A Lighter Load

A couple of days ago, I received a text asking if Lucas would try out for Minors baseball. We had registered him for farm (which has no tryouts and the same level he was at last year: kid pitch to coach pitch after 4 balls). I had never really considered minors as last year was his first year and I figured (in my totally inexpert opinion) that he needed more work on basic skills before moving to minors. I talked to his coach about it and he said to go ahead and try out for minors.

When I talked to Lucas about it, he was excited. He pitched last year and chances are he will not pitch at all in minors for a couple years. He ok'd that (pitching is the cool job for this age)! We (me and Daddy) are going into this assuming he probably won't make it but great experience and a good skills assessment. Lucas is going into it excited but lacking a little confidence, nervous and I think he is expecting to not make it too. We have told him to just go have fun and either way he will play with a great team.

Let me back up to something that seems unrelated, but it will all come together. A few weeks ago, a mom at school who I am friends with mentioned that her son "Jack" and Lucas were having issues at recess. It sounded really uncharacteristic of Lucas but after asking him about it, I realized he wasn't being the greatest friend/teammate on the soccer field. Lucas and I talked at length about it and it seemed to come from him taking soccer way too seriously at recess time and it seemed like a trap he was caught in and couldn't find his way out. He had been critical towards his friend and his friend was hurt. Jack's mom and I had talked before about the myriad of issues on the lunch soccer field (involving all the boys). You put 20 very athletic, competitive boys on a field together without a referee and there will be fireworks!

Lucas and I talked it all out and came to some strategies on how to help the situation. We talked every day after school. We talked about taking it less seriously and having fun. He is the co-captain of his team (as appointed by recess teacher in hopes of controlling the chaos they sometimes had previously) and we talked about what makes a good captain.

Things were going well but there were still a couple of instances where Lucas was unkind to this boy. It had been really bothering me a lot, this was not the kid I know. On his rec and indoor soccer team, he is so encouraging.

So....how does this all come together? Yesterday, with the tryouts looming, he came to me and said "Can you text Jack's mom and see if he will bring his mitt to school and help me get ready for tryouts"? My heart became lighter. When I texted her, I could tell that hers did too. With all that had been going on, I needed to see that he was hearing me. That he realized that he doesn't need to be the best at everything. That part of being a good friend and leader is to rely on your friends and counterparts too. Letting others help YOU is a precious gift you give to yourself and to others.

Amazing how he mended so much with such a small idea.

I think there's definitely some truth in this. But also think you have to put in the effort until you realize it's not being returned. That moment can be a hard realization but letting go can also be very freeing.

Thank you to my friends who, even though they are tens of miles or thousands of miles away, still make the effort to connect with me.

I love you!

Christmas Holidays 2011

We had a really fun and busy holiday season this year! We decided to stay local and not hit the Mexican beaches, which I missed a lot. But we enjoyed a traditional Christmas and I cooked all day long. It was really nice and great food! We kept busy over the holidays with lots of fun stuff.

Probably our most exciting day was when we went to Mt Baker National Forest and went for a hike. We had some info that there is a natural hot spring in the forest so we decided to go for it. With "kind of" directions in hand, we set off and found a "parking area" off the road. This road is not your typical road, it was fairly deep in the forest, gravel, full of potholes. Once we parked, the directions said to take the obvious trailhead. Well, there are no signs so we found one entry to the forest that followed along an abandoned road. We figured this was it. 45 minutes down the road, we figured we had taken the wrong way. So we set back and investigated a little closer back by the car.

We found a small entry to the forest that we had to kind of duck into and saw a small trail. Followed that for a little while and finally came upon the springs. It was one of the neatest things I have seen! I had no idea such a place existed so closeby. There was snow around but the springs were hot. I made it up to my ankles but Dama and the kids went all the way in. We were the only ones in the springs, pretty spoiled!



Even Baxter took a little dip! It was so fun to have him on this adventure. He loved hiking along with us and he was rolling around in the snow.



