Every Sunday

This isn't about going to church every Sunday.  This is about the other thing we do every Sunday.  We clean the house.  Sounds like fun, huh.  Somehow Sunday became house cleaning day.  It's actually kind of nice.  We have it down now.  We both know our "chores".  I am a self-professed slob.  I am not neat and tidy.  I know this.  Charlie is neat and grew up in a spotless house.  I did not.  So the fact that I have a "cleaning day" is big for me.  I like having a clean house on Sunday evenings and starting the week off fresh.  Of course, by Friday the house looks like a tornado has hit it. 
During the week, I cook dinner (at least I attempt to make dinner) and Charlie is in charge of cleaning up the kitchen.  Toys rarely get picked up on a daily basis.  But the busyness of life (junk mail and toys) piles up.  Saturday is grocery day and laundry day.  Sunday is cleaning day.  When we get home from church, Calvin takes a nap and Laci has quiet time watching TV and playing.  I am in charge of cleaning the kitchen.  It's nice when everything is cleaned off the counters and put away.  I also put all the toys away and vacuum.  There is always one last load of laundry left on Sunday too.  Charlie is in charge of sweeping and moping the floors, setting the garbage out and cleaning the toilets.  I could say I don't know how our chores divided up but the simple answer is that I don't like mopping and sweeping the floor or cleaning the toilets.  Charlie is also in charge of ironing.  I call ironing the devil's work and refuse to do it. 
We laugh that cleaning with small children in the house is a wasted effort.  Sometimes I am still putting the vacuum away and Laci has dumped all the toys out of the toy box.  I also spend time putting all the toys away in the correct bins and wonder why I do that.  The kids just dump all the bins into one big pile anyway.  Charlie sweeps and mops the floor and then Monday night after dinner wonders why he bothered doing it because most of Calvin's dinner is under his high chair again. 
But there is a moment every Sunday where the house is as clean as it is going to get.  And it is nice.  There is something symbolic to it.  We are ready to start a fresh week.  The mess and craziness can all start again on Monday.

Learn to Labor and to Start

I was very blessed to have two wonderful grandmothers.  One lived with us most of my life.  I absolutely adored her and have always considered growing up with her one of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me.  I only saw my other grandma a few times a year.  I didn't truly appreciate her, who she was and how much I am really like her until after she died a few years ago. 

My dad used to tell me a quote once that she used to use when he was growing up.  I was thinking it about it today.  My cousin was also told this quote by her father.  The quote is slightly different for both of us as I am sure my dad and my uncle remember it different from their mother.  This is from my dad:  "It is a misquote from "H.W. Longfellow's A Palm of Life. She quoted it, and I am probably misquoting her, as "Up and at it with a gay and cheerful heart, still achieving, still pursuing, learn to labor and to start".  I am just now starting to know what it all means. 

"Up and at it with a gay and cheerful heart..."  I am a morning person.  I jump out of bed each morning.  Well, maybe not jump but I am ready to start the day.  I think she was too.  And what better way to start the day then with a cheerful heart.

"Still achieving and pursuing..."  My grandma was very educated.  She didn't have a lot of formal education.  But she knew how important education was.  Learning is a life long event.  Learning is more than books and school.  The importance of education was passed down to her sons and her grandchildren.  I know I got my love of learning, my drive and my curiousity from her. 

She was definitely go-go-go, always working on something.  I like to go-go-go.  This leads to my inpatience which I probably got from her too.  My dad told me that the original quote said something about "learn to labor and to wait."  My grandma was a hard worker.  My grandma was not a wait-er.  I am not a wait-er.  I remember when I was about 12, we visited Niagara Falls.  After seeing it from every angle possible, I was ready to go.  My dad told me about his vacations as a kid.  And that I am just like his mother.  They would go somewhere, like the Grand Canyon, look at it and then move on.  That is my favorite kind of vacation.  I like to say we have vacation ADD - we cram as much stuff into 7 days as possible.  Williamsburg suggested staying for 3 days, we would good with an afternoon there.  :)

I'm proud to be just like my grandma.  I am thankful that I can share a bit of her with my children through her favorite quote.  I think she would be proud of all of us too. 

