Douglas Family: April 2013

Where did April go?!?! Seriously. Well due to Taylor’s cast, our spring break trip to the beach was thwarted. However, our stay-cation was a nice break from preschool, sports, chess team, homeschool, and a schedule in general. We visited the World of Coke (the kids tried all 60 flavors!) and planted fruit trees (2 cherry and 2 peach trees).

We did travel though—a weekend to Nashville for the National Chess tournament. Jackson recently was promoted to the top chess player at his elementary school, so he went into the the event feeling good! He played the top kindergarteners and 1st graders from around the country. He went 4 for 6! It was at the Opryland Hotel and it was just a really neat experience for him. Scott and I told him that neither his mom, nor dad has ever competed in anything at the national level. Since Scott didn’t arrive until late the first evening—the first day was hard for me! I had to get 3 kids to Nashville, navigate an ENORMOUS hotel, and entertain 2 kids (one extremely fussy bc he missed all his naps) while Jackson played 4 rounds of chess. However, the next 2 days were great because Scott could stay with Jackson and I could take the younger 2 to the Opryland mall—adjacent to the hotel.

Boat ride through the hotel.

While in Nashville it was fun to show the kids Vanderbilt. We even did a family relay race around the track! However, the real treat was seeing Joquez and family. He is 16 now! He is a basketball star and has a cute girlfriend. Pretty amazing. I love that kid, and wish we lived closer.

How crazy are these pics!!???

Oh! And we also snuck in a Cracker Barrel dinner with bridesmaid Callie! She is a beautiful, gracious, and SOUTHERN as ever :).

In Taylor news, she got her cast off and is back to full speed, playing soccer, swimming, and wrestling with her dad! The best news is that she has not gone back to sucking her thumb! Scott says we like to ‘break habits around here.’ :-)

In typical Taylor fashion (she is the luckiest person I know), she got selected in the lottery for Montomery’s Pre-K program. Within 2 school days I was in the classroom shadowing, trying to decide if we’ll send her. Of course she is begging to go—I think she just wants to be with big brother, and ride the bus! Plus she just started playing on the Montgomery chess team, so she thinks she’s a big girl!

In family news, we finally redeemed the Medieval Times tickets we won at the BCG Christmas party. We had blast cheering for our knight, and Taylor (case and point) was chosen as the “Maiden of love and beauty that surpasses all others” or something like that, and was presented a sash. She ate it up.

And here we are at Bones celebrating my mom’s 58th birthday. It was a wonderful evening without kids! Mom looks amazing doesn’t she??

Jackson has entered into the last 2 weeks of homeschool. Check out the new do—“Mom the faux hawk helps me focus!” I’m going to miss this guy when he head back to 1st grade next year (we’re going to give it one more shot!).

Baseball and soccer are wrapping up with just the playoffs and all-stars to complete. We also continue to pump the play dates in, just so he doesn’t get weird :).Oh and we had our first official home school field trip: the chocolate factory! It ended up being less of a factory and more of a lesson on cacao followed by chocolate making. It got 2 thumbs up from every child!

The big guy has gotten zero air time! I swung through McDonalds on the way to Nashville because I was getting desperate. The treat did the trick and occupied him the last 20 minutes of the ride. Grant is 15 months and LOVES being outside. I always tell the kids to “sneak outside so Grant doesn’t see you leaving.” However, he has learned that every time someone opens a door the alarm beeps. So…whenever he hears that beep beep, he hustles over to the door and whines to get out. He is so snuggly and fun. His vocabulary has expanded with the addition of “go-go!” and “dank you.”

And no more ‘beach time’ for Scotty. He is back to the grind, this time working a ‘cost of goods’ case for a client out of Dallas. This is his first week, so we’ll keep you posted. Despite traveling, he manages to send a personalized video to each child every day, AND play a nightly game of chess (via ipad/shared computer screen/cell phone) with Jackson. Such a good Daddy!

And we both are working hard on our callings. Scott teaches Sunday school for the adults each week, and I continue to try and make singing time with the kids magical (or at least fun and enriching!).

Lastly, as some of you know, the leaders of our church hold a world wide broadcast twice a year and speak to all the members. As always, General Conference was inspiring peaceful. Here were some of my favorite quotes: