Yeager Angels

I will have to go backward in this story so we can go forward and tell the tale...
The kid's school does a yearly fundraiser through Papa John's Pizza where one night they open up the sales so that a percentage of the profits and all tips go toward the school. The best part... the teachers deliver the pizzas! The kids eagerly anticipate this for days in advance and the day of the event, they get home ready to order right then. Last week the big night came and we ordered at a few minutes after 5pm (5-7:30 is the time frame). The pizza arrived at 6:45, which although late, was to be expected because almost every family participates. The kids had their noses pressed against the front door window and one of them says, "mom, it's a man teacher". I'm thinking, "OK ,well, cool, there is only one man teacher in the whole school, and we got him". I'm a bit disappointed since they were expecting one of their teachers but no biggie. As I open the door, I realize it isn't him, it's the pizza boy. When the rest of the kids realized this, they were in tears... literally. Crying, sobbing..."they forgot us". This wasn't a bratty kind of crying, this was all out sadness and disappointment for days worth of anticipation. And if that wasn't enough, after calming everyone down, they were the wrong pizzas. As you can imagine 5, 6 and 8 year old kids don't do "the fixin's". The night was a disaster and mom had to come up with something quick at 7pm after spending $40 on dinner. That was the going backward part... here is where the story takes a turn.

As all the kids went to school the next day and sat at circle time to giddely tell of which teacher delivered their pizza, my kids sadly told of their night. Emma and Kate, still distraught, made quite an impression because I received a note from their teachers saying how very sorry they were that the evening turned out so badly and how thankful they were for our participation. Then they asked if they could come by for a few minutes to spend some special time with the kids since they didn't get their night with their teacher. Wow! Talk about teachers going the extra mile! This just doesn't happen anymore.

So Ms. Owen and Ms. Burton stopped by tonight and I just have to thank God and thank them for such beautiful, giving hearts. The kids will remember this always and this mom is so grateful for the these wonderful angels here on earth.

They are SO highschool!

Emma and Kate spent this week at dance camp with the Cy-Creek Silverados. (Many of you may not know that I was a Goldduster in my days so this was right up my ally!) I know they are my children so I am a bit predjudiced, but can I just say that they were so cute! In fact, the cutest and certainly the ones to win "most likely to be drillteam girls one day". The first morning as we were walking through the halls of the highschool (no not elementary but HS), they had to walk 10 steps in front of mom... already!?!! OK, I dealt with that becuase I was able to watch them from behind, In between me and them were three Silverado girls with their high pony tails, tiny waists and pink lipstick, whispering "look... they are adorable, look... they so fit in, they are like, sooo highschool". (Did I sound like that back then?) I must say, I was proud momma bear and I so wanted to jump in and say" aren't they though?". I didn't. I just let my girls walk in front, eying them as they would look side to side checking everyone and everything out, and then whispering between themselves. They really did look like tiny, little highschool girls... a bit snotty, actually. (We'll work on that!) As they went down the hall, all of the Silverado volunteer moms stopped them, telling how cute they were, adding to their egos. I could see them standing taller, heads bopping around, smiling so big. As I have already had to answer to daddy... yes, that is pink lipstick on my sweet, little 6 year olds. They are so cute and they are so highschool!!!

Biker Boy

Cameron turned 8 this weekend and we celeberated at Granny's and Papa's with swimming with cousins, brothers and sisters. Then, Sunday morning he headed to Space Center Houston for the Star Wars exhibit with Daddy, Ryan, and friends, Mr. Bill, Sean and Bryce. Later that night they went to the BMX Bike races where they were able to ride their bikes on the track after the races. This was by far his favorite! He then spent the night with Sean and they woke up the next morning to go to the water park where he was clobbered in the nose by a kid walking up the waterslide... what??? Who does that anyway? That put a bit of a damper on things but he has a great story to tell and the gift of a swollen nose (no black eye yet - so don't think it's broken). Look at how little my big boy looks on that bike; ready to push out of that starting gate. Just like everything else he's embracing... yet, more sniffs... if you read the post below, I think I must be majorly hormonal! I need stock in puffs tissue! It was definitley a weekend to remember!

