Remember the duck? Be the duck

I was supposed to have a play date with a friend this afternoon. She has a 2 year old and a 3 week old baby. Life feels very tough for her. 

I was bringing my son, my girls and the baby. 4 kids in tow. We were 10 minutes late, but we were there. 

Approximately 45 minutes after our planned meeting I got a text that she had just gotten to her 2 year old daughter's school. Almost 20 minutes away, easily. 

We decided to try again for our play date. 

Tonite, I had a short, quick errand to run and I offered to bring her coffee. No answer. I went home instead. 

About an hour later I received this message:

"So I'm not good at checking my phone and I just saw this. Currently we have s clean house, 2 clean kids, a full dog, 1 nursing baby, and 1 toddler wanting milk but will have to wait bc daddy's working. Thank you for the offer! Seriously, you're my hero for doing this w 5. You always seem organized and together. I don't even feel like I can keep my life together when it's just me!"

And this was my reply:

With this message:

"That's my bedroom. I just discovered lice in Dillys hair. Again. After she cut 3 more chunks out. Again. And she's wearing a pull-up because I'd rather spend $5/mo than risk getting peed on even 1 more time. I have a minimum of 5 loads of laundry to do and at least a load of dishes. I need to sweep and swifter all over my house. I don't do this any better than anyone else. But I try to recognize that teaching my kids to roll with life will be better than freaking out over laundry and dishes. You're doing great and I'm excited for you that baby is here and you're figuring out your new normal. It's a challenge for us all! Keep pushing."

Friends, I promise, it's tough. But I also promise our kids are growing up right in front of our faces and they're going to leave us one day. If you need help planning something, ask, or check my blog to see if I have a tutorial. If I don't and you want my help, ask. If I do, use it!!

Help each other. Offer support. Fold a friend's laundry. Open a door. 

Help. Each. Other! 

The Marathon that Wasn't

On Friday, December 6, 2013 I was poised to run a marathon the next day.

But, Mother Nature decided that it was not meant to be.

To be honest, at first, I was pretty upset. I shed a couple tears, sitting with my friends at the Heroes Pasta Party. But, as Rick Shadyac said, "We must remember that we are only a small part of this community." He was talking about Memphis and Shelby County. Shelby County had been declared in a State of Emergency, meaning that already the medical and police personnel who were going to help with the race was reduced. Many volunteer groups had told St. Jude coordinators that they would be late, diminished in numbers or not there at all. And worst of all, AutoZone park, the location of our finish, was a GIANT sheet of ice. Meaning that you might manage to make it through your first 26 miles, but that .2 might quite actually be what does "it" for you.

I was really excited about running this race. I was excited to check off "Run a Marathon" from my "Things to get done" list that I had written with my mom. I was excited to do that in my hometown. I was excited to do that with my friend Kirsten from 1st grade, with whom I had reconnected through running. I was happy to change the meaning of the date on the calendar and remember it for something wonderful and positive. It was going to be a great way to finish off my year. I was supporting an amazing hospital and accomplishing an amazing feat with all sorts of wonderful people around me.

But, Mother Nature decided that it was not meant to be.

A long while back, I joined a facebook group; RUN365. It's a goofy group of runners. Some are so super fast, it blows my mind. Some are slow and I am reminded by their posts how hard I've worked to get where I am. And others are in the middle, like me, working to improve a little each day. This year I've invited numerous friends and family members to come run and to join the group. One such friend, Carrye, was supposed to run the half marathon. An event that is unremarkable for many, but I got her to come run with me for the first time in July. So this is kind of a big deal for her, too.

But, Mother Nature decided that it was not meant to be.

As a teacher, I spend a lot of time trying to teach my students lessons that are not in my curriculum guide. They have little to do with classroom biology and everything to do with life. Friday night I was not a nice person to talk to. I was rude, I was ugly, I was disrespectful, I was unkind. I did not remember the lessons I have shared with my students so often.

