Another Thursday night = another project.

For this week's English project, Ryan wanted to make a skyscraper to use in his retelling of Weird Al's Spider-Man song, "Ode to a Superhero."

This time around it was Brett's turn to take on the duties of Chief Homework Helper.

He helped Ryan cover and stack boxes to make the tall building.

I sat this one out because I was sorting hundreds of nameplates for tomorrow's yearbook distribution.

Ta-da! Here's the skyscraper, ready for Spidey!

photos courtesy of MoJo Katie

Now and then and ice cream again.

Tonight was the big spring band concert, so we loaded up and headed to our local high school auditorium.

Ryan warms up on the way

This particular high school just happens to be Brett's alma mater. As soon as he walked into the lobby outside the auditorium, he had a "severe flashback" to people and moments he hadn't really thought about in 20-plus years. Before the concert started, he and Katie wandered on over to the gym, and he couldn't get over how that place smells exactly the same as it did back in the day. He said that being there, he could easily recall the "mean coaches, good friends and big games."

Back in the auditorium, we got to hear Ryan perform. (We certainly couldn't see him and other other trumpets back there in the fourth row!)

As is our tradition, we stopped at Baskin-Robbins for a post-concert treat.

Mmmm... vanilla!

Great job, Ryan! Way to go, band!

The mother of all holidays.

What a fun day! It started with homemade gifts from the sweetest kids in Dubtown:

Katie made a piano card (complete with "Eyes of Texas" sheet music and a sweet note) and an orange pot.

Ryan wrote an honor poem for me and created one of his trademark Jaws cards. (This one featured "Mommy Jaws.")

After church, we headed to Brett's brother's house for a cook-out honoring the family's moms.

Canine cousins

All in the family

But not all of the family! We missed Mike, Chris and Cara!

Of course, it was great to spend the day with my awesome mom!

And that was just lunch! For supper we had dinner with one of my oldest friends. (Well, she's not OLD—I've just known her longer than just about any of my other friends!) She and her family just moved to our area a few months ago. Back in the day our houses were a short bike ride apart, and it's beyond cool that we now have just a short drive between us!

So YEA for today!

No longer uncontested.

Ryan and the rest of his beginning bandmates now have their first contest under their belts! This morning they competed in the Beach Within Reach band contest at a local high school.

Warm-ups/Tuning

Their performance

Looking for Ryan? Good luck!

After the band's performance, the band and all of us parents traipsed across a parking lot for their first (and only) beginning band group picture.

Now you see him!

The silly shot

The band did a fantastic job with its three songs, and the judges must've agreed: Ryan's band was runner-up in their class! Way to go, Wildcats!

After the performance and pictures, Ryan and his band buddies boarded a bus for Hurricane Harbor where they and a jillion other band and choir kids took advantage of the warm weather.

The whole day was a great experience for Ryan, and for me, too! I learned that as a band parent, I have a very important job:

Yes, I am keeper of the case, guardian of the beach towel!

Friday night lights.

Who says it's not football season? For our Friday family fun night this week, we headed to the "little park" (as opposed to the "Mommy park" or the "big park" or the "different park") to toss the pigskin around.


Of course, we couldn't resist shooting some hoops, too, while we were there. But the wide open spaces, topped with the gorgeous evening sky, were just perfect for football!




Katie tried to help me, but even at my ripe old age, I STILL can't throw a decent spiral. (But boy, were my arms tired later!)

Before too long, day was dying in the west, and it was time to head home.

P.S. - Guess what's my favorite part of this park? (WARNING: Not for the weak stomach!)

The Fresh Pirate of Dubtown.

(with apologies to Will Smith)

This is the story all about how
We turned a cardboard box into a ship just now!
And I'd like to take a minute,
Just give me a sec,
And I'll tell you how Ryan made his English project.

From our stockpile of boxes, he made one really flat.
He took the piece of cardboard and made a ship just like that.

He added a flag and oceans waves of blue,

Then a touch of faux-finishing made for wooden boards, too.

We couldn't find the puppets that he wanted to use,
So we substituted spuds, figured they'd have to do.

He ran through his scene, complete with screeching seagull,
And there's Potato Pirate peeking up from the hull.

Then he headed to bed: "Yo, homes, smell ya later!"
Let's just hope his English teacher's not a pirate tater hater!

Remembering Megann.

It's hard to believe that she's been gone for a year...

"Megann songs" still remind me of her unwavering faith, and little recollections still make me pause and smile.

