Jack's past time this weekend

So Jack wanted me to take him to the library so he could do some research and make a web diagram about orangutans.

That's a totally normal way for a kid to want to spend his Saturday, right?

Caroline's first dance class

I signed Caroline up for a dance class through the city of Plano. A 6 week lyrical class. She's never done anything like this before, and she really seemed to enjoy it.

Of course, I loved watching her. :)


I really hope I have at least one ballerina in the family.

I know that look!

Sometimes I overhear my kids' arguments.

Most of the time I don't intervene.

My kids are not the type to hit each other or hurt each other. It's usually Sarah and Jack fighting for dominance in any given situation and/or Caroline whining because she's not getting her way. I figure a certain amount of that is natural and healthy. I'm not trying to create Stepford children. They're gonna disagree, and they need to learn to work it out. But I always keep one ear close to the fight and listen for the outcome.

I think you can learn a lot about your kids that way. Who started it? Who's defending whom? Is the youngest crying over nothing? Is the oldest being bossy? Did the middle instigate the whole thing? Who's usually the first to compromise? Who is the "fixer" in the group?



The other day, Jack asked Sarah if he could borrow her book and read it. She said he could.

He said, "Great, I want to read it to Caroline!"

Then Sarah changed her mind, and said, "Um... let me see the book really quickly, Jack."

She took the book from him, called Caroline over, and started reading the book to her.

Jack started to argue with her, "Sarah! You said I could read that to Caroline!"

"No. I said you could read it. But I want to read it to Caroline. It's MY book."

I stepped in at that point and said, "Sarah, you're being unfair. You told him he could read it. Who cares if he wants to read it to Caroline? Sometimes you're not very nice to him when you think I'm not watching."

Then I gave her an "I'm smarter than you think I am" look.

The funniest part was Jack's reaction to me. As I was talking to Sarah, his eyes got wide, and he started nodding, bigger than I've ever seen him nod before. Then he smiled a relieved smile.

It was as if he was saying, "YES! THANK YOU! She's not perfect!!!"

It was all I could do to not bust out laughing. I knew that look. I've given that look to my parents before.

It IS sweet, sweet justice when your parents come to your defense and shut down "the perfect kid" or "the older bossy one" or "the baby who always gets her way".

Just my acknowledgment that Sarah was being unfair to him in that moment made him grin from ear to ear.



But -- to Sarah's credit-- she's the "fixer" and the first to compromise in almost every other argument.

My little lab rat

We went to Scottish Rite so Jack could participate in a research project for kids with club foot. Doctors are always studying ways to improve treatment, I suppose.

We were asked if we'd be willing to let him be a subject for the researchers, and Jack was THRILLED to help out.

He thought the sensors and tests were cool. Even cooler, though, was that they give him a picture to take to his class tomorrow for show and tell. :)

MLK Day

Jack: What are we gonna do today to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr Day? It IS a holiday, ya know.

Me: I don't know. You can go back to bed and have a dream.



He rolled his eyes at me and left the kitchen. The kid doesn't appreciate my humor.

Building circuits before bed

Why not?

This is a snap circuit kit for kids. So simple. They haven't needed my help at all. They just follow the steps and build the circuits the way the instructions tell them to.

They have made a light bulb light up, a fan turn on, a doorbell chime, etc. They've learned how to control the volume and speed on the circuits.

This has been lots of fun tonight while we wait for hair to dry so we can go to bed. :)

Hey mon,

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for the first time today. And there are rainforests in Jamaica, I guess.

Jason's out of town so I thought this would be a fun way to spend our afternoon.

Even though (or maybe because) it was very dark and loud, the kids had a great time, and they were wide-eyed looking around at all the animatronics. It makes me unbelievably excited about Disney World. They're gonna have a blast!

They're already asking about when we'll go again.

She's wearing her whistle bracelet in this pic. I failed to mention in the last post that her whistle is also a bracelet... so she can wear it EVERYWHERE we go. Thank goodness! I wouldn't want her to be without it.

