Football, Football and more Football...

We have had a day full of football. Josh had a game this morning at 11:00 against the #1 team in the league. They are undefeated and haven’t been scored against this season. We actually did really well. The boys did well at driving the ball down the field and making their first downs. Late in the third quarter we got a touchdown. We lost the game 20-7, but I was proud of the way they played.

Tonight we are going to the Berry Center to watch Cy-Creek play Cy-Falls. They are the #1 team in our district, so it should be an interesting game.

So, football all day…my dream come true.

Shoes

Today was Sam’s day off from school, so she and I spent the day at the mall. I had a 10% off coupon for the Loft that expires tomorrow and I didn’t want to see it go to waste. Normally, I would never even go into that store with Sam in tow, but desperate times (like an expiring coupon) call for desperate measures. We packed her a bag full of crayons and coloring books and she actually did quite well. With a few reminders of her promised reward of one item at the dollar store, she behaved herself.

We stopped by Stride Rite on the way out to see if we could agree on any shoes for her. She has very sparkly, shiny taste when it comes to shoes. The last time Helmut and I took her shoe shopping it ended in kicking, screaming and crying. I am all about letting her show her own personality, but I have to draw the line at black suede boots studded with rhinestones in every color of the rainbow. Today we compromised on the cute pair in the picture. I originally had a cute plain brown pair picked out, but she talked me into this pair. She also got a new pair of running shoes because she has already outgrown the pair I bought her in July! I inherited my love for shoes from my mom and I am all too happy to pass it along to Sam…

Late Night Sarcasm

FYI. It is now 11:24 PM and I have just finished putting together Helmut's science project...Gee, I sure hope I get a good grade!

All-Nighter

Oh the woes of being a sixth grader. Compound that with a frustrated and grumpy mother and you get lots of tears and agony.

We are deep in the throws of school projects around here. Helmut has two projects due in the very imminent future. For Math he has to complete a mobile illustrating the Order of Operation, complete with a theme, workable equation and decorations. How this helps him more fully understand the Order of Operation is beyond me. This project is not due for another two weeks, so I am keeping my comments to myself (and of course sharing them with my blog readers) and getting on board with the project. Stay tuned for the best-looking “How Many Licks Does It Take to Get to the Center of a Tootsie Roll Pop” Order of Operation Mobile this teacher has ever seen. I promise to post pictures.

The second project is not going as well. Earlier this week Helmut mentioned in passing a science project in which he had to explain (in story form with illustration) the journey of a water molecule through an animal, into the soil, back to an animal, up in a cloud and ending in the ocean. No problem, right? This is where the frustrated and grumpy Mom comes into play. He didn’t really start working on it until tonight!!!! It is due tomorrow!!!! Needless to say, I have come down out of my state of hysteria and we are trying to work it out. He is working on his second rough draft (the first one did not cut the mustard) and we will complete this project tonight. I hate to introduce him to the concept of the all-nighter at such a young age, but the sooner he learns this time management lesson, the better.

Clearly, I owe my parents a big thank you (or a big apology) for a fabulous castle made completely out of sugar cubes…and the working solar panel constructed only of Styrofoam cups and trash bags…and the science quiz poster board complete with working light bulbs that lit up when you touched the right answer. Thanks Dad!

Which One Are You?

We are settled into a new week around here and things are going well. Josh had a game last night, which they won 18-0. That’s sounds a lot better than it really was. We must have fumbled the ball more than ten times. As the night wore on, it got more and more humid, therefore, the field got more and more wet and the ball got more and more slippery. Luckily, we were playing the worst team in the league. Josh had a good game personally. He made one really great tackle that probably saved the other team from scoring a touchdown (a very proud Mother moment).

This morning I woke up to a dirty house piled high with laundry. The party weekend is over and reality is setting in. I tackled this problem with one of my favorite problem solving skills…avoidance. I called up Sarah and we went to lunch.

As an adult, I have found the confrontation vs. avoidance issue a truly interesting study in human nature. I will gladly admit that I employ avoidance ten times more often than confrontation. I am not sure if this stems from heightened maturity, cowardliness or laziness. But figuring out whether someone is an avoider or a confronter can tell you worlds about their personality as a whole. The other day I was grocery shopping when a man and women walked past my cart. I am not sure why I noticed them at all, but something seemed peculiar about the situation. He walked right up to the front of her basket (blocking her escape) and said, “You have NO right parking in a handicapped space.” To which she replied (in a very agitated New Orleans accent with an attitude), “You has no idea what is or is not wrong with me.” They both went at it for the next two minutes. I sat there stunned not knowing whether to turn my cart around and walk away or walk past them to get to the ice cream I needed just beyond them. Instead, I sat and stared very intently on the wonders before me in the frozen vegetable case.

