Not so Greatful

I'd like to publicly apologize to our families for the weak-sauce thank-you cards they will be receiving in the mail soon. They are a far cry from our "aren't I such a great Mom" 2012 productions. Probably because I aren't such a great Mom this year. I've been a pretty big slacker all around, and that includes not keeping track of who got what from whom. And thanking those people. Or even acknowledging that we got their package in the mail (sorry, Mimi and Papa).

So, when we sat down to write Christmas thank yous, we still had two sets of birthday thank yous to write as well. Sadly, one of those birthdays was in October... It was on my to-do list for Christmas break, but it didn't happen until today, when the boys asked for an extra technology turn so they could try out their new DS games. I decided to use that as the bribe for sitting down and writing thank yous. Bad idea. Mr. Technology Lover rushed through his cards in record time. This is the artwork he created last week as a belated "Brother's Day" present for Reed:

This was his last thank you. Nice.

Squiggy started with Ninjas for everyone (I'm not sure he received any Ninjas this year - he just knows how to draw them), then tried to branch out to a tractor and motorcycle. One of those turned into a  horse, which he asked me to adorn with a cowboy head. Then the cowboy head became part of the horse, so I was thinking minotaur. But when I asked, I was corrected. It was a "dramverees." My bad. I already labeled it cowboy, and that's what I'm sticking with. Gramps isn't on the internet, so what he doesn't know won't hurt, right?

He ended with this series:

Fire. Fire and wood (ooh - fancy!). And then, something that he labeled "drinseravus, 'cause I didn't want it to be fire" after I gave him my honest opinion on his efforts.

I had him dictate each message to me. My favorite? "Thank you for the present, and it's maybe the Spiderman thing." I couldn't even argue with him.

The bright spot in this production line is Mr. Perfectionist. He meticulously drew a picture of each item (that we remembered) and wrote a letter including a salutation, body, closing, and signature (complete with an uncapitalized, misspelled last name, but whatevs...) Then, he folded the paper in half and wrote the "to" and "from" on one side, labeled it "thank you" on the other, and designed fake seals, unique to each card, that looked like they closed the fold. I gave him a break after he finished all his birthday and two Christmas cards. He still has seven to go. Maybe I should let his brothers help him...

But seriously, family, please forgive my slacker parenting and 2/3 of our children's impulsivity. We may not remember who gave us what, but we really HAVE enjoyed and appreciated all the awesome goodies you took the time to pick out and purchase. More than that, we enjoyed spending time with you over the holidays (and that birthday party four months ago). We are truly blessed!

I'm Ba-ack!

After taking a four-and-a-half-month hiatus from blogging, I finally decided to get back into it. And cooking and cleaning and exercising and reading the Bible and all the other things I've taken a hiatus from. And I have my better half to thank for it.



A few weeks ago, Ryan starts reading a book he got at a coaching clinic. It inspires him. The end of the books goes on to challenge him to read a whole bunch more books on leadership.  So, he goes for it. And gets all sorts of great ideas to improve his coaching and his life. And mine, too, apparently. This, while I'm in the midst of an "I'm a first-year teacher again" slump. He's all eating healthy and working out and being positive and setting goals and I just want to gripe about how tall my ungraded paper stack is and how I don't have my lesson plans made for next week and the laundry is overflowing. Zig Ziggler responds to my whining with motivational advice about making important things a priority and making good choices even if they're hard ones and I'm just like, shut up and pass me a cookie.





But he finally got to me. Well, him and a snow day. For once this school year I was able to get caught up in every area of my life and feel a little margin and I had a weak moment and agreed to work out with him and a few of his runners after school the next day. I nearly died. But then I felt amazing and went on to have the most productive evening of my life. I came back for more the rest of the week and even though I can barely walk, I've never felt better. Well, maybe not NEVER, but not for a long time. I've exercised five days this week, only eaten sweets on one day (unless you count a super tiny sliver of homemade toffee that the lunch lady practically forced me to try...), read the Bible and prayed regularly, kept the laundry folded and put away, kept the house in relative cleanliness, got ahead on some school stuff, and wrote seven blog posts! Whattya think of that, Ziggy?

All In

My hubs is a coach. Not just any kind of coach. He's the all in kind. He sits home crunching numbers for hours after races. He researches training techniques, injury treatment, shoe types for overpronation. He knows what overpronation means. And he loves his sport, but he loves his athletes more. He agonizes over the girl whose mom barely lets her stay for practice, knowing that she might have to quit and then do no telling what during her after school hours. He stresses over how to get the boy he knows can run minutes faster to believe it himself. He gives me motivational pre-race talks without even realizing he's doing it. He sets goals with his runners and his team--and his heart breaks when they don't achieve them. Then, he gets back up and figures out how to make sure it doesn't happen again.

