Summer break - the list

There's a show that my boys love to watch and the theme song starts out, "There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation, then school comes along just to end it..."

So, I decided to count how many days there are for my boys.  They will be on a 'balanced' schedule next year which means they go back really early but get two whole weeks in the fall and two whole weeks in the spring.  That leaves us only 76 days of summer vacation, including the weekends!

I must admit that I never feel like I spend enough time with the boys.  Even being home with them, I feel like I am always doing something else and we aren't really making "enough" memories together.  Oddly, I'm not even sure I know what that means.  Or what I can do that will change that feeling for me. 


I don't think enough people are honest enough about what it's like to be at home.  I ran into someone recently that I hadn't talked to for years and told him I was a stay at home mom to three boys, almost 2, 4, and 6, and he said, "well, I guess that's great for you."  And I fake smiled and nodded like a crazy woman, because I think that's what people expect. 

And yes, it is great for me.  There is NOWHERE I would rather be.  My two youngest boys can be playing just fine in the other room and all of a sudden one of them comes running to me and just needs a hug.  I give that huge hug and he runs back to play.  Knowing that he needed that hug and I was the one who got to give it to him, is an awesome reminder of how blessed I am to be at home.

On the other hand, I have threatened to revamp my wardrobe to include only black and white striped  shirts and grab a whistle because I often feel more like a referree than a love giving momma.  Then there's the begging and groveling that I do when it's time to pick up toys.  That usually ends in a lot of yelling and threatening on my part.

Of course, I'd love to be paid for the hard work that I do.  Even appreciated, or respected.  I have a (newer to me) phrase lately - "respect the clean!"  Meaning, if I go to the trouble to actually clean it, could it please stay that way for more than 4.3 seconds?  There's not much motivation to scrub the bathroom sink when the very next time the boys brush their teeth there's more toothpaste visible than sink. 

I found this blog article recently and the comparison to having a career and being a stay at home mom made me chuckle.

Hmmm, I think I digressed a bit.  All this was to say that the boys and I made a list of things we want to do this summer.  For me, if it's written down it's more likely to happen.   Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone with just a list so I made it into a little poster. 

So, watch for updates on how we spend our days.  And if you have any great suggestions for things we should do, please send them my way. 
Happy summer to all....

Overheard, the mom edition...

Summer break means more quality time for all of us together.  It's a little bit of an adjustment for the boys to all be together so much.  Max is used to Seth being gone when he gets up.  Luke is used to alone time with me while Max sleeps and Seth is at school.  It's not bad.  It's just different and a little bit of an adjustment! 

With this adjustment I am finding that I am shocked by some of the things that I am forced to say:

• Please do NOT stand on your brother's head like that!
• WHY were you licking your toes?
• Hey!  We don't pee in the TRASH can. [Particularly not when it's a foot from the toilet!]

Graduation!

Sorry, if you are on facebook this is a repeat, but...

My first baby is now a kindergarten graduate! As each one came up to get their diplomas we got to hear their answers to four questions. Here are Seth's:

My favorite food is peanut butter and crackers.
My favorite Bible story is when Jesus rose from the dead.
When I grow up I want to be a doctor who works at the hospital.
What I liked best about kindergarten is reading group. I love to read!

So proud of my sweet boy!

***********************************************************************************

Graduation was very cute.  The kiddos all had caps and gowns and entered to "Pomp and Circumstance."  Then they were presented their diplomas.  It was fun to hear all of the students' responses to the same four questions.  Many of the 'what I liked best' answers were "recess."  I was pretty proud of my boy for picking reading as his answer.  And he does LOVE to read, which makes me very excited as a mommy who loves to read. 


Then there was the slide show portion.  Sweet little tear invoking songs and pictures of Seth and his friends.  I did tear up at one point.  Thankfully, I had been warned, which usually makes me cry less.  And, thankfully (?), I had Max and Luke crawling and climbing everywhere to distract me. 

During the slide show they stripped them of their caps and gowns.  This was disappointing to me because I didn't take any posed pictures before, thinking I would get some after.  But, they were rented so I guess the easiest way to be sure they got them all back was to collect them mid-ceremony!

After the slide show, both classes came up and sang some sweet songs. 

And then they were done.  There was a nice packet to pick up that included the diploma, report card, some awards, and a new little Bible, a framed picture of his entire class and a graduation balloon.   

Seth's kindergarten teacher, her assistant, and his preschool teacher. We adore all of them!

