Family Awards

My kids like to ask me questions like...
Who is the best at...
And, who was the worst at...

So here they are the best and worst of awards July 2010.

The best sleeper as a Baby goes to SAVANNA closely followed by Ethan, then a tie with Emily and Tim and by far the worst Sierra.

The best puker goes to SIERRA. She lives on the top bunk but you can still count on her to make it to the bathroom. The worst--Tim...he knows why and so do the stairs.

The best eater goes to SAVANNA, I mean really when you have to say, 'No more broccoli until you eat your hot dog' it's a dead give away. The worst would definitely have gone to Emily as a toddler--the only food groups acceptable at that age was yogurt, milk, cheese and peaches. Thankfully, she's grown out of that.

The most creative come-backs goes to SIERRA. She regularly pulls a one-liner to put her older teasing brother or sister back in line. She can definitely hold her own.

The most dependable would go to EMILY. She only has to be told ONCE for jobs (usually) and creates the best times for her brothers and sisters. She would say that's boring. But I think it's cool in a fun happy way.

The most dramatic would also go to EMILY as well. I don't think it necessarily has to do with her short life in theater as an orphan in Annie or the Snake in Jungle Book, but it might be.

The kid that learned the most and got the worst grade would be TIM. Though his grade was barely registered (2 on a scale of 0-10) the comments by his teacher said. Tim is brilliant. (Now just hand in your homework!)

The award for the funniest sayings could definitely go to any one of the kids when they were 3 and 4. But, since these awards are for 2010 I'll have to go with ETHAN. I mean really, when you describe your self as a Cool, Awesome, Medium-Biggish Boy what else can you do.

Consequently ETHAN also wins the award for the best use of adjectives.

TIM earns the award for knowing the most digits of pi. Unfortunately since the rest of us only know it to 3.14159265 we really don't know if he is just making up numbers or not.

The award for the most excited to go back to math class...well that might be a draw, but considering SIERRA stalked the mailbox for 3 weeks straight to find out her grade, I think she has the edge and will receive the honor this time.

The award for having the most books on hold at the library at any one time would go to EMILY. Though, Sierra, Tim and Savanna are nipping at her heels for how many books read already this summer. (It's a lot!)

ETHAN wins the award for best helper around the house. Overheard, "Hey Dad, I have my hat, now how can I help you?"

TIM wins the award for having the cleanest room. Yeah, I don't know how it happened either.

SAVANNA wins the award for being most brave. Enough said.

The END

What color is your hair mom?

Savanna innocently asks me this evening:

"Blonde", I reply.
Savanna's puzzled look spreads over her face.

"Well it looks gray".

I answer, "well there might be some gray, I am going to be OLD tomorrow."

She asks again, "I want to color your hair, what color should I use?"

"Well, how about a little yellow and a little brown."

"AND GRAY!", she responds.


Sigh...yes...and gray. ;) Happy Birthday tomorrow...to me, as I near death, and totally gray hair.

Explanation

Super Recycling boy is real. Please don't ask Ethan to recycle anything. He doesn't DO that. However, if you yell in a sing songy voice full of need and desire. "Oh Super Awesome Recycling Boy" You will soon have a real live superhero to take care of all your recycling needs.

In short...It's awesome.

(Now tell me the truth...don't you think he NEEDS a cape?)
((And yes I KNOW the dangers of capes i.e. The Incredibles))
(((But STILL...it would BE. SO. CUTE scratch that AWESOME)))

It's a bird....It's a plane...It's

A guy that knows his numbers.

Plastic bottle ones and twos,
can't take sevens or cucumbers.

Cardboard, paper, that's a cinch
just keep your shoes
oh what a stench.

Metal, appliances too
now quit your bawling
no glass for you.


Say it loud, he likes the noise
To the rescue heros come...


It's SUPER AWESOME RECYCLING BOY!

Life is pain Highness...

That line in Princess Bride seemed funnier then. We all have pain. No surprise there. Some pain we can share. Some pain can be eased by writing to the world. Some pain is deep inside. Some pain rocks you to the core to find out where your core really is. Some, can't be shared. I realize a post like this might seem self indulgent. And it probably is in a way, but maybe not in the way you think. You see, isn't a lot of pain eased by understanding? The problem is, we can't understand what we don't know. Even when we tell people about 'our' pain, they might nod their heads and say yeah, I get it. And they might...they might have gone through something similar and they might really 'get' it. But can anyone really "GET" all your pain? I know of one.

Christ, Jesus.

He actually suffered our pain. Not pain 'like' ours. But ours. Your's, mine, all of ours. Funny that pain brought on by other's choices leads us to so many other choices. Sometimes choices are misunderstood. Sometimes, pain is misunderstood. I know of one that encourages the grip that these painful choices make on us. Someone that glees in our pain. I also know he is shortsided. Unfortunately, I can not see the future either. I can not 'see' that all our pain will be healed one day. I can IMAGINE it. But, in art class my imaginations never translated to my projects. I have no guarantee.

I only have...FAITH.

FAITH, in God the Eternal Father.

Interestingly, HE is the one that CAN see. He is the one that can look upon a heart. He is the one that can heal. So what better place than to put my trust, my faith.

And while I can't share the source of my pain, I can share the balm. How do you ease the pain in your life? How do you place your trust? How do you heal, the seemingly unhealable wounds? How do you deal with the pain?

Hey I do have a picture.

Shared with permission from Zazoosh:
View Photos from Little Red Riding Hood

I look so bikerish...not.

I did do it...

Only 18 miles, but I DID do my bike race/ride. That's all. Just wanted to update my for my posterity that I did indeed, though I thought about not finished a goal. Done. Yeah.