Blessings

At Christmastime, I usually try to focus on giving, but this year I can't stop thinking about the blessings that we have, especially the blessing of friendship. I have been overcome with the thoughtfulness of our friends this year. Some good friends of ours invited us over and went out of their way to cook us a gluten free, vegetarian meal. This year we have had an outpouring of caroling and goodies (Including some gluten free!). And the Christmas cards, so many of them hand written, have brought us so much joy. I usually try to reciprocate, but this year it's beyond my capabilities. I feel like George Bailey at the end of It's a Wonderful Life, surrounded by all his friends who love him, with everyone singing Christmas carols. "Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!" Thank you, dear friends. I wish you all peace and happiness this Christmas.

Family Pictures

My lovely friend Shama has great talents when it comes to photography. She took some pictures of us on a freezing cold day in November. I think anyone that can get us to relax somewhat in front of a camera is truly gifted; usually we all look like we're being tortured. Go to Shama's blog to see more pictures. Thanks, Shama!

Getting the heck out of Dodge

For about the last year I've been bragging about something, and now it's coming back to bite me. I was at a doctor's appointment, getting my blood drawn, when the lab tech saw my wedding ring and said, "Oh my goodness! You're married? I thought you were in high school!" I would have hugged her if I didn't have a needle stuck in my arm at the time. She didn't make my day, she made my year.

It all came crashing down yesterday, when I was Christmas shopping at the mall. I was at the register buying something for Sparky, some articles of clothing clearly for an adult man, and I had this conversation:

Perky just-out-of-high-school cashier: "Oh, cool. Are these for your son?"

Me, full of calm and patience: "Um... no... They're for my husband."

*Awkward silence*

Cashier: "Debit or credit?"

I wanted to either slap her or lecture her (Listen, if you're going to work in retail...). Of course I have no backbone and did neither, just pasted a smile on my face and got the heck out of Dodge. I've decided that the two experiences cancel each other out, so now I'm just left with me, being dragged kicking and screaming into middle age.

Two things

1. Last night I had a dream that I suddenly discovered that there were a bunch of prequels to the Lord of the Rings besides the Hobbit. It was a nightmare. I've read all of those books and I just can't muster any excitement about them.

2. Two days ago I went into the garage and our furnace was leaking. It had to do with the pump on the side of the furnace, and when Sparky called the furnace people, he was informed that the nice extended warranty that we'd bought didn't cover the pump. We prepared to pay a ridiculous amount, but today the guy came, fixed it, and refused to charge me. He said it was easy to fix, no big deal. I didn't know that there were any nice guys left in the world (besides my friends and family of course). A bright spot in a rather lousy week.

Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed.

Looks like BYU women's soccer had a rough time yesterday. Check out these clips on Sports Center last night. Watch for #15 on New Mexico. There's aggressive and then there's evil. Thanks, Sparky, for sending me the clip.

All The Cats Join In

Does anyone remember when this used to play on The Disney Channel? It was back when The Disney Channel was fun, before it was taken over by a bunch of lame shows geared at tween girls. I loved "All The Cats Join In." I heart Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. I used to say all the time that I was born in the wrong time period, until I started having health problems. If I could go back in time and visit just one concert, it would be a no brainer for me - Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall, 1938. That concert made big band music legitimate, and it changed music forever.



Anyway, I was working out this morning, and I was tired, and the thought suddenly came into my head - I need a giant animated magic pencil to erase a few inches off my butt and thighs like the one in "All The Cats Join In." It sure worked for that girl. If only.

Bashing The Myth About Exercise

Last month, Time magazine came out with an article that still has me steaming. It tries to convince the reader that exercise won't help people lose weight, and that it's awful and meaningless. It misrepresents a study done by Dr. Timothy Church from LSU, who actually found in his study that exercise results in weight loss. Dr. Church was interviewed on one of my favorite podcasts, Fitness Rocks, where he explained the study and the importance of exercise.

I have been trying to get over this article and I can't. The information in this article is wrong (So wrong!), and it could affect the health of so many people. The average American is looking for an excuse to not exercise, and John Cloud is giving it to him. I don't know how he can sleep at night.

Feet on the Ceiling

This morning, while "snugging" under the covers with Thing 3 (AKA Genius The Monkey), he informed me that, "I love you, but not as much as I love dad because he can put my feet on the ceiling!" I can't compete with that.

Wobbly Bits

What is up with the middle-aged-to-old women and locker rooms? Someone needs to teach them how to get dressed without scaring the children. Yesterday, my friends and I took our kids to the pool, and while my friend and her daughter and I were in the women's locker room, there was... an incident. Look, I get that it's a locker room, and people are changing, and everyone is going to see some things. But this lady was not getting dressed. She was just walking around, butt-naked, taking her time, bending over repeatedly as she stuffed things into her bag. Not pretty! In my mind, I was pleading with her to stop stalling and get dressed already. I wanted to run to all the children and cover their eyes. To quote Bridget Jones, we don't want to be seeing your wobbly bits, lady.

