Fertile Ground

39.8

2012-01-31T12:37:00.005-06:00

Am I a cliche?

My fortieth birthday is looming and I've been taking a look at my life.

Today, I had to go see my accountant out near Collierville after my morning run and feeding/shuttling the kids to school. After our meeting, I decided to do a few errands on my way into work.

My first stop was Target for important items like wrinkle cream, La Croix, and really soft toilet paper. While there I had a phone conversation with my mom about whether or not Jiro reads this blog and whether I should maybe take down the gay reference in my last post.

Next I went to the Cosmic Coconut for some dehydrated kale chips, a Go Green juice, and a chat with the super awesome owner, Ashley. We made plans to go out soon and get in trouble.

From there it was pretty impossible not to go to Whole Foods for some essentials like Akmak crackers and some sushi to go. I saw a friend there and had a few laughs about the Rock-n-Romp adults only party we held last Saturday.

Then I went by the house to put away my purchases. I left a container of Kale chips on the counter for Warren as a surprise, because I try to be sweet sometimes. (Shhh!)

My last stop was UT. I need to join their gym since that's where we'll be doing the swim training for the Memphis in May Triathlon. Only I couldn't quite figure out where to go. So I decided to just join in the morning before Ashley & I go for our first swim. (She can show me where to go.)

After work, I hope to make it to a yoga class before I pick up the kids from Taekwondo. I'll make sure they get dinner and a bath, then I'll go meet my besties for our usual Tuesday night drinks. While out, I'll practice my monologue on them for Thursday's Memphis Monologues fundraiser for Planned Parenthood.

A nice day, right? Nice life, right? Then why does typing it all out like that make me want to barf? Who is this person?

My Jiro

2012-01-26T13:59:00.003-06:00

My Jiro, so tough on the outside, so biscuity on the inside.

These past few weeks have been rough. I don't think I've seen him so emotional since before he started speech therapy and was only able to physically convey his feelings. Oh, his feelings!

So it's pretty simple. It's been a tough year. I think I've mentioned that both Satchel & Jiro's best friends left the school this year. In their class there are only 5 boys. Jiro usually hangs with Jordan, Will & David hang together, and Satchel is odd man out. Of course Satchel hangs with Jiro some, and from what Jiro tells me, he also hangs with Jordan. (Satchel has also started reading. A lot.)

To offset the lack of regularly hanging with boys their age, I signed them up for fall soccer and winter basketball. Soccer was great, and for the most part basketball is too.

BUT! Jiro's very best buddy, Q, is a year older than he is. So Q and Satchel are on one team and Santi (Q's little bro) and Jiro are on another. (We couldn't get them all on the same team, like in soccer.) Both teams practice at the exact same time and in the same place. No big deal, right?

Wrong!

Every time Q runs in the gym and joins his team, which happens to include Satchel, it's like he's put a knife through Jiro's heart. A couple of weeks ago...wait. If I tell you this, you can't say anything to Jiro. (He is very sensitive about me airing his dirty laundry!) Promise? Pinky swear? Ok...a couple of weeks ago after basketball practice, Jiro actually cried himself to sleep. Between sobs he said things like, "Satchel stole the best friend I ever had."

Oh my, it was so heartbreaking. It was no good trying to talk any sense into him. He just needed to get it out.

Now, in Satchel's defense, he hasn't "stolen" anyone. (As if that were possible.) Q has matured a bit and not having him in the same class seems to have made Satchel much more interested in actually hanging out with him. So while most of us view Satchel and Q's new found friendship/tolerance of each other as a positive thing, there is one of us who simply can't cope.

Since I am friends with Q's parents, I mentioned to his dad how sad Jiro was. Well word eventually got to Q. Q was shocked and genuinely surprised, as he still quite actively considered Jiro to be his best friend. Unfortunately, Q, being 8, said to Jiro, "I can't believe you cried yourself to sleep!"

Seriously, I'm surprised Jiro is even talking to me at all.

To help Jiro & Q bond, I suggested we have Q and Santi spend the night. Instead of being excited, Jiro burst into tears. "He'll just play with Satchel!" he cried. Oh my. "What if we also invite Theo?" I suggested. Theo is older and probably technically Satchel's best friend at this point. Theo also knows Q and Santi from school and basketball. This was an acceptable solution.

Then on the night of the sleepover, Theo got grounded. When I told Satchel and Jiro, they BOTH burst into tears.

Seriously, why even try?

After a lot of hysterics, I got them to suck it up and get on board with the sleepover. Q and Santi came over and everything went pretty well. Until Jiro lost his shit. And then it pretty much sucked. And then after a lot more hysterics, it was ok again. The next day after basketball we joined up with Theo and everyone hung out and had a great time. Then Jiro had some quality time with Q and Santi and I thought everything was cool again.

Nope.

Jiro is still just devastated. "Q hates me!" he says over and over and over. I don't know what to say or do to convince him that it's all in his head and the more he worries about it, the worse it gets. I mean, really. Who wants to play with the grumpy, sullen kid? No one.

To make matters worse, Jiro then decided that everyone on his team hated him. His evidence? They didn't pass him the ball. I go to every practice, and I can attest that this was a little bit true. BUT! Not because they hate him.

Last night before practice, I said, "If you want them to pass you the ball, get open. Use your voice. Say, 'I'm open!'"

And then lo and behold, he did it. And everyone passed him the ball! It was awesome!

So now I'm trying to figure out what to say to get him to stop being so sad about Q, who by the way has done nothing but request play dates and sleepovers for the past week. This morning I said, "If Q isn't playing with you, just go over and say, 'Hey, let's do this,' or 'Hey, let's do that.'" I told him that if he was busy playing with Satchel, he should say, "Hey, let me and Santi play too."

Easy, right?

I don't know if I convinced him.

I also said, "Stop being sad and start being awesome!" A little harder to visualize, but who knows...

Turns out he is also super stressed about a school report. Typically, he gets to work with Jordan on reports, but for the first time he has to do one alone. They've had several weeks to work on them, but I don't think he's started. I'm pretty sure in his mind he was thinking, "I just won't do it. So what."

Well, it turns out that the punishment for not doing the report is no recess. And for every day it is late, it has to be a page longer. So now Jiro is in total panic mode, even though he has over a week and his dad and I have both offered to help.

He just has no confidence. I hate it.

Over the weekend he was an all around mess. On top of his internal strife, he was also feeling a little sickly. I couldn't get him to cooperate or do anything. Finally he just erupted into tears and buried his face in my stomach. I sent Warren and Satchel to the park, and somehow managed to calm him down. Once calm, he said, "No one ever wants to do what I want to do." So I asked what that was, and soon the two of us spent a lovely afternoon playing board games. He was light and happy and just like I wished he could always be.

Maybe it's just tough being 7? Being the youngest? Being Satchel's younger brother? Having feelings?

I wish I knew. I wish I could fix it.

I just hope it gets better.

(Which by the way, is Satchel's de facto response, "Jiro, it gets better." And yes, he is laughing inside about Jiro not knowing he's talking about being gay. Sigh.)

Hats

2012-01-20T10:29:00.002-06:00

At the kids' school the new must have fashion item is a special hand knit hat by Ms. Shannon, aka Penelope's mom.

I'm not sure who got the first hat or why, but steadily every elementary student has special ordered one. Satchel asked for Pikachu and Jiro asked for Latias last week. Over the weekend Ms. Shannon worked her magic and now I have two very happy fashionistos.

It's been cute to see them showing off their hats. They are seriously proud. So proud, you would have thought they knit them themselves!

Ms. Shannon has an Etsy shop, but she's been too busy with special orders to keep it stocked!

Updatey Like

2012-01-19T10:01:00.003-06:00

Between the boys' basketball & Taekwondo, Warren's Kendo & Wing Chun, and my half marathon training (New Orleans--March 4th!) we are all very busy. And buff. Well 3 out of 4 of us. I hope to be buff after completing the Memphis in May Triathlon on May 20. (What! You heard me.)

We have managed to do a quite a few fun things between kicking ass and taking names. However, finding the time to blog about them has been hard. So here's a little summation.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Kathleen invited us to go see the Harlem Globetrotters at the FedEx Forum. (Her workplace had box seats up for grabs!) The monkeys and I were psyched.

I didn't realize that they actually pretended to play a whole game--I thought they just goofed off--but the kids were transfixed. (Kathleen, another mom, and I mostly hung out and chatted in the fancy livingroom section of the box.)

The cutest part was when they all ran down after the game to get autographs from the players. Satchel was very annoyed that I would not buy him a red, white, and blue basketball to have signed.

We also had our buddy Kai over for some video game action, offset by a little tree climbing.

Satchel is such a treehugger. I'm so proud.

Jiro has been going through a dress-up phase. (Finally! Satchel was a Power Ranger for months and months and months and I miss his flair.) Jiro's favorite thing to dress up as is "No Undie Boy." Apparently No Undie Boy likes to wear underwear on his head and a shirt for pants.

Here is another variation...

Cute, right? Maybe even a little French Revolution-y. I love it...except when he runs around with a Nerf gun wreaking havoc on everyone in his wake.

What else? Oh, I forced the monkeys to go to a classmate's skating party thinking it would be fun. It soon became clear that is was an ALL GIRL party. The monkeys were hilarious with their indignation. They did of course happily partake of ice cream and donuts before insisting that we LEAVE! NOW!

Jiro had a field trip to the library yesterday, but decided not to go at the last minute because no other boys were going. I explained that it was okay to be friends with girls and that I had plenty of friends who are boys. He looked at me and simply said, "Adults do whatever they want. You just don't understand what it is like to be a little boy."

Dang!

I should know since I'm pretty much surrounded by them all of the time. The long weekend was a rotating show of little boy faces in various settings.

Really, it should be no wonder that I'm ready to run out of the door when my Tuesday "Girls Night" rolls around!

But Warren and I did squeeze in some fun, adult activities too over the weekend. We went to a really fun 40th birthday party, and even got to see NTJ play at the Hi-Tone! I haven't been to a NTJ show in a decade, so it was a real treat. I even danced!

My old coach and friend, Nat, came to town and we got to skate the Greenline for the first time in months.

Warren has started building us a porch and had some nice stretches of time to work on it.

Life is good.

Basketball!

2012-01-09T11:36:00.001-06:00

So I mentioned that the monkeys are playing basketball. It was more a case of me wanting them to play than them actually wanting to play, but mother knows best, right?

I wanted them to play so that it would be a few less hours staring at the TV or the iPod or whatever, and a few more hours running around. I also thought that the dark winter months would be a good time for them to have 2-3 built in play dates/face-time activities with their buddies. Most of their besties have moved to other schools, so basketball gives them a time to see each other and have fun.

They started practicing in November, and Satchel's team had two games in December before the holiday break. It was pretty clear to me from the get go that he could care less about the games--and has very little confidence/spunk at game time. However, he seems to enjoy practice enough to make up for the torture of having to run around rather clueless on the court.

His game on Saturday was actually quite exciting. His team looked really good and the score during the first half was very close. There was one point when his team was even ahead! We almost didn't know how to react!

Sadly things took a turn for the worse in the second half and they lost by a pretty big margin, but they seemed excited to have scored so many points and there was no doubt that they are improving.

Now, let's talk about my Jiro. When I look at him, I can't help seeing "Athletic Scholarship" written all over his forehead.

His boundless energy, natural agressive tendencies, and all around enthusiasm for anything involving his friends certainly serves him well in sports. He was tough as nails on the soccer field and he is anything but shy on the basketball court.

I had my doubts about a first & second grade team's game being anything but chaotic, but they really followed direction. They've been practicing a zone defense (and offense?) and I'll be damned if they didn't get out there and do just as they were taught.

I'm thinking Coach P has a great season in store for us.

(The first & second graders don't keep score, but us parents can't help ourselves... shhh.)

Satchel vs. Tree

2012-01-03T12:14:00.004-06:00

On New Year's day, the three ninjas and I decided to go on a family hike. I really wanted to show them the Yellow Trail, but we were wooed by the Germantown Greenway. We'd never actually been there, so I was happy with Plan B.

Soon realizing that the Greenway connected to the Greenline, we made a beeline for the unpaved trail that followed the Wolf.

It was fun to explore a new trail. See? Fun.

We were about a mile in when Satchel decided to climb on a bridge and dangle from an old dead tree. It seemed a little unstable so he hollered for me to hurry up and take his picture. Before I could oblige him, one of the limbs snapped, and hit him square in the face. I watched in horror as he was flattened to the ground.

Luckily before I could panic, he jumped up and said, "I'm ok, I'm ok."

However, he said his tooth hurt and it was clear that it had been chipped. His upper lip was also badly scratched. All in all, I'd say that the injuries were minor. The tree was fairly hollow and light due to being dead so impact wasn't too bad.

Since he was calm, I snapped a picture of his tooth (bottom right front) and posted it on our dentist's Facebook wall.

Seriously. How 2012 is that?

She quickly responded and we worked out how to treat it and had an appointment to see her the next day. Of course we did all of this while hightailing it back to the car. Satchel's lip was swelling and I wanted him to be still for awhile. Luckily we had some ice in the car, and a cup for him to spit in. (It hurt to swallow because the enamel was stripped from the back of his tooth.)

Ice, ibuprofen, and Oragel had him feeling pretty good an hour later, but we decided to skip our New Year's Day parties and just take it easy. On Monday, I went to the dentist with him.

"Will it hurt?" he asked me.

"Probably, but I'm sure Dr. Rump will do everything she can to make it not hurt too much," I replied.

"If it's going to hurt, I just want her to pull it!" he exclaimed.

So yeah, he was amped up and scared. Dr. Rump gave him the option of numbing the tooth, but the idea of the shot scared him more than the scraping and buffing.

I let him squeeze my hand and I did my best to keep him calm. In about 20 minutes he was all fixed up. (She even fixed his top tooth which had been chipped as a toddler!)

Now that the boys are getting older, I suspect our emergency room visits for head stitching will regularly be supplemented with emergency dentist visits. At the very least there will be braces.

This tooth "emergency" was nothing compared to the one we experienced in Nola with my niece.

365 Fail

2011-12-31T09:21:00.004-06:00

This time last year, I had lofty plans to do a 365 project involving a random act of kindness each day. By mid-January I amended my big plans and decided to do two small photography projects--one involving food and one involving the monkeys, but not at all related to Dining with Monkeys. Since I like taking pictures of my food (it helps when pitching stories and writing reviews) and my kids (they are just so cute!), I thought these projects would be super easy. As long as I was focused, they were. Problem is maintaining that focus.

At year's end, I managed only 152 pictures of the kids. Of course I probably took hundreds more, but I limited the project to pictures of just the two of them.

I did a little better in the food category. There are 305.

I think the pictures somewhat reflect my dedication to making "healthy choices" as much as possible, though it is clear that pizza, alcohol and sweets make several appearances.

Related to the healthy choices, I started a diet journal to track what I ate every single day. I actually did this almost every day. I didn't do it during our three week summer vacation or during the past two weeks, but basically every other day, which is pretty good.

I'd say my biggest victory in 2011 was kicking my Diet Coke habit. I only drank one a day, but even that much can be detrimental to one's health. I replaced the DC with La Croix sparkling water. It has no calories, no sugar, no carbs, no nothing--just bubbles. I love it. I may have the occasional DC at the movies when I fail to sneak in a La Croix (I have a stash in my car), but now it tastes sickly sweet.

I'm still pondering my 2012 resolutions and projects. This has gotten me thinking...

Family Photo Shoot

2011-12-30T08:21:00.002-06:00

This is the third year in a row that our friend, Chip, has taken our family photos for our annual New Year's card. Warren and I had a hard time deciding where the setting should be, but finally agreed on Mud Island. I really wanted to get the city skyline in back of us. It was a pretty grey day, and I hadn't counted on it being so windy, but I just love how the pictures turned out.

Here's the full set. You can see that we spent a lot of time goofing off.

And here's how our card turned out. (tinyprints.com is awesome.)

Happy New Year!

Team Oster by Alex Warble

2011-12-29T09:07:00.000-06:00

My gift to the family this year was an Alex Warble painting of...us! I absolutely love his work and was excited to see what he would come up with.

He used the pictures from last year's family photo shoot. I asked him to put us in the park since I love his landscapes. I was really happy with the way it turned out. The kids especially love it. In fact, it kind of blew their minds. (Can you spot the Ninja Turtle?) Even Warren likes it!

I had planned to use the picture on our annual New Year's cards, but couldn't pass up a new family photo shoot with the oh so talented Chip Chockley. Pictures to come...

Holiday Action

2011-12-28T08:42:00.000-06:00

We started Christmas Eve off with a nice hike through the Old Forest with our friends from Team Provencio.

Then we went to Studio on the Square to see the latest Sherlock Holmes movie. (It was awesome. Robert Downey represents Wing Chun quite well.)

That evening we went to my mom's house for some present opening. This is the second year that we've just gotten gifts for the kids. I don't mind not having a lot of presents for myself, and I really like not having to do a lot of shopping. We mostly try to enjoy each other's company.

Satchel and Jiro's big gifts this year were skateboards, scooters, and a keyboard. The keyboard was a surprise, and Satchel couldn't wait to play it.

Once the kids had enough time to love on their gifts, we all headed out for some Chinese food. After dinner, Satchel convinced us to play his new board game, Life.

I don't know what asshole decided to make it even more complicated than it was twenty years ago, but it is anything but fun now. Thankfully we all agreed to quit after about thirty minutes.

Back home we had much more fun playing Jiro's new Connect Four game. Well, I had fun. I beat everyone!

Christmas morning we all woke up early to go deliver meals for MIFA. It's our third year doing it so I guess that makes it a tradition.

It's the one day of the year that I let the monkeys drink coffee and eat cookies for breakfast. It really puts them in the holiday spirit.

MIFA gets a lot of volunteers on Christmas, so our route usually takes an hour or less. Each house gets a hot meal and a gift bag.

When we were done, I was ready for a real breakfast, but the boys were dying to go to the skatepark and try out their new gear. I was out voted, but I didn't complain. I love hanging at the skatepark.

My guys are so cute.

After an hour and a half, I finally convinced them to take me to breakfast. CKs is where we go because it's pretty much the only place open. I was so excited to try the new donut burger! Unfortunately we went to the one on Union and they looked at me like I was crazy when I tried to order one. It was sad not getting to eat one, but I am looking at it as a blessing in disguise.

While at breakfast I got a call about an impromptu CPOP meeting at the Beauty Shop, so I got to pop over for a couple of mimosas. I think that next year we will have to go there instead of CKs!

I rejoined the family, took a 15 minute nap, and then rallied for an afternoon movie with Warren and my mom. (The kids went to Aunt Leslie's house.) We saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I loved it. I'm definitely reading the books now...and dreaming of running off with Daniel Craig.

After the movie, we went to Leslie's house for a turkey dinner and a nap on the couch. The boys had a blast introducing their cousin Scarlett to the wonderful world of the 3DS.

All in all we had a lovely weekend. I hope that you did too!

Winter Camp

2011-12-27T08:23:00.000-06:00

I didn't want the monkeys to be home playing video games for their entire winter break, so I signed them up for Winter Camp at the JCC last week. The plan was for them to do basketball in the morning (they had a Grizzlies Camp coinciding with Winter Camp) and then swim and play games in the afternoon until Warren and I could pick them up.

When I told them that I signed them up for basketball camp, they cried. Big, sad tears. Even though they've been enjoying playing basketball for Evergreen Presbyterian they know that they are not good. They mostly like playing because all of their friends are playing. When I told them that I didn't think any of their friends had signed up for basketball camp they had a second round of tears.

Seriously.

I eventually got them on board. I told them they could do art instead of basketball if they wanted, and I agreed to give them money for the vending machine.

