My Happy Camper

One of my favorite things about parenting is being able to give my kids opportunities and experiences that I either wanted to have or think they will enjoy. Mason is getting all kinds of that love this summer. He's been to lacrosse camp in GA, a mission trip to Myrtle Beach, and Camp Lurecrest. I was most excited for him to go to Camp Lurecrest. It sounds so fun. I want to go to family camp there. From the talent show to the camp wide noodle war to the zip line to the night swims, he had a great time. I know he had a good time at them all because he's willing and excited to do all of them again next year. I guess I better start an Entertain Mason All Summer Camp Fund. Happy to do it.

The North Country

Well, we're back. The whole fam went to Carthage, NY for a few days. Here's the skinny.

Kairos

• roasting marshmallows and making smores (despite HC almost catching Cousin Veronica's face on fire)
• reading in the sun without having to jump in and rinse off every few minuts (low 80's)
• catching up with the cousins, in-laws, sister-in-laws, and more
• listening to HC comment on all the people she observed at the airport (the girl with pink hair was a HIT)
• sunsets while in air after storms-GORGEOUS (a red sky I've nver seen before)
• salt potatoes (if I can sell these bad boys in the South, I'll be rich like woah)
• pineapple upside down cake cocktails with sisters-in-law
• amazing views for a few windy, sunny, and warm runs (green cornfields, pastures, dirt road)
• the horse "biting" Charley's hand while she fed him apples
• HC gettng her picture made with the silo with her name on it
• dancing at wedding (even with no AC, still a cool time)
• Mason being a true delight 97% of the time (was great with girls)
• eating Grandma Kay's chicken recipe with the Hadley crew

Chronos

• TSA confiscating Mason's two LAX sticks and throwing those bad boys right in the trash
• being last people on the plane (paging the Ashcraft family) and getting The Look from all other passengers
• containing CB on plane (her yelling AVERY to John and AL from the front of the plane to the back was annoying but cute)
• passing a kidney stone (I think) felt like labor pains/contractions, running some tests to see what's up
• two hour delay on way home (although we made the best of it the Game Room at the 'Cuse airport)
• wrestling kids to sleep at night and nap while outside of their routine
• convincing TSA to let me on the plane once I realized my license was not in my wallet (oops)
• a few meltdowns on plane (HC didn't like her seat, CB wanted more M&Ms, Mama wanted peace/sleep)
• seeing a fox on while running (seriously, I'm scared of most things furry)

Quotes

HC

• on flying: "This is exciting. I'm so exciting."
• on "Rumor Has It": "What does rumor have? Is rumor a boy or a girl?
• on camping after two days: "I'm done with this camping. I'm ready to go home."

CB

• to Poppa: "I love you."
• on sunsets: "ooowww"

Little Things

Things I Love Right Now:

• Charley saying thank you for everything
• Mason finishing the first year of middle school relatively unscathed
• Last Saturday: run, pool, nap, date (steak, cheesecake, Hunger Games!)
• Sunday afternoons at the lake
• A fresh crop of summer magazines
• Charley's hand gestures when she asks a question
• The tiniest bell peppers ever growing in my "garden"
• Hadley and Charley running races on the sidewalk
• Chocolate cake from the deli section at Harris Teeter
• Audio books
• Metal chairs I painted Tiffany blue
• Ponytails
• Pinterest
• My new sweatshirt/verse/motto

Dance Your Face Off

Did not see this coming. Mason came home from school a few weeks ago with materials to register for classes for 7th grade. Yes, I said 7th grade. We briefly reviewed them (not with painstaking intensity of his first year of middle school: aka-mommy tears and small panic attack). He vaguely mentioned wanting to do something with a dance class. Knowing Mason, I mildly agreed knowing it would be a brief stint in choreography. I was wrong. Not only did my child arrange to stay after school for tryouts and sign up for the dance class next year, but he also made the squad. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one calling it a squad. I blame Bring It On (the musical). As of last week, he is an official member of the guys only Bradley Dance Crew. He's been practicing his moves: in the car, in the kitchen, on the porch, on the couch, in his room, in my room, at restaurants, in parking lots, in the hallway, on the stairs.....he hasn't stopped moving (not that he has ever been very still for very long).

