Muddy Warrior

Last weekend was the annual Warrior Dash.  My sister, Sally, gets credit for introducing the event to us.  My Aunt Eileen helped us to take it to the next level by convincing us all to wear black flame leggings.  I had to miss last year due to an ear infection with one of the kids.  Despite September being insanely busy, I was not about to miss it again.

The Warrior Dash relocated to Carnation this year.  Not only was it a significantly shorter drive, the race itself was more picturesque.  I didn't necessarily love the amount of uphill, but I did like the fact that much of it was on hiking trails with occasional views of the Snoqualmie Valley.

The weather couldn't make up its mind and moved between overcast and breezy, to sun, to pelting rains, and back.  We laughed and had fun through it all.

This year's team consisted of myself, my aunt, Eileen, and my brother-in-law, Gino.  Our other team members were felled by work commitments, a nasty cold, and pregnancy.

Ready to rumble

The Warrior Roast.  The flames were pretty big this year.

Running like a boss. 

The rains combined with hilly terrain made for an extra muddy, slippery experience.  I watched many people slide down steep hills.  I embraced the salmonberry bushes lining the trails and managed to stay upright.

The final mudpit was serious business.  It was so thick, I felt like Artax in the Swamp of Sadness in the movie, The Neverending Story.

We all three made it out alive, but very muddy.

If you haven't tried the Warrior Dash.  I can't recommend it enough.  You feel like a winner and get a cool hat, all while supporting St. Jude's Hospital.  The only bad part of the whole thing is the cold shower at the end/

Adding to Our Family

Sometimes you decide to throw all rational thought to the wind and choose to add a little more chaos to your life.  I still can't believe it myself, but Dave and I are welcoming a 4th child.....

I made the kids a nice breakfast on Sunday (dutch babies).  Once everyone was served, I asked how they would feel if we added to the family.  The kids got excited.  They asked the following:

A baby? No. 
A pet? No. 
Adopt?  No. 
Foster? Not quite.

How about an exchange student from Korea?  Linus' responded, "Oh, JLS? Sure." 

JLS Academy is a homestay program.  Kids in 4th - 6th grade come from Korea to my school anywhere from 2 months to a year.  That's right 9 and 10 year olds pack up and leave for a foreign country for a year, barely speaking the language.  It's been a great experience for both the American and Korean kids.  As a part of the program, they need to do a homestay with a family. 

Meet Yoon.

Yoon came to America last December.  Yoon is in my homeroom class this year.  He is a sweet, polite kid who needed a family to stay with in order to stay at my school.  Dave and I talked about it a lot over the course of several nights.  We went from "no way", to "maybe but it's just too complicated/too much", to "I think we really could do it," to "Yes, lets do this."

We have a guest room with a bed.  I drive a minivan.  It's only for three months.  We have a lot of love to give.  We can do this!

It was interesting telling Yoon.  I think he was pretty shocked, that I, his teacher, had volunteered to house him.  Luckily, the other boys in the class acted like it was pretty cool, especially once they heard about what gaming/electronic devices we owned and the fact we have a tree house.  The boys in my class are already asking for playdates and sleepovers...

Today I emailed all the parents to let them know that Yoon would be living with me in case they wanted their kids to hang out with him.  It's hard to do that when the students live in a boarding house with guardians.  I signed him up for the 6th grade boys basketball team.  Several parents already offered to helped with carpool!  I even got Yoon his own YMCA card.  I think parents were also pretty shocked, that I the mom of three younger kids and also a teacher, would sign up to host an exchange student.  I like to think of it as leading by example?

Yoon joined us tonight. The kids have been so excited for him to arrive.  Dave and Linus picked him up from the boarding house after Linus' soccer practice.  After a brief tour of the house, we celebrated with brownies and vanilla ice cream.

Robin had a lot to say to Yoon.  I can only imagine how hard it was to take it all in.  Unbeknownst to me, Robin taped some of his art work in Yoon's room that he spent hours (yes hours) working on.  Robin followed Yoon upstairs while he was unpacking and said, "If you want to look at pictures, I hung up two pictures for you."