I move that anyone who violates the Fireball Locker Room Changing Standards (not giving little children nightmares) should have to be paired up with a surfer for changing lessons. Have you seen these guys getting dressed in beach parking lots? They are masters! And half the time they're dealing with wet suits. All they need is a water jug and a towel, and in two minutes they've had a shower, they're dressed and ready for work, and no flashing. No wobbly bits.

Our House

Here is a conversation that took place in our car yesterday:

Thing 3: "Mom, does our house have a name?"
Me: "No..."
Thing 3: "Hmmm. How about Mr. Fred? Or Whitey!"

I was glad we were in the car so he couldn't see me shaking from held-back laughter.

Moosebutter

My kids won't stop singing this song. It's by an a cappella group called Moosebutter. I'm embarrassed that I laughed when I saw it, and that I got all the little jokes throughout. Dangit - that's two posts in a row that expose the nerdy side of me. Here's hoping that posting this will get this out of my head or at least get it in yours. Misery loves company, right?

The 80's List

This post is going to expose my nerdiness. I'm sorry, I can't hide it from you any longer. Last week, my brother and cousin were in town, and we finally finished a project we've been talking about for years: the 80's list. It all started when we were trying to decide what the best song from the 80's was, and it ended with each of us compiling a list of the 100 best songs of the 80's. Actually, it didn't end there, it got nerdier. We then combined the three lists and used a point system to figure out our combined top 100 list. I know, your respect for me just dropped a notch.

So here's my list. Disclaimer: This is not a list of my favorite songs of the 80's, but what I think are the best songs of the 80's. There's a difference. At the end of the list, I grudgingly stuck on a few songs that I don't love, but I figured they probably deserved a nod for one reason or another.

1	Simple Minds Don't You Forget About Me
2	A-ha Take On Me
3	U2 Where the Streets Have No Name
4	New Order Bizarre Love Triangle
5	Duran Duran The Reflex
6	Peter Gabriel In Your Eyes
7	Cure Just Like Heaven
8	OMD If You Leave
9	Michael Jackson Thriller
10	Bonnie Tyler Total Eclipse of the Heart
11	Foreigner I Want To Know What Love Is
12	Madness Our House
13	Oingo Boingo Dead Man's Party
14	Information Society What's on Your Mind (Pure Energy)
15	Madonna Like a Prayer
16	Modern English I Melt With You
17	Naked Eyes Always Something There to Remind Me
18	Billy Idol White Wedding
19	Police Every Breath You Take
20	R.E.M. Stand
21	U2 With or Without You
22	Depeche Mode People Are People
23	B-52s Love Shack
24	The Smiths How Soon Is Now?
25	When in Rome The Promise
26	Bon Jovi Livin' On a Prayer
27	David Bowie and Queen Under Pressure
28	General Public Tenderness
29	Crowded House Don't Dream It's Over
30	Journey Don't Stop Believin'
31	Frankie Goes to Hollywood Relax
32	U2 I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
33	Thompson Twins Hold Me Now
34	Romantics What I Like About You
35	Erasure A Little Respect
36	Tears for Fears Everybody Wants to Rule the World
37	Spandau Ballet True
38	Elvis Costello Veronica
39	George Michael Faith
40	Cars Drive
41	Bananarama Cruel Summer
42	Men At Work Down Under
43	Clash Rock the Casbah
44	Soft Cell Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go
45	Prince 1999
46	Toto Africa
47	Police Don't Stand So Close To Me
48	Cure Close to me
49	Flock of Seagulls I Ran (So Far Away)
50	Genesis In Too Deep
51	Mr. Mister Broken Wings
52	Stray Cats Rock This Town
53	R.E.M. Orange Crush
54	Level 42 Something About You
55	REO Speedwagon Can't Fight This Feeling
56	Police Wrapped Around Your Finger
57	Chicago Hard to Say I'm Sorry
58	EMF Unbelievable
59	Duran Duran View to a Kill
60	Billy Joel We Didn't Start the Fire
61	Heart Alone
62	Huey Lewis & the News Power of Love
63	Cyndi Lauper Time After Time
64	Talking Heads Burning Down the House
65	U2 New Years Day
66	Eurythmics Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)
67	The Smiths Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
68	Yes Owner of a Lonely Heart
69	Erasure Oh Lamour
70	Bangles Walk Like an Egyptian
71	INXS Need You Tonight
72	Survivor The Search Is Over
73	Queen Another One Bites the Dust
74	R.E.M. It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
75	Midnight Oil Beds Are Burning
76	Clash Should I Stay or Should I Go?
77	Men At Work Overkill
78	Oingo Boingo Weird Science
79	Hall and Oates Private Eyes
80	Echo and the Bunnymen Lips Like Sugar
81	Howard Jones No One is to Blame
82	Kenny Loggins Footloose
83	Police Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
84	Cure Lovesong
85	Survivor Eye of the Tiger
86	Rick Astley Never Gonna Give You Up
87	Harold Faltermeyer Axel F
88	Dexys Midnight Runners Come on Eileen
89	Thomas Dolby She Blinded Me With Science
90	Tommy Tutone 867-5309/Jenny
91	Pet Shop Boys West End Girls
92	Wham! Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
93	Beastie Boys Fight For Your Right
94	Alphaville Forever Young
95	Richard Marx Right Here Waiting
96	Chris DeBurgh The Lady in Red
97	Belinda Carlisle Heaven is a Place on Earth
98	Human League Don't You Want Me
99	Billy Joel The Longest Time
100	Cheap Trick The Flame

