Otis Sidekicks

Thank you Lord for all the gifts in my life, for all the mess. This morning finding baseball pants while tripping over football gear while searching for winter clothes for the little girls I felt a bit overwhelmed. I have 10 bins of clothes to switch, uniforms, winter gear, church clothes, a whole bin of khakis, and then the sports and dance bins that keep multiplying. It was a moment of "I really can't do this all and still be a balanced human being!" You know those moments,  when the sheer to do list outweighs the looking forward to list by a page. I found the baseball pants, tossed shoulder pads into the labeled football baskets (They have the bins, why don't they use them?) and found fleeces to put off turning on the heat one more day. Downstairs Sheff had made coffee. He had to hobble to do it, if anyone has noticed he looked a little gimpy Friday night he had a nail go through his foot during the day, he pulled it out and is good for tetanus (yes he went...

Sports start early around here:) One of the kids received some sports news today that was mixed. Initially I went the direction of a "little league mom" and thought the breakdown did not seem fair. Then the more I thought it out I realized how key my reaction to the news would be. When he emailed me from school (a new development!) it was my turn to spin the news. Great news, you are going to have a rock solid B team this year! Not A not C, this will be a fun year. When they got home from school he was feeling a little disappointed, said his highlight was seeing Lucy. We talked on the front stoop. He said a plus of family is you can feel bad, mess up, and say all the wrong things and there is still a house of people that love you. In this case he really did not do anything wrong, but that is how he feels which I need to respect and process with him. We talked about how to work out disappointment and how to celebrate the parts that are good. Not making the team he wa...

Feeling the back to school burn. After kids are in bed I try to run on the treadmill to clear my head. Wednesday night I hear a conversation start up in the hallway. Kids sitting outside bedrooms. I run in the spare bedroom at the end of the hallway. Spare bedroom? They all prefer to share rooms :) They think I am tuned into my music and not able to hear them. I took notes. John: I think mom might be an immigrant I can hear the pause, maybe James did not hear him, James doesn't pause he talks. Mark: Mom is an alien?? Mickey : No dummy, an immigrant, like you know from Ireland. Mark : Oh, she does eat a lot of green things but she is not green. James : What are you morons talking about? Annie : John thinks mom is an immigrant John : I was reading this book... James : I guess miracles do happen.. A pointed silence or someone whispered Shut up, can't hear perfectly over the treadmill whir John : Anyway the mom in this story always tells the kids "Remember! You rep...

I had two phone calls from the nurses office today. The first the nurse was taken aback because James came in with a cut up knee. I figured if he was walking he was likely good to go. She was appalled he did not break a sweat and asked "for something sharp to dig some gravel out" before he put Band-Aids on the cut. I talked to him, he sounded fine.  The second call Nate had hit his head. She had him laying down for a bit. He had a big egg she reported, he did not cry but was eager to get back to class. So far we have had no broken bones, we have had 1 fracture in the last decade of parenting. Some stitches, major and minor. And lots, and lots of cuts. The kids don't cry when they get hurt very often, and if they do I run because it is rare. I really appreciate their ability to clean out a cut, put ice on a fall and dust off their hands when they wipe out. Kissing an ouch on a little James age 5, now I have to get him in a headlock first:) Hopefully tomorrow no O...

We are back in school. Lunches being packed, folders being checked, kids being quizzed and uniforms being washed. This first week is always such a blur of activity, I think I should feel more on top of the new routine than I ever actually do a few days in. The kids all seem to be in great spirits. James is now middle school, in 6th grade. I have to get him a locker divider deal today! John & Annie are in 5th and poor Annie is already reminding John about everything he needs to get done. She stays up late after sports and goes over everything twice,  he gets oatmeal on the pages rushing through in the morning while Annie raises disapproving eyebrows. Mickey is in 4th with new kids in his class, this seems like a big year for him. Nate is in 3rd and over the moon to be back in school. Markie is in first and had 2 green light days and one yellow (warning). James' sage advice to Mark,"Dude get green in class and save red for the football field" So far so good. The ...