My Daddy--The Track Coach

Those of you that know my Daddy, know that it is definitely NOT in his nature to brag on himself, his Grandkids yes, but not himself--I guess that's why God gave him me and my Mom so we could brag on him! :-)

This past weekend, September 20, 2008, Bobby Don was inducted into the UCA Sports Hall of Fame. It was a very nice and formal induction weekend. It all began Friday night with a reception at the President's home, continued on Saturday with a 2 hour induction luncheon (yes my children made it through the entire thing), then continued with 'the hanging of the plaque' ceremony, a little UCA Bears tailgating, and the festivities ended with an introduction of all inductees before the kick-off of the UCA home game.

I'm just going to quote a little bit of what the program said about my dad--I've always thought this was true so it was nice to see that others recognized this as well. It began: "It may not be fair, nor wise, to compare any track coach to University of Arkansas legend John McDonnell, who won 42 collegiate national championships with the Razorbacks. But if there is a parallel to be drawn within the Arkansas high school ranks, there's likely no better place to start than Bobby Richardson."

The introduction also highlighted his running career at UCA where he was the 1962 AIC Cross Country Champion, a 3-time AIC mile champion, won the 880 title once and broke the league's record in the mile by 6.8 seconds in 1963--running 4:20.6 (guess he used to be pretty fast)!

It went on to tell that the Crossett Eagles under the leadership of Coach Richardson won a total of 18 state track championships and 4 cross country titles while he was there. Also mentioned that "He's probably one of the BEST high school track coaches we've ever had the privilege of having in the state of Arkansas." The introduction went on to say that "Not only was he a great coach and a great athlete, but he was a gentleman as well."

I guess you can tell I am pretty proud of my Dad--it was a great weekend. We enjoyed every minute of being there with him while he received his honor. I wish some more of you out there could have seen him too! I love you Daddy!

Pet Potato

Tonight for AWANA the kids were asked to decorate a potato or some other vegetable as their favorite character--Laynie picked Hannah Montana. We tried a few different outfits on for our potato, but Laynie wasn't impressed so we had to get crafty! I hot glued and she stuck everything on--it really was a team effort. I even tried to change a couple of things and she said, but Mom it's my potato! Everyone who made a potato received a pack of skittles! Yumm-o!

Bike Wreck

On Monday night of last week Laynie was showing off her bike riding skills to Trey's parents. She still isn't great at starting by herself, but she wasn't afraid to try for them. She was at the top of our road and her sweet little brother accidentally ran into her bike at the same time she was taking off. She fell on her left hand and I immediately thought she had broken it.

Two days and two doctors later, we found out it was only a severe sprain. Praise the LORD! She is feeling better now and not wanting to wear her splint at all--of course I think she should and her Daddy doesn't! :-) Hopefully we can get back on the bike this week to get our courage back while riding!

I'm Back

I think the reason I am having such a hard time keeping up with posting on my blog is because this summer I would spend early morning time typing before the kids were up. Well now our day starts early and I just haven't found a good blogging routine yet--Jones is in Crossett this week so I will have a little down time, hopefully I can catch up on some things around here and on my blogs--writing & reading them!

I've already been missing my little guy and I've only been away from him for a day. Thursday may need to come sooner than later for me to pick him up! Anyway I thought I would just post a few sweet/funny things he has said lately.

* On Thursday morning we were getting ready for school & he made his cute but very serious frowny face and said, "You aren't my teacher today, Mommy. I will miss you!"

* On Thursday afternoon we were playing in the yard. He was riding his tractor and a little dog was chasing him, but Jones didn't know it. Jones stopped and the dog ran over and licked his leg. Jones shot off of the tractor so fast and ran over to me screaming. He jumped in my arms and said, "The doggy licked me--I don't want him to drink me!" :-)

* Saturday night at the UCA game I told him to have fun at Grandma's and Popa's, he said, "OK Momma, but I will really miss you." He's probably just trying to make me fell better, don't ya think?

Me--A Preschool Teacher?

I must say my eyes were opened to the Pre-school (3 year-olds) World on Tuesday. Jones goes to First Place Academy at our church here in VB. They have a wonderful program and were able to expand it this year so basically they added three teachers (I think) who used to be their subs. So of course I said I would sub for them on Tues/Thurs. if they needed someone.

Well Tuesday was my first chance to sub and I was Ms. Amy--Jones' teacher. There were only 7 kids and they were actually pretty good with a few exceptions like not knowing really how to walk in a line, scribbling ALL over the page before I told them what to do, screaming when someone took a toy away, getting out of their seat a million times within the hour, etc. (I could go on and on!) I know you are probably laughing at this point and can picture the frazzled look I had at the end of the morning! When I left the church, the thought crossed my mind--"Why in the world did I say I would do this? I could make as much money seeing one speech client!"

Well of course it wasn't for the money!! Once I got home and thought about it, it was about spending time doing what my little boy does. Now that I've had some time to reflect, I'm ready to go again--I know they are only 3 so maybe I won't expect too much from them next time, but I will also be better prepared to handle their class. At least no one got hurt, cried, or sick, right? And we even managed a cool experiment sort of--It was pink and purple day so for snack we mixed pink and blue juice together to make purple--they REALLY liked that! :-) Bring on the 3 year-olds!