the hinckleys: May 18

Sunday May 18: In the middle of church, we found out that Jamie's first talk in Primary was going to be bumped up a few weeks instead of today, we hopped in the car right after sacrament for an impromptu trip up to Plano to see 15^th Street (Kevin's singing group) sing in their ward, and also to hear Kevin’s high council talk. The performance was pretty darn amazing, even more so with Marie playing the flute. I played hookie during second hour out in the foyer with a big group of Plano 1st Ward people I hadn't seen in a long time, letting little Anna play with my bracelets until she eventually fell asleep in Kevin’s arms. Cute girl :) We had dinner at Kevin and Cindy’s after church. I threw together Pioneer Woman’s Italian wedding soup. We all sort of pieced together with help and ingredients from everyone, since it was so spur of the moment, and the evening was lots of fun with plenty of Grandpa chasing all the grand kids around and around.

Monday, May 19: After we dropped Tyler off at school, Jamie and I met a bunch of friends for a ride on the Trolley down Uptown to the splash pad in the middle of Downtown at Clyde Warren park. This girl LOVES the trolley, and insists on knowing each one's name when we ride it. This one was Rosie :) Jamie also loves getting together with her friend Ruby, a little girl about a year younger than her. These two curly-heads are good buddies right now.

Tuesday, May 20: After four excruciating days of waiting, we finally found out that Jamie is accepted to her new school! We can start the process to enroll her in a Pre-K class this fall! I am so relieved, and Jamie is beside herself, she is so excited to start at her "GIANT new school!" She keeps reminding me that "it is BIG like Tyler's school, and GIANT like mommy's school too!"

Wednesday, May 21: Tyler had his second to last T-Ball game.A couple of kids got into a bad fight during the game, as in swinging-bats-at-each-other bad. Strangely, the parents of these kids didn't react any better than the kids themselves. The moms and dads ran up, screaming at the OTHER kid, not their own! And then, after the fight was broken up, the two boys went after each other again! TWICE! I am a bit embarrassed to say I just watched the whole spectacle with big wide eyes and my mouth open a little. It was a very weird situation. I'm going to look into other little leagues next year for Tyler. No offense to Highland Park as a whole, but I could do without the majority of the sidelines being made up of nannies/housekeepers who call me ma'am when I try to strike up conversations (WEIRD.). I can do without being sort of looked at differently once I say Tyler goes to a charter school instead of a private school (ouch). I could do without Tyler being excluded from team pictures after the games because he's the only one who isn't in the same school as the rest of the team (grrrr....). And I can do without insane fights in the middle of games between kids who shouldn't be taught to take the games so seriously that they actually want to harm each other. Remember, these kids are six years old. SIX! End rant. I hardly ever mind living in such an affluent community, but things can get a bit surreal sometimes.

Thursday, May 22: Playgroup at Angela’s house! Jamie loves playgroup when it is not at her house :)

Friday, May 23: Marie invited me and Jamie to join herself, Grant, and Anna at the Dallas Zoo. We seem to be there a lot this year :) Jamie girl got to ride the carousal to her heart’s delight. Tyler was pretty sad that we went without him, but he had a pizza party at school to celebrate the end of the year, and that helped take some of the sting of it :)

I liked this giraffe. She struck this pose for like ten whole minutes. "Yes. I am majestic. You may photograph me."

Saturday, May 24: I promised the kids if they would help get the house cleaned up, we would make banana Popsicles. They kept their end of the deal, so I did too :)

I drove out to the stake center and helped set up the mega multi-stake youth dance. After I got back, we trooped up to Plano for a Guys Baseball Night at the Rough Riders game, and a Girl’s Night at Marie’s. There was some nail painting and yummy treats, and a viewing of Frozen, but I think I spent most of the time sprawled on their couch laughing with Michelle, who is becoming more hilarious as she gets more pregnant and thus grumpier. I’m not sure it was the princess night everyone was looking for, but it was a really enjoyable evening!

Funny Things:

After the big T-Ball fight went down, Tyler snuck over to our blanket where I was sitting, and whispered to me with wide eyes, "Mom! There were THREE battles!"

Jamie decided to give Jumper a bath outside with some gross rainwater she found behind the back wall. She realized it was not good as soon as she did it. She just sort of stopped and looked at Jumper, and said regretfully, "Oh, Jumper." That poor bird is due to mysteriously disappear soon...

Don't mind the hubcap, we are trying extra hard this year to be as stereotypically redneck as possible :) We got new hubcaps for the Rav4 a while ago, and Tyler discovered that the old ones in the garage would roll all the way across the backyard if he threw them hard enough.

McKay and I taught Tyler about the nutritional label of packaged foods awhile ago, and ever since, he has been extremely concerned about the amount of sugar in his food, for better or for worse. When McKay and he shared a bag of cotton candy, he was astounded. "DAD! FIFTY SUGARS!!!" Of course, it didn't seem to deter him from eating it, but he didn't complain so much that night about brushing his teeth :)

I've been running at night, and the views can be pretty spectacular. My phone has terrible night vision, but from several spots on my route, you can see downtown pretty well.

Bank of America building all lit up :)

That teeny red dot in the center is the red light on the top of the new Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge downtown; this is as I cross over the tollway.

Reid and Angela brought cookies over (he's our hometeacher, and also in the throws of med school finals week. Shudder.) Their little boy Garrett is so cute and loves Tyler and Jamie, and they love him right back. The three of them just ran off together while we grownups chatted for a bit, and I got to mug on their baby Mason.