I realize this is an extreme example…but comical as well as educational. I decided right then and there that although confrontation might sometimes be a quicker and better end to my means, I would continue being an avoider. I have enough stress in my life already!

Weekend Review

I just got back from taking Helmut to the airport. He was here for a quick weekend visit and now is off to London again. It was fun to have him here, but quite stressful to cram two plus weeks of Dad time into just one weekend. This trip looks like it will be even longer. He is scheduled to be in London until October 13th and then has a meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland. We are hoping after that he will be able to come home and get us all ready to move. There are a few loose ends he has to be here for at the end, which should take a week or so. We talked it over and decided we would leave for The Netherlands after Josh finishes his football season. That gives us a definite date and we can just make more definite plans.

We had a good weekend. My parents came down from Dallas to see us for one last goodbye (after the last time they just thought was the last goodbye). We had dinner at Del Pueblo, went to Josh’s football practice, watched some football and baseball and did some shopping. It is always fun to have them. They are the two most laid back people I know, which makes them the perfect houseguests.

On Sunday night we went to Rebecca’s 9th birthday party. There was lots of good food, lots of people, and the kids had lots of fun. I took this picture of the big cousins out in the cul de sac. I can’t believe how old they all are getting…

Sick...

Sorry about my lack of posting over the last few days. I came down with a bad case of strep throat on Sunday night and was laid up all day yesterday. I did get myself to the doctor and have been on antibiotics for almost 24 hours. I am beginning to see the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. It has been a while since I've had strep throat, and I forgot how bad it really hurts. It did make me lose my appetite for a few days which is always good for the waist line.

Joshua is officially back on his football team again. The work visa is taking longer than we expected and our whole family was getting bored with no extra-curricular activities to keep us busy. He had his first practice last night and has a game on Wednesday night. I am sure he won't get a ton of play time, but he has to start somewhere.

Black Cat

Yesterday was Sam’s day off from school, so she and I went to the mall with Carrie. Sam likes to get new clothes, but she is not a fan of shopping for them. I promised her the Halloween costume of her choice if she would happily go along. She decided she would like the be a black cat because, she informed me, “All Halloween cats are black.” We searched Gymboree, The Disney Store, The Children’s Place, Dillard’s, and Old Navy, none of which had the desired perfect black cat costume (their’s were all “too weird”). We finally ended up at Target where they had a really cute cat costume…but then she saw the princess costumes and changed her mind. She finally settled on the “Barbie Starring in the 12 Dancing Princesses” costume, BLECK! We got the whole shebang, the dress, the ballet slippers, the tiara and the long curly blonde wig. We got home and tried it on and she loved it all, except for the wig. She came out of bathroom with that wig on and said, “I think we better return this, it’s too weird.”

Helmut is still working in London. He seems a little lonely, but making the best of it. On Thursday night he finally had the energy to go out to dinner instead of ordering room service. He went to a restaurant by his hotel that is known for their Celebrity Chef. He said the food was really good and tasty. The next day I was checking the bank account and I noticed his dinner had been good and tasty to the tune of around US$90.00! Good thing the company is paying. Today he rode the subway down to the VA museum (which stands for the Victoria and Albert Museum not Veterans Association) to see a Leonardo DiVinci exhibit. I am glad he is finding things to stay busy, but jealous at the same time.

Cookie Streak

As you can see, I am keeping up with my cookie streak. This time it was Oatmeal Scotchies. Sam freaked out saying she didn’t like that kind of cookie, just like she did when I made the Snicker doodles. Once she tasted the dough, she changed her mind. To be honest with you, they aren’t my favorite kind of cookie, but I already had all the stuff. I am really trying to use up my pantry storage before we leave.

It is looking like we won’t be heading out of Houston until sometime in mid October. They haven’t been able to start Helmut’s work visa application, because they are waiting for his birth certificate to arrive back from Miami via Austin with the official Apostille stamp. Now that we have a clearer vision as to when we will go, I should just sit back and enjoy all the good TV coming up!

9/11

Today marks the five-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001. I was six months pregnant with Samantha at the time and living in Singapore. It was late at night (there is a twelve hour time difference between New York and Singapore) and I was checking my email right before I went to sleep. My Yahoo homepage had a one-line intro about a plane flying into the World Trade Center. I assumed it was a small commuter plane that had lost control and bumped into the building and figured I would read more about it in the morning. I turned off my computer and crawled into bed. Just a few moments later I got a call from Shauna asking if I had heard the news. She was on her way home from picking up Eric from the airport and had heard the news on the radio and wanted to know what they were reporting on CNN. I ran downstairs and turned on the television moments before the second plane hit the other tower. I stayed up for hours watching CNN just shocked by the images and information they were showing.