Pictured above is the "healthy" vending machine at the JCC. There are two junky ones one either side of it. Those are the ones that the monkeys shoved all of my money in. They negotiated a deal in which I agreed to give them $1 on Monday, $2 on Tuesday, and so on. (By Wednesday they didn't even want money!)

When I picked them up the first day, they were all smiles and raving about art. I was glad that they had fun, but disappointed that they didn't try basketball. And they refused to go swimming. (They are weird about changing their clothes in front of other people.)

On Tuesday they promised to try basketball, but they still refused to swim.

By Wednesday they were back to art, and had made some friends. They also learned how to play "War." When I told them that I used to play with Tracey when I was little, Satchel said, "They had it all the way back then?" I nodded. "How is it still fun?" he asked in awe.

Thursday they were rabid for their electronic devices, since they insisted every other kid was bringing their DS or iPod, but I stayed strong. I was happy to find them running around enough to work up a sweat.

On Friday I had to practically drag them out of there and I wasn't allowed to leave without talking to the mom of their new friends so we could plan a play date.

All in all I'd say it was a success.

This week, they get to hang at the house with Warren and do whatever they want between raking leaves and assisting with porch building.

(Almost) A Decade of Co-Sleeping

2011-12-26T20:00:00.003-06:00

I snapped this picture sometime last week when I went to wake up the monkeys for Winter Camp. They look so sweet when they are sleeping, right? Little did I know that it would be one of the last times that they would share a bed.

Satchel and Jiro have had a bunk bed ever since we moved into our new house...nearly five years ago...but Satchel never had any interest in sleeping by himself.

As you can see from these drawings Warren and I did for the very first issue of Fertile Ground that we started co-sleeping from the get go...in a double bed. Not a queen, a double.

When Satchel was one, we got a king sized bed. It was heaven. Then Jiro came along and it didn't feel so big anymore. When Jiro was a baby, I slept with him in the double and Warren and Satchel slept in the king. However, after Jiro was born, Warren went on a twelve week dig and it was just the three of us. I got a giggle out of these drawings I did for issue #8.

I really did love sharing a bed with the monkeys, but they can really take up some serious space! Even when they were way smaller, they were serious bed hogs.

Getting the bunk beds was awesome. They happily shared the bottom double for nearly five years. For the first few, one or both of them would find their way into the big bed with Warren and I, but as they got bigger, we got more adamant about them staying put.

I will miss seeing the two of them curled up together each morning, but I can understand why Satchel is finally ready to have his own space. And surprisingly, Jiro has taken it all in stride.

Of course there has been talk of who is going to sleep with which kitten.

Colleen's Cookie Carousal

2011-12-21T16:08:00.005-06:00

A couple of years ago, we had an epic cookie party at Tsunami. Last year we never managed to get it worked out. This year we made up for last year!

Colleen decided to make this year's party a little more low key--everyone was asked to bring their dough already made and to leave the kids with their dads (or whoever).

We started off with a few mimosas...

and some savory treats.

Once everyone was loosened up, the cookie making commenced.

I decided not to make anything so that I could be a helper (and assistant bartender). This was a good plan.

I started off helping Margot make some "healthy cookies."

Then I decorated a few of Ashley's sugar cookies.

Elizabeth decorated her own!!

She made one special for me.

Yes, it quickly became that kind of party. We did a lot of laughing.

And there is even a music video of our (rated G) activities, thanks to Alli.

It was a really fun way to spend a Sunday. And when I brought home a huge box of cookies, the boys couldn't agree more.

A super big thank you to Colleen for being awesome in every way!

Parties, Bad Pictures, and One Stubborn Boy

2011-12-21T15:22:00.005-06:00

Friday evening we had the kids' Taekwondo holiday party, complete with testing results, Warren's office party, and a lock-in at the school.

Saturday morning, Warren was heading to Huntsville to meet the Wing Chun group there and I had to work until noon. Since I had scheduled an 8am playdate for the boys, I really did not want them to attend the lock-in. (The last one they went to, they all decided to stay up all night. I found Satchel asleep in the foyer at 8am with a half-eaten biscuit in his mouth. He had fallen asleep just moments before my arrival and when I tried to get him to leave, he walked outside and got in someone else's car.)

Satchel, who at age 9, can see the larger picture (most of the time) reluctantly agreed to my compromise. I told the boys that they could go to the lock-in after the Taekwondo and Christmas parties until 10:30pm. Jiro, who despite being 7, is still very Jiro-centric. He really really wanted to go to the lock in all night because it was going to be the first time he ever got to spend the night with his buddy, Jordan. I offered to set up a separate sleepover during the holidays but Jiro replied, "Jordon's mom doesn't like us."

What followed was an epic battle of the wills. I so wanted to just give Jiro his way, but I knew that I would regret it. I stuck to my guns, but he did not make it easy. He went to bed--at home--very, very mad at me.

(While they were at the lock-in, Warren and I did manage to squeeze in a drink at the Cove, a trip to the pet store, and dinner at Tsunami.)

In order to get him to not ruin our Saturday, Satchel negotiated a deal in which I agreed to let Jiro purchase three apps on his iPod. (We all share an iTunes account, so this deal also benefited Satchel.) It was a small price to pay for happiness, so I accepted the deal.

I dropped the boys off at Casa Provencio and then went to work. Carlos gave me updates, and I knew it was just a matter of time before they were all eating donuts.

Carlos reported that there had been a debate between Donald's and Dunkin, and that Jiro had lost the fight for Donald's. (Though Jiro claimed he would eat no donuts at Dunkin, word on the street is that he ate the most.)

When I finished with work, I rejoined the boys (all 5 of them) and did my best to get some real food in them at Whole Foods before rotting their brains (and mine) at the latest Chipmunk movie. Oh lordy was it bad. Worst of all, Dave's hair appears to be thinning!

You can see here that Jiro actually did refuse to eat anything at Whole Foods.

After the movie, we said goodbye to Team P and went home for a rest and to await Warren's return. Warren made us a nice dinner, which Jiro actually ate. (Not surprisingly it also improved his mood tenfold.) Then we went to our friend Launa's housewarming party. Launa's son, Grey, is one of the boys' most favorite people ever. They ate cookies and played Pokemon while the adults mixed and mingled.

Grey ended up coming home with us for a sleepover and by Sunday morning everyone was happy.

The School Program

2011-12-19T11:02:00.002-06:00

Evergreen Montessori is pretty well known for its annual Christmas/Holiday program. It's typically an all out affair. You may recall the year that Warren spent hours making Jiro an Ox costume, or even last year's Alien rock band performance.

Well, this year the parents requested that we have less choreography and more actual singing. The teachers obliged and soon, Satchel and Jiro were both home complaining of having to sing. Well, Satchel both complained, and practiced incessantly. In fact, he even practiced the songs that the younger children were performing. One morning, while eating breakfast he was lamenting over his line for the elementary's rendition of the Huron Carol. I said, "Let's hear it," and he started merrily singing, "Jesus your King is born, Jesus is born, in excelsis gloria."

I could literally hear my dad rolling over in his grave. "Uh, honey...is there another line you could sing instead?" I asked. Then we had the whole, "Jews believe Jesus was a great man, but not that he was the son of G-d," discussion.

I went to the school and talked with the director. She knows I am a pain in the ass. We reviewed the lyrics to the whole song and I basically just had to kindly request that they sit out of that particular song.

Now, I should say that Evergreen Montessori has no religious affiliation and that the theme of the program was "Christmastime around the world." The elementary students picked their own songs, and there was no Jesus agenda. But, it was too much. For me, anyway. Warren thought I was being a hypocrite, but I told him to shut up.

So, in the end, Satchel and Jiro were in one song about a baby donkey called El Burrito. They sang and played instruments--in their regular clothes, I should add. On the morning of the program, Satchel said to me, "Oh! I remembered what we're supposed to wear! Black and white."

They got off so easy this year!

Actually, it's probably safe to say that most of the boys in the elementary got off easy this year. The girls clearly enjoy performing much more! (I do think Satchel would be great on stage, but his shyness prevails.)

Regardless it was a lovely show, and I think all of the parents were happy with the low key results.

Last Weekend

2011-12-14T12:53:00.004-06:00

Last weekend was crazy busy, pretty much like every other weekend we've had. Why must everything happen on Saturday?

We started off Friday night with Taekwondo testing. Despite all of the earlier drama, both boys did very well. I'm telling you, there is nothing cuter than Jiro sparring.

Except maybe Jiro eating a donut at the Skatepark. Warren took him to the free lesson for youngsters while Satchel and I took care of some business out east.

Yeah it was 30 degrees at the skatepark, so good luck guessing which one he is.

Around noon we regrouped and headed to Satchel's basketball game. You heard me, BASKETBALL. There's a whole 'nother post waiting on that topic. Although I've been to most of his practices, I didn't want to say anything until I saw a game. (Jiro's been practicing too, but his team doesn't have a game until the new year.) Here's what I have to say about Satchel and basketball...bless his little heart. It's hard!

And the uniform is not conducive to hoodie wearing/tucking. He doesn't have any natural talent like he does in soccer, but I expect he'll get better with time. Getting smoked in the games has made his enthusiasm for the game diminish a bit, but we'll see how it goes.

After the game, we let the monkeys play on the playground for awhile with some of their besties, and then we hit the Brooks for the Armed & Dangerous exhibit.

It's amazing! Go! It was relatively inexpensive and it doesn't take too long to see everything. Plus, there's a special kids area.

After that everyone went home to relax for a bit. Then I headed over to a friend's 40th birthday celebration at Mollie Fontaine's. Since most of my friends are turning 40 in the coming year, I am both excited and terrified of the parties to come!

Sunday was for sleeping in and doing yardwork/housework. Then we went out to dinner at Pho Saigon and before heading down to the lovely Orpheum Theater for the San Jose Taiko drummers. (Which was also amazing!)

By the time our heads hit the pillows on Sunday night, we were wiped out.

Little Boy Drama

2011-12-06T10:21:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, Jiro provided me with the perfect set up for a column. Unfortunately I am no longer writing a column, so now it's perfect fodder for my blog.

A little background...Jiro is stubborn as a mule, but also so very sensitive. I like to think he gets this from Warren, but I guess I'm the same way. Every week we have to battle it out about Taekwondo. He never wants to go and always has some reason why he can't. However, we signed a contract and if I am paying, he is going! He usually does fine until testing time rolls around. He has no trouble learning his patterns, sparring, and he even enjoys breaking boards, but he loathes memorizing the meanings that go with each pattern. He is a very strong reader and has no problem remembering them once he sets his mind to it, but he has such a huge (unreasonable) fear of failure that it is always a struggle.

So this is testing week, which means he really cannot talk his way out of class AND he has to learn his meaning, so emotions are running high. I managed to get him in his uniform by sticking to my guns and starting a pot of macaroni & cheese. As I was finishing up the mac & cheese, he asked if he could have one of the mini chocolate cupcakes that Warren had brought home from a party over the weekend. I said "sure" and went about my business.

Then I heard Jiro's signature, "OHMYGOD!" (Which he probably also got from me.)

"What?" I said, alarmed.

"I GOT CUPCAKE ON MY PANTS AND EVERYONE IS GOING TO THINK IT IS POOP!" he wailed.

As you may or may not know, the Taekwondo uniforms are white. I rushed over to see the damage before he could go bury himself in his covers (and get cupcake all over the bed too). Thankfully it was just a tiny stain on the seam of his pants. I went to get a wet towel and he started wailing again, "I DON'T WANT EVERYONE TO THINK I PEED TOO!"

At this point we had about five minutes to get to class and my patience was at an all-time low. Yes, I felt for him, but it's always something. Plus, I really didn't think it was going to be noticeable.

I started with the motherly advice...

"No one is going to see it. If they do, just tell them it is a cupcake stain!"

Which quickly devolved into desperation.

"If someone says something mean, just tell them that they are stupi...wait...don't say that. Look, no one is going to say anything! I promise!"

During this whole episode, big brother Satchel was not being helpful at all. There was a time when Satchel, having developed his superego, was very good about realizing that his brother was sensitive and that his poor mother often needed help getting him on board with Team Oster's plans. That time has passed. Now big brother Satchel prefers to add insult to injury. He made matters worse by saying things like, "You are such a baby, Jiro!"

How I got Jiro in the car I will never know. Okay maybe I said something like, "I'll give you $10 if anyone says anything mean." Or maybe that's what I said to get him OUT of the car at the studio. Because in the parking lot I also had to deal with his latest fear of "EVERYONE IS GOING TO KNOW THAT I WAS CRYING!"

I usually just drop the boys off at the studio, but I offered to stay and watch/protect him from the mean old taekwondo students. Even that didn't appease Jiro. He replied, "You said you would watch last time and you just talked to the other mom instead!" So I promised to stand guard should anyone even think about saying anything to my baby. We wiped his tears off, and went inside.

This is the part where I had some serious maternal guilt. Was it the meanest thing ever to make him go in? Or was I building character?

I was proud of him for sucking it up, and once inside he seemed fine. I stood right by the railing and watched for a good ten to fifteen minutes. Jiro went through all of his patterns, got his stripe, and seemed quite happy. Then he snuck over to where I was and said, "I know Satchel told Connor. I saw him laughing at me."

I looked over at Satchel and called him over to me. Reluctantly he came over. "Did you tell Connor?" I asked, incredulous.

"No!" he said, smirking. He smirks when he lies.

"I can't believe you!!" I said in my meanest whisper.

"I promise," he said, trying to control the smirk. "We're just goofing off."

Now, I didn't see Connor laughing at Jiro, just laughing. And I didn't see a ripple effect of Connor telling every other kid in class. So, I let Satchel off of the hook.

But still! How sad that Jiro doesn't trust his brother? And how sad that Satchel was totally not sympathetic?

I had to stretch back in my brain to my own childhood. Was I that mean to my sister? Was she that mean to me? Probably. Do we still love each other? Yes.

Anyways, class ended and there was no one teasing or looking at Jiro. He still thought Satchel ratted him out, but there was no proof, so we just moved on.

Later when relayed the story to Warren, he simply reminded Satchel of the time he sharted in his pants at Chik-fil-A.

End of discussion.

Saturday, Part 2

2011-12-05T15:39:00.002-06:00

The last Rock-n-Romp of the year was awesome. It was a pretty mellow turn out and we had lots of volunteers, so I got to relax. Also, due to it being indoors, the monkeys didn't run off and hide like they usually do. Chip was actually able to catch them on film!

Here's me, my cute new hat, my St. Jude medal, a much deserved beer, and my biggest boy.

Here's Ashley exhibiting a runner's high and flirting with her husband!

Here's me and the cute Mullins sisters hanging out by the beer.

Look! The whole family! Team Oster! Woohoo!

Satchel REALLY liked those cereal bars. And poor Jiro has the chapped-est lips in town.

Jiro eventually convinced me to let him have his DS, but it only held his attention for about twenty minutes.

Oh you wanted to know what bands played? And what everyone else was doing? Then check out the official recap over here!

Saturday, Part 1

2011-12-05T15:02:00.006-06:00

So there wasn't much posting going on here last week, mostly because I spent my waking hours freaking out about Saturday. Well, I didn't freak out 24/7, but it was close.

Saturday was the big day--the St. Jude Half Marathon! Saturday was also Satchel's first basketball game! Saturday was the last Rock-n-Romp of the season! Oh, and Saturday was the last eaTABLE of the year!

Now, I pride myself on being a multi-tasker, but dang! In my defense, I hadn't planned to run the half again when I scheduled Rock-n-Romp. I'd never imagined Satchel would be playing basketball, and I tried really, really hard to find another Saturday in December for our fun dinner party.

But! I survived! It was actually a really fun day. I'm not going to squeeze it all in one blog post, so I'll just start with the half marathon.

Mile 9 in Overton Park. Ashley saw the photographers on the forklift and grabbed my hand.

Having actually trained this year, I went into the race about a million times more confident than I did last year. Also having Ashley running with me this year made it a much more pleasurable experience. Not just because I actually had someone to talk to, but because she was having the best time ever and it made me happy.

We were a tad nervous about actually achieving our goal of 2:16 for the race since we'd been training at a much slower speed. Since Ashley gets a little more competitive than me during races, I was also worried about her leaving me in her dust. However, by the time we lined up we had agreed to have fun, stick together, and really push ourselves.

Photo by Jamie Harmon. Captures the spirit of our race perfectly!

Ashley also warned me that she was going to high five every person that offered their hand. I told her it was fine, and in the end she was true to her word. It was really cute. (I gave a few high fives but then I started to feel weird about germs!)

This year I also insisted that Warren and the boys come to the park to cheer me on at mile 9. It really gave me something to look forward to and nothing beat seeing their smiling faces. I thought it was really funny when Satchel said, "We've been waiting FOREVER!"

After our strong finish!

We finished at 2:26, which was about ten minutes off of our goal, but just fine by us. We ran hard the entire 13.1 miles, and actually picked up our speed for the last three! It was about 14-15 minutes better than my time last year, so I was happy about that too.

Forest Friday

2011-11-28T14:09:00.002-06:00

Rather than participate in Black Friday, we decided to head to the forest--Shelby Forest. Believe it or not, we'd never taken the kids there! We went once when Warren first moved here with our dog, but since we came home covered in ticks, we never went back. Warren's motorcycle gang goes through from time to time, but it was my nine mile run a few weeks ago that renewed my interest in hiking there.

The kids were somewhat unexcited about going--preferring instead to stay home and stare at their video games. The dogs, however, were thrilled from the get go.

Picard is actually smiling.

They kids really wanted to bring the cats, but I eventually talked them out of it! Once we arrived, the monkeys were thrilled. "This is awesome!" Satchel said. The grapevines were even bigger than the ones in the old forest.

We decided to do the 3 mile Woodland Trail, which you can see from this tree, gets a lot of action.

For whatever reason, the kids were fascinated by the small bridges.

And the broken bridges were even more fascinating!

Venturing down into the creek beds was a must.

I told Jiro to get in this picture for scale. I wanted to remember how big the tree roots were. However, now all I can see is how BIG my baby is!

Warren was enthralled by the new mushrooms...these felt like lamb ears.

And is was cool to see some new plants, like these horsetails.

Jiro took to "replanting them" all along the trail.

The best part for me? Holding Jiro's hand. It isn't too often that he wants to do that anymore.

Warren had to pay the monkeys a dollar each to convince them to put their hands in this hole.

At the half way point, Warren decided we should go off of the trail. It had gotten to be pretty rough on the kids due to the up and down, up and down. Oh, and I'd only brought about half as much water as he thought I had.

In our efforts to find a shortcut, we probably added a couple of miles to the hike. At least they were on flat terrain.

When we did finally get back to the car, we had one thing on our minds--burgers at the Shelby Forest General Store!

Turkey Day

2011-11-26T15:53:00.004-06:00

Turkey is not as good as ravioli, but we had a very nice Thanksgiving nontheless.

As I have for the past two years, I started it off at the Turkey Trot in Shelby Farms with Ashley. It was the very first race we ever ran. The first time we did the relay, which meant we each did two miles. Last year we each ran four and our husbands did the relay. This year, since we've been training for the half, we decided to actually race. By the end, we were actually sprinting. It was crazy! I told Jiro that there were 3000 runners and he guesses I came in 1500th hundred place. I'll take it!

After a shower, the fam and I loaded up all of Warren's cooking supplies and headed to my mom's house. (Does your mom have salt? Does your mom have garlic? Does your mom have celery?)

I had to make one emergency grocery store run for an aluminum baking pan and beer, then my mom, the kids, and I went to the movies so Warren could have the kitchen to himself.

Back at my mom's there was still some waiting time, so the boys went out to practice their basketball. In this picture you can see that Warren knocked both monkeys down before landing this awesome shot.

