TEAM CAPTAIN

"Mom!" my seven year old gushed enthusiastically when I picked him up from school.

"We got to play soccer today and I was team captain and I got to pick my own team!"

My heart nearly stopped beating. Team Captain??  We're still doing that?  In PE??

"Who got picked last?" I asked gently.

Ouch!!  I'm 39 years old and I got picked last ONE TIME in 1st grade.  I was new and had worn a dress on the day we had PE.  The teacher, like many teachers before, picked the two most athletic boys to be Team Captains and to choose their teams.  

I'm sure you remember how it went. First, the most athletic boys get picked.  Second, picked are the athletic girls.  Third, the pretty girls.  Fourth, the non-athletic boys.  And last, the non-athletic girls.

I was last!!! 

I remember I cried so hard I couldn't even play the game.  It didn't matter, it was a game that I didn't know how to play anyway.  We hadn't practiced any of the skills to play the game, we hadn't gone over strategy to be able to play the game better.  Nothing.  The captains just picked teams and we were suppose to play the game.

ONE TIME!

It was only that one time that I was picked last and 32 years later I nearly cry when my son told me the name of the girl that was chosen last.

He didn't have to say her name, I already knew who she was.  

She was the 37 year old mother of three that signed up to take my Boot Camp class.  The first night she was in the very back row.  She got there a few minutes before class, looked around nervously and finally chose the back corner as her spot.

She was wearing baggy sweatpants and an over sized shirt and was sweating buckets fifteen minutes into the class.  I could see that the movements I was teaching didn't come natural to her but she was determined, I could see it in her face.  I caught her when the class was over and thanked her for being there, told her what a great job she did, and told her I knew she could do it!!

I hoped she would come back.

She did!

Each class, she worked a little harder.  I watched her as she became more outgoing, even encouraging the other participants.  She bought a new pair of workout pants that fit snug and wore them with a new workout top.  Then came the day she got there early and plunked herself in the very front row.  She looked great and I knew she felt it too.

After our last class, she walked up to me.

"I wanted to thank you", she said. 

"I want to thank you for encouraging me on that very first day, for telling me I could do it!"

"I've never been very good at sports", she continued.   

"I was always picked last for teams in grade school   I opted out of PE class in High School and never did anything more then an occasional walk after that.  But I realized that if I didn't start taking care of my health I wasn't going to be around for my three kids.  So here I am!".  

She was beaming.  She did it!  

"I love exercise!"  She said.  "I just wish it hadn't taken me 37 years to realize it!"

We are shaping lives people!!! A seven year old doesn't need to be reminded that people already think they can't do something.  That they are not good enough!  We should be teaching them how to be healthy and giving them the skills to do it for life!  It's not really about the game, it's about equipping them with the skills necessary to have a healthy and successful life and then let them decide what they want to do with it.  Don't let the Team Captain decide.

Don't get me wrong.  I am a proud momma.  Proud that my boy was Team Captain.  But at the same time, I'm afraid.  He's seven years old.  He doesn't yet know the power he has with the point of his finger.  

My Non-Job

The best sight in the whole world

I'm a SAHM!
You know what that is, a clever acronym for Stay at Home Mom!
You know, one of those women that don't work?
I'm one of those!
I don't work!
I've come up with a clever word for what I do not working:  Non-Job.
It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?
Here's what I do at my Non-Job.
Monday morning arrives well before dawn.  I hear pitter-patter feet at the foot of my bed.  I'm not sure which kid it is, but I am sure that I'm going to pretend to be asleep.  Maybe this is the day they will take mercy and go back to bed and let me finish my slumber.  Nope!
"Can I get up?" Whispers kid number one.
"What time is it?" I mumble.
"5:55" returns kid number one.
I think of the thousands of things I have to do today. I know I will never get the kid back to sleep and I won't sleep either thinking of the things to do.  
We are up!
Thank goodness I got up so early.  I have time to prepare for my day.
My Day

• get kid ready for school (requires a lot of prompting and wee bit of grumpiness)
• get other kid ready to take with me to school
• get shower and clothes on (very important)
• get coffee (lots of it)
• breakfast (all three of us)
• make snacks and lunches for kids and me.
• kiss still sleeping husband good-bye. (try not to think evil thoughts)
• 8:00 AM, drop kid number one off at school
• Do a happy dance because kid number one still wants to hug and kiss me even tho his classmates are standing around.  A classmate even asks me if I can hug and kiss him. I hug him too!
• take kid number two to swim lesson
• rush back to school and teach two PE classes (volunteer)
• help kid number two in the potty while teaching PE class (hope the students are still doing the drill I had them on)
• What time is it anyway? 10:30 AM
• Great I have time to workout!
• Get my workout on - Yay for me!!!!
• It's 11:30 AM and I am starved.  The snack I packed is long gone.
• Get home and make lunch and eat it.
• Go pick up kid number one from Kindergarten (1/2 day)
• Ask the kids to hang out while I finish up some stuff at the church in the children's room I teach in on Saturday's.
• Go home and feed kid number one cause he's hungry again.
• Ahhh.....it's rest time.  2:00-3:00 is a self imposed rest time for me and the kids.  Both of the kids get some screen time.  Number one on the computer and number two; TV.
• During rest time I get the laundry going, clean up the kitchen, sweep and mop the floors, wipe down the bathroom, balance my bank account, check on my garden, get dinner started and most importantly, I call my Mom!  My Mom was a SAHM too.  She also had a Non-Job.  It feels good to talk to her!
• Rest time is over too soon.  I tell the kids they have a few minutes to play before we leave for kid number one's gymnastics class.
• Stop for minute and listen to the kids playing so happily together.
• My alarm on my phone goes off so everyone knows we have to leave if we want to get to gymnastics on time.
• Remind kid number one to get his water bottle and ask if that is what he is wearing to gymnastics?
• Wait while kid changes clothes.
• Both kids have to poop!!!  Really? They couldn't have done that earlier?  Good think I set my alarm early knowing this might happen.
• Out the door- Finally.  It's 10 minutes before 4:00 PM
• Arrive just as the final reminder alarm goes off on my phone.   Hearing the alarm, both kids remark that we made it on time!  Hurray!
• While kid number one is doing gymnastics.  Kid number two and I play silly games with each other.  We both grow tired of this and I retreat to my iPhone.  What have I been missing all day?  Kid number two quickly grows tired of this and asks to play games on my iPhone. I relent and watch kid number one practice front flips.  Wow, such determination on his little 6 year-old face!  I think I'm lucky to have such a talented kid.
• Gymnastics is done. It's 5:00 pm.
• We drive home to meet husband and all eat Supper together.  Good thing I prepared it before we left for gymnastics because everybody is starving again.
• It's almost 6:00 pm and my phone alarm goes off again.  Almost time for soccer for kid number one.
• Off the whole family goes to soccer.  This is fun because the whole family is together.
• It's 7:00 pm and soccer is done and we are all tired.  Just a few more things to do.
• We head home and husband gets kids in the shower while I clean up the kitchen, feed the cats, and feed the dog.
• Husband reads kids bedtime story while I watch.  This is my favorite time of day and the best sight in the whole world.  It makes my heart happy.
• We have family prayer and kids are off to bed.
• Sweet hugs and sloppy kisses.  I thank the kids for such a fun and busy day.

