Updates from the world of Jones

** I'm running in the "Head for the Cure" 5K this Sunday. It's a fundraiser for brain cancer research. Come out and join us! We've got a team of four of us -- me, my sister, my cousin Melissa, and our friend Stacy are all running on "Team Boyd" in honor of my dad. Click here for details. Also, click through the photos -- you'll see a photo of me and Jess' calves with "In Memory of Dad" written on them, and a photo of my sister holding Evey at the end of the race. Kinda cool!

** Boydee is saying a lot more words now, including "Momma," "Love you," "bye-bye," maybe "thank you" and possibly "abuela," which is what he calls Elvira ("grandma" -- what her actual grandson calls her, so Boyd's latched on to it.) He's doing great... I was in Florida for four days, and he was really happy to see me when I came home, which was cool.

** Here's the big news of the day... Evey has met her future husband, she tells me.

Lately, when I pick her up from school, she comes out the front door holding the same boys' hand. Today they were just both smiling like crazy... and I almost thought this little boy was going to introduce himself to me.

"Who is that boy," I asked Evey once we were in the car. She smiled and said, "That's Jackson. And guess what? I think someday... I'm going to marry him!"

I didn't make a big deal about it. But Evey couldn't hold back. "Don't tell his mom or dad... and don't tell mom... but I think I'm in love with him! I'm in love with him, and... ta-dah! I'm going to marry him."

I told her that she loved me, and that was enough for now.

"But, Dad, I can't marry you -- you're already married," she told me. "Jackson follows me around the playground, and he's really nice. When I fell, he took care of me and made sure I was OK. Daddy, he's so nice!"

I whispered this story to Adro tonight. She laughed pretty hard. And I swore her to secrecy, too.

No one tell Evey's little secret or she'll hate me forever, OK???

my kids

Boydee waiting for Sis

At dance class! We wanna go home and watch Sporting!

Cheers, Dad

It's three years ago today that I lost my Dad. Cheers, dad. Still miss you like crazy! (But I dream of you less than ever... come say hello every once in a while!)

Coach's daughter

Here's a pic of me and the kids on Evey's first day of school. I like using my expanding gut as a shelf for Boydee to sit on. Convenient.

***

I'm coaching Evey's soccer team for the first time. She played in the Happy Feet League in Lawrence the last two years, and that league came with its own coaches.

We have 10 kids on our team, from ages 3 to 5. Evey is one of the older kids on the team, and the second-tallest.

Evey is very proud that her dad is the coach. She thinks it gets her all sorts of cool points. She also thinks I'll play favorites for her, and I told her I wouldn't -- and that made her a little mad. But I've explained it to her a few times that that wouldn't be fair.

At our first practice, I sat all the kids down with all their parents and introduced myself.

"My name is Seth. You can call me Seth, or Coach Seth, or just Coach," I told everyone.

And Evey announced, "And you can call me the Coach's daughter!"

***

We got smoked in our first game. Well, we started off poorly, and then things settled down a bit. I get to run on the field with the kids. A lot of my time is spent encouraging kids to get involved. I have a few kids who would rather chase bugs then chase the ball.

After the game, one of the parents asked me, "How's your voice?"

I told him the voice was fine... but my soul was wounded.

A shitty story

OK, so the shit story...

I was in Milwaukee last week (among other places), so Adro was on solo kid duty (with multiple guest appearances by Grandma Judy). I got an email from Adro, a forward from Evey's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Paul. Apparently Evey had mismanaged her bathroom time, and had a little accident in her skivvies at school. But major embarrassment was avoided somehow, so everyone was cool.

I was worried that this was a life-altering event in Evey's life... that she would have a new nickname for the next ten years, and she'd earned it in only her second week of kindergarten. I worried that'd she'd come home distraught, and I was out of town.

She came home, and there was no mention of a shitty day at school. At all.

Fast forward to that evening. Adro was preparing to give Evey and Boydee a bath at the same time.

Evey was already in the tub; Boyd was about to join in the fun. Adro lifted up Boydee, and saw something... what is that? a misplaced Cocoa Puff? Oh shit, that's shit!

So Adro looks around and sees that, indeed, she's been shat upon by her favorite little boy in the world. Poop is everywhere. Adro hollers for Grandma Judy, who comes to help out.

Things are cleaned up, and that's when, nonchalantly, Evey tells Mom, "Yeah, mom... it was a bad poop day for me and Bubba."

And that was the first mention Evey had of her accident at school that day.

What a relief that her shitty day wasn't that traumatic...

Bad Poop Day

There's a story here, and it involves the birthday girl (Adro -- happy birthday!) getting shat upon.

Story after this commercial break...