I'm proud of him. I like that he will take risks and do things that not every little (big) dude will do. He's brave and social and resilient. I adore these qualities in him. Shake yo groove thing, Mase.

Good Stuff

Happiness:

• Mason's EKG came back great
• Spring has sprung
• Job is going super good
• Planted some fruits and veggies
• Signed up to train for another marathon with Jeff Galloway
• Days are getting longer: lots of sun
• Charley will now watch tv
• Mason is loving lacrosse
• Hadley had the "best Easter egg hunt ever"
• They were the fanciest girls on Easter Sunday
• Mase is signed up for a mission trip this summer
• Bring it On the musical with Suzie-Q
• Bought a pair of Keds: life is full circle

Let Her Cry

There are few things more precious than the health of a child. Recently I stood outside the nursery of a hospital downtown and was filled with gratitude beyond words or understanding. Tears filled my eyes (which sounds dumb and cliche, but it is visceral response and there are hardly any other ways to describe the beginning of a good cry). I had to blink them back over and over again. My throat was so tight, it was beyond hard to swallow. Once at home and several times over the past couple of weeks, I've just had to let them out. The shortest verse is "Jesus wept." There is a reason; sometimes tears do way more talking than the words from out mouths. My tears have been tears of gratitude for my own children, and tears of hope for other babies, children, and teens around me.

I am so thankful that my children are healthy. Words are not enough. Hootie with or without his blowfish sums it up, "let the tears fall down like rain." It's okay. It feels good. It is pure catharsis. The saying moved to tears is valid for the verb in that sentence. Moved. To feel truly moved and to relish in that experience is a blessed thing. I'm thankful that I've taken the time to cry a little and feel a lot grateful.

In other health news, we've postponed Mason's MRI and sleep deprived EKG as we transition into a new insurance company. If anything alarming occurs between now and our new dates, we'll move them up. Since his last episode, he has had one major headache and a couple of milder ones. No more black outs at this time.

Revelations of the Week

Kids
I can no longer keep a running list of what Charley says. She can now say it all. Clean and cook were the words of the weekend. and Boom. :)
Three is just a preview of the teen years. One minute this child is a small adult with thoughtful things to share with the Earth. The next minute she is irrational, screaming, and out of control. Good times ahead!
Mason's teacher said he is an angel at school. I have my doubts. Love you, Mase.


John
He's the bomb. He brought me home a butcher block island as an early Valentine's Day present. I am spoiled...but I'm worth it. What a surprise! It is beautiful and fun.

GF
Canned icing is almost across the board without gluten. Hallelujah. The GF brownie mix I've been buying is amazing.
I was okay with the whole G-free movement until I opened up this month's Southern Living. I had a breakdown. I'm also not sure how my identity will survive without glutens, but we'll see. Things seem to be better. No headaches and no acne. That's worth it!

Me
I've had a case of the January's. I'm already feeling better with February knocking on my door this week. It is great for my psyche that the daylight is getting longer again. That alone creates a smile.

