Charlie's Mint Question

We were driving home from swim team when Charlie asked, "Mom, if you are running late for work one day and you don't have time to brush your teeth, is it ok if you just have a mint instead?" Wonder where he got that from?

Ryan In Ohio

I'll set the scene for you. We were all sitting down to a breakfast of Lucky Charms and Shredded Wheat when Ryan declared that there are a lot of states that do not know about lightsabers at all. He then told us that he's sure that no one in Ohio knows anything about them. Ryan now wants to go to Ohio so he can educate everyone about lightsabers. He wants to make his entrance as Yoda. Go figure!

I'm working through it

Something I struggle with quite a bit is being jealous of what others have. Everyday I work through this and work on getting through this worthless emotion. Weekends seem harder to control. Boats, condos, four-wheelers, this new gadget or that new gadget, new homes on the lake or with acres and acres of perfect land, woman with perfect highlights and manicured nails and beautiful outfits, husbands who are home every night for supper and on the weekends, people with perfect health who still complain, my list could go on but where would that get me...

Hebrews 13:5 says "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." My goal this week is to memorize this verse and keep it close to my heart. I have been richly blessed and am truly thankful for what I do have.

A follow-up to the swim team debacle

Six days into practice things are going better. He's coming to the realization that swim team is not just playing in the water for an hour, but swimming laps in correct form. Since he's come to terms with that, he's tolerating it just fine. Just tolerating it because he looks like he's in pain after swimming a few laps but comes out of the pool saying he's enjoyed it.

Swim team and other out of character events

Where do I even start? My once water-loving swimmer boy turned into a fraidy-cat-I-won't-do-it boy. Shock doesn't even begin to put a word to what I was feeling. What happened that made him cry in the pool and get out of the pool sobbing, "I am not doing swim team anymore." Now if Ryan had done that, no biggie. I get that. I wouldn't expect anything else from Ryan, but from Charlie?

After he ran, yes ran, away from me and the pool to go hide in the corner, I fearfully followed him. The look on his face told me he was very upset and this would be an ordeal for both of us to work through. The look on his face coupled with his grunts and fast movements made my mind shutterfly back to him as a 4-year-old that was out of control with his emotions and anger. We worked through a couple of years of anger management issues and thought that we had made some real progress as mother and son. This was it...had our hard work paid off? Was he going to be able to put words to his emotions and tell me how he was feeling, or were we in for a several hour misery fest?

After about 40 minutes of him behind my chair, pacing and watching the other swimmers, he was ready to talk it out. In previous years I would have been more persistent with him to talk to me and figure it out right away. It was embarrassing, but I was doing what I could to ignore that fact.

What it came down to was two separate issues. First he dove in with a vengeance after not swimming in a pool since last summer and assumed he would be just as good as he was last year. Did I mention in was only about 70 degrees? He "lost his breath" and couldn't get it back but had to swim to the other side. He panicked. Losing his breath paired with not living up to his personal expectations of how he would swim right away, spelled disaster.

The good news...he talked it over with me and told me how he was feeling instead of screaming, yelling and going berserk. While he did not rejoin his team that day for practice, he did get in the pool and swam a bit to remember what it felt like and to remind himself that he could swim well.

He plans on giving his all at practice today. I'm anxiously anticipating it.

Some things I learned on vacation...

1. A ten hour drive can be harder on the parents than on the kids.

2. A king bed if far superior to a queen bed. Maybe that's why they say something extravagant is "fit for a king."

3. Sometimes it's hard to appreciate my family when every day is the same thing over and over again. Going away from the day to day routine really makes me realize that I not only love my family, I really quite like them!

4. It is so much more fun to say yes all the time than it is to say no all the time.

5. Going a week without watching the news or being online is not only doable, but also very enjoyable.

6. One of God's greatest creations is the ocean. It's hard not to believe in God when seeing such a wondrously vast part of the earth.

7. I need to start doing something more productive at night. Watching TV and playing online is not taking me any closer to the person I want to be.

8. Getting home is as big of a letdown as leaving for vacation is exciting.

9. I don't care for spray-on sunscreen.

10. Not sneezing one time or having to clear my throat for a whole week or having eyes that aren’t constantly red and itchy is priceless. Damn the pollen in SC and dog dander on Jake.

11. Sometimes kids just physically cannot walk when they are excited.

12. Enbrel makes me feel like I am gaining some of my life back. I could walk the beach for extended periods of time which is something I could not have done at all a year ago.

13. Snow...like it. Rain...like it. Sun...like it. Clouds...like 'em. Wind...hate it.

14. Eating fish by the ocean just tastes better than eating it inland.

15. Just because there were storms at the beach the week before we got there that made the beach look less beautiful than it should, does not mean it should ruin any of our time at the beach.

16. My husband is one of the most dedicated employees a company will ever have and I know he will be rewarded for that sooner or later.

17. As much as my boys love “The Magic Tree House” series, it’s hard to not make fun of the character’s voices when you listen to the books on CD for five straight hours.

18. I do not like to make decisions. My mind flows back and forth just like the tides and I have a hard time deciding what’s best.

Me, Sarah

I've finally plunged into the world of blogging. My mind is wasting away on Facebook so I thought I'd give this a try; it has got to be more mentally stimulating than playing Hatchlings for hours at a time!

Even though I'm many other things than a mom, my primary identity is being a mom. I have been blessed with two wonderfully healthy and active boys. There's not a day that goes by that I don't feel extremely blessed to have such great sons. They make me laugh, cry, scream, ponder, all within a two-minute time span. They are my world and I don't remember life before them and I can't imagine life without them.