Here is the chef with his awesome bird.

And my mom, who is in her seventh decade of life, remembered for the first time that her grandmother always made pineapple upside down cake on Thanksgiving. She decided to make one as her belated birthday cake. It was YUM.

The kids were all about the turkey legs.

After dinner, we all needed a rest. (The Whole Foods turkey had double triptophan, I think.) Then we played Blokus, the best board game ever, until the wee hours of the evening.

Gigi's Birthday

2011-11-26T15:31:00.004-06:00

My mom's birthday was on the 15th, but since she wanted to have a bowling party, it took us awhile to find a day when everyone could get together. We ended up going the night before Thanksgiving, and we had a blast.

My mom makes really funny faces when she bowls. Since they aren't always pretty, I made her smile for this picture.

My sister is actually in a league and has her own shoes. They are sparkly. She has a ball too.

Warren had a really good game and it turns out it was due to his pretty pink ball!

My brother in law showed up for the second game, and got 7 strikes! It was insane. He would not let me take his picture.

When the kids finished their second game (they played a lot faster than the adults), my mom sent them off with a fist full of dollars. Later Jiro said, "If it was Gigi's birthday, why did she give us money? We should have given her money!" I explained that she was just nice. "Gigi is the nicest EVER!" he agreed.

We've now decided we must bowl as a family at least once a month. Next up, Cosmic Bowling!

Ravioli Day

2011-11-23T09:29:00.005-06:00

My favorite pre-Thanksgiving activity is going out east to the compound to make the Zanone family ravioli with the Alleys. This year I was the very first person to arrive! I left Warren at home to finish his tart in peace, and the kids ran off the minute we walked in the door.

In the kitchen, Richard was just getting started on the dough. It didn't seem like as much as usual. Kristy told me that this year we were only making 25 dozen instead of the usual 50 since they weren't going to Georgia on Thanksgiving. "What!!" I complained. I felt like my fun had just been cut in half.

Of course that wasn't true. Taking a cue from Elizabeth, I decided to just relax.

Soon the rest of the ravioli team arrived, and after a few snacks and sips of wine/beer, we settled in at the table to get started on the ravioli construction. Meredith and Somerset were *almost* as excited as I was.

Warren, for the first time ever, actually arrived in time to make some ravioli. (He's usually sick, busy, or comes just in time to eat.)

(Photo by Chip)

He made a few and then went off to chat. I was the only person who refused to get up until we were done. At one point, due to a ravioli math error, we thought that we weren't going to have enough filling for the 25 dozen. I rallied hard for us to make an emergency grocery store trip to get the ingredients for more filling. (I'm dying to know the recipe.) But before I could convince Richard, Kristy realized she counted wrong. We were right on target. Damn!

As much as I love making the ravioli, nothing really compares to eating it. That is definitely the best part.

The kids officially have their own table, most of them choosing to eat homemade noodles with cheese. The adults gather together and savor each bite. It's awesome. And it totally makes turkey and dressing seem BORING!

I think this was the first year that neither Satchel or Jiro showed in any interest in helping, even a little. I just let them do their own thing while I did mine.

As always, a big thanks to Richard, Kristy & Andria for inviting us to share in this family tradition! I look forward to it all year!

Scenes from the weekend

2011-11-15T10:30:00.002-06:00

Friday nights have gotten pretty mellow for us since I started training for the half. I do my long runs at 6am on Saturday, so I'm usually counting the minutes until bed when I get home from work. However, last Friday Jiro was insistent that we go to La Michoacana and get some ice cream for his Saturday night guests--Miles and Natasha. So we loaded up and went in search of ice cream. While there, we of course needed to eat paletas.

Once dessert was out of the way, the monkeys moved on to dinner. They added a cup of corn and some nachos to our order. Since we were half way down Summer Avenue, I suggested we top off our nutritious meal with a visit to the Los Jarochos taco trailer that parks on the corner of Summer & Perkins in the evenings.

This is Satchel's happy lengua taco face. Ha!

Once sated, we all headed home to curl up and watch a movie.

Saturday morning, Satchel came in to my room at 5:30 just as my alarm was going off complaining of a stomach ache. I assumed it was due to the "healthy" eating the night before, but after some serious questioning, he told me that a kid threw up at school and several other kids had been out sick.

I set him up on the sofa and alerted Warren to the fact that he was on puke duty until I got back from my run. Upon my return, I learned that he had indeed gotten sick, twice, so all morning plans were put on hold. Since Vanessa, Miles & Natasha were only in town for a few days, we decided to risk it and have a playdate anyway. I planned to keep Satchel isolated, which was easy since he was sleeping. However, by the time they showed up, Jiro started complaining of a tummy ache.

The kids got to play for a bit, but once Jiro put himself in bed, we knew things were not good. And, Tashie couldn't stay away from her most favorite Satchel once he woke up.

Hand santizer was passed around, and the playdate and sleepover were cancelled moments before Jiro started puking. It's been ages since anyone was sick around here, which I guess is a good thing. We tried to take the temporary set back in stride and catch up on some much needed rest.

Once the monkeys were stabilized, I left Warren in charge and spent some quality time with Vanessa and some other Rhodes pals who were gathered over at Marlinee's house. It was super fun to get to hang out with my old roomie and her precious little nugget, Reilly.

By Sunday, the monkeys didn't have an appetite, but they had a little energy. The B Team came back over and we took our traditional hike through the old forest.

Back at the house, we busted out the ice cream that we had bought on Friday night. The monkeys didn't want to eat any, which tipped me off that they really weren't back to 100%. Tashie and Miles enjoyed it though!

Then it was time for the B Team to go visit other family and my mom to come watch the monkeys while Warren and I went off to Chucalissa for the Chefs and Chiefs benefit dinner.

There was really yummy food--like this pork belly, pate, and pickled lotus root bahn mi from L'Ecole Culinaire instructors.

And Warren gave me a tour of a trench that he and co-worker spent Friday cleaning up.

We had a fun evening together, and it's always nice to get to hang with a bunch of anthropologists!

Despite the illness we still managed to have a pretty good weekend.

Best of all, Vanessa got the kids back to Massachusetts with no vomiting.

Skatepark!

2011-11-10T15:28:00.004-06:00

It's almost too good to be true, but it is 100% true--we have a skate park in midtown! And it is beautiful!

Last night was the official opening, and we were thrilled to cheer on the amazing and awesome and sweet and smart and all around super star, Aaron Shafer, who was the driving force behind the project. He asked everyone to please love the park, take care of it, and bring new kids to learn how to skate. We plan to do all three!

Our equally awesome and supportive mayor was also on hand to say a few words and receive some much deserved applause.

There were over a hundred skaters/scooterers/bikers there last night and it is clear that the Tobey Skatepark is going to be packed all of the time. It's really awesome.

Warren and the boys are so excited, they got up early to go and skate before school today. Seven a.m. is a good time to go if you want to beat the crowds. We're unofficially calling it the Old Man Hour. Right, Scott?

I'm hoping that soon 6am will be the Old Lady Hour. Aaron has agreed to teach me and whatever other crazy old ladies I can find a few tricks of our own. My only concern is breaking something before I run the half in December! (I could still run with a broken arm, right?)

Soccer Wrap Up

2011-11-08T09:37:00.003-06:00

I guess I wore myself out with the detailed recap of games 3 & 4. Game 5 was cancelled due to Fall Break, and then we had bad weather which led to one practice per week for several weeks and we kind of lost our momentum. Game 6 made me cranky because it was the first game I felt like we might have deserved to lose, even though we tied. Then I had to have a little talk with myself about making taking it all too serious!

Game 7 was better despite resulting in another loss. The highlight of that game was one of our players having to play for the other team since they were short. It was fun to see how he handled having to play against his friends. And when the other team won, it was really funny to get to congratulate him on his first win! I thought both Satchel and Jiro played well, but again, whatever momentum we had going, was gone. Both boys, maybe most of the team, is lacking a sense of urgency. We also have problems actually getting the ball in the goal, despite numerous attempts, which is frustrating.

Last Friday was our last practice and Saturday was our last game. I am really going to miss Friday night practices--that's when the moms (and sometimes a dad or two) have cocktail hour. We really have a great group of parents who are fun to hang out with.

Saturday's game against Christ the King got off to a rocky start. We weren't sure if they were going to have enough players--they did--and then the ref never showed up. One of the other moms reffed, so we were good to go. Unlike all of the other fields we played on, this one had full size goals. I figured this would work in our favor since we have a problem getting the ball in, but it might also work against us since we are used to defending a much smaller goal. Coach wisely put his son, our biggest player, in the goal. In the time it took me to run to my car and get a whistle for Lee to ref with, our team scored! Both Jiro and Satchel were in the starting line up and as much as I wanted one of them to have been the shooter, I was very relieved to know it was jack that scored. I plan to see them make their first goal with my own eyes!

There was a lot of back and forth and a lot of running and subbing. Just before the half, the other team scored, so we were tied going into the second. The second half was more of the same, and I was worried we would stay tied, but in a moment of perfection, three of our guys, perfectly spread out, made a final run to the goal. One took a shot, the goalie deflected, and then another got the rebound. It was very exciting! And then just a minute or two later, Lee blew the whistle and we won! We won!

Through all the excitement we did manage to get a team picture.

Have you ever seen a cuter bunch?

On Sunday, we had the end of the year party back at our home field. It started with ice cream sundaes on the playground.

Then we had a totally unexpected Parents vs. Kids game! It was me and about six dads, including the coach, against all twelve kids. (Although I think there may have been some siblings too because it seemed like there were 20+ little people running around.) Oh my, it was SO.MUCH.FUN. Sadly there are no pictures. (Maybe that is a good thing!) The parents won 3 to 0, but the kids did not make it easy!

Once we were all good and winded, and had moved muscles we never use enough to be sore for several days to come, the coach called everyone over to get their trophies. He had them line up shortest to tallest, then instructed them to all try and score on him. They couldn't have their trophies until they did. This too was hilarious and super fun to watch. I of course made videos.

(Oops, I flipped the camera, mid video.)

When it was Satchel's turn, he was a little over-confident. (And I was a little bossy.)

His second attempt was much better. (And too fast for me.)

It was a lovely afternoon and a great way to cap off the season. I think we are all going to miss it. Satchel has asked if I will help him run in the off season and how could I resist that? We may have several family practices between now and the spring.

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T10:11:00.003-05:00

We were so focused on the Nerf War that Halloween kind of snuck up on us. In July, I had grand plans of us dressing up like Princess Bubble Gum, the Ice King, Jake, and Finn from Adventure Time, but never quite got it out of the planning phase.

Sunday, after the war, we were too tired to focus on any details, so we opted to go to bed early so we could get up early and make some decisions. The kids can dress up for school as long as it isn't scary. Jiro didn't want to dress up at all and satchel wanted to dress scary, so it was a bit of a struggle. I turned costumes over to Warren and focused on making "bandaged wound" cupcakes for their spooky foods lunch. (They are wonton wrappers layered with spaghetti sauce, cheese, and pepperoni.)

Warren did a great job of coaxing them into easy outfits. Meet the teenagers!

When school was over, we let them get a bit scarier looking for trick-or-treating. Unfortunately, they each made at least three kids cry.

Warren revisited his "cholo" look this year.

Here is the full effect.

Please note that they are all dressed and ready to go prior to sunset! A first!

We made our usual rounds in Evergreen, then went to Cooper-Young for an informal gathering/ gumbo party at a friend's house. Although the gumbo was awesome, the highlight was watching the kids spread out their candy and do trade negotiations.

Once home, Satchel immediately hid his candy from me and Warren. Jiro, however, has agreed to share with us since he doesn't think it's fair that parents don't get candy too.

Nerf War!

2011-10-31T12:27:00.005-05:00

We had a very busy weekend of hayrides, soccer games, and whatnot, but we were all focused on yesterday's Nerf War at the Shell.

At the beginning of the school year, the boys went to a sleepover and came home begging for Nerf guns. After refusing them for years, I finally gave in. They were so smitten, it was cute.

Then Satchel came up with the idea of having a Nerf War. I definitely didn't want it in my living room, so we talked about doing it at the park--maybe in the Old Forest. Then we started thinking about who to invite. Once we realized that it was going to be pretty big, I said, "Let me see if we can get the Shell." The Shell has always been open to Rock-n-Romp, so why not a Nerf War? They happily agreed and penciled us in for their only free afternoon--Sunday the 30th.

I contacted some friends who are food vendors, convinced my RnR buddy to pick up a keg, created a Facebook event, and then let everything else fall into place. And somehow, everything did.

I'd say there were about 50 adults and 100-150 kids?

I knew bullets would be lost and that there would be tears, but overall, everyone had a great time. We didn't even need one band aid!

Satchel and Jiro had a couple of friends come over early to prepare. (Everyone was asked to self select a team color--red, blue, green, or yellow.)

I made Warren Red Team Captain, expecting the monkeys to follow suit, but they very much wanted to be green. Warren didn't let it get him down.

And yes, Warren even bought himself a gun. What was even funnier was the fact that a LOT of dads were really into the war, maybe even more than the kids.

Seriously.

I'd say that even the adults who didn't partake in the action, had a good time. It was really fun to watch! And did I mention we had a keg and awesome food vendors?

I love Mama D's pops.

And if you haven't had a taco or a grilled cheese with bacon from the Fuel truck then you aren't living!

Our friend, Su, even volunteered to paint faces.

She's not your average face painter, as you can see from Zark's transformation.

Okay, okay, on to the war. We started off with a bit of a free for all. The kids seemed to like just running around and checking out each others gear. Noel was one of the more impressively prepared for the war.

This kid was a close second.

He, along with his mom, had actually come to the Shell a few days early to practice!

Capturing this wall was key for the Green Team.

We did have a few coordinated activities. Every so often the captains would blow a whistle and call the troops in. Each team had their own bunker in which to plot. By the end of the afternoon, the Red, Blue & Yellow teams had all combined forces against the Green Team.

And yes, despite Satchel's insistence that there were "No Girls Allowed," plenty came to join in. One of them asked me if tackling was allowed!

Once the war was officially over, it was all about bullet retrieval. How some kids left without any, I'll never know. They were everywhere!

I'm sure we'll still be picking them up at the Rock-n-Romp next Saturday.

It was a great afternoon, and yes, we will definitely have to do it again.

Warning Signs

2011-10-21T09:47:00.002-05:00

The other day after school, Satchel says to me, "One of Justin Bieber's bodyguards got arrested for killing someone."

"Really?" I said, only half listening.

Then Jiro busted in and said, "Justin Bieber doesn't even have bodyguards!"

"Yes, he does!" insisted Satchel. "All famous people have bodyguards!"

"Nu-uh!" Jiro insisted back. "Lady Gaga doesn't have bodyguards!"

Then they both turned to me, hoping I could settle the dispute. I was a little speechless. How do they even know who Lady Gaga is? I wondered. Maybe American Idol? Then it dawned on me. They've been talking to girls!

This year there are about sixteen kids in their class, eleven of which are girls. Oh my.

Outstanding in the Field

2011-10-20T13:20:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, I dropped the kids off at my sister's house, picked up Warren and hit the road for Whitton Farms in Tyronza, Arkansas. Back in March I bought tickets to the Outstanding in the Field dinner under the guise of it being a birthday present for Warren. We were halfway over the bridge when Warren, after quizzing me about the event, dryly said, "It sounds more like a present for you."

I told him to shut up and thank me later.

We arrived at 1:45pm, assuming dinner would start sharply at 2pm, but after signing in, we were instructed to get a glass of Cava and "hang out."

(Warren is actually leaning over to read the label, he was not cobbled on the way to Arkansas.)

Once we had a glass of bubbly, people started handing us the cutest appetizers ever.

The appetizers--pain perdu with head cheese & pepper jelly, roasted pumpkin tamales, and alligator sausage poboys--were really good. Chef Miles McMath from St. Jude was the creator.

The staff of the Trolley Stop Market was on hand to ensure that everything ran smoothly. Jill and Keith were also milling about, of course. The most exciting part about this was the fact that it was actually Jill's due date. I loved the idea of little Fox Forrester possibly joining us for dinner!

It was nice to see some familiar faces. Warren was worried we wouldn't know anyone, but I knew better. We even made some new friends, one of whom had been to the dinner the day before. He informed us that dinner wouldn't start until 4:30 or 5:00 and that we wouldn't be done until after dark. This was mildly alarming because I was on my third glass of bubbly, I told my sister we'd get the kids at 5pm, and I had a wedding reception to attend at 6pm. Oops!

I called my sister, and we settled in for a leisurely afternoon on the farm. Keith was giving hayrides, but we opted to nose around in the make shift kitchen that the chefs had set up next to the tables where we'd be dining. Kelly English (Restaurant Iris) and Jonathan Magallanes (aka Senor Dreamy of Las Tortugas) were nice enough to let us peek at what they were preparing and fill us in on the afternoon's activities.

Since we were being nosy, we sauntered over to check out the table setting. (Somewhere along the way I decided to put on some of Wendy's lipstick.)

Then I went ahead and sneaked a peek at the menu!

I was glad I had another hour or so to work up an appetite since it was clear that it was going to be a LOT of food!

After awhile we were all assembled together to hear from the organizers and then from Keith. By the time we sat down, we were experts on Farm to Fork dinners and the history of Whitton Farms. (The best part of this was Keith's mom alerting him that it was 2011, not 2012.)

Then we all sat down and awaited the feast! Everyone was instructed to bring a plate from home (just a fun tradition started in 1999) and everything was served family style. We shared all food with the six other people at our table.

Here's what we ate...

Andy & Michael from Andrew/Michael kitchen started us off with a bang. Behold the whole striped bass with fennel and apple slaw (and maybe some mushrooms?):

It was really funny to see some of the surprised looks on people's faces! Warren and I were desensitized to fish heads in the Peace Corps. Wendy, a trained chef, kindly offered to serve the fish to our squeamish neighbors.

Arugula & cherry tomato salad:

And grilled mixed eggplant & squash:

The fish was really killer. I think we all wanted to clean it down to the bones, Cameroonian style, but we controlled ourselves.

Our next course consisted of grilled chicken with roasted okra, peanut gremolata, & cornbread crumbs; baby beet & celery root salad; and watermelon with chili oil.

The first piece of chicken I selected was a bit over-charred, but my second was just right. The roasted okra was the star of the dish. I will never look at okra the same way again!

I lost track of who did what because there were thirteen chefs from three different cities! However, due to my earlier snooping, I know that Jonathan & Kelly did the final course which was slow roasted rabbit legs with a mole of winter squash and housemade chorizo and some "verdes."

The spicy greens were AWESOME. Seriously, I don't even like greens.

How can I tell you about the amazing mole sauce? OMG. Chorizo and rabbit never tasted so good! Not that I've ever had rabbit before, but now I definitely want it again.

I was SO stuffed by the time we got to dessert that it was hard to get excited about it. But the pumpkin chiffon cakes with nutmeg cream and cinnamon butter cream were very tasty.

Throughout the meal, it was fun to peek back into the kitchen area to see what was going on. Unlike most of the chefs who were having a beer and a good time, Jonathan was taking his duties very seriously. I loved watching him obsessively keep an eye on everything. (While Keith was giving his speech earlier in the day, I saw Jonathan sprint behind him along the perimeter to retrieve something important from somewhere.)

Actually in the shot above, I think he is studying Andy & Michael as they prepare the bass. (Smart move!)

Also, as we ate, several of the farmers made their way down the line to tell us about their farms. I was ready to pick up and go visit Finley Hewes at Woodson Ridge Farms in Oxford right after dinner. I'm pretty sure I could have gotten Wendy to go with me.

(I learned after the meal that Finley's date was Joey Lauren Adams, the actress. I can't believe I didn't notice her all afternoon! Geez.) In my defense there were 130 people there.

