First real football injury

This is the latest football injury. He took a pretty good shot to the chin and mouth. When I asked him what happened he said "well I was looking up at the sky and someone hit me"... This all happens in the middle of a play mind you... A hard lesson that hopefully he understood. I always tell him stay low and keep your head down. As well as "in football you either hit or be hit". On a good note, his love for the game continues making me a proud Daddy because I know you just can't keep my good "lil man" down!

Zach didn't sleep the night before Darren's game, and thanks to this injury, I didn't sleep the night after. I was so worried, it looks so bad. Now I have a visual of what people mean when they say, "tattooed lip". It looks like lip liner! We didn't even notice until he showed it to us after his shower. We asked him if he remembered getting hit and who hit him and he did. Zach and Mama both tell me that is a good thing. He said it was, "that big guy with the freckles" as he touches his cheeks. On Monday Zach took him out to the fields and practiced for a while on keeping his head down. I would have no problems quiting this football thing right now, but Darren would be upset, he stills loves playing! I was worried even putting the chin strap back on would hurt, but he never even mentioned it. I'm trying to be tough, but right now I agree with MeMe and Paw Paw, when is baseball season?!

No training wheels!!!

Darren has been on Zach and I for a while now to take the training wheels off his bike. This weekend, we finally gave in. I was very surprised at how fast he got it. I guess he really was ready. The hard part of course, was getting started, and Darren made clear something I've known all along, he has his father's patience. The first video is proof. He gets so frustrated he just wants to throw the bike. Just so you know, he knew the camera was on, so he is holding back on his tantrums a little. Zach is behind the camera and isn't talking because he is too busy holding in his laughter. Later that night we plugged the camera into the t.v. and played this video about a dozen times. Darren didn't think it was nearly as funny as Zach and I did.

These next two videos are some of his first successes.

He's pretty much got it down, still needs some more practice stopping and starting, but all in all he's doing really great. That bike used to be enormous compared to him, now it looks so tiny.

1st Homework assignment

Darren had is first homework assignment last night. We had to get this gingerbread man ready for his first day of school. Everything was Darren's idea, we just helped him achieve his vision. It was very important to Darren that Mr. Gingerbread had "three buttons, three Mama, three buttons." So I gathered up a bunch of buttons and stickers of buttons, and he choose the three he wanted. That's how it went for the whole project. I think he turned out pretty good! But of course I would think that. This morning all the kids had their little men (or women!) out, and it was just adorable. It was neat how different they all were.

Friday is the day they are supposed to wear a t-shirt that supports their high school's football team, but Darren got his game jersey at practice yesterday, so he wore it instead. He looked so cute, I took a picture while he was brushing his teeth, I'm a multi-tasker! He has his first game tomorrow, Go Brazos Valley!

Mr. Gingerbread is ready for school!

Go Brazos Valley!

Kamryn's 1st Shots

Today was Kamryn's first round of shots. When I first picked her up, she was in her usual good mood, smiling and cooing. Poor baby, she had no idea what was about to happen to her.

This is Dr. Arlene Meyer. She is Darren's pediatrician also. We love Dr. Meyer! It took me three or four pediatricians before I found her.
Kamryn weighs 13 pounds, and is 24 and 1/4 inches long. Her weight was pretty average, but she is above the 95th percentile in her height. The nurse was new and didn't know what she was doing, so originally, she told us Kamryn was 37 inches long. I just looked at her, waiting for her to realize what she had just said, but she never did. I told Zach, "Oh yeah, Kamryn's 9 inches shorter than Darren." HA! Dr. Meyer did a double take at the chart and then remeasured her of course.
This is Kamryn when she is hungry.

Luckily, one of the vaccines, was a sweet tasting medicine she got to eat. Just a little appetizer before lunch.

This was right after her shots obviously. I was mad at Zach for taking this picture. Just like her Mama, she gets all red in the face when she's upset. This is only the second time we have ever seen her real tears. The first time was when she got her foot stuck in my belt buckle. Both times, her tears didn't last that long. She's a tough little princess.

All better! Daddy's little angel.

What a mess!

This morning started out as all other mornings have since I've started getting two kids ready for school in the morning. Me, frantically running around the house glancing at the clock every thirty seconds to see if God has answered my prayers and time has stopped for a few minutes so I can catch up with the rest of the world. Realizing that the earth is still turning on it's axis, my frenzy continues until the next 30 seconds. The rest of my family has learned to ignore my panic and goes about their business as usual. Which for my boys means eating breakfast and watching cartoons in the living room. Only this morning, there is a loud bang in the mix. The next thing I know Zach is in the doorway to the bedroom asking for the camera and telling me, "You gotta see this! But keep in mind, it is all my fault."

Hmm. You know how when you drive by an accident you can't help but look, even though you really hope you don't see what you're looking for? That's exactly how I felt as I walked into the living room.