December 28th brought Maile's 12th birthday! We celebrated as usual with a cake. She was suitably un-impressed as always. But deep down inside, I am sure she can see how loved she is with such a fuss made over her :)


January 1st brought the Polar Bear Plunge at Matthews Beach Park in Seattle. This was a really fun event (probably because I didn't have to go in!!). Dama and Lucas went in, the brave souls that they are. Hardy people!! Lucas loved it and declared it an annual event.


With their "Courage Patches":



The whole family spent a lot of time playing hockey this holiday too. If you know Lucas, he is really good at recruiting folks to play sports with him. He got a bunch of street hockey gear for Christmas so he was using it up!



January 2nd we went to the Tsubaki Shrine in Granite Falls for our annual New Years rituals. We pray for good health and good fortune, walk the beautiful grounds by the Stillaguamish River, and pick an Omikuji (yearly fortune). We came up with "Good Fortune" so hopefully this year will be a great one for us.



Beautiful Ellie preparing to enter the shrine grounds. You wash your hands in this water using the scoops.



Happy New Years to all of you!

Busy

I never liked hearing that word coming from someone's mouth. A few years ago, I vowed not to utter it to any friend as an explanation for why I couldn't come see them, call them, spend time. I have always felt that it's a big fat excuse :)

What I didn't realize was how busy I wasn't! I still really believe that you can make something a priority if it needs to be, regardless of how busy you are. But when the kids were younger, I was nowhere near as busy as I am now. People often told me that the older they get, the busier you get. I never really believed it. But it's true! I know some stay home moms who planned to go back to work after the kids went to school full time but it hasn't happened. They are too busy to go back to work :)

Recently, a friend who happens to be a neighbor said to me..."your car is never home during the days. What are you doing"? I thought it was kind of funny. After all, I am a stay at home mom!!

But that's really the last thing I do.

The good news is that weekends really feel like weekends now! It used to be that a weekend just blended in with the rest of the week. But now, it's different. It almost feels like MY day off too. Of course, with sports for 2 kids there are many crazy weekends. But that time to not have anything planned is golden.

These are not complaints. In fact, I love all the things I have going on. I love watching the kids play sports. Doing Social Services at the school has been inspiring. Working in the classroom is so much fun...getting to know all the kids. There are days I want to not have a thing on the calendar and the beauty is I can pick a day and protect it.

I still don't ever want to tell someone "I am too busy" but it's certainly getting a lot harder!

Teacher Conference Gift

I worked on Teacher Conference gifts this week as we are meeting with the kids' teachers this week. I like to go with something small to thank the teachers and to brighten those long days they have meeting with parents one after the other.


These boxes started out white. They were glittered and decorated. One teacher is a beach type and the other is very elegant. I tried to take that into account! Made some pretty fabric flowers, addred some tulle, feathers and bling. Inside will be gift cards to Barnes and Noble and some personalized bottlecap magnets to match the outside.

I think it's important to make sure our teachers feel appreciated throughout the year!

Beautiful Girl

My friend Liz had a quote on her blog that really reminded me of Ellie:

"The least strained and most natural ways of the soul are the most beautiful." -Michel de Montaigne (French Renaissance Writer)


Her Dad and I often talk about the joy that comes from a little girl who follows her own heart and instincts. I know we have a long way to go, but her choices are always hers at the moment and I really hope it continues! She is not swayed easily by the influences of others. Sometimes this works against me :)

She's not afraid to wear mismatched socks. She doesn't mind if everyone around her is doing one thing and she is doing another. She doesn't get embarrassed by anything about herself. She plays what she wants to at recess.

It is really wonderful to see her choosing her path, following her heart and being such an original girl. We always can tell her choices come from her natural self and from her beautiful soul. She really is unique and knows how to follow her heart.

I'm in Knots!

The last couple of weeks, I have been tying a lot of knots! I have completed a couple of craft projects that both involved tying fabric.

The first one is a Halloween tulle wreath for the front door. This one was a huge project! It took 4.5 yards of black tulle. Cut into small strips. Tied one after the other!! But I do love how it turned out.








The next one was a blanket for Lucas' birthday. I made it twin sized for his bed. He really loves it! It didn't take me too long and it turned out really well..