How much is too much?

That is something I see struggling with down the road.  Okay, I struggle with it now.  I am talking about activities.  How many activities are too much?  When I was growing up, I was always busy with activities - dance lessons, piano lessons, soccer teams, etc.  I didn't start to play travel soccer until junior high and I was on the high school soccer team.  I took ballet, jazz and tap classes throughout high school.  Tap was my favorite with ballet a close second.  I was busy but I wasn't super committed or great at anything. 

I haven't started Laci in much.  I know once we start "the activity train" it's hard to stop.  Plus, since she goes to daycare and preschool, she has learned how to be in a group and listen to teachers from an early age.  Right now she is taking gymnastics once a week.  She loves it.  We tried swimming lessons last winter and she did not love it.  I signed her up for a soccer season on Saturday mornings this fall.  Plus she will participate in Awana at church on Sunday evenings.  That's 3 activities for the fall.  After this session of Gymnastics she asked to take swimming lessons again.  Right now I feel like we have a good handle on it.  She has been asking for ballet lessons but I have been putting that off.  I didn't start ballet until I was 6 and I want her to have a good handle on gymnastics and that type of activity before switching over.  And I want her to try a little bit of everything.  

One of the advantage I like about most sports is that there is a set start and stop.  There is a season, usually about 8 weeks.  If she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to sign up for the next year.  One of the reasons I have been avoiding ballet is because it is a school year, starting September and continuing to May.  It's a commitment.  But it turns out gymnastics is the same way.  It just keeps going.  I can't get off the gymnastics train.  I just signed her up for another session and then realized she has been going almost continuously since April.  

I know once she gets to elementary school and junior high, decisions will need to be made.  How competitive does she need to be?  Rec sports or travel sports.  Tournements or leagues.  Competitive dance teams.  Does she need to play travel to be "good enough" for the high school team?  Will she even want to play for the high school team?  Then there is the money and the time it takes to do all of these things.  Just coordinating the two kids will be a challenge in itself.  How did my parents do it with four?  It seems like it's a different world from when I was a kid.  Or is it? 

I was talking to a co-worker recently who told me his daughter does competitive dance.  They went to Myrtle Beach this summer and took second place in Nationals.  Wow.  It sounds impressive.  They came in second to an 11 - 12 year old team.  Then he told me that she will be 7 in December.  What?!?  She is only 6 and she went to a national tournament in Myrtle Beach?

All these decisions make my head spin!  I need to keep my eye on the big picture.  Activities teach a lot of things - commitment, people part of a team, time management, setting goals, etc.  Let the kids have fun and be kids.  Let the kids have "unstructured" time.  Keep it Laci and Calvin's decision.  Push them but don't push them.  It's a tough balance. 

Daddy's Friend Car

The yellow Mustang is out of our garage but not out of our hearts.  Laci still points to every yellow car she sees and announces that it is "Daddy's Friend Car".  We went to a "Touch a Truck" event at the mall a few weeks ago full of every kind of truck you can imagine (garbage, firetruck, moving truck, dump truck, etc.) and she was most excited to see a yellow Cobra - Daddy's Friend Car.  Today we were driving and I said "I missed the window" - meaning the window of opportunity to turn left.  She announced that she misses her window too - the little window in Daddy's old car. 

A reminder of the little things

Last night I was stroking Laci's hair as she was laying on the bed.  Whenever I do that, I am reminded of a post a friend of mine posted on Facebook awhile back.  This friend lost both of her parents too young, too soon.  She said that she misses her mom the most when she is stroking her daughter's hair.  I think of that and am grateful for my mom.  And I am grateful for my daughter.

The Sprinkler Run - A Rite of Passage

Sunday afternoon, Laci played in the sprinkler.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.  I was enjoying watching her too much to get a camera.  She started off in her clothes.  Then, as she began stripping, I figured she should probably put a swimming suit on.  I always wonder what goes on in her head when she is playing.  She played with an umbrella in the sprinkler.   At one point, she had some buckets on her head, hitting it with a toy shovel saying "Thar' she blows".  ? I have no idea what that meant.  It was cute.