And then, I made plans to run with one of my RUN365 friends who I met for the first time in person at that Heroes Pasta Party. We  were not the only ones out there! Some ran the whole course, some ran in other parts of the city, some ran just what they felt like running. We decided to meet downtown and run. The distance was to be determined by how we felt in the cold and it was cold! We would wear our Heroes singlets, since we earned every stitch of them. Starting at the Peabody hotel, we ran into the front of the closed AutoZone park to survey the ice, down Beale St, down Main Street, by Gus's and Raiford's and South of Beale, by the National Civil Rights Museum, and the FedEx Forum right past 2 basketball players and from there we could see LeBonheur and St. Jude and the entire Memphis skyline and we decided to run to St. Jude. We ran down to the campus and the security guard told us where we could and could not go. We ran to St. Jude and took our own race photos with the statue and then ran back to Peabody and got to the front of AutoZone park. And it was 5.24 miles, exactly 1/5 of the marathon. And then we saw them. Runners with medals. We asked where they got them and they told us to run around back and "finish" and we too could have our medals. So we did.

Mother Nature said that the marathon was not meant to be and it wasn't. But for so many of us, the spirit and the message of St. Jude, to work through all obstacles was already in our minds, our hearts, our spirits and our feet. So we ran our victory laps.

It was the marathon that wasn't.

First night of Hanukkah

For Hanukkah this year, I really wanted to make sure that the kids had some great memories, since last year's Hanukkah was less than wonderful. This year, for night #1, we invited over a few friends to share the evening with us and then made a yummy dinner of latkes, burgers and salad. Geoff made an amazing dessert challah! His dessert challah had a cream cheese and cinnamon filling that was folded into it. My oh my, it was amazing!

While, I truly enjoyed having over our friends, even better was watching my kids get excited when they opened gifts. Of course, best of show went to Lissy Jane! She got her baby doll tonite and it was absolutely adorable how cute she was about opening her gift! First off, she now understands opening presents, which is so fun. But, what's even better, she really loves babies!

 These latkes were so yummy. We definitely have some tweaking to do on the recipe. But, it was so good. Everyone really enjoyed how tasty those latkes were, especially since some of them had never had latkes before.

 This is me and my friend Keller Anne. This was her first Hanukkah dinner to attend. She really seemed to enjoy learning from my kiddos, even though Jonas totally scammed her out of gelt while playing dreidel.

 How can anyone not like the vision of lit menorahs!??? They are definitely a beautiful sight and one that I always enjoy remembering from years past. It's hard to think back on past Hanukkahs and not miss my mom. Especially since she died during Hanukkah last year. I hope that she is enjoying watching all of us this year. OR maybe she's here with us. Either way, I so wish she could be here to share these moments with us.
 

Playin in the Pumpkin Patch

We have tried, and not succeded, in years past to take the kids to the Pumpkin Patch for fall pictures. This year, I committed to it. Not only did I make Lissy a new outfit for the Pumpkin Patch, but I also mastered her first 4" bow! I was so excited!!!

We met our friend Maisye at the Agricenter to take pictures of the babies. I got a few good shots of Annie and Jonas, and a few of the all of the kids together. I also managed to get a mommy and kids picture, which I was pretty excited about.

I love seeing the kids in the clothes that I have made for them. I think my mom probably felt the same way about seeing us in the dresses she made. I decided to put Dilly in my thanksgiving dress. (Which inspired me to want to figure out how to make the dress style my mom used to make; but that's another blog post and another story.)

We let Lissy walk around and explore the pumpkins and the gourds that we sitting around the Big Red Barn at the Agricenter. Lissy had a blast wandering around in her new outfit checking out all the pumpkins and gourds. She was shaking the gourds and trying to pick up the big pumpkins.Once Maisye arrived, the girls had such a great time playing in the pumpkins. There were statues of hogs and horse that the girls really liked, but they seemed a little confused by them. Someone had cut open a very large pumpkin and though the outside was orange, the inside was very white.

Overall, I think the little girls had a great time.

Here's a few pictures from the day.