Soccer Updates

Last night was a dream come true for me. I watched Jonah's night game in the freezing cold, bundled up with a hot mug of tea. It was all I ever wanted after watching the kids play in 105 degree heat on astro turf for most of the season. Yay for Fall!
What made it perfect was watching my boy play! Jonah's a mystery, you never know what you're going to get when he walks onto the field. The first half of the game he was tracking the ball and always where it was, but not really going after it. The second half he was playing center back. The boy was doing somersaults, handstands, rolling around on the turf. I yelled two encouraging but firm statements from the sidelines, "Get up buddy! Watch for the ball" and then the second one, "Jonah Robert! Stand up and watch that ball!" I was alone again at this game, all three kids had soccer engagements at three different places. I immediately wished for Trav to be there, to keep me in check, to handle the situation. I promised myself that after my two moments of "coaching" from the sidelines that I wouldn't yell anything else even if he was taking a nap on the field, I would let it go. So hard for me.
BUT! Something woke up in Jonah, he was AMAZING! He stopped that ball and turned it around so many times. He kicked a huge kick over several kids straight to his teammate who took it down the field and scored. He did a sneaky sidekick to another teammate who took it down too. I was beside myself and had so much fun yelling for him! I'm getting emotional just writing about it. It's so much fun to watch your kid work hard at something and have fun doing it. I think this game was the most fun Jonah's had in soccer so far, besides the snacks of course. Nothing much can top a Capri Sun and a kudos bar.
This Saturday Payton is playing the toughest team in her league (whom she scored a goal against last time!) I'm already totally stressed thinking about the game. Of course she's chill and just excited to play. So I act the same way, on the outside as much as possible. No one needs a freaky mom on the sidelines. But seriously, I am already worked up about it, I can't wait.

Sporty Spice

This is Payton's standard dress for school each day. She will only wear t-shirts and shorts or jeans and her tennis shoes. She will ONLY wear her hair in two braids, possibly a single pony tail to "mix it up", never ever down. Ever. Her face visibly changes into a hard mask at the suggestion of a more tailored shirt or put together outfit. I don't even dare mention the D or S words (dress or skirt). I recently found every dress, skirt, and dressy shoe she owns shoved into a compact ball behind her hamper the other day. All I could say was "Unbelievable Payton" and then just scooped it up into a bag to pass on to another girl that loves a great dress.
So much of parenting is learning to let go. Early on I learned to not fight the clothes battle with Payton. It's how she expresses herself, and when I see her face the few times I insist my way, it brings me back to my battles with my own mum, her frustrations, my instant rebellion at what she might make me wear.
My mom made me a really cute Raggedy Ann dress when I was five, I admit as an adult now that it was a cute dress. But as a kindergartner, I was mortified by it. It had long poofy sleeves and a fat red bow on the front. I remember being embarrassed and stressed all day on the few times I had to wear it. It was distracting. It didn't feel like me. So, I keep those memories with me as I see Payton refuse time and again to wear a cute little outfit or dress. I try to empathize with what she's feeling. I now get to walk in my mom's shoes this time around.
Headstrong daughters, what can you do.

Markers

I love reflecting. I love revisiting important places in my life that give me pause to remember where I've been. Patrick's Point has become one of those places. I took P & J on a camping trip there just the three of us last month. I pitched an old fashioned pole tent all by myself, it was sagging yes, but it provided adequate shelter for the two nights we were there. It was an adventure, and it was fun to hang with my older two.
This picture is of us at Wedding Rock, a very important marker for me and for our family really. I've visited it a total of only three times in my life, but they represent big moments in where I was at.
The first time was in February '95 when Trav proposed to me. We were just a couple of young college kids in love and knew we wanted to be together forever. We had no clue what that really meant of course, but we were in! We've never looked back.
We didn't return until August '07 with our three young children in tow. Payton was 6, Jonah 4, and Davey 2. We were still in the glow of our self-imposted sabbatical. Trav was only working 20 some odd hours a week at Starbucks which he was thoroughly enjoying, we were living in the beautiful Santa Cruz mountains by my family, and we had lots of time just to play together. What a gift it was! And we were still in that excited wonder of "where could we be next year? What will our story be? How exciting!" Little did we know that the anticipation and excitement for what might be were to slowly dissipate into, "what the heck are we doing? are we always going to be living in a one bedroom house at my parents?" There was to be a long year of that. So much growing was done in us.
My third visit was last month here with the kids, Sept '09, just two short years from the last time. I was very reflective of where we'd been, where we are now, and what the future holds for us still. I felt much more melancholy, sober, but also in possession of an anchored peace. I'm still lonely for what we had in both Riverside and Santa Cruz, I miss all the easy, natural relationships I had in both those places. But, we're solid here in Redding. It's starting to take shape for us. We've passed the magic one year marker for living here, and it's starting to feel more like home bit by bit.
I don't know when we'll be back to Patrick's Point again, but it's one of our favorite places, so I know we'll be back time and again with the family. It's our place to check in along the way of life, see how far we've come, to reflect, and be thankful. I look forward to next time.