I also really want this dress that the lovely Ms. Louisa from Delta Grind was wearing.

It was a really amazing afternoon, and there is no doubt that the Memphis chefs were the stars of the day. I hope that there's another dinner next year and that Warren and I are fortunate enough to attend.

Special shout out to Jill and Keith for having a huge ass party right on the cusp of becoming parents!

Outstanding

2011-10-19T10:31:00.003-05:00

Last Thursday I was honored as an outstanding alumna by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Memphis. It was thrilling to say the least.

I was very nervous about putting on a dress and wearing high heels and making a speech in front of hundreds of people. Seriously, I was freaking out up until the minute I had to go on stage.

In addition to being crazy nervous, I was totally choked up. Chip, who nominated me, also introduced me. His speech--which he delivered like a calm, cool & collected professional--was SO flattering and sweet. I nearly died.

Luckily, with my mom, Warren, and some of my besties by my side, I survived.

My speech definitely fell under the "short and sweet" category. I have never had such an adrenaline rush in my life. Once I sat back down, I squeezed Warren's hand for about twenty minutes. And I still felt jittery the next day!

I hope that I let my professors know how much I enjoyed the Anthropology program and that I got across just how useful it was. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't put my education to use! Special shout out to Dr. Hyland, the world's most awesome mentor.

If you have an interest in working in Memphis as a community organizer, I highly recommend the U of M's Anthropology program. It's an applied program which means that everything you learn in the classroom is related to work going on in the community. The professors are highly engaged and top notch. They really care about the students and do an amazing job of getting them plugged into area agencies.

comforTABLE

2011-10-17T11:57:00.003-05:00

I failed to do my take on our last eaTABLE, although others certainly picked up the slack! (Thanks Chris, Bianca, and Justin!)

Justin Fox Burks, aka The Chubby Vegetarian, was our chef, and since our host, Chris Reyes, is vegan, so was our menu. I had been watching Justin's blog in anticipation of our meal, assuming he'd be trying out a few menu items. I was super psyched when the first course was Indian Nachos. I was so psyched I ate them all up without even snapping a picture!

I did get the first actual sit down course, though. The Brussel Sprout Salad with a smoked sun-dried tomato vinaigrette was awesome. I had tried it myself after seeing the recipe on his blog, but I hadn't tried the vinaigrette. The smoky flavor made it taste like the salad had bacon on it.

Next we had black rice and veggies topped with a seared "scallop" made from a mushroom. It was a great visual trick and the flavor was surreal.

The panelle sliders were really fun, but it was the pickles that we all went crazy for. I loves pickled beets.

The sweet potato tamales were out of this world. The wild mushroom duxelles totally gave each bite the sensation of pulled pork.

And we absolutely devoured the spicy pumpkin and salted chocolate crispy treats for dessert.

Justin totally knocked it out of the park. He's the reason that eaTABLE got off the ground two years ago and I hope that he will continue to come back and surprise us with amazing meatless meals.

Justin was assisted by his wife, Amy, and Chris Hawkins, who is best known as the creator of R. P. Tracks' bbq tofu nachos. You can now find Chris--and the nachos--at 3 Angels Diner.

And the dinner couldn't have been in a better spot. Dining in Chris's loft was like dining in another city. It was really fun being in the heart of downtown. The fact that we could climb on the roof was see everything made it even better.

Thanks to everyone involved for another successful meal!

Games 3 & 4 (IN DETAIL!)

2011-10-12T14:03:00.000-05:00

Special shout out to Carlos for bringing a real camera to Game 4 and sharing his pictures with me!

I failed to do an update on Game 3 of the soccer season. Jiro was on his camping trip, so it was just Satchel playing. We were up against Our Lady of Sorrows, which had a pretty shallow bench. However, they had one player who soon came to be known as the "Big Man." How the Big Man was in third or fourth grade, I do not know. Our coach very generously told me that he truly believed that the Big Man was indeed of age and not a ringer. In the Big Man's defense, I don't think he was giving it his 100% the first half when he was on the field. He was big enough to completely crush our guys and he didn't.

Unfortunately, he was in the goal during the second half. Even without trying, he was easily able to stop most of our shots.

Regardless, thanks to an error on their part (too many people on the field) their first goal didn't count. So in the end, we had our best showing--a 2 to 2 tie!

In general, the team looked really good. Satchel played defense the first half and had a few great kicks and a few wiffle kicks. In the second half as offense, he looked pretty good too. He actually had a very exciting shot on goal that hit the pole and bounced out.

I think the most exciting part of the game was when the Coach insinuated that having Jiro there might have made the difference between tying and winning!

Game 4 was our first "away" game. Jiro, who I think was still a tad scarred from his dramatic finish in Game 2, was very nervous about going to Advent Presbyterian in Cordova. In his mind they had a stadium full of hundreds of people who were going to watch him. I told him to try not to worry and that once we got there he'd be fine. Thankfully, I was right.

We were actually pretty early and got to see the 1st and 2nd grade Idlewild team play the 1st and 2nd grade Advent team. The Advent team had a few girls on it and Jiro came over to me and said, "I hope the team we play has girls. Then, it will be easy to beat them!" I'll admit I thought it was funny, but I quickly pointed out that the girls on the field looked pretty tough to me.

For the first time ever, Jiro was in the starting line up--as goalie. He loves playing goalie. We were pretty dominant, but Jiro still had the chance to make several saves.

(Looks like our defense may have been doing a little overkill here!)

It seems that in each game there is a new basic soccer rule that our team shows that they are semi-clueless about. (i.e. Game 1--throw ins. Game 2--direct kicks. Game 3--kick offs.) In Game 4 it was goal kicks. The nice thing about the Advent field was that it actually had clearly marked lines. At our field, we usually guesstimate when it comes to goal kicks. So, the ref had to give Jiro a little coaching on where to put the ball and he had to alert the rest of the team to clear the box.

(Most hilarious action shot ever?)

When coach switched out the A team for the B team half way through the first half, as is tradition now, I was surprised to see Satchel come on the field in the goalie shirt. He looked happy about it, so that was good. He too is scarred from Game 2, I think. Too much running scares him a bit, and he is naturally a bit lazy, so defense is his usual preference. And as we know, Goalies do very little running--hence the grin.

Anyway, he looked amazing in the goal. He made several saves--although in a much more leisurely fashion than Jiro--and had incredible confidence on the goal kicks. When he got the ball, he ran to the top of the box and easily threw it over the midfield line. It was awesome.

(Another awesome action photo!)

By half time it was 0-0. We had a lot of missed opportunities to score on the other team. And honestly, had it not been for the superb goalies, they may have had several goals on us.

At the beginning of the second half, Jiro was back in the goal and the other team had the kick off. Our offensive line was asleep and the other team charged straight for the goal. They kicked it toward the goal and Jiro deflected it, but on the bounce, they got another kick in that just skimmed the top of the goal. There was no way Jiro could have stopped it.

After that we spent most of the game fruitlessly trying to score. Even with two penalty kicks in front of the box, we were scoreless. It was (sort of!!) like the Women's World Cup final against Japan.

It was a tense game, and several times I was on my knees praying! Ha! Must be something about this church league.

Here are a few things I took from the game...

1. Jiro needs to get back out on the field and kick some butt. He's a tough goalie, but he doesn't have the size he needs to really kick ass on the 3rd and 4th grade team. (He's in 2nd grade.) Which also makes me think that had I put him on the 1st and 2nd grade team, he's be a total all star.

2. Satchel needs to really practice this goalie thing. I have never seen him look more natural at anything. The coach is giving everyone on the team a chance to play goalie, so he likely won't play that position again. I'm inclined to look for a club team for him to play on that will be more competitive, but that could take some of the fun out of it. It would also likely involve lots of driving out to Mike Rose.

3. Us parents need to get a sweet Bloody Mary station going like the parents of the 1st and 2nd grade team do!

Starstruck

2011-10-12T10:18:00.002-05:00

Last year, on a whim, I signed up for the St. Jude Half Marathon. I assumed that my running buddy, Ashley, would sign up too. She didn't.

With very little actual training or preparation, I trudged downtown and managed to complete the race in a semi-decent fashion. I was elated, but unsure if I would ever do it again.

This year when I eventually decided to signed up again, I went ahead and signed Ashley up too. (It was her birthday present! I asked her first!) To alleviate the stress and fear I struggled through last year, we also signed up with Star Runners' half marathon training group.

That is Star Richey, our trainer, last Saturday morning telling us all where to run and how fast to go. I can't tell you how awesome it is to have someone doing that! We're about a month into our training (race day is December 3) and I already feel super confident that it's going to be an amazing race. I may actually race this year rather than just try and survive!

In addition to telling us where to go and when, Star also provides moral support, expert advice on nutrition, cross-training, and a million other things. It's also really cool to be running in a group with about 50 other people. We don't all always run together, but even when half of us are there we are usually quite a sight!

This week we are working on hills. We ran downtown on Tuesday and went over the bridge four times...and it was actually fun! Thursday we are doing an easy three mile run in preparation for a 9 mile hill run in Shelby Forest.

How crazy is that? Star makes even the craziest things seem doable. I'm so happy we signed up.

Disclaimer--I have told Ashley that if I start talking about doing the full marathon next year, she can kick me.

Warren

2011-10-11T09:30:00.005-05:00

Happy birthday to the schmoopiest guy I know!

For his early birthday dinner with my family, Warren requested a chocolate roll cake with rocky road ice cream, which had to be specially made. The woman at Baskin Robbins said, "Why he want a roll cake with rocky road?" I guess it seemed like an odd request.

Good thing I didn't tell her about the Ramen chocolate bars I ordered him!

The monkeys instantly declared it the best.chocolate.ever.

Warren asked me if you had to cook the chocolate before eating it. (It was early.) No, you don't. The chocolate just has bits of dry Ramen inside. It doesn't really have a Ramen flavor at all, just a crunch, but the chocolate is really extra yummy.

Lest you think Warren is getting shafted in the gift department, the two of us are attending the Outstanding in the Field dinner this Sunday at Whitton Farms and we have tickets to the Pixie's show in November. Pretty awesome, right?

Nothing but the best for Warren, who deserves it all and more. Happy 45, honey!

Kitty House

2011-10-09T21:22:00.002-05:00

On Friday we received a huge cooler full of meat from Warren's dad. While Warren and I were super excited about the filet mignon, the kids were super excited about the packaging.

Satchel had about an hour's worth of fun with the dry ice.

Jiro spent the same hour decorating the cooler so that the kittens would have a nice house.

He tried putting them inside, but they couldn't jump out fast enough. I suggested he turn it on its side and let them go in on their own. He liked this idea. He took it a step further by placing a few of their favorite toys--a Sharpie, a puffball, and Gustafer Yellowgold's arm--inside. Then to set the mood, he played some music on his iPod.

Pocky went in to sniff the iPod briefly, but that was it. Jiro took it in stride.

Chickens!

2011-10-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

So I mentioned that we're getting chickens. Here's how it happened...

First, we went to the Project Green Fork Fall Fundraiser last Sunday.

Second, we took the kids with us.

The fundraiser included a silent and live auction. I have a problem with live auctions, as noted a few years ago when I almost came home with a nine foot stuffed giraffe head from the Memphis Heritage Architectural Auction.

On Sunday, one of the live auction items was an "Urban Chicken" package that included a deluxe chicken coop by Van and Marilyn Cheeseman with 2 chicks or chickens, feed and water containers, one year's supply of chicken feed, and a book on raising backyard chickens.

We have several friends who have chickens, and the kids have chickens at school, but we have never talked about raising our own. If anything, we've been looking for a gumball eating goat! Anyway, I blame the badass chicken coop that Van & Marilyn built. And the kids.

We all agreed that we'd bid on it, but I was willing to let it go when Felicia Suzanne got involved and started giving me a run for my money. That's where the kids come in. They were totally caught up in the excitement and were jumping up and down and begging me to continue bidding. It was hilarious and embarrassing. Even their buddy Theo was excited about us owning chickens!

As you can see, Warren was merrily detached from the whole thing. And if you know Van Cheeseman, you can see that he stayed close by. What you can't see is that he kept whispering things like, "I'll throw in some extra chicks for the kids."

So yes, we won, much to everyone's delight. (Including Felicia, who was doing a bang up job of getting people to donate lots of money to Project Green Fork!)

The coop, which I have failed to take a picture of, was delivered on Monday. We haven't decided what kind of chicks/chickens to get or when. (The kids want chicks because "they'll last longer.") Since we never really considered owning chickens before, we're still letting the reality set in.

I plan to read the book we won, Keeping Chickens, this weekend, which should build my confidence a bit.

Also those of you in town with chickens, feel free to invite us over to check out your rig and inspire us!

Gratuitous Kitten Pictures

2011-10-04T07:53:00.000-05:00

Darkrai and Pocky are so awesome. They are really good kittens. They use their litter box, they sleep at night, they like to snuggle, and they even come when you call them.

They love to play in the plants. It's cute, but I don't know if the plants will survive their love.

They do most everything together, but they are also doing things on their own.

Satchel made stairs out of totes so that they could get in his bed. When I went to wake him up this morning, they were all snuggling.

Things are going so well, we've decided to go ahead and get some baby chicks too. More on that later!

Jiro's Camping Trip

2011-10-03T17:34:00.006-05:00

Last weekend, the elementary class went on a camping trip--without parents--to Grenada, Mississippi. Satchel, for various reasons I will not share here since he can read, did not want to go. I thought for sure that Jiro would bail on the trip if his big brother wasn't going, but he decided to go anyway.

I was really proud of him! And so sad! That right there is my BABY acting all grown up! He really did want Satchel to go, and tried convincing him up until the last minute, but soldiered on.

It was really hard for me to let him go, but I did. I texted every chaperone on the trip throughout the weekend for a play by play and even offered to pick him up early if need be. But, he had a great time! These are some pictures one of the other mom's took. As you can see, he did just fine on his own.

Not pictured was the canoe trip in which Jiro's canoe tipped over. He said it was really scary and that he cried, but it wasn't scary enough to make him want to come home. (He had on a life jacket and was sharing the canoe with an ex-Navy Seal.)

As you can imagine, he was SO tired when he got home! He also has some nasty chapped lips and a nice cough. I had him stay home today to recuperate.

I was glad I got to spend the day with him, Even though he didn't feel good, I could tell that he had totally grown up on his trip. It was like I had a new kid in the house.

Artsy

2011-09-29T15:23:00.004-05:00

I have some heavy material to post about, but not the time. However, here are a few arty things that have been going on that I never got around to posting.

A week ago or so ago we went to the old Sears building to see it get lit up. You may remember the Memfeast dinner I went to back in the Spring. Well last Friday's lights were the culmination of that night's awarding of money to Robin Salant to bring the building to life. Here it is before:

And after:

The lights bounce and sparkle and move around. How fun is that? I saw Robin last night and she said that she didn't get to use solar lights as she had hoped, but the LED lights use very little energy. You can drive by and see the lights any night of the week. Best of all, this is just phase one. More lights are coming!

Jiro had a sleepover, but Satchel and some of his other buddies had a great time running around the parking lot.

They also had a band and Robin's boyfriend, who just happens to be the Executive Director of Indie Memphis, projected a movie on the wall of the parking garage. How cool is that? I would love a regular Sears Movie Night!

Another arty event of note was Park(ing) Day downtown. Thirteen different groups turned parking spots into mini parks.

My favorite was the Teeter Tire made from old car parts and wood.

Chip snapped this pic while teetering with me.

We should have asked them if we could have it for Rock-n-Romp! I did hear that it was pretty hard to transport though.

At last Saturday's show, I was seriously considering getting someone to make an adult sized sit and spin out of wood and a steering wheel. Any takers?

Speaking of Rock-n-Romp, we've been on the hunt for a larger space downtown in which to host the Dec. 3rd show since we've been having such awesome crowds. We went and toured the old Tennessee Brewery, which is awesome, but so NOT kid-friendly. It would be a great place for an adult party though...or a City Museum!

There's even a place for a MonstroCity!

Someday maybe...in the mean time, we're still looking.

Rock-n-Romp Recap

2011-09-26T14:20:00.002-05:00

You can see the official recap here...

Saturday's romp was super fun. I worried early in the week about the weather, but it turned out beautiful. The weather lords did send down about 10 minutes of heavy drops just to mess with me. We set up the stage about 300 feet from our power source and it caused a major headache for our awesome sound man, Charlie. For the first time ever we had a band cancel on us right before the show started. They were there and I had assumed they were setting up, but then about 15 minutes before showtime I found out that the lead singer was losing his voice! Dude! Then the Grizzlies came out and graciously set up their inflatables, which unexpectedly deflated and scared the crap out of some kids and parents. We ran out of cups. It was one thing after another! But! I don't think 99% of the people there realized anything was wrong. We had about 900 folks with big smiles on their faces, beer, bbq, yolo and/or pizza in hand, enjoying some nice weather, rockin' tunes, and just being in the presence of other like-minded/fun-loving parents.

Here's Chip's picture of me proudly admiring all of our hard work.

And Warren and I hanging out under the check in tent.

Satchel and Jiro were MIA most of the afternoon. Satchel, after complaining of boredom and "mean teenagers" on the jumping pillow, escaped into the Corn Maze with his friend, Kai, and twenty of my dollars.

Jiro was very happy on the jumping pillow with his buddies. He appeared every so often to ask me for a sip of water and I did manage to get a piece of pizza in him. When Satchel reappeared near the end of the show, he and Jiro ran off to spend the last $5. They both re-emerged later with these awesome headbands, which they wore almost all weekend long.

Then in the most awesome move ever, both kids got invited to spend the night with friends! Warren and I actually got to go have dinner and watch a movie before completely crashing. It was a good day.

Kosher Q

2011-09-23T11:05:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, the fam and I went to the 23rd annual Kosher BBQ Contest at the ASBEE synagogue out east. I was slated to judge and the boys wanted to come along to eat and hang out.

Satchel begrudgingly agreed to be in the under 13 pickle eating contest. (I promised him a kitten.) He's such a future teenager.

He did not win.

Warren was waaaaaaaaaay more excited about the over 13 competition.

He did not win either.

But it was fun and we ended up with a pickle for everyone!

When it was time to judge, we had a no show, so I managed to get Warren hired.

He took his job very seriously.

Satchel served as our very enthusiastic assistant. He tried every entry and added very colorful commentary that I will not share here. Jiro couldn't even be talked into taking a single bite!

There were some really good entries and some not so good entries. The teams have a very limited time in which to cook and can only used pre-approved ingredients and specially blessed Weber kettle style grills.

Whoever made this brisket rocks. It was head and shoulders above the rest.

Even though the picture is crappy, you can see how it differs from an entry like this:

I still hope to one day convince Warren to enter the contest as a cook. I think that would be the very best way to enjoy the event. Whether or not that happens, it is clear to me that Satchel will one day be a judge. He's a natural.

Kittens!

2011-09-20T10:04:00.004-05:00

Second only to the soccer game was acquiring some new kittens this weekend!

As you know, we've been ready for awhile and have been waiting for the right opportunity. I've been saying that we have a hole in our house in the shape of a cat for awhile. (Jiro was like, "where??")

On Saturday, a woman who lives a few blocks over sent an email to the neighborhood letting us know that she had three kittens that needed adopting. A neighborhood cat had brought them to her, and she already had plenty cats of her own. In the email she mentioned that they were all black or black and white.

I told the kids and they wanted to head over immediately. However, it took a few hours for us to exchange emails and decide on a time to come visit. I made plans for Sunday morning which means I had to endure about eighteen hours of questioning from the monkeys and Warren. i.e. "How old are they? What do they look like? Can we have two?"

