A busy holiday

Our 3 day weekend has come to a close. To be honest, it went by so quickly I nearly missed it. Saturday morning was filled with Tae Kwon Do practice which was followed by a few hours of fall cleaning, repairing, painting and remodeling of the Dojang. It was actually quite a bit of fun as all of the team members were given a job to do. Ainsley and Sydney were charged with cleaning out and dusting all of the cubbies. Graham was charged with cleaning the mirrors. Lynley was put in charge of the floors. Knowing I have a healthy fear of heights, they had me do the tasks which required scaling to the top of a twenty foot ladder. All in all, it was fun and it kept us busy until afternoon. There is nothing like the thrill ride of facing your fears.

Graham was then whisked off to a birthday party and we were left with our usual weekend chores at home. Sunday was pretty lazy but, the afternoon would bring Bryce over to spend the night with Graham. Bryce is the ultra cool kiddo that Graham has had over in the past. The only problem with the him is the fact that Graham turns into a jealous ninny whenever the girls are around. I know that sounds harsh but it is true. We are still having difficulty helping Graham to overcome this issue. Regardless, as soon as the girls appear, Graham changes from Dudely, the cool dude, to Wimpy, the whiny little cry baby. Again, I know that sounds harsh but it is the absolute reality. Clearly my job is to steer him away from this tendency and to keep him from doubting himself. He clearly lacks confidence in these situations and tries to make up for it by making himself the center of attention. The only problem is that he is attracting negative attention. We need to teach him the skills of regaining the attention the right way.

Saturday evening was pretty fun. After a trip to Mama's pizza, we played "kick the can" out in the front yard. You may notice, I said "we." Yes, Lynley and I even threw ourselves in to the game. The next thing you know we had 4 kiddos and two (or too may be more appropriate) old adults running around the neighborhood. In actuality, we all had a blast. Unfortunately, we had to call it an early end as Graham began claiming injury with nearly every step in an effort to get attention. Of course, the tears flowed and then it just became difficult to watch him. We changed activities in an effort to let him regain his composure.

Monday morning was celebrated by a traditional Whataburger taquito breakfast picnic at the Botanical Gardens. As always we had a blast. Unfortunately, our trip was somewhat short-lived as the two boys became victim of one of the streams. You see, on the first go round, I helped them navigate the rocks to cross the stream. However, being young boys they had to cross the stream on their own. They ran across the bridge and then tried navigating the slippery rocks on their own.

They failed.

We cut our adventure short and ended up bringing 2 muddy and wet kids back to the house for a swim in the pool.

They played.

Lynley told me to go ahead and start painting the upstairs. She would watch them until lunch and then come help me after Bryce's mother had picked him up.

Bryce left.

I painted.

Lynley napped on the couch.

I painted.

Then she decided to nap upstairs.

I painted.

She woke up and read her book for awhile.

Thankfully, I ran out of paint.

I was proud of Lynley for actually taking advantage of Labor Day. To be honest, it is about the first time I have ever seen her take a rest.

It was nice.

Well, the vacation is over. It is time to get back to reality.

There is plenty of purpose ahead.