Darren looks like he just lost a food fight. He is covered in fruity pebbles and milk. His chair, the floor, the coffee table...milk is dripping from it all. Double click on the picture for a better view of what I'm talking about. Had I had the time, I would have killed them both. Lucky for them, Kamryn needed a bottle.

Zach explained what happened, something about a poke in the ribs while Darren was stretching, but all I could think was how bad that milk is going to smell when I get home from work...

1st Day of Kindergarten

Mrs. Davenport & Darren
He's very proud of the GI Joe backpack...

Yesterday, was Darren's first day of Kindergarten. We couldn't believe it was finally here. Our DareBear, a Bowen Bobcat Kindergartner!
Of course, preparations started last week, with school supply shopping, parent orientation, and meet the teacher night. Shopping for school supplies was a nightmare. I won't go into too much detail but between the crowds at Super Wal-Mart and having to search at least 10 different stores for "primary pencils (fat size)" and still never finding them, it was definitely not the highlight of the week for Zach and I. We tried our best to make sure Darren enjoyed himself though. His favorite things were his GI Joe back pack that lights up as he walks, his transformers lunch box, and a spiral notebook that wasn't on the school supply list but had a dragon on the front.

Darren also loved meet the teacher night. For months we have been driving by his "big school", or playing on the playground outside, but he had never been inside until last week. He got to meet his teacher, Mrs. Davenport. Of the four Kindergarten teachers, she is the one with the most experience. Mrs. Davenport has been teaching since Zach and I were babies. The other three teachers combined experience doesn't even add up to her years of service. We were relieved that Darren was placed in her capable hands, we just hope he doesn't force her to use all her years of experience to whip him into shape. Darren was so busy exploring the classroom he didn't want to leave that night, but Zach assured him he would have plenty of time to check it out later.

Sunday night I was packing lunch and making bottles, Zach was labeling school supplies, Darren was decorating his school box with X-men stickers, and Kamryn was pissed at the world. She was just as tired as the rest of us. When everything was finally ready for the morning, and Kamryn was asleep in her crib we sat down to read the book Mrs. Davenport had given us, "The Night Before Kindergarten". It was a cute book, a spin off of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". At the end of the book, all the parents are crying and the kids say "It's OK Mom and Dad, Kindergarten is cool." This started a conversation later that ended with Darren asking me not to cry. A tough request.

Monday morning, Darren was so nervous he wouldn't eat breakfast. Usually, he eats breakfast at home when he wakes up, and then again at Daycare. He also was a chatter box, a nervous habit that he gets from his Daddy. Which worked out fine because I go mute and chew on my fingernails when I get nervous, and I was definitely nervous. I was so nervous I locked Darren in the truck when we were in the school parking lot. A quick fix, but not something he was particularly happy about. He held my hand all the way to his classroom, and lately he hasn't been wanting to do that. We got all his stuff put away in his cubby, and then he sat down in front of his name tag and told everyone at the table "Hi." I am proud to say that I didn't cry, at least not until I got to the truck. His first day went great, he learned how to say boy and girl in sign language. His only complaint was that he couldn't swing during recess because his class, "had to stay on the purple slides because Mrs. Davenport is the boss and she said." So I think since he already figured out who is boss, the rest of the year should be a breeze, right?

Ice Cream Drill

Darren (black jersey)

Football is still going great. Darren improves every practice, which is fun to watch. Actually, all the kids are showing improvement. This is most evident to me by the way us parents are acting. No longer are we on the field hovering over the kids, trying to help out the coaches. We are all relaxed in our chairs on the sidelines watching, and cheering. This week, the coaches have split the kids into two groups. The group Darren is in, is "the line" Zach tells me. The other group is everybody else, and I honestly couldn't tell you what they do, other than they run around a lot.

As of right now, Darren is the Left Guard. He stands to the left of the center, and his job is to protect the quarterback. Below I have a video of him during some blocking drills, he's the one in the black jersey.

Last week, Darren was a tackling fool at the house with Zach, even jarring him once, but at practice he was always a little timid and said he didn't want to hurt anyone. We tried explaining that they have on pads too and you couldn't hurt them, and I tried explaining he needed to hit them, before they hit him. Nothing worked. Well, yesterday on the way to practice Darren tells me, "Mama, Daddy said if I hit the other kids really hard today, he'll give me ice cream!" So I give Zach, "the look". He laughs and says, "What!? In high school we used to call it the ice cream drill." So as I'm sure you can guess, Darren did really well during the ice cream drill, and he got an Oreo blizzard on the way home.

Kamryn has been such a happy baby for about two weeks now, and everyone who comments on her when we are out and about says she is just "so alert". It is really great in the mornings when we go to get her from her crib, she smiles so big when she sees you. For me it is better than that first Dr. Pepper in the morning! I'm still trying to capture her smiling on camera, so far it has been like trying to capture a picture of big foot. I'll keep trying though.