Cross Country Meet

 ****ALERT****

This post may only be interesting to grandparents...tons of pictures of Harry running in his cross country meet yesterday.  

This post will be followed immediately with pictures from Chip's baseball game yesterday so brace yourself!  

 Good Morning, Harry.  It is 4:50 a.m.  It is time to wake up.  Your ride is coming in about 30 minutes.  He goes downstairs, gets completely dressed, then buries himself under this blanket on the couch and falls alseep again.

 Dad also got up to see him off.

 His bag is packed.  Water bottle, bagels, money, phone.  The bus was leaving at 5:45 and 68 kids were heading to a meet at St. Andrews. 

 I arrived at the meet at about 7:20 a.m.  It was a gorgeous morning.  The kids had already been there for 30 minutes or so and walked the course.  Girls were running two miles and boys were running three.

  A small portion of the grounds.  There were people crawling all over the place.

The team tent with the sun coming up over the trees.  

First race is the Varsity Girls.  That little unit bent over with her arms up and ready is number eight in the country.  She can fly!  

Here she is out in front coming into the homestretch.  She extended her lead substantially at the end and won comfortably!   Varsity girls placed third out of twenty six teams.

Next up, is Varsity boys A team.  These are the top boy runners.  One of which is Tyler's good friend Jack.  Jack is also extremely fast.  I loved capturing this moment where his friends come over to wish him luck, give him some words of encouragement.

Or more likely, they told him they just farted.  Boys are weird.  

 Jack getting a handshake from Hunter.

And the gun shoots and they are off.  With twenty six schools participating that mean there were about 180 boys in this race.  It sounded like a herd of horses when they passed by.

 The sun is coming up.

 I finally caught up to my boy and got his picture.

Here he is with his buddy Thomas waiting for the Varsity boys to finish. 

This is our top runner.  He is also mucho fast. I think these Varsity boys did 3 miles in something like 16 minutes.  That is stupid fast.  Varsity boys took second place overall!

More watching and waiting... 

It is warming up outside. 

The top JV team takes off to start their race.  Go Thomas!  Go Hunter!  

 Harry and the second JV team warm up.

It doesn't take much because the sun is now beating down.  

Watching the JV boys finish with Jack.  They were all so wonderfully supportive of each other.   

 Second JV team taking their places.

Trying to stay relaxed.  They have been out here for five hours and watched nine or ten other races.  Now it is their turn.

Spread out.  There are  not as many schools running in the JV division so they have a little more room to maneuver.  

 And the gun fires and they are off!

Go Harry!  

Go Pac-Man!  

 Run Hard!  Have Fun! 

Harry at the two mile mark!  One more mile to go! 

 You can do it Harry!

 He comes off the trail and hits the track to head to the finish line.

Go Harry!  

 Finish strong!

There is a guy behind you coming on fast!  

 

He did it!  Finished that three mile course and was not the last guy!  Way to go!  His mom was so proud of him!  He said it was hot, it was hard, there were hills and mulch stuck in his shoe that was stabbing him in the ankle, dirt in his mouth.  Welcome to cross country Harry!  I think you are doing great!

After the meet we went to watch Chip's baseball game and once we got home, he got settled on the couch to watch the Bama game and this happened. 

It was a big day for Harry and a nap was definitely well deserved!

Wild Weekend Ahead

Happy Friday!  YIPEE!! 

It looks like all is well on the blog front!  Thanks for the wonderful comments yesterday and let's keep our fingers crossed that I don't hose anything else up for a while! 

Did any of you sign up for the email notice thingy?  It worked well for me yesterday.  It is actually more than just a notice that something has been posted...it is the actual post sent to your email.  Kinda neat!

On a different subject, I have a standing teleconference call every morning for a program that I support.  There are people from all over the country on the call.  This morning, one of the guys up in the DC area was asked how they were coping with all the rain.  He said "Well, between the earthquake, the hurricane, torrential downpours, flooding and the anticipated terrorists attacks things are pretty tense up here.  I would say "at least I have a roof over my head" but right now the roof in my office is leaking like a sieve and the two buckets in my office floor are filling up faster than I can dump them out.  But other than that...things are great!"  He was laughing the whole time.

I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that I need to get done today, but after listening to him, I just laughed myself.  We do have a busy weekend ahead but the weather is going to be spectacular and I just can't wait.

Here are the highlights of our plans. 

First, we are helping host the first Pre-race Spaghetti Dinner for the Cross Country team tonight.  Try to figure out how many of the 80 kids might pop by for a little spaghetti fueling.  That is tricky. Making dozens of cookies, a giant salad, cooking pans of pasta and loaves and loaves of garlic bread this afternoon.  One of the few times in my life that a double oven would be so handy!

Chip has his first flag football practice tonight.  Need to get out and buy him a mouthpiece because his old one doesn't fit.  Darn, growing kids!

Saturday morning, Harry has to be at school about 6:30ish to catch the bus to his meet.  It is not a local race, so I will get on the road about 8:00 so I can see the start of the meet at 9:00. 