A visit to the pediatrician

Jack and Caroline haven't been 100% for the last 3 weeks. We went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago and were given Amoxicillin.

I should've spoken up. I know Amoxicillin doesn't do diddly squat for my kids. We need Augmentin or Omnicef for the first go-around. Don't waste my time or copay on the weak stuff. But for some reason, I zoned out and took the prescription they handed me.

We went back this morning, asking for something a little stronger.

While Dr. McDonald was checking them out, he noticed a hard glob of wax in Caroline's left ear, wedged in her ear canal, blocking the ear drum. I know it's been there for a while. Every doctor, nurse, PA, NP etc tells me they see it. Then they tell me to try to soften it at home with these special ear drops. But I can't remember things like ear drops so that never happens.

Well, today Dr. McDonald decided that they would flush it out in office.

**HORROR, GUILT, WHY DIDN'T I DO THE EAR DROPS AT HOME??!**

Caroline screamed as the nurse squirted the warm saline in her ear, then tried to pull the glob out. It was a process. I hate processes. I don't mind one stick, ouch! that hurt, but now it's over, let me hold you. The things that take 10 minutes are the most torturous procedures.

And those poor nurses. Doctors always make the nurses the bad guys. I guess part of going to medical school is earning the right to say, "I'm gonna leave and send someone in to make your baby scream. I'll be back when it's over." But I always feel bad for the sweet ladies who get all the mean looks from the kids.

At one point, Jack started sympathetically bawling. He said it hurt his heart that they were making her scream. I also think it scared the crap out of him, and I think he was confused about why I was letting them hurt her. He's probably somewhat psychologically messed up now. But it was a sweet, brotherly, "No one can make my sister scream except me" moment.

So Caroline was in pain, and I was trying to comfort her. But then I was also trying to hug Jack and let him know that it hurt my heart too. It's never fun to see someone you love get hurt, but we have to be tough. This is something that she needs to do; it'll help her feel better. But I understood why he was sad.

At the end of it all, they offered to let us take home the glob of blood, wax, and ear tube so we could show Jason and Sarah. It may be an odd thing to offer.

Odder still... I said, "Sure!" and was kinda glad they said we could take it home to show it off.

And because I don't want you to feel left out, here it is. Next to a penny for scale. Like the pictures of hail you see on the news.

While it might not look huge, it's as hard as a rock. Poor thing went through a lot to get it out.

For his sweet concern over his baby sister, the nurse gave him a plastic lizard. And for her bravery, Caroline got a ring... and a whistle. Oh joy.


Betcha after this ear wax post my dinner posts are looking a lot more appealing, huh? ;)

My last dinner post

You can breathe a sigh of relief. Hopefully next week I'll have other things to talk about.

Last night Pasta alla Marlboro Man.

It was ok, but there wasn't anything really special about it. It was rigatoni with meat sauce.

Honestly, in this pic, I can talk more about the other things you see.

Vitamin water has been on sale at Kroger so I've been buying it for the last 2 weeks. I think it's really good! Not so much the one I was drinking last night, but their lemonade is yummy. And the labels on their bottles make me laugh. There's always some little description of the drink on the side of the bottle that someone with a sense of humor writes.

And you see my snowman tablecloth. Sigh. I'm so ready to be at a point where I don't have to cover my table with goofy things like this to keep it clean. We have a wooden table that collects crumbs in the grooves, and the kids are SO messy. Without the tablecloth, we nag and get frustrated with them. With the tablecloth, my table looks ridiculous.

But not as ridiculous as the dish towels we have in the kids' chairs so that when they drop things in their laps, it doesn't ruin our cushions.

I know companies make things more attractive than blue and white striped dish towels to protect seat cushions, but this is what works for us. I just wish we didn't live like this sometimes. Someday we'll be out of this stage, though, right?? :)

Anyway.. back to the regularly scheduled programming of dinners...

Next week--

Sloppy Joes, Hot Dogs, Cheese Soup, Lasagna, Chicken Tacos, Ravioli, Frito Pie, and King Ranch Chicken.

