Community Values

Today was a busy day. And it's not over yet!

It was the start of the fall swim season with a meet 30 minutes away. This pool is one I enjoy because they have a front "lawn" where my girls can run around while we wait for my oldest daughter's next event. It was rather chilly today, so we ended up moving inside the building. Still space to move, but not as much as we like to use. I got to have a great conversation with a mom friend who I have not been able to talk with in a while. Her kids swim on the same team as my daughter and I really appreciate her perspective on things. 

We came home for lunch, naps and getting ready to go to events #2 and #3. Event number 2 was the Homecoming Fall Festival and 5k at my high school. Each year this event gets better and better. More booths, more kids coming out, more teachers/administrators participating and (most importantly, I think) more alumni coming out! My swim team sold "This is Sparta" yard signs to raise money for going to state and lots of students and alumni friends came out and participated! (photos by the 3 year old!!)

Event number 3 was Annie running in the Zombie 5k. My cousin Greg is a runner and offered to help her train for the St. Jude Half Marathon in December. When she said she wanted to run in today's race, I knew I wouldn't be able to but she asked Greg and he seemed delighted to do it. They had a great time and she finished well! Beating her PR by 1mibute and smashing her goal time today by 5! 

A photo finish for sure!!

In the midst of all of this, we realized I forgot to buy Brauts for dinner tonite! So instead it was grilled cheeseBLTs and fries. Trust me when I say, they were amazing! 

It was great to sit around the table with my whole family and hear everyone talk about their experiences with everyone today. 

Tonite, I'm heading back to my school to serve my time as a dance chaperone. In hoping not to be there too late, but I'm excited for the dance to have returned! 

What's the point of all this? Community. 

We all want our kids to feel safe. We typically want them to ha e fun, make friends and enjoy life. But through it all we want them to grow in a community that is strong, diverse and encouraged and nurtured them to develop into their best self. Today's event have several different communities, but ones that I'm grateful to be a part of. Communities I'm proud to see my children be a part of. Today I watched my students play with my children and my students were all having a great time sharing great experiences. It may be one of the greatest gifts of being a teacher and a mom. I'm proud to support both of these communities. 

What are you proud of in your communities? How are you helping to nurture positive experiences for your kids? 

I'm not perfect

I'm a mom. I have 5 kids, I love them fiercely and try so hard to do the things that I should for them. I posted about my youngest daughter yesterday. She is adorable and wonderful and I said that she was 3 months old yesterday. She's not. She's 4 months old.

An entire extra month of her life went by and I somehow, wasn't paying attention and I missed it.

A friend pointed it out when I shared her picture on facebook. I felt terrrible.

I'm her mother, surely I know how old my daughter is. Right?

Instead, I checked the calendar, fixed the blog post and the facebook post and laughed it off... and then the mom-guilt set in.

I felt like crap that I missed an entire month.

I shared on instagram a while back about her first time on swings. And then I wondered if it was really her first time on a swing. Did she go with her nanny while I was at work? Is this a joy she's already had that I missed?

Life is tough having kids. Doesn't matter if you have 1 or 5 or 11. We have created a society that makes it necessary for us to do all the things and with pinterest and instagram and everything else, there's this notion that not only are we capable of doing ALL THE THINGS, but that they are adorable, monogrammed and photograph worthy.

Let's be real, they're not.

This is my plan going forward, I am going to make an effort to do the best I can in that moment. And if it's not perfect, I'm letting myself off the hook. It's ok to not be perfect. Then, I'm going to start trying to spread some love and motivate a few others out there.

Who's with me? Can you let yourself off the hook?

Want to run?

Many of you know and some of you may not, but my dad is a prostate cancer survivor. Many of you also know, I do NOT call myself a runner.

Several years ago, my dad underwent surgery to remove the cancer and has remained cancer free since then.

Here in Memphis, there is a run coming up to support the research and work being done to cure this disease affecting millions of men each year.

If you are interested in participating, this year's run will start at the Botanic Gardens at 7:30am on April 27. You can register here. If you'd rather just give to the cause, the website found here, has lots of great information! The event is sponsored by the Conrad Pearson Clinic and is part of a national event.

Obviously, I think this is an important cause, if you do too, or you just want another half marathon in before summer, please join us!

In my running shoes!

First Run

Today I dragged myself to the gym, put my big fat  uncomfortably sized self on the elliptical and then the treadmill and exercised. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't my best, but it's done.

I set a big time goal of running 500 miles this year. (It's kind of a big deal I said that out loud, so please hold me to it.) and today I snapped down 1.5 of them. I have 363 days left to get another 498.5. Seems manageable, but you'd be amazed at how quickly life stomps all over your good plans! Lol! Don't I know! I'm the mom of 4, who was told there wouldn't be a #3 without IVF....guess life proved that wrong! Times 2!!!

I'm hoping that 2013 can be a year of growth and change and learning and becoming the best of me yet. Wanna come along for the ride? Tell me about your goals.

Temple Israel's Mitzvah Day...our Project

This past sunday was Mitzvah Day for all congregational members of Temple Israel. In previous years, my mother oversaw the production of several beautiful murals in the stairwells of Plough Towers. Such as this one...

This was the drawing that I did for the mural I was asked to do.

I was definitely excited to get to oversee a mural project, but the experience was more than a little bittersweet since my mother was not there with us. It was yet another reminder of her absence from our lives.

Once we got to Plough Towers, Annie and I immediately set to work. We arrived early so that I could sketch out the drawing and make sure we knew exactly where each of the different colors would go. By the time Kathleen arrived at 9am, we had already gotten quite a bit done. We took hourly photos, which you can see below.

This was how much Annie and I had gotten done at about 10am.

This was how much we had all gotten done at about 11am

About half-way through our morning, the activities director, came by and asked if we would do the other wall that was prepped. Another artist was supposed to be doing a mural as well, but she had not shown up. Annie and Justin, the two kids in our group, were excited to do the other mural. Annie came up with a design and immediately got to work putting it together. Within a short amount of time they had gotten quite a bit done.

This was the halfway point of the second mural.

It didn't take long for both of the murals to get finished. We had a few friends come and go to help with both murals and we were done with both by noon. We cleaned up and went on our way. While it was sad to not have my mother there to share the day with, it was wonderful to get to brighten the stairwell for the residents on two different floors. It won't be long before all of the floors on that side are done and we'll have to do the stairwell on the other side of the building! 

Happy painting.