SEVEN?!

Sofia turns 7 tomorrow. Where has the time gone? She came into this world a beautiful, strong spirit and was never really a baby. She took her time getting here -- three days to be exact. She wasn't as cuddly as Gabe had been and didn't much care for nursing, so that only lasted 8 months. Sofia just wanted to listen and then join everyone's conversations. From the moment she was born, Sofia has had something to say.

She's my little talker and an incredible reader and artist. Sofia is reading Charlotte's Web right now, which just blows me away. It was one of my favorite books as a kid, and I'm amazed that she's reading it in first grade. Sofia Jane is the sweetest child. She's an overly perfect child. Always asking to help. Part of me wants her to be more of a child and less of a little adult. She has seemingly always been a little adult.

Happy 7th Birthday Sofia Jane, my little cheerleading, chatty reader and artist! I hope you know it's okay to screw up every now and again and that I love you very, very much no matter what!

Here's one of my favorite videos of Sofia from many moons ago -- she has always been a chatty storyteller. I just love it!

All I Want for Hanukkah is for Time to Slow Down and to be a Better Judge of Character -- is that so much to ask? :)

So, knowing that the X gets the kids for much of the winter break, including Christmas, I went online and found cheap tickets to take the kids to San Antonio. I don't think the kids had been there since 2007, but that might not be right. Maybe that's just the last time they had been to Abilene. In any case, it was wonderful to spend time with so much family and a few friends too!

We spent the first half of our trip with Bubbe and Grandpa and the second half with Ryan and Vicki and even worked in a trip to Abilene! Thanksgiving was bountiful -- with food, family, and friends, the way it oughta be! The kids had a fabulous time playing with their many cousins and climbing trees and hunting for bones at Ryan and Vicki's place. My brother Ryan moved into a place on two and a half acres, and it has a ton of deer bones scattered about, so the kids enthusiastically brought them one by one to the porch until they had amassed a collection of about 53 bones.

One night, while my friend Jennifer and I were sitting chatting on Ryan's couch (and the kids were sound asleep), a beautiful wooden, African-looking statue jumped off the mantel (I do not joke!), bounced off the tile, and landed upright on the bottom of the fireplace. Jen and I looked at each other and busted out laughing. We developed theories about the place being haunted and sufficiently freaked one another out. Of course the next day when we talked to Ryan and Vicki about it, they managed to freak me out right back. Vicki let me know that the statue is actually supposed to be a fertility god, and it must've been jumping out at me saying, "heyyy, it's about time to have that third baby!" When the joke's turned back on you, it's not nearly as funny. haha!

I certainly had fun pretending though -- holding my baby nephews Alden and Oren and niece Rena. It has been a long time, but boy do babies smell good. I don't want a third husband (thanks, but no thanks!) but one more baby could be a nice surprise. Why not? ;) Maybe I'll ask some of my guy friends if anyone wants to volunteer for the job. haha!

Seriously though, every time I'm home, it gets tougher to leave. I had a fantastic time catching up with each of my brothers and sisters and friends that I managed to see. The only thing I wish I had was more time to spend with each of them and time to visit with those I didn't get a chance to see at all.

The thing the last year is teaching me is that I am a terrible, and I mean truly terrible, judge of character. It's amazing how clearly you see things when you look back. For the future, I'd like to concentrate on spending time and energy on the people I love the most, Gabe and Sofia, my family, and my friends who have always treated me like family.

Sofia, the art-lovin', bow-carrying cheerleader and Gabe the violinist-, ipod-playing werewolf

Sofia keeps asking questions about Frida Kahlo. She's so funny. Sofia gets thinking about something or someone, and she asks a million questions. I showed her a bunch of photos I have of Frida, and Sofia's eyes just lit up. Man, I wish I could draw like Sofia does. She just sits and sketches all the time -- and quickly too. I'm amazed watching her.

She has her performance day in cheerleading this Sunday from noon until 5, and because I'm doing my first conference in the new job, I won't be able to make it. I am super upset about it. I can't travel any later in the day than I'm already travelling though, and I'm already missing the first day of the conference. I wish I could talk Tim into recording the whole thing or at least parts of it for me.

I need to get Gabe involved in something, but the idea of shepherding two kids to activities seems pretty overwhelming to me. So maybe I'll just play up the excitement of learning the violin to the maximum. :) He's learning violin in school. I'll show Gabe some cool YouTube videos of incredible violinists or something. :) Gabe spends a lot of time playing games on his ipod touch (I think it's called) and emailing his buddy Ethan.

I can't believe I'll be in Sacramento for work this week and then in San Antonio the following week. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks. And 2013 will be here before we know it!

I'm attaching a few recent photos -- enjoy!
love,
k

 Sofia's rendition of Frida Kahlo (over breakfast yesterday morning)

 The kids acting scared on Halloween

 Sofia proudly displaying her drawing of Frida (and did I mention Sofia has a paper bat in her hair? I wish I had captured that better on film!)

Merida and the Werewolf

I can sleep now...