Although the menu may not sound particularly healthy, we're going back to ground turkey and fat free sour cream. No nitrates and low sodium. Taking a walk on the PW wild side for a week was fun though. :)


Having said that, here's a shameful admission--- just between you and me--

I'm sitting here making my grocery list and seriously considering making the PW's Milky Way cake this weekend.

Something like 8 or 20... I can't remember the exact number ;)... Milky Way candy bars have to be melted down to make this thing. Even I'm a little scared of it, but the kids saw it on the website and requested it. And, to be honest, I'm a little curious myself.

What can I say? I'm a dessert person. Desserts don't have to be healthy.

I'm not sure they need 20 candy bars melted into them... but that won't stop me from trying it. :)

No PW cooking tonight

We had quesadillas instead.

Because-- when I should have been starting dinner-- I was doing this instead.

Sarah got this Easy Bake oven set from Gran and Jimpa for Christmas. She got it out around 5:00 tonight and asked if we could do it.

Everything in me wanted to say no. I needed to start dinner. I didn't want to get it all out. I didn't want to supervise. But I said, "Sure."

I'm always glad (in retrospect) when I say "yes" to doing things with the kids... especially when I could just as easily-- and justifiably-- say no. I had other things to do. I just worked all day at a preschool. I wanted to be left alone.

But you know when you have those moments of clarity that remind you that these moments fly by and one day they won't ask you to hang out with them quite as much so you dig down deep and find the energy to make microwave cookies??

(Did you follow that run-on sentence??)

This was one of those moments.

Caroline kept a watchful eye on her big sister.

After accidentally baking pink fondant because we mistook it for pink sugar cookie mix and after starting all over, we made these fashionable cookies with green fondant.

It's a dress and a high-heeled shoe. Can't you tell??!!? ;)

I was offered a bite. (I passed.) But the chef and her assistant gave them 2 thumbs up.

I've been cautioned in the past about doing too much with my kids to entertain them. I've been told that they need to entertain themselves. But I never regret these times. I never regret putting my own agenda aside and dirtying up the kitchen to do something that they want to do. And they're always appreciative of the time that I spend.

So I just made quesadillas tonight. And we didn't eat til 7:30. But we had sugar cookies covered in fondant at 5:30 as a snack. So we were fine. ;)

Breakfast for dinner

I love breakfast for dinner. 

I confess I get in ruts... or maybe they're routines... that makes me sound organized and efficient instead of seriously lacking in creativity.... where I cook the same types of food every week.

One night is Mexican. Two nights are pasta.  You know what I mean?  And within each type I have just a few recipes that I use so it gets kinda boring.

Before the kids were big enough to eat with us, "breakfast for dinner" night was a weekly thing.  I love it that much!!

So when I saw this recipe for Cinnamon Baked French Toast, I had to try it!

I forgot to take a pic straight out of the oven.  Oh well. You get the idea, even though it doesn't look so good here. I swear I buttered the heck out of this dish, and yet-- it stuck.  Grr.

It's a cross between bread pudding and coffee cake.  That's a great thing in my book.

Believe it or not, she suggests serving it with another pat of butter and syrup on top of it.  And what's worse... we did it.  It was AWESOMELY DELICIOUS.  And so wrong.  But so right. :)

I'm betting she's Paula Deen's niece or something.  I have to remind myself that I'm not on the frontier.  I'm not going to bale hay.  I have no plans to work cattle.  I can not afford to eat this many calories!!!

(Although something tells me she doesn't really do all of those things either.)

But every now and then, it IS nice to indulge, I must say. ;)

In the spirit of "balance", I did serve this with turkey bacon and scrambled egg whites.  Because I'm responsible like that.

You have to read the recipe to really understand how indulgent this is... especially if you were to eat it for breakfast.

Dinner last night

I wasn't kidding when I said this is what I'd be blogging about this week.

Nothing else going on. 

Except some snow.



Last night I made Italian Chicken Soup.  I bought a whole fryer chicken, cut it up, cooked it in chicken broth, sauteed veggies, etc, etc, etc.

