What a week!

It's been a hell of a week. Full of emotional ups and downs, tears of joy and of pain ... I'm exhausted and it's only Wednesday.

The fun started Saturday night. First there was this:

Watching, from the comfort of the upper deck, a wedding at a venue that friends of mine own. Isn't that an awesome campfire pit? Once the wedding was over, we went down and roasted marshmallows ourselves. Awesome.

Then it was time to go home. As I was walking back down the stairs, I tripped. And now, this is how I spend my days:

With a broken foot.

We spent Sunday morning in the ER (because I refused to go when I got home Saturday night). The orthopedist doesn't want to see me until next week, to let the swelling go down. That's all I know. It sucks. But the pain is lessening, so that's good.


So then Tuesday rolls around, and this happened (as you may have seen on facebook, twitter, yesterdays blog post, or even the Times):

which was pretty freaking amazing. I feel I've gone on quite a lot about this in various forms of media, so you all get the drift there.

Not to be out of the spotlight for long, the tween had his own way of getting attention. After two eight hour days of intense soccer camp, he came home Tuesday afternoon not feeling well. We'd stocked him up, we thought, with Gatorade and water and the right kind of foods (this is not our first rodeo folks), but he was clearly dehydrated. We were on him the rest of the night about drinking more fluids, but at that point it was too late. About twenty minutes after he went to bed he started violently vomiting and off he and hubs went to the ER.


Which, by the way, just about killed me. Damn broken foot.


So today, recovery for him looked like this:

Follow up doctor visit. No camp. Note the messy hair, bags under his eyes, and the two ER bracelets on his wrist. Conclusion - either a stomach bug or dehydration. Presents the same. Treats the same.

Quite a week. Let's hope it settles down a bit. I'm not sure how you top watching your kid meet the President. And let's not even think about how it could be worse - we just know that it is possible and hope the good mojo stays and the bad juju goes far away.


Cheers folks. I'm ready for bed.

Tween fashion

Today's outfit is brought to you by the tween, and I am BUMMED I didn't take a picture of it. I'll do my best to paint the picture ...

He is at soccer camp today (we're on spring break). It was raining HARD when we left the house this morning.

He came out of his room wearing his orange nylon shorts, that are not of the athletic variety. They are more like a hiking short and I hate them. They are orange, did I mention that? And he's going to play soccer for three hours in them.

He was also wearing his blue and red zip up Adidas nylon soccer jacket over a white under armour shirt. White socks, guards & cleats.

So far we are wearing orange, navy blue, and red. And white.

To keep himself warm in this rainy weather, he topped it off with his purple, fur-lined, Husky hat with the ear flaps. Sort of like this, only purple with a big UW logo on the front.

Seriously, best outfit I've seen in a while. I'll try and take a photo when I pick him up, but by then the hat will be drenched and probably tucked into his soccer bag (or left on the field).

I'm totally going to blog that

The tween wants to play a new x-box game. We do not play x-box games on school nights. But he's trying.

I told him we couldn't tonight, but I wanted him to give me a hug and tell me how much he loved me.

Tween: "Um ... I love you taller than the  ... uh ... I love you more than ... um ..."

Me: "Wow."

Tween: "No, I'm trying to remember the words from that book."

Me: "I know what you are trying to do, but I want to hear something from you, not a book."

Tween: "Okay. Um. I love you tastier than the tastiest pizza ever known."

Me: "I'm totally going to blog that."

Moooom. Please.

The toddler and I decided to walk to school this afternoon to pick up the tween (rather than drive). Though I love the fresh air and exercise, it annoys the tween because he then has to lug his cello home. It's such a burden.

Picture from last fall. When it was sunny and pretty out. Also note that his backpack is not with him, which means he's thrown it in his sister's stroller as he can't be burdened with BOTH the cello and the backpack.

Today he says to me, "Mom, can I push the stroller?"

Me: "No. I'm not going to carry your cello for you. You are the one that picked the cello, you have to carry it home."

