Baking and Basketball

I have assumed my nightly position in the rocker with my soon-to-be-too-big-to-fit-in-my-lap toddler (I can still refer to her as a toddler, right?  Or have we passed that point?).  And so it seems a fine time to update based on whatever random sampling of photos I might have in my iphone from the weekend. This is a perfect time to do it because I need a good reason to stop looking at Pinterest. If I had to keep count of the calories I have pinned in the past 24 hours, I believe we would be approaching the amount of the national deficit. And it would be one thing if I didn't actually formulate plans in my mind to make the recipes i have pinned--- but I have every intention of baking/making/AND eating every last one of them. And that, my friends, is why i will likely always have a weight problem. It is all Pinterest's fault. And has not a single thing to do with some faulty will power on my part. No siree. 

We had a great weekend this past week.  Jason and I got to go out for our Valentine's Day date on Friday evening to the Turkey Hill Brewery in Bloomsburg. It ended up being a triple date plus one adorable three month old...which was awesome. I had a chance to put my baby holding, baby swaying and bottom patting skills to good use and snuggled sweet baby Lincoln to sleep while his mama and daddy got to eat a hot meal, and after everyone else had had their turn. After swaying, walking and bottom patting all three of ours, it was like riding a bike. And I adored having a little one snuggled in my arms for just a little while. After a nice supper, we returned home to the house being a complete wreck, and three children who we assumed at least two of which would be asleep, but found none dreaming away in sweet slumber. Instead, Mara was in a meltdown and the others were overtired and over sugared and let's just suffice it to say the effect of our night out was essentially undone before we hung up out coats. Reality is cruel sometimes. 

Saturday morning was a baking morning-- which turned into a baking day. One of the firefighters in Jason's department lost a baby several months ago, and the house decided to do a spaghetti dinner for the charity Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep in the family's honor. And Jason volunteered me to make some desserts for them to serve.  I had decided on carrot cake cupcakes and individual pineapple upside down cakes, so I got to work early Saturday morning.  The picture below was just some of them. By all accounts they were a hit, so I was glad to have helped a little bit. 

 I feel like I should mention that I am uncomfortable with the snowman on the table in this picture. I am not completely certain about appropriate decor for the end of February. I am so entirely over snow and snowmen that I feel as though that's not the right option, but yet the white ground outside makes me feel like it isn't quite time for bunnies and chicks. If anyone knows the rules on this I would love to hear them. 

At some point during the afternoon the girls got onto a hair salon kick and set up their own hair washing stations a la salon in the dining room. I was actually pretty impressed with their creativity. Mara did my hair for no less than 3 hours on Saturday and Sunday. And I believe it looked just as good as when I do it. Which is precisely why the dear ladies at Advanced Skincare will never be out of work. God bless them and their knowledge of what to do with hair that is exceptionally gray for a 36 year old, and that is on the head of the biggest chicken on the planet Earth when it comes to making decisions or having ideas on what to do with my mop. 

Somewhere among all of this we went to Joshua's basketball game and even managed to catch some of Cooper's. Joshua had a pretty decent game, even though his team lost. But I am still loving watching his progress as the season goes on. (I must be truthful and tell you that this picture was from the week prior because all I managed to get this past weekend was a blur that could be any child, male or female, in a reddish blackish basketball uniform.)

Sunday was church and then THON watching as previously reported. And then we spent some time cleaning the playroom and doing laundry (you knew a post wouldn't go by without me mentioning laundry). I had planned for meatloaf and homemade macaroni and cheese for supper (aka my death row last meal request if ever I find myself in need of one), but Jason suggested that we take the kids out to Red Robin instead. And since I am not one to turn down a meal that someone else is going to cook and clean up for me, off we went. Turned into a nice night for us. 

So...now that Mara is asleep, and I have shared every mundane detail of the weekend, I am sure that you are also drifting off just out of the bore of it all. Sweet dreams. 

FTK!