It was good, but for all the work I did, it wasn't THAT good.  I'm not sure I'll be making it again.

But the recipe called for pasta called Ditalini.  I had never heard of it.  Have you???  Is this a common pasta?

It is so cute! Yes, the pasta. Cute. Each piece is like a half of a macaroni. I'll use it again. Just because it's cute.

Here's the soup... I added more stock after I took this pic. This doesn't look much like a soup. I think I had accidentally let it reduce down to nothingness. But I'm posting the photo because I wanted to show you my new Dutch oven. :)

I treated myself at Kohl's. It was $108, but I got it for $68. I love Kohl's.

The cast iron is heavy as heck but really does heat more evenly, and the enamel coating has made clean up a breeze.. for Jason. ;)

Here it is... looking more like soup.

And here's the recipe..
Italian Chicken Soup

If you're actually clicking on these links, pay no attention to the fact that her pics of her food look nothing like my pics of her food.  It's because she's a better photographer. 

And cook.  Hush!

Tonight: PW Chili

I opted to go without the beans. And I went with cornbread instead of Fritos/ Frito Pie.

For her recipe, click here.

It was a yummy cold weather meal. :)

..............

BTW... I do own "real" plates and bowls. We went to plastic when the kids were old enough to eat at the table instead of at a high chair. I wanted us to all be eating off the same plates. Maybe that's strange. I found these cute Target plates/bowls, and we still use them.

But I did register for grownup place settings when I got married. I promise. ;)

My Clarisonic

I thought of a non-food related thing to blog about.

I got a Clarisonic Mia 2 from Mom for Christmas, and I love it!! It's like an electric toothbrush for your face.

Incidentally, since getting my electric toothbrush 2 years ago, I have the healthiest gums on the block... I can't prove that so you'll just have to trust me.

I use my Mia twice a day, and I swear my skin has never felt better. And I feel like it's looking better too.

Of course, since I said that, I'm sure the next time I run into you, I'll have zits the size of boils on my face, and you'll be like, "Yeah, Julie, that Clarisonic's reeaallly working out for ya."

I don't have problematic skin necessarily, but I do see a dermatologist for breakouts that I think are unreasonable at 33. My skin doesn't always seem to understand that I'm not 14 anymore.

I've had great results thus far with the Clarisonic. Hopefully it'll keep my skin looking youthful too! :)

Just not "still breaking out" type youthful. ;)

More Pioneer Woman Cooking

Sooo...

I'm slightly obsessed. This is VERY much my personality. I get on kicks and stay on them until I burn out to the point that I can't even stomach the thought of [fill in the blank with my obsession].

Remember when I was eating only foods from the perimeter of the grocery store?? All fresh and organic?? Now... I still buy organic produce, dairy, and meat... but I'm definitely on the pop tart aisle too.

Remember when I was running all the time?? Now I'm at the gym 3 days a week-- weights only, no cardio. If I want cardio, I lift the weights faster. :) Running further than 2 miles doesn't even sound fun to me anymore.

Right now... It's the Pioneer Woman. I'm sharing what I'm cooking because I'm at a loss for what to blog about.

Now that I'm back to work I can't blog as much. I don't have as much time, and the school wouldn't like it if I shared stories, I'm sure.

Besides-- do you really want to hear me complain about the trials of indoor recess or how my paycheck went from $627 to $614 thanks to the new tax laws?? I doubt it. But-- while we're on the subject-- can I just tell you how much I LOATHE Congress?


I'll be doing Pioneer Woman cooking this week so I'll share THAT with you instead.

That's fun, right? :) Ok, it's not. But I don't know what else to do!


Oh... concerning the chocolate cake I made last week... AMAZINGLY GOOD!!! I'll be making it again and again and again. Love!! Love!! LOVE!!!!

**Of course I'm an admitted chocoholic with a sweet tooth affliction.**

My most recent Pioneer Woman recipe was for her Easy Calzones.

I made 15 calzones. The other cookie sheet is not shown.