Tween: "Mooom!" (in that whiny, frustrated voice) "Please."

Me: "No."

Tween: "Gah. Can't you just do it for once?"

For once. As though I don't do anything for him usually. Oh, teenage years, I see you looming. Stay far away from my charming, sensitive, funny little boy.

A bit later he was telling the toddler that she was so lucky to be nestled into her stroller (it was a bit windy, and starting to rain). And that someday she would be in fifth grade and have to carry her heavy instrument home while her little brother got to ride in the stroller.

Um. Pardon me. Her little brother? She does not currently, nor will she ever, have a little brother.

Where does he come up with these things?

Did you just kick your brother?

Last night hubs and I were standing in the kitchen talking. The tween and the toddler were standing in the doorway of the kitchen, waiting for me.

Tween: Ouch! Don't kick me! She just kicked me!
Me (to the toddler): Did you kick him?
Toddler: No
Me: Did you just kick him?
Toddler: No.
Me (to the tween): did she just kick you?
Tween: Yes.
Me (to the toddler): Did. You. Just kick. Your brother. ?
Toddler: No.
Me: WHY did you kick your brother?
Toddler (in her most pouty voice): Because I thought he was a ball.

Just another day in paradise around here.

You mean like Zeus?

Tween: Is it true that there is only one theory on how the universe was created? The big bang theory?

Hubs: No ...

Tween: What is another theory?

Hubs: That God created it ...

Tween: God? You mean like Zeus?

Oy, we've done a bad job with this one, haven't we?

"Mom, sit down ..."

The tween came home from school yesterday and said to me, in a serious voice, "Mom, sit down, we need to talk about something."

These are not comforting words to a parent. Is he moving out? Did he kill someone? Did he get expelled from 5th grade? Has he been offered an amazing football scholarship in Europe?

What?!?!

All is fine, fortunately. He got accepted into the safety patrol at school. Which means he has to be at school early one day a week, and stay late that same day, to work as a crossing guard.

He's growing up. I hate that.

Cleanliness

"Yes mom, I cleaned up the kitchen when I was done this morning"

"Yes, I made my bed. And I picked up my room. And those boxes you asked me to take out to the recycling bin two days ago? Yes, I did that too."

And he's the easy one lately.

__________________________________________

Update: As I was posting this, I looked over at the toddler. She was holding the honey from the above picture. Like a cup. Drinking it. Because my children are normal.

Life

The varying degrees of my day:

"Mommy," says the toddler, holding a coin, "do you want heads or Veggie Tales?" It took me a minute to understand she was trying to flip the coin and wanted me to call a side. Cute.

It's 35 degrees today. Everyone at school was dressed with hats and gloves and down coats. Not my tween. He was wearing basketball shorts and a t-shirt with an under armour underneath. I had to argue with him to get the under armour on. His sweatshirt was "in his backpack."

The teenager has officially applied early action to two schools. Applications have been sent to Georgetown and Northeastern. He is VERY excited.

Halloween fun

Halloween is fun when there is a toddler in the house. It's also fun when said toddler decides, on a whim, to dress up as a super hero. In her brother's old Darth Vader costume. With a tu-tu. And her velvet cape. Because, really, that is just awesome.

Princess Vader, the super hero

Our first outing in the costume was to the grocery store. She was quite a hit. Then we went to big brother's "Mad Science" party at the elementary school.

I was a little worried about bringing her to the party with a classroom full of tweens, but the kids were great with her. She went to each station with her brother and all the other kids doted on her. After all the activities were done, while the kids were "cleaning up," the teacher put on some music (Thriller) and they all cheered as the toddler did a goofy little dance for them.

Can you say sugar high? And missed nap time?

Later in the evening my niece and nephews came over to create the chaos that must accompany any Halloween night. To counteract the madness, the adults in the house enjoyed some hot chocolate with a choice of Rumpleminz or Baileys.

And then they were off to beg for candy, while I held down the fort at home and enjoyed the quiet house.