Helmut was out of town on business in Kuantan, Malaysia (a predominantly Muslim country). His company halted all travel for a week not allowing anyone to fly home or anywhere else. The Muslim Extremists in Malaysia were calling for all Muslims to join the Jihad, which made his situation and location even more dangerous. Kuantan sits in a region of Malaysia that is ruled by the Pan Malaysian Islamic Party (or PAS party), known for their extremist activity and associations. His company set a group of locals and Americans in charge of devising an escape plan if an attack occurred in a nearby area. It was pretty complex and involved helicopters, boats and airplanes to get them back to Singapore safely. Days after the 9/11 attacks the man in charge of the escape planning did not show up to work. After management asked around as to his whereabouts, it came to light that he was a high ranking PAS party official (probably not the best person to put in charge of the foreigners’ escape plan). Helmut continually reassured me that he felt safe and nothing bad was going to happen, but I was a stressed out, pregnant mother of two trying to keep it together by myself.

My two boys attended Singapore American School at the time, which sits right inside the border between Singapore and Malaysia. The American Embassy saw it as a marked target and closed school for a few days. Once school reopened, Gurkhas (Nepalese/British Military Police) guarded the entrance to the school armed with large machetes and machine guns. It was a very frightening and confusing time for the boys (they were seven and five at the time).

I often think of the ways these terrorists acts have changed our lives, seemingly forever. A few weeks ago we went to the Mickey Leland Building in downtown Houston to renew our passports, much like we had in 1997 before going overseas the first time. The difference was night and day. You can only enter the office with an appointment. You are solemnly greeted on the ground floor by three armed officers and shuffled through a metal detector one at a time. Once you enter the office upstairs, there are two more guards in the room in addition to one at each of the exits. The kids kept asking me why there were so many policemen there. How do I really tell them without scaring them? I assured them it was only for our safety and protection.

I am reminded every time I have to take Helmut to the airport too many hours early for his flight. I have often sat in the security line at the airport myself and thought, “In a way, the terrorists have won. We are living our lives in continual fear and terror.” Then I snap out of it, as I have to take off my shoes as well as make sure all my kids’ shoes are off and they are waiting quietly for their turn through the metal detector. Our lives may be changed forever, but I see it as my job as a mother to protect and keep my children safely naive of that fact for as long as possible.

Late Sunday Night

We are still here without a Dad…

I was talking with Helmut on the phone this morning and Sam walked in while I was hanging up the phone. She commented, “You really miss Daddy, don’t you?” I responded with a yes to which she replied, “He just needs to come home and get us to Holland.” I couldn’t agree more!

Toll Roads

Weekends are hard when the hubby is out of town. It is a long two days without another adult to shake things up a bit (or at least to take over some of the disciplining).

I did make it out of the house for a few hours without the kids this afternoon. Sarah and I went and hit four restaurants for her review gig with AOL. It was fun and we had some tasty and cheap sushi along the way.

We took the toll road all the way to 59 and that got me thinking about how much I enjoy the toll road. I am a pretty impatient person, and sitting in traffic is one of my all time least favorite things to do. In comes the toll road. Quite often in Houston the major highways will be backed up and the toll road will remain fairly normal. When we moved back to Houston and the boys had baseball games all over the city, I went down and got two Toll Tags for our cars. This just heightens the whole toll road experience. You don’t even have to slow down to pay, just whiz right through. Plus, it is 25 cents cheaper with the tag! It is like you are part of an elite club saying, “Mrs. Brenner, you appear to be in a hurry, please drive right on through.” Okay, that may be a little bit dramatic, but I do seriously LOVE the toll road concept.

My mom tells a great toll road story that happened right after she and my dad were married. They were headed to their honeymoon (more on that later) when they came upon a toll road. My dad didn’t want to pay the 10-cent toll, so they drove around for the next hour trying to find an alternate route. Back to the honeymoon part...I am not sure it can really be called a honeymoon. They spent the entire summer working on a lookout tower in a National Forest. They shared a twin size cot between the two of them…you know, the wake up the other person so you can turn over kind. Mom says at one point she walked for a couple hours trying to find her way out of there, but had to give up and walk the couple of hours back.

Friday

I have had a pretty busy day today. Sam had a friend from her preschool over this morning to play. It went really well (except for the five minutes they both bawling their heads off…evidently Sam hurt Claire’s feeling and made her cry…then Sam started crying because she felt bad that Claire was crying). They played and then we all made Snicker doodles together. I am on a new kick lately of trying to always have homemade cookies made for the kids’ school lunches. So far this week I have made gingersnaps, chocolate chip cookies, the before mentioned Rice Krispie Treats and now Snicker doodles. My mom always had homemade chocolate chip cookies in our lunch and they packed a heavy bit of trading power. I can remember one time trading two cookies for a kid’s entire hot lunch! I can only hope my kids meet with the same kind of success.

