Speaking of Heart Attacks...

I let G watch a cartoon this morning while I showered. About 5 minutes after stepping in I hear her downstairs yelling. She comes trucking up the stairs, busts into the bathroom and through the water running and her sobbing tears this is what I hear:

"There is someone downstairs by the TV."

I tell you what in an emergency I do not hesitate. I jumped out of the shower without turning it off, grab a towel, grab my kid and head for the back sliding glass door picking up my cell phone on the way out. As I flip the lock on the upstairs door and start out G stops crying and looks at me curiously, "Where are we going?"

It turns out that what she actually said was:

"There is something wrong downstairs with the TV."

I quit.

Today I...

Woke 2 sleepy heads and drug them out of bed
Made breakfast
Took kids to school
Went to Bible study
Picked up G
Made lunch
Played Sequence
Read the Encyclopedia of Animals to G
Took a neighbor to the ER that was having a heart attack
Snuggled G down for a nap
Caught up on email
Brushed the dog
Thought about cleaning the bathroom
Settled on wiping the counters
Took a phone call
Hid from the Schwan's man
Answered the door for the FedEx guy
Got busted by the Schwan's man who hadn't made it very far down the street
Finished my Christmas Card
Um, blogged...

And its only 3 o'clock!

My Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This....

Thankfully this picture wasn't taken today so I'm now prepared to laugh about it. This photo is from an early morning before preschool toward the beginning of the year. Someone wasn't thrilled about being told it was time to get ready for school.

An Organized Christmas?

I'm an "organizer" and years ago when I ran across this site my little heart started having palpitations. I grabbed a binder -yes, I have them on hand - and started printing. An entire website designed to organizing Christmas. What's not to love? Lists, calendars and templates, Oh My! My house would be clean, presents bought in a timely fashion, receipts filed and at hand if returns were needed after the holiday had passed. Ahhh...

This year I'm taking a different spin on things. (Now, I won't tell you that I've given up my binder just yet. But I have decided what parts of it are helpful to me and what parts are just overwhelming and I'm vowing to spend time on only the helpful parts. SAVE the receipts, people, and not in the bottom of your purse.) This year I sat down and created a list of my values and goals for the season and I'm only going to agree to commitments and activities if they fit these or another family member's goals.

My List:
Celebrate Advent more fully
Spend time creating
Spend deliberate time together as a family
Model charity to the girls
Give thanks openly and warmly!
Be still, be silent and listen
Laugh - a lot


J and I have taken a very big step in the direction of focusing on the "true meaning" of the holidays this year: We are staying home for Christmas. Even though we love seeing our respective families on Christmas day and would be happy if any of them were visiting us, the planning, packing, traveling, schelpping, shopping, and then white knuckle driving our way to (and back from!) someone's house is really distracting us from sharing Christmas with each other. By staying home we are better able to control the environment and our temperaments so that Christmas can be a relaxing, peaceful, joyful day. (Hopefully!)

We'll see how it goes!

Back on the Wagon

Well, I missed a day. Sorry. What was I up to?

I am training to become a catechist for Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. Its a 90 hours course spread out over 2 years. The training is also in St. Paul so I have to add 3 hours of drive time to the whole mix. The result is intensive and exhausting days. But they are also good days.

My girls have been taking courses in Good Shepherd since C was 3 and the experiences they are having with their developing relationship with God are just amazing. The class follows the Montessori teaching method. While they are unraveling some of the more mysterious things about the church they are also in this endless exploration of Jesus as the Good Shepherd and what that means for them personally. Not to mention developing some Practical Life Skills such as Making Silence, Pouring and Washing. (yay!)

Its a long journey to become a catechist for this program, but I am enjoying the process. I have to recommend the book The Religious Potential of the Child by Sofia Cavaletti to anyone that is in the midst of religious education for children, especially those between the ages of 3 and 6.

A Jack-O-Lantern of Our Very Own

C lost both of her central incisors the weekend before Halloween. One was during a Fall Festival party and she didn't even realize that she had lost it! Certainly the cutest little jack-o-lantern around. I thought she should have won the pumpkin carving contest.

Keep on Running, Please

Let me tell you a little secret. Running bores me out of my mind. I would like to tell you that I enjoy every minute of it. That I live for long-distance running. That I am actually good at it. But the truth is that I ran cross country in high school because I was too uncoordinated to do anything else. And because I am incapable of quitting anything in my life -even the things I should- I just keep running.

Okay, the real reason that I keep going is that there is no time that I appreciate my body more than when I am running. Running requires each and every muscle in your body to work at the same time. It requires each part to be in sync with the other parts. And when I run - albeit not usually that quickly - I am hyper aware of all that my body has done for me over the last 29 years. It has never failed me. When I needed it, it came through for me. Sure, it has its fair share of scars, but so far so good.

It grew 2 healthy babies and even managed to eject them without too much complaining. Okay, it complained a little when G tried to come through upside down shaking her fist up by her head. And it hasn't really been a fan of jumping jacks or trampolines since, but I digress. It has covered many, many miles over the years. Despite my best attempts to poison it and run it ragged in college it recovered. And I have no doubt that if anyone threatened my babies it will kick some serious...well, you know.

When I run its as if we are having a conversation, my body and I. I feel powerful and fortunate. I feel blessed by its abilities, even if they aren't that spectacular from a bystander perspective. I write this now because I want to remember. I want to remember this pain-free day that I ran and appreciated.