Outerspace Eye Exam

Slight astigmatism and a little bit farsighted but no glasses…for now.

She says…

She is starting a band.

I have no doubt.

She made up a song called Blue Lightning and I can’t get it out of my head.

Can’t wait to see the hair, make-up and boys that go along with it.

The hood takes it to Chisago

What do you get when you have a neighborhood of adults that spends part of their free time hanging out and drinking together and the other part of their free time doing road races, bike races, marathons and triathlons?

You get all their kids wanting to do what the adults are doing.  Racing that is…I am guessing the drinking will come later.

So here are the cast of characters who participated this year.

Dunc:  He is 3 and can ride a bike without training wheels.  He stands about 2 feet off the ground, is a touch shy and is FEARLESS.  Yeah, took 4th in his age group.  Yo Yo littlest racer.

Pete:  He’s 6 and runs so fast his legs blur.  He took 3rd in his age group two years ago and is back for more.  He held the bar high for EVERYONE and crossed it, bringing home another 3rd place finish.

KP:  Clearly looking nervous here.  We walked through the transitions so he would know where to go and when it came down to it, he was rock solid.  He took 11th in his age group.

Super Cal:  With his dark eyes and steadfast demeanor took to this race and did not stop.  Coming in 6th in his age group.  At the end, when his twin brother was sad he did not get a metal, Cal gave him his.  I know…seriously!?

PJ:  Coming in strong and looking for perfection, found this year’s race a little more difficult.  Her brother’s bike got caught on hers in the transition area, which caused a little bit of an upset to say the least.  After taking a deep breath, chucking her brother’s bike to the ground and moving past it, she took 12th in her age group.  Way to overcome baby!

Ellie:  One of PJ’s closest friends came to join the fun this year.  Her parents are amazing athletes in their own right but don’t do triathlons.  That said, without even knowing what the hell to do, Ellie kicked in a 4th place finish.  Then she got on her bike and rode another 30 miles to a camp site with her family.

CT:  Wanting nothing more than get a top 3 slot this year.  He and Sam worked hard on trying to swim through the water this year, instead of walking through the water like the majority of the kids.  I think it paid off for both of them.  CT had a good race, he worked hard, tried his best and ended up with a 5th place finish.

Sam:  As one of the veterans of the race, Sam knows the twists and turns well and is extremely skilled at navigating the process.  With a swim stroke as pretty and elegant as a swan, he swooped in to take the 10th place slot.

When it was all said and done this little amazing group of athletes cheered each other on, supported one another and had a wonderful time eating pancakes at the end of the race.

Great job Team So Ty!

Injuries

I’m really not the kind of mom that runs to their kids when they are crying.  IF they are truly hurt, they will have a blood curdling sort of scream-cry.  I’ll come a running for those, but otherwise I kinda linger back and let them shake it off on their own.

At PJ’s last soccer game, she kicked the ball and then the ground.  She was on the ground crying.  The coach ran out there to check on her and looked back at me with eyes that said, “Come on mom, your kid is crying, get out here.”  I leaned to my friend and said, looks like he wants me to go.

I’m sure it hurt.  After the game we iced and we tylenoled.  The next morning, she was still hoping on one leg and oowing and wincing (when I was looking) and running and laughing when I was not.  There was no swelling, no black and blue, nothing.

We were heading to the park program that morning and I asked her if she felt good enough to go.  She said yes and gingerly grabbed at her ankle.

Once we get there, she sits at the table, puts her ace bandaged ankle up for everyone to see and tells me on a pain scale of 0 (fine)-10 (dying), she is a 7.

My response to her was this, “You have two choices.  1.  If you are indeed at a 7 on your pain scale, you should go home immediately and lay in bed with your leg up and wrapped in ice and then I will call the doctor and we will go in.  Or 2.  MAN UP.  What is your choice?”

“Ummm…man up.”

I can’t tell you how funny it was to hear my 8 year old daughter telling me she was going to MAN UP.

And by the way, her ankle is fine, she can jump out of a tree, run around the house and hurdle her brother but…she is still wearing the ace bandage.

Maybe she should start a new Man Up fashion accessory line for little tough girls.

Our Future

At the dinner table tonight, we talked about what the kids would choose to be if they had to choose their occupations RIGHT NOW.

CT said an architect or an astronaut.

PJ said an artist.

KP said…A ROBBER!

Yeah, we’ll see who picked right!

Sweet baby eight

Dear PJ,

How lucky we are to have you in our lives.

You spread joy,

and laughter,

and love,

and drama,

and craziness,

and sincerity,

and so very much more.

You are a gift to us.

Happy Birthday baby girl!  May this next year be filled with everything wonderful.

I love you.

Mom

Just in case we were questioning our choice

Last week, I went with PJ’s class to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to look at the eight pieces of art that they had studied in class.  The docent was so intrigued about the fact that our little group spoke Chinese, that she wanted to kick off the tour by dropping by the Chinese art exhibit.

She brought the kids to see this very old tapestry, that is hanging behind her, and asked if anyone recognized any of the characters.

A few kids started raising their hands, and then a few started saying random things here and there, and then the rest picked up on it and the entire group stood there chanting aloud the story that was woven so many years ago on an ancient Chinese tapestry.

As I stood with my eyes wide and my mouth agape, the docent turned to me and the other mom and said, “did either of you get that on video?”

Runs in her blood

Adam is an entrepreneur.  It is something that runs deep down into his core and won’t let go of him.  In fact, he tells this story of when he was young and decided to smash rocks, put them back together and then walk around the neighborhood and sell them as Rock Puzzles.  He moved onto shoe shinning, lawn mowing and oh so many other things from there.

So yesterday, when PJ came off the bus and told us she and her friend Claire had written some books on the bus and wanted to sell them, we just kind of nodded our heads.

I thought that was the end.

Nope.  She decided she needed to type it up and print it out.  Then she made 40 copies.  Then she made a container to hold her money.  Then she practiced what she was going to say when she knocked on the door to the neighbor’s homes.

And when she got off the bus today, she grabbed her friend Una and they canvased the neighborhood selling the story for 25 cents.

They ended the night $7.42 richer then they had started.

Neighbors…do you understand what you are creating?  Do you?

Look at her dad.

Little fingers

We just inherited a piano from our neighbor.  It was his as a child, the bench is even filled with all his old music books.  After getting it tuned and finding the right wall to put it next to, now come lessons and learning how to play.

PJ is very excited.  She has been asking for lessons for a year.  Last year for Christmas we even got her a key board to start playing around on.

Since the piano has been in the house, every night before bed, PJ says, “Can I go downstairs quick?  I’m going to say goodnight to The Old Chum.”

And then she walks downstairs and says goodnight to the piano.

Homework

Any guesses on what PJ is doing on that sheet of paper?

Multiplication tables (1-9)!  It was two pages long when it was all said and done.

Practice makes perfect.