Long day that started early! The kids didn't have school because of a teacher workday, although I think the real reason is so they can use the schools as places to vote. At the breakfast table this morning, Sofia drew a picture of Frida Kahlo. She is incredibly talented! She also announced that she wants to go to art school when she's older, like the one that Miss Linda's daughter goes to. :)

I had enrolled Gabe and Sofia in a camp today, and since I couldn't drop them off until 9, I took them with me to vote. I usually do anyway because I think it's good for them to see me vote. We arrived at 8; it was freezing cold, and the line was down the block. The kids weren't happy campers, so I decided instead to take them to their actual camp and come back to vote later.

I had back-to-back meetings today but left D.C. as early as I could, picked up the kids from camp at 5 and took them with me again to vote. We were in line for 2.5 hours, but the kids were troopers. They were excited to tell me that President Obama won their vote at camp, and I wondered if that might foretell the evening's results as well. Gabe asked me, "What if it's a tie, Mom?" I told him that would make for a very long week. :)

He started acting up a bit after dinner, so I held him extra tight and asked him what was wrong. He started crying and telling me about a boy at school who is extra mean toward him. Apparently, this boy told Gabe that in his student ID picture, he looks like he wants to get punched. Gabe asked me ever so innocently, "what kind of face am I making that means I want to get punched?" I told Gabe that boy just wasn't being nice and that someone at home is probably being mean toward him, and he's taking it out on kids at school. Gabe is upset though because apparently the kid won't let him play with another friend that Gabe really wants to play with. I told Gabe he also should write about what the boy is doing in his journal at school because I bet the teacher might be able to help. (The teacher actually told me to have Gabe do that about anything that is upsetting him.)

Then it became the evening of the "let's talk about bullies" because Sofia wanted to talk about a little girl who is mean to her at school. She said this little girl tells her she looks fat when she "breathes out." Uggh! Can you believe the things 6-year-old girls will say to each other?! I asked Sofia why she even wants to be friends with someone who is so mean to her, and she said, "well, Mom, she's not always mean to me; sometimes she's mean to other girls." I explained to Sofia that she really has to stick up for anyone that this girl is being mean to, and Sofia said she'd rather just ignore her. She also told me that she'll just laugh when she's mean to her. Oh man. I gotta teach my kids to have more of a backbone, or they're going to get walked all over. And this woman just can't have that! :)

Tonight I of course stayed up late watching election coverage, and thought I'd go straight to sleep when NBC called it for President Obama, but here I am -- thinking it would help me to write about my day. I am so relieved this country has re-elected our President. I truly believe in him and the direction he's leading our country. And now I think I can drift off to dream. :)

Life's simple pleasures

Tonight Gabe said, "You're a good cook Mama," and I beamed with pride. He was having a rough night. Came home upset to tell me he had earned a failing grade on a social studies test last week, so we worked together most of the night correcting his 11 incorrect answers. It's definitely not the easiest thing to help children with homework while cooking dinner -- something I have only recently learned because I never cooked before.

I have a newfound appreciation for the crockpot. I prefer it because I can make dinner after putting the kids to bed. I like spending quality time with them because I never feel like I have enough of it. I am always racing into the community center to pick them up from after school care just before 6 p.m. because I have to deal with traffic coming from D.C. By the time we get home, it's 6:15 and I have always been adamant about a 7:30 bedtime. It's more like 8 or 8:30 before they're actually asleep, and they struggle to get up when the alarm goes off at 6. So to have dinner ready to go the second we walk in at 6:15 is pretty darn awesome.

Tonight though I didn't have anything ready, so I grilled some chicken breasts in a pan with chicken broth and some seasoning and did steamed broccoli with toast. I thought it was a fairly boring meal, but the kids were thrilled, humming and happy. As someone who is just figuring out how to cook anything, I felt incredibly thrilled Gabe voiced such a strong positive opinion about the meal. Funny how the little things make you so happy...

Sofia announced from the dinner table that she wants to go to the same school that Miss Linda's daughter goes to -- the Rhode Island School of Design. She also said she wants to draw a picture of Frida that I have on the wall in the dining room. She started asking questions about Frida, and I was so excited to tell her all about Frida. Well, I kept it pretty G-rated, but I did tell her quite a bit about her life. Sofia wanted to read the "baby gator story" again, so we read that together in bed. And then, I fell asleep putting Gabe to bed. He still twists and twirls my hair as he's falling asleep. I always say, "I'm staying for two minutes," and before I know it, I'm snoozing. That was at 8 tonight and now I am laying in bed wide awake, wondering when I'll be able to fall back asleep. Tomorrow morning, that 6 a.m. wake-up call is going to be brutal. :)

Running is Good Therapy Too

I ran the DC Half and Half yesterday morning, a great race for a great cause. A friend's husband orchestrated the race as a fundraiser for a former student who now runs a scholarship program called Scholarchips for students of incarcerated parents. A fairly small inaugural race, the idea was to run from Carter Barron park to Ben's Chili Bowl, a DC landmark, eat a half-smoke and then run the second half of the half-marathon. I had never done anything like that before, but found I did fine, albeit some logistical difficulty.

