Pinewood Derby

I feel like we have reached a milestone in parenting - participating in a pinewood derby!  This is not something you do with a toddler - this is a full grown kid activity.  Yeah!  We are officially parents of a kid.

The event was at my employee day at the Springs.  Steve went all out and let's just say an entire machine shop was involved.  I felt horrible submitting this car in the 0 to 8 age group, but Steve assured me every car in that age group was undoubtedly made by a parent.  (it turns out, he was mostly right and the winner of the entire day came from the 0-8 age group).

BTW, Mason cannot pose for a picture any longer.  He always makes a stupid face - just like his father!

The race was a lot of fun.  There were about 16 cars in our age group and he won the first and second heats.  He ended up in 4th place, and then upgraded to third since the overall winner was in his age group.  So we got a little trophy (too bad we had already left due to a 5 month old that had been awake for 4 hours!).  Here is a little video of the first heat.  Mason being a little less than gracious to Addison (off camera)...

He was signing "I love you" while teasing, so that counts for something, doesn't it?

So Steve is already thinking about his design for next year, but I think we will submit that in the adult age group and let Mason really do his own next year.  

Oh!  And Alex got his first tooth today!  You can't see it, but believe me, it's there!

My thoughts on bullying

I am definitely not the authority on bullying, but after reading This post: http://www.danoah.com/2010/10/memoirs-of-bullied-kid.html, I thought about it all day. My personal advice is to have a good group of friends. Dan sorta suggests the same, but I think it goes one step further.

The best advice I was ever given in high school was to not allow math class to be the highlight of your day. Meaning, having extra curricular activities is what makes the rest of the day bearable. I was already following his advice, so this was not life changing to me, but it still sticks with me and I tell it to as many young people as I can.

I was in band from sixth grade on. I loved every minute of it and proudly wore the label of band geek. We all did. That is the point. Nobody messes with groups of people, they mess with the loners. Not that it is ok to mess with the loners, but that is why bullies never got to me.

I had my fair share of insecurities. I was too tall, too thin, flat chested, big nose, very nerdy - pretty much exactly the same person I am today. Even with these "faults" I had a self confidence that being part of a group gave to me.

Let me elaborate just a bit on that.  Luckily, I was too thin. I had and every once in a while, still have, issues with body dismorphia (you know, seeing something different than everyone else sees when looking in the mirror). Nothing clinically diagnosed or anything, but only because I did not have to work at all on being thin. I would look at my thighs and if I was able to pinch a piece of skin, I honestly thought that it was fat, and I was fat. I totally get people who are anorexic. I understand the thoughts of being able to control nothing in your life, except food. I would have been right there with all the anorexic girls if I had even the slightest issue with weight. I prided myself on being thin.

So anyway, this was my issue.  This is what bully's could have got to me with.  But they didn't, and I believe whole-heartedly that it was because I was surrounded by a great group of people.  It doesn't matter what the group is, band, sports team, leadership, drama, whatever, as long as you have a group to identify with and you can be yourself around.  But I think band is just a little better than all those others, because it takes a brave soul to put a actual feather in your hat and march around the football field with your head held high.

So if you are a young person, join something, anything. Do not let math be the best part of your day. Even though I could rock an around-the-world session with multiplication tables and would be on a high for days! (please tell me you know what I am talking about)

If you are a parent of a young person, help them to be involved. Help them to be busy.  Help them to be normal.  Help them to not be a loner.   And please, above all else, it is not all about grades. I hate when I hear someone say that they have to quit sports because their grades are suffering. That is crazy talk. A minimum level of grades must be achieved, but after that, it doesn't matter.  What matters is to raise a confident well-rounded person.

I think of myself as a successful person today, but do you think anyone knows what grades I got in high school, or even college. Never, not one time, has it ever played a role in my professional life. Man, what I wouldn't have given to realize that when I was stressing out in high school. Heck, I starting stressing in SIXTH grade about grades. I promise that I will never let my kids get that stressed out because of a grade. Never. They might stress about sports or girls or acne, but I won't allow them to stress about grades.

