five things

Five things I am fairly certain I will never do:

1. Scrapbook. Not a chance.
2. Flip my eyelids inside out like boys do to gross out girls.
3. Wear a bicycle helmet.
4. Be the girlfriend of a guy in a garage band who writes a song about me and then makes it big.
5. Take my kids to Chucky Cheese.

Five things I hope to do before the bucket flies:

1. Learn to play & get good at tennis. I'm planning on signing up for lessons with my kids this coming summer. I'm so excited!!
2. Always stay friends with all of my family.
3. Go to Alaska, Paris, Germany, & New York with Clay.
4. Calm the freak down about getting old & age gracefully like a decent human being.
5. Learn to roller blade.
   

Five things I am glad I have done:

1. Made it a point to frequently go out with girlfriends after hitting the "married with children" status.
2. Taken auto shop class in high school. That's still paying off.
3. Ran away to Vegas with a tall, dark, handsome, and fun man to get married in a drive through.
4. Worked HARD to reach the point where I could lift 760 lbs. with my legs, s-l-o-w-l-y for 3 minutes straight.
   
5. Moved away from home for college.

big deal

We watched The Vow last weekend & the guy in it says something along the lines of this & it keeps going through my head.

"The truth is we're the sum of all the moments we've experienced with all the people we've ever known... and these moments become our history."

I've been thinking about key moments in my life that changed things or how I viewed things or what I did next.

Clay had some friends over tonight. I was put on bedtime duty, the kids went down great & I took off for a bit and got a piece of cheesecake with my Mary. I love her. And then I came back home and Clay was still at it, playing games with a handful of guys in my kitchen, listening to their loud music and talking about work and strategy and laughing.

So now I'm lying in bed, watching Marley & Me. They came to the part where they found out she miscarried. The look in her eyes is perfect to describe the way you feel when you go through that moment. I've done that twice. But the moment I thought about was when I was 6 months along with my little Brayden. I went into the doctor and was laughing really hard with him. Then we decided to listen to the heartbeat. He couldn't find it right away. I'd done that moment before. I'd seen that look before. That focus on the doctor's part where they're no longer thinking about their conversation with you. There's hesitancy and instant tension in the room. Because it's taken a little too long to find the heartbeat. And I think my own heart stopped for a moment.

And he grabbed my hand.

Because he was nervous for me. Because Clay wasn't there. I don't even know if doctor's are supposed to do that.

And he squeezed my hand like he needed to say something, but didn't want to say it.

And then we heard it. That heartbeat that meant my baby was okay. That meant we could start laughing again and that I wasn't going to leave crying.

I don't know why that moment comes to me over and over. It probably took a total of 15 seconds or something insignificant like that. But that little grabbing of my hand, like he needed it as much as I did, was a big deal to me.

this little piggy

....stayed home.

Poor sick boy had to cancel his playdate for the day.

The only consolation-a bath.

a lovely weekend

...can put a crazy week into perspective and I'm grateful for that. This past week Clay was roaming the streets of Austin, eating delicious food and listening to great bands. And working. I was home with our kids and we had some adventures of our own.

Backwards Day. Brandt & Brooklyn woke up on their own at 6:00 to make sure they would be ready. Brooklyn thought the backwards pants were the funniest & giggled really hard when they felt like they would split when she sat down. They even wore their underwear backwards.

Brandt & Brooklyn got lost in response to my previous post.  We made some decisions on that.

Finished reading The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland together. Good funny book. I was worried that it was too hard for them to understand with the way they talk and the words used. Not to mention the fact that it is a nonsensical story & thereby difficult to follow in the first place! They loved it. Their favorite parts were Alice being huge and crying so much in the hall that she created a small lake with her tears and then after shrinking and having to swim out of it, wishing she hadn't cried so much. They loved the Mock Turtle's song, and though it was hilarious when Bill the Lizard was kicked & flew out the chimney. They both are very excited to continue on and start reading Through the Looking Glass together.

Played basketball as a family as Brayden wandered the gym. I finally learned the proper way to shoot a ball. It's about time! I'm practicing.....

Made lasagna with Brooklyn for dinner. She was so proud of herself & I was proud of her. "They" always say you should have your kids cook with you and in general, my response to that is, "WHEN?!?" But we did it on a lazy Sunday afternoon (when I had a bucketful of patience) and we had fun together laughing about the noodles going for a swim in the pot and spreading sauce and cheese everywhere.