The In Between

Today is Mason's 12th birthday. We have one more year of officially being in between a child and a teen. It's easy to say that they grow up too fast, or I wish he'd stay young forever. I'm finding that the older the kids get, the more fun it is to see the person that they really are and will be. There are times when the teen angst just kills me. There are times when his defiance of authority just moves me to tears. There are moments when his mouthy mouth just puts me right over the edge. I say all that to preface all the wonderful things that I'm about to say about ol' Mase. I don't want anyone to think that things are Brady Bunch perfection over here at all times of every day. That said, as Mason gets older these are the things that I love beyond words about him:

• His adoration of the girls. He is the best big brother. He plays with them, feeds them, reads to them, listens to them, talks to them; he gives them his attention which they love. They yell "Mason!!" when he comes through the door just like they do when their Daddy gets home.
• His wit. He is absolutely funny. He's dry and "gets it." Thanks goodness. He can dish it and take it.
• His brilliance. The way he understands math blows me away. 
• His ease around adults and other folks. He's a social butterfly in ways I'm not.
• His ability to not get too stressed out about anything. This can be hard for me when homework and projects are piling up and chores aren't done, but it keeps him relatively at ease. Again, in ways, I'm not.
• His gratitude for things I don't expect him to notice.
• His fashion sense or lack their of depending on the day. 
• His love for football. It's so American.
• His rendition of rap songs. Funny.
• His willingness to bust a move in Spanish to remain the Most Enthusiastic according to his teacher.
• His love of reading. YES!
• His relationships with his grandparents. It makes me happy.

It is fun to watch them grow. I try and savor the little girls as they are, and as much as I love them little, watching kids mature is pretty cool too.

Happy Birthday to the leader of our pack. Love.

Heard and Said

Charley

poop

night-night

drink
up
out
down
off

Mason

Mom, those are some tight jeans.

Dear Santa

Look at the Favorites and what my son saved for me. I'll forward to Santa.  

Just Friends

Mason-Do you call me your roommate when you talk to people about me?
Me-Ummmm. No. I call you my son, my pride, my joy, my mess maker, my annoyance, my darling, my precious...
Mason-Oh, because like that's what I call you and John. Say the phone rings and it's you. If my friends ask who it is, I say my roomie.

oh.

Tween Love

We were driving to football practice the other day and a Rhiana song came on. It is one of her newer releases. Mason says he likes it. I agree. It's got kind of an 80's throwback feel. Then he says it brings back good memories. Again, it's only been on the radio a few weeks. I take the bait and ask what memories it brings back. He proceeds to tell me that the dance team performed to it during lunch the previous week. "They're pretty," he states in complete admiration. Middle school.

Heard and Said

Hadley

• My uncle from Texas who is a true cowboy, kissed her goodbye on the cheek. Her response, "Why do cowboys always lay on me?" This is slightly alarming but also funny.
• She was referring to bar-b-q sauce, but was calling it "fire mustard". It took us a minute to figure it out.
• She's ending sentences with "or not?" and "or something".

Charley

• mess

Mason

• "Why are you wearing that to my game?"

Football Hero

Mason's football season has been a blast to watch this season. They made it to the final four out of 42 teams. I was so  proud of them and happy that Mason was able to have this experience. On Tuesday we went to the Final Four playoff game. It was a long drive with a screaming one year old, but we did it! The game was close but was a loss in the end. The boys were really bummed. There were lots of tears, but my boy was strong! There was a collision at the end that left him a little shook up, but he battled through. By the time we got to the car, he was ready to joke. He really does have a good sense of humor. I love that he's learning to see the humor in things that aren't really that funny.
We were comparing last season to this season and basically the records were reversed. They won two last season and lost two this season. We were having that "talk" about losing building character and preparing you for times in your life when you won't "win", how important it is to show strong and honest character, character is the fabric of your life, character, character, character. He said, "Well, if that's true, after last season, I should be in a book!" Love that my boy combines literature and sports!

Undefeated

Mason had his third regular season football game today. Thus far, his team is undefeated. After the game, he seemed down despite the team's overwhelming victory. When asked what was wrong, he said he was upset about a penalty he caused his team. We asked if his coach had gotten on to him thus creating the state of melancholy but he said no. He was just upset with himself for doing something he knew he shouldn't do and causing his team to pay a price. No adult yelled at him or made him feel bad for making a mistake. On his own accord, he was working through the feeling of letting your team down and learning from your mistakes. Life lessons that are priceless. Kids need sports!