I actually got two scrapbook pages done today. One is for Josh and includes an interview I had with him a couple weeks ago. The other one is for Sam. It is a hybrid paper/digital page. It turned out all right, but it was a little out of my comfort zone. The more I look at it, the more I like it.

PWT

Helmut is away on business and we are living it up around here. The boys have been begging me for quite some time now to make Hamburger Helper for dinner. Neither one of them has ever had it before, so I am not sure where the allure began. We started out our night of Poor White Trash fun with a tasty meal of Hamburger Helper Beef Stroganoff. What better dessert to compliment such a meal…Rice Krispie Treats! The kids were in heaven. What can I say? I try to be the best Mother I can be! We topped of our Poor White Trash evening with a double header of Fear Factor. Good fun was had by all. It really is true what the box of Hamburger Helper says…One pound. One Meal. One happy family!

I do understand where the boys are coming from with their love of a meal made from a box. When I was growing up, my parents didn’t get to go out as a couple very often. Money was tight on an engineer’s salary with five growing kids. Anytime they did get a chance to go out, Mom would feed us Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for dinner. I thought it tasted like pure heaven. Forget the fact that she slaved over a hot stove every other day of her life to make us a tasty homemade meal. That Mac and Cheese was just so tasty. Kids are so ungrateful! In hindsight, thanks Mom for all the yummy meals you worked so hard to prepare. Now that I am a Mom myself, I realize what a sacrifice it really was.

So there you have it, my entry for the day…a little Poor White Trash…and a tribute to my mom!

New Beginnings and New Phases

Today was Helmut’s first official day as a Shell Employee. He spent the whole day in orientation, or as they call it, “Onboarding (not sure if that is even a real word).” His description of the meeting sounded very similar to a high school pep rally…it’s so great to work here, we pay so much, and we have so many benefits, rah, rah, rah! I will let you know if they live up to all the hoopla. He did come home with a free coffee mug, so it is looking promising. I was impressed to find out that anytime he goes on a business trip that lasts more than four days, he is given an extra daily monetary compensation on top of his per diam. This is meant to make up for the hardship placed on his family during his prolonged absence. I have affectionately nicknamed this compensation my “Thanks for taking such good care of the house and children while I was gone jewelry and clothing fund.”

Helmut is now in his third week of Middle School, and it shows. It seems as if overnight he has turned into all the geeky preteen boys that drove me crazy in Middle School. He says weird stuff and acts strange a good majority of the time. I am biting my tongue and trying to be a loving and understanding Mother, yet at the same time keep him from making a complete fool of himself. The last few days have been particularly hard for him. He was so upset when he found out that Steve Irwin died on Monday. He really looked up to him as a fellow lover of reptiles and such. He even has an adorable fan letter he wrote a couple weeks back all ready to go with the address on the envelope just waiting for postage. Today he came home from school and burst into tears as he told me of the passing of his 5th grade teacher Mr. Dobbs. Mr. Dobbs was forced to leave school in the middle of last year when he found out his cancer had come out of remission. Little Helmut was incensed that the other kids at school didn’t seem to care at all. I assured him that they probably just didn’t want to cry at school. I am sure his preteen hormones and the fact that we are moving any day now don’t help his emotional stability. Poor guy.

We did get the Letters of Acceptance from the American School of The Hague today. The boys had to fill out a “New Middle School Student” form complete with their personal email address and all the likes and dislikes. I had an interesting conversation with Little Helmut as he filled out his. It went something like this…

Helmut: Hum…my likes…Can I right down girls?
Mom: WHAT?!?
Helmut: Okay, how about cheerleaders?
Mom: I don’t think so, you are only eleven…

I felt sick to my stomach. I KNOW I am not ready for this!

Sick

Sick. Our whole house is sick. Josh woke up Friday morning with a hacking cough but went to school anyway. By the time he made it home, Big Helmut was in the full throws of a horrible cold. Two Dayquil and Two Nyquil wouldn’t even bring relief. Saturday Big Helmut slept most of the day while the rest of us milled around the house trying to keep our sanity. I am just praying he feels better before he has to leave for Europe on Wednesday.

This morning Sam woke up coughing as well. No church for us. I told Little Helmut that he was welcome to go to church with Big Momma and Big Daddy, but he was worried I may need help taking care of the sick folk (he is so considerate that way).

Last night we went to a going away party at Big Momma and Big Daddy’s house. The whole family and the Nicols were there. The kids had a good time swimming and then watched movies while the adults played games. I love to play games, but married a man who hates them, so I don’t get a chance to play very often. Of course, he didn’t play last night, but the rest of the adults had a great time. We played a little Oh Heck and Catch Phrase.

I have to go…the sick ones need me. Ugh.