Chip has a double header in baseball.  Games at 11 and 1.  His first kid pitch game.  I hate to miss the first one, but can't be in two places at one time.  Since Dad is the baseball coach I am the logical choice to cover Harry's meet. This whole cross country thing is new and I am really looking forward to watching the kids.  I am planning to leave the XC meet after Harry runs and get back for Chip's second game. 

Good times!  I can't wait to take pictures and see my boys run their race and play their games.  It is going to be fun! 

Hope your weekend is awesome!

Geek Squad

Quick Update: I have spent the last hour with my technical support staff ( which is really just me mumbling out loud with an angry/serious face on) trying to figure out what is going on with my blog. Here are the highlights:

1. When Blogger updated a few days ago, there was a place you had to click to activate to allow mobile devices to see and comment on your blog. I have activated that and now I think there should be no more greying out or blocking of comments on phones and/or iPads! Please let me know if it is corrected on your machine!

2. There was also a problem with my "Water for Eyeball" post and it was causing all the stuff on the right hand side of my blog to be at the bottom of the page. Weird. I don't know what the problem was, but when I reverted it to a "Draft" form everything went back to normal. So, goodbye Eyeball! You continue to be a pain in my rear end!

3. In all my clicking around, I noticed they added a new gadget where you can sign up to get sent an email alert if I add something to my blog. Isn't that so exciting?! I signed up myself so I can see what it looks like and also because I like to get mail and comments from my blog. It makes me happy.   If you would like to get an email notice sent to you whenever an update is posted, just enter your email address in the box on the top right hand side of this page where it says "Follow by Email" and click submit!  It will send you an email and to active your account you have to type in one of those weird words like "rucksaged" or "pannot".  What are those crazy words anyway?

4. I also reverted to a very simple layout and background in hopes that it would help me find the problems. Now that I have found them and know they are not related to the background I was using, I am too tired to fool with it and am just going to leave it plain jane for a while. I don't mind plain jane. I did see where you can put a photo slide show on your blog. DANGER! DANGER! I am all over that! Might just see what I can hose up by adding that feature!

I must get to work.  Two new assignments and not enough hours in the day! 

Have a great day!

Ten Random Tidbits

1. It seems that something may be going on with my blog? Is the text greying out after the screen has opened? Can you comment? I don't have any idea if I accidentally changed something or if it is a Blogger problem or what! If you are not having issues and can comment, then please do. Otherwise, I may never hear from any of you again. Goodbye forever.

2. Oh, hi there. Forever isn't that long apparently.

3. Texas wildfires. Have you heard about them on the news? They are awful. We are not extremely close to the danger zone, but we are definitely in the vicinity. Today, there is no wind and our cul-de-sac is hazy with smoke and smells like smoke. It is very unsettling. I want to pack up the car with our important papers, but apparently there is no immediate threat and we do not have to evacuate. That is good, but I am still drawn to my front door every 10 minutes to see if it is worse and/or if it is gone.

4. Bible study today was good. I had to ask what the word "consecrate" means. Should that embarrass me? It didn't. I made the Louisiana Coffee Cake and it was much better than tumor bread. Next time, I am breaking out a very old recipe and making Strawberry Bread.

5. Labor Day weekend was very low key. We didn't go anywhere or do much of anything. I gotta tell you...that was nice!

6. I did a 17 mile bike ride on Monday and have walked Tuesday and Wednesday at o'dark thirty. My left butt cheek is killing me. I hope that is something good, like a muscle that is waking up and not something bad, like a muscle that is ripped off. Getting old is for the birds.

7. Harry sent me a text message this morning after cross country practice that said "We had a time trial and I made the JV team for the meet this weekend." So proud of him. I don't know if that means every kid made the JV team or is a few are not going to get to go. I hope everyone gets to go.

8. Fall baseball starts this weekend and Chip has a double header. It is his first season of Kid Pitch. I think I may miss the first game because of the track meet, but I think we will be able to catch the second game. I hope it goes well. It is a big change from coach pitch to kid pitch. There is stealing, leading off, and kids throwing a ball at you that may or may not go anywhere near the plate! YIKES! I hope they have practiced getting out of the way of a wild pitch! Go River Bandits!

9. Chip was being a bit of a pill last night. That means he was back talking, hard talking, just generally being a brat. Not terribly unusual when he is tired and cranky. After Chip went to bed, Harry came downstairs and sat down on the couch next to me and said "Mom, I think Chip needs some more discipline. Do you want me to put him in a headlock and push him to the ground when he starts acting like a jerk?" I told him that I did not think I needed his assistance at this time. That I thought I should keep handling Chip my way. He said "I am not sure your way is working." I said "Neither am I. I guess we will find out in about twenty years." He shrugged his shoulders as if to say "Oh well, I tried." Then as he is walking away I told him I thought he was going to be a wonderful dad. He says to me "My kids are going to be awesome." I said "You should have never said that. Now you are sure to be a father to the biggest brat known to man." It's just the way the universe works.

10. Our visit to Lakeside is next Wednesday! I am cutting fabric, buying toilet paper by the gross and getting excited to kick off some fun fall crafts with the residents! I can't wait to show you pictures of these cute pumpkins!

