HIS FIRST......

Jax is #25

Jax loves this game. He was devastated when he thought he would be too heavy to play quarterback but was willing to give the line a try. Even after his first week of practice and weighing in under the line limit, he found out quickly that any position that allows him to tackle the quarterback and the running backs... oh who am I kidding..... he likes tackling anyone and everyone so he immediately lost all interest in the offense.

The first games of the season were quite the learning experience. This season runs exactly like the NFL season. They play games but work on the fundamentals of the game in preparation for the fall season. The coaches are actually on the field assisting the boys but need to be clear of all plays and no one is allowed to argue calls with the refs. The league is all about teaching respect for each other and ones own self and I love that any parent that causes problems will be escorted out by security, and will not return. It is huge since come fall season, we will be traveling all over Arizona for these games.

It was so fun sitting in the high school stands watching the boys play... and then getting to hear their names on the loud speaker when they made a good play. I tried so hard to get the videos of Jax's tackles and them announcing his name but..... it just did not work because I was way too slow when he made a good play and the announcer got it out there. Technically speaking, they don't keep track of the wins vs. the losses, but they keep score and stats... and we do know who wins. Jax was so excited that they won their first game and had 6 major tackles during that game. 18-0 was a great way to start the season. They played a second game at 5PM the same day. It started out rough. The quicker kids on his team got a rude awakening about big boys and getting their bells rung. Jax's coach switched the positions around after the purple team scored their first touchdown. He told Jax to "take the big kid down and don't be intimidated"....... Jax goes to school with him so he was excited to go up against someone who is two grades older than him. He rocked this game and they ended up winning 12-6.

Lesson learned.... the bigger they are - the harder they fall.

He even earned his first sak. We are definately gonna enjoy the next few months... even if it entails 4 or 5 practices a week and 2 games on Saturday.

*Just a Mom's bragging side note. Coach Joe's son Jozia celebrated his birthday on Sunday. We went and had a fun filled day. I was such a proud mom when Joe pulled me aside and asked me how Jax was liking playing and practicing. I explained to him that he has fallen head over heels in love with the game. He loves playing defense.. can take or leave the whole offense thing.. but wants to learn learn learn. He was even more excited to find out that we run Jaxi through some Crossfit workouts. It was when Joe told me that Jax is a true natural when it comes to the game, that I got really excited for Jax . Joe explained that Jax listens, learns, and demonstrates what he has been taught. Plus he just does not let anyone get past him.. He finished with, "Jax is just a good boy and I am really glad he is on our team!" That is what makes me proud. That and the fact that he actually stopped to help up anyone he took down on the field and anyone he "might have slightly injured" at his first two games.

I can not wait for your Grammies and Grampies to see you in action!!!!


De Anna

6, 7, 8

Saturday morning was an early one for all of us. Well, if you consider 6:30 early.

Jaxi had his first two scrimmages this morning. It was so fun. HOT, but fun. We realized that Mom can not sit on High School bleachers anymore. Holy mother of pain. I thought my pelvis was going to crack when I tried to stand up.

Jax fell farther in love with hitting kids... I think I fell farther in love with my kid. He has a passion for playing and it is what we held off for. For years I was criticized for not putting him in every sport like everyone else. I made him get the good grades and prove he really wanted it. I am not about to force my kids to play sports because everyone else is doing it. He now pretty much blows me away in our workouts.... HE WAS READY FOR THIS!! I can not even describe the look of PRIDE in Tommy's eyes when he watches him. Jaxi has always been the quite kid. I think I have spanked him one time in his life. He is just a good kid. He doesn't grab ass with the other kids who have to be yelled at to come back from water breaks and he is always the first on the field asking the coaches questions. I love it.

The rest of the day included a wonderfully crippling workout...... Our neighbor thought a bad guy was either chasing me as I ran circles around the block or Tommy was just being really really mean to me...... a ton of play time and a bunch of movies after BBQ'ING. Some things just rock.

Sunday brought on lazy lazy lazy-ness... Oh wait... that has been all of Spring Break. And it agrees with me... except for the fact that every flippen morning Pudgie comes straight to me and sticks his little face in mine just breathes. What a beautiful way to wake up.

Naps and movies and Oregano's for Pazookie..... and more movies rounded out the day. But not without decorating all the concrete in our neighborhood. The kids got a total kick out of chalking on the street and all over our driveway... in the middle of the night. Daddy even got in on the action. I think that I will pay for his chalking.... but whatever.

