Starstruck

S went to Miller Park yesterday for Weather day. WTMJ4 had a science fair and talked about the weather and then the kids got to watch about 6 innings of the 14 inning game against the Pirates. (Boo Pirates, Yeah Brewers, Boo on the Brewer eventual loss.)
What had S most excited? No, it wasn't the hotdog and Pepsi he got, or the cotton candy, although, they were darned high on the list.
No, my son's biggest moment?
He shook Craig Koplein's hand. Craig, one of the TMJ4 weathercasters.
S was literally jumping up and down when he told me.
"I got to shake his HAND!" he bragged.
"Did you ask him a weather question?" I said.
"OH no," S replied, "I was just too stubborn to ask."
I hesitated, thinking 'how does stubborn go with that?'
"I was so excited because he's, like, really famous, he's on tv and EVERYTHING!" exclaimed S.
Then I said, "Honey, I think you mean speechless."

On an unrelated note, later at dinner, S asked me "In Catholic-ology, is Sister another name for nun? You know, the ones who run the Catholic church?"
Good thing my Mom never heard this one!
Guess I have some 'schoolin' to do with my starstruck boy!

Oh Sister!

C was reading a book to me. She came to the word "sister" and couldn't figure it out.
So I prompted her "You know this word. It's what you are to S".
She thought for a moment and then with a confused look, she answered "Sneaky?"
I just grinned.

Complaint Department

S & C were playing outside before school. Suddenly, S comes rushing in and stands right in front of me.
"Yes?" I ask him, meaning "I'm working on an important crop in Farmville and do not wish to be interrupted."
"Mama" S responds, "I want to lodge a complaint against C."
"Really?" I ask, trying not to crack a smile cause he's looking quite serious.
"Yes, I want to lodge a complaint." He stands there and looks intently at me, not saying another word.
Shortly, I say, "OK, consider your complaint lodged".
He stands there a bit longer, just looking at me.
"Is there a specific outcome you would like?" I ask.
"Yes, Mama" S says. "C threw a rock at me and it almost hit my back. Would you tell her my complaint was lodged and that I would like her to stop?"
"Certainly" I respond, "Is that all?".
"Yes, that is all" and S runs back outside to play.

Seriously, where does he get this stuff???

Easter Lessons

I have been questioning lately, especially with C, if I am an effective parent. She is in a 'lying' stage and I am at my wits end with her (not to mention the stubborn and bullheaded behavior). Also, she took communion for the first time on Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday for my Catholic readers) and Hubster and I were conflicted about this. He felt she wasn't quite ready and I vacillated between letting her and not being sure she got the whole idea. I questioned whether I was getting through to her about the real meaning of Easter and if I spent too much time on the Bunny aspect.
And then, we went to church on Good Friday. It was a service unlike anything else I have ever experienced. It was competely put on by the high school youth and it was, hands down, the most moving and absolutely spectacular Good Friday service I have ever attended. It was touching, dramatic and thought provoking. It kept not only the kid's attention but also the adults.  (On a side note, S & I have had almost daily discussions on various parts of the service. I love this!)
During the service, whenever the lights came on, C would hurriedly draw in her notebook. She does this quite frequently and I have many notes of  "I love my family"  or "I love my dog". But on Good Friday, this is what she drew. A crude drawing of a cross, with a person drawn on it. The person had a cross on  his forehead and a very large frown on their face. When I asked her about it, she said "Well, that's Jesus. And he's not happy to be on that cross but he does it because God asked him and he loves us. Mama, it makes me really sad that he had to die."
I was astonished. She gets it! She didn't understand all the layers of course, but she got the main idea.
Then, this last Sunday, she was working on another 'masterpiece'. She kept asking me how to spell things and when she finished, this is what her paper said.
"What is Easter? Easter is a time of love and giving God a prayer. Easter is God and us."
I guess my question of whether we were approaching Easter in the right way was answered by 2 pieces of paper.
Wow!
p.s. I think she mostly gets it. When, on Easter, they opened the box that contained the Alleluia banners the kids made and packed away on Ash Wednesday, the banners weren't in the box. They were held up by various congregation members. The lesson: You can't contain the goodness of God and the lessons of Easter.
When C came back to the pew after this lesson, she whispered to me "I think that tricky Easter Bunny must have been here and hid those banners just like he did the eggs at our house!"
I guess we'll just face it one bunny step at a time.