Easy. Not to be confused with fast. These suckers took a while. From rolling out the dough to crimping them with a fork and brushing with egg wash. It's a process!

But even my pickiest eater **cough,cough SARAH cough, cough** ate this. That's truly a sign of culinary success!!

This is definitely a weekend recipe. You need your husband home to keep the kids out of the kitchen and you need about an hour to work.

With all that effort, it was a relief when everyone gave them 2 thumbs up! :)

Plumbing problems

Caroline: "Good news! I didn't flush my shoes down the toilet!!"

That IS something to celebrate since she recently got into trouble for flushing a sock.

Don't ask me how a sock ended up in the toilet. I have no idea. She was bawling over the loss. So I know it was an accident. It wasn't as if she was trying to see what could flush and what couldn't.

Sadly the sock was the second thing she's flushed in the last 3 weeks.

The first was a plastic bracelet that somehow broke our toilet in the half bath. We're not really sure how a dumb little bracelet managed to render that bathroom useless, but it did.

We forbid her from flushing potties without adult supervision for about a week... just to be on the safe side. Then Jason did what he could to fix the broken toilet.

Long story short...

We have a plumber coming on Monday. And Caroline thinks that not flushing her shoes is quite an accomplishment.

Awesome.

And this is the Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Cake

I bought a sheet pan for the occasion. Believe it or not, I didn't own a sheet pan. I know! I was surprised too.

Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting! MMMMMM!!!!!!!!!

Of course it's hard for anything to taste bad when it calls for 3 3/4 sticks of butter.
**YIKES!!**
**My fish oil vitamins for heart health will counteract the butter-- don't you think??**

I know Jason prefers a white icing on chocolate cake... but I'd have preferred to add the chopped pecans the recipe called for and didn't. You win some and lose some. It's all about compromise. ;)

Just like I'm completely compromising my attempts at healthy eating tonight.

There's something about the smell of a warm chocolate cake cooling in the kitchen that makes me VERY happy! :)

Here's the link...

Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Cake

Happy Birthday, Alex!

Yesterday was my nephew's 7th birthday.  He's 6 months younger than Sarah and 9 months older than Jack.  Our family had a busy year and a half when the three of them were born. ;)

Hilary kept it a low key family get together by meeting at Chick-fil-A for lunch, presents, and cake.

Happy birthday, Alex!!! :)

Cotton Bowl Watching Party

Well the Aggies took on OU at the Cotton Bowl last night.  Even though it was in the metroplex at Cowboys Stadium, Jerry Jones jacked up ticket prices to the point that the only more expensive bowl game is the national championship ticket. 

Standing room only tickets were $200.  Top row/ Top deck were $300+.  What student can afford that?  Heck, even alumni probably had to take out a loan to take their families to the game. A lot of people I know were willing to pay the RIDICULOUS prices, but a lot of people I know refused to give JerryWorld a dime...

.... and had Cotton Bowl Watch Parties instead.

The kids and I went to Robyn's house to enjoy the game.  Jason worked late. There were probably 8 - 10 kids and 8 - 10 adults there.  And everyone was pulling for the Aggies.

I don't care which team you're rootin' for... if you go to a party where everyone is cheering for the same team, it's SO much fun!!! Nobody's "awww"ing while someone else is "woo-hoo"ing.  Alcohol doesn't flare tempers.  No one has to make an effort to be a good sport or endure heckling.  It's best when the party isn't divided.

Now for the pics...


Robyn's boys had these creepy  maroon masks. :/

This is Jack and Asher. 
Jack is on the left.  Asher is Robyn's 5 yr old son who goes to PreK at our school.  He has been a sweet friend to Caroline this year....despite the fact that he looks like a serial killer here.

 

One of the dads there looked so familiar to me, but his wife wasn't there so I couldn't place him.  Then his daughter walked into the kitchen, and I figured out who he is. 

This is his daughter, Ryen. 
Sarah and Ryen were in preschool together.  She came to Sarah's Alice in Wonderland Tea Party.  Sarah went to her 5th birthday party too.  Then Ryen went to kindergarten in Frisco, and Sarah started in Plano.  The girls hadn't seen each other since then.  Crazy meeting up with her again at Robyn's party.

