Blurbs from the Burbs by Chickysara

Yesterday I decided to let the boys drive the mini-golf cart/death machine to the park. The first thing the boys do as soon as they hop into the golf cart/death machine is hit the gas and head straight down the driveway into the middle of the street. Without looking both ways of course. While they are speeding into danger, I am running behind them yelling, "DON'T GO INTO THE STREET!!!" Luckily we live on a quiet street and our neighbors are always wary of errant children running rampant. Anyway, we head to the park which is 2 short blocks away, me trailing behind the golf cart, J behind the wheel and T in the passenger seat. They've loaded their golf clubs and plastic balls into the back. J has a miniature size iron and T has a blue plastic driver. This is going to be fun and relaxing I am thinking. Every mother knows that every single time you are thinking "this is going to be fun and relaxing," it never is. Never. So I get the boys settled on the grass w...

Saturday was the regular soccer routine. We got up early and scrambled around in search of various uniform parts—shin guards, cleats, clean soccer shorts, etc. It’s like I know exactly where all of these things are until the actual game day. Then they all suddenly go missing. After we dressed the boys in mismatched soccer garb, we loaded all of the soccer game paraphernalia into the mini-van—lawn chairs water bottles, soccer balls, etc. and drove to the soccer field. First, we watched J’s team play. Surprisingly, he played his best game ever. He ran and kept his on-field socializing and his usual distracted moseying to a minimum. His team did well in spite of the mini-Beckham on the other team who looked like he had been playing for at least eight years--which would have been impossible because he could only be six at the most. Then we settled in at the next field to watch T’s team play. T is very clearly the smallest and youngest on his team and it’s obvious that he is overwhelmed by ...

From: Claire Subject: How are you? To: chickysara Date: Saturday, July 12, 2008, 12:20 PM I've had a really bad cold the last few days, I didn't want to get out of bed. I don't even know how my kids got fed. They probably scrounged in the secret potato chip/candy basket. I woke up one day and they were wearing their swimsuits, they led me to their almost spotlessly clean bathroom, which they had cleaned themselves (very suspicious). Disregarding the new red lipstick stains on the cream colored carpet, I just patted their heads and said "Good job". Who knows what else they were doing. I won't even ask what the BBQ tongs were doing next to the toilet. My neighbor called me last night and spent 2 hours telling me what a genius her child is, how the school system is failing her "genius", and went over all the different curriculums used in the schools. You've got to be kidding! I had taken cold medicine and hour before and had spent the last hour star...

The kids have been going to Bible Camp for the past few days. We’re not church-goers but the kids have a great time and they’re out of the house for two-and-a-half hours. The teachers are loving and kind and they get to see their friends. The Husband is worried that they’ll become become holy-rollers. I think it’s fine all things considered. In my opinion, learning about other people’s beliefs is not necessarily a bad thing even if it doesn’t coincide with your own. I mean it’s just information. Our job as parents is to help the kids process information and then force them to believe whatever we want them to. Anyway, it’s clear that T is still a bit young to fully understand the concept of God and church. He's definitely at Bible Camp for the snacks and, most importantly, the prizes that are raffled off at the end of the day. However, J managed to come away with some new information. Me: So what did you guys learn in Bible Camp today? J: Well, we learned about Jesus Crisis. Me: You...