It's Just a Pair of Cleats...Or is It? And Other Abnormalities

This is for you Melissa and Nicole...

Six months ago I gave Jacob an ultimatum that forced him to pick an extracurricular activity to participate in. Two months ago he voluntarily announced he wanted to play soccer this upcoming fall.  Three weeks ago he changed his mind and begged to play football. Now, don't get me wrong, I am THRILLED that he is so eager to try new things and join a team. However, I have to admit I am nervous about football. The normal parent would be too...about him getting hurt, about the cost. But not me. I have Garzoli blood. I am not normal.  I am worried that if he continues to play football through highschool, he will be in that "popular" crowd that gets invited to the crazy parties with drugs, alcohol, and sex.  Soccer and track seem so much safer. And again, by safer I don't mean the normal person's definition.  I mean, those kids were never at the top of the "popularity" chain, but they still had plenty of friends.  Again, the normal person would recognize that her child is only 8, and that high school is about 7 years away, and that there are more pressing matters to think about, like whether or not the boy will ever learn to put the toilet seat up when he pees*.  Jon and I were talking the other day about different things that different people obsess over.  For example, he obsesses over financial matters and taking care of his family. He asked me, "What do you obsess over?" At first I wanted to laugh in disbelief and ask if he had just met me.  But then, I thought, I must really hide it** well, maybe too well. So I decided that I needed to record that I, too, am just as much of a worrywart as my dear cousins :)

*You see, even this is not normal. I always hear other women complaining about the males in their lives not putting the toilet seat DOWN after they pee. Me, I complain about it not going UP before...

**"it" being everything involving motherhood and Jacob="Am I too strict? Am I strict enough? Was I too hard on him? Am I being too easy?  Will he still want to talk to me when he is an adult? Will his future wife like me?" yada yada yada

Morgan's Track Banquet

I think Jacob summed it up well: "My banquet stunk."  (Although, at the time, he thought it was great...)

As you can see, Morgan's banquet had a water slide.  Also, not pictured, it had a bounce house. It was quite hilarious seeing kids accept their trophies and awards while wearing swimsuits. Also, their banquet was completely free, while ours was $15 per person (athlete was free, woo hoo). Yes, Jon and I paid $30 to eat tacos that were not any better than the ones from Taco Bell. Oh, you are thinking, it must have cost Michael more for Morgan to run in the Arlington league. You would be incorrect. We paid the same amount... oh well. I guess the people in Collierville can't get rich by having free banquets now can they???

She got her medal at the championship (they gave them out as they were ready and the race Jacob ran that he won a medal for was the last race of the meet.  We could have waited for it but...)  

Morgan won a silver :)

Summer, Take 2

For Father's Day for Jon we decided to go to a Redbirds baseball game.  It was going to be perfect: no rain in the forecast, good temps, and fireworks after. Nevermind that I had a wedding to go to in Bartlett at 2:00, then after it I had to pick up Abby, her friend, and Morgan, all in 3 different locations. Then get us all back home in Collierville so Jacob and I could change clothes, pick up Jon, pick up pizza, meet at Hallie's boyfriend's house, and eat the pizza (so we wouldn't have to spend a fortune at the stadium) all in time to hopefully get there when the game started at 6:05 because that is what Jon wanted. Well, we almost made it on time, we got to the game at 6:40.  But that was ok, we didn't miss much right? As we were walking to our section, Morgan needed to go to the restroom. I told everyone to go ahead to the seats and we would find them.  After she finished and I was looking for our section, Morgan says to me, "Aunt Shae, I don't know much about baseball, but aren't they supposed to by playing someone?" "Yes, Morgan, of course they are..." and I look over at the field for the first time to see NO ONE ON IT.  We get to our seats and find out that there has been a delay called because it rained earlier (at 10:30 that morning for about 10 minutes) and they need to work on the field. What? Ok fine, it is supposed to start at 7:05 now. Fine. 7:05 comes and goes. NO PLAYERS. Finally another announcement is made: 8:05.  Ugh. We have another hour. So I take the 2 seven year olds to the children's area.  Granted, it is really great that they have this area: it has games, a bouncy thing, batting cages, etc. BUT IT ALL COSTS MONEY. So much for not spending a fortune.  As I stand in line to buy tickets for all this fun, it dawns on me that this could be the perfect scheme: a game with fireworks scheduled, on the weekend, so there is bound to be a ton of kids at the game...so why not delay that game so parents feel the need to spend more money...hmmm.  Well, we make it to 8:05. NO PLAYERS.  Finally, one more announcement: the game will start at 8:35.  THAT IS 2 AND 1/2 HOURS LATE. What the heck. By that point though, Morgan had run into a friend from school, and we had run into Jacob's cousin, Reed. So the kids were actually having fun. So we decide to stay.  By the time we got home that night it was 1:00 a.m. But Jon says that was his best Father's Day ever so I guess it was all worth it!

Morgan going down the slide that cost 1 ticket...

Jacob trying to knock down the bottles, 2 tickets...

 

This was actually free...

Abby and her friend Marie.

 Hallie and Josh.

 Jacob and Morgan, lookin good...

 The players are warming up!!

 8:05, when the players first walked out to start warming up...

 

 Happy Father's Day!

 We found cousin Reed, and he was way cooler to sit with than we were, plus he wasn't sitting too far away either...

 Also, it turns out that Reed is a strong believer in doing whatever you have to do to get on the big screen, even if that means shaking your bootie for the camera.  You can't see Jacob too well, but he is in between Reed and Morgan, bootie facing the field, shaking it...

Alas, after a while even Reed gets boring, so we moved over to the "splash pad" to get soaking wet...notice the grassy area in the background.  Earlier, that whole area was swarming with kids hoping to see fireworks...but it looks like some parents aren't as tough crazy as we are...

And finally the fireworks.  All I have to say is the Redbirds corporation better be glad these were good...I was already writing the letter in my head.

 The sight in the back seat on the way home. Guess Jacob didn't want to get cooties...

Summer, Take One

Morgan spent the night with us and we went to the town square in Collierville.  Collierville has the best town square.  On Friday nights during the summer, random people gather and play music. This draws all kinds of families and kids.  There is a yogurt place, an ice cream place, and a cheesecake place. Plus, they have old trains to climb on. Heaven. Here are the pics.

I'm pretty sure they were not supposed to be climbing on them like this...

One random group of people playing music...

 Another random group of people playing music in the background...

Making flowers stick to their noses.

We came home and jumped on trampoline. Can you see the blurry bodies? 

Then the next morning we got up to go do the free workshop at Lowe's. 

Here they are with their finished products, aprons, certificate, and badges:

 And here are the finished projects: Jacob's is on the left, Morgan's on the right. Jacob finished his quickly, with little help from me.  Morgan and I worked on hers together...notice the crooked propeller, the uneven wood on the top...When we were done, Morgan told me, "Next time, Jacob should build them both, I should put the stickers on both (because Jacob has a hard time with that) and you...well, Aunt Shae, maybe you should just watch..."

These should have been first, but oh well.  I picked Morgan up from Jessica's work, which is Little Gym and is in an outside mall.  So of course before we left, they had to ride the escalator (we were going swimming right after).