Brotherly Love

Zane is such a wonderful big brother. I can't say it enough. And Hendrix shows his appreciation by trying to reciprocate helpfulness, like helping to wash Zane with a "loofah!"

Last Sunday, Hendrix wanted to stay upstairs when I went down to make breakfast before church. I took Hendrix's outfit for church downstairs with me, knowing he would be down eventually and I would get him dressed then.

After about 15 minutes or so, I heard Zane walking Hendrix downstairs. To my surprise Zane helped Hendrix get dressed, even putting on his socks and shoes. I was so touched by his kindness and interest in being a wonderful big brother. Hendrix wore random clothes from his drawers, that I didn't pick out for church, and I was thrilled.

Head Bowed and Eyes Closed

I keep meaning to capture a picture of Hendrix praying at dinner, especially when he's sneaking bites to eat with his head bowed and eyes closed and repeating his prayer over and over. He's good about praying for everyone in the family each time, but last night he also included a prayer for the chairs we were sitting in. When I told him that was nice of him, he had to explain why it was important.

Last week when saying bedtime prayers with Hendrix, after each request for each family member, I added "And I pray Mommy can have a successful week painting Zane's and Hendrix's bedroom so they get into their new space . . ."

But I was interrupted by H saying "Space?! What?! I'll have to take a spaceship and go up high to the moon and find the treasure and fly back down to my room . . . want to play that game?!"

Although prayers might seem like a bit of a game to H right now, I love the foundation he's forming for recognizing the importance in the details.

Zane's Year of Tackle Football

Zane begged to play tackle football. I tried to persuade him to consider flag football, like so many of his friends, but he insisted that wasn't the real thing. So with a great hesitation, I signed him up for tackle. One of the biggest challenges for Zane was changing his habits and patterns for being gentle to tapping into using just the right amount of aggressiveness. Even so, he did pretty well and persevered through a season in which he decided he doesn't really care for this type of contact sport. :-)

Other challenges had to do with getting used to running and training in heavy equipment. By the end of the season, though, he was running hard and fast.

Zane loved the new friendships and the direction he received. We learned more about the kind of person we want to be and the person we don't want to be.

The season was long, beginning practises at end of July and wrapping up his championship party just this last weekend. The league is going through major transformations, so there were a lot of growing pains. Even so, the Cowboys ended up the best team in the league. They lost one game by 1 point and questionable refereeing, but they redeemed themselves against that team for their last game, in which the Cowboys won 38-8. The last game was in a high school stadium and oh so fun, even in the cold.

The Cowboys also volunteered with cleaning up the local high school stadiums and fields the mornings after high school football. It was a great reminder to clean up after ourselves and put our trash in the trash can. The recommendation to use leaf blowers to help push the trash to one spot is so brilliant and made the process go pretty quickly.

Hendrix was a great little brother and tagged along for all the games.

The championship party was also great. The boys loved their surprise of Buckeye Game Room set up in our hosting family's garage. The boys were thrilled and felt all of their hard work rewarded.

It's a Top 10!

This boy will eat bacon nonstop. I always hate when I have to tell him that there's no more bacon. A plate full on the kitchen counter makes a perfect grab-to-go snack. We even wrap up slices in paper towels to take for a snack in the car. It's a super food. :-)

Snowy Day Adventures

 Can you see Hendrix's version of Script Ohio? :-)

"He told his mother all about his adventures while she took off his wet socks. And he thought and thought and thought about them." ~ Ezra Jack Keats

Fiery and Scary Pumpkins

Traditional pumpkin carving. V and Z liked exploring their ideas and freedom to do as they wished. 

Vanessa made a free floating pumpkin inside of a bigger pumpkin-shaped hole. She was critical of her final results but I loved it! It was a great opportunity for her to be flexible with perfectionism. Zane drew template designs all over the pumpkin and realized some parts would be hard to carve while keeping the pumpkin intact. With help from Daddy, cause Hendrix insisted he "can't do it", Hendrix wanted a scary pumpkin, so he directed and observed his daddy in the process. "I make scary pumpkin. Good job, Dad."

Hendrix didn't want to use his hands to pull out the guts this year. And Vanessa still gets extra excited when she does it. She and Zane worked really hard to get out as much as they could, but after noting my helping with Hendrix's, they requested I do the last step of scraping the sides. When I returned to porch from inside, they proclaimed "Mom wins the Cleanest Pumpkin Cleaner Outter!" I'll take that title since Daddy gets "Best User Of a Knife!"

Aside from carving a scary pumpkin, Hendrix most wanted to "Light fire in them. Make them glow. I light the candle!" And for several nights after, Hendrix would announce when it was dark out and time to light the candles.

Velvety Melody

Vanessa has already had a really fun fall in symphonic band. She was recommended to help chaperone high school marching bands at a recent invitational performance/contest. There was a lot of waiting but she got to see a variety of performers and instructors, and that was thrilling for her.

Then the bands had their fall concert recently. The music they played was quite impressive. One of her most favorite songs to play is Repercussions by Robert W. Smith. She played the marimba for it. Thankfully I was able to witness some of her solo practices and was able to appreciate extra much her skill and ability playing her part during the concert. It's now one of my favorite pieces too.

There was only one thing that didn't go as planned, but we had no clue in the audience. She was to play multiple instruments for another song but realized when it came time, after getting on a much larger stage than she's accustomed to, she couldn't make it over to the chimes in time to get back and hit the bass drum. We had no clue! She seemed to handle that very well.

Vanessa is working hard and is focusing on her responses to any kind of mistake, not allowing herself to get hung up on a mistake and to keep moving forward with not even a flinch, and resting on the fact that she's able and pretty good. We're so proud of her!

Worrier Warrior

Man, this guy. Zane and I've been known to have similar dreams at the same exact time and he often reads my mind. Sometimes it's freaky crazy but I think ultimately it supports just how connected we are. 

Last week I pinched a nerve in my neck and was having a hard time getting around. The first day was the roughest but we didn't let it hold us back from plans we had already made. Zane is a known worrier. I found out that when driving to the event, Zane was extra quiet because he was worrying about my ability to drive safely. He was imagining the worst what-ifs. 

He woke up the next morning worrying about how I was feeling and if I was going to be okay. Any little improvement made him feel better. I assured him that I would be fine after ibuprofen, ice and rest. I had a regular doctor appointment already scheduled and after Zane got home from school, he shared how he cried a little at school cause he was worrying about me and my neck. He wanted a report of how my appointment went and asked if I discussed my neck with the doctor. I told him the recommendations the doctor made and that if it wasn't better by Monday, I'd check back in with her.

Each day he asked if I was better. Then on Monday, he hopped out of bed and immediately asked if I needed to go in to see my doctor again. I assured him I was so much better but I so appreciate his thoughtfulness and concern.

I feel torn about what should be shared with Zane because he's so emotionally sensitive, but I've come to learn that being upfront and honest seems to work out the best for him. Plus, he's good about making lists and praying for the things he's concerned about. I appreciate his prayers. He's a compassion warrior.