So there is my confession for the day, and my thoughts on this terrible epidemic going on in schools now.  It was always there before, but now with the shield a computer can give you, so many more people are bullied and it is really sad.

So Thankful

Even though yesterday was extremely annoying and a big inconvience, it reminded me again and how lucky and thankful I am for my health insurance.  Steve got something in his eye when he was at work on Sunday - a tiny piece of metal or something.  After a couple hours at the ER on Sunday, we followed up with an opthomologist on Monday (referred there by ER).  It turns out we can't go there because this was a workman's comp issue.  We had to go across town and be seen by the clinic that the workman's comp tells you to go to.  Three hours later, they referred us to a different opthamologist.  Once we got to that office, the doctor finally got the piece of metal out.  All in all it was a half a day of time and frustration and LOTS OF PAIN on Steve's end, but that will be the end of it for us.  At that clinic, I was just thinking of all the people sitting there, and their individual situations.  A minor little accident could really affect their entire lives.  I don't have much time to expand, because I have to get back to work.  I just really feel lucky right now.  Health insurance is something many of us take for granted, and so many people don't have it.  I know that if I didn't have health insurance back when I had my ectopic pregnancy - there is no way I would have went to the doctor when I did.  I would have waited until the pain was unbearable, and that could have affected me for life.  So just a quick lunchtime thought on how I am proud of our country for at least trying to give everyone access to insurance.

Crappy Monday

So I had to follow up my happy Friday, with a crappy Sunday and still going on into Monday.

Sunday, was just doomed to begin with. I woke up with a headache, and steve was working, so I had to deal with the kids all day. We had a birthday party to go to at 1:00, which I was very excited to go to, to force myself outside (still amazing weather here). Well, that meant early naps and just off schedule altogether, so everything seemed to be a fight.

I tried to wake mason up at 12:30 to leave and he was so upset that I had woke him up! He just rolled over and I decided to give him another 30 minutes. We finally got out and I drove to the park, without too much thought,I knew right where it was so I didn't bring any maps or anything. The park was PACKED! Which is a nice sight normally, but I couldn't find the party. I walked up to literally five parties and asked if it was the right one. One person told me, someone else was just asking for Amelia, and they went that way...so I continued while pushing the stroller, and chasing mason, sincere just wanted to go on the slides...and have cake.

Anyway, we never found them, so I let mason play for awhile. Alex started fussing, and I just decided to go home. Once we got home, I looked up the invite again, and it was the wrong park!!! It was way too late to head back out, especially since Alex now needed to eat again.

Once I put alex down for a nap, I told mason we could make cupcakes, since he missed out on the cake. I don't know why I offered this, I knew it wasn't a good idea because I was in such a bad mood and I hate cooking even in a great mood. It went just about how I thought it would, lots of aggrevation...at one point I had to stop, take a deep breath, and I told Mason,"I'm sorry, I am not being a very good mommy today.". He responded, "you are not listening to my instructions?" ....I think he has heard that one before.

Anyway, I just couldn't wait for Steve to get home, but when he did, he had something stuck in his eye. At first, it seemed like no big deal, but it got worse and worse, and he ended up going to the hospital to get it out. They couldn't, and gave a referral to an opthamologist for this morning. We went there just now, but they told us we needed to go to the workman's comp place first, so now we are there, and this is taking forever, and poor Steve still has something stuck in his eye! This is not a good day.

Happy Friday

I had a really good Friday today.  I am still not crazy about my long Monday - Thursday, but having Fridays off, and the ability to still drop off the kids at day care, means total me-time which is needed every once in a while.  The thing that made today great was the weather.  Man, it was gorgeous here.