Happy Halloween from Princess Vader, Yoda, Thomas the Train, the Leopard and the Football Star.

Sleep issues with the tween

The tween has been having a battle with sleep as of late. It goes back to almost infancy, when he was diagnosed with night terrors (not fun!). He's not having the terrors again, but he wakes up some mornings with big, dark bags under his eyes. He already has issues focusing, but with this lack of sleep it makes it so much harder for him during the day. We've been troubleshooting different ideas, but to no avail. He has trouble falling asleep and he has trouble staying asleep. We finally broke down and went to the doctor yesterday.

The first thing they did was test him for anemia (negative). Then we talked about his sleep patterns and how to watch for the signs that he is tired. We are supposed to watch for the time when he is engaging and conversational, but not silly or overly emotional (is there such a time?).

At that point, we should give him another 20-30 minutes and then start the bedtime routine (apparently, if he is already yawning and acting tired, he should already be in bed).  The doctor  also  recommended we give him Melatonin supplements every night for at least two weeks, to see if that helps him fall asleep. (Note, he was much more refreshed this morning)

We chatted a bit about other ideas (shower before bed, move bedtime a bit earlier, bedtime and wake time should be the same every day, etc) . Then she did a quick exam.

As she was feeling around his throat, she asked if thyroid issues ran in our family (no). Apparently his are slightly enlarged. She ordered a blood test to check his thyroid level, and his Vitamin D level for good measure. This was his first blood draw (that he can remember) so it was a little exciting for him.

We should get the results today.

Side note: I googled 'thyroid problems in kids' so I could put a link over that word up above. Doing medical research online, based on scary words your doctor uses, is never EVER a good idea. I am now in a total panic over the possibilities. I've also just realized my doctor said she will be out today. I think I will go call the nurses line. And pace the house until I hear back. I'll post an update as soon as I hear.

**UPDATE 2:00pm: Thyroid tests came back completely normal. Whew.

Bullying in the tween world

The tween is having a bit of a problem with one of his classmates at school. Most days, when I pick him up from school, the first ten minutes or so are spent listening to him vent about one particular classmate. It's frustrating and heartbreaking and reminds me why I absolutely hate recess at the older elementary ages. The politics of 4th, 5th and 6th grade kids ... oy. It makes my heart hurt. Both of my boys were/are always way more stressed about the social complexities of recess than about school work.

Mostly the current issues revolve around the daily football or soccer game. Said kid won't pass the ball to my tween, tells the others not to pass him the ball because he's not very good. He "can't catch", he "can't score", "don't pick him for your team" or "don't let him play with us, he sucks."

I really don't like this kid.

I don't really think that whether my son is a good athlete or not should even be relevant in this story.

He is a good person, he loves sports and he wants to play them with his friends. This kid is taking the fun out of it. I mean come on; it's recess.

So today, during the daily football game, this kid told all the other kids that he'd seen my son at soccer try-outs last spring and that he didn't make the team because he sucked at soccer.

The mama bear in me just about lost it when I heard this, especially listening to him try to choke the words out without giving in to the frustrated tears. I gave him a hug. A big bear hug that I didn't want to let go.

Because he was embarrassed.

For not making a select team.

He's ten, for crying out loud!

I asked him, again, why he continues to play with this kid. But the answer never changes. "Mom, I'm not trying to play with him, but we all want to play football/soccer and there is only one ball. The recess teachers say we have to let everyone play."

We hugged some more, because I just needed to keep him close. We talked about a lot of things, about how proud I am of the person he is today. About what a good sport he is with his own soccer team and how proud we are that he is out there giving so much effort trying to better his skills. Eventually I got him smiling. He even laughed a couple times, and he shifted gears a bit, felt better about things.

But I still can't let it go.

This is my sweet, empathetic child, the one who feels everyone else's emotional pain as much as his own. He is getting a rough lesson right now, and I want it to stop.

But I know I can't fix it. I know that I can only give him the tools, then he has to figure out how to apply them. This is part of growing up.

