Christmas Break

Our oldest is home from college and we seem to have finally adjusted. He kept crazy hours when he first got home and I'm still not thrilled with all the coming and goings but at least I can get some sleep now.

Christmas was very nice and my youngest son served mass which made it easier for me to get moving. I always enjoy having Christmas at our house and miss it the years my sister does it. We have done a fair amount of entertaining over the holiday and will be having yet another dinner tonight for a stepson who couldn't manage to get here for any of the other gatherings.

Tonight is the Insight Bowl and we were invited to a party but it conflicted with tonights dinner. I'm not sure we would have been able to attend anyway since the game begins at 9pm and we are usually looking for our jammies around 9. Doesn't seem like the best time choice for two midwestern teams.

So this year one of my New Year resolutions will be to listen to my husband when he says not to worry about cleaning the house when family and friends are coming over (at least when it is is family and friends).

Well, my oldest is at college. Since he is in State the longest we have gone without seeing him is 4 weeks. I think what he misses the most is his big bed. Knock on wood, but he seems pretty happy with his school choice. The two times he has been home he has given me cooking suggestions from the cafeteria. He is living in the athletes dorm and apparently they have great food. Certainly a switch from when I was in school when everything seemed to be a pasta or soaked in sauce.

I enjoy reading everyone's blogs. Many of my surprising favorites are written by men and touch on fashion. My husband is older than I and from Boston. I believe in all the years we have been married (approaching 20) he has bought maybe 3 or 4 pairs of new shoes and continues to get his shoes resoled and refurbished. Last week he showed me new soles on a pair of his favorites. He has LLBean boots and jackets that must be 40 years old. I never quite 'got it' until I started reading blogs where men discuss the quality of a shoe intended to last a lifetime or the practicality of owning a field jacket for decades.

Football

This is out of order ...

Our youngest son, who is going to be starting 7th grade, began football this week. Our older son swam and played water polo on his high school teams. The equipment is minimal, you don't have to worry about weather, the meets are relatively short and the games are 7 minute quarters. All of our children have done summer swim team and we've always felt it is worth the time and expense because it is a sport they can do the rest or their lives and always compare their own personal best times. They have all been good, strong swimmers.

Our children have also dabbled in soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, tennis, and track. We've always been laid back about their activities. And for good reason, we generally have the child chasing butterflies in the outfield, braiding their hair on the soccer field or asking the coach if they could please sit on the bench.

Something has happened with my husband and football. He has gone to all the parent meetings, purchased all the equipment, worked with our son on the playbook, and generally become 'one of those parents'.

We now watch college football on a regular basis and my husband has said 'J' could go to 'insert large midwestern Catholic University' and play football. Really?????

Clarify Please

I picked my oldest son up from a 3 week summer session at our State's engineering university. He gets 3 credit hours and the opportunity to become familiar with some of the professors and layout of the school. If you were dropped onto this campus, with no knowledge of it's specialty, you would be able to guess that it is an engineering school.

As we are driving home younger son tells his brother he should major in computer engineering, get a job at Bungee (they make x-box games) so he can tell him all the secret codes. Older son laughs and says he is not going to spend 7 YEARS OF HIS LIFE getting a computer degree so his brother can get secret game codes.

Please tell me he is referring to undergraduate and graduate school!!

Where have I Been

If you have boys, been a boy, or spent much time around boys let your imagination run wild and you're almost there.

Graduation

My oldest graduated high school!!! He even managed to get his cap and gown and fines paid. A little part of me was concerned that he would have forgotten to turn in some paper necessary for a state required class. Because I am supersticious I did not purchase anything with 2010 on it until I saw his diploma. We will be having his graduation celebration in a few weeks. Lots of the 2010 paper products are gone and it is on to 4th of July.

I also attended a college graduation. When I graduated, the valedictorian and saludatorian gave commencement speeches. At my son's graduation the senior class voted on the speeches to determine who would be honored. I'm not sure how the college graduation speakers were determined but it was not by GPA.

If I remember correctly, when I graduated the speeches tended to include lines about going in to the world and changing and improving it. At my son's graduation it seemed as though both speakers (female) were auditioning for Glee.

Minute to Win It

Last night I was watching Dateline NBC while cleaning up the kitchen. After Dateline a game show called "Minute to Win It" came on. The scene I saw showed someone trying to put an orange traffic cone on his head using a fishing rod. The other snippets showed similar challenges. It seems to be a show where adults compete in games typically done at elementary school holiday parties. If I ever find myself sitting down to watch this show I will be donating my television to the Goodwill.