Next time, just fake a tummyache

There's this activity at our school...and it's kind of a big deal. It was nothing that I had EVER heard of before, but apparently it's all the rage. All the kids are doing it. Well not all. There are some very nice children that don't force their mommas to wake up early and get them to school at the crack of dawn for practice. Unfortunately, none of those children are mine.

What am I talking about? Well, cupstacking of course! What is cupstacking? Let me show you...

Last week the school hosted a tournament. After weeks and weeks of practice, this was the big event. After weeks and weeks of the most annoying sound ever in my very acoustically enhanced family room. After weeks and weeks of corralling 5 year old girls and teaching them how to "tag" properly because, oh yes, there are relay teams. And somehow I was nominated to "coach". Not sure how that happened...

So we were raring to go. Emma with her team and Kathryn and I with the LoveBugs. I was putting the finishing touches on the team shirts. Okay, I was ironing on patches. And Kathryn decided that she was a little nervous. She didn't want to go.

What if I trip? What if my cups fall? What if I cross the line?

And I just told her it wouldn't matter because it was all for fun anyway. It's not like my children are going to college on cupstacking scholarships or anything.

And as she continued to ask "what if" she mindlessly stuck her hand out and touched. the. iron.

After several frantic minutes of piercing screams, streaming tears, googling burns and applying first aid, she looked up and asked, "So now I don't have to go right?"

Umm, yeah. You're kinda off the hook.

But Emma still had stacking to do. And I apparently still had a team to coach. I was running around the school like a madwoman trying to find a replacement, all the while getting text updates of my sweet baby girl.

Emma's team took 3rd place in the relay for their division.

And the LoveBugs took 4th in theirs. Kat is the proud owner of my coach's medal.

The season is over. Thank God. And next year, when cupstacking rolls back around, I'm pretty tempted to bust out a 20 dollar bill and bribe my children to forgo it. Heck, I might even bump it up to a hundred.

If I need more, I'll just send Kat in to rob a bank. I mean, it's not like they can run her fingerprints now ;-)