That last question somehow stopped being a question and started being a fact around hour twelve when we started talking about kittens instead of just a kitten. We have two dogs from the same litter and I think it has been good for them to always have a playmate. So why wouldn't it be the same for cats? My only concern of course was double the poop in the litter box.

But I also made sure to tell the kids that we were just looking, and there was no guarantee. I wanted to make sure that they were healthy, I said. Then Jiro, my precious Jiro, said, "Well we should take the least healthy one so we can make it healthy!" Man, I love that kid!

When we finally went to see the kittens they were all three crazy cute. I really didn't know how we were going to decide. Then all but one got away from us! So we brought home the all black one, named him Darkrai, and chalked it up to fate.

The dogs were very curious about our newest arrival.

Warren wasted no time preparing a safe haven for him. We pulled out the bed that Olive never liked, and the boys filled it with stuffed animal friends. Then we set about showering him with love. I was really excited for the boys to have a pet that they could watch grow up. But I was extra excited when Warren said, "I've never had a kitten either!"

Once Darkrai was all safe and secure, we had to leave for a little bit. We went to the Kosher BBQ contest (more about that later), but instead of BBQ, we had kittens on our minds. Warren kept talking about the one with white whiskers. By the time we left, we had agreed to call and see if he came back. Then on the way to the pet store for supplies, I called my sisters to see if either one of them wanted a kitten. Turns out my niece has been pining for a kitten too, so my sister Tracey said she'd happily take one.

Just imagine how thrilled our neighbor was when I called back and said we wanted the other two! She said she'd call me when she caught them, and then about an hour later we went and picked them up!

It was really funny to see how comfy Darkrai got in just a few hours. When we brought the other kittens home, he was lounging in his bed. When we reunited them, he casually tapped them with his paw and greeted them. There was a lot of back and forth, but we finally decided which kitten to give my niece. We decided to give her the one with the white whiskers and keep the smallest, most skittish one, just like Jiro had suggested in the first place.

My niece was thrilled.

She showered Spike with love for the entirety of our family dinner together. At one point she even had him sleeping in a baby carriage.

The cutest part about giving one to my niece, was seeing how the monkeys advised her on the care and maintenance of him. They had become experts in a very short period!

Back at home, we started Operation Snuggle with Darkrai and Pocky. They both really like to snuggle. Thankfully only Darkrai likes to lick.

They are both doing great and easily adjusting to life with Team Oster. They are sleeping in a kennel so that they have a dog free zone, and both have proven themselves to be 100% on board with the litterbox.

We love watching them play and chase each other. "Kitten TV" is our new favorite activity. It's amazing how playful and affectionate they have become in just two days! But I can already tell that once they become fully comfortable with us and the dogs they are going to be wild boys! But hey, what's new?

Jiro is My Hero

2011-09-19T14:14:00.004-05:00

We had an action-packed weekend like only September can deliver, but I have to start my recapping with Saturday's soccer game. It was the boys' second game and Jiro was super excited about playing goalie. He had apparently taken three balls to the face without crying at Thursday's practice and been unofficially named "toughest kid on the team." (This came as no surprise to me!)

Because their team has fourteen players and only six play at a time, the coach has to do a lot of subbing. At Saturday's game, Jiro was on the B team, which meant he played the second half of each half. When he got in the goal, the score was 0-0. The A team had several shots on goal, but since the other team had a giant (who so obviously was not a 3rd or 4th grader) in the goal, it had been impossible to score.

Immediately Jiro had to protect the goal. One shot thankfully bounced off the post and another was easily scooped up by him. Shortly after there was a corner kick which resulted in a handball by Jiro's teammate IN THE BOX. Now most of the parents watching from the side did not grasp what this meant, but I did.

Yep, direct kick.

It took a minute for the ref to explain everything to everyone, and it was the longest minute of my life. There are no real lines on the field, other than the outside lines, so the ref just guessed where the goal line would be. I'd say his guess was pretty lame since the kid who would have a direct kick on Jiro was only about 5 feet away.

My main hope was that the kid would just flub the kick and accidentally kick it out of bounds or on the pole. I couldn't even dare to dream that Jiro would make a dramatic save. He's only been playing soccer for about a month and hasn't had any in-depth training as goalie.

So, when the kid scored the goal, it was ok. I don't think anyone of us expected Jiro to be able to make the save. If you've ever seen a World Cup shoot out, you know that the goalie basically has to guess a side and dive, hoping s/he guessed right. We all cheered for Jiro and told him he did good, and he made a few other saves and came off at half time with his ego intact.

Meanwhile, Satchel was playing defense and doing a fine job of it. He got the ball several times and made some great kicks. He was also feeling good at half time.

By the time the B team went in for the last "quarter" of the game, we were down 2-1. (The coach's son scored a BEAUTIFUL goal at the beginning of the second half, and then the other team basically dribbled one in during a clusterf*ck in front of our goal.) Now Satchel and Jiro were both on the offensive line and I had my doubts as to whether they'd be able to do any scoring. Our big kickers are on the A team and our star from the week before was home with a fever.

But Satchel and Jiro both surprised me. They played harder than I thought they could, and had several runs to the goal. I, of course, was out of my seat and running down the sidelines along with them screaming my head off! There was a lot of back and forth between the teams and a LOT of running. Jiro was so amazingly aggressive and managed to steal the ball several times. At one point he had the ball and three players from the other team stood back about five feet and allowed him to set up for a kick because they were all too scared to attack him!

I saw Satchel holding his chest and worried that he was getting winded, but he hung in there and had some great runs.

Finally, Jiro took a really hard spill after getting tripped. He stayed down, and eventually the ref sent him off of the field. He came off doubled over, holding his stomach, in tears. Since no one on the team had ever seen this tough guy cry, they were all worried. As I waited for him to come off the field (really, I can't believe I didn't run out and carry him off!) I looked over and noticed that Satchel was in tears too. I informed the coach, who called him off too, and then waited.

They both came over and collapsed at my feet in a pile of tears. I think they were both basically exhausted. In the most anti-climactic moment of the day, the whistle blew about 30 seconds after they came off. Suddenly it was time to shake hands, but only Satchel had regained his composure. The coach put Jiro on his shoulders as the team chanted "Jiro! Jiro! Jiro!" and they went to shake hands.

What a roller coaster!

I have gone into the games just hoping for a win, but both times have gotten so much more. It's wonderful to see them playing as a team, learning more and more each week, and really and truly giving 100%.

When they win, and I'm sure they will, it will mean so much more to them because they've really had to work for it.

Once they got some Gatorade and some chips, they went over to the playground with two of their best buddies and played for about an hour. They were all as happy as could be.

Satchel found this enormous caterpillar in one of the trees. I'm thinking of the boys' team as the caterpillar. I am so enjoying watching them transform. When they start to fly, I'll be right there with them, cheering them on.

Ice Cream and Puppies

2011-09-15T10:50:00.002-05:00

On Sunday, I had planned to take the kids to Hernando for a Little Helpers service project at the animal shelter. It was to be followed by a trip to Velvet Cream. Warren kind of poo-pooed the idea (get it?) because he thought playing with a petting dogs that were going to be killed was morbid. I had seconds thoughts because I could see us coming home with a new dog, or two, or three. So I ended up spending six hours scouring our house.

Then we took our twelve year old puppies to the park. We let them swim in Rainbow Lake for the first time in years which meant they would need a bath upon arrival home. Satchel and Jiro agreed to help wash the dogs in exchange for ice cream from the ice cream man.

After washing the dogs, Satchel asked, "Hey when are we going to play with the puppies you told us about?" When I told him we missed it, he was so mad at me! We will definitely have to do better about going to future Little Helpers events. At the very least I will have to do better about telling the kids we are doing something and then actually having us do it.

In totally unrelated news, have you ever met the safety clown?

And who knew that giraffes like popsicles?

First Soccer Game Ever

2011-09-12T14:41:00.004-05:00

It's hard to say who was more excited about the boys' first soccer game, but it's fair to say that there was enough excitement to go around.

I spent the morning making muffins, slicing oranges, and filling a huge cooler full of Gatorade for the after game snack. It was nice to be busy, otherwise I might have spazzed. (On Friday night at practice, I mentioned I might make popsicles, but then stopped myself and said I probably wouldn't have time. One of the boys said, "You can stay home and work on them and then bring them after the game. Hilarious.)

Before we left for the 1:15 game, Warren asked me to get a picture of the monkeys outside. Getting them to not act goofy was a real challenge.

Warren was also very concerned that we both wear green to show our support. I have lots of green tees, but he doesn't. I let him borrow one of mine, which turned out to be the official soccer dad uniform.

WE all parked ourselves along the field in our chairs and prepared ourselves for some serious cuteness. The kids did not disappoint. Coach told me beforehand that since Jiro was technically too young for the team that he would only get to play if someone got hurt or tired. I turned to Warren and said, "Great, now I have to root for some little kid to get hurt!"

I'm kidding.

Turns out no one got hurt and Jiro got to play a good bit of the first half a little bit of the second half. Ditto for Satchel. Both had hoped for a turn in the goal, but Satchel was mostly defense and Jiro was offense. Neither one of them outed himself as the star of the team, but they both played really well and really hard. Each of them definitely had some good plays and I was so very proud of them.

They played against Christ United Methodist, which seemed to have more experience. They had us 0-4 at the half, but amazingly enough, our guys scored three goals in the second half. CUMC snuck one more in and the final score was 3-5, which was totally respectable.

The kids seemed to have a good time, and I know I did. My mom said her favorite part of the game was watching me scream and jump up and down. Hopefully people will still want to sit next to me at the next game!

Here are a few funnies from after the game. Despite some of the expressions on the kids faces, I think they did like the muffins. (I made the Chubby Vegetarian's banana-ricotta muffins, minus the walnuts, with added chocolate chips to half of them.)

Is there anything cuter than little boys in soccer uniforms??

I so totally want to coach now.

The Hunger Games

2011-09-09T15:12:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Satchel came home from school very excited about a book. This never happens. "Can we get it? Can we get it? Can we get it?" he asked me while hopping up and down in the kitchen. As I loaded the dishwasher, I had questions. "Where did you hear about it? What's it about?"

He didn't give me much detail, only that it was awesome and that David was reading it. David is his friend at school who is a little older and therefore WAY cooler. Satchel's idolizing David already got him in trouble once with the XBOX, so I was wary.

Since I understand books a lot better than video games, I went on Amazon to see what the book was about. When I read, "The Hunger Games are an annual televised event where the Capitol chooses one boy and one girl from each of 12 districts to fight to the death," I was even more wary. Kids killing kids?

I asked my friends on Facebook if they'd read the book, or if their kids had read the book, and got a pretty mixed review. So, I decided to read it myself and then decide.

Let me just say that I don't really read. Don't get me wrong. I love books and reading. I read to the kids almost every night. I have a stack of books by my bed--mostly non-fiction--that I am slowly making my way through. But I haven't really read a fiction book purely for pleasure in forever--probably since before I got pregnant with Satchel. Something about becoming a mother has turned me into a non-fiction, reality TV centric entertainment consumer. (I do love going to the movies though.)

Once I started The Hunger Games, I couldn't stop. It was a total page turner and I finished it in about a day and a half. I thought it was fine for Satchel and handed it over to him when I was done. I also told Warren that I thought he would like it.

Then something weird happened. I got depressed. I was depressed that the book was finished! Thankfully it is part of a trilogy. It took me a few days, but I finally made it over to Laurelwood to buy the remaining two books. Then I promptly read them over the three day weekend.

That's right--three books in a week!

Warren started reading The Hunger Games at night, and Satchel read it during the day. They both finished and are now sharing the second book, Catching Fire. I can't wait for Warren to finish so we can talk about it, and I am so excited that they are making a movie!

I won't be surprised if Satchel doesn't finish Catching Fire. I think he was most interested in the actual Hunger Games part of the first book. The larger story and the romantic parts don't really interest him yet. If he does finish, it will probably just be to impress David!

I did order another trilogy by the same author, called Gregor the Overlander that is targeted towards younger kids. I'll probably read the first one out loud at bedtime. Hopefully that inspire Satchel or Jiro to read the others to themselves.

Jiro is desperate for me to read him The Hunger Games, but I told him he'd have to read it himself. So far, he hasn't shown much interest in doing that, which is fine by me. I don't think he's quite there yet.

In this case, I'm really happy with how things turned out. I realized that I shouldn't automatically put something on the "naughty list" just because an older kid likes it. I'm also glad to see that Satchel can get pleasure from a book and not just video games. And it also makes me feel good that we were able to read the same book and both enjoy it (albeit on different levels).

Delta Fair

2011-09-08T07:51:00.002-05:00

The kids love the fair. And i have to say it is growing on me. Since MLGW usually has a booth, I have been required to go for the past several years. Each year it gets a bit funner, probably because the kids are getting older. This is the first year that we all got wristbands, which are actually stamps, so that we could ride as many rides as we wanted.

The lines were longer than I thought they would be--probably due to the awesome weather we had on Monday--but it didn't stop us from getting our money's worth.

The kids could not wait to get back on Crazy Mouse. We innocently rode it last year thinking it was a kiddy ride, but man, is it scary! We were prepared this year, but it was Warren's first ride. It did not disappoint.

We also rode the Avalanche (complete with dancing Carnies!), the flying chairs, the ferris wheel, and most notably Ali Baba. Jiro actually changed his mind about this one at the last second, which was probably a good idea. Satchel cackled the whole time and said, "It tickles!" referring to the feeling of weightlessness.

There was no Fire Ball this year, but maybe next. We ran into my mom, sister, brother-in-law, and niece for a bit, so that made it extra fun.

In addition to the rides there was lots of eating. Jiro had a regular corn dog, a lemonade, a foot long corn dog, and an ice cream sundae. Satchel had a corn dog and a turkey leg. We all split a funnel cake and Jiro remarked that it was "the best thing ever with cake in the name."

I think I may actually be a turkey leg convert now. Satchel's was really good. (We got it at Yancy's.) Unfortunately, I had to stow it in my purse a few times when we went on rides, so I now have the grease stains to remind me of its yumminess.

There were a few corn dog photos taken, but none compared to this one, thank goodness:

The kids really want to go back another day, but they don't have any money to foot the bill so we'll have to wait til next year!

Three Day Weekend in Review

2011-09-07T14:25:00.002-05:00

I was so totally in need of a three day weekend. So much so that I didn't make any plans at all. I thought I *might* clean the house, but for the most part I just wanted to go with the flow.

On Saturday, I accompanied Jiro to a birthday party at the East Memphis Y. He was feeling shy and asked me to stay, so I did. After about two seconds he got over his shyness, but I hung out in the corner with my book just in case. At one point he brought me a piece of ice cream cake so it was a good move on my part.

Jiro ended up spending the night with the birthday boy, so I headed back to Midtown alone and picked up Satchel from his playdate. Once he realized Jiro wasn't coming back, he got all mopey. When I suggested we have one of his friends come spend the night he was ecstatic. "I wanted to ask but I thought you were going to tell me that these things have to be planned!" he exclaimed. So he does listen from time to time!

Satchel and his buddy wanted to hang at the house and make goofy videos so Warren and I went to the movies to take a break from the Star Wars marathon on TV. ("Our Idiot Brother" was actually cute.)

Sunday was raining and the Star Wars marathon continued, so we were not at all productive. By 4:30 we were able to motivate ourselves to go bowling with some of the extended family. It was actually really fun.

It was my niece's first time, and she couldn't have been more excited.

I lucked out on my first frame and got a strike. From there it was up and down, but it was enough to tie me for the lead with my brother-in-law. (I should add that we all had the benefit of the bumpers.)

Satchel was the only one who really got bent out of shape about not winning, although I think Warren was a bit annoyed that he could never catch up with me! It took almost two hours for the seven of us to play one game, so that was plenty of bowling. We may try and go back on a Sunday morning when it's a bit cheaper and get some more practice in.

On Monday it was too cold to go swimming, so we hit the trails at Overton Park. Since our last visit a huge tree had fallen.

We discovered that the leaves are already changing.

And we found a new patch of "art."

There are a few other things worth mentioning, but I'll save them for separate posts.

Bike Lanes

2011-09-04T13:07:00.002-05:00

On Friday, Warren and I attended the bike rally downtown in the hopes of getting Mayor Wharton to support bike lanes on Madison Avenue. Apparently he's gotten cold feet thanks to a handful of very vocal business owners. Warren and I understand the business owners' fears since they got burned when the city spent months building the trolley, but the repaving of the street will only take a few days and is going to happen whether they paint bike lanes or not.

The dedicated lanes will not affect parking or deliveries to the businesses. They are acting out of fear. Instead of supporting what the surrounding residents, aka "their customers" want, a few of them are doing their best to kill the plans for a dedicated bike lane from Cooper to Cleveland. If you patronize Mercury Cleaners, the BP on Belvedere, Crye Leike, or the Mail Center, tell them I said "suck it." Huey's and the BBQ Shop are also among the naysayers. The ridiculous part is that they are in the minority. The majority of businesses on Madison are in support of the lanes. (Here's a list.) This is a case of the squeaky wheels getting the grease.

Have you ever biked on Madison? I have, and it's pretty freaking scary. A number of cyclists have been hit by cars there, most recently Chris Davidson, who died shortly after. You may have seen the "ghost bikes" on Madison and at the Hi-Tone that mark his death and remind us that the driver never stopped. There was also a ghost bike at the rally.

We are sick and tired of hearing about bicyclists getting injured and killed by cars. Cooper and Madison is a frequent spot for bike/car accidents. A woman was even hit there during the Midnight Classic last year. Businesses owners on Cooper have embraced bike lanes, and Madison is the next logical place for them.

It's time for the city to realize that bikes are the future and it is time to make our roads multi-functional.

Most people had "We love safe streets" signs at the rally, but Warren is especially angry about the hit and run that killed Chris. To him "hit & run = murder."

We don't just need dedicated bike lanes on Madison, we need them everywhere. The Mayor was not at the rally, nor were any city councilmen, despite it being an election year. I guess they just aren't that concerned. There were a couple of city council hopefuls in the crowd. Paul Shaffer (District 9) spoke out in favor of the lanes and Scott Banbury (District 7) gave a passionate speech about the need for Memphis to move forward.

I mostly just listened, but I wanted to scream. I wanted the Mayor to be there. I wanted someone to care.

A few weeks ago, we had a thirteen year old boy get hit by a car a block from our house at the intersection of Sam Cooper & Hollywood. I didn't see the accident, but after he was hit, he got up and walked his bike down our street. He was covered in blood and hysterical. Along with a few others, we calmed him down, called 911 and tried to help him until they arrived. I was the person tasked with calling his mother. It was a pretty awful situation, but Eddie made it through okay, thank goodness. And the driver who hit him eventually came back to the scene.

I don't ever want to have to call someone's mother again to tell her that her child was hit by a car while riding his bike. And I definitely don't want anyone calling me. It should be safe for everyone to ride their bike wherever they want to. Some of my best memories are of riding my bike to school and friends' houses when I was younger.

I want my kids to have those happy memories too.

To learn more, visit madisonbikelanes.com.

Of Note

2011-09-03T17:28:00.002-05:00

So I failed to say anything about last week's amazing Rock-n-Romp at Mnglewood Hall. Luckily Chip covered it over on the Rock-n-Romp blog. It was our biggest show ever, which was crazy. I actually fretted all day Saturday about not getting a good crowd on Sunday. Shows what I know! The kids had a blast and so did the parents, including my mom and Warren's dad. How cute are they?

I should add that this conversation took place during El Dorado and the Ruckus's set.

Once we were done with the clean up, we promised the monkeys we could go to the cereal bar at Revive. It's one of Jiro's all time favorite places to eat. Warren's dad surprised me by bypassing the cereal for the oxygen. He tried to get my mom to do it too, but she passed. So Warren joined him. Jiro really wanted to do the oxygen too, but I told him he had to be eighteen. Turns out there is no real age limit. Shh!