There are a few weekends every year that are special remembrances of my time at Penn State.  And I have loved nothing more than sharing those special times with the kids.  Joshua really loves PSU football (any sports, really) and I can only hope that the girls will develop the same love of it as we do.  But another very special weekend to me every year is THON, or Dance Marathon. 

When I was a sophomore in college, a very dear friend of mine from high school who also happened to be at PSU (we remained friends, and even sang together in University Choir) was selected as a dancer in THON.  I remember distinctly how I felt when I went to the White Building (a tiny little gym in the middle of campus) to cheer him on.  I ended up standing at the fence with him for hours on end.  And then couldn't do anything other than be there with him to watch him finish out the 48 hour marathon on his feet.  And I was hooked.  THON had touched my heart, and I only dreamed to be a part of it someday.

 

THON, at that time, was a 48 hour dance marathon where 2 dancers per organization on campus were selected to represent their groups on the floor of the event where they would collect money to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund, a charity that provides emotional and financial support to families whose children are fighting all forms of pediatric cancer.  And somehow, those 48 hours of struggle and exhaustion give us just the tiniest little bit of perspective to help understand what those moms and dad and sweet kiddos are going through as they fight the battle for their lives.  You stand up at 7 pm on Friday evening, and don't sit down again until 7 pm on Sunday evening. 

 

I was lucky enough to be selected as a dancer for University Choir in the fall of my junior year.  So on a very special weekend in February of 1999, I packed my duffle bags and headed for Rec Hall (the brand new location for THON after the event had grown so large that the White Building couldn't hold it.)  Several special friends were also dancing with me-- for other organizations-- but we were determined to be there for each other.  This whole event was a real stretch for me.  Never had I pulled an "all nighter".  Never had I exerted myself physically to this extent.  Never had I pushed myself emotionally to this degree.  My parents were not happy that I was about to embark on this journey, and shared their concerns with me--- frankly, all of which were things that I was terrified about as well, not that I would tell them that.  But I knew that the opportunity to be a part of something like this was going to be the chance of a lifetime.  And I wasn't going to miss it.

Each organization is paired up with a Four Diamonds family, and ours was the Warfields.  A group of us from U Choir had travelled to their home in Harrisburg and spent an evening with them one night- we shared dinner, learned of their son, Logan's, story with a cancerous tumor behind his eye, and all of the experiences they had with his treatment.  He was currently in remission, and THON weekend was his favorite weekend of the year.  More than Christmas.  And if that doesn't tell you something about how much THON means, I don't know what does.  The families are on the floor with their dancers as much as they want to be, and we always had a great time when Logan and his little brother, Dylan, were on the floor with us.  Logan loved piggy back rides.  And Dylan was always carrying a squirt gun, and wasn't a bit hesitant to use it.

Friends and family took lots of turns coming to support us and keep us energized.  The stands at Rec Hall were constantly full--- especially building toward the end of the weekend when the emotional Family Hour took place and leading up to the conclusion of the event.  We had a harder and harder time as the weekend drew on--- hallucinating, needing foot massages, getting delirious, etc.  At one point, I was crying more than I was doing anything else.  But we pressed on.

When the weekend was over, and we got a chance to sit down, I have never felt relief like that in my life.  As the totals were revealed, we learned that our collective efforts--- and by that I mean the entire Penn State campus--- had raised over $5 million dollars to help fight pediatric cancer and support the families who were dealing with this horrendous disease.  I had never been so proud to be a part of something in my entire life.  And I still am.

 

And so, on Sunday afternoon, the kids and I watched the live Web Cast from the Bryce Jordan Center (because THON has once again outgrown its home) and we watched the last several hours of the magic as it happened with those 700+ dancers who had been on their feet since Friday afternoon.  We cried as Family Hour took place, and parents talked about the impact that THON had on their kids, their courage to fight, their victories over cancer, and for some, the gaining of their angel wings.  I sobbed as they played "Angels Among Us" and it had the same effect as it did on me when I stood with Doug as he danced in 1998.  We watched as the Nittany Lion (who, by the way, completed this year's THON IN FULL COSTUME) fell to the floor when the countdown was over.  And we cried as we watched the total be revealed--- $13,000,000 for the kids...or FTK, in THON speak. 