It was a rather gray week and I admit it kind of got me down, that absence of sunshine. But I do love coziness. We had a cozy morning when a cat came round to our back door to Brayden's delight. They entertained one another for about an hour.

Brandt & Brooklyn have been so sweet to each other lately. They prefer to play together over friends and have been taking care of each other with hardly a snip of fighting. SO NICE!!! That makes me really happy to see.

Brooklyn has been working really hard on her reading and just made it up to grade level this past week! I'm so proud of her and happy she got there!

I did Fairy Tale Friday for Brooklyn's class. I chose Rumplestiltskin. We read the book, made crowns and each of the kids drew 4 random words from a bag to put together their own crazy name. They loved it and we had fun.

Lately we run through a little routine with Brayden while he's in his highchair. He claps, waves, dances, gives five, gives rocks, blows kisses, and does peek-a-boo. He peek-a-boos with his blanket, but if you try to get him to do it in his highchair, he grabs my hand & puts it over his eyes for him. Haha!
He says "Daddy", "Mama" (VERY rarely), "Da" (Brandt), "Ba: (Brooklyn), "ee-day" (birdie), and "ba" (ball), "owie", & "hot", "ouch" (for yucky).
He squeals when he sees animals (especially dogs & birdies).
He loves to tickle any skin he can find & thinks it's the best thing ever to tickle someone. But it totally hurts because he's just scratching us. :)
His favorite books are a touch-&-feel farm animals book and Dr. Seuss's There's A Wocket In My Pocket.
His favorite blanket, by far, is his owl blanket.
He loves to go places and always goes to the proper basket in the front room and finds his hat & brings it to us to show us he wants to go. Just like a little puppy.
He loves going to the childcare while I help out at school or exercise. They love him there and always comment on what a happy little soul he is.

My little helper, helping.

Went to see The Vow & giggled with some good girlfriends. 

breathe

You are all free to sleep well at night, I have finally updated my fitness blog. I apologize for the crazy stress and angst that was sure to have caused you.

walka walka walka

Me lil'mum came over yesterday to help me out of crisis mode. Thank the heavens above for fantastic moms!! Brayden's been sick and we have been confined to the house, we two. By the time Clay walks in the door I'm to the point of not even WANTING to go anywhere because I'm worn out. So she came and freed me up to zip to the grocery store and take Brooklyn the "snack bag" at school. And when I returned, we sat around awhile to chit chat about this & that.

We came upon the subject of walking.

And now I would like to know your opinion on the matter. When my mom was 5, she walked over 3 blocks alone to kindergarten. She reminded me that the world is a different place than when she was 5. To which I agreed.

But someties I would really like to disagree.

Like when Grandma Burns talks about how things were when her kids were little and they ran amuck in the fields until they just HAD to come in and get something to eat. I kind of love that idea of life & freedom & childhood.

So we moved somewhere that I feel we're able to do that more freely & that it is even encouraged and hoped for. And I like that. I agree with sending my children out as they age on foot, scooter, bike, skateboard, or pogo stick to get themselves where they'd like to go. Rather than me driving everywhere, for a myriad of reasons. It's healthier. It's more fun. It's good to be out in nature.

Is the world in fact a different place or is our perception different because of our age & life experience? Are we just more aware of crime & scary stuff or has there actually been an increase? Does it just feel that way because we're flooded with it in our daily lives now? Because, think about it, the internet shrinks the world. Television shrinks the world. We have an abundance of media and information now that puts Kentucky, and Washington, and Georgia right in our laps along with everything that is going on there. But perhaps if the only news we received was the news that affected our own little circle directly, we would feel that the world was the same place it was 50 years ago?

Or maybe we view the world differently because we're older and we understand what CAN happen and therefore do everything not to allow that opportunity to arise, thereby making the streets a less safe place because they are distrusted and deserted.

Feel free to let me know if none of this is making sense. I was just going over the quote in my mind from my sidebar this morning that says, "Your perception creates your reality, what you focus on becomes the world you create." And I wondered to myself what kind of world I am creating. What kind of world we as a general whole are creating with our perceptions of safety.

My mom and I both strongly agreed on a buddy system as being invaluable. My children would like to walk places that are 6 blocks away or so through the neighborhood. And I would like to let them (with a buddy.) Am I nuts?


Your thoughts?