At some point on the way back (after burping up chili dog a couple of times, thinking, "keep that food down; keep that food down!"), I realized I had not run back down this incredibly steep hill I had run up on my way to Ben's. I thought, "Oh crap! I haven't noticed any chalk arrows lately" when I realized I was completely turned around. I stopped for a minute, tried to call a friend whose husband was running the race, but she didn't hear her phone, so then I decided to use my maps application on my phone. Yeah, my old phone doesn't have the walking maps option, so the next thing I know, I'm running on the Rock Creek Parkway with some disgruntled car drivers honking at me. haha! Eventually, when it was 11:20 (and I had been running since 8:30), I decided it was time to hail a cab to get my butt back to the start line. I figured I had definitely run 13.1 miles by then. :) Staci (my friend I had called for directions) called me back and was so sweet -- she waited for me and as I came into the parking lot in a cab was clapping and cheering me on. haha! Thanks Staci!

I went home, tried to take a nap but was only able to sleep for about 40 minutes, and then got up and got some stuff from the neighbor. My neighbor is moving to Chicago, which is a shame because I only just got to know her, and she's a hoot and a half. The only silver lining is she is selling me a few things that I can really use for the condo. I have completely furnished my condo with used furniture from Craig's List, Goodwill or really cheap furniture from Target or Ikea. So, Kim (my neighbor) helped me move over a bunch of items. Then I showered and went over to hang out with my friend Natalie. I needed to stay awake until 1:50 a.m. in order to run the Anything is Possible 5k.

Natalie is a big fan of red wine, and I'm right there with her. Needless to say, at some point, I realized I would never be able to stay awake to do this awesome run in my PJs. So I texted Karen to say something like, "good luck! I'm not gonna make it!" I slept on Natalie's pull-out couch and she and I went for a walk and then pedicures today. Felt good to be pampered a bit. :) Then I went grocery shopping and to Target to buy Sofia some much-needed long-sleeved clothes before the X dropped them off at 7 tonight.

Gabe gives me the longest, sweetest hugs when he gets here. Sofia joins in too. Earlier in the week, I had made them a photo album of a bunch of the photos of the X and me and them, so we looked at that at bed time, and Gabe wanted to read me some of his favorite Shel Silverstein poems. He's so funny! Loves some of the same poems I loved at his age!

When the kids come over, they spend the first half-hour (unprompted) explaining all of the things they did and the things their father said over the last week. I won't get into the latter because it will just upset me, but suffice it to say that half the things he says to them are in no way, shape or form appropriate to say to children. Whenever I try to email him to tell him what they're telling me, he just denies it, so it's almost not worth doing anymore. I just wanted to tell them my exciting news about being able to take them home to San Antonio for Thanksgiving, but of course he had already shared my news. My favorite (*sarcasm*) is that he loves to ask, "What's wrong?" when he walks in to drop off the kids. I always say, "nothing" and I wonder why he thinks it's appropriate to ask me what's wrong in front of the kids. If he really cared that something might be wrong,  he might try asking in private or over email or something, but that's precisely the point. He doesn't care.

I want to take the kids to see Wreck-it Ralph. I hope he didn't already take them. It didn't occur to me to ask before putting them to bed tonight. Speaking of which, it's about time for me to hit the hay.

I don't know about you, but I'm super nervous about the election on Tuesday. I'll be taking the kids with me, like I always do, to vote. Just hope I don't run into the X, and if I do, he'd better not ask me what's wrong. He just likes to push my buttons. Always has. I'm so glad I don't have to deal with him on a daily basis anymore. C'est la vie.

Anything is Possible

So tomorrow I wake up bright and early to run the DC Half and Half Marathon, an inaugural race for a great cause. In this half-marathon, when you get to the half-way point, you have to eat a half smoke from Ben's Chili Bowl before you're allowed to run the second half. I have never had any problems eating while running, so I think I'll be fine, and the idea of running with runners who take themselves about as seriously as I do is super appealing to me. I really only run so I can eat whatever I want. I do love to eat! And running affords me plenty of time to think and become zen. :)

Then tomorrow night, I'm running a 5k called the "Anything is Possible" race in Bethesda. We're meeting up at midnight and running in our PJs -- racing the clock and ending Daylight Savings Time. The race starts at 1:50 a.m. and I'll have a negative race time. haha! I love these quirky races! I love quirky people!

At this point in my life, I just want to laugh and laugh. I'm 37 and I'm done with crying damnit. :) Why do any of us take life so seriously? It'll be over in a blink, after all.

I'm super excited because I'm taking the kids to San Antonio over Thanksgiving. Since I celebrate Hanukkah, that makes custody issues around Christmas a little easier. I'm really looking forward to watching Gabe and Sofia play with all of their cousins.

My friend Kathi posted a picture of her in her Colonel Mustard costume on Facebook and I died laughing, not because of how awesome her costume was, (although it certainly was!), but because she posted, "I posted pics of me as Colonel Mustard. Now I want your best jokes" and everyone started posting the latest jokes they have heard. Now that completely brightened my day! The magical wonder of interpretation! Let's interpret things the way WE want to interpret them -- the most optimistic, beautiful way of interpreting them.

Happy weekend friends and family!
xoxo,
k