John Deere Fall Classic

This year, like every year but 2010 (I wasn't racing 9 months pregnant), we took the family out to the John Deere Fall Classic.

But this year, it was different. Why? Because everyone ran.

Novak "ran" the 50 yard dash.
Nile ran the .25 mile.
Nate (and I) ran the mile race.
Tom and I ran the 5k.

Thankfully Becky volunteered to come with us to "babysit" while we ran the 5k.

It was a great morning for running, and even better was that everyone finished and nobody cried!

Nile!  Look at that perfect form!

He was actually happy the whole time.

Novak, after his "race" (walk).

Poster Panic

This could easily be one of those "hey, look at this awesome thing my kid created" posts.  But, it's not.  It's a tale of parental panic.

Poster panic.

I knew that the day would eventually come when we "forgot" to work on a project.  What I didn't realize is how soon it would happen.

The first week of school, Nate's teacher sent home a note telling us that we were supposed to work on a poster about our student for school.  The note also graciously gave us several weeks to complete it.

Tuesday morning, as the boys were eating breakfast, Nate asks me, "Mom, what's today?"

"Well, today is September 4."

"My poster is due on September 5! That's TOMORROW!"

"What poster?"

"The poster about me!  Mrs. S has been reminding us, like, every day!"

"Honey, I think you should have reminded me, then.  I forgot.  Where's the instruction sheet?"

"Dad threw it away."

So, I quickly emailed the teacher and asked her for a new copy of the instructions, with a short joke at the end:  Guess I know what we're doing tonight!

While at work Tuesday, I went online and ordered some pictures to be printed to our local Walgreens.  To save time, I asked Tom to pick them up after school with some poster board.  

At 4:25, I get a phone call.

"Did you order the pictures?"
"Yes, at 1:15 this afternoon."

"Well, they don't have them."

"What? Maybe that explains why I didn't get an email confirmation."

"Can you reorder them?"

"Sure, hold on."

I resubmitted the order and let him know it was on the way.  

5:05 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Still nothing.

5:13 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Grrr. 
5:24 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Can you resend order?

5:26 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Never mind, hold on.

5:38 pm:  Text message from Tom:  Getting prints now.  Free.

What should have been a quick 15 minute run to Walgreens had turned into a 90 minute wait.  All the while, I am trying to keep Nate entertained by cutting out pictures from magazines to include on his poster.  While simulaneously trying to get Nile to do his homework, warm up chicken nuggets for the boys, and keep Novak from climbing on stuff.  

At one point, Nile asked me, "Mom, are you frustrated?  Because your voice sounds frustrated."

(Yeah, I was a bit frustrated).

Finally the requested lime-green poster board and pictures arrived (at 6 pm) and we started on the project.  It didn't take us long to put it together, and considering what we went through to finish it, I think it turned out all right.

But I'll definitely be sure not to forget another school project for a long time.  

Flashback

Remember this post?  When I went for a run with Nile and discovered what we called our "secret park?"

Novak and I ran there last Friday.  We got out to the bench and had a snack while we enjoyed looking at the water.

Funny thing is, I realized while we were out there having our snack, that Novak was wearing the exact same outfit Nile had on when we went here three years ago. So, for a direct comparison:  

Nile, September 4, 2009
2 years, 7 months

Novak, August 31, 2012
23 months

They are pretty much the exact same size.

Rare Saturday

It's a morning of rare occurrences.

First of all, the remnants of Hurricane Isaac are steadily soaking our parched yard.

Second of all, it's barely 9 am, and we have eaten breakfast, played, and made two loaves of banana bread (that are actually out of the oven!  This means that they were in the oven by 8!)

Third, and most surprising?  All three boys are quietly playing in the basement.  I don't hear yelling, screaming, or crying.  I'm almost afraid to go down and see what I might find.  But I decided to tempt fate and sit down with my coffee for a few minutes and enjoy what is a nice, peaceful, rainy morning.  Something we haven't had in months.

Usually on a Saturday I have gotten up early, been for a run, and came home to a house full of playing boys (usually still in their PJ's).  Sometimes even there is breakfast waiting for me (have I mentioned how much I love my husband?).  Saturday mornings are at once lazy and crazy.

So forgive me for indulging in a quiet moment.  All too soon one of the boys will be calling me, trying to complain about something the other did.  Or, eventually I will have to go down to the basement, as I promised.

Enjoy your Saturday morning, I hope it's as nice as mine!

Fridays with Novak!

Now that school has started for the two "big boys," I have switched up my work schedule a bit so that I can be home with them when they get home from school.  So instead of the three long 10-hour days, I now work four 7.5 hour days, and I'm home at 3:45 when they get off the bus.  And, I still get one day a week home to play with Novak.  Friday was the first day I have ever had just "me and Novak" so we made the most of it.

We got the boys on the bus and then got ready to go out for a run with the jogging stroller.  We headed down to the canal so Novak could see the "wa-dah."

All ready for a morning run in the jogging stroller

About a mile and a half in, I noticed he was pretty quiet.  Sure enough, he was asleep.  After finishing up my run, I walked him for another half hour so he could get in a nice nap.

Asleep in the jogging stroller :)

We then headed off to the park so I could pick up some PTA membership forms and he could have some swinging time.  Although he quickly decided he'd rather run rampant on the stage at the park...

Let's go, Mom!

All this room, just for me?

Center Stage

When he heard the church bells chiming at 10 am, he suddenly got down on all fours and laid down on the stage.  He laid here listening to the bells chime until they stopped, then got back up and started playing again.  :)

Listening to the church bells...

After going to visit Becky at work, we headed home.  We had a short early lunch (it was only 10:45, but we were both hungry!) and we went outside to play for a while.  It was already hot out so we didn't make it too long.  We started by playing with chalk...Novak loves it when we write letters on the concrete and he can learn what they mean.  This kid is obsessed with his A-B-C's.  OBSESSED.

Doing a bit of drawing on his own (note the letters on the concrete).

Then he decided it was time to go for a walk.  Really.  I turned around and he was climbing into his stroller.

Ready to go.

We took a walk around the neighborhood, until he started to cry, and I realized what he really wanted was to go to the "bus stop" and get his brothers.  For the rest of the day, he kept asking where Nile was, where Daddy was, and about the bus stop.  Poor kid, he had three more hours to wait.  Have I mentioned it was not yet 1:00 pm?  It was a busy morning.

We went inside and cooled off with a popsicle.

Enjoying a popsicle after playing outside.

Later we enjoyed snuggling on the couch while we watched some PBS Kids.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get him to take an afternoon nap, so he was pretty tired by this point.  So was I.  I actually fell asleep in the chair while he was watching this show.

Zoned out.  Notice the filthy knees from all the playing.

Soon enough it was time to go get his brothers, and he was thrilled to see them.  And at this point I was too busy to continue taking pictures!

I'm really looking forward to these days with just the two of us.  We're going to be having some fun.