I was not an athlete growing up. I quit softball half way through my first season when I was 8 telling my dad, “I hate it. You get all sweaty and dirty and stuff!” (The fact that I had gotten hit in the face twice with a softball didn’t help either).
In eighth grade I found myself at a new school and decided to play lacrosse. My friends were all playing and it seemed like fun. I remember the look of shock on my mom’s face when she picked me up from practice the day this pictures was taken. What happened to her little girlie girl? Here I was covered in mud and smiling!
I had a great time playing lacrosse. Basically it was time after school each day to hang out with my friends. And I had to suffer through some running on the side. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted to be good, really I did. But to be honest, the only reason I was on the team was because our school was small enough that they didn’t have cuts. I held the role of bench warmer aka team encourager. I have many “spirit awards” sitting in my box of high school mementos. I sat the bench for 5 years. When the team was ahead by enough points, the coach would let me go in and play. And my loving parents faithfully came to watch for those short moments in the spotlight. I think they were the real encouragers.
Visit We are THAT Family for more blasts from the pasts!
Anyone want to guess what this picture shows….
That is the roof of our "white" Ford Escape. I guess you could say its been awhile since car washing made it to the top of the to-do list.
You know it’s time to go it again when your kid hears the term ‘car wash’ and responds with a giggle, "You can’t wash cars! That’s silly!"
Ummm….yea…the last time we washed our car this is what my son looked like.
2 years later… the picture has changed somewhat.
And we’ve acquired a little more "help." 
Seems the circus life has kept us a bit distracted over the past 2 years… Yes, I am embarrassed to admit the last time we washed our car was May of 2006. Our middle daughter is actually older then our son was that last time. Pathetic!
But now that we have such eager helpers, I am sure we will make it out to wash them again before our son is in kindergarten. And maybe another 3 or 4 times before he is driving them? Maybe….
Check out 5 Minutes for Mom for more Tackle it Tuesdays.
**Updated…for those those that asked Movie Review Below**
I’m going on a hot date tonight with my hubby and I am SO excited!! My legs are shaved, eye brows plucked, and I’m even going to wear a skirt and put on make up!! Perhaps I’ll even add a little jewelry for sparkle!!
This time we aren’t going to Toys R Us! I got free movie tickets at the grocery store earlier this summer so thanks to Sarah’s raving review, we’re going to see the new Batman Movie and eating dinner too (one where we don’t have to cut food into tiny pieces, sop up spilled milk, AND we can even have a complete conversation)!
I love my kids TONS, but I am super duper excited to have a night out on the town with my man!
Since many of you kindly asked, I thought I’d share a few quick thoughts on the movie. My hubby and I thought it was excellent! It was well written and superbly acted. I will say it seemed a bit long, almost like it ended at one point and it went into a second movie. But it was really well done and I thought it had such an interesting plot that I didn’t mind. Bob, you are right, the joker is sorta depressing, but one of the things we like about Batman is that the bad guys are truly evil, there is no ambiguity. Heth Ledger did an outstanding job of portraying a truly mad and evil man… I’d say it was an award winning portrayal. You can see the effects of sin and evil on the town of Gotham. If you want a picture of a city void of God’s common grace, Gotham is such a place. I would recommend the movie. However, I would not recommend it for children, just wanted to set the record straight. It is not called Dark Knight for nothing!
And to those that wondered, Scott and I had a fabulous night out together. It was fun to get dressed up and eat and talk and hold hands. Thanks to Nana and Pop for babysitting for us!
I had a great post written "in my head" Saturday morning. I was setting off to do a 6 mile run. It would have been the longest run I had ever done in my life. Before training for the Annapolis 10 Mile that I am working towards at the end of the summer, the farthest I had run was a 5K (3.1 miles) So, this would have been about twice that.
Ya know how they say don’t count your chickens before they hatch?
Yea…don’t write your blog achievements before you actually do them.
I learned a few more things on my run Saturday morning.
- The later in the day you run, the hotter it is and thus the harder it is to run. Sleeping in on Saturday was SO not worth it once I was running in the sun.
