Blast from the Past

(Picture from January of 1999)



This week, while cleaning out some cabinets, I ran across the journals I kept when the kids were younger. I thought it would be fun to remember/share these tidbits periodically. Unfortunately, I can't find all of them. I wrote in them sporadically at best, and if I had it to do over I would make myself sit down and write something every day - if only a sentence. I really, really wish I had.

This one is from January, 1999 (Ant almost 4, and Al almost 2).

"Alex has learned how to pull Anthony's chain. She takes things from him and runs to me crying like he's hurting her - and he usually gets in trouble. Now that we're figuring this out, hopefully he won't get bullied by his younger sister quite so much. We have spent so much time teaching him to be "easy with the baby" he just lets her take his toys and, if after a cursory attempt to get it back fails, he just moves on to something else. We have told him it's okay to NOT let her take his toys from him. And he's learning. Boy, is he learning."

So, at almost 4 years old is when we gave him permission to fight back - and they're still fighting.

8th Grade Recognition

Al's 8th grade recognition was last night at her middle school. She was so excited! She thought it was going to be so fun and she would get recognized, and all eyes would be on her, and probably a ray of sunshine would burst through the ceiling and just radiate around her. She was so disappointed! We were herded onto the gym floor with all the other 8th grade athletes and their names and activities were read through a very staticy, gym distorted sound system. Because it was in alphabetic order, we were the first ones. Al soon became bored and about halfway through the line of 8th graders, she said, "This isn't as fun as I thought it would be. Can I leave?" She wanted to leave halfway through it - just walk off the gym floor and leave her daddy and I standing there alone.

Since volleyball season doesn't start for a few more weeks we only have softball pictures so far. And volleyball pictures are sooooo hard to get. It's hard to get good pictures in a gym.

Alex had a rough start to the season this year. In a scrimmage game before the season started, she pulled her quadriceps muscle. She had to play one game with it pulled, limping on and off the mound, and not being able to run. We/she went to physical therapy the next day and before school every morning that week for electrostimulation and stretching/strengthening exercises. It took a few games to get back to normal but once it was better she was on a roll.

They ended up winning the end of the season tournament, playing the same very strong team three times and winning two of those three times.

What an honor it was for her to get to play with this team. They played the season like it's supposed to be played. They improved every time they went on the field with their best games being in the tournament. They won the final tournament game 2-1 and had to play every batter like it was the game winning batter. I have never been more proud of a group of girls who individually did their best, which made their team the best. They never took for granted that they were going to win any game. They knew to win they would have to play hard - they truly earned every win they got.

Alex got the game ball, which is on the shelf in her room. She has many trophies and medals from softball but that game ball means a lot to her - she knows it represents a lot of hard work and one of her better games on the mound.

What do you do after winning the championship?

The worm! On home plate.

A Berry Merry Christmas

This year at our Berry Christmas I took a few extra pictures of the cousins. For some reason we don't get too many pictures of them.

They had a great great uncle who died at the advanced age of 94, maybe 95? He died about 10 years ago but has left a picture taking legacy. He loved having his picture taken and posed every time, even in those old home movies he would stand as still and straight as he could. When these nuts have their picture made, they have to do the Clarence at least once.
I think they've captured him perfectly.

These two are twins six years apart. History repeating itself. As a matter of fact, when Chelsea was 2 or 3 years old, Tony actually said, "I'll never have a daughter that acts like that." Famous last words...their brains, I think, are interchangeable.

One thing that never changes, the kids can't wait to get through dinner so that they can open their presents.

They have them all sorted out, waiting not so patiently. I think I can make this argument for them. If we did let them open the presents first, then we could enjoy our dinner, we wouldn't choke on dessert, and could even have a cup of coffee. The sad thing is, at this age, they have picked out their gifts, they know what they'ree getting, but apparently they just need to rip the paper off the box.

We had a very fun Christmas this year. We celebrated our Christmas on the 23rd, then got together on the 24th and had game night.


Just us girls.

Our Crazy Animals

Starting with the one we've had the longest...

Sweetie, who when we got her at three years old was named Sable. Anthony and Alex could NOT remember that name and after a week of, "Mom, what's our dog's name again?" we decided to rename her. We thought we should pick something that had a similar sound with the same number of syllables so she could transition easier. We labored over a name for her and settled on Sweetie. Well, turns out we didn't have to labor over that decision at all. Labs are so needy you can call them something different every time and they will still come running with their tails wagging.

She's a very good only child. We figured this out after our black lab died. She was very bossy and self centered and wanted all the attention but with no one to compete with became a sweet, loving dog. Since she is afraid of water she very rarely gets baths (read as never). She is afraid of storms, rain, guns, sirens, high winds, and getting her picture taken to name a few. Therefore, this is as good a picture as I can get of her because she thinks she's in trouble when I point the camera at her. She always looks ashamed in pictures cuz she won't hold her ears up or smile. Our black lab was a smiler but not this one. This one's a needy one. She needs someone to be home with her or she needs to go to the neighbors to see if they're home. She wears herself out trying to say outside the window of the room we're in. She's a beauty but no one will ever know since she won't let us take her picture.

Then there's this precious little thing who finally has a name. Maggie. I really thought her name would be Annie, or Betsy, or something else historically related, or related to one of Anthony's other hobbies like reenacting or gun collecting. But she's Maggie. Mini Mags. Maggie Mae. Which, not too surprisingly, actually comes from a device that holds ammunition, a magazine.

She is a cute little thing who plays hard and sleeps hard. She's 8 weeks old and having to learn big lessons like Sweetie would prefer to remain an only child, Sweetie eats first, and Sweetie would rather not be bothered by immature, bratty puppies that she didn't ask for.

She is also having to learn that there is an equally ornery creature living in the house that luckily has no front claws. Kitty. Kitty loves to climb CHRISTmas trees and she doesn't like puppies. Kitty likes to watch the toilet water after you flush, she likes to drink water out of the bathroom faucet, she reaches for you to pick her up, she gives hugs, she talks back, she can open doors, sleeps on the dryer, and is always waiting at the door for us. This cat acts more like a dog than the dogs do.

Then, we have that crazy little fish. How long do they live anyway?