And again, I've never been prouder to share with my children what I had a chance to be such a small little part of during my time at Penn State.  And I secretly hope that they will also want to be a part of something so special one day...no matter where their college careers take them.  And you can bet I'll be there the whole time supporting them.

 

 

The loss of Wednesdays.

It is Wednesday. And I just put a post up on Monday. I know you're shocked. Truth be told, I am as well. It just seems that as I prioritize the days and all of the things that require my doing, blogging doesn't seem to be making it to the head of the class. I so wish it was because I have so much joy when I write. And I know that I will never regret capturing my heart on even the mundane days that seem like there isn't anything of consequence to write down.  And so, as I sit at Lauren's dance class watching her pink tutu'ed self twirl and stretch out of the corner of my left eye, while also watching Mara entertain herself with some crayons, Purple Baby and a bag of chex mix out of my right eye, I will make a few notes about today. 

Our Wednesday routine has gotten a little out of hand in recent weeks. I will be honest and tell you that I am a little stingy with the hours between 5:00 and 8:00 every night. I made a promise to myself that we wouldn't sacrifice family dinners in exchange for all manner of activities.  But I met my match on Wednesdays when Lauren's 4:45 dance class in Lewisburg intersects with Joshua's 6:00 basketball practice in Milton and Jason's firefighter training class in Montgomery...in case you wonder, that is exactly 30 minutes drive time from either of the other two locations. And so, I find myself alone in the running department on Wednesday nights. I bring Josh home from school at 3:00 and trade him for the girls. We then head to the office for just a few minutes (but it somehow makes me feel better).  At 4:20 we head off for downtown for dance class which ends at 5:45. Then we have to feed the girls somewhere and head to the church to catch the end of Joshua's basketball practice. By this time you can imagine Mara's delight in sitting to watch someone else do something after waiting at Lauren's dance. It is lovely. At 7:00 or so we head home to do all of the normal jobs we normally have to do between 5-7 on a non crazy night- pack lunches, sign all of the books/papers/etc from school, practice math facts and Joshua's Bible verse, empty a dishwasher, wash/dry/fold/put away some clothes, showers/tubs, stories and finally bed. Honestly.  In some ways I am grateful that it all hits one night right now. But it wears me out.  

I know my days are numbered- that soon I will be chasing all three of them and nights that aren't like this will be the rarity. But for now, I am grateful for the opportunity to watch the kids do something they like to do, and to be there to cheer them on. 

Weekend Fun

Another weekend has come and gone.  And goodness were we busy again this weekend.  After I picked up Joshua at school on Friday, I quickly unloaded groceries so that we could pack up and head to State College for a fun night of PSU Hockey.  Ever since they built the new hockey arena on campus, I've been saying to Jason that I wanted to go to a game there.  Apparently he had heard me whining about it long enough and decided to get tickets for us to go.  Originally we had planned for a babysitter and were going to leave the girls behind, thinking they would have little interest in watching a hockey puck bouncing from end to end on the ice.  But I'm glad we opted to bring them along.  First of all, Mara was adorable sitting in the back of the car when she fell asleep on the way to the game.  Sometimes I feel like she is growing so fast that I can almost see it from the beginning of the day to the end of it, but then there are times like this that I just look back, and she still looks like a baby to me.  I should add that our battle with the blasted bink continues.  She is mostly over it during the day, but when she gets into the car or gets really tired, we're on the road to a major meltdown if she doesn't have it.  And so, I cave.  But anyway...