- Starting on a hill is the way to go. I clearly do not know how to pace myself. At home I start going up hill which really helps. This time I started down hill and then flat…I burned out fast.
- When given the choice of running beside the water or under the shade of a building, I go with the shade. Views are nice but when you are hot and tired, you’ll slow down for every tree you find.
- There is no stopping to get a rest for a minute… this is a deadly trap.
Yea, I tried that and I am sad to tell you I didn’t finish my run. I was tired, and I gave up. And the long walk back to my family waiting at the playground stunk.
I have never considered myself to be a competitive person. I played lacrosse in high school (by play I mean I wore the uniform while sitting on the bench). I didn’t really care if we won or loss, I was just there to have fun with my friends.
But walking back from my run, I felt like crying. I had a goal. I wanted to run 6 miles that day and instead I ran less than what I had done in the past. I couldn’t blame it on anyone. I had no excuse. I stopped. I didn’t meet my goal. I felt like for the first time I could relate to a receiver who was wide open but let the ball slip through his fingers, or the basketball player who missed the free throw shot…no one to blame but yourself.
By the time I met up with my crew, I had a new resolve. I would try again Monday. I would not give up. I have 4 weeks to prepare to run 10 miles. Currently I know I can run 4 without a problem. 6 to go… Had I not set this goal for myself, I am confident at this point I’d give up. I do not see that as an option since I have registered, blogged about it, and signed up with friends and family to run with me.
So today I will try again. I can only hope that the thrill of victory will be all the sweeter after tasting the agony of defeat this weekend.
But I won’t write that post yet…
There were a few blogs I read regularly this winter before I started blogging myself. One of these is Confessions of a CF Husband. Nate and his wife Tricia have had an incredible year, filled with many scary and uncertain moments. It is obvious to me from reading their blogs that they love the Lord and they truly trust in His sovereign will for their lives. It is both humbling and inspiring to read about their journey.
After reading his posts this week, I have been incredibly impressed with Nate and his wife Trica’s strong faith during discouraging and uncertain times. When the test results they received this week weren’t the ones they were hoping for or expecting, he wrote with honesty and candor about their feelings, and yet truly praised the Lord through the difficult times.
I want to encourage you to take some time this weekend to read his posts from this week, starting with this post and working through the week. They are a great example of a couple deeply in love with each other and their Lord, trusting the Lord each day for each and every breath.
Please also spend some time praying for his wife Tricia, and their daughter Gwyneth.
Weekend Thoughts:
My posts typically relate funny anecdotes about the happenings here at the circus. While my days are seldom “normal” enough to leave me without a “post worthy” moment, I use my last post of the week to highlight something a little more “thoughtful” and significant. If you had a thoughtful post from this last week, or choose to make a new one, please feel free to add a link in the comments section below. I’d love to hear what others are learning.
Ever play the game Mad Gab? One team holds up a card with a gibberish phrase and the other team has to translate it. Translating what my two year old says is a lot like playing this game.
Case in point, last week my daughter was teasing my mom. My mom wanted her to call her Grandma and she knew this so she would call her everything but that. As they looked each other in the eye their charade went something like this…
Grandma: Hi Girlie Girl (Giggle giggle)
Daughter: Hi Mommy (Giggle giggle)
Grandma: Ok, Hi Papa (Giggle giggle)
Daughter: Hi Tommy (Giggle giggle)
Grandma: Hi Daddy (Giggle giggle)
Daughter: Hi (I have no idea how to type this phrase phonetically. I am going to let you listen to it because what she intended and what is sounded like are two very different things. Click on the little triangle to hear ).
Yea… poor Grandma heard “Hi Retard” and didn’t know what to say. I swear you could have heard a pin drop after that as ever single person in the room seemed to hear it and freeze.
I quickly translated…
She said, “Hi race car”
Daughter: Yea, Hi retard
Grandma and the rest of the room: Huge sigh of relief as poor Grandma thought her two year old grand daughter had called her a retard.
Since the day he was born, people have been telling me that my son looks like his Daddy. He’s been referred to as Scott 2.0 and Mini-Me. I don’t argue that there is no debating who his Daddy is, but I will say that he’s got my eyes.