Monday was an indoors all day kind of day. Laundry and cleaning things up, which didn't seem to put a dent in anything, consumed a lot of the day. Tommys sheer frustration at being home is shining brightly. He gets exposed to the things he is normally sleeping through or walking out the door from. He finally told me, "You were a lot more patient when you were on the road." "YOU THINK?" was all I could get out. Football practice and more chalking and ending the night with the movie 2012.........

And finally, Brinkley has fallen in love with "Splurge & Save," on HGTV. She wants to start re-decorating our house...... I told her that she has to figure out the whole "SAVE" only part and we could re-do something!!!!!! (It won't last, trust me!!!) And.....

I found out that I have been doing my points for my challenge wrong... since day one. WONDERFUL!

On to Tuesday..............

DAY 5

I was supposed to be up before the sun this morning. We went to bed late. Football rocked last night and then there was Burger King. That place seriously grosses me out. Crumbsnatchers love it. Blech. Couldn't end the night without watching the newest episode of Flashforward. I roamed the house until 0330.

I have to finish Jax's room. I have some serious plans I need to put into motion around here and if I start a project without finishing his room... BIG TROUBLE, little momma! (Right Daddy?)

It was sprinkling when I walked Daddy outside. Plans were gonna be squished again.... but the sun came out (Jax must have a deal with going on with God these days.... can't elaborate on that one though)... and we jumped into our suits..... even if it was only gonna be a quickie of a play-date!!!

Someone needs some serious re-training on how we swim without the jacket on. Someone else got hurt an hour and a half into the fun and someone else was stressed he would be over tired for football so he told me we could only be in the sun and water for 90 minutes. It turned out awesome. There was hardly anyone at the pool, the sun was just right, the water was warm, no one was whining and it was just perfect enough to get a little color without getting burned!!! We had to come back and get the littlest Jensen down for a nap. He has been difficult, to say the least,... as of late. And, with his cough, he sounds like a seal, again. Gonna sanitize all the outside toys again, the entire house and maybe Pudgie too!!!!!

10 days of planning fun is in the works:
*I know exactly what kind of fun we will be scheduling for every single day next week
*I get to watch my baby tackle the living daylights out of kids at his first game
*I may actually get a day off from everyone in this household. (Seriously doubtful since I got the major guilt trip for just saying I wanted to stay home and paint Jax's room during his practice today, just so I would not have to deal with little hands touching wet paint and then touching everything else,.....well, that, and the fact that I am embarrassed to say that I started his re-do project before Christmas and it is still not done! I hope someone else can fall into this crappy parent category too!)
*And we have Daddy home for 10 straight days... which has already started costing a fortune! SERIOUSLY!

Spring cleaning and de-cluttering is lingering from... at least last year. Making a ton of headway.... but I hate that our upstairs was 79 degrees on Tuesday and I had to turn the air on. Just went random I guess.

So much "goings" on..... and then there is Pudgie....... a post within a post.... on my 4 year old that apparently likes to take pornographic photos while Mom does the dishes. Maybe it is worse that I didn't exactly know what the photos were of... until I literally stared for a good 10 minutes turning them upside down and sideways...... That is for later.

I have also made the decision to dye my hair. Well, streak it. This should be interesting.

Spring Break 2010.. never a dull moment I tell ya!!


De Anna

DAY 4

Most were better this morning. Thank God.

I got seriously impressed with a spunky spitfire as well. So far so good, but,

Lola died last night. The kids were devastated. She was overweight, to say the least. Heart attack, or something.

I got on a serious run with cleaning...... Popped in Bad Boys 2, banished the kids upstairs and I was good to go. I love the smell of leather cleaner. I hate the smell of our new couches. Win, win! The day just ran smoothly... or as smooth as it could.

It has been a long, somewhat trying....... 4 days. We have seen Daddy for about 35 minutes this whole week. I miss him. A serious sex assault and other demons of destruction kept him late every day this entire week. Some days he was held over for more than three hours. Welcome to Spring Break........ We have you for 10 straight days now and we will be taking serious advantage of the time...... although this usually costs me an arm and a leg to have you home....... (hence the rower........)

Working on making it to the water park tomorrow........ should probably put some pics up. Then again, there are a lot of things I should do...........