So there it is. I'm sure you're thinking, "I can't believe she put that song on there." Believe me, I already feel like making changes. But if you're really bent out of shape about it, make your own list. It's harder than it looks. Oh, and don't bother telling me that EMF's Unbelievable came out at the beginning of 1990. We figured that out just after we made the lists, and I'm too lazy to change mine.

Next up: we're making a playlist. We've figured out that between the three of us, we have just about all of the songs. So if anyone feels like OD-ing on nostalgia, you know where to go.

Watching the Mariners (and Thing 3) is a Treat!

Tuesday night we went to the Mariners-Blue Jays game. My brother and my cousin were here visiting, and my cousin had never been to a MLB game before, so off we went. And let me tell you, the M's did not disappoint. Bottom of the 9th, bases loaded, tie ball game, Ichiro base hit to center for the win. My oh my! Here's a picture my cousin took of that hit:



Thing 3, our star performer, did not disappoint, either. There were some really obnoxious Blue Jays fans sitting in front of us (I knew we were in trouble when I saw their sign - "We're Drunk!!!"), and every time they finished their chants of "Let's go Blue Jays!" Thing 3 would squeak out "Let's go Mariners!" in his very loudest voice. I've never seen a four year old cheer so hard. Usually it's painful to take little kids to the ball park, but he was so much fun. The crowd loved him, and one of the Blue Jay guys even grudgingly admitted, "Now that's a true fan." But the best was when he danced to the music in between innings. My cousin caught one such moment on camera. You can hear the rest of us laughing in the background, and watch for me grabbing him before he topples into the next row.

Seattle Rock and Roll 2009

I've been meaning to post this for a while, but we've been on vacation, then we had house guests for a while, and oh yeah, my dog ate my homework. The truth is, I have not been looking forward to writing this race report. The race did not go well. Not well at all.

My doctor and I stuggled to figure out how I should be medicated for the race. I am by far his youngest patient; one of the nurses in the office refers to me as "That young thang," and another one asked me once if I'm still in high school. I guess that's what happens when all the other patients are 80+. Needless to say the doctor isn't used to treating patients who are training for endurance sports.

We ended up doubling some of my meds, but that ended up being a gross underestimate of what I needed. I felt great the first five miles, but then I started feeling queasy. By mile six, I was dizzy and stuggling to not pass out. And that's how it went for the last seven miles of the race. I kept thinking about the stupid blog post I wrote the night before, dedicating the race to my kids, and how I had to finish, and how if I passed out, they wouldn't let me finish. I tried dedicating each mile to someone I loved and focusing on them, but my mind was pretty numb, and after a few seconds I just went back to trying not to hurl and keeping the blackness away. It was pathetic.

I finally crossed at 2:30:19. I took a few steps and then just sat down because everything was going black. A race lady told me to keep moving, I told her I couldn't, and what happened next I don't know. I remember being dragged by two race workers to the medic tent. I stayed there for a while with my feet elevated and ice bags on my ankles (which felt soooo good). After a while I left because I knew Sparky would be looking for me, and what I needed was my meds and I knew they weren't going to hook me up.

So what went wrong? I don't know. I'm kicking myself for not taking extra meds on the course with me; Sparky suggested it, but I said I'd be fine, I didn't need it. I'm frustrated because I trained well for the race. I had run three 12 mile long runs, I'd been running 24 miles a week, I'd done hill work once a week. It was frustrating putting in all that time and sweat and then being so disappointed with my time. But I'm really proud of Sparky and our friends. All of them did really well, and being with them made the experience worth it. In fact, we're doing it again next year. Sparky finished in 2:05, and he wants to get his time back under two hours. And I'm determined to redeem myself. I have an appointment with the doc soon, and we're going to figure this thing out. A friend of mine is a PT, and she scolded me after the race. "What were you thinking? You could have died!" I told her that I have to live my life. I'm not going to just sit on the couch of doom and watch other people live their lives. I want to experience things.

I know this post is a little long, but I have to include one last thing. They had a video camera at the finish line. And I was dreading how it would turn out - Would you be able to see me pass out on camera? I'm sure it wasn't pretty. I wasn't sure if I wanted to see it, but Sparky looked it up, and then told me I must have been praying hard, because I got my wish. Just after I crossed the finish line, someone bumped the camera, and you can't see anything constructive for a while (long enough for me to make my graceful exit). I tell you, it's all about those tender mercies in life.