The kids played upstairs while the parents watched the game. But during commercials, we'd DVR the game, take Just Dance breaks, and play the Wii. :)  Parents vs Parents.  Kids vs Kids.  It was hilarious!

We had a great time and didn't get home until 11:30.  Poor Caroline was wiped out!! But when she woke up this morning, she asked if we could go back today.  I'm glad they had fun too.

 

Pot Roast... Mmmmm!

One of the only reasons I love winter is that it's a great time for cold weather meals.  I'm a sucker for soups and stews.... and pot roast.  I don't want roast in July.  But January?  Yes, please!

During my weekly shopping trip, I bought the roast, onions, carrots, potatoes, and a seasoning packet-- prepared to do the same ol' pot roast in the crock pot.

While crock pots make things easier, I have to confess that I'm not a huge fan of using them. 

A) I have to remember to start dinner in the morning to let it cook all day.  I'm not thinking about dinner in the morning.

and

B) It seems that, no matter what I cook, crock pot dinners taste the same-- they taste like the crock pot.  Chicken, beef, or pork... Italian seasoning or Mexican spices... they all have the same "I-can-tell-I-cooked-it-in-a-crock-pot" flavor to me.  I can't explain it. 

But I don't have a roasting pan or a dutch oven, and I'm not really sure how else you cook a pot roast if not in the slow cooker.

Well, as usual, I forgot to put the roast in the crock pot this morning and thought, "Great. What's Plan B for dinner?"

Then I looked on The Pioneer Woman's website.  She has TONS of pot roast recipes.  None of them use seasoning packets, which makes me happy.  All of them are simple!!  And I don't need my crock pot.... I used a big All Clad pot I have that is oven safe. (I forget all the time that my All Clad is oven safe.)

Plus I love her blog.  Her commentary is hilarious!  I don't often remember to reference her site.  I'm not sure why. Everytime I do one of her recipes we love it.

I went with the basic pot roast because I already had the ingredients on hand.  It smelled DELICIOUS cooking in my oven for the last 3 hours.

Here's our dinner... It was yummier than this picture makes it look, especially with the big onion taking up so much of the plate. ;)

And here's the link.

Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pot Roast

A link to her mashed potatoes.  I didn't have a masher and didn't use my electric mixer... hence the lumps.

Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes

Book Review for Moms of Daughters

Dads, turn away. This post is not for you.  I will keep this a G-rated post, but this is definitely "girl talk".

............

Sarah has been asking a lot of questions for the last year or so.   Not the "Where do babies come from?" question but a lot of the "Why do you look like you do? Why do I look like I do? When will I look more like you? Why does Jack look like he does?" questions.  I think when girls have brothers they are naturally curious from a young age.

As you probably know, I'm a big believer in having conversations and giving honest, age-appropriate answers when asked questions. I'm not going to pretend to not have the answers, leaving my kids to Google or ask a friend.   And even though I'm secretly dying inside as I answer the questions, I do my best to not show my embarrassment. 

My cousin recommended this book to me.

It's published by American Girl, and it's VERY well done.  Sarah and I read a chapter a night together, and we discuss what's in the book.

It starts off very tame. 

The intro is all about loving the way God made you.  (Well, I interject the "God"' part.) But it tells girls to not compare themselves to the girls on TV.  It teaches them that growing up is not a race; it doesn't matter if you're the first one to lose all your baby teeth or the last, your body will grow and change at exactly the right time.  It also emphasizes inner beauty.  There's a line from the book that says something about the most beautiful girl in the room being the one who's most confident.

Then there's a chapter on hair care, a chapter on skin care, one on nail care, good oral hygiene, changes like getting glasses or braces...

Sarah's learned a lot and has been sure to point out to me every time my forehead is shiny that my skin is getting oily and I should go wash my face.  :/

It, of course, works up to puberty.  If you plan to call body parts by names like "hoo-ha", this is not the book for you. ;)  They use the correct terminology. There are parts of the book that Sarah and I skip over.  I don't feel that she needs to know all of her different choices when it comes to feminine products at this point.  But we did talk about the changes of puberty. 