De Anna

DAY 3

Well, one is down for the count with a 102.3 fever. One was , well.. I will just say... didn't have a great night tonight because of an incident... and one is down and out right tired and worn down. Day 3 wasn't was bad as it could have been, but eye opening, to say the least....... (Thanks for coming on our nightly walk with us and chatting with me Ruth!!)

Basically, a lazy, lazy day. Two of the three decorated cookies and donuts and goodies at Trish's house for St. Patty's day. I think they just ate the donuts. Least I didn't need to bring anything back home with me. The donuts, chocolate chip cookies and butterfly cookies were a hit!! I knew there was a reason I don't bake!!!

I am sure everyone will touch pillows early tonight and I will get some house cleaning done. Or not..

I need to get a mean workout in or I may just open up my mouth and not be so politically correct........ We shall see........

Day four should be interesting, to say the least..............Tommy, did I mention that I really, really miss you???

De Anna

DAY 2

Another successful and wonderful day.

Someone asked for the day off of football... after someone else ran him through her Crossfit workout at the gym. I am not sure what the deal is with the trainers at this gym, but after the 3rd one approached me to "help" develop a workout, I think they figured I may just hurt them if they made me take my earbuds out one more time.

The three crumb snatchers want to swim.... it lasted 29 seconds today. Then they begged me to boil water on the stove and just dump it into the pool. Ummm yeah... NOT!

After an afternoon of playing with our cul-de-sac buds, Gilbert Police Officer Howard decided to join the kiddos. Tommy will be writing a letter to his supervisor. Most people do not really understand that this officer just made a huge impression on, no less than 12 kids. He could have gone on his merry way to eat with a partner, talk on his cell phone or just scramble his tail far, far away from dirty, little, grubby paws that were undoubtedly going to touch all the equipment in his car. Or I should say, his office. Most bankers or people who work at a desk all day wouldn't let a neighborhood of kids touch their keyboard, slobber on their phone (radio mic) or climb on all their office equipment. Thanks for your patience!!! Tommy and I know that it is rewarding and frazzling, all at the same time!!!

(And, no, sweet friend of Jax's... He is not "too good" to stand in a photo with a police car... he has been doing it his whole life and is just not overly thrilled or impressed with the stuff anymore... now bring out the swat toys and you will see a smiling and very impressed kid!!!!)

We ended the night snuggling together watching Jax's and my favorite family show, "Flashforward." What a tease tonight was... and we can't wait for more. Pudgie fell asleep on the chair again and Binky was literally holding her eyelids open to see the end. I think this whole vacation stuff is wearing them out! LOVE IT!

Bring on day 3!!!!


(I still can't believe I missed the photo op of him in Pudgie man's patrol car!!!)

De Anna

DAY 1

We survived day one of Spring Break. Barely....

By 3:30 Brinkley was whining that she was bored. Sucks to have her life, I guess. Toys flying out the garage faster than the kids can play with them... A bedroom that is filled with art supplies and more... and if worse comes to worse... her baby brothers room that is basically just a toy room as well. Yeah, she has it rough and is pretty much getting ready to live on the street if she keeps complaining.

We started the day off with Mommy forgetting that Pudgie had half day pre-school. Oooops. That's what I get for staying up all night re-arranging furniture and getting stuff ready to sell.

I have promised my kids that the daylight hours are for fun. I am not going to force them to clean and do chores inside when it is so darn beautiful out. The cleaning is for darkness. And that is turning me back into the night owl I like being.

Football is wearing Jax out. Last nights practice was 2 hours and 10 minutes long. Saturdays was almost 2 and a half hours and Fridays was almost 3 hours. He is working his tail off while the other two play theirs off... except for when Pudgie need to be brought back down and I body slammed him for kicking his sister. Tired children = BRATS. But, he feel asleep snuggling my arm, in our big fat chair. That made all the fighting so worth it.

Day one = 100% SUCCESS

De Anna

Spring....WHAT?

It somehow happened.

I guess when you are literally flat on your back for 5 full days it is bound to happen. You tend to forget things. You intentionally do not listen to other things and then suddenly someone says something that ultimately smacks you across the face and makes you wonder where the heck time went.