Dying of sweetness.  It will be interesting to see how goes once the adjustment period is over.  Linus is excited for more boys.  Eileen likes to caretake.  Robin likes to have people to talk to.

I hope we don't accidentally ruin Yoon.  After he took a shower, he asked, "Can I do my homework?"  Absolutely.  Please Yoon.  Please rub off on my children.

New and Improved

Today I picked up my first real pair of glasses.  I've been using reading glasses since I was 22.  Over the last couple of years I could tell my vision was getting worse.  I've always been proud of my super human, better than 20/20 distance vision.  However, recently I've been having trouble reading road signs.  The eye doctor warned me about 2 years ago that I should start thinking about getting progressives.

Last year I went to Costco to get my vision tested.  It was a joke.  Tired of driving to Ballard (I liked my eye doctor there), I enlisted the help of Facebook to find a new eye doctor.  Multiple people suggested the same place, so I went with it.  The fact that it is next door to both a brewery/taproom and a gelato place may or may not have been a deciding factor.

The doctor was able to figure out what was going on with my vision.  I have not lost my super human distance vision.  What I did lose was my ability to move between near and far.  The result was I was having trouble refocusing and ending my days with headaches. 

The doctor gave me a cute little assistant to help me pick out glasses.  I told him I wanted sexy Tina Fey/librarian.  The glasses needed to have some flex to them.  I liked the rubbery frames of my readers.  My assistant did an excellent job of choosing a variety of glasses I might like.  It was maybe a little too fun.  I nixed transition lenses.

Charlotte 2.0   

I tried out my teacher  "you've got to be kidding me" (bottom right) and "knock it off" (left) faces.

I worry that I look a bit too much like my father.

Trying to walk at first was almost comical.  I got a little motion sick and almost fell off the curb of the sidewalk trying to see where I was stepping.  It's an adjustment to be sure.

My kids don't hate the glasses.  It's nice that I'm not at the point that I'm blind without glasses.  It's all just another reminder that I'm getting older.  Gray hair, shingles, glasses.  What's next? Gout? Hip replacement?  It's going to be hard to make myself wear glasses all the time since I can see without them.   For now I am just going to tell myself that my glasses simply make me more interesting.

First Days

    The end of August marks the beginning of things.  I like to do a slow start and set up my classroom the week before I have to return for teacher in-service.  Bulletin boards are one of my least favorite things to do.  I had no idea what to put up outside my room.  None.  Thanks to Pinterest I was able to get a little inspiration. 

   While I love this result, it took several hours.

  I'm hoping that having a kickass bulletin board means I'll have a kickass year.  Can you say kickass in Catholic school?  Hmmm.

Robin was tasked with helping me for a few days while his siblings were camping.  He was pretty cute and would walk around with the ipad pacing or sit next to me in the hallway while I worked.

Over the course of about 4 days I got my room looking pretty good if I do say so myself. 

Is it wrong that I kind of love my bathroom passes?

Lest anyone thing I am a super woman who does it all without any problems.  Let me dissuade you of that notion.  I tend to take on a lot and push myself.  In the days just before teacher in-service I came down with SHINGLES!  Shingles, the disease of the elderly, characterized by extreme pain.  Shingles can be brought about my stress.  If you've had the chicken pox, you can get shingles.  All it takes it putting your body under lots of stress or having a weak immune system.

Shingles.  Holy cow it was painful.  The right side of my head felt like it was on fire.  I could not have the slightest movement of hair without pain.  At other times sharp spikes of nerve pain would shoot out my eyelids.  I do not recommend shingles.  I tried to be a good little teacher and go to in-service.  But the shingles was too much and I went home sick.  At this point, two weeks after the onset of symptoms I end each day with the world's worst headache, the feeling that my face has been given laughing gas, and occasional shooting pain.  Fun times.

Yesterday was the first day of school.  All three kids were genuinely excited.  Linus got to miss the first half of the day due to a dental appointment.

Is it too much to ask that they all look at the camera?  Eileen (2nd), Linus (4th), Robin (Pre-4)

Eileen now holds her face a weird way for pictures and wouldn't let me take her pic.  Linus wanted brother shots.