I hate it.

It sucks.

I know there are bigger things at stake here, on all sides. This other kid is turning in to a bit of a bully. At some point, I might have to start chatting with some teachers. More importantly though, I need to make sure my son can hold his head up at school, be proud of himself and the things that he has achieved. And I need to help him understand that he cannot let anyone else define him, that he needs to respect himself and love himself and find the strength from within to deal with this, or any, adversity.

That's heavy stuff for the end of the night.

Thankfully, though, there is twitter. I just saw this tweet and it made me laugh. And shift my own gears a bit.

@christine_gibbs: Life is tough. I recommend getting a manicure and a really cute helmet.

So now I will go to bed, perhaps pondering what sort of helmet I need. Because tomorrow is a new day and we're going to kick some ass.


And maybe get a pedicure.

Lighting the Night

This past weekend, the tween and I joined hundreds of other local peeps doing the Light the Night walk around Greenlake to support, honor and remember those who have fought against blood cancers.

Participants are given a balloon in one of three colors: gold for those honoring someone who lost the battle, white for those who are surviving it, and red for those of us supporting the fight. There are little lights in the base of the balloons; as it gets dark it is quite impressive to see all the lights twinkling around the lake. I'm so bummed I can't find a good picture of us walking the lake, because it's a pretty amazing sight. Perhaps I can get my photographer friend to take a few next year (I'm talking to you, Craig).

From the Light the Night facebook page.

I do this walk, and raise money for this cause, because it has affected people I care about. This is my second year, and it is one of those events I will do forever. Because it's that important to me.

Let me introduce you to Ashley. This is her, two years ago, right before she was diagnosed with ALL.

She was 4. She was diagnosed very early, with no symptoms, because it was caught while she was being treated for something else.

Then the battle began.

And it sucked.

This is Ashley, mid treatment, while she was on her Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World.

And here she is today, with her family, at the Light the Night walk.

They will be done with treatment in December. But I don't imagine the fear will ever go away.

Watching my friend go through this is heartbreaking and empowering all at once. This whole family amazes me and I am so proud of how they have all survived this horrible, terrible disease. Check out the charity they started to help other families who are fighting this same disease. (And while we are supporting them, check out their little family business here).

As we walk around the lake, there are signs put up along the path. The first set of signs are the ones in memory of those who have passed away, the ones we are honoring. Heartbreaking though it is, one of Ashley's friends is in that group. A little girl who was going through the same battle, but she didn't make it.

You guys, she didn't make it. She was just a little kid, with a whole life she didn't get to live.

.

After a moment to remember her, we move on to the photos of those we are supporting, those who are surviving. And there, two pictures before Ashley, is a photo of another friends son.

You guys, cancer sucks. Any kind of cancer. It hurts so many people.

We need to find a cure.

Please do what you can to help support the fight, even if it's something as simple as holding a balloon. Because even that can be powerful.

Honoring the survivors in the pre-walk ceremony

pictures

I can't get enough of this photo of the tween and the toddler.

I took it after school one day last week. The tween complained the entire walk home from school and I wouldn't let him come in the house until he got over it and left all the 'grumpy' outside. The toddler was trying to cheer him up.

Today, the toddler found my aprons (actually, this one belonged to my grandmother and I love it. Technically it's supposed to wrap around your waist, but she has her own style). She also found her brothers chef hat. And moved her kitchen from the dining room into our kitchen.

She keeps her kitchen as clean as mommy does.

And finally, in case you missed it on facebook or twitter, the new uniforms arrived for the teenager's soccer team.

Soccer for the tween

This past summer, the tween got to practice soccer with a select team (see here for the back story). Now that the rec season has started, he's joined up with his original rec team for practices and games. It pretty much sucks.

After spending all summer playing soccer with kids who WANT to be at practice, who are excited to improve, who are driven and competitive and focused, it has been a hard adjustment back to a rec team. The kids are great, even the ones who aren't particularly athletic. It's just that not all of them really want to be there, to improve their game. Or want to play soccer at all. He is so frustrated when he comes home from practices, now that he's had a taste of more advanced play.