Mighty Mason

I hardly ever get nervous for myself but getting nervous for my kids, especially Mason, is a common concept for me. Lately our biggest obstacle has been making weight for football. He is what is called an Older but Lighter; however, the scales were saying he was inching out of the lighter category. In order to stay on his current team, he had to lose a few pounds. Moving up to a bigger division would have meant that he was not only young but also very small for the group. We did not care one way or another which division he ended up in. We wanted it to be his choice. When we proposed his options, lose weight and stay on your team or move up with the big boys, his immediate reaction was to lose weight.
Here at Casa D'Ashcraft losing weight is, well, a weighty issue. As a long time winner/loser of the body image and weight loss war, it was impossible for me to tell him what to tell him which choice to make; however, when I did make suggestions about food/exercise, I hardly ever got it right. I was not a stellar example of how this should work. What I know I did right was leave it up to him in the end. John is the master of cutting weight as he did so, admittedly, to the extreme when he wrestled in college. He tells a story of his mother showing up to a tournament and bursting into tears as she saw him in his 6'1 frame weighing about a 145 pounds.
Needless to say the past few weeks have been filled with grilled chicken and chicken noodle soup. In my presence, Mason made a lot healthy choices that don't come naturally to him (mostly because he is my son and we really LOVE comfort food and sugar iced with delicousness). I'm most proud that he decided to put in the work and make better food and exercise choices. He could have very easily taken the easier road and joined the big boys.
Tonight was the final weigh in. He needed to be 85.4 or under to stay on his current team. I was a wreck all day. Weak in knees, faint, a little sick feeling. We packed up the car with the little girls and headed uptown. We fought the traffic. Then we stood in line for 45 minutes. Seriously, my nerves can't handle this drama. The little girls were fine as it was at Freedom Park and Charley ate sticks while Hadley poked her with them. A win/win for them. Finally his turn came. 85.2.
He's in. Now to maintain. Sigh. He can do it!! I'm really proud of him.

Last season's Masonator

I realize that some people couldn't imagine encouraging children to lose weight, but in a world where our kids are sedentary by our lifestyle of ease, it is so easy for food splurges and special treats to make their permanent impression on little bodies. This has also been a wake up call to encourage all of my children to make better food choices and to remind them to move their precious bodies more and more. Dance parties to ensue! For the record, all the yummy stuff I've been baking has gone straight to school for my illustrious colleagues to share.

skinny jeans

The night before Mason started middle school, he declared that he must have skinny jeans. This from a child who wore shorts on all winter days including those decked with snow and ice. Jeans have not been a priority in his life. No kind of pants really. He's a shorts man. Until. Now. So, we embarked on a mini shopping extravaganza to locate the appropriate level of skinny jeans. He ended up with a not Hot Topic kind of pair, but a modern and fashionable skinny. Though he had to have them the night before the big day, I haven't seen them since. Until. Now. Today he went to the mall with his guy friends (and the parents!). At first he came down with shorts and a t-shirt on. Hair slightly mussed. He left the house (with a good bit of huffy-puffy mouthiness in true tween fashion). After conferring with the fellas, he came back in for a costume change. Low and behold the skinny jeans make their grand entrance. Not only is he rocking them with his new Jordans, but he has also fixed his hair. Though we get the mouthy attitude at times, the tweens also bring a new sense of hygiene and for that we are all thankful.

Oh What A Night

At 12:30 am, Hadley woke up in tears and yelps. She was itchy, achy, and just plain aggravated. We spent the better of two hours lying awake in her bed. The moment she fell asleep there was a peace that palpably descended upon the room. I felt my body release and enjoyed the few minutes I lay beside her as she slept. THEN...the smoke alarm began to chirp downstairs. THEN....the smoke alarm upstairs began to yell at us...literally. Our alarm was saying "low battery". Worst night of sleep I've had since Charley was an infantino. Alarm goes off. No coffee filters. Drop baby girls off at daycare. Chocolate milk all over my white shirt. Needless to say, not a great start.