And finally, we celebrated at home with ice cream!  My Seth is a lot like me in that he doesn't love change.  He likes to keep things exactly how he likes them.  He shed some tears the day before school ended, knowing that he wouldn't see his friends or his classmates for awhile.  Some of the students will not be back next year and I'm not sure he realizes that.  There were only 17 in his class (there was a second kindergarten class), so they were all pretty close.  He's adjusting to summer break, but I truly think he would go to school all year if he could!  Not sure what that says about my parenting, but I'm so thankful that he loves school.

I wrote this little post back in November or December.  NO clue why it never got posted, but here you go...


Actual dinner conversation:
Seth:  Mom, did Jesus have a family?
Me: He had Mary and Joseph, but no wife or kids.
Seth: HUH? Why would he marry Joseph.  They're both boys.
Me: No, MARY, his mom.  Joseph was his earthly father.
Seth: No, mom.  Jacob was the father.  [Yes, their Bible stories have been about Joseph.]
.....

A few minutes later, the Casting Crowns song "East to West" came on the radio.  I love all things Casting Crowns so the boys hear the songs a lot.  
Seth:  Mom, is this song about Christopher Columbus?
Me:  No, why do you ask?
Seth: Because it says he knew how far the east was from the west.  He had to know that, right?

A month or two ago I picked Seth up from school and he told me that there was a mayor who got shot.  I was thinking, 'should I have had the news on?  How does my 5 year old know this?  What's happening?'  Then he followed it up with, "and then Obama became mayor."  We chatted a little while longer and the first 'mayor' was shot at a theatre.  Ahhh, now I get it.  I just think we missed a *few* years between there.
[Side note:  Seth refused to go into the movie theater (after we bought the movie tickets and tried to surprise him with them).  I thought this was bizarre.  My dad pointed out that the 'mayor' was shot in a theater.]

A few days ago Seth said, "I can't wait to get to Heaven."  Now, I know this should be all of our attitudes, but I will admit that sometimes I struggle with hearing Seth say that.  Totally selfish on my part.  I am always supportive of this conversation, but my mind wanders.  Anyway, I asked why.  He usually answers because he wants to see Jesus.  This time, "I can't wait to meet Abraham Lincoln."  mm'kay.

I think I have a BIG thinker on my hands.  I'm guessing about two more months of kindergarten and his thoughts will be over my head!

Rookie Run 2012

I exercise to feel stronger and healthier and to set an example for my boys.  I hope they will just always be active and not have to struggle with weight or body image, etc.  Dave has lost a lot of weight and is exercising also - setting a great example for them!

At the mini marathon expo there was a place to register your kiddos for the Rookie Run. For a small fee they got a race bib, t-shirt, and a sweat band, and then upon completion of the "race" they got a medal. They both think my medal is pretty neat so I figured that, for a medal, they would do it. Seth went back and forth about doing it but finally decided it would be fun. His cousin was doing it too and for a few months they are the same age so they were able to start together and I think that was a pretty big selling point too.

The race was short.  A block or so for the older kids and a little less for Luke's age.  I wouldn't even call it "organized" chaos - mostly just chaos.  All of the 4 year olds lined up, with a parent, and then they would just take a handful of them at a time, warm them up, tell them go, and then they ran.  Luke did go on his own, where some of the parents were having to run with other 4 year olds.  And they did have them pinned in and you had to have a little tear off piece of their bib to prove they belonged to you before you could take them away, so that was a little organized I guess. 

All in all, the boys had a great time and Seth can't wait to do it again next year!  Luke might feel the same way but he doesn't express himself in quite the same manner. 

And here are some pictures to recap the day:

My smallest guy was too young to race, but not too young to sport some fine sunglasses!

Luke, running in his sweatband and race t.  He meant business!

So proud of his medal, and tiny bottle of water.

Seth's turn - getting his game face on. 

 Seth racing.  He was SO funny.  I was telling him what an awesome job he did when he finished and he said, "Uh, mom, I stopped and walked a bit."  Uh, Seth, so do I!  He knows that I don't ever dream of racing to win, just to finish, and I hope that helped him not feel bad about walking a bit.

My boys and their cousin, with their medals.  That's a fine looking group of finishers!

Sweets for my sweets...

Y'all know that I LOVE a party - the planning, the decorations, the menu.  But, I do find the cleaning to be a real drain on the fun!  So, because I hate to clean, and because all three boys have birthdays within about three months of each other, we decided to have one big party for all three boys.  We also decided rather spur of the moment on the date - which happened to be not quite two weeks away by the time we chose it.  So, I hightailed into party mode and we were off. 

We decided a dessert bar would be fun. We went really low key on the dinner menu and then I had some fun with the sweets menu.  It all came together pretty well - of course, about midnight the night before my husband, who was a huge (!) help actually said to me, "I didn't know you were going all out."  Umm, then honey, you don't know me!  Ha ha!! 

