Boys and Girls

Millions of dollars have been spent studying the difference between boys and girls. Without spending much money I have a few observations from the past weekend. We went out to eat after church on Sunday. Ryleigh sat nicely in her chair and ate, Clark could not stay in his chair and eventually ended up on the floor eating whatever scraps he could get to his mouth before his mother or I stopped him.

After lunch we went outside to play. Ryleigh had me distract the dog so that she could run past him and get to the swing. Clark threw toys for the dog, threw toys at the dog, and when the dog was happily laying in the grass Clark grabbed onto his tail and started to pull. When he was done harrassing the dog, Clark ran around the yard, plopped down and rolled around in the grass. All this time, Ryleigh was swinging.

Then we went to the front yard. They wanted to dig in the flower bed. Ryleigh got a small bucket, filled it with dirt, and dumped it out to make a castle. She decorated her castle with twigs, grass and different colored leaves. Clark dug in the dirt, ate the dirt, and when Ryleigh wasn't paying attention he stomped his foot right in the middle of her castle.

Another one of Clark's new tricks is to fill your car with toys when you leave a door unlocked. No one knows why he does it, but this morning when I left for work I had to unload 2 bicycyle helmets, a bucket of sidewalk chalk, a small plastic car and a rake I think. Of course he put the bucket and the chalk in my car separately so everything he touched is covered with chalk dust. When it doesn't make you crazy, you have to laugh. Obviously part of the difference is due to their difference in age, but many of the things Clark does Ryleigh never did. Everyday is an adventure, and if I had a computer and a camera with me at all times oh the stories I could tell.

Catching Up

It doesn't seem like it has been a month since I typed something on these pages, but that is just how the time has flown by since Christmas. I have not posted a single picture from Christmas, I have not discussed our latest snowfall, taking my 1-month old to her first NBA basketball game or attending the MLK jr. parade with my oldest brother.

Of course Christmas was a blast. Since Andrea's family was here we opened presents from her family Christmas Eve, presents from Santa Christmas Day, then even more presents 2 days later at Grammy and Poppa's house. The kids ripped through there presents barely stopping to see what was inside before moving on to the next package. I was off from work the day after Christmas so I spent the day playing with the kids. With a house full of brand new toys, they decided they would rather dig in the dirt outside and make mud, helping to build my case against buying them so many toys each year.


It has been 2 weeks or so since the governor of Oklahoma asked all people of faith to pray for rain on Sunday. I appreciate living in a state where the leaders are not afraid to seek assistance from a Higher Authority, and I gave thanks to God for the rain he sent. When I discussed this with Ryleigh, she observed that we prayed for rain and God gave us the rain we needed, but he also sent snow so that we could have some fun too. When I called in to work on Tuesday, I told our bookkeeper that I have a standing agreement with my children that I will stay home and play with kids whenever it snows. We made a nice little snowman, I pulled the kids around on the sled, we had some hot chocolate and I dropped Ryleigh off at school.

The National Basketball Association has made its way to Oklahoma City this year. We have adopted the New Orleans Hornets while their hometown tries to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina. Andrea talked me into buying season tickets since this might be my only chance to see so many stars of the sport I love. It has been fun going to the games with friends and family members to watch the best basketball players in the world. Lydia and Andrea joined me the night Shaquille O'Neal of the Miami Heat came to play. Of course we were concerned about what the noise of 19,000 screaming fans would do to my infant daughter's fragile ears, little did we know it was free plastic clapper night so everyone in the upper level where we sit was given devices to help them be even louder. Lydia survived that game pretty well, but to be safe at the next game we brought cotton balls, ear muffs and a head band for her to help block out the sound.

Martin Luther King Jr. day was Monday and out of the blue Steve called and asked if my family was planning on going to the parade downtown. It didn't work for our kid's schedules so we weren't going to, but Steve wanted to go so he picked me up and we made our way to the parade route. After enjoying a pizza we stood and watched for 2 1/2 hours as police cars, politicians, marching bands, political groups, church groups, go carts, motorcycles, utility trucks, floats, classic cars, tricked out cars, horses, even a greyhound bus or 2 made their way through town along with a cold front that brought chilling winds for most of the afternoon. I think at the end of it Steve and I were both scratching our heads as to what we had just seen and if it was really symbolic of the Dr. King's dream of freedom, equality and dignity for all races. In the end I was glad I could be there to show my support, but I most enjoyed spending the afternoon visiting, sharing and laughing with my brother Steve.

That's a very quick glimpse at the last few weeks, hopefully I will do a better job of keeping up with the blog as we are starting to figure somewhat of a schedule for our family of 5.