Birthday Bummer

Poor Jonah got a big, fat fever for his birthday this year. He came home from school totally sick, so we put his birthday celebrations on hold. He stayed home from school the next day, but continually got stronger and more energetic, so we took the fam to Hawes Farm for the night. SO FUN! Totally forgot the camera unfortunately, but we came home ready for Jonah's B-day cake. We also came home with Jonah's fever returned, Payton barely able to crawl into the house, and me feeling like my lungs were full of junk. But I made the cake, so gosh darn it we were going to be blowing out some candles and eatin' some!
Here's Jonah barely holding it together, desperate to go to bed.

Jonah wanted "Star Wars" written on his cake in blue writing with white frosting. I love his simple tastes!

Jonah never even had a piece. He blew out the candles and fell asleep clutching Anakin in his tight little fist.

Payton didn't have any either, she had a fever instead. So Trav, Davey, and I sat quietly eating our cake watching Jonah passed out on the couch. It was so sad, and kind of funny.

By the next day Davey and I joined Payton and Jonah with fevers/coughs/aches/stuffy heads and noses and general complaints of discomfort. Trav was running a one man show for three days and was awesome taking care of all of us.
Today is the first day I'm not wearing sweats and I've actually combed my hair, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. P & J are on the mend and back at school, but poor Davey had a relapse and has a new fever and a newer, nastier cough. It's a popsicle/movie day for us. I hope since we got hit so hard this week that we get a free pass from being sick the rest of the season!

The House

Trav and I spent Thursday night through Sunday afternoon painting the outside of our house. It was sort of a peachy/beige with mauvey/pink accents before we started. Needless to say, we were happy to update the look and also fix up all the peeling, chipping spots that needed repair before the rainy season comes. Here below is the before picture.

I am so proud of us and the amazing job we did. We worked sun up to sun down every day, putting in some solid twelve hour days. We made a great team, we weathered several emotions together, anxiety over what we had gotten ourselves into, being overwhelmed once we got started and realizing how much more we had to do, and definitely exhaustion. Trav was a stud. He worked so hard without complaint, battled wasps, the hot sun, and me trying to micro manage. We didn't have one argument in the whole process, and it was actually fun to have the house to ourselves for the weekend while the kids were at my parents.

Our one major issue came eleven hours into spraying the paint. The whole time we were thinking how great this "gray" color looked, we loved it. An hour before sundown my mouth dropped open, and I pointed out to Trav that our house was not gray at all, but indeed, a bright, cheery, baby blue!!! I'm still so bitter as I write about it. To work so hard and realize your mistake, and that it's really too late to turn back is entirely defeating. The picture doesn't really do it justice.

The next day the neighbor boy across the street said, "Wow! You painted your house lavender!" Salt on the wound. We finished what we started, it looks really good, and certainly looks crisp and clean. It just doesn't look like "us", we are neutral mello people, not perky baby blue. I'm working through the seven stages of grieving: denial, bargaining, anger, etc. I'm sort of in the anger "this sucks" stage, but am working towards acceptance. It'll come. I'm awaiting the day I pull up to my house and don't have a physical reaction.

Even the accent color is off. It's name is "onyx". Definitely black right? Nope. A dark, dark blue. Again the blue. Perhaps we'll just have to change our personalities to fit the color more. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em kind of thing. Perky pants it is!

The Newest Member of the Family

Blazer, the Russian Desert Tortise

Payton LOVES animals and has been dying for a pet of her own for years. Unfortunately for her, both her bros have cat/dog/bird allergies that have prevented us from having one. Secretly, I was TOTALLY ok with this. I loved my one-eyed pug Lucy immensely, but once we started our family, and I got to clean up my own children's poop and pee several times a day, there was nothing in me left to want to clean up a dog's mess as well. I've never looked back.
But Payton is so sweet and earnest in her quest to love animals that I finally caved last spring and told her she could get a Russian Desert Tortise if she saved up all the money for it herself. She worked for seven months straight not spending a dime, and she brought Blazer home on her birthday.

He already has some nicknames as everyone in our family does. Payton calls him Blaze Boy, I call him Blayza, schmoopys, and ugly when Payton's not around. He's sort of creepy folks, that wrinkly skin that folds up and expands like an accordian, his sharp nails, his beady little eyes... But, he is growing on me, we connected this weekend while Payton was out of town and it was up to me to take him out to play. He used to hide in his shell every time I walked in his room, now he pokes his head out and claws at the glass for me to take him out. When I bragged to Trav about our budding relationship he started singing, "There may be something there that wasn't there before..." from Beauty and the Beast. He's just jealous.

I'm really impressed with Payton's care and commitment to him thus far (it's been a week:) When she brought him home and was lifting him out of the travel box to place him in his terrarium he had poop on his butt (gross). She calmly said, "Oh Blazer" and patiently wiped his bottom for him. I was blown away with her calm, cool, collected approach. My girl is growing up, and her little guy is going to fit in quite well with us I think.