The Wild ONE has a Heart of GOLD!

Matthew Taylor Lance, my second born, has long been our wild child. He is an uncontrolled body of energy and ideas. Those ideas are often spontaneous and impulsive. And well let's face it, even unsafe at times. He is ALL boy, messy, sneaky, DIRTY, danger seeking, manipulative, door holding, hug giving, snuggling, sweet smiling, WILD boy.

He is my child who can spend hours playing Jedi in the yard with his friends with my broom dented and bent, nail a hubcap to "his" (really his dad's) shed and call it a fort, go fishing in our yard and get all three, YES 3!, fishing rods hung in the trees, leave them there and just waiting to be discovered.  His ideas are unbelievable! He could talk his way out of anything and has the most unique thoughts that either make you giggle or cringe in disgust!  He is constantly in motion and often answers questions about his intentions or activities with the comment, "I don't know how that happened, honestly....." OR "One Second...."- which by the way is a sure sign of trouble.

He can also build entire Lego set (the big ones -like Hagrid's Hut, Star Wars Star Cruisers and the Hogwart's Express) in mere hours. He has read ALL the Harry Potter books, Percy Jackson books and as many Matt Christopher and Bailey School kids as I can find ALL on his own - many of them multiple times. So I know he can sit still and focus when he wants to......

His multi-faceted personality often frustrates me to no end and makes me question how we will survive parenting him.  BUT then there are the moments that remind me how sweet, loving, and pure his spirit is........

Three weeks ago, both my kids competed at the regional Odyssey of the Mind competition. Megan's team placed third and advanced to state. Another team at Matthew's school had advanced to state and was excited! They announced Matthew's team category and they placed FIRST! They went up and got their blue ribbons, waved them in the air and held them with pride.  Then they went to go sit with the final team from their school who was still waiting to hear results.

When the final team's category was announced, sadly, they did not advance. It is hard to watch young children deal with losing or defeat even when you know it is necessary. Anyway, one of Matthew's buddies was on the team that did not advance. His friend was VERY upset, and I watched Matthew hug him, pat his back and try to console him.

The teacher in charge of the other team was Matthew's third grade teacher and came over with tears in her eyes. She smiled really BIG and said, "When Matthew frustrates you or is in trouble at home, REMEMBER - His heart is so BIG and is made of pure gold!" I inquired as to what had happened- she went on to tell me that Matthew was so concerned with comforting his friend that he had GIVEN him his BLUE ribbon to make him feel better.

That's right- after working with his team for 6 months and enduring a LONG day of competition. Matthew had GIVEN UP his prized reward, because he cared more for the friend than the ribbon. He let that heart of gold shine!

In two days, my baby boy will be 10 years old. He has been blessing our world with that heart of gold for ten years. Happy Birthday sweet Matthew! We love you!

Chasing Our Dreams

The last two months have been very busy and I missed blogging in January. So on this last "extra" day of February I am going to quickly catch you up on these last two crazy months in our lives.

 Christmas treated us well and we enjoyed our family time. I also had foot surgery in late December and spent all of January hobbling around one way or another, nursed by the kids and my wonderful husband. The surgery has been a success and my foot feels better every day. In addition, I have begun trying to finish my last semester of grad school. Alan has been trying to pick up the slack as I was immobile and was buried in school and the kids have been extremely busy as well.

January& February are BUSY swim months and we spent them going to several meets as Megan chased those elusive 12 year old state cuts.  Unfortunately she did not hit them this year but continues to work hard and is determined to hit a cut at the end of season meet in March!

She has also thrown herself into Odyssey of the Mind and taken me with her as I coach her team. We have been frantically preparing for competition this Saturday. ALSO, Matthew is on an OM team at his school so he has been busy with practices and preparations as well.

Alaina has been tagging along all winter with one sibling or another as she tries to be as big as they are. She is a true joy, even if it is a persistent one!
Today was crazy hair day at her school and we braided her hair in many different directions. When we got home I asked her how it went and if her hair was crazy enough. She replied by shaking her head and saying that everyone's hair was more crazy than hers (her father shook his head in the background to indicate that was not true), so I inquired why that was so. Alaina replied, "My hair was just beautiful, not crazy." And then that gorgeous smile covered her face and I knew she was thrilled to have had crazy beautiful hair all day! She is truly my little firework!

It is a joy to watch them chase their dreams........

Looking to the future, Soccer begins for Matthew and Alaina this week- Yes Alaina! And Megan is swimming a lot in preparation for long course season and summer. I should finish my degree in May and summer is just around the corner. We are very excited and it should be an very entertaining and exciting spring!