms from Netflix for the kids because today's available cartoons are awful--and I'm not just being nostalgic--but that's a separate conversation. The DVD we received recently was "He-Man: Masters of the Universe." I watched this all the time when I was growing up and believe me, this stuff comes back to you ("By the Power of Grayskull...I have the Power!!"). Anyhow, what I do not remember at all is the fact that He-Man provides inspirational messages at the end of every show based on the moral lesson demonstrated by He-Man out-thinking Skeletor. ("Kids, sometimes people try to get ahead by acting unfairly towards others..."). The episode we watched today involved what was basically a chemical plant killing the environment around it and He-Man had plenty to say about that.

Tomorrow we will be visiting Elizabeth, Josh, Caleb and Kyle in College Station. The cousins all flip out when they're together (in a good way). Caleb has taken to grabbing Kenneth's or Evelyn's hand and showing them around his house several times. Caleb has a grin that won't quit.

Glittery Women

Kenneth informed me today that "glittery women" scare him. I asked him what he meant and he said something like 'Women who wear all that glittery stuff, shirts and jewelry and lots of lipstick. I don't like that -- they scare me! You're not glittery Mom!'

While it's nice to know that I am not perceived as 'glittery' by children, sometimes it is nice to be glittery. I told him that people make their own choices about how to dress and act when they are adults and that some people just like to be glittery more often than others. hee hee

The Enormous Slide

Because Rod is the esteemed "Vice-President" of our Homeowner's Association, we have access to this humongous water slide that is probably as tall as the ceiling on the first story of the house. Our backyard ends up being a neighborhood kid hotspot every time we bring out the slide because you can see it set up over the fence. Both Kenneth and Evelyn have dramatically improved their swimming skills this summer, due in part to a sum of 4 weeks of nightly swim lessons and the fact that Nana and Pops have a pool at their house (and they are now in Austin, so they are close by). Kenneth is putting on his "serious" face in his picture.

Rod and I have officially scheduled our (somewhat delayed) 10 year anniversary trip to Manhattan. We went there for our honeymoon in July 1996 and will be going back in mid-September for a Wed-Sat trip. Plans are to visit Caroline's Comedy Club and at least 2 Broadway shows. Nana will come to our house to stay with the kids while we are away.

First Day of Kindergarten and Third Grade

Today was the first day of school for Kenneth and Evelyn. Kenneth is in 3rd grade now and Evelyn started Kindergarten. They are in a new school (our city is growing dramatically and new schools are popping up everywhere). We took a picture this morning to celebrate the momentous occasion! I know, I know...Kenneth has a Longhorn shirt on. Rod took the kids to Academy last night for a last-minute back-to-school shirt shopping trip. Kenneth says that the Aggie shirts were only in size Large, but I have seen him privately make the Longhorn hand gesture. Evelyn has on a volleyball shirt (she doesn't play volleyball, but the writing on the back has glitter, so that did it for her). The kids are getting so big!

Getting Ready for Back-to-School

Today I picked the kids up early from summer school so we could go school supply shopping. Yesterday we visited the new school, which was finished being built in late July. The kids are excited about it being a brand new school with a gym that is "not smelly" (yet). We had to go to 6 different stores to locate all of the required supplies because so much was sold out. The most elusive item was a white folder with brads. I don't know what is up with the specific color requirements, but hey, who am I to judge? :)

Evelyn got a call from her kindergarten teacher tonight. We will meet her tomorrow in person. Her name is Ms. McCool. Evelyn thinks that is just great! She told us only to label the scissors and watercolors with Evelyn's name. Apparently there are mothers who label every single crayon in the 48-color box (not making this up).

August 6, 2006

This is my first attempt to create a Walline family blog so that extended family members and friends can keep up with us and watch the kids grow up. I will start posting pictures soon.

Today, Rod and Kenneth went to the putting range to hit some golf balls. This was Kenneth's first time golfing in any capacity other than the occasional putt-putt. He was very excited the whole day in anticipation and when they came back he was incredibly proud. Apparently Kenneth didn't miss the ball once the entire time they were out there. He has a great swing and even other people were commenting on how good he was. We'll definitely keep this up and let him practice frequently. Besides, Rod likes to golf too and he has gotten out of practice. Having Kenneth as a partner will keep him motivated, I'm sure!

While they were at the golf range, I was doing some much needed house cleaning (boring). Evelyn was helping by organizing the game room. For the most part, all she got done was putting the play food away. She would periodically come downstairs with a "sandwich" for me to eat.

We also managed to make it to Book People, which is out favorite local bookstore--it is huge though. Rod found a good book on Adverstising truths, and I found 2 books: "Smart Women Finish Rich" and "Thinking for a Change" (about how successful people approach life and work). Check with me in 20 years and I'll let you know if the books' tips worked for me. :)