And the games. Sigh. We just try to be really patient and supportive. To give him the tools to motivate himself, to be a good sport even when he is frustrated, and to be a good teammate.

It's going to be a long season.

In last weekends game, he rocked in goal the first half. He made some great saves and was reading the game really well; I can see that the coaching he got over the summer has paid off. A couple goals went in, but sometimes that just can't be helped.

In the second half he got to play on the field; the coach put him in as a forward (which is his preferred position). He had a few chances to score, but with only a couple of the kids actually putting forth significant effort, things weren't looking particularly good for our hero(s).

At one point, I called him over to the sideline and told him that if he scored a goal, his dad would give him $5. A few minutes later, he finally got one in the back of the net.

Bribery is a wonderful motivator.

This is going to be a long season, but we are doing our best to see the silver lining in each game. He's decided to stick it out with this team for the season, and to do his best to improve enough in the off season to own it at try-outs next spring.

Lord help us. I might need to stock up on vodka.

Holiday Weekend Highlights

Three day weekends rock; I have decided this. We should have more of them. So we can have more memories like these ...

Friday night, we went back to my home town for a football game. The hubs and I sat in the bleachers and held hands. For real, we got to hold hands. And sit together. We never get to do that.

Saturday the toddler helped daddy mow the lawn. While wearing her jammies and 3-sizes-too-big, fur lined, Care Bear snow boots. Because that's how she rolls.

Later, we had a campfire with the neighbors. With s'mores. In the backyard. Dude.

Sunday we spent a day at the lake, watching the kids play in the water. And in the sand. And it was relaxing. With three toddlers! Who knew?

Then I got to have drinks with a client. After watching another client play with wedding dresses. Because this is my job, and it rocks.

Monday I spent hours and hours of uninterrupted time pinning and on etsy (for clients, of course) in my jammies. Yay!

Meanwhile, the teen who goes everywhere in a button down and tie, the one who thinks New York City is heaven and will not consider a college unless it's on a coast or in a big city, went to the state fair. And he texted his commentary to me. Freakin'  hilarious.

That's a lot of happiness for one weekend.

Hope your Labor Day Weekend was filled with equally meaningful moments!

Highlights from the week

It has been a crazy, stressful couple weeks around here. Topped off for fun with another attempt at potty training the toddler. Yay for us. Because of the crazy, and because I just haven't found it in me to do much blogging the last couple weeks, I am giving you the highlights in pictures.

This is what crazy looks like at our house. Also known as dinner time.

one: When the hubs was younger, he used to wake up in the middle of the night and find someplace other than his bed to sleep. The stories are hysterical, the way my mother-in-law tells it, of the occasional search for him. There is nothing like that jolt of fear you get when your child is not in their bed when you go to wake them up. My favorite was the time he crawled onto the shelf of his changing table, pushed all the diapers  to the front and nestled, out of site, into the 'fort' like hole he'd created behind them. Or the time they found him sound asleep on his rocking horse, in his diaper and cowboy boots.

So the other day, hubs peeked in on the toddler before he left for work. She wasn't in her bed, but she was easily spotted sound asleep in her rocking chair. So like her dad she is.

two: We are kitty sitting for our neighbors this summer while they are fishing in Alaska. They have more stuff in their backyard for the kids to play on than we do, so the kids like to play over there. This is the toddlers favorite way to spend the afternoon.

three: And look, sometimes the grown ups get to have fun too. We stopped in at DeLille Winery (my new favorite winery) for a tasting. We loved it so much, the hubs and I joined the wine club. We get our first shipment next week. Yay!!

four: This is how the tween and I spend our Thursday evenings, hunkered down under our blankets with our hot chocolate and popcorn, catching a family movie in the park. This is my favorite part of the summer, hands down. (PS it was raining and cold out this particular night. Sometimes its more about comfort than looking good).