Wew!  My day is over!  I sit down and relax and visit with husband.  I'm thankful for a lot of things this day.  I'm thankful for the energy to make it through the day. I'm thankful that my kids can be involved in the things they want to be involved in.  I'm thankful that kid number one didn't have swim lessons today and I'm thankful that I didn't have to make Hot Lunch at school. I'm thankful that is my busiest day of the week and that tomorrow I get to be less busy. But most of all, I'm thankful that I don't really work and I only have a Non-Job!

Jorgianna at swim lessons

Theodore's Kindergarten Class

Winters' Last Hurrah! Hopefully!

What a blistery late Winter day!  Yuck!

Although the recent weather has felt more like Spring, today we were harshly reminded that Old Man Winter has not pulled his last hurrah.

Downed power lines in front of our house.

Today we experienced a full house of different types of weather.  Sun, Rain, Snow, and LOTS of wind.

My ultra paranoid son was convinced that the pine tree in front of our house was going to topple over.  Most likely ON our house!  This paranoia is fueled by a real life tree falling extra close to our house several years before during a freak microburst.

Alas, no tree fell on our house!  However, several trees and several power-lines in our neighborhood did fall during the worst of the storm.  But we survived!

My daughter, protecting herself from the elements.

Snow fell for most of the day, but none stuck!

Tonight, after most of the storm had past, I could swear the  lawn was starting to turn green.

I see my Perennials starting to make some little tiny leaves and the Crocus should be in bloom soon.

You know what that means?

That's right!

Rain boots mean that Spring is on her way!

Winter is on his way OUT!!!


Love the boots?  They are from Gymboree.
boots

Oh Oscar! Poor Puppa!

Oh Oscar!  

Poor Puppa!  

I think it is the main mission in a boxer's life to look mournful!  Especially if they have been slighted in any way. In today's case, I was so busy today with my "non-job", that he didn't get a walk.

In my defense my "non-job" took up most of my day and to add insult to injury, the weather was icky! It doesn't stop a Boxer from looking like you spent most of the day kicking him.

Oscar Bob, our family Boxer 7 years old.

Some days I think it would be easier to not have a dog, but today when I came home from an especially long and hard day, there was my Oscar wiggle waggling his nub of a tail, doing his jelly-bean dance, completely ecstatic to see me.  I hadn't done anything to deserve his complete and utter elatedness at me walking in the door.  But it was there never-the-less!

Oh Oscar!  Poor Puppa!  

He thought I wanted to play.  He quickly went to his toy basket and grabbed his favorite toy.  With perked up ears and with high hopes, he brought it to me to play.

Oh Oscar!  Poor Puppa!  

I don't have time to play today!   

He dropped his toy and perked up his ears no doubt thinking I said "you wanna go for a walk?"

Tomorrow Oscar!

Easily Manipulated

I'm easy!


That's right, it's out there!


Give me a little sunshine and I'm one happy girl.  

Give me a little sunshine and dirt, and I'll be happy forever!

I feel this way every year at the advent of spring.  The weatherman forecasts bright sky's and our first 60 degree day and I can hardly sleep thinking of all the wonderful things I'm going to do with my day.  


I jump out of bed at the crack of dawn and like a whirlwind tackle all the projects I dreamed about all night.  Cleaning, organizing, rearranging, throwing things out and best of all digging in the dirt.

Friday, March 9, 71 degrees

Friday, was our first day over 60 and like a wild woman, I decided to skip my gym workout and attack the garden space and get it ready for spring planting.


I armed myself with my nifty garden gloves (I choose Nitrile gardening gloves), a pitchfork, an iron rake and my favorite garden spade.  I set to work with vigor!  I used the pitchfork to take out all the winter mulch.  I made a huge burn pile of all the old plants. I used the rake to take out the small scraps.  It was then I set to spading.


It did it!  
It felt good!  
The sun was hot on my back!   
I was digging in the dirt!
I was sweating!
I was thirsty!
I was hungry!  
I was tired!
I quit!


How did I let the sun manipulate me so?  I skipped my workout?  It's way to early to plant!


The weather forecast is for rain and cooler weather.  Good thing, because I'm too sore for more spading.