D - Bye, Bye Dumpster Treasure

Well, this is a red-letter day in the Bosley household.  You see, over15 years ago, my proud newlywed husband walked in the door of our apartment with a real treasure.  He had found a perfectly good set of tv trays just sitting by the dumpster.  Can you believe it?  I guess I'll blame it on the fact that we didn't have just loads of extra money back then (as opposed to now, of course), but for some reason I agreed to let them stay.

Flash forward 15 years to today:

I can't help but wonder what the poor saps who abandoned these perfectly functioning trays would say if they had only known just how many years of entertainment-filled dining they could have enjoyed if they had only held on to these babies.  But, "Out with the old, and in with the new," I say!  Unfortunately..... I only say that about once every 15 years or so.

PS - I'm thinking a weekly blog post may be too much of a challenge.  You'll notice the degree of interest of these articles seems to be declining.  Next week I may have to blog a picture of the hair Mike just pulled out of our shower drain.  Stay tuned!

D - A Poem in my Pocket

I babysit for a friend's daughter a couple of mornings each week and yesterday she showed up all excited about a special thing they were doing at school that day. It was "Poem in your Pocket" day. As an English major and someone who used to do a great deal of reading, I LOVED this idea! So much so that I am now on day 2 of carrying around my own poem in my pocket. I realize that I'm a geek, but I am just loving pulling it out at red lights and reading it over and over.

On day 1 I dusted off my old Robert Frost book and made a copy of "The Tuft of Flowers." Day 2, I've got "Mending Wall." In my enthusiasm, I even forced Mike to read yesterday's poem because it reminds me of him. He didn't get much of it, but found himself thinking, "Maybe I like poetry?" Then I forced him to listen as I went line by line explaining it to him - poor guy!

I admit that poetry was one of my least favorite classes in college. But now that I'm older and perhaps a little wiser, I think I may appreciate it more. It certainly made me slow down a little yesterday and appreciate the beauty around me. I guess today I may have to go build a fence... Regardless, it's been a fun little venture for me. So, thank you, Clegern Elementary!

And remember, "Men work together whether they work together or apart" and "Good fences make good neighbors" - just a couple of little pearls of wisdom for you! :-)

PS - Here's a picture of Katie for those of you who couldn't care less about poetry!

D - Pics

Well, believe it or not, I seem to be at a loss as to what to say this week.  I guess we've slowed down a little.  Actually, that's not true.  Because it's soccer season, we are in high gear, and I guess it doesn't really leave time for doing a lot other than that.  Fun stuff, but maybe not so interesting blogging week to week.

So, I'll just show a couple of pictures this week.  Remember a couple of months ago when I mentioned that we are turning into hillbillies?  At that time, I didn't realize that would include our life in town as well.  This was a proud moment for Mike as his one and only boy took to the street in front of our house in his first solo tractor drive.



And I'm not sure what to say about this kid.  She's either a diva, or a grandma before her time.  She's decided she "needs" glasses, so she's sporting some of my reading glasses here along with her sleep mask.  She cracks me up, but don't tell her.  She's very sensitive and sees NO humor in being laughed at - even if she's trying to be funny.  And Oh! help us if we laugh when she's NOT actually trying.  So, shhhhhhhhhh.

D - Girl's Week Out

Well, most of you know all about the exciting "Mancation 2011" that is currently underway. Mike and Noah are approaching the end of their week-long journey to Las Vegas and back. I guess Mike is actually going to be forced back into the world of blogging if he wants those memories preserved, because how could I do justice to these adventures when I wasn't even there???

Several have asked me what Katie and I are doing to compete.  Yeah.....right.  You do realize that Mike is the fun parent in this family, don't you?

Let's see.....we started out the week at the dentist...

I decided that perhaps I should try to do a little better after that.  So, the next day we had pedicures.

Better, yes?  Then we had our first all-Bosley-girls-night-out by going to Olive Garden and a movie with Granny.

After seeing pics of our boys' adventures, these little outings were no longer enough for Miss Katie.  She needed to get out of town and do something fun and exciting.  Despite the weather trying to deter us, we did just that. 

On Saturday we drove to Lawton and stayed in a hotel where we swam and watched movies.  We enjoyed a little fine-dining at Cracker Barrel,

and drove through the Wildlife Refuge

(hilarious pic of Buffalo "Bobo" had to be indluded here)

and played on the rocks on Mount Scott.

As you can tell from the pics, the weather was lovely.  But you should be impressed that there actually are pictures here.  I'm not exactly used to being the one preserving memories for us!  I even had to learn how to use the timer on my camera.

See?

We actually had a lot of fun even with the cold and the fog.  Katie LOVED climbing around on the rocks.  I'm pretty sure she's half mountain goat.  She told me about every 5 minutes, "This is SO much FUN!!!"

