The End to the Weekend

Thankfully, everyone in our house was feeling better and better as the weekend got under way. Friday night we all settled in to watch Summer of the Monkeys. I had a *moment* when my son (who is NOT a reader) pointed out that movies are usually not as good as the book." A-ha! These hours I spend reading great books aloud really do mean more to them than mindless time in front of a T.V. (Okay, that's not exactly what he said, and I'm certain he would rather watch Disney channel than listen to me read The Children's Homer, but still. Sure enough, the movie was a real bummer compared to the book, but it generated some interesting conversation about how fun it is to conjure up images in our imagination and let stories play out in our minds instead of just watching them on a screen.


By Saturday, Hannah and I both had a case of cabin fever. She fell madly in love with this dress on the internet. Although my bank account can not fund her exquisite taste, trying on is fun and FREE, so we stole away to the mall and found the dress. She looked lovely, and our silly little get away was a fun break in the day. Spinning and twirling in the dressing room, and finding the absolute perfect pair of gazillion dollar earrings to complete the outfit, satisfied the need to savor beauty, even if only for five minutes. Hanging the dress back on the rack didn't seem all that sad. We were happy to know, as we left the store, that the dress fit perfectly but that we could still pay the rent. :)


Several weeks ago, I went to Stride Rite to buy Emma her first pair of shoes. While we were there, Hayden fell in love with blue and green superball shoes that he just HAD to have. They were SO cool, and could make him jump REALLY high. He showed me some tiny holes in the toes of his old tennis shoes, which really were quite worn, and made a compelling case for the radical blue shoes that were on sale for a very fair and reasonable price and were sure to have a profound impact on his basketball future. He won, I purchased. For some odd reason, he has felt the need since then to "save" the good shoes, even though he insists the new ones fit and are comfortable. He keeps clomping around in his old shoes because they are "broken in". Because I hardly have time to glance down and see if my own two shoes match before darting out the door to a million places on any given day, I was not keenly aware of the shoe crisis taking place here. Then, this weekend, when I attempted to rally and organize the 127 pairs of shoes gracing our entryway and shove them into the shoe basket, a chore which typically falls under Hayden's jurisdiction, I saw Hayden's shoe on the rug. Actually, more like half a shoe. Who lets their children out of the house like this in winter? And who is the child who does not realize that tennis shoes and open toed sandals are not one in the same? GOOD GRIEF!


Properly adorned with brand new, ultra cool, blue and green superball shoes, Hayden played in his last basketball game of the season, where I learned some very important lessons about what not to do in sports photography. I was aware of some of the mistakes as I was going along, but I didn't have my manual and couldn't remember how to fix what I was doing wrong. Let's just say Hayden was so fast he was a BLUR, and I have the photos to prove it. :)

Here's my Air Hayden, shooting and scoring! With three seconds (I think) left in the game, he scored the final basket of the season. Neither of my boys are star athletes, and they aren't at an age where they focus on the strategy of any game, but they both love to get in and run hard, and it's nice to see a little luck on their side every now and again! :)

Hayden played on a team with his good buddy from Scouts. These two boys have lots of fun together, and I'm never one to underestimate the blessing of great friendships for my kids! Both boys loved the coach and his son. I hope we are lucky enough to play with them next year.

One final tidbit...Last night I made this recipe for Cheesy Chicken and Rice from Amanda, and it is my brand new very favorite dinner. Scrumptious. I may or may not have heated up a few left overs for breakfast. But if I did, it was only for the protein. Not for the creamy, melty, cheesy rice part.