I also posted an album of pics on my Facebook page if you are so inclined to peek. You can find them here.

I wish you all a good weekend and promise to update on our recycling challenge, post some cute family pics from my sister-in-laws wedding, tell you about the big weekend for the non-profit I am running, and maybe even do a writing prompt next week. Until then, Happy Friday. Go have a drink!

Metaphors at the beach

We vacationed at the beach this weekend, just the teen, the tween and I. Hubs stayed home with the toddler to give me a little break. I was under orders to relax and enjoy my “off” time. You know, with only two kids to be in charge of.

Yesterday I decided to take a drive on the beach. This is not unusual in Ocean Shores, people do it all the time. People also get stuck in the sand because they don’t know HOW to drive on the beach. I could hear Hubs voice in my head, “don’t slow down if you hit the soft sand” and repeated it over and over. And over.

So there we were, driving happily along, enjoying the sound of the waves, the ocean breeze, the smell of the water, without a care in the world.

But then the compact sand I was driving on suddenly wasn’t so compact anymore. And I panicked. And I stopped the car. And I got stuck.

I don’t do well in this kind of situation.

I knew enough (ha!) to not keep spinning my tires, this would dig me in deeper. But this is where my vast knowledge stopped and my panic set in. Which freaked out the tween, because he feeds off other people’s emotions (so like me he is).

I looked around for help, and saw a Tahoe driving to a group nearby, filled to the brim with a burly dad and his burly teenage boys. They all jumped out to help, yelling instructions to each other in Spanish. They tried (with my teens help) to push me out, yelling “give it more gas.” This just dug the back tire in deeper. They tried to hook me up to the Tahoe and pull me out, but didn’t have a strong enough chain and it broke. Eventually they gave up and went over to join the rest of their family flying kites.

We called the beach tow truck, cringing at the $250 my stupidity was going to cost us.

And while we were laying on the warm sand, soaking up the sun and wishing the car would dig itself out of its damn spot, a pick-up truck stopped and asked us if we needed help.

Bless this scary looking, toothless, burly man. Who stops to help a woman and her two kids stranded on the beach. With no way to escape.

He pulls a rusty chain out of the truck and hooks it up to my car. The first attempt results in a very scary noise coming from my car. I had visions of the undercarriage being ripped out. At this point, what am I to do? I freak out (in my head. I’m sure I totally played off the calm and collected beach regular on the outside). I glance at the teen and notice his slightly panicked expression. I couldn’t even look at the tween, because I’m that good of a mom.

One of the teens that had tried to help earlier ran over and asked if we needed help; he and my not so burly teenager (dressed in his button down, slacks and vest – yeah, I know) pushed while I GENTLY gave it enough gas to help it move, but not enough to get the tires spinning.

Success! Yay!

I had the teen call the tow truck driver to cancel (because I wasn't going to stop the car again for anything). He had apparently just arrived to the scene and was not terribly happy that we were not still stranded. Big fat bummer for him.

We drove the rest of the way on the beach slowly, but not stopping, as a fog rolled in off the ocean that gave us about 15 feet of visibility. And when we reached the turn off to get back to the real road we all cheered.

I vowed to never again drive on the beach. Or mindlessly spin my tires. Or dig myself in deeper when I know better. I vowed not to curse the people who are just standing around flying kites, because sometimes they can be helpful.

And I was thankful for the ice cold bottle of Stoli I was driving towards.

Fun kid conversations

The highlights of my day; quotes from the kids.

TODDLER
My tween has a bit of a focus problem at times and you can often hear the hubs or I telling him to focus. Apparently we say it a lot because the toddler tells him to focus fairly often as well. This afternoon, while holding her magic wand she kept yelling "focus focus". This, seemingly, is how she has translated "hocus pocus".

TWEEN 
On the way to the tweens soccer practice, I realized I had forgotten to give him his allergy meds. He has hay fever pretty bad and practice is on a grass field, which tends to trigger swollen, itchy eyes. So I told him if they got too bad we would leave practice early. This is what he says:

Tween: mom, you know who Louie Armstrong is?