Another year of 6th grade for me.

 Everyone had a good first day.  All three kids have awesome teachers this year.  Robin's only complaint was "I didn't move one bit!"  He was upset because they added another pre-K and that meant he stayed in the same room as last year.  If that is the worst thing you can say about school, then I think we are going to be okay.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall

      You know it's summer when the pumpkin spice latte makes its triumphant return to Starbucks.  I did my part to welcome in fall.  This year our family kicked off Labor Day weekend with Dave's birthday.  It was a low key celebration with takeout teriyaki and s'more cupcakes.  Linus had soccer practice so we let his the other stay up late so we could all eat cupcakes together.  I got Dave a certificate to Gallagher's U-Brew in Edmonds.  I promised to try whatever he makes.

    Friday night was soccer practice in preparation for Linus' very first soccer tournament.  Linus got his special soccer bag with practice uniforms, game uniforms, team sweatshirt, and team tracksuit.  He was so excited and happy, so much so he didn't sleep and was up at dawn.  Dave spent Saturday and Sunday with Eileen and Robin while I hung out at Starfire and Southcenter Mall with Linus.

    I don't know the rules of soccer.  This weekend I learned about off sides.  It was fun watching the boys play and getting to know the other parents.  Linus' team played with such heart.  I started the weekend with low expectations and was shocked when they won their first two games, including a shut out.

   Saturday night my sister asked if she could babysit our kids as a birthday present to Dave.  Best.present.ever.  Seriously.  No money?  No creativity?  Give a parent the gift of your child supervision.  They will love you forever.

   Dave and I drove around Phinney/Ballard/Fremont and stumbled across Giddy Up Burger Bar.  I had no idea what to expect.  I also couldn't believe that I ordered a sloppy joe.  The beer/cider menu was awesome.  My sloppy joe was ridiculously good.  The place is big and no frills.  What they lack in some aspects, they make up for with awesome seating.  With no kids to fight over it, I let the birthday boy sit on the special chair.

 Before Sunday's game I took Linus to get a haircut.  How did this guy get so old and so handsome!?!

     Sunday's game was hard.  The team was a little sluggish and couldn't find their rhythm.  The shocking part was the behavior of the other team.  Parents screaming on the sidelines, stepping onto the field to yell at players (theirs and ours), coaching from the sideline, coach throwing a water bottle, getting in the ref's face.  The parents were horrible sports and would set off their car alarms every time they scored.  The other team was very aggressive, to the point that one kid punched one of ours in the face.  I don't know why the ref was calling stuff.  It was not a fun introduction to the world of youth sports.  The game ended with our team in tears.

   The good news/bad news was that the team made the finals.  The other team was the awful team.  The coaches did a really great job of pep talking.  I get the sense the tournament organizers got some complaints about the team.  The ref made all the parents move back from the field.  The parents were close to silent.  No car alarms went off.  The coach was pretty quiet.  At one point the coach started yelling and the ref stopped the game, pointed at the coach, and marched over to him.  Coach was silent with arms behind back.  It was kind of great.  Today's ref called all the rough play.  No longer fending for their lives, our boys played great.  Linus, while one of the weaker players on the team, did an especially great job with defense.  The team played to a shoot out and lost.

    2nd place your first tournament feels good, especially when you know you played with integrity.

   

   The unexpected highlight of the weekend was Linus' discovery of IHOP restaurant.  I took Linus there in between games on Saturday for a cheap meal.  Linus could barely catch his breath, he was so overwhelmed by the menu.  He informed me that you could tell IHOP was a "fancy" restaurant because of the variety of syrups on the table.  He was impressed that there was even honey along with jelly.  Linus loved IHOP so much he insisted we take his siblings there for lunch after the final game.  The drive consisted of Linus extolling the wonders of IHOP.  The whole experience served as a reminder that kids don't need a lot to be happy.  

    We finished the weekend playing at the playground of the elementary school by our house.  This afternoon I put out some of the fall decorations.  My house is now pleasantly accented with orange.  It makes me happy.  I'm ready to welcome fall--new school year, crisp sunny weather, sweaters, cross country meets, and pumpkin everything.