Spring's coming, right?
Workout of the week is this. I'm shooting for at least 2 circuits of the following:
12 prisoner squats
12 pushups
12 step ups on the bench (each side)
12 bridges
12 mountain climbers
I'll run myself over to the park with C25K week 2. I just can't bring myself to go all the way back to week 1. I know I've lost a lot of conditioning in the nearly 2 months of sloth that has been winter, but I'm not ready to admit that to myself.
Marc bought a new pair of shoes today, ones he intends to run in. Size 15!
Can't wait to get started working out together
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Being all there.
Our church is currently doing a study called "Love at Last Sight." The point is that love at first sight is a glamorized myth, and what really counts is living life and relationships such that the last time you see someone, the relationship is better than ever. This applies to every relationship in my life: friends, family, and the Lord. The first week challenged us to be "all there," not distracted, not giving halfway, but fully present in the moments we're given with people.
This is hard for me. With the constant flow of mostly jibber jabber coming in one ear and out the other (I kid you not: in the car the other day, Christina asked the following questions: why is the grass green? why do the worms live in the dirt? how does the rain get in the sky? snow is frozen rain, right? clouds are really made of water, right? and on and on and on and- oh. close the parentheses. )
Well, in any event, it's hard for me to stay completely in focus with these people all the time. This week, I'm working on that, and today we played playdough.
I sat down with the older girls, who were "skipping nap," and got out every one of the 24 colors of playdough Santa brought them back at Christmas. Then I went a little crazy with them and rescinded the No Mixing Colors rule. I suggested we make some food for a tea party, and they got to work.
Within half an hour, I knew which friends Amanda values the opinions of, I knew how much skipping nap means to Christina, Bethany told me that she really does want to share her birthday with Elizabeth forever. We had playdough spaghetti and meatballs, mixed berry pies and tarts, a whole slew of cookies- mostly seahorses and Christmas trees- and each girl stopped at least once and said, "I can't believe you're playing playdough with us."
Amanda said, "I thought playdough was for little kids but I guess if you're playing, Mama..."
In that moment, I realized that a key part of my parenting schtick was wrong, wrong, wrong. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a belief that I am the mom, not the playmate. I do the mom things, and the children play. My brain flashed over to Deuteronomy 6, where the commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to talk about those things when you sit at home, when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
If I'm sitting, and the kids are playing, or if we're working on something but not together, how can I do that?
I see a rousing game of pattern blocks in our future for tomorrow, after we laugh our heads off to another chapter of Gooney Bird Greene. I'm going to queue up some youtube videos of fire trucks running lights and sirens to watch with my boy in the morning. He loves that stuff.
I didn't realize how quickly being all there with my kids would send me back to the One who is the source of every good thing.
This is hard for me. With the constant flow of mostly jibber jabber coming in one ear and out the other (I kid you not: in the car the other day, Christina asked the following questions: why is the grass green? why do the worms live in the dirt? how does the rain get in the sky? snow is frozen rain, right? clouds are really made of water, right? and on and on and on and- oh. close the parentheses. )
Well, in any event, it's hard for me to stay completely in focus with these people all the time. This week, I'm working on that, and today we played playdough.
I sat down with the older girls, who were "skipping nap," and got out every one of the 24 colors of playdough Santa brought them back at Christmas. Then I went a little crazy with them and rescinded the No Mixing Colors rule. I suggested we make some food for a tea party, and they got to work.
Within half an hour, I knew which friends Amanda values the opinions of, I knew how much skipping nap means to Christina, Bethany told me that she really does want to share her birthday with Elizabeth forever. We had playdough spaghetti and meatballs, mixed berry pies and tarts, a whole slew of cookies- mostly seahorses and Christmas trees- and each girl stopped at least once and said, "I can't believe you're playing playdough with us."
Amanda said, "I thought playdough was for little kids but I guess if you're playing, Mama..."
In that moment, I realized that a key part of my parenting schtick was wrong, wrong, wrong. Somewhere along the way, I picked up a belief that I am the mom, not the playmate. I do the mom things, and the children play. My brain flashed over to Deuteronomy 6, where the commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to talk about those things when you sit at home, when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
If I'm sitting, and the kids are playing, or if we're working on something but not together, how can I do that?
I see a rousing game of pattern blocks in our future for tomorrow, after we laugh our heads off to another chapter of Gooney Bird Greene. I'm going to queue up some youtube videos of fire trucks running lights and sirens to watch with my boy in the morning. He loves that stuff.
I didn't realize how quickly being all there with my kids would send me back to the One who is the source of every good thing.
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things who ask him! Matthew 7:11
Saturday, December 4, 2010
My baby is a math prodigy!
Today, she learned how to say "two."
The people figured out quickly how to get this going.
"Lizza, what's 1+1?"
"Two!"
"Lizza, if I have 5 cookies, and eat three, how many are left?"
"Two!"
"Lizza, what's 48-46?"
"Two!"
She can keep this going for several minutes. She thinks it's a riot. We continue to maintain that she's the cutest little baby we've ever seen.
Secretly, I'm pleased because it caused my slow mathies to get their brains in gear to think of a thousand math questions that end in "Two!" It was a good day for my first grader.
The people figured out quickly how to get this going.
"Lizza, what's 1+1?"
"Two!"
"Lizza, if I have 5 cookies, and eat three, how many are left?"
"Two!"
"Lizza, what's 48-46?"
"Two!"
She can keep this going for several minutes. She thinks it's a riot. We continue to maintain that she's the cutest little baby we've ever seen.
Secretly, I'm pleased because it caused my slow mathies to get their brains in gear to think of a thousand math questions that end in "Two!" It was a good day for my first grader.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Domestic Tranquility.
Diapers blowing in the breeze.
Half a winter's worth of wood.
A nice snack in the shade on a hot day.
Rewards of hard work with friends. Me, Elizabeth, Daniel, Tina, Michael (in navy), Cole (in orange), Kyle (in white), Travis (in yellow), Tammy (in the back), Caleb (in white), Timmy (in green), Bethany and Dustin.
The only picture of our current complete family. We really need to work on this more.
The only picture of our current complete family. We really need to work on this more.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Amanda at 3. Making memories.
Three is a special age. It's the spot where baby meets up with big kid, and so very many things are going on in the cute little heads. When Amanda was three, we went on a very long road trip, 7,200 miles worth of adventure. She loved the butterfly zoo (Butterfly Palace, Branson MO), the wind turbines along the side of the road, sleeping in hotels and in the car. Bathroom emergencies were fun on that trip, driving hundreds of miles through west Texas and New Mexico desert there weren't many rest stops. We did lots of "peeing on the grass," as she called it.
The impetus for the whole trip was Aunt Polly's 50th birthday, celebrated in Wells, KS. We stayed a few days with Aunt Jayne in Manhattan, KS before the party. My favorite part of that trip was the night Marc and I left the girls with Aunt Jayne to go see a movie. We were excited, we hadn't been out without the kiddos since before Christina was born, and she was nearly 6 months old then. Of course I was a little nervous, uptight momness coming out or something, but we put the baby down for the night and went to check on the girls, who were having a bath in Aunt Jayne's big tub. Bubbles were flying everywhere and the girls were shrieking with delight. We lingered, getting our "kissyhugs" and just lingering. Jayne finally said, "Leave! I'm trying to make some memories here! I don't get these great nieces very often!"
We left, and had a great time. The girls still remember that bubble bath at Aunt Jayne's. I wish I took more time to intentionally sear memories into my brain back then, but I'm working more on it nowadays.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
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