 

I settled on red and white with a bit of turquoise as our theme colors.  My cricut and I had not been getting along very well but I pulled the equivalent of "turn it off and back on" by disassembling and reassembling and it worked fine.  This left me free to create the fun little banner above.  We went with "celebrate" as it wasn't actually anyone's birthday that particular day.

The six year old and some party balloons. 

 The dessert bar at a glance.  I borrowed the candle sticks and platters from a friend.  She apparently loans the platters out frequently and the party throwers just hot glue whatever on the edges and then peel them off and return them for the next friend's use!  I learned that gum drops and hot glue do not mix.  They stuck and it was so cute and then I looked up and there was a growing pile of gum drops on the table that were just dropping off the platter.  Cinnamon disks were a much better option, AND the boys thought it was fun to unwrap them for me.  Woo hoo!

I also spray painted scraps of wood with chalkboard paint and then wrapped them in ribbon, with just one spot of hot glue so that they could be reused in the future by just swapping out ribbon.  I used chalk and wrote what each dessert was.  I love to label the food because then I don't have to stand around by the food all night and repeat what it all is.

 I made (and David assembled) homemade oatmeal creme pies.  Store bought ones, especially the leading brand, are not safe for Luke so he'd never had one.  I'm still not sure that he ever ate one, but it was fun to know that they can be duplicated at home.

We also made cake pops that we attempted to shape like gum drops and coat in sugar.  We had a dipping party the Thursday before the actual party.  My mom and sister came over to help me dip chocolate cookies, pretzels, and cake pops.  Dave helped out too.

I have decided no party is complete without s'mores caramel corn.  Perhaps just because I know that then I get to eat it, but no one else seems to complain either. 

 I found the triple chip cookie recipe on Bakerella's website and decided to try it as a pan/bar cookie because I really am not a big fan of standing around taking cookies in and out of the oven.  It worked fine and makes a big pan.  (Wow, first I hate to clean and now this - I'm not sounding so domestic, huh?)

 Caramel/chocolate dipped pretzels, a la Gretchen.

 Chocolate dipped homemade chocolate cookies, from Pioneer Woman.  We used (pretend/Luke safe) M&M's, whoppers, and mini marshmallows - all allergy friendly options.

 With so many sweets we needed some milk!  We also had warm coffee, cold coffee, strawberry lemonade, and some soft drinks.

The sweet boys got some gifts.  Max just looks too big here - sitting there on his feet, opening his own gifts. 

 They look like they were so patiently waiting on each other.  You have to love how a picture captures only a tiny moment in time!

 Luke is so full of energy!

The boys got a grill from Grammy and Grampy - "just like Daddy's!"

And for party favors, I put out ziploc bags and begged our guests to take food home with them.  We also had a jar of toothbrushes - don't blame me for your cavities, peeps!

THE mini

I don't have a 'bucket list.'  You can either believe that's because I live such an exciting life that I just embrace things and do them as they come along, or you can assume that it's because I'm too busy trying to keep up with my life to sit around and daydream about other things I could do.  At any rate, IF I had a 'bucket list,' one of the top five items would be "complete THE mini."  Not just any mini (since I already finished one in September), but the 500 festival mini.  I have wanted to do this for a very long time but always had an excuse (some better than others).  Law school while working full-time didn't leave me a lot of time for training.  Having 3 spring'ish birthday babies didn't really lend itself to training.  But this year - no excuses! 

Having finished a half marathon in September, we (my sister and I) needed another event to keep us going.  Or at least I did.  I won't speak for her.  The September half was hot hot hot, so we were looking forward to a nice cool early May half marathon.  HA HA HA.  This was the e-mail we got a few days before the race:

IMPORTANT INFORMATION—PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

High temperatures and humidity are predicted for Saturday. These conditions put runners at increased risk for heat-related problems. Please remember to stay well-hydrated and monitor yourself. You may need to slow your pace and/or take other suitable precautions to minimize the risk of heat-related problems.