Me: umm ... yes

Tween: Well, he had a heart attack once, and when he was all better and he left the hospital, the doctor told him he couldn't play his trumpet anymore. And he said that'd he'd rather die than stop playing his trumpet. Well, that's how I feel about soccer, mom. I'm going to play no matter what.

TODDLER
While at the above soccer practice, the toddler called me from the hubs cell phone. Apparently, while chatting with me, she had wandered away from her dad and set the phone down. I kept calling, loudly, "hello?" and finally she answered me:

"Shhh mommy, be quiet." Then the shuffling sound of the phone moving. "Hold still."

TEEN 
The teenager has recently discovered the fashion world. Here are his current fashion icons, with the wardrobe he prefers:

That would be White Collar's Neal on the left, and Glee's Kurt on the right

He's also quite smart and likes to use big words in every day conversations. He prefers to shop at Nordrstrom, but unfortunately we don't live in a Nordstrom world here at our house. So today I introduced him to Ross. I dropped him off so he could do some shoe shopping as he has been needing a pair. He called me to give me an update.

"They have Calvin Klien here. This is monumentous."

If you don't know him that may seem strange, but to those of us that know him, it just made me chuckle and nod. Welcome to the thrifty world honey.

Maybe pigs do fly? A little bit o' life

The pic on the left is my darling two year old, wearing her dads socks (ummm, not clean ones - ewww) that she found on the floor, and some tennis shoes that will someday fit her, but are currently about four sizes too big. She told me she was ready to go outside and play. Love her!!

The pic on the top right is proof that the teenager and the tween DO actually speak to each other (the older one was testing the younger ones German counting skills). It's very exciting when this happens so I like to document it. That very same day I also found them in the back yard playing soccer. Together. Nicely. Maybe pigs do fly.

The bottom right pic is my proud tween after winning two ribbons at the track meet last week. Second place in the "ball kick" (seriously, the events they come up with!?) and third place in the 50 yard dash. Woot! (okay, the woot was for Mama Kat, it makes me laugh now every time I write it).

My kids crack me up.

I just posted the blog about my vacation, but life moves on even when mom isn't around to deal with it. And then, by the way, it puts a huge damper on moms vacation. Here is the short-ish version of the ups and downs.

The tween, if you will remember, tried out for select soccer. While I was gone, the results were posted online. Two teams were created and each team took 13 kids, but posted the top 14 picks for each team in case someone turned down the offer (I get that, but it still seems mean for that last kid, right??). My little guy was number 14 on one of the teams. He was heartbroken. There were tears. 

A few years ago, the teenager tried out for the junior high soccer team. He too was one away from the cut (I knew the coach well and she called and apologized and felt horrible for it - but try outs were fair and it was what it was). He took the news and decided he would never try out for a team again. It was a very discouraging process and he does not like to fail. His motto at times can be "if you try and don't succeed, go back to something you're better at."

Watching my tween adjust to this news of missing by one has been eye opening for us. He has taken this heartbreak and, instead of letting it crush him, he has turned it into motivation and determination. It is driving him now, and he is moving full speed ahead. I see him trying harder during his soccer clinics, jumping in to practice in the goal more often, not backing away as much. He is more aggressive during basketball games, he even drew two charging fouls last week. In orchestra too, he has worked harder and received props and wants to take lessons over the summer to improve. I think this experience has driven him more than discouraged him and I am frankly quite amazed. I would never have expected that from him, but am so so SO proud of him for it.

That news all came over the weekend. Monday morning comes around (again, still on vacation) and I hear that the husband had the stomach flu and ended up missing two days of work, and the friend who was going to watch the toddler Monday (while the husband was throwing up) had coughs and fevers at her house. So easy to sit back and relax when you have to ask other people to deal with your family drama.

A big thank you to those most awesome folks who helped. Love you guys.