Tomorrow

It was just over four years ago that I was lying in a hospital bed, fighting for my life. The doctors had no idea what was wrong with me, so they put me in the oncology wing. I slept most of the time. I couldn't keep any food down. I looked like a skeleton and had dark circles under my eyes. I endured so many tests. I had transformed into a human pincushion. I was so dehydrated that they had trouble taking my blood; the barely twenty year old lab techs had to stick me five or six times every test just to hit a vein. I remember one time one of the techs just came into my room and I burst into tears.

Lying in that room, I felt closer to God than I have at any other time in my life. I prayed a lot. I was edging close to the end of my life, and I had an overwhelming feeling that if I went, I would be okay. I had lived a good life. But I thought of my sweet husband. I thought of my three boys - six years, three years, and two months old. Still babies. They needed a mother. I had so much left to teach them. I prayed fervently to my Heavenly Father that I would get to raise my boys. And then, somehow, I knew that my prayers would be answered and I would live. The next day, the doctors figured it out - Addison's disease. Within a day or two, I was playing cards with my family, bored, ready to get out of bed and eat anything salty.

I'm not sure if I would trade that experience. I hate that it caused my family stress, especially Sparky. I hate that I did not have enough energy to be a good mother for months before I was diagnosed. But I don't take life for granted. I thank God every day that I am alive. The time with my children is precious. My time with Sparky is a gift. The little things don't matter as much as they used to.

When I was sick, and even just after I was diagnosed, I never thought I would be able to run again. But over the last four years, I've slowly built up my strength so that now I can run regularly. I do it for my kids. I want to be as healthy as I possibly can for them. Tomorrow is a big milestone for me. I'm running the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon - my first half marathon since my diagnosis. I am dedicating this race to my kids. I'm pretty sure that they are the reason that I'm alive today. And I'm so happy to be doing this race with Sparky. Everything is ten times better when he's around.

Spring Recital 2009

Saturday was our annual spring recital. I couldn't be prouder of all my students. Most of them had their songs memorized, and they all were so confident up there! Thing 2 did great, playing the much loved "From A Wigwam." He told me, "No mistakes, Mom!" when he sat down. And Thing 1 made me so proud; he played his first "real" classical piece, "Waltz in B Flat" by Schubert.

This year I did things a bit differently. First of all, I held this recital with two other piano teachers in my neighborhood, something I had never done before. It was really fun, and it was good for the kids to hear some older kids play "the real stuff." I'm hoping they gained a little inspiration, maybe enough for some practicing this summer? My fingers are crossed.

Something else that I did differently was that after much prodding by one of the other teachers, I performed a song. I hadn't played a solo at a recital since my senior year of high school. I was trying to decide what piece to play, and thought back to that senior year when I tried to quit piano because I was so unbelieveably busy, but my teacher wouldn't let me stop. I had learned all the pieces she had wanted me to learn that year except one - "Valse Chromatique" by Benjamin Godard. It's a great piece, but it's full of crazy chromatic scales (hence the name), and I just couldn't get some of the passages down in time for my senior recital. I ended up pulling it at the last minute and playing something else. It always kind of bugged me that I never finished that piece, so I blew fifteen years' worth of dust off of it and got to work. I didn't quite play it perfectly on Saturday, but I did it. Mrs. Martin, that one was for you. It was really liberating, like getting a splinter out that's been annoying you for a while.

Viking Fest 2009

Here it is, the post you've all been dying to read, my second annual Viking Fest post race report. I have been waiting for the chance to ask Sparky to put together the race video, but he's been busy seeing his brother graduate from med school (way to go Corn!) and other various things. I can't believe my blog doesn't come first in his life, but whatever. Luckily I have a wonderful friend who was there and grabbed a few still shots. Note Thing 3 ran his race before I managed to get the chocolate frosting from his doughnut off his face.

Here is a picture of Thing 1 and his friend, the one who convinced him to run the 5 mile instead of the 1 mile. These two have been friends since they were 3. Today at church, they both were wearing blue long sleeved shirts and ties, along with Thing 2 and Thing 3. I told the friend he fit right in with my crew - my four boys.

Here is one of Thing 1 and me pre-race. Look how excited he is to be in a picture with his dear mother. I am proud of him, though. He finished in 46:02, way faster than I expected him to finish. I was somewhat pleased with my time, too - 40:37. I'm a little bummed that I didn't break 40 minutes, but I did set a course PR, shaving a minute and a second off of last year's time. Next year I'll have to do a little speed work and see if I can get under 40! This race is so much fun. We had so many friends there and the course is gorgeous. By the way, I didn't forget about Thing 2. He had a baseball game that morning and missed the race.

Apparently I'm raising a mini George Lucas

Santa brought Thing 1 a digital camera last Christmas. I envisioned him taking lots of pictures with his friends, documenting good times. We recently uploaded his latest batch of memories to Picasa, and while there were a few random pictures of his friends and brothers, we had a lot of this kind of stuff mixed in:

Okay, so maybe he's not George Lucas.