Oji headed back to California on Tuesday and we resumed our normal day to day activities. Jiro was ambassador at school last week, so I did quite a bit of cooking, which is unusual. I made blueberry muffins, banana muffins, and strawberry cream popsicles. Jiro loves making muffins because I let him lick the bowl. (This was not posed!)

Warren also got crafty this week. He's been dying to use our zombie brain gelatin mold since we bought it three years ago! The kids are going to dissect sheep brains at school soon, so he decided to get them in the mood.

Bbbbrrrraaaiiinnnsss!

Sweet

2011-09-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Jiro and Satchel learned how to make stuffies at school. The one on the right is Jiro's. He named it Ninja. Ninja gets a kiss at bedtime too.

We took Warren's dad to YoLo on Friday and it was the first time none of us got yogurt. We went for gelato and lemon squares. I just love this kid. Sweets make him very happy.

We went to the downtown farmer's market on Saturday. I usually give Satchel and Jiro $5 to spend. Jiro went straight for the donuts. Double fisting donuts at the MFM, aw yeah.

(Satchel bought a baguette. He waits for it to get stale then gnaws on it for the rest of the week. I didn't take a picture of that. You're welcome.)

Conjuring cats

2011-08-31T19:34:00.003-05:00

I noticed this cat in the yard this morning. It had a collar so I thought it was safe to alert Satchel to its existence. He spent most of the morning trying to get her to come to him, but wasn't successful.

Oddly enough, when I got to work there was a tiny kitten stuck in a tree near our parking lot. I really almost got back in my car, and then to get Satchel so he could climb the tree. There was a woman already trying to get it down, so I just went to work instead.

This afternoon the first cat was back and ready to be Satchel's best friend.

"Can I feed her?"

"Can I give her some water?"

"Can she come inside?"

"Can we name her?"

So far the answer has been no, no, no, no. But I think we are ready for a cat again. I told the kids I wanted one to adopt us, like Olive adopted me all of those years ago, so who knows. The cat's collar is just a cheapo flea collar so maybe whoever has been feeding her hasn't committed to keeping her forever. If they have then we can just visit with her in the yard, which might actually be the best way to have a pet.

However, if a tiny black kitten appeared, I would definitely let it in and feed it.

I remember when Tracey and I were cat crazy as kids. Our mom picked us up from soccer practice one night and she had a kitten in the backseat. It was SO exciting! We named that cat Putze Tutz and he was awesome. He even sucked his "thumb."

Things I Don't Want to Forget

2011-08-26T11:22:00.001-05:00

1. Jiro is totally into word searches

2. After, sometimes before, kissing me goodnight, Jiro also kisses his blankie and favorite pillow.

3. In order to help him remember something in the morning, Satchel likes to stack toy totes in front of his door or leave a strategically placed stuffed animal there.

4. At soccer practice the boys had to play on the "skins" team and it was the most embarrassed they have been in a long time. I blame swim shirts.

Doing It All

2011-08-25T11:20:00.001-05:00

Things have been really hard lately. It seems that I start most conversations, or end them with, "I'm tired."

There are three people in my house very tired of hearing me say that. As I look ahead, I only see more reasons to be tired. The kids now have three soccer practices a week (On top of Taekwondo twice a week), I am doing the Leadership Memphis Fall fast Track program which meets once a week, I signed up to be on the grant review committee for Give 365 which means more after hours meetings, we have four more Rock-n-Romps this year, and I will most likely keep my post as PTA president. Oh, and I told Satchel & Jiro I'd help them plan a giant Nerf Gun War in Overton Park.

So something's gotta give. But what? Sadly, I think it is my column in the CA. After three? four? years of coming up with something witty, insightful, mildly interesting, or "good enough" every other week it has become a struggle to come up with new ideas. Sure, the kids provide a constant source of material, but as they get older and the more vocal my commenters (read: haters) get, the less I want to share. I'm hard enough on myself, I don't need to read the nasty things from people who don't even know me on a regular basis.

I'll still share here, of course, and I'll still be writing for the CA, just not from a personal perspective.

So, now back to business. Warren's dad, who we call Oji, was in town last week and it was fun assimilating him into our culture. He is a reader of mine, so he took the whole "don't eat that before I take a picture of it" rule in stride, among others. Like Warren, he enjoys cooking. He treated us to his famous cinnamon rolls last week.

Oji likes to going out to eat in Asian restaurants so that is a bonus, since that's mainly what we do when not cooking. At Shanghai, he taught Satchel how to eat egg drop soup through a straw.

He also enjoys grocery shopping, which is really nice since we seem to make some kind of trip to some kind of grocery store several times a week. If we didn't how would we know that Viet Hoa has giant jackfruits in stock?

Among Oji's skills are making Ramen, which totally came in handy on Thursday and Friday of last week when Satchel stayed home sick. It was really nice that neither Warren or I had to miss work, and it gave them some bonding time. (Had Satchel been seriously ill, I would have gladly stayed home and nursed him, just so you know.)

Oji took a side trip to Branson this week to see his sister and should return tomorrow for another few days with us before heading home. I'm looking forward to taking him to the downtown farmer's market, a Mexican place on Summer or Macon Rd, La Michoacana, maybe the JCC and Rock-n-Romp. Maybe if he has enough fun, he'll never want to leave!

Soccer!

2011-08-17T10:00:00.004-05:00

Satchel and Jiro had their first soccer practice last night. I left work to pick them up at home, and when I arrived they were out front in their shin guards and cleats kicking their soccer balls around. Warren had even gotten out the soccer goal that had been collecting dust since we optimistically purchased four years ago.

They are on a team with a few of their best buddies, and the practice field is just down the road by Rhodes. And the coach is AWESOME. He is very much in charge and totally reminds me of my old coach.

The boys did a lot of drills and then had a fifteen minute scrimmage. Jiro was in the goal, and actually made one save. (There was only one shot on goal.) Satchel played right forward, my position, and looked amazing.

When practice was over they had a team huddle and yelled, "Go Green!" Which is exactly what we used to yell when I played for the green team.

I'm so excited. I can hardly stand it! But the best part is that Satchel actually said, "Mommy, thank you for signing us up for soccer. It's really fun!" This from the kid who had no interest in playing! Jiro was a little less enthusiastic because playing goalie was kind of boring. Hopefully he'll get some field time at the next practice.

GO GREEN!

ATL

2011-08-15T20:22:00.004-05:00

We spent the last few days of summer vacation in Atlanta. Our main purpose was for Warren to compete in the National Kendo Tournament, held at Emory University. He's been training like crazy. I love my samurai.

He didn't do as well as he had hoped, so overall it was pretty disappointing. However, we did get to see a lot of good Kendo competitions over the weekend.

There were all sorts of things to do and see in Atlanta, but since most of our time was spent at the tournament, we didn't do too much other than hang at the hotel, swim, go out to eat, and make a quick trip to Ikea. I did manage to sneak away for a couple of hours to have a drink with my bestie from the Peace Corps, Catherine. She's been living in Ramallah for the past couple of years, so it's been awhile since we've gotten to just have each other all to ourselves.

Here, she shows me her state of the art cell phone.

And here, she models her new reading glasses purchased at the Drug Store.

We left Atlanta early on Sunday so we could get back in time to buy school supplies, cut the grass, do laundry, grocery shop, etc. We did manage to squeeze in a quick stop at Elvis' birthplace in Tupelo.

It looked like there was some serious construction about to happen behind the museum. There were lots of little old ladies scampering about. One asked Jiro to pose for her and went on and on about how he could be a young Elvis. It was pretty funny.

We were super excited to come home to such nice temps. The boys actually wore hoodies to their first day of school!

The weather was nice, but calling it hoodie weather would be a stretch.

Nutrition, or something like that

2011-08-10T20:45:00.002-05:00

I started keeping a diet journal this year. Not because I am actually on a diet, but because I wanted to be more aware of what I'm eating. Additionally, I thought it might be nice to see if any patterns emerged in terms of weight loss/gain, sleep patterns, overall health, etc. Simultaneously, I started a 365 project that involved taking a picture of something yummy everyday. I've definitely noticed that as we've entered farmer's market season, my idea of yummy has drastically changed. Gone are the pictures of restaurant food. Now yummy centers around fresh vegetables and the things we are making with them at home.

I've pretty much nailed down a couple of perfect breakfasts and learned that I could eat a spinach salad just about everyday for lunch. Over the past month, I've replaced my daily Diet Coke with a La Croix sparkling water. That alone has been a major feat. I'm finding that since I will allow myself to have a Diet Coke as a treat, I've been going to the movies a lot so, as a treat, I can sip a giant beverage in the dark. But I still feel like I am making progress. It's pretty similar to the way I quit smoking ten years ago, but allow myself to have an occasional one (or two...or three) when I'm enjoying an adult beverage with other adults.

Anyways, the point of this post is that I am trying to eat better, mostly for health reasons. Not being a trained dietician or having a personal nutritionist on staff has left me to try and figure everything out on my own. I've been using the Fooducate App, which is awesome. (So awesome, that I wrote about it this week.) I can definitely credit it for changing some of my shopping habits. At the very least it has made me feel extra guilty when I eat something verified as crap.

I've done a lot of reading and studying and talking and observing and I'm still not sure I've got it all figured out. Portion sizes are tough, and I still find myself "cleaning up" after the kids when they waste food, and snacking on some of the crap that they bring home or convince me to buy them. I think once I get myself under control I'm going to have to really crack down on their eating habits.

OK, if you are still with me...I present to you what I ate today, mostly in pictures. Is it too much? Too little? What am I missing?

I got up early to go swimming, and when I came home I ate a large banana. I showered, then had a giant iced coffee while I made my lunch. By huge, I mean CBBQ cup sized. I used a big splash of coconut milk creamer today, but usually it's the chocolatey or French Vanilla Coffee Mate.

This is my usual breakfast, which I eat when I get to work around 8:30. (Siggi's has about 14g of protein.)

I vary it. Sometimes I cut up half a banana and throw in some cashews, sometimes I eat the blueberry flavor and just add nuts, and sometimes I eat plain with strawberries and bananas and no nuts. In the winter, I replace the yogurt with steel cut oats.

I like to eat lunch around 11:30 so there is no morning snack. Lunch, if I have my way, is spinach (& arugula if I have it) salad with carrots, tomato, peppers, onion, feta cheese, some kind of nuts (walnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, etc.) , and some form of meat (steak, chicken, pork, shrimp, etc.). Today I didn't have any meat, so I had some quinoa and brown rice salad that Warren made.

Here's a typical meat salad:

I don't usually go crazy on the salad dressing. Since I quit the Diet Coke, I have been nibbling on one square of chocolate after lunch. (I have a few Olive & Sinclair bars stashed in my desk drawer.)

My afternoon snack is something like carrots and hummus, an apple with peanut butter, frozen grapes, or a grapefruit. Today it was a grapefruit. A ate a whole one, like you would an orange. It was a mess. I'll probably go back to the civilized way with a spoon.

When I left work, I met a friend at Otherland's. I really wanted another iced coffee, but I resisted since my sleep pattern has been severely messed up for the past two weeks. When I got home, I was starving. Warren stayed late at work, so I attacked the leftovers. I had some shrimp and peach ceviche I made the other night with the crumbs of some Las Delicias chips.

I was still hungry, so I ate a small bowl of Pirate Booty (!!) while I heated up some leftover Tom Yum soup that Warren made the other night with tofu, mushrooms, and some chicken. I only realized it had chicken in it after I added 5 leftover grilled shrimp.

I was full before I finished, but then I finished anyway.

I thought I'd have a cucumber lemonade popsicle that I made for dessert, but then Jiro gave me a few sips of the chocolate shake my mom got him at Sonic earlier, so I skipped it.

So there you have it. I'd say that today was fairly typical. As you can see, I have a sweet tooth, and am easily tempted by carbs. My mom was here this morning while I was making my lunch and she marveled that I didn't pack crackers or bread. Should I?

Besides the iced coffee and La Croix, I only drank water today. A good amount, I'd say. I usually drink two La Croix, but I never got around to the second one.

LEGO Birthday Party

2011-08-07T21:52:00.003-05:00

On Saturday the monkeys went to a LEGO birthday party at the Majors' house. It was so simple, so fun, and so smart, that I just had to share.

First, set up some tables. Second, get out all of the LEGOs. Third, build!

There was some cake eating and a LEGO movie on for those who needed a break, but at the end of the two hours, everyone had created something fabulous to leave with the birthday boy.

I'm totally planning on stealing this idea. However, I think it would be more fun (for me) and challenging (for them) if I had them actually dig through our boxes of LEGOS and try and find all of the pieces to the various sets we have bought over the years. They'd definitely need more than two hours, but I'm okay with that.

Week 7 Camp Report

2011-08-07T21:39:00.003-05:00

So last week the boys had their final week of scheduled activities. (We have one more week of summer but it will be fairly unstructured and include a road trip.) When I dropped them off on Monday morning I still hadn't mentioned that half of their day would be at Reading Camp. Turns out it was in the morning and Comic Books were in the afternoon, so I just said, "Oh yeah you have Reading Camp first."

They barely blinked and followed me in to the cafeteria where the other Reading Campers were gathering. I introduced us to the teacher and then they had a seat. I drove to my office reflecting on their action-packed summer. Before week one there was lots of questions, anxiety, complaining, and moaning. I'd say that the nonplussed, go with the flow attitude of Week 7 was proof again that my idea of expanding their horizons was a good one.

Amazingly enough they reported that they liked Reading Camp BETTER than Comic Book Camp and that it was FUN. I asked a lot of questions to try and figure out exactly what went on in reading camp, other than reading, of course, but didn't get much info. At the end of the week I did at least see the fruits of their Comic Book Camp. They each had a portfolio that included a very deatiled, hand drawn comic, word searches, and other coloring pages. Jiro had even created a superhero of his own.

It was really nice to have so many great camps to choose from this year. They made a ton of new friends, and even agreed to sign up for fall soccer at Evergreen Presbyterian. I'm so excited!

Week 6 Camp Report

2011-07-28T15:42:00.003-05:00

This week the monkeys have been at Rhodes for Soccer Camp. Neither of them has really ever played soccer, but I did for oh, fifteen years, so I wanted them to give it a fair shake.

For what we spent on equipment and apparel, I probably could have sent a third camper, but I have to say the sight of them (especially my Jiro) in shin guards and cleats was worth the money alone.

In the afternoon they got to go swimming at the Rhodes pool, which was awesome, but I felt bad for the amount of stuff they had to haul around each day. Inside their (taekwondo) bags they had: a soccer ball, a lunch bag, a bag full of swim stuff, pool shoes, indoor shoes and/or cleats, and a giant water bottle. Their bags were heavy! Luckily once inside the gym they didn't have to do much hauling.

We also forgot sunscreen on Monday, and only partially got the right areas on Tuesday, so they are way tanner (and Satchel is slightly burnt) than in the photo above.

They've been pretty quiet about what they've been learning, but it is clear that they are having fun. They have made even more new friends and are also getting to know other kids that they met at other camps over the summer who just happen to be doing soccer camp too. Satchel was most thrilled to find his best buddy from Lego Camp at the pool in the afternoons.

The funniest part of this camp was that I totally forgot it ended today. Oops! So tomorrow the boys will attend a special one day session of Camp Daddy.

Next week is our final week of camp--Comic Book and Reading Camp. If you really want to hear even more about our summer camp action, check out my column today. (Comments were accidentally disabled this morning so my biggest fans--Pookie and Bogey--didn't get to weigh in at 5am with their witty comments. I feel cheated.)

Satchel's Parents

2011-07-26T10:15:00.002-05:00

Satchel's parents seem sad. I think it's because his dad looks like Count Chocula and his mom has an ice cream cone on her head.

Jiro's Parents

2011-07-25T20:55:00.002-05:00

As drawn by Jiro on the paper covering our table at Tsunami last week...

Warren was a little crabby that night.

My (Little) Rock Stars

2011-07-25T16:00:00.004-05:00

Well, the showcase was every bit as fabulous as I thought it would be. Satchel and Jiro (and Warren) seemed to be having the time of their lives. Chip was there taking pictures and I just love how these turned out.

Satchel was all smiles. He loved his band and giggled at all of the funny touches they added in like a mid song rap, a surprise Twinkle Twinkle Little Star at the end, and so on. Before camp ever started he asked me if there would be a showcase and when I said yes, he said, "I'm not going." However, by Wednesday he couldn't wait for the showcase and said it was the best part of camp!

Warren, who was one of the band managers, got to play along. He said it was the first time he ever played to an audience and he totally loved it.

Jiro, who was so excited leading up to the performance, had worn himself out by the time his band played last. Despite being subdued, he was completely adorable.

I'm so proud. And so happy that everyone had such a good time. I figured they would all either love it or hate it. Thankfully they loved it. Can you tell how proud I am?

My friend, Allen, got this shot of Jiro and his band hanging out waiting their turn. It makes me smile. They look like real little rock stars.

This week is Soccer Camp. Stay tuned!

Week 5 Camp Report

2011-07-22T11:02:00.002-05:00

I'm thrilled to say that Rock-n-Romp Camp is exceeding my expectations. The kids are really having a great time and we are so excited about tonight's performances! The 40+ campers have broken into 8 bands and they have been practicing a song all week that they will perform tonight at 7pm. Three of the bands have joined forces with local musicians. The others have either opted to play solo or with their band managers as back up.

Here are the bands that Satchel and Jiro are in to give you a taste of what's coming tonight. Did I mention how excited I am??

The Ghost Hunters
Magnus - Lead Vocals
Jiro - Guitar
Santiago - Guitar
Oliver - Drums
Enrique - Drums
Bobby Matthews- Band Manager
Andrew Maloney- Band Manager

Bio: Enrique and Jiro bumped into each other one particularly humid July night in the basement of a supposedly haunted house in the middle of a secluded Brazilian rainforest. Jiro, with the aid of his trusty infa-red ghost searching goggles, spotted what appeared to be a unicorn. The mythical creature turned out to be Magnus and Oliver in disguise as a unicorn. “Dude, why are you dressed like unicorns?” asked Enrique. “Because, there’s a zombie outside!” gasped Oliver. “And everyone knows that zombies are afraid of unicorns,” added Oliver. “Guys, that’s not zombie,” laughed Enrique, “that’s Santiago, my little brother, and he’s just really hungry!” The boys all laughed and laughed--and THEN they formed this band.

Toyger
Roman - Bass
Satchel - Keyboards
Kade - Keyboards
Davis - Keyboards
Greydon - Keyboards
Terrence Bishop - Band Manager, Guitar, Vocals
Warren Oster - Band Manager, Guitar

Bio: A toyger is a genetically engineered breed of cat that has genes derived from several different types of house cats and a tiger. They’re like small tigers and they’re aggressive killers. Like the animal, the band is a pack of aggressive furry killers. Kade, the drummer, is from Uranus. Roman is the first human to play bass guitar and football on the moon. Davis was raised by monkeys and plays the piano with a wild flair. Satchel, on the keyboards, emerged from the bean bag in his room. Greydon plays keyboards. The Toygers like rock-n-roll, peanut butter, and animal flesh.

Week 4 Camp Report

2011-07-17T17:50:00.002-05:00

This week the boys went to Shelby Farms for the Woodland Discovery Challenge. For me, the best part of the camp was that there was a shuttle from the Urban Farms Market on Tillman to and from the park each day. Instead of doing an hour round trip commute, I only had to do five minutes there and five minutes back.

The best part for the monkeys was getting to play outside all day.