 

We won parents of the year for our focus on nutritious meals for the kids, and let them eat a Happy Meal in the car on the way to State College.  They thought it was great.  I will also confess that this was their second Happy Meal of the week because of our new crazy Wednesday night routine.  That'll make for another blog post, maybe on Wednesday, although I wouldn't hold your breath because last week I didn't eat dinner or even pee until after 9 pm on Wednesday.

The hockey game was so much fun.  The kids did well, aside from the fact that the girls and I spilled two containers of popcorn onto the floor, and Mara lost her beloved bink when she got excited and spit it out and it went at least 5 rows down.  I have done a lot of crazy Mama things, but I was not about to go down and crawl on the floor below a bunch of people's seats to find this missing thing that I am trying desperately to get rid of anyway.  The kids enjoyed the skating, the fast pace of the game, the little mini Blue Band and the antics of the student section.

 

We arrived home around 10:00 on Friday night and all promptly fell into bed.

 

Saturday morning I had the nerve to screw up our whole day's schedule by sleeping in until...wait for it...6:30.  I now declare that it isn't even worth it to sleep extra because we were so fouled up all day with me missing the time that I usually spend getting things going in the house.  And so, we'll be back to 5:00 am wakeups from now on.

 

By noon we were all lined up for Joshua's Upward game, the third of the season.  I absolutely love watching Josh playing basketball.  He absolutely loves it, and whether he's good or bad doesn't even really matter to any of us.  He just exudes happiness while he's playing.  He does a pretty good job on the team, and has made significant progress over the past two seasons.  His team absolutely got obliterated this past week, though.  I believe the score was 21-1 at the half.  The other coach told his kids to ease up in the second half and that's when we got within striking distance.  We still ended up losing the game, but most of the kids left with their hearts in tact after the gracious behavior of that other coach.

 

 

We spent Saturday evening at home-- ate a nice supper together and just spent the evening relaxing at home.  It was a welcome change of pace.  And helped me gear up for Sunday.

 

We were up and rolling early on Sunday morning-- off to church and then to stay for a puppet lunch with Emily and the kids afterwards.  I think we haven't talked for more than 25 seconds in a row in quite some time, and I was so grateful for the time together.  Even with all of the kids.  (Listen, we'll take what we can get these days!)  The kids liked the puppets, and it made it so that we didn't have to rush home to cook lunch for anyone.  So we'll call that a win.

 

 

I rushed home around 2:00 to drop the kids back off with Jason, and then headed back to the church for a special celebration for a friend from church.  She is battling a horrible diagnosis with cancer affecting many different parts of her body, but her faith is stronger than ever.  She said that she wanted to have a big party to celebrate her life, and no less than 500+ people gathered to do just that yesterday afternoon.  There was 2 hours of time of a huge line of people waiting to share special memories that they cherish about her.  I believe I cried 4 bucket fulls of tears in the course of the afternoon-- but the overwhelming feeling that I have after sharing that afternoon with so many people who know her from many different walks of life is that I felt so blessed to be in a room with that much love in it.  It was impossible to leave there feeling anything other than grateful for being one of the many people who have been influenced in a positive way by Cheryl's life and love and her love for God.

 

I walked into the house at supper time, mascara still smudged from the leaking that I was doing during the service.  And the house smelled heavenly!  I had made shepherd's pie to have for supper, and Jason had made a fresh loaf of homemade bread for us to enjoy with it.  I believe the kids were mostly interested in eating the bread, and not so much the shepherd's pie (seeing as how they don't like potatoes in any variety, I'm not sure what I expected).  Jason brought home a bread machine last weekend, and we have really been enjoying it.  I can't say it's doing anything good for my diet, but it surely has tasted delicious.

I fell in bed again last night- literally exhausted.  I had secretly hoped for a snow day today (having Mondays at home the past two weeks to catch up on laundry and the other things that the weekends haven't left much time for has been a real treat), but when the winter weather fizzled a bit, I headed to work happy to begin another week.  I have so much to be grateful for-- not the least of which are weekends like this one, where I got to spend time with the people I love the most.