This happened Wednesday night. At dinner. Which consisted of Sour patch kids and maybe Skittles.... I am still kinda fuzzy on it all. I do however, remember, and way too clearly, Brinkley blurting out...."We have a half day tomorrow. It is conferences." "Wait...what? Are these the conferences for kids that are not getting it... what are they called?" "Conferences mom." "NO, what kind? Do I have to go or what?" My kids are looking at me like I am 100% alien now. Then, yeah, then she throws out to me, "and Mrs. Mendoza said we are gonna be done after Friday!" "Done with what?" "School."

What the heck? How in the world did I miss the fact that my kids are now on Spring Break? And to top it all off, I did not plan one single thing. Woohoo I am now the mom of the decade, let me tell you.

So here we go......... Spring is Sprung'n.... and I have no desire to be inside. Chores are gonna still be there when the day is done..... and everything else can wait. The sun is out, the hoses are on, the water fights have started, football practice is every night, the breeze is blowing, I just watched my 10 year old beat his Daddy in a Crossfit workout, I planted awesome purple ice plant in our yard, the mailman just came..... all is right in our little part of the neighborhood.

So, now I must figure out how we will work some Spring fun into the next two weeks.

For now, I am liking sitting outside, watching Brinkley and Baylee marvel at the two new members of our neighborhood who just recently hatched. We joked how, just a few days ago, momma hummingbird was dive bombing us as we got way too close to her babies in the nest in front of Miss Becky's house. I am amazed at how tiny these little babies are. The nest is no bigger than a jewelry ring box. All the kids are being so incredibly careful not to touch the tree and just to look at the babies. Simply amazing!!!! So, we will be spending the majority of our break going to football practice, scrimmages and games, all the while, watching this, not-so-little guy of mine, do his most favorite thing. He made weight today, so he is caught in a catch 22. We thought he was going to be at a, "line only," weight but he lost almost 9 pounds this week and can play any position, preferably quarterback, but we will see how it all pans out this week. I just enjoy watching him get hit... or I guess I should say... watching the other boys hit him while he stands there like nothing at all even happened. I almost feel sorry for the little guys that drill with him and get punished for side stepping when he is coming at them full speed for a tackle.

What happened to my baby?

I am caught off guard some days when I look at how grown up he looks.

It's gonna be a good, good two and a half weeks.

De Anna

WORDS

Some days they are just not enough, but tonight, it is all I got....

Beth, Dan and Russ.. Thank you so much for the wonderful blessing. And yes, Sydney, I really do have faith in it!

You guys are the best!

SERIOUS PAIN

I can handle a lot of pain. I am just that way. Yesterday totally disprved my toughness threory. Let me back peddle.....

Friday night was way awesome. Jax had his loongest practice to date. Almost 2 and a half hours, under the lights, tons of drills, uphill running, the parachutes came out and I literally felt like my boy was gtrowing up right in front of my eyes. We were so excited for Saturday. A big boy physical, fitting for pads, his new helmet (seriously, how can a parent put a used football helmet on their kids head? Gross,) We had tons to do.

At 0700 hours I woke up with a head-splitting headache. I ran for the bathroom. This kept up all day long and I was getting scared. Nothing could touch this pain. Nothing would stay down and I was home alone. I finally broke down and told Tommy I needed to go to the hospital.

Thank God for Gilbert hospital. I was in a room within 10 minutes but the pain would not go away. The ER doc took one look at me and ordered a CT Scan and a spinal tap. They started IV's and pushed a lot of drugs that had no effect.

After an entire day in the ER, we still have no answers. They called it a really bad headache. HMMMM.... One that is non stop, even today. Hopefully something gives............

Gettin Away~

I like to think I am really blunt. I try not to be overly mean about things but I don't necessarily beat around the bush and sugar coat things in life to too many people. Life is too short to not live in the real world.

So, this weekend, we chose to push me, a little over the edge, and back into the real world. Saturday was the 8 year anniversary of my motorcycle wreck. As Tommy says, "it really is a Happy Anniversary and if people would stop and think about it before they say how sorry they are that the day happened, they too would understand why I am happy about it, every year!" At any rate, I have neither celebrated, nor have I sat wallowing in the, "what could have been," for my life, since that day. It is what it is and some days, that just sucks.

I have, however, physically and emotionally had difficulties actually being in a vehicle and going and doing something. Physically I would nearly get sick and emotionally I was just a shell of a person staring into space thinking about what I would do if I had to actually go somewhere.