Make that eye.
For photography.
Check out these pictures I took of my parents when I was in elementary school.
First we have my mom showing off her Christmas ear rings… at least I THINK that is my mom… it looks like her hands but I managed to cut off the top of her head. Then we have my Dad showing us what I assume is his birthday gift, can’t see it though. I did get a great shot of our wall though with my smiling Dad off to the side. Apparently when gifts were given, I got the privilege of holding the camera. Big Mistake. Clearly I struggled with framing the subject.
Now here is a photo my son took of his Mommy and Daddy at Christmas when he was 2 1/2. See the resemblance?
Yep, clearly he has his mothers eye.
Daddy takes way better pictures. Like the ones he took here at the zoo, framed beautifully, heads all in tack.
I think my son might be a protegy though… at 2 and 1/2 he was taking pictures on par with my photography at age 9 or 10…wait, maybe that means he is like his father!!
Check out We are THAT Family for more pictures and anecdotes from the past.
We have a tradition at our house that we do every day when Daddy comes home. I don’t know exactly when or how it started, but as soon as Maggie (our dog) barks to let us know he’s home, my older two children dash and hide. Daddy then has to find them. I’m sure the words, "Daddy’s home…HIDE!" were just the words he longed to hear after a hard day of work, but he always plays along and looks "high and low" till he finds them and is greeting with smiles and giggles. My son has actually gotten quite good at hiding, but my daughter still has a lot to learn.
Hmmmm…..where could she be?
For more Wordless Wednesdays, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.
I didn’t used to be a procrastinator, but now that I have 3 kids, I tend to take care of the urgent first. This means that sometimes my really good plans get altered when real life sets in. I have found that if I want to tackle a large project or extra thing (extra being not laundry, groceries, cleaning, cooking… those necessities of life) I need to make a self-imposed deadline in order for it to happen. It needs its own "urgency" so to speak.
When my first born turned one I made a scrapbook of his first year. I finished it shortly before his first birthday so I was able to sit it out at his first birthday party for friends and family to skim through. 2 years later when my daughter was born, I made a similar book for her. As I sat down every night for a month working on it I told myself with my next child I will work a little each month so I don’t have such a monumental task in front of me with three kids vying for my attention at the same time. I really intended to work on it a little each month.
That’s not exactly how book number three happened. In fact, I didn’t even leave myself a month. I cropped the first picture only one week before her party and I spent every night last week working on her book. I finished the book at 3 am the night before her party. I knew that not many people would look at the book at the party but I also knew that if I didn’t sit down and finish it before her party, chances are she would be graduating high school with a half finished baby book. So,I cropped, taped, and laid out the pages of her book, driven by this self imposed deadline.
It worked! I now have a completed 45 spread baby book for my baby girl. I know without this goal, I’d be sitting with an empty book right now.
The only way I can make progress on "extracurriculars" is by setting goals and working to achieve them. Often times I give myself a monthly to do list. This approach works for me, it keeps me from getting defeated when life gets busy. For other tips that work for others, check out Rocks in My Dryer.
In college I had some friends who had wipe off boards and would write up some funny or amusing phrase they’d over hear and it would stay on the "quote board" until the next memorable statement. Anyone else do this?
Well, I guess I am using this blog post as my quote board… here are a few memorable ones from the past several weeks.
While drinking some water one hot evening my son said to me, "Mom, soon this is going to be pee!"
When my son was sick last week I told him not to get too close to his sisters so they wouldn’t get his germs and get sick. When my middle child came over to him later in the day he told her, "You have to stay away, I have germs." to which she responded in a whiny voice, "I want germs… I WANT germs too!"
I looked over at my baby girl yesterday afternoon to find her standing on the toy box. This was not safe (since she is just learning to walk) so I took her down and every time she tried to climb up I told her no. She’d look up at me and mutter some unintelligible babble. But it was the same unintelligible babble each time… I swear to you it sounded like she said, "what’s up with that?" Her siblings were on the toy box (which they are now no longer allowed to do) and each time she went over to climb up, I’d say, "No Baby" to which she’d look up at me and mutter, "whutzupitat"
