Rambling Randomness

Has it really been over a week since I last posted an entry? Snap--and I actually thought I was sort of on a roll, too. Oh, wait a minute . . . it's all coming back to me. I HAVEN'T BEEN HERE FOR MORE THAN TWENTY SECONDS AT A STRETCH! Okay, okay, so I exaggerate, but I do think I've spent waaaaaay more time going than coming to my house lately. And since it's late and I have all manner of Easter festivities to attend to tomorrow, I will just do a quick recap:

1. Darcy is a finalist (I think there are three?) in the Young Authors competition and as proud of her as I was about the Math Olympics and Speech Meet and Science Fair, those were nothing compared to this because this, THIS is the competition she's been dreaming about! Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly (again) but seriously, I think she would have been truly disappointed if she'd merely received her pretty purple ribbon and been given a pat on her head. Her teacher has praised Darcy's writing repeatedly so I think there was a level of expectation connected to this project that Darcy hasn't necessarily felt before. The district competition is next Friday and PCA is hosting it--which means this is twice now that the Elementary will get the day off but Darcy has to be at school at 8:00 in the morning (the Elementary also got the day off during District Speech Meet)!

2. Last Friday and Saturday I accompanied Tyler and twelve other kids (plus our youth minister and his wife) to Abilene where our teens competed in the Bible Bowl. I had such a good time and just love our teens--although many of them still don't know what to make of me. It probably didn't help that the mother of a couple of the teens actually told them before we left that she didn't mind if they like me . . . she just didn't want them to like me as much as they like her. What in the world??? Anyway, we had a good trip and I thoroughly enjoyed being back on ACU's campus, though almost NOTHING looked familiar to me anymore.

3. Peyton was selected, along with six or so other third-graders, to be on a Puppet Team at school and this past Tuesday and Wednesday they performed their rehearsed skit in chapel. And may I say, other than the fact that Peyton has not yet mastered the art of moving the puppet's mouth so that his mouth opens with the words rather than closing on the words (know what I mean?), she was GREAT!! Her little Betty Boop voice? Gone. And it does not hurt one bit that she got both expanders taken out of her mouth last week--that simply magnified the improvement she has made in her speaking voice. If only she'd had a mic at the Speech Meet!

4. I am a very visual person: I would much rather SEE a great movie than HEAR about a great movie; I don't watch American Idol or Lost or Desperate Housewives, but everytime I come across an article raving about any of the above-mentioned shows, dang if I don't wish I'd seen it for myself. Which is why it has been all the more distressing to me that Tyler has played six baseball games already this season and I haven't even seen the equivalent of one. That's right, folks: When Tyler is old and gray, he'll think back to his thirteenth year and say, "Yeah, my mom didn't love me enough to come to my ballgames." Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!!! The thing is, all of his dadgum games are at 8:00 at night this year! And, um, hello, I have three other kids who don't need to be out at the ballpark until 11:00 p.m. (that's right, I said 11:00) just to watch a game that they have absolutely no stake in. For crying out loud, on a normal night they've already had showers and are winding down for the night at 8:00! So I've had to content myself with Tyler's and Randy's recaps which are not NEARLY as fun as watching the games myself. Evidently, Tyler threw so much heat Tuesday night that he drew rare praise from the umpire--aww, that's my boy!

5. Okay, it's going on midnight so I'm going to wrap this up by mentioning LTC Night at church this evening. Leadership Training for Christ is coming up Friday and Saturday so the kids got a chance to show the church everything they've been working so hard on for months. Due to time constraints, Darcy didn't get to do her Bible Reading and we also didn't screen the Video Bible Drama(with Darcy and Peyton), but both of those things will take place Sunday night when we give out awards. But Tyler performed in the 7th-8th grade Drama and 7th-8th grade puppets and Darcy and Peyton were in Elementary Puppets, and all three were in the Large Chorus. (Tyler will also compete in Bible Quiz and the girls did the Bulletin Board event, but those things can't exactly be shown onstage to the congregation!) They all did a great job (Tyler rocked in his puppet role, if I do say so myself!) and came home bubbling over with excitement--I think this weekend is going to be a lot of fun!