I dropped the boys at daycare at 9:30, in and out of Target in 10 minutes, in and out of Costco in 30 minutes (Amazing - I know!).  Steve and I had a much-needed date-night/afternoon (you take what you can get) at my FAVORITE restaurant, Rosemary's.  Back home to watch a movie (Crazy Heart - eh, skip it, but any movie on my comfy couch with cool enough weather to wrap up in a blanket is a good time by me!).  I made it to the gym!!!!  First time in 8 months.  How pathetic is that?  Don't answer that - but I guess I had a good excuse with the turkey of a son that I had.  Then back to pick up the boys.  Both boys were really good this evening - but it is probably because I had such a good day that my patience was re-calibrated.  I took the boys for a nice walk around the neighborhood and relished that others were out walking too.  Ahhh...life is good.

Anyway, since I was in a good frame of mind, I added about 20 items to my Mighty Life List (see www.mightygirl.com for my inspiration).  I promise I am going to post that list on here when it is finished (or at least at a good stopping point) because I think it is really powerful to write it down and share it with people so that I can't back down from my really big dreams and desires.  If it is not done by the end of the year - please bug me about it - because it needs to be done.

Tomorrow we are going to Gilcrease Orchards to hopefully pick our own pumpkins!  I hope your weekend is as good as mine is already turning out to be.
BYE!

Mason's first sleepover!

We had a fun night when Mason's bestest friend was able to sleep over for the first time.  I offered to watch Addison and Adam for Shannon and Corey on Thursday night because I knew that Mason would love it - and Shannon and Corey needed it.

It was my first experience with twins!  Mason and Addison are only 3 weeks apart and Alex and Adam are only 9 days apart.  I always think of the possibilities of Mason and Addison being friends (or more than friends) forever.  So I always like to take lots of pictures of them and record all their little interactions just in case...

For instance, Addison was talking about Halloween and how she would be a princess.  She said Mason should be a prince since she was a princess, and went on to say that they were going to have a baby girl named Angel.  Isn't that sweet!  Too bad Mason wants to be a ghost.  I have tried to get him to be something a little more exciting, but he is genuinely excited to be a ghost.  I think it is great that his innocence is still showing, and I bet every little boy who isn't corrupted by marketing really wants to be a ghost.  

Back to the sleepover...Addison and Mason were rowdy all night - just running around and totally excited.  I had everything planned out with four kids, I had to have a plan.  Adam and Alex had just both had bottles before I picked them up from daycare, so they were fine for about an hour.  I made dinner (every kids' favorite: chicken nuggets and apple slices) while the babies were playing in the other room.  Right when I served the dinner Adam started crying and I fed him.  Alex fell asleep for a cat nap, so he was easy for a while.  I put Adam to sleep at 7:30, and then woke up Alex.  I fed him and he played a little while longer.  I put him to sleep shortly after, and then it was time to wide down for the older kids.  I am just now realizing that this is super boring so I am going to wrap it up. 

Long story short - they did really well.  I was so proud of myself for getting it all done and not going crazy.  They fought like brother and sister, which I was kinda surprised about.  There wasn't any terribly funny stories to tell - except Addison wanting to say her prayers, and I thought she was asking for pears, and she was so sad when I told her she couldn't have pears (prayers) - finally I figured it out and of course she could say her prayers! 


Oh, and I did get to brush her long hair, which is the one thing I cried about when I knew I wasn't getting to have a girl...

The hardest part was logistically getting them all back to daycare on Friday morning.  Luckily I had no schedule since I was off work, but 4 bags, two car seats, two booster seats, two babies, and two rowdy kids was a little much!  Good thing I have the van.  

Hilarious RMS

Being a mother is so very glamorous.  I am constantly wiping some substance off of something - a butt, a nose, a place mat, whatever.  This morning I am waiting for Mason to finish going to the bathroom so I can wipe his butt and he says, "Momma, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  I have never heard this line before, so I start chuckling, and respond, "I don't know; what are you thinking?"  He responds, "I am thinking of getting one more piece of poop out!"

HAHAHAHA!!!!  I haven't laughed this hard in a while.