I am a lousy mother

I am not the most supportive mom ever, and little league baseball tends to broadcast it to the world. I still believe that the best thing about little league is how cute little kids look in catcher's gear. Last year, I was bitter about the snack. Last week, we found out that Thing 2 made the baseball all-star team, and my first reaction was, "Aw crap. Now I'm going to have to go to more games!" Then I realized that normal parents don't react this way, so I gave a half-hearted "Go Thing 2, go!" to keep up appearances. I think there's something wrong with me. There's another family with a kid on this team that totally makes up for my lack of enthusiasm. They have their kid training year round, and they are really into the games. I'm pretty sure they would have been devastated if he hadn't made all-stars (he did). I think they're having a parade in his honor next week, and the paperwork is being filled out to make his all-star debut a national holiday.

Anyway, I was lying in bed this morning, thinking what a lousy mom I am, when Thing 3 came in for his usual early morning snuggle (or "snug" as he calls it). After a few minutes, he turned to me and said I was his best friend, which of course made me smile. I'm not a great mom, but at least I have my kids fooled!

Mother's Day Fun

On Friday, I found this video clip of Thing 1 at age three when I was searching on our computer for something else. I'm sure I knew about it at one time, but I'd completely forgotten about it. I think it was a particularly fun find since it was so close to Mother's day:




And since it is Mother's day, I'd like to thank all the women out there that are helping me raise my boys. It truly takes a village to raise a child. My kids have the best grandmothers a kid could ask for, and the coolest aunts. They've had the most wonderful teachers at school and church. And a big thank you to all of their friends' moms who I sometimes think they love more than me, including two of my friends to whom Thing 3 lovingly refers to as "his girlfriends." You know who you are.

Edit: I just made the video public - apparently I didn't do that before, so people couldn't watch it. Let me know if you still can't view it.

The 9th Ward

I found a new comic strip that makes me laugh - it's called The 9th Ward. Most of them are only going to be funny if you're LDS or are familiar with LDS culture. It's put together by a father/son combo. They produce about one strip a week. Here are a couple of my favorites:

The Downside of Running

I generally enjoy running. I know, I know. I'm a freak. But it's my escape, my "me time." Plus I feel better when I do it. Gotta love those endorphins! I have had some bad experiences while running, though. I have been chased by many scary big dogs. I was flashed once when I was running by myself on the Provo river trail (nasty!). I lost my key once and had to backtrack for a mile and a half, looking for it while praying for a miracle (I found it!).

And now I can add yesterday to the list. I was at the corner of Myhre and Mickleberry, and I passed a crazy man who started screaming at me and scared me to death. He was yelling "You stink!" and asked me if I rubbed dog s*** all over myself. How do you answer a question like that? I kept going, but checked multiple times to see if he was following me, and I turned my key so that the jagged side was sticking out of my hand, just in case. I don't know why, but that always makes me feel a little better. If I have to ever defend myself, then it's - look out! I've got my key! And I can somehow hurt you with it! Anyway, I'm hoping for an uneventful, pleasant long run this Saturday, so help me get the word out for the crazies to stay off the streets from about 10 to noon.

Get Smart = Not Funny

When I was about 10 years old, my sister and I loved watching Get Smart on Nick at Nite. We thought it was hilarious. Agent 86 was stupid but loveable, and we adored Agent 99 with her mini skirts and go-go boots. It was predictable and full of slapstick comedy, just right for an eight year old and a ten year old.

So when I saw the Get Smart season one DVDs at the library, I grabbed them and thought it would be fun to watch since I haven't watched the show in decades. I watched the first episode last night, and it was... lame. I had trouble making it through the whole episode! No wonder I loved it before, a fifth grader must have written the script. I think part of it is just a difference in the times; the show was from 1965, and things hadn't changed that much when I was watching in 1986, but they've changed enough now that the jokes aren't funny anymore. So there's a phone in his shoe. Big deal. That's a stupid place to put it, but whatever. But back then we thought it was brilliant. The other part of it I'm just chalking up to youth. When you're ten, a little tiny man named Mr. Big = funny. A man slipping on a banana peel = funny. Now... not so much.

Anyway, it was weird to watch it last night and realize how different the show was from what I remembered, and how much I've changed. I wanted to call up my sister last night and ask her what we were thinking back then. I didn't want to wake her up, so I'll ask her now: Skeeter, was mom slipping a little crazy in our bologna sandwiches or what? And I'll ask my 2 or 3 readers - Do any of you like this show? And have any of you loved anything as a child and then had a completely different opinion of it as an adult? Discuss.