We have a yearly end-of-season party at our house, affectionately dubbed "Laytonfest" by his team a few years ago. You'd think the basketball goal and trampoline (we bounced the springs off of our old one) were for our own kids, but we didn't wait until Christmas to purchase them. We did make sure they were assembled in time for Laytonfest. That's what this team is to him - his kids. And when they're wrestling with my little boys and drinking my hot chocolate, they're my kids, too.

My hubs is a coach. And I couldn't be more proud!

Seven

My little man is not so little.

He lost his tooth just before his birthday. Literally. It rolled down the drain. 

So he made a fake tooth for the tooth fairy, who was apparently off duty that night, which resulted in tears the next morning and a sneaky maneuver (even though he's always known who the tooth fairy is, we pretend for the fun of it) to save the day. My favorite thing about these pictures? The Optimus Prime costume. That's our boy. Always in some super hero get-up, conquering the world. And he believes he can, too. He can do anything in his mind. When we talk about what to do in case of bad guys, brothers drowning, or other emergencies, he always argues with us that yes he CAN beat up the bad guy and/or pull Max off the bottom of the deep end (I just realized how morbid we are!). In fact, he argues with us about EVERY.THIN.G. Usually his argument consists of a) he knows more than us and/or b) he can do more than we think he can. In his mind, there is nothing this stubborn, confident little dude can't do. 

So, at his birthday party, he wanted to decorate his own cake--and cookies, too, he decided. I'm a little OCD and the cake and cookies have always kinda been my baby, so it wasn't easy for me to let go. First, I had him do the design and told him I would execute it. He plan involved a detailed diagram of the cake - blue frosting, then "a layer of golden sugar and then ANOTHER layer of blue frosting so you can't see the golden sugar, then the Hero Factory H on top with golden icing and then everyone will bite into the cake and be like, 'What! There's even more sugar inside!'" I had to nix the golden sugar, but I told him I could do the H logo. Then, on the day of the party, he decided he wanted to frost it.

This is what he was going for, but he wanted lightning bolts coming out the side.

 

This is what he piped.

Nailed it.

This boy may not be a cake boss (yet - he's got a pretty good start, though), but I love that he believes he can do anything. And if he'll tack on "with Christ" to that belief, he'll be right!

Back to School

I'm actually typing this post in November, so I have the benefit of knowing the future, but when this picture was taken on the first day of school this year, our family was a mix of excitement and fear.

No, Max didn't take this picture. We figured a selfie was more reliable than a Max-ie.

Reed and Calvin were starting at a new school. I was starting the new job I'd been so hesitant to go for for so many years.  The new teacher orientation and professional development days had been great. So great, in fact, that I'd cried to Ryan on the way home one day that "I love our new life!" But the first day of school is where the rubber meets the road, man. Our boys had been to summer school, but that was with waaaay fewer kids then they'd be with today. As for me, every teacher is pumped about school when there are no kids around. Your lessons go perfectly in your head and your classroom is spotless. But introduce the munchkins into the equation and things can get interesting. And I would be working with shorter munchkins this year! Two years shorter! 

I have to admit, third grade took a month or so to get used to. I mean, the friendly sarcasm that worked so well on ten-year olds went right over the head of my eight-year-olds! But about October, I started to realize that the kids that seemed like tiny babies to me in August had made HUGE changes in behavior AND performance. Let's be honest, I had too. The learning curve is big in third grade - for the students and the new teacher. And the halls seemed to shrink, too. It's late November as I type this and I'm happy to report that all my doubts about making this change have been erased. Yes, I still miss the people I left, but I feel like I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be - and I'm lovin' it! 

As for the boys, Calvin has been flourishing this year! Reed's age and personality have made the transition a little harder for him, but he's doing well. He's made new friends and enjoys himself at school. If it ever comes up in conversation, he'll admit that he still wishes he were with his old friends, but it comes up less and less often. 

I remember my first year at my old job. A lot of the pressures were similar. Feeling a little out of place. Being scared that you weren't competent. Having to make everything from scratch. I told Ryan at one point that year that I loved the teaching part, but the minute the kids left the room I felt like I was drowning. Well, I have to say this year I feel a lot like the first-year teacher again - Only this time I have three kids and have to leave by 4:30 to get to the sitter's on time! But, Cross Country season ended a few weeks ago, and our whole family has been riding together. I grade while we talk and for the first time in months I'm feeling a little margin clear up in our lives. And I know from experience, it's just going to keep getting better!

And now, just for the viewing pleasure of the aunts and grandmas, here are the rest of the back-to-school photos we shot. I fully intended to put these up on facebook that night, but life got in the way and I lost the camera (in the console of the car) and didn't discover it until a few weeks ago.