Even though today is the anniversary of her last day on earth, Monday, May 5, was the one-year anniversary of a day I will always treasure. Here's that story:

A group of us were on a scrapbooking retreat in East Texas the weekend Megann went to the hospital for the last time. (Megann was supposed to go with us, but then she got the bad scan results and her pain came back with a vengeance.) When we got the call that Megann was hospitalized, a bunch of us "girls" were together to take in the news and pray. A little bit later, we found out how serious this was, so we all hopped in a van and drove from Mabank to the hospital. We got to visit with Megann when she still recognized us, could still smile and laugh (a little) with us in spite of her pain and the painkillers.

As we left the hospital, we all knew that this had been a good day, a blessed opportunity. On any other Saturday, there's no way all six of us could've gone to the hospital together, no way we could've had our children all taken care of. But that day we did, and we all had some time with Megann to hold her hand, to talk to her. How precious was that! Later that night she was unresponsive, and by Sunday, when we returned to the hospital, her condition had deteriorated even more. But oh, that awesome Saturday! We all KNEW God had given us that day to see our sweet Megann.

Thank You, God, for that day, and thank You, God, for Megann.

Lyrics by Katie Dub.

Then Forever
(to the tune of American Pie)

A long, long time ago, in a school not too far away,
Mom was learning a little French.
Dad was trying to go to Mars,
but too bad he was goofin' off
in science, math and even art.

Then one day they came together,
First at dinner, then forever.
They were good together,
Happy ever after.
Then one day they had a marriage,
then a little baby carriage.
They were meant to be, we can see.

So we are singin',
My, my, these so lucky guys.
They were happy,
not too crappy,
had some beautiful kids.
They got some kitties,
still one's fat and one's thin,
singin' these so lucky guys,
these so lucky guys.

Thanks, Katie! What a lovely song you've written for us!

Crazy Saturday, Part 3: Worth the wait.

Our friend Dana called last week to see if we could help at a fundraiser this weekend. When she told us about the beneficiary of that fundraiser, we knew we had to be there.

Here's what SpiritHorse Therapeutic Center is all about (as described on its website):

SpiritHorse Therapeutic provides free therapeutic horseback riding services to over 450 children and adults from ten counties in the Greater Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex each week at our facilities in Corinth, just north of Dallas, Texas. We currently serve more children than any center in the world. We are unique in that SpiritHorse is the only large center in America that provides all private therapeutic horseback riding services free of charge in our six programs: Disabilities, Children who are Victims of Abuse/Violence, At-Risk-Youth, Battered Women, and Youth After-Drug Rehab. Our mission is, "To Assist Each Child with Special Needs in Reaching Their Full Potential through Interaction with Horses."

This horseback riding therapy has greatly helped Dana's son, and through this event, we learned about kids who said their first words or took their first steps at SpiritHorse.

So our job? We waited tables at their annual fiesta barbecue.

In addition to selling tickets to the event, organizers had silent and live auctions to raise money for the center. There were a bunch of volunteers helping, including several fellow HCC-ers.

Face-painting and bounce houses helped keep the kids entertained. Then it was time for dinner, which is where we came in. We waited on two sponsors' tables, serving their food and drinks.

Later, once the sponsors were well fed, it was our turn to grab a bite.

We also heard from Charles Fletcher, the center's founder. Dana has nothing but awesome things to say about this man who has dedicated his retirement to helping kids and adults.

Yes, it made for a long day, and yes, we were really tired by the time we got home. But more than anything, we were so honored to get to serve in such a simple way for such a good cause!

Crazy Saturday, Part 2D: Taking stock.

After lunch we headed behind the livestock exchange for Cow Camp, an orientation for young cowboys.
First, we learned about life on the trail. "Cookie" told us about his chuckwagon and why he earned twice as much money ($2 per day) as the cowboys in their group.

Then we moved on to the rope and saddle demo. We saw different types of rope and found out that horses are way smarter than cows. Because of that, horses are roped differently than the slower cows.

We also got to see how to saddle a horse.

Next up was the roping, herding and branding demonstration.

This longhorn is the herd's leader. You can tell because he's wearing a cowbell. (Do you know what this herd needs? MORE COWBELL.)

While at Cow Camp, we were reminded of a couple of things. One: the non-Texans in the crowd LOVE this stuff! I do, too, because it's part of our proud history, but it was fun to watch the "foreigners" (from other states) get into the whole cowboy thing. The other thing we remembered: It is a nasty, nasty thing to see a longhorn poop and a horse pee!

After Cow Camp it was off to the Cattlemen's Catwalk. This walkway took us across dozens of pens.

We wandered around a little bit more after that, but we had to get back to the car by 3. Even with a fun run and a Stockyards visit behind us, our day had one more item on its itinerary.

So for now, it's goodbye to the...