The Easter Bunny Blues

***Spoiler alert: Don't read this post with little kids hanging around. It will totally ruin the holidays for them!

One of my pet peeves is when well meaning adults try to give my children a bit of fun that leads to me doing damage control. Example: Yesterday at preschool, the Easter Bunny hid eggs all over the playground while Thing 3 was in class. The kids got to go find the eggs and take them home. Fun, right? Well, I have been fielding questions ever since. Why did the Easter Bunny come when it's not Easter? Did he go to the big boys' school? Is he coming back tomorrow? Last week we walked by the Easter Bunny at the mall, and I totally had to distract Thing 2 and Thing 3 as we walked by - not because they would want to sit on his lap and get their picture taken, because of the questions that would result. That's the Easter Bunny? Why is he bigger than normal bunnies? Why is he here and not at a mall in a different city? Does he like to eat carrots?

The worst is Christmas. All the different Santas. I know they mean well, but they don't look anything alike, and kids are smart. Last year's church Christmas party was nice, and my 17 year old neighbor got to play Santa. Very fun, but it didn't work for my kids AT ALL. After sitting on his lap, the boys had things to say about it. Thing 2: Mom, I just sat on Matt's lap! Weird! He's not really Santa. Thing 3: Mom, why is Matt wearing Santa's clothes?

Every year we go to Sparky's work Christmas party for the kids of the employees. At least there they have the same Santa and Mrs. Claus every year. Things 2 and 3 are convinced that this is the real Santa (he really looks great), although they still ask me why he's here and not at the North Pole, and where is his sleigh and reindeer? Shouldn't he be getting ready for Christmas eve? Why can't my kids be like the other kids at the party and just blindly accept Santa and live in a state of pure bliss?

About a year and a half ago, Thing 1 and I were in the car together without the others, and he admitted to me that he knew that Santa wasn't real. I remember feeling really conflicted about it - I couldn't decide if I wanted to cry or pull over the car so I could dance a jig of celebration. I asked him how long he'd known, and he said since before last Christmas. When I asked him why he didn't tell us then, he said that he didn't want to ruin it for me and his Dad, so he just went along with it.

I know I'm going to miss everything when the other two stop believing. Thing 2 is already on the verge. But until then, everyone pass the word around to play it cool with the world of pretend. I heard the Tooth Fairy came by Thing 2's classroom recently, and I'm not looking forward to THAT conversation.

Little Worriers

I've decided that Sparky and I tend to breed little worriers. When our kids hit four or five, they tend to start obsessing over something that they won't have to deal with for decades. When Thing 1 was younger, he wanted to know how to get a job. I told him if he helped clean the windows, I'd give him a dollar, but he said no, he was talking about a real job, like Dad's. I asked him why he wanted to know, and he looked at me like I was an idiot. He said, "Someday I'm going to be married and have kids, and I'm going to need to have a job so we can have some money. So how do I get a job?" He was genuinely concerned about this, and he was around five years old. He wouldn't let it go until I mapped out for him the whole high school - college - grad school - job interview thing, and then he finally started breathing again. Poor stressed out baby.

With Thing 2, it was leaving home. He kept saying he was going to live with us for the rest of his life, that he was never moving out. The funny thing was, he would usually say it when he was acting up or doing something to bother me, and I'd say under my breath, "You wanna bet?" He was really worried for a solid year about growing up and moving away, and then all of a sudden, he started wanting to sing "I hope they call me on a mission" every family night and started talking about going to BYU someday (like I said before, his brainwashing is officially complete!). Sparky and I breathed a sigh of relief when Thing 2 grew out of his worry phase.

So I've been wondering lately what Thing 3 is going to worry about, and I think that I stumbled upon it this week. He's worried that when he grows up and moves away, he won't be able to find our house again. He's been begging me to promise that we'll never move to another house. He asked me if, when he grows up, I would come pick him up from his new house and drive him to our house when he wants to visit. I pointed out that he would probably have his own car by then, but he insisted that he wouldn't remember where our house is, and I should just drive him in my car. He happened to have a friend with him when he said all this to me, and his friend said to him in exasperation, "Come on! We're not grown-ups! You can't even drive yet!" Thing 3 can't help it; he's just like his brothers. I should probably be concerned about my kids getting so stressed out, but it's just so cute to see a little four year old worrying about something that's 15 years away. I guess what I'm trying to say is, my kids are weird but cute.

Busters

The boys are currently on a lego kick. We've had them forever, but they recently realized that they're actually fun, and they run to play with them after school. Thing 3 can't put together all the sets, but he loves the lego people. In fact, he loves the lego legs. He calls them “busters,” and he pulls them off all the lego people and just plays with the busters. Our playroom usually looks like there's been some sort of lego massacre, with legless lego people lying all over the place. Sometimes he'll put the busters on top of each other so there's one tall, mutant buster. Other times he'll line them up and have them kick in bizarre rockette style.

I don't know how he came up with the name busters, but it stuck. The whole family calls them busters now. I curse the busters when I step on them in the middle of the night when Thing 3 wakes me up and makes me tuck him back in bed, and I shake my head at the busters when I find them clanging around in the dryer. Busters have totally taken over my house!