One mistake we made was she played in the sprinkler right after Charlie mowed.  So she was covered in grass clippings.  Her clothes were covered with grass clippings too so I left them on the deck to dry.  Later, I looked at and didn't see them.  I commented that it looked like her underwear had blown away.  Charlie said that sometimes he sees stray articles of clothing on his runs and wonders how they got there.  Don't worry - we found them on the other side of the deck.  After Charlie turned the sprinklers off, Laci ran off.  I walked around the house but didn't see her.  A few minutes later she popped up and said Calvin was crying - she had just gone in and checked on him.  Sure enough, there was a direct line of water and grass clippings from the door up the stairs into Calvin room.  Yeah.  I'm glad she waited until after we swept and vacuumed the house to do that.  :)

I dragged her outside to clean her off.  She moved a big stone marker on the flower bed exposing a huge pile of ants and she insisted on digging them a hole.  Now she is wet and covered in grass clipping and ants.  I finally convinced her to get away from the ants and she let me clean her up to allow her back in the house.  Oh to be 3 again!

10k? Success or not?

Was my 10k successful or not?  I am not sure.  Before I get into the run itself, let me say a bit about the event.  It was a great event put on by a good family that had something terrible happen to them.  They lost a child.  My coworker and I have worked together in the past and have always gotten along very well.  Our daughters are the same age, born within a month of each other and when we worked together, we talk about our kids a lot.  I haven't worked with him in awhile.  Our sons were supposed to be born within a month of each other too.  But his never had a chance and was still born.  I can not even imagine what they have gone through this past year.  Unfortunately, they are not the only family I know that have gone through that.  This morning as I was feeding my one year old son, I got a little choked up that they do not get to feed their son. 

The event was great.  There was a good turnout from the office and a good overall turnout.  They even had to start it 20 minutes late because there was a long line to get into the park.  Before the run, they had a balloon liftoff and honored all the babies that were lost by reading their names as their families released their balloons.  It was hard not to be effected. 

The course was hilly.  I do not do hills.  I started slowing down on the first hill.  What comes up must come down so I was just waiting for the downhills!  I started to realize that this would be slower than I hoped.  But it was a good cause.  I got to mile 3, still on pace for my slow goal.  I had thrown my fast goal out the window by this time.  And then it all went downhill.  Figuratively - I did not get to actually run downhill.  Someone started telling us to turn.  Big mistake!  I was with a group that got lost.  Suddenly I was on a unmarked trail.  It didn't seem right but we all just kept going.  After awhile, a group of us stopped and didn't know what to do.  Every other race I have ever done was so clearly marked.  I was in the middle of a wooded area hoping not to fall.  Suddenly I didn't care to finish the race, I just wanted out.  It was awful.  We just kept going.  Up and down bridges and stairs.  I wanted to see the path!  We finally made it out.  We asked a volunteer and she said we had less than 2 miles to go and by taking that wrong trail, our finish would be about 6.5 miles.  By this time, I was in a group of about 6.  We just ran to the finish.  I don't know how long we ran but our time was 59:58.  I started talking to other coworkers and everyone doing the 10k got lost.  And not in the same way!  People were running all over the place.  We shared stories of the goofy loops we made and the crazy paths we were on.  Some people estimated they ran 7 or 7.5 miles.  Some people were guessing 5 miles.  I looked at the map of the course after and my guess was that I did about 5 miles.  Unfortunately, I was upset and disappointed about it.  It wasn't anyone fault.  But it means that one of my 3 running goals has not been achieved.  I am 0 for 2 so far.  My third goal (400 miles) is still very achievable.  I have 100 miles to go.  I know of a 10k near my house in November that I am planning to do to recoup this goal.  All in all it was a successful event for a good cause for a good family. 

P.S.  Calvin has successful moved up to the 13m - 18m room at daycare.  But he is sitll not walking.  Standing better and oh so close to walking.  Any day now...