Run, Anne, Run

OK, so yesterday was Day 2, Week 4. My workout went something like this:
Get the kids up, dressed, breakfast eaten, bathroom break taken and ready to go to the gym.
Realize I haven't eaten breakfast and make something for myself. Eat my oatmeal, get dressed for the gym, get Maggie in the kennel. Walk out the door and think "Hmm, did I bring along all my clothes to change into?" and realize I have everything but clean underwear. Can't forget those 'cause there's nothing yuckier than sweat drenched undies after a nice clean shower.
OK, have everything including kids so off we go to the gym.
Referee a few disagreements by the time we get to the gym.
Give strict instructions to the children about appropriate behavior in the youth room and remind them I can see everything they do from my treadmill and issue the 'you better not make me come in there' speech.
We go inside, put things into the locker, kids go in the youth room. I am relieved because there's another child in there and they're playing nicely together.
Get my ipod set and the treadmill turned on. Turn on the tv, find Oprah.
Start with a 5 minute warmup, just walking. No problem.
Next, a 3 minute run. The ipod instructs me not to go too fast as this is just the first run of the session. No problem there, I take that ipod seriously and don't stress myself out. Not too bad, I can handle this running. Easy peasy, lemon squeezie.< Famous last words.>
Walk 90 seconds. Cakewalk.
Run for 5 minutes. Not too fast, I'm instructed. I start out strong, feeling confident. This is so great! I can do this! I should really think about skipping to Week 5, I'm feeling so great. I'm so good, I could skip to Week 6!
About 1 minute into the run, I notice it's really hot in the gym. Sweat starts pouring. In places that are not so nice; like the 'under the boob' sweat, 'above the crack' sweat and the 'run down in my eye and sting' sweat. Darn, and it's only 2 minutes into the run. I think this ipod is broken. No? Well, crap.
Finally, I make it the 5 minutes and I very, very promptly slow down for my next walk. I'm just about recovered and that darned ipod tells me it's time to run again, what??? I notice the woman on the treadmill next to me looking at me rather strangely. "Damn ipod told me to speed up" I tell her. She just smiles tentatively and keeps walking. (At which point, I realize I have now become someone else's YMCA story).
I speed up the treadmill and the music speeds up too. Now, it's getting hard to read the closed captioning on Oprah and run and wipe the extraneous sweat balls that are bouncing around in unusual spots on my body. I glance at the kids. Thank goodness they are behaving. C waves and I grunt and move my hand in her general direction cause man, this running is tough. Contemplate going back to Week 3 workout.
Finally, I make it to the end of my session (there might have been more walking/running segments but I forget now. Selective memory at it's finest!). I gingerly step off the treadmill, wipe it down, and go to tell the kids I'm off to the shower.
Workout completed, legs tired, body sweaty, throat very thirsty.
And, I get to do this all over again one more time.
Oh boy.

Summer Fun Idea

The kids have spring break this week. So far, we have:
visited the Milwaukee Zoo
visited Jelly Belly
Ate at McDonald's
Swam at the Y
Went bowling
Went to a fantastic park
Rode bikes
Excercised at the Y
Played on the computer a little too much
Watched way too much tv
Today we're going to see a movie
And, it's only Thursday. Holy mackeral, what am I going to do this summer?
I found a fun activity that I need to remember to try with the kids. They both love to paint and I think this would be fun: http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/07/27/chalk-paint/
Wish me luck for the rest of this week.

Day 1, Week 4, The Finale

I completed Day 1 of Week 4. Whew! I ran on the treadmill this time. That's a first as usually I am on the track or outside. It wasn't so bad but it was hot today. The air temp I mean, at the gym. I haven't sweat this much since last summer. But it felt so good, at least when I finished. I celebrated with a sugar cookie when I got home. What?! You mean I shouldn't have done that! Well, too darned bad, it was delicious and it was only one.
Next up: One day off and then on to Day 2. Woohoo!