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Oh, I love March. I'm like a kid at Christmas with my nose pressed against the store window, gazing longingly at the Red Rider BB gun. It's March Madness, baby! The brackets came out today and I'm in heaven.

We have done a pool with our friends (for bragging rights only, of course!) for about 10 years now. I've only won it once, and it's a year when my brother in law has chosen to experience some very selective memory loss. I know I'll never win again. Usually someone wins who has no clue about college basketball and just picks all the high seeds (except the two years my dad won). I end up grumbling about it for a few weeks and then placate myself with chocolate and Mariners games.

All three Things are already claiming victory with their picks. Thing 1 has declared that he will win with his superior knowledge and insider information. Our brain washing of Thing 2 is complete, he picked BYU to win it all and is appalled that anyone would pick differently. I love his dedication. It's totally me at his age. I'm just afraid he will end up like this kid:




And Thing 3. He picked Gonzaga to win it all, after all, he's heard us talking about them constantly for the last 4 months. But it's his final four that's really gutsy: Gonzaga, BYU, Portland State, and To Be Decided. Yep, he picked the winner of the "play in" game, one of the two worst teams in the tournament, to go to the final four. I love it.

We've sent out our email to everyone from last year. If you want in, let me know. It doesn't matter if you are a huge basketball fan or not; like I said, you actually have an edge over me if you aren't. And, hey! You could be the one I grumble about in April!

Thing 3 Turns Four!

I can't believe my baby is four! He started off as our miracle baby, surviving being inside a very sick mommy and having the cord around his neck. Now he is our comic relief and one smart cookie. Last night a friend of ours was sitting with us at Thing 2's basketball game (He is finally well enough to play in a game! Yay!), and she asked Thing 3 to dance for us. He jumped right up and did this booty shake thing that Thing 2 taught him, much to the delight of the crowd/horror of his mother. Well, I guess I wasn't too horrified - I had to stifle a few giggles myself. Thanks, Thing 3, for being a part of our family and making us smile!

We had a birthday party for him on Saturday. Here is a picture of the poster that the kids colored for him, and one of the little rascals themselves. It was a "Halloween" birthday party. Yes, it's March, but hey, that's what he wanted. Who am I to judge? We had a pirate, Diego, four Star Wars guys, a ninja, and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

A Friend to the Rescue!

After my last post, a dear friend of mine asked me if I wanted her iPod mini that she wasn't using anymore. Jen, you rock! It came in the mail yesterday, and it works great. I think she was worried that I would mind that it's pink. On the contrary - I am so thrilled to have a working iPod that pink is my new favorite color. Thanks, Jen!

Something completely unrelated - Thing 2 has pneumonia. This is the second time he's had it in the last couple of years. He had a chest x-ray on Tuesday and you could see some junk in there. He has missed a lot of school, but he is back at school today after begging me to let him go. This round of medication seems to be working. He has more energy, but is still pale and coughing. We're keeping our fingers crossed that he will get better soon - he has been sick since the end of January! I know many of you have been praying for him - thank you. We received a nice call from his Sunday School teacher today to see how he was doing, and my grandmother put his name on the prayer roll at the temple the day before we found out he had pneumonia after feeling prompted to do so. We feel so blessed to have such great friends and family!

Spring

There's a line in the movie "IQ" where Meg Ryan's character says, "It's spring. Everything goes through an upheaval in the spring." Well, I guess spring has come early at my house, because despite the snow we had last week:

• My dishwasher is to the point now where the dishes have to be absolutely pristine when I put them in if I want them to be clean when I take them out. I'm not sure why I still run the thing.
• Our fireball truck is crazy. Sparky couldn't get the key to turn in the ignition the other day. Apparently we do weird things when we turn keys, because last year with our minivan we not only couldn't get the key to turn, but we got the key stuck and had to get the whole ignition replaced. Our fingers are crossed that it won't happen with the truck.
• Most importantly, the bottom fell out of my iPod mini. Seriously. It just fell out. Now, I've had it for almost four years, which I hear is like 102 in human years. They don't even make minis anymore. I'm guessing it's time to let it go, but I'm having a hard time. I always have that thing with me, and I've grown quite attached to it. We've had a beautiful relationship. Sure, there was that rocky patch when it had trouble syncing up to iTunes, but we worked through it.

So anyway, this is going to be an expensive spring. We've picked out the new dishwasher and are ordering it today. We're praying that the truck gets over its dislike of our keys, so we don't have to pour money into a 16 year old truck. And the iPod. Well, of course I have to get a new one. Can you picture me without earbuds in my ears? I'm thinking of getting either a Nano or an iTouch. Obvously, the Touches are cool. But they're more expensive and quite a bit bigger, which could be a pain when I take it running. Anyone have any thoughts?

Fun With Weather

I have discovered the best way to get your weather forcast in Kitsap county. My neighbor, Matt, has a blog called Forecasting Kitsap. He is a high school senior who I suspect will someday be the weather guy for one of the local channels. The kid has been saying he want to be a weatherman when he grows up for as long as I've known him (8 years now!) He has already had some amazing opportunities, including writing this blog for our local newspaper, The Kitsap Sun. Check it out. Even if you don't live here, he has some video clips that are fun, especially the football one.