Equipped with knapsacks, baseball hats, and water bottles they managed to stay cool. In addition to playing at the playground, they explored the Wolf River along the Greenline and they also visited Urban Farms and the Old Forest. There was a healthy lunch provided each day by Cheffies, and they even learned how to read food labels. Satchel actually asked me one day if I knew that high fructose corn syrup was bad for me.

The camp is actually two weeks long, but we only signed up for one since next week is the first ever Rock-n-Romp Camp! Warren and I have pretty much been in "get everything ready for RnR Camp" mode since we returned from vacation. On Friday we had some friends come over and help us tie dye t-shirts for the campers and make name badges for everyone.

Today we went over to the music building to get all of the rooms set up for the music classes tomorrow. I hope Jiro is as loud and proud at the showcase on Friday as he was today!

The showcase is open to the public, so if you want to come see what the kids learned all week, come on out. It's in the Lynx Lair at Rhodes from 7:00-8:30pm. It's $5 per person and beverages will be available for purchase.

Between the Lines

2011-07-14T10:27:00.004-05:00

Ok this is the final vacation related post. I just wanted to share a few shots that didn't make their way into the official recaps.

Here Satchel and Jiro sulk while simultaneously eating hard boiled eggs. We were on Mt. Tom and Jiro had just attacked Satchel out of nowhere. Jiro (and sometimes Miles too) took great joy in messing with Satchel. He did his best to stay cool, but as the days wore on, his fuse got shorter and shorter.

Satch often escaped to our room to get some alone time. He needed to not be picked on and he needed to study You Tube videos of his favorite video game so that when he returned to the land of XBox he could dominate. Several times he told me that he was "XBox sick."

The kids found no shortage of things to fight over, but there were also times that they happily--and quietly--played together. Miles and Tasha are big fans of hanging out in their undies, and so Jiro naturally followed along.

And the boys also had some bonding of their own. Miles isn't really into games yet, but I have a feeling it's just a matter of time now that he's been corrupted by the monkeys. (Please note how they are all dressed the same!)

Tasha absolutely loves Satchel in a way that she does not love the rest of us. Our first few days there she could be heard saying, "Where's Satchel? I want to wrap around him." We all thought it was cute, especially when she started calling him Satchely. He probably didn't think it was as cute as the rest of us, but he tried to be nice about it.

Tasha and Jiro also had a few moments of bonding. They were both big fans of Vanessa's homemade granola and could often be found enjoying a late night snack together.

And there were even some cute Tasha and Warren moments. (Hey, maybe it's just me that she doesn't like??)

Despite the bickering and minor disputes, I think it was really great for us all to get to spend so much time together.

Fall Creek Falls

2011-07-12T15:51:00.000-05:00

The last leg of our cross country tour was in Fall Creek Falls State Park just outside of Nashville. I'd been wanting to visit for awhile, so it worked out perfectly. We arrived in the evening and did a little driving around before setting up our camp. We were pretty unprepared food wise, but thankfully FCF is massive and includes a store, restaurant, and snack bar. We opted to go to the store and cooked up a fabulous meal of Ramen, beef jerky, and macaroni & cheese. (We'd had a pretty hearty lunch in Knoxville.)

The most exciting part of our evening was seeing deer at every turn. They were huge and they were everywhere.

In the morning, the monkeys were very anxious to hit the road and get home to their XBox, but we managed to get them focused on enjoying our last day of vacation. They suited up, had a little breakfast, helped us break down the camp, and then we went to check out the sites.

Our first stop was the Gorge Hole, also known as the George Hole, due to a typo or whatever you call it when someone carves extra letters into a wooden sign.

Although this was pretty cool. we knew that there had to be more. Oh, and we were so right. Check out Cane Creek Falls! It had a built in slide.

Warren and I were really jealous that we didn't put on our bathing suits. We waffled several times, and almost put them on, but decided against it since we still had a long drive ahead. But man, we are going back and next time we will be ready!

We couldn't leave without actually seeing Fall Creek Falls. We started hiking there, but once we realized it was 2 miles and we had no snacks or water, we turned back and drove over instead. We were simply stunned when we saw how big the falls were--256 feet!

You can totally hike down to the bottom and swim there too. Did I mention that we are definitely going back? I've almost convinced warren to rent one of these babies for a week.

He actually said FCF reminded him of California. That's just about the biggest compliment he's got. (I guess reminding him of Alaska would be the pinnacle.)

Unfortunately, I've pretty much blown my vacation time for the year, but I might be able to squeak out a few more days.

It was the perfect ending to a near perfect vacation. We had some serious quality family time, got to see some really good friends, and saw amazing new things everywhere we went. It doesn't get any better than that.

Virginia

2011-07-12T07:59:00.000-05:00

My best friend from childhood, Hope, lives in Blacksburg, Virginia. I visited her there several times during college, but hadn't been back since just after I returned from the Peace Corps. (We did visit her when she lived in Colorado and thankfully she comes to Memphis at least once a year!) We had to prepare the monkeys for the fact that there would be no wifi, video games or other kids on this leg of our trip. However, Warren did get them pretty jazzed about meeting a real live "bachelorette."

We arrived in the evening and were immediately handed beers. (Warren and I, that is.)

The kids were given Sunny D and exercise balls to play with.

She even gave them ice cream!

It was awesome. The monkeys got their ya-yas out while we chatted and drank beer. After an hour or so we ventured into town for some pizza at the Cellar. The monkeys declared it the best pizza ever, even better than the Trolley Stop (blasphemy!). I think they were just starved, although it was good.

Back at the house we all gathered in our jammies and watched Stand By Me. I tried to explain to the kids how I was supposed to marry River Phoenix, but they didn't get it.

In the morning, Hope got us all going with some music, coffee, chocolate milk, and Greek yogurt. She had a full day of activities planned for us, so we wasted no time. First up, picking blueberries!

Next we went to nearby Mountain Lake, where they filmed Dirty Dancing! I carried a watermelon!

Hope and Warren didn't believe me, but I did actually join the Peace Corps because of Baby. It's true. I saw Dirty Dancing five times in the theater!

Mountain Lake has definitely passed it's prime, mostly due to the fact that the lake on the property dried up. It was pretty dead except for a few European visitors. There are still cabins and hotel rooms for rent, but you can pay $5 and enjoy the grounds and the restaurant. We had lunch right where the Housemans had lunch, which was exciting. Unfortunately the food was awful. No matter, the grounds were spectacular.

The kids loved the life sized chess and checkers sets.

I loved the Dirty Dancing tour, which now includes a Patrick Swayze memorial rock.

Somehow we peeled ourselves away and headed off to the nearby Cascades for a hike up to an awesome waterfall. Warren and I were really impressed with the trails. They were very well planned and maintained.

The two mile hike totally paid off. Look at that waterfall! The water was freezing, but we all swam and soaked up as much of the awesome as we could.

A short cloudburst sent most everyone else packing and we had it all to ourselves for about half an hour which pretty much ruled. After awhile, we headed back down the mountain on the less challenging trail since the kids were just about zonked.

We went to the house to put on dry clothes and have a beer, then headed out to dinner at Gillie's. (I asked Hope to take us to a hippie restaurant.) On the way we noticed that the Cave of Forgotten Dreams was playing at the Lyric, a one screen theater next door, and made a split second decision to go see it after dinner. It was really, really good. And then really, really bad. It was both awe inspiring and guffaw inducing.

The movie did us all in and we went home to crash. Hope woke us up with the smell of bacon and soon Warren was making everyone blueberry pancakes. We ate out in the yard in shifts between showers.

Before leaving town, we went to visit one of Hope's friends and see her amazing garden. (Hope is a plant nerd at Virginia Tech who gardens on the side.) It was huge and had several different "rooms." Satchel said it was "epic" and way better than the Dixon!

Then we had to go check out the nearby skatepark, which was completely empty. Thankfully our pad & helmetless driver did not injure himself.

Shockingly neither did the padless & helmetless monkeys.

(They are so excited about having a skatepark in Memphis. They'll be [padded] regulars, I'm sure.)

By now it was approaching noon and we had a six hour drive ahead of us to Fall Creek Falls, so we had to say another round of goodbyes. It was SO nice to have Hope all to ourselves for 40 hours! Bachelorettes rule!

New Jersey

2011-07-11T19:19:00.003-05:00

Leaving Massachusetts was bitter sweet. We were sad to say goodbye to Liz, Vanessa, Miles & Tasha, but we were also really excited about seeing our friend, Beth, and her family. Beth was in our Peace Corps training group. She was one of my very best friends and she was actually Warren's girlfriend! We hadn't seen her since my baby shower when I was pregnant with Satchel--almost ten years!

Beth has her own lactation consulting business, her husband, Paul, works for Mars, and they have three sons. Beth's two oldest boys happen to be almost the same ages as Satchel and Jiro. For that reason alone, the monkeys were almost as excited as we were about visiting.

We arrived just in time for dinner, and the boys settled in as if they'd known the Mylers their entire lives.

Gabriel & Satchel and Nolan & Jiro immediately hit it off. (Jonah, the youngest, was content to play by himself or hang with the adults.) Once dinner was over, they took off and played until we pulled them apart at bedtime.

The next morning we got up early and packed up our things for a hike along the Delaware Water Gap near the Pennsylvania border. The trails there are a part of the AT. Since it was the fourth of July, it was pretty crowded, but it didn't stop us from enjoying the hike.

The boys were moving a lot faster than the adults, but they did give us a chance to catch up every once in awhile.

The water was pretty chilly, but no one cared.

After swimming and hiking for over an hour, we turned to go back to the car. The boys took off and left us in the dust. Paul and Warren left Beth and I with Jonah and the dog, Ginger, and went off in hot pursuit. It gave Beth and I a chance to talk uninterrupted which was great. We hadn't seen each other in a decade, but we picked up right where we left off.

Once we all were reunited in the parking lot, we went for a quick lunch and then gathered supplies for a cookout. The roadside farmer's market stand had a giant chair, perfect for a photo opp.

Beth was watching a friend's house while she was out of town, and said friend just happened to have a pool, so we spent the evening there.

Isn't Beth cute?

Don't worry, those are my glasses. She was just being silly.

By nightfall we were all pretty exhausted. I think we definitely maximized our one day together. In the morning, we decided to go by Paul's office to say hi and score some free candy before ultimately saying goodbye.

They seriously have a M&M guy inside full of candy free for the taking. As you can imagine, convincing the kids to just take one was pretty ridiculous.

Loading up on free candy before a 7 hour road trip was so not a good idea, but hey, we were on vacation! It was really sad to say goodbye to everyone after such a short visit, but we were so happy to have had the chance to reconnect.

As we headed towards Virginia to see our friend, Hope, we made one pit stop in Pennsylvania to see the ringing rocks as Beth & Paul suggested.

When the rocks are struck with a hammer or another rock, they sound as if they are metal and hollow and ring with a sound similar to a metal pipe being struck. We didn't have hammer, just a wrench. However, Warren discovered that hitting the larger rocks with smaller rocks did the trick too. It was pretty cool, and a little eerie, to hear the sounds that they produced.

Other than that one stop, our drive to Virginia was pretty uneventful.

Leverett, Montague, & More

2011-07-11T07:30:00.000-05:00

On day eight, we drove out to Leverett to visit the Peace Pagoda where Liz and Vanessa got married. It was beautiful.

We spent a good deal of time walking around and just enjoying the quiet. The kids, especially Satchel, enjoyed looking for toads, fish, turtles, and salamanders in the pond.

They were also fascinated by the cairn rocks, which are purposely stacked.

Before leaving we desperately tried to get a good family photo. It proved impossible so we went with the one in which the adults looked the best!

Then we went to Montague to have lunch at Lady Killigrew's and peruse books at the Book Mill. Right outside the restaurant and adjacent bookstore is a stream. We ended up spending the entire afternoon there. I'll probably cover the food over at DWM, but here's a peek at the area. Totally cute. Totally New England.

Used books with a view.

I'd like this to be my office.

A few feet from the bookstore is a trail to the river. It impossible not to dip your toes in.

Clearly we should have packed swimsuits.

Once everyone was good and soaked and had their fill of food, books, and water, we headed back home. The drive was incredible since it followed the river. We also just happened upon the family farm of my dear friend, Catherine's, husband. Too bad they weren't in town!

Back at the house--here it is by the way--we decided to have a final cookout in the backyard.

I love their backyard. Do you know that they actually had a bear in it not too long ago? Apparently it's pretty common! I definitely prefer monkeys.

After such a lovely day--our last--I just didn't want it to end. I convinced Vanessa to sneak out to Mt. Tom's for more ice cream. On our way out the door, Jiro busted us. I let him tag along and then we ended up getting ice cream for everyone. It was almost 10pm when we got back and the combination of a busy day, the late hour, and sugar was insane. Honestly, I had to laugh to keep from crying. It was a mad house! How we ever got everyone to bed I'll never know.

The next morning after we were all packed up, we decided to take one last trip to see the dinosaur footprints and say our goodbyes there.

There are dozens of footprints from at least three species of dinosaurs. How crazy is that? The kids weren't all that impressed and soon escaped down to the river banks to play around and climb an enormous tree that washed up.

I could not get Miles to smile for a picture the entire time that we were there. The best I could do was to get him to look at the camera. I tried every trick in the book. He almost smiled when I said, "Look, I grew a third boob!"

As we walked to the car it started to rain so our goodbyes were cut short. It was so nice to get to spend 9 whole days with the family. The kids really got to know each other and it was so interesting to watch them interact. They definitely act like siblings! And now that we've experienced Liz & Vanessa's hospitality and cruise directing, we definitely want to visit more often.

As we headed out of the state, we made one last stop at the Dr. Seuss memorial gardens in Springfield. It was still raining, but that didn't stop us from grabbing a few photo opps.

Goodbye, Massachusetts! We love you!

Easthampton

2011-07-10T19:05:00.002-05:00

On day seven, we headed back to Easthampton to hike Mt. Tom with some other friends of Liz & Vanessa's. Since it was going to be a bit challenging, Tasha opted to go to school.

There were some great views of the area.

The highlight of the hike was climbing up an old tower to get the best possible view.

It was a lovely way to start off the day. Once we made it back down, we headed into downtown Easthampton for lunch at a cute Mexican place and ice cream at the BEST ICE CREAM STORE IN THE WORLD.

Then we went to pick up Liz and Vanessa's CSA share. Unlike here where you get your share at the Farmer's Market, they actually go to the farm since it is relatively close.

They have several fields of "U pick" including flowers, herbs, and berries. Then inside a small "store" you collect your share of veggies for the week. A sign instructs you on what to get.

Inside the store there are also a smattering of other local goods including milk and cheeses to supplement the CSA. Outside, there is a small play area for kids and chairs for visitors to sit in and relax.

It totally had the laidback vibe of Whitton Farms and the hustle and bustle of the Memphis Farmer's Market. Both Liz and Vanessa saw people they knew and in general it was a lovely place to spend time. The farm is open Monday-Friday and CSA holders can come any day they like. I love it!

After collecting the week's bounty, we picked up Tasha at school and took a tour. We'd visited Miles' school earlier in the week and it's great for us to be able to picture them in their learning environments now.

Still tired from the beach and various other activities, we went home. Vanessa made dinner for everyone and then we crashed.

Salisbury Beach

2011-07-10T13:36:00.001-05:00

On day five we woke up early and headed for Salisbury Beach near the Massachusetts/New Hampshire border and set up tents in the Salisbury Beach State Reservation. That's right--beach camping!

Warren actually thought the campground was more like a refugee camp, we didn't care. We could walk to the beach! We arrived late afternoon, so it wasn't too crowded.

The water was a tad frosty, but again, we didn't care. We were at the beach! The boys played in the waves, and Tasha ran along the sand.

Satchel dug a giant hole. Later we filled it with monkeys.

Jiro and Miles wanted to stay all night, but we were hungry and ready to get back to camp for dinner.

Warren made us a feast of hot dogs, shish kabobs, and rice & beans.

After dinner we went on a night hike along the shore to look for crabs. That's always Satchel's favorite part about the beach, but sadly there were no crabs to be found. However, on his morning walk with Warren, he did finally discover some small ones among the sea weed.

We spent the morning on the beach, grabbed a nice lunch at the nearby Hungry Traveler restaurant, and then headed home.

Lobster roll!

Warren insisted we take a small detour to see Jack Kerouac's grave. He'd looked unsuccessfully for it twenty years earlier when he lived in Boston, but felt that now with the aide of his iPhone he'd have no trouble. It wasn't as easy to find as we thought, but we found it.

We made it back to the house with just enough time to shower and get ready for dinner at Vanessa and Liz's friends' house in Easthampton.

They had a gorgeous backyard that included a field big enough for the kids to play soccer, a pool, several gardens, an obstacle course/"death trap," and a mobile Airstream/guesthouse.

The friends also had two boys and a Wii, so the monkeys got a quick fix between playing Legos and soccer. Warren and I enjoyed meeting their friends and we had a lovely dinner under the stars.

Needless to say, by the time we got home, we all went to bed exhausted.

More Massachusetts

2011-07-09T21:01:00.002-05:00

Our third day in Northampton involved a road trip to nearby Conway for a dip in the chilly South River. We picked up sandwiches (and soup for Satchel) and made a day of it.

Due to the male monkeys' extreme energy levels and penchant for punching one another for fun and not-so-fun, getting them outdoors everyday was a necessity. In nature, they were usually in perfect harmony.

They loved walking up and down the banks, picking up sticks and collecting rocks. They even made friends with another little boy who was spending the day with his family. The adults had a chance to relax and the boys had some freedom to roam. It was great.

Since the weather was so nice, we decided to continue relaxing in Vanessa & Liz's backyard. Vanessa made cocktails, the kids played on the swings and ran in the yard, and we ate pizza at the picnic table.

Then, when the kids went inside to watch a little TV and enjoy Dora popsicles, Warren and I snuck over to Friendly's to get milkshakes for the adults.

The next morning, we decided to head back over to downtown Northampton to check out the skate park. Warren packed two skateboards, but no pads or helmets, so we did more watching than skating.

Miles brought his scooter, and in no time Satchel was scooting all over the place.

Scooters and bikes were definitely the preferred mode of entertainment at the park.

After awhile it became clear that Miles needed Vanessa all to himself, so we decided to split up for the afternoon.

We went back to the main drag to have lunch at the Haymarket. It had a juice bar, fish tacos, and some yummy vegetarian dishes, so we were all happy. Then we tooled around a bit before giving in to Jiro's pleas to go to Sweeties. They sell candy by the pound. He was in heaven.

By the time we made it back to the house, Miles was ready to hang out, but Satchel needed a break. So Vanessa and I took the three littlest monkeys back to Look Park to play in the sprayground. They had a blast.

Two boys who live down the street from Miles were there, and Jiro had previously bonded with them at the fireworks display, so the four of them soon started playing tag and spit water and whatnot.

Once we'd all had enough, we headed home to dry, clean, and feed the monkeys before the babysitter arrived. Yes, babysitter! That Vanessa is a genius. We wasted no time hitting the town. Our first stop was the tunnel bar. It's built in an actual tunnel. It was too dark to take pictures inside otherwise you'd see one of me holding an enormous French 75.

After drinks, we went to Zen for some delicious Japanese food. It was really nice to have a few hours to have adult conversation with no monkey noises in the background.

Northampton

2011-07-04T21:33:00.008-05:00

There was so much to do in Massachusetts that we had a seriously action packed week. Vanessa, who we soon dubbed Julie McCoy of Love Boat fame, was an amazing cruise director. Our first stop was a hike along the Mill River. We started near Smith College and walked a mile or so to let the kids get their ya-yas out. Along the way we stopped at a labyrinth that is maintained by three nearby families.

They were fascinated by the small objects in the center altar.