Where do the years go???

My MOPS group has a message board that I just had to put my 2cents in on today. We see all sorts of things on there... great info, really insightful thoughts, probing questions, super sales. And we tend to go back and forth in debate over milestones, child rearing, and some not so important stuff. There are a few sweet mommy sisters that are in such a hurry to get their babies all grown up, potty trained, sleeping through the night, etc. SO this was my answer to a few of them that were debating two issues... potty training and the nightly, cry it out method in the middle of the night. After one of our mommies posted that maybe they just needed to relax a bit and pick their battles, I couldn't help but post becuase this is pretty much how my day was today and I am so grateful that God allows me to just sit back and relish my precious babies.

They grow up so fast! Emma lost her 1st tooth today. So exciting on one hand, and then on the other, she was just getting teeth yesterday and now she’s loosing them… sniff, sniff! Now Jake is trying to roll over… soon he’ll be crawling, running… right out the door!!! More sniffs!

Enjoy the little boogers, they soon become 21 year old young women (like our oldest, Meghan) and are out on their own. Where have the years gone?

Lately my prayers have been while holding Jake (knowing that he is the last) and praying to God that he helps me remember these wonderful, sweet moments with him… the way he feels while I dance him to sleep in his room, with his soft music playing, his baby breaths in the nook of my neck, and his little hand on my shoulder. Really BIG sniffs! Soon enough, I promise, they won't be crying out for you in the middle of the night... and you will miss it. You don’t notice it right away but one day you do, and it really jolts your heart in a very unexpected way.

While this may not have been the blog you were expecting today, I had to share as it reminds me of just how special my babies are and how much our God must love me, to allow me to love them, for him. Thank you, Jesus! Now I must go so the toothfairy can come for a magical visit!

Baby No Name

"Baby No Name" finally has a name!

Introducing the newest Hickford... Baby Jake!

Jacob Grayson Hickford

May 2, 2008

7 lbs. 4 oz.

19 1/2 inches

God has graced us with #6 and he came out screaming! More details coming soon!

Soccer princesses

For years Henry has said that one day he’d coach soccer… this was his year… for the girls! What fun… the only kids on the team that didn’t want to play! Oh, they “love soccer” but not actually running, kicking, sweating, scoring. No… they want to hang out, play with their friends, chase butterflies, check out the restrooms (ugh!), do grass angels in the middle of the dirty field. How could this be… Daddy is practically a soccer wiz with his years of tournaments and trophies!?! Needless to say, it’s good that it’s only 10 weeks - it was a fun season though, and he would like to do it again… some day!

Fortunatley, his someday may be this fall as Cameron's team is in need of a coach. We'll see if this Hickford kid stays focused. As we all know, it's Murphy's Law that kids are usually the "best behaved" with someone else but not so much while on our watch. They really are adorable tho!

Alternate Discipline

Don’t underestimate video games! Want an easy fix to any discipline issue??? Need a few minutes of peace??? Or the bickering to stop??? Just turn them on (or even better, threaten with them) either way, it’s discipline all parents should try! My kids think video games are the "end all"... cooler than anything else on this earth. Even our four year old, Ryan, can play them... quite well actually. I'm not bragging by any means, I probably shouldn't even admit it but hey, surveys say that they are good for their brain development, eye-hand coordination and "sitting still" skills! Yes, I know, surveys say anything we want them to say... so I'm going with that one. Actually, we are having a ton of fun and family time with our Wii. And, 5 year old Emma can kick all of our booties on bowling. She has this special move, where she kicks her leg up as she throws the ball and then spins around, somehow getting spares on almost every turn! It really is a sight! If you haven't played, I highly recommend it. And as I mentioned earlier, not only is it good entertainment... it keeps the kids in line when it comes to behaving. The Hickford motto... don't obey, don't play! Maybe that should be tacked onto the 5th commandment!