Bumble Bee 5k

My Brother-in-law had a bunch of us run the Holiday Bowl Bumble Bee 5k together when we were in San Diego. It was a beautiful race along the harbor. What wasn't so beautiful was the mile markers. They were invisible, so we had no idea how far we were along the course. At one point I saw my sister-in-law with a video camera. As I was waving to her, I thought, "Hmmm, I wonder how much I have left?" 5 seconds later, I turned a corner, and BAM! Finish line. I had a kick of about 3 seconds. I definitely had too much left in me at the end. Usually in the afternoon after a race I'm like a toddler in the car at 5 pm - I can't stay awake for anything. But we went to the beach after the race and well, I wouldn't say I was a bundle of energy, but I wasn't dead to the world either. Here's a picture of the crew and some quick footage. Look for Thing 1, and watch as I almost mow over the guy ahead of me at the end. Who stops just after the finish line?

Thing 1 ran the race - his first 5k! He finished 22nd out of the 54 in his 12 and under age group, with a time of 27:16. I was so proud of him. I finished 10th in my age group out of 51, with a time of 24:17, which I was not so proud of. I was hoping to be under 24:00 at the very least. But it was fun. Thanks for suggesting it, Tim!

Fail!

Sparky recently pointed me to one of my new favorite blogs: Failblog. They post a couple times a day, and they make me giggle. Check it out for a quick laugh.

Shenanigans

Last weekend Sparky and I finally watched the movie Juno, and I loved it. It's been a long time since I saw a movie for the first time and liked it this much. It was both side-splitting funny and moving.

I have had the song that they sing at the end of the movie in my head ever since, and apparently I've even been singing it out loud, because yesterday I walked by Thing 2 and heard him singing to himself, "We sure are cute for two ugly people."

Here is a clip of the song. I swear, I want to give Michael Cera a big hug and bake him some cookies or something.

Surfer Boys

One of my favorite things to do in the entire world is to watch Sparky surf. I love laying out on the beach, attempting to get a tan, flipping through a magazine in between sets. He is a good surfer and, as a bonus, he looks great in his wet suit. Don't laugh, I have proof. When we were in San Diego, a young 20 something tourist asked if she could have her picture taken with him and his brother-in-law in their wet suits with their surf boards. We had a good laugh about it later, since she thought she was getting a picture with the locals and really they are from Silverdale and Cincinnati.

Here is Sparky at the end of a wave. The waves were pretty wimpy on the day we brought the camera.




Thing 3 begged to get in on the action. We stuck the smallest wet suit on hand on him (the water was 58 degrees!) and hoped for the best. For a while, Sparky ran along the side of him and held him up:




And then he got more adventurous and tried having Thing 3 ride on his back. Thing 3 had a vision of him and his dad surfing side by side on separate boards holding hands, and he cried when we told him that it wasn't going to happen. He also cried when we left the beach, even though his lips were blue and he was shivering.



Thing 2 decided he wanted to get in on the action:


But he didn't last too long - it was just too cold!

Playing Basketball With Boys

We're back from our vacation in paradise, also known as San Diego. We had a blast and ate way too much good food. We thumbed our noses at the weather: our flight to SD beat out the huge snowstorm that hit Seattle by a mere hour, and on the way back, we changed flights and ended up being on one of the last flights out of SD for a day due to fog.

Sparky and I have spent the last couple of days recovering from exhaustion. We always play hard when we go down there, but this time we outdid ourselves and got up to play basketball at 5:30 in the morning four times. Not just one time. Four times. That was how we chose to spend our vacation. I guess you could say we aren't very smart people.

It was a lot of fun, though. We played with Sparky's dad, brother-in-law, brother, sister-in-law, and cousin, along with close friends. Thanks to Lady Chinchilla X for going easy on me out there. That girl can run circles around me. No thanks to the three guys that totally mauled me one of the few times I attempted to drive to the basket. You know who you are! I ended up with a lightly sprained ankle and some very colorful bruises. I meant to take a picture since they were were way more blog worthy than my last one, but I waited too long and now they're fading and not as impressive. Thank my procrastination skills; you've been spared.

Anyway, I guess that's what I get for playing basketball with boys. It's a lot different than what I was taught in my youth. When I was about 15, my friend and I were in the gym at the church shooting baskets with a bunch of guys from our ward. I'm pretty sure we were ditching making some craft with our young women's group, because we always tried to ditch the crafts. Our leader came in and found us and scolded us. "Don't you know what happens when you play basketball with boys?" Me being the smart alec 15 year old that I was, said, "No, what happens?" She paused for a few seconds and then blurted out, "You get pregnant!" There it is folks. Forget everything they taught you in 8th grade sex ed. My friends and I got a lot of laughs out of that one, let me tell you.