Today she's been begging me to take her and Noah back there this weekend.  She loved it so much, and can't wait to share it with her best bud!  I'm not sure how anxious our boys are going to be to jump back in the car, but we'll have to do this for her soon.

D - A Merry Thunder Christmas

It is always a challenge for me to think of a good gift for my mother-in-law because she's not really a lady who wants a lot of things, doesn't eat out much, and isn't into girly pedicures or other sissy things that I like.  This last Christmas as I struggled to find her something, I came up with a brilliant idea.  She likes basketball, she's pretty adventurous and fun and likes to do different types of things, plus she likes my kids a lot.  So, why not a Thunder game out with the fam?

It turns out, in order to get these REALLY good seats,

we weren't able to go until March.  She was really patient and waited and waited and waited, but the day finally arrived!

We also gave her her very own Thunder tshirt which she wasn't sure if I was serious about her having to wear or not.  I guess she didnt' realize just how big of a dork I am!  OF COURSE she had to wear it!!!

I guess I didn't realize how big of a dork she was either.....

Before the game we took a little walk along the canal to kill some time.

The highlight of the game for Noah was when he won a free tshirt by shooting hoops in a Chuck e Cheese style game before the game started.  He scored over 80 points and now has an adult XL shirt to prove it.  Don't know exactly when he's going to be able to show that one off....

We had a really good time despite the fact that the Thunder lost in the last seconds of the game to a team they should have EASILY beaten. It made for an exciting ending though.  Merry Christmas!

D - Sweetness and Generosity and Chuck e Cheese

As a reformed sibling-rival, I just love it that my kids get along pretty well most of the time.  It's a relationship that works for both of them.  Noah hates to be alone - Katie always wants to be with Noah because he's her favorite person on earth.  But sometimes they take it to a new level and just really amaze me.

Last week on Spring Break, we travelled to Houston to my parents house with both of my sisters and their kids.  As part of our tradition, we took the whole crew to Chuck e Cheese.  Noah has gotten really bad lately about playing all of what I refer to as the "gambling games" where you just put in a coin and hope that whatever gimmick of that particular game decides to grace you with a lot of tickets.  I cannot convince him what a waste this is since he runs through his coins so quickly and doesn't get to play the games he actually enjoys all for the thrill of getting a $5 toy that he's bored with by the time we get home.

Well, this time was no different.  By the time our pizza had arrived, Noah had one more coin and the other kids had many, many to go.  He was really bummed and sad through his whole meal.  When he finished eating, he slumped off to spend his last token, and Katie came over to me asking if she could please give him ALL of her tokens.  At first I tried to talk her out of it, but then I remembered who I was talking to.  Katie's love language is definitely gifts.  She has such a generous spirit, and I decided not to take away her joy by telling her that Noah had to learn his lesson.

She ran up to him excitedly, and gave him her cup of tokens.  He said, "Thanks," and took off to start playing games.  I stopped him and asked him if he realized what she had just done for him.  When he realized that he was holding all of her coins, he just drooped and said, "I can't take these."  I told him that he had to because it made her so happy to give them to him.  I also suggested that he just check in with her from time to time and ask if she wanted one.

Well, (No, I can't tell a story quickly.)...he forgot to check in with her.  He found me later all sad and hating himself because he had spent all of her coins and never offered her one.  I told him he could repay her by getting her a toy with all of the tickets he earned.  Now it was his turn to be generous.  Once he got up to the counter, he spent ALL of his tokens on her.  I told him he could get himself something, but he was just so anxious to do something kind for her.  It made this mama so proud and that sister so happy!

I am so thankful to God and also to my husband that I have these wonderful kids who constantly teach me lessons about God's love and kindness.  I really learned something that day, and I hope they did to.  What an honor it is to be their mom.

D - Bubbles & Buckbeak

Huh?  You ask.  Let me explain.

We've entered a tough stage with our eldest child where he is feeling pretty independent.  He doesn't want us (me especially) to tell him what to do all the time and gets pretty angry with me when I try.  I've been trying to teach him that it's okay to get angry with me, but he still has to respond with kindness so we can work the situation out.  As a way to signal to one another when we've crossed over into our unkind voices (yep - I'm guilty too), we've come up with a code-word system.  As one of us flares up, the other says, "Buckbeak" (my Harry-Potter-freak sister's suggestion) to remind the other to be kind.

Katie thought this was fun and wanted in on the action as well.  She didn't like "Buckbeak" though and wanted her word to be "Bubbles" because she likes that word.

She and I were having a talk the other day and she started singing, "Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles."  I thought, "okay, I'll tone it down a little."  Later that night as we were leaving a restaurant, she started again with the singing of "Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles."  Since we hadn't been talking at all, I told her that she can't sing that word if it's going to be our code-word.  I reminded her how earlier in the day when she started singing it, I started talking nicer and that's how we have to use that word.

She got an "Oops" sort of look on her face, and said, "You did?  I think maybe I was just singing my song then too."  So, "Buckbeak" it is.