But, first, I'll back up just a tiny bit.  My hips have been hurting.  I assume it's because I'm older and overweight.  They've been hurting for months, maybe longer.  At first it was just one and then it progressed to both.  I've lost a few pounds and they still hurt (maybe even worse).  And the more we tried to run the more they hurt.  For the most part, it's just an annoyance and doesn't really stop me from doing anything that I want to do.  But, a couple of weeks ago on a Monday night Gretch and I were out wogging/jalking (whatever combo of the words 'walk' and 'jog' you prefer), and we were running and my right hip hurt so bad that we had to head home.  That was a first - pain so bad that I had to stop. I tried to put socks on later that night and I couldn't lift my foot to put the socks on without sitting down it hurt so bad.  Gretchen forbid me to wog on Wednesday and that was birthday party week so I actually ended up resting it for a week or more.  Then we went on our 10 mile training walk (no jogging whatsoever) and it felt okay - just the normal pain.  That walk was a week before the mini.  We only walked once the following week and we just did that at the gym and kept a nice steady pace.  I know I should go to the doctor (and will now that the mini is over) but I was so worried she would tell me that I coudn't do the mini that I didn't want to go before.  Okay, enough about that.  Really, I think I just shared that so you could feel sorry for Gretch having to hang out with her old fat sister during the mini!


Friday was a good busy day - a PTF-type meeting at the school and then an awesome tea hosted by the kindergarten class for their moms. My sweet boy giving me a sweet smelling flower. 

Then I headed home to finish a little laundry, pack my bag, and await my ride (my mama and Gretch) downtown. Gretchen's aunt-in-law, Patty, was doing the mini too, doesn't live in Indy, got a hotel room, and invited us to stay downtown with her so we didn't have to worry about parking Saturday morning. So, mom dropped us off at the hotel, we dropped off our stuff, grabbed Patty, and headed over to the expo for some packet pickup and shopping. I really was SO excited to be picking up my packet for THE mini. I know it sounds silly to most, but I really was so excited to be doing this. We had a good time wandering around, looking at all of the gear and supplies, and merchandise. 

After a couple hours there we headed back to our hotel for the restaurant's carb loading special of salad and pasta. Unfortunately, the service was dreadful (we kept wondering if they had missed the memo about the 35,000 people registered for the race in the morning), but all in all it was a nice dinner where I ate hot food and didn't have to prepare anyone else's meal. Score-score!

So, the experience:

There was a ridiculous amount of people. It sells out every year. It's the largest half marathon in the country, I believe. They stop taking entrants at 35,000 people. I am not fast, but it was a pain to navigate around people to pass them. I told Gretch that I thought we might walk 15 miles before we were done because of all the weaving to get around.   

These three were all pre race photos. I felt like a cow, herded into my corral and numbered.

I'd heard that walking the track is painful. Not ouch painful, but a long walk painful. I was really looking forward to that part. I mean, it's the IMS! I was warned (thank you) that there would already be people finishing their lap on the track when I started mine. Very true. Walking under the bridge was pretty neat.

Walking the track didn't really seem like it was any different than walking on the streets. We did hit the halfway mark at the track so that was nice. They kept telling us that there would be no hydration stations on the track, etc. and then there was at least one that I remember, maybe even two. Because it was hot.

Soon after we left the track it seemed like every medic station was occupied.  Because it was hot.  Not that I needed a medic but it messed with the mental attitude a bit to see so many people needing hydration or whatever they were needing.  Because it was hot. 

There was a lot of entertainment along the route.  Mostly intentional - bands, DJs, etc.  Some not so intentional - the line at the portable toilets made me laugh often.  I just kept thinking, clearly these people need some young kids for this training - I can go all day without stopping!  Nevermind that I'm pretty sure that if I had stopped walking I never would have started again!

I know Gretch had planned to run more than we got to.  My hip was really hurting.  I told her it was fine to leave me.  Sweetly, she said she wanted to finish the mini with me. 

Even so, we managed to finish about 5 minutes faster than our first half marathon.  We finished, got our medals, bananas, chocolate milk (Can I tell you how much I was looking forward to the chocolate milk?), found our mom and Matt and Delaney and Carson (my boys had swim lessons at the time we were finishing) and I felt very thankful to be done!  I kept getting these waves of feeling super crummy and finally sat down (although I was worried I wouldn't be able to get back up, Mom and Matt assisted me).  Then I figured out that everytime I drank the milk I felt crummy so I switched to water and that made a huge difference! 

Gretch and her family stayed downtown and my momma was my ride home (thanks Mom!).  The boys welcomed me with lots of flowers and hugs.  Except for Max, who refused to speak to me and actually swatted me away while yelling, "no" because I had left him overnight. 

All in all, I am SO glad that I did it; that I finished it; that I finished stronger than my first half marathon; that I finished it with my sister.  But, I'm really not sure I will do this one again.  It was so crowded and there's not much scenic about the neighborhoods on the way to and from the track.  We are registered for the Indy Women's Half again in September and provided I get my hips figured out (I actually made a doctor's appointment!), I'm excited to try to be faster at that one.