Have a terrific day...and please let me know if you are having any issues reading my blog!

Thanks!

Harry's First XC Meet

Yesterday was Harry's first ever Cross Country meet! It was so awesome and I just could not have been more proud.

It was a relay meet, which meant there were three kids on each relay team. Not sure how many JV teams there were from Harry's high school, but maybe 9 or 10? Not sure.

Anyway, each one of them had to run a mile and a half, tag the next person on their team and then they took off. Harry ran the last leg for his squad.

They were not the fastest by a long shot, but I totally had tears in my eyes when Harry started his leg and ran past me. Just to see him blaze past me and know how hard their practices are and how much he has improved from the beginning. Running is so hard and running as fast as you can is even harder.

Here are some pictures of his night.


When we arrived, they were just milling around. They had already walked the course with their coach.


Getting focused.


Stretching. There is alot of stretching. Can you see how high Harry's leg is?






Big smile.


JV boys gathering at the starting line.


Line up here.


Starting gun.


They are off!


Run boys, run!


Harry starting his leg!


Go Harry! So proud of you!


Coming around to the finish line! No good pictures in between because XC is not a good spectator sport.


Finishing strong!


Then barfing immediately upon arrival at the finish line!


Walking it off! See his sweet brother right beside him!


A little more barfing! I think in the cross country world that means he did his best! Tried hard! Went faster than his body really wanted to go.


Team meeting! Great job kids! I don't know much about scoring, but I do know that the Varsity girls got first place! They were phenomenal!

It was a great night and a fun time was had by all!

A Huge Flop and a Reader Recount

My sweet friends just left my house. We kicked off our next Bible Study today. It is a Beth Moore study called "David. Seeking a heart like His." Today's introduction was kinda of historical, giving us a little background in to the time period, who David was and how he came to be. It was more "teachy" than the other two studies I have done of Beth Moore. I like it when she is more "talky". When she brings her real life stories in to give you real examples. I am sure that is coming over the next ten weeks and I am so looking forward to it.

For this moment though, what I am seeking is some understanding of what in the heck went wrong with the monkey bread recipe I made this morning.

It was so gross. I called it tumor bread.

It was the opposite of the lovely, perfection that was the pineapple upside down cake that I made last week. It wasn't the traditional monkey bread that I have made before, cutting biscuits in fourths and rolling them in cinnamon sugar. This was made with frozen dough balls. (Yes, Harry and Chip...I said "balls". Let's just get that out of the way, right now.)

The recipe called for putting all the ingredients in a bundt pan and leaving the whole kit and caboodle in the oven overnight to rise. When I opened the oven door this morning, that sucker was a serious eight inches over the bundt pan. Holy cow. Talk about rising!

I took the plastic off and it deflated a bit, but there was obviously entirely too much dough in the pan so I unceremoniously ripped some off. Then it rose again. I pulled more off.

It was ginormous.

I put it in the oven to bake and pieces were still falling off of it and landing on the oven rack. I had my kitchen tongs out trying to snag the raw dough off the rack before it burned and smoked up the kitchen.

How would you like this to be your greeting: Good morning, welcome to my home. Please grab a gas mask, a big piece of cardboard or an old cookie sheet and start fanning the smoke out of my kitchen. When we get the smoke cleared we are going to have some yummy smoked monkey bread and a cup of coffee with our Bible Study.

Martha Stewart....I am not.

Anyway, I cooked it until the top was really brown, hoping the inside would be cooked. When I turned it out on the platter it was a hot mess. Literally. There was raw dough, burnt dough, nuts, sugar all kinds of mess. There were a few pieces that were decent (just under the burnt part, but on top of the undercooked part) but overall it was a total flop.

Thankfully, I was surrounding by friends and laughter and no one gave a rip about the tumor bread.

Next time, I am making a Louisiana Coffee Cake. Keeping my fingers crossed. After the debacle withe the tumor bread they will all probably eat before they come! Ha! Ha!

Okay, let's talk about my blog readers. I said yesterday that I was up to eight regular readers. Y'all, I think I really undersold myself. I think I really have like twelve regular readers!

I know, pretty exciting isn't it?

Now, I am not going to put you through the torture of how I arrived at that new figure, but just suffice it to say "People are coming out of the woodwork telling me that they are reading".

Not really.

Two people told me they are reading that I didn't know were reading.

So, I just assume there are probably at least two more I don't know about, so that is twelve.

Can't you just imagine how good I was at statistics and estimating?

Anyway, these are people that know me. Not the people who search for "WWE Underwear Wrestling" or "Fruit Phobia" and end up here...but you guys who come here on purpose. Bless your hearts.

Now look, the change I finally made to the settings has made it much easier to comment. So comment!! I love hearing from you. It is like going to the mailbox and finding a letter instead of a bill. Just give me a little "Hey! Ho! Holla!" Or leave a recipe for fried eel. Whatever cranks your tractor!

Anyway, I am putting the tumor bread behind me (or more accurately, directly into the trash can) and going to get to work!

Had an awesome work day yesterday. Four teleconferences, but lots of things accomplished and marked off my list. Felt terrific.

Hope your Wednesday is wonderful!