Believe it or not, for most girls, around 9 yrs old is when girls start wearing little camis under their shirts, and some even get their first bras.  We're not that far away from all of these things. 

The book is not controversial, in my mind, at all.  There aren't any parts in there about male anatomy.  This is not a book about sex.  This is a book for girls about the changes to their bodies and the importance of caring for and respecting their bodies. 

Sarah looks forward to our time together to read it.  It's just her and me, talking about being girls.  But we also made a deal at the very beginning that if we started to read something that made her nervous about growing up, we'd stop and skip that part.  And Sarah has held to the deal.

I plan to read it again with her in about a year.  It's intended for girls 8 -10.  There's a more in-depth book that I haven't looked at for older girls.  I'm hoping that we're a LONG way away from in-depth. Not ready for that. ;)

But I throw this book out there to you, ladies raising little girls.  If nothing else, it opens up a dialogue.  You could always glance at it and, if you choose not to read it with your daughters some day, you'll at least have a list of topics that you may want to discuss.

Scottish Rite / A & M players with Jack

Monday Jack and I got to go to the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital to see the Aggies since they're in town for the Cotton Bowl.   Apparently it's tradition for the hospital to invite the Cotton Bowl teams (if one is from Texas) to visit with the kids the week before the game.

I was most excited -- heck, EVERYONE was most excited-- about meeting Johnny Manziel and getting his autograph.  Unfortunately Johnny, the other 3 captains, and Coach Sumlin visited with patients who were hospitalized and couldn't come to the event as opposed to those of us who just came for the afternoon.

Very disappointing for us but makes sense.  Jack said that if you have to be stuck in the hospital to get to see Johnny Manziel then he's glad we didn't get to meet him.  Good outlook!

But we did see the Heisman Trophy.

I was afraid if Jack stood, he wouldn't be in the pic.  So I picked him up, very awkwardly.  This is sort of the "I'll pick you up as if you weigh 25 pounds and can sit on my hip.  Oh wait... you're heavy.  And Jack is thinking 'Agh! You're gonna drop me!'" pose.  But whatever. ;)

When the players came out, they passed out hats and beanies.  Jack got an A&M beanie.  Which he wore the entire time.  Tag and all.

We brought a real football for the players to sign but quickly realized that a black sharpie didn't show up very well.  Thankfully the hospital had these white balls.

I wasn't very good at getting Jack's pic with the players while holding his gift bag full of stuff, my purse, the bag we brought with things for Johnny to sign.. (which we didn't end up needing)... so these pics are few and lacking in quality.  I know.

Notice Jack in the foreground.  I told you he wore the beanie, tag and all. :)

A professional photographer... I'm guessing for the magazine the hospital puts out or maybe their website??... took Jack's pic with a group of about 5 players.  It turns out Jack's maroon and gray matched the players' warmups perfectly.  So if I see that pic somewhere, I'll post it.  He had a terrified smile on his face, but it's a cool pic.

Jack was great about asking the players for their autographs.  He ended up with between 15 - 20.  To be honest, they all start to look alike after a while, and it's hard to know who's signed the ball and who hasn't. 

I'm sure we didn't meet anyone who's gonna go on to do great things in professional football, but we did meet a lot of guys who knelt down to talk to Jack and shook his hand.  We met a lot of guys who-- truth be told-- probably felt a little out of their element and is if they were doing court-mandated community service, but you'd never know it.  They were friendly, had huge smiles on their faces, and would have a conversation with you. 

I know they made an impact on Jack because when we left he said, "Ya know, Mom, I think I've changed my mind on what I want to be when I grow up.  I either want to be an author, a teacher, or... an athlete."

A shocking idea from my computer-loving braniac.

"You can be whatever you want to be, buddy.  I think an athlete would be great."

"A mini golf athlete. I bet they have the most fun." 

Now THAT sounds like Jack. :)