BUT

This evening I got to spend a back to school date night with Mason. He declared that he was ready to try on skinny jeans! So we set out to find a perfect middle school pair. Success! We also went to open house. We met his teachers and felt the excitement of the middle years set in. Currently he's signed up for band. I made my first request for a schedule change. He's really not the band type. We'll see how that goes. You know your son is growing up when a good night together includes shopping and dinner. Bittersweet. I know it's cliche, but true. Best luck my funny boy.

What I Should Have Done...

Mason and Mama Tara circa '05ish

I should have been keeping a journal of all the amazing things you've done and of all the emotions I felt as you did them, but I didn't. But what I can do is retro activate some memories as they surface. Let's begin. When you were about one (you started walking at 9.5 months) you went in to my tiny office, overturned a trash can, climbed onto my desk to get markers. I thought you were a genius. Your first words were "dada" and "ball". You were a such an enjoyable baby (after 6 weeks-before that, not so much). You were a terribly behaved three year old. You loved Maisy books. I read "Maisy Goes to the Farm" about 1,453 times. I read to you while you were still an infant Charlotte's Web until I remembered what happens at the end. We stopped with a few chapters to go. One of my favorite things about you is that you always loved to read and still do.  Amen. Quotes that I adore: hotter than a chicken in a fire and life is good for the good. In kindergarten, your art work was chosen for a show downtown. I was so proud. This followed a very alarming performance in your kindergarten musical. You did not sing one word. You did a lot of looking around. You loved a pillow from the couch. It was covered in denim. You slept with it for years and years. You also scratched your little fingers against the material as you fell asleep...for years and years. You really loved Buzz Lightyear. You asked Santa for one (like two days before Christmas) and Santa hadn't gotten you one yet, but he managed with some help from Mawmaw. There's more where this came from. Love.

The Middle

Last year when we had to move your school yet once again, you said: "It's fine. I'm a pro at making new friends. I could write a book on being popular." Okay. Great. John proceeded to ask you what it is that you would include in said book. Your response: "Chapter One: Just be yourself. Chapter Two: If you suck, just be me." Honestly I did not not approve of you word choice or the message all that much; however, it does give me hope that you do understand the role that confidence plays in feeling comfortable in your own skin and in situations involving other folks. You had a great fifth grade year, socially if nothing else. So,thankfully moving schools did not affect you in a negative manner; thus, if you try and use this as an excuse later on in life, let the record stand that you were in fact just fine.
This year you move to middle school. There is literally nothing more frightening to me than this. What I know for sure: You are a very, very, very smart youngster. The academics themselves will not be too much for you. There are so many other aspects of middle school though that may try and get in the way of your delight. Here are my top tips gathered from my own experience as a former middle school-er, a teacher, a regular old person, and from asking my friends for their input.

1. Treat others the way you wish to be treated. Seriously.
2. Make confidence look authentic and not demeaning.
3. Treat your teachers the way you would want my students to treat me.
4. Make people laugh in a way that doesn't hurt anyone's feelings.
5. Include others even if you don't know them.
6. When in doubt, say hi first.
7. You can be smart and cool at the same time.
8. Stick up for others.
9. Try new things.
10. Learn from your mistakes.
11. Play football with all your heart.
12. Wear what you like.
13. Make choices that are healthy for your mind, body, and spirit.
14. Pray when you need a hand.
15. Don't wait until the last minute...for anything
16. Be a leader.
17. Get your homework done asap.
18. Plan ahead. Write stuff down. Make to do lists.
19. Say hello to all school related adults (and thank you and please).
20. Get involved with different groups, clubs, activities, and people.

I love you. I'm proud of you. I want you to have amazing experiences that make you a better and brighter person.

Mason's 5th Grade Graduation