We decided last year that we needed to get back to our tradition of going up to our favorite cabin, in the snow, with friends and spend the weekend sledding, playing games, watching movies, laughing and freezing, thawing out, refreezing, getting breathless, and snuggling up to the ones we love and adore most in the world. I didn't even flinch when I made the reservations for this weekend. I actually had forgotten about the date and didn't remember until Tommy brought it up. Ewww I had serious second thoughts about going. Especially when there were bad travel conditions, snow in the forecast and I had been sick. I could have made up a thousand more excuses but it was time I suck it up and grow up and get past the past. It will haunt me forever but I am stronger for it! Yep, that all sounds well and good and I can talk a mean game, but in reality, I cry about it, still. And to answer this question for the 10,000th time,

"YES, I MISS IT EVERY DAY. THAT WILL NEVER CHANGE. IT ISN'T LIKE I LEFT ON MY OWN TERMS AND IT ISN'T LIKE I SUCKED AT MY JOB. I LOVED IT, I MISS IT AND I ALWAYS WILL."

So with all this put deep into the back of my mind, we made plans and we stuck to them. Except for the fact that the entire family slept late... until 10 on Friday morning.... Ooops, but dang, the park the night before was just too much fun and I wanted the kids to enjoy the night.......... sooooooo.....

Friday we set out on our "family and friends trip" to the snow and I didn't look back as we headed north. The kids were jumping for joy that we let them take the entire day off of school. Dozer was itching to go play with her friends, "the pigs," and I just needed a break from life as I know it in our house.

We were counting the seconds to get out of the truck. Justice was itching the minute he saw snow... unfortunately it was an hour before the cabins. Once we got there, it seemed like a millisecond before the kiddos were hill bound on discs and sleds going mach three with their hair on fire. I have to admit, Pudgie is our dare devil who laughed the entire way down the hill, air born, and landing, or I should say, face planting at the bottom of the hill... and rolling with that baby laughter all the way back up. He loves the snow. Jax and Pudgie belong in the snow. They spent more time out there, together, than all 12 of us put together. It was just awesome!

Friday night we learned how to play Texas hold 'em. Well, Tommy and I learned how to play it. Everyone else plays it and plays it, "well to competition-tournament-awesome." Me, I am a blackjack and craps player, but a gambler through and through so I take learning the art of gambling extremely seriously. Tommy had a 'lil too much to drink and ended up losing his shorts. I, on the other hand, lasted to the final two. Not too bad.

We really just had a great, great weekend. I readily admitted, on Saturday, it was the anniversary of my accident and I left it at that. No tears, no deep breaths, no aches in the heart. Just plain and simple... 8 years ago something really, really bad happened and 8 years later, our life is really, really good. I have more important things to worry about then the, "what if's of yesterday," that I have held way too tightly to, for so darn long.

We seriously have enough things going on to make me crazier than normal so I need to let all the insignificant things just go, from here on out. Yep, the grudge~master has to just give it up!!!! We are really busy.... Jax needs to be ready for his 4th grade presentation on the who's who in Arizona, he starts hands on tackling next week during football (God, please let this little boy get healthier and feeling so much better so he can make it to school and practice and maybe give him a break on the whole growth spurt thing that is going on with this little man...... Seriously..... he can't keep growing so fast because it is just making him so sick that he can't handle it!!! THAT AND...HOLY MOLY HE IS EATING ME OUT OF HOUSE AND HOME BY LIKE 10 TIMES THE NORMAL AMOUNT OF FOOD THAT HE EATS...) then there are the awful things that Brinkley will have fly out of her mouth that I will have to smooth over and then there is Pudgie.... whew.... that boy is running me ragged and I love it. I am sleeping like 3 hours a night and most days I feel like I'm in a daze but that is pretty standard. Then there is," THE," boy who is plotting out life on a time line... our life, and I have got to keep things in perspective while trying to make the house:

calm enough to study in
clean enough to live in
comfortable enough to laugh in
and homey enough to be, "us," in...

all while we stay on Daddy's path, without driving each other nutso.

So here's to letting go, moving forward, loving today, growing and holding it all together, at least from the outside!!!!!

Another great weekend of insights and fun and love and laughter and learning!!!!

Some warm moments from our chilly-cha-cha-get-away weekend!

It may just be me, but doesn't she look like a Mi from the Wii? You know the leg less and arm less ones that bowl?