It was pretty cool--definitely not something you see often in Memphis, although there is something similar at Evergreen Montessori.

After our walk we headed into downtown Northampton for an amazing lunch at The Green Bean. Then we did some shopping and had ice cream. It was hard to figure out who was most excited about seeing who. Jiro and Miles are pretty much cut from the same cloth and Tasha is wild about Satchel.

At one store Satchel and Miles bought prank kits and from then on, Miles spoke to everyone we passed on the street. He either offered them a piece of trick gum or buzzed them while shaking hands. Satchel was very impressed by his lack of shyness and event talked to a few strangers himself.

When it was time to think about dinner, we stopped by a local bakery to get some bread. It was really awesome to see the people covered in flour, immersed in the business of baking.

From there we went to the local co-op to get some other treats. I found myself ogling local beers in big bottles.

After dinner, we tried getting the kids all tucked in together, but once the stories were read, the monkeys decided they wanted to bunk with us.

Refreshed, the next morning we headed back out to Mill River--this time in bathing suits.

Well Tasha and Jiro wore bathing suits at least. Satchel, Miles, Warren, Vanessa and I made due in shorts.

We spent several hours exploring then went home to rest for a bit before going to an early Fourth of July celebration in nearby Look Park, which reminded me a bit of Overton Park. It was a little larger and in a bit better shape, but it features lots of different activities--a water park, small zoo, paddle boats, running trails, bike paths, etc. For the event, there were hot air balloons, bounce houses, game booths, etc. In addition the kids climbed trees and we all enjoyed meeting some of the B Team's friends.

We feasted on burgers and fries for dinner, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Satchel and Tasha interact.

By far the cutest thing that happened was when I said, "Here comes Liz and Vanessa," and Tasha said, "Those are MY moms." Then Satchel said, "Well, they're my half moms."

Once it was nice and dark there was a huge fireworks display which was most impressive that I failed to capture in photo. When it was done, we all walked home and crashed in anticipation of another busy day.

Pennsylvania

2011-07-02T08:17:00.000-05:00

We camped out in the Caldonia State Forest and awoke to discover we were just 15 miles from Gettysburg. What I thought would be a quick visit turned into a four hour tour.

Prior to this visit I had no idea that Warren was such a Civil War history buff or that my kids knew so much about weapons!

The highlight for Satchel was having a pretend battle with a kid he met near Devil's Den who was dressed in full Civil War regalia. Jiro liked climbing to the top of this monument the best.

The highlight for me was the milkshake I split with Satchel at a near by BBQ shack.

Virginia

2011-07-01T20:01:00.004-05:00

Day one was spent in Tennessee. After camping out in Warrior's Path State Park near Bristol, TN, we woke up bright and early and hit the road for Virginia. Our plan was to have lunch in Roanoke and then check out the Blue Ridge Parkway. I'd driven through once before in my college days during the fall when it is at its most beautiful, but it was still a sight to see in the summertime.

It was only after Warren took this photo of me and the boys that I realized we were all basically wearing the same exact outfit.

Obviously Warren shares our fashion sense as well, but look at those views!

Another bonus of following the Blue Ridge Parkway is getting to see a bit of the Appalachian Trail. This of course got Warren dreaming. As I mentioned in my column, I had to talk him down from trying to get us all to take a year off to walk the entire 2000 miles from Georgia to Maine!

The pictures on the descriptive signs are awesome and feature some fine seventies style.

There was plenty to explore. We only got to take in a fraction of it.

In Judy Moody fashion, I decided to assign thrill points along our journey to encourage the kids to really "take it." Jiro earned a few for crossing a stream on one of our stops. It required an outfit change, but that was fine.

I highly recommend taking the scenic route whenever possible.

Road Trip

2011-06-28T08:27:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday we set off on our annual cross country road trip. This year we decided to head east, rather than west. Our first stop was Northampton, Massachusetts where the B Team lives. It was 1300 mile journey.

We spent our whole first day in Tennessee. I entertained myself taking pictures of the kids in the backseat.

The monkeys played on their electronic devices, played "chest," ate sugary treats, and even caught up on a little sleep.

We had lunch in Nashville and later camped out in Warrior's Path State Park near Bristol. It was a good first day.

It feels good to get away.

Camp Report, Week 3

2011-06-18T12:52:00.000-05:00

Last week the monkeys attended Harry Potter Camp in the morning and LEGO Camp in the afternoon at GSL. They grumbled a bit in the beginning ("We don't care about Harry Potter"), but once they got there, they loved it. The teacher read to them from the books, they watched some of the movies, they did Harry Potter activities, talked about their favorite characters, and even made magic wands.

But nothing could compare to LEGO Camp. Basically they had their pick of LEGO sets and spent all afternoon building them. They could work together or in groups.

There were plenty of sets they had never seen before, so there was no chance of them being bored. On Wednesday, they happily showed me what they were working on, and by Friday's open house there were several masterpieces to show off.

They were also both very impressed with the LEGO board games. Soccer was the clear favorite.

I was surprised that there were wasn't a stash of regular LEGOS for them to build from their imaginations, but maybe that would be too wild?

Both of these camps were almost all boys their age, so they had a blast and made lots of new friends. The only downside is that they now want me to buy them lots of new LEGO sets.

Skate park!

2011-06-17T20:07:00.004-05:00

Guess what? We're finally getting a skate park! We went to the groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday to celebrate.

The designs are fantastic and the park will have something for all levels. It will also be well lit, family-friendly, and just plain awesome.

Word on the street is that it should be completed by fall. We're SO excited. A huge shout out to Aaron Shafer and all of the skaters and City employees who fought to make this happen.

It's going to be awesome. I'm definitely starting the Skateboard Moms & Aunties Club now!

Head Injury #2

2011-06-17T19:48:00.002-05:00

It's been almost three years since we had to get Jiro's head glued together. The first time was in Kansas, at midnight.

There have been plenty of close calls and many a butterfly bandages since, but we had to take a second trip to the ER.

On Wednesday I thought it would be fun to take the monkeys swimming after camp. We were there for about 30 minutes before Jiro busted his head open on a metal pipe near the small green slide. He and Satchel were chasing each other and he tripped on something. I was sitting about ten feet away, but managed to miss the entire episode.

I saw the lifeguard run over, so naturally I did too. Jiro was wailing and holding his head. I picked him up and the lifeguard told me I could get a band aid if I needed one by the locker rooms. I started walking that way and by the time we got there, Jiro's face was covered in blood. Naturally it freaked him out, but I have to say I was extremely calm. I know heads bleed a lot, and Jiro has banged his up enough that I've stopped panicking.

Erin, the head lifeguard, also stayed calm. She did a very nice job stopping the bleeding, and once I could actually see the cut, I said, "I guess we should head to the ER, huh?" Had Warren been on duty, he might have opted for a butterfly bandage from Walgreens, but I was erring on the side of caution.

Erin bandaged Jiro up, Satchel went and got him a snack, and I took pictures. I actually had to tell him not to smile in this one.

We put on our cover ups, got our stuff together, and drove to Germantown Methodist. Thankfully it was not a busy night. Head injuries get you moved through pretty quickly though regardless. We were in triage after about 4 minutes and had a room maybe 5 minutes after that.

We were quite a sight in our toweled hoodies. As we walked to our room all of the nurses joked, "I wonder where you guys have been."

The doctor came to the room right away, and our only trauma of the evening was getting the JCC bandage off of Jiro's head so the doctor could see the cut. He thankfully said we could glue it, rather than stitch it, and went to get ready.

Meanwhile I tried to convince the monkeys that South Park was not an acceptable show to watch in the ER. Thankfully they changed the channel before the doctor came back. Jiro's head was glued in a matter of minutes and we were told to wait ten minutes before leaving. During that time a sweet nurse brought the boys each a popsicle and a cup of ice water.

Jiro has a nice bump, and can't swim for 5-10 days, but he's going to be just fine.

The Big Apple

2011-06-16T16:44:00.000-05:00

This week's column, Weekend trip to New York just what mom needed, gave a little peek into my weekend getaway in New York. Colleen and I had a great time. Our reasons for going--beyond just taking a break from the daily grind--was to check out the Renegade Craft Fair (Colleen) and do a lot of eating (me).

It just so happens that Colleen's sister-in-law, the lovely and super talented Allison Smith, has an apartment in Brooklyn just a hopskip from where the craft fair was being held. Allison kindly agreed to let us stay with her and even better--she took us to all of the best restaurants and bars her awesome little neighborhood (Greenpoint) had to offer.

Hanging out in Brooklyn was awesome. So neighborhoody and cozy and hip. Some highlights:

Everyone rides bikes. (Allsion actually knew this woman and despite what you are thinking, she is not in the roller derby.)

Just about every street has bike lanes. You have to look for both cars and bikes before crossing.

Art is everywhere.

Really, everywhere:

Allison took us to her studio, which was amazing. This building pictures is all studios!

Inside Allison's studio, she has all kinds of treasures. Her latest medium is old bike tires. This is the turtle and the hare.

I also loved her series of gun targets. That Allison--so talented!

On Saturday night we went to an opening in Williamsburg for Pat Shaw, a friend of Allison's. Isn't her work cool?

The best part about the opening? The after party at Good Company Bar, where everything was on the house! They had house infused liquors and a giant Jenga game out back on the patio.

A lot of bars and restaurants had secret patios, which I thought was pretty cool. A new place near Allison had giant glass garage doors that opened so that the whole bar was open air. A lot of places had sidewalk seating and it was very common to see to go windows on the street.

And there were food trucks everywhere! Coffee, ice cream, cupcakes, yogurt, tacos, you name it. Allison told us about a few places that outgrew their trucks and became actual restaurants. Very cool.

We ate at some really good places. Five Leaves was my favorite. We went there twice. The Five Leaves Burger with pineapple, pickled beet, and an over easy egg with a side of truffle fries was YUM.

So was the giant bucket of mussels that we ate.

And I loved the grilled octopus salad at Cafe Collette.

Oh and I had some amazing beverages--grapefruit margaritas, the El Jardin with cilantro infused gin, and the Saint 75 (a St. Germaine twist on a French 75).

I could have stayed in Brooklyn forever, but it seemed silly not to go into Manhattan at least for a day. I loved seeing the hip subway performers.

And the doormen in Soho were pretty easy on the eyes too.

I spotted some emerging food trends, like this rice pudding bar. Who knows, we might get one sometime in the next ten years!

We also had to visit the High Line. The landscaping was amazing.

It had all sorts of arty features, like this very practical bird feeder.

And I was a huge fan of the DIY billboard.

And there was an interesting inflatable play area at the end.

The High Line also had food vendors, but we were there late in the day and most were sold out. I was sad about missing out on the paletas, but we found the mothership, People's Pops, at the nearby Chelsea Market. Colleen and I both had the Stumptown Coffee pop.

That should give you a little taste of what New York had to offer. (You can see all of my pictures here.)

A HUGE thank you to Colleen for inviting me along and a HUMONGOUS thank you to Allison for taking care of us while we were there.

I love New York!

Taekwondo Fix

2011-06-15T20:42:00.006-05:00

I've skipped several testing cycles and been lax in reporting the monkeys' quick progress in Taekwondo. While I was in New York, they completed another testing cycle. Warren was nice enough to document the experience, so I am sharing here.

Jiro was testing for his Blue Belt, which requires sparring. I have to tell you that seeing Jiro spar is one of the cutest things on the planet. At one practice last week, he accidentally knocked down his sparring partner. He paused and helped his partner up. The partner, however, used one hand to be assisted in getting up and the other to punch Jiro in the face. Hilarious.

Satchel, who is now testing for his high rank Blue Belt, had to break a board with his foot. He later told me that he accidentally broke it on his practice strike.

Here they are looking very handsome proud of themselves.

Originally we had planned to send them to a week long Taekwondo camp this week, but since it is a sleep away camp, they got cold feet before I pulled the trigger. I didn't tell them, but I was glad they changed their minds. I don't think I could stand to have them gone for a whole week yet!

Camp Report: Week 2 Wrap Up

2011-06-15T14:41:00.000-05:00

The monkeys gave All Sports Camp and enthusiastic thumbs up. They made friends, they learned new games, and they went on some super fun field trips to Putt Putt, the bowling alley, and the skating rink.

Satchel never did agree to swim, but he had a friend who didn't swim either, so they kept each other company all week.

I went with Warren to drop them off on Friday, hoping to snap a few pictures, but this is all that I got. As you can see, the monkeys preferred to be among the faction of boys who used the "free time" in the mornings and at lunch to play games. We had a bit of an issue mid-week when I realized that Jiro was opting to help his friends beat their games rather than actually eating during his lunch break, but we quickly worked that out.

What we weren't able to work out though was Satchel "losing" his iPod on Friday. By his report he put it in his locker before they left to go skating and it was gone when he got back. By the time he told Warren at pick up, most of the kids had already left, and it was pretty much too late to do anything about it.

I was in New York over the weekend and didn't get to talk to the camp director until Tuesday (my emails went unanswered over the weekend). She was sweet about trying to track it down, but since an entire weekend had passed since the incident I had little hope of it actually turning up.

I'm really upset about the whole situation. I'd like to go back in time and just not let the monkeys take their iPods and/or DSes to camp in the first place. When I signed them up for sports camp, it was to get them away from their electronics after all! But, being a softie, I wanted them to do what they wanted to do. They have an easy time relating to other kids through games, and I told myself it would help them adjust to their new environment.

What's most frustrating is that Warren actually gave Satchel a lock for his locker, which wasn't required. I argued on the side of, "If they let the kids bring the stuff to camp then they should provide a safe storage space," while Warren erred on the side of "You can never be too careful." Now as to why Satchel chose not to use the lock, well, he said it was hard to unlock. (He also said, "Mommy said I didn't need it.")

I'm also mystified as to why he would just put his iPod in his locker rather than in his bag in his locker. Or in his bag in his basket in his locker. I can only assume that being at Evergreen for all of these years where everyone knows everyone has made him unaware of the dangers of leaving expensive items in plain sight.

Sadly, we're having to chalk this up to learning a lesson the hard way.

And since week 3 of camp is also at Grace-St. Luke's, the monkeys are now among the kids who (wisely) do not bring electronics to camp.

Mid-Week Camp Report, Week 2

2011-06-08T10:47:00.001-05:00

This week the monkeys are at All Sports Camp at Grace-St.Luke's. On Monday, Warren and I set them loose in the gymnasium with about 50 other kids--mostly boys, mostly their age. The camp started off with a bang--they immediately took everyone to Putt Putt. Having just been there the day before for a birthday party, I think the monkeys felt good about jumping right in.

I was actually pretty impressed with their overall positive attitudes about doing something new with new people. (I think starting them off with a small, intimate camp was definitely the way to go.) I was the one who left with a pit in my stomach and the words, "I just left my babies with total strangers who are driving them across the city!" ringing through my head. But, obviously, I wouldn't leave the monkeys if I didn't think they were in good hands.

Jiro has the advantage again this week due to his best buddies Santi & Enrique also being in attendance. An All Sports Camp is definitely going to be an easier fit for the three of them since they like to walk on the wild side!

When I picked them up from Taekwondo Monday evening (Warren did the camp to Taekwondo shuttle), they were bursting with information. They got to play all three courses at Putt Putt, they got to buy drinks, they went swimming, they had a snack later that afternoon, other kids brought DSes and iPods to lunch and they wanted to too, etc.

Satchel, who still insists on wearing jeans every day, informed me that he did not go swimming. Part of this has to do with him being extra sensitive about the birthmark/monkey spot on his leg and part of it has to do with probably not wanting to change in front of other kids in the locker room. Jiro and Satchel were both amazed by the fact that pretty much all of the other kids changed clothes in front of each other with no modesty. I can only guess that the majority of them attend GSL and are pretty used to doing so. (I've ordered Satchel extra long swim trunks, but for whatever reason they are taking forever to arrive. If you know of some locally PLEASE let me know!)

I asked both boys if they'd made new friends. Jiro said yes and Satchel said no. When pressed, Satchel admitted that one girl did talk to him and some other girls were poking him in line at Putt Putt. "A girl came over and looked at my Rock-n-Romp shirt and told me she'd been to Rock-n-Romp before," he said. Before I could say anything, he continued (in a too-cool-for-school tone), "I told her, 'Yea, my mom started Rock-n-Romp. I've been to every one.'"

HA!

I must admit that I was somewhat pleased that he was showing pride in RnR for the first time EVER, but I thought that he could use a little coaching on how to make friends. I advised him on smiling, asking people their names, telling people his name, etc. I told him that he could ask the girl which RnR she'd been to, ask what school she goes to, etc. He looked at me like "Do you really think I am going to talk to a GIRL?"

By Tuesday evening, Satchel did report that he had made a friend. I can't remember said friend's name, but he sounds very interesting. Satchel told me how his friend once super-glued his sleeping bag to a ceiling in Japan and slept in it and how his friend got a free Play Station from Dell when he wrote a letter detailing his "extra height" disease.

After several of these stories, I finally had to tell Satchel that his new friend might be a bit of a liar, but he didn't believe me. (Said friend apparently has a scar to prove that he fell from the sleeping bag glued to the ceiling.)

Today they are going bowling. I can't wait to hear the next report!

Three Faces of Jiro

2011-06-07T07:46:00.004-05:00

X-Men at the Drive In

2011-06-06T10:45:00.000-05:00

Even though it was sweltering all weekend, we could seem to stay out of the heat. I'm determined to acclimate this year! The kids were begging to see X-Men on Saturday, so we decided to load up the car with snacks, beverages, and a friend and head over. When Warren added a football to the items piled up in my trunk, I thought it was cute. I was pretty sure that neither monkey had ever caught a football, but hey, no time like the present to learn!

It didn't take long for the kids to choose Ring Pops and pizza over the football.

Warren also made special blend popcorn and we had lots of cold beverages. A few squirts of bug spray and we were ready to go. The movie was actually pretty good. I'd say it was a very successful evening.

The kids started to get pretty sleepy, and I found out that the way the seats fold down in my car makes for perfect drive in viewing. A friend told us recently that he and his wife used to take two cars to the drive-in. (One for adults and one for kids.) I think we may try that next time.

By the time we got home, the monkeys were sound asleep.

Camp Report, Week 1

2011-06-03T13:57:00.001-05:00

I went a little crazy signing the kids up for camp this summer. Now that they are 7 and 9, it seemed that the sky was the limit!

They spent this week with Kristi Duckworth at her Garden Path Studio.

When I picked them up on Monday they were covered in clay and happy as can be.

They spent most of the day playing on the pottery wheel. They each gave me a demonstration.

"Ms. Kristi" is amazingly patient and kind. Her studio is awesome and completely decked out with every art supply imaginable. Frankly, I would have liked to spend the week there making art! (Hint, hint. When is the mamas art camp?)

When I picked them up yesterday, they showed me some more things that they've been working on.

Satchel hadn't finished his painting, but I could see where it was headed.

They were super excited about their wooden stamps. They got to use knives!

Jiro was thrilled that his two best buddies were also enrolled in the camp. Satchel made some new friends, which was one of my hopes for him this summer. And they got to know a few kids that they already kind of knew from Taekwondo and Rock-n-Romp a little better.

Earlier in the week there was some talk about letting the campers paint the outside of Ms. Kristi's studio. They had recess each day in "graffiti alley" to inspire them! When Warren picked them up, they showed off their handiwork. (You can sort of see it behind them!)

They brought their portfolios home full of cool stuff that they made. I was especially thrilled that Satchel's finally got to make a robot from found objects. He's been wanting to do it ever since we met Anthony Pack at River Arts Fest a couple of years ago.

I wish Kristi was doing a camp all summer long, because the boys loved it!

Check her out on Facebook to stay up to date on her projects.

Thanks for a great week, Kristi!