Racing again

So I love to run. But not really. I love the experience of joy and fitness that comes from running but I have to get into the groove to really enjoy running.

My office asked if any of us would like to sign up for a 5K that would benefit abused kids. No brainer! I am there! So I trained a little bit, but not a ton.

Two days before the race, we get an email from HR that we are to supposed to be in super hero costumes. The race's slogan was "Every kid needs a hero; an abused kid needs a superhero."

I borrowed Wyeth's cape, laced up my sneakers and ran a 5K! It was still slow at 29:18 but hey, my cape was dragging me down.
 :)

Megan+costume=HAPPY

The other funny part of the morning? I put the face paint on and neither one of my kids said a thing. It was as if I usually run around with cape and facepaint!

Beach weekend

In late April, my dear high school friend generously invited my family of four to her beach house in LBI, NJ. This is a special place for me; the location of our after prom celebration, the place of a few weekends of high school shenanigans and most recently, a retreat space for Jess and I where we escape from the relentless needs of adulthood and motherhood.

When she said she would be visiting for a week and would we come, we jumped at the opportunity. And the weekend was GORGEOUS! Oh my! Nothing like one of those first amazing weather weekends. Blue, blue sky, warm air. Just an amazing weekend.  She was there with her daughter, Elle and her father, Bill. And the time together as a group was really wonderful. We just played on the beach Saturday afternoon, coming up in time to eat too many pre-dinner snacks, make a huge pasta dinner, and drink too much wine. The three kids had a blast playing on the beach, talking and playing in the house. They seemed to relax and just enjoy! Little Elle, who is 2, invited our guys for their first ever sleepover.

What a trip! So we had a 6 year old, a four year old and a 2 year old. There was ample place to sleep in the room's two twin beds. But did they want to sleep in the beds? Nope. Party time on the floor. All three of them in sleeping bags tucked themselves in. Jessica read them a story and sang to them as they all snuggled down.  Seren and Wyeth haven't even had a sleep over at our house, much less with friends in a new house! Seren, as predicted, fell asleep in about 2 minutes. But we kept hearing voices from Wyeth, who usually takes a good 30-40 minutes to unwind. And this time, he had someone to keep him company! Elle talked back!

Around 9:00, I went in there for one last time and rubbed both of their sleepy heads until they fell asleep.

The next morning, before we went to the bay and the beach, Jessica surprised us by throwing a little birthday party for Seren. Party hats, gifts, lollipops and even a chocolate cake were all produced, seemingly out of the air! It was awesome! Seren loved it! It was so magical to celebrate with our extended family, at the beach, under sunny blue skies. So many wonderful simple things.

I always return from my visits with Jessica with a renewed energy. She has a love of life which is quite contagious. I also am so deeply grateful for long time friends; there is simply nothing better than spending quality time with someone who 'knew you when'. The fact that she and her father included my entire family and made it an amazing celebration weekend was just over the top goodness.

Thank you, Jessica, for the amazing hospitality. We are so lucky to have you and your family in our lives!

 

 

Itchy

Yesterday was an insane day. We had a busy day at the office as the two of us commuted in together, ran around, held meetings and went home. Then at 6 pm we met with a realtor about putting our house on the market. The good news? She thinks the improvements we my  husband made will yield a better price. She also thinks it will go fast.  The bad news? We have no idea where we are going. And the very idea of the house being sold brings up many emotions but mostly anxiety. 

So in the midst of all of the conversation with the realtor, Seren and Wyeth played in the backyard. Where we could see them. They were laughing and giggling and being nuts. Which is so much better than being inside the house screaming, yelling and fighting.

When the realtor left at 7:15, we focused again on the kids. Wyeth notes, "Mom! I am so itchy!"  So of course I inquire why.  "Well, I put lots of grass in my pants."  I undo his pants, pull down his undies and a TON of grass falls out. It was all stuck to him!

What??

Boys are so weird.

Take Your Child to Work Day 2013

Yesterday was National Take Your Child to Work day. We had a total and utter blast at the office! Both Seren and I had looked forward to this day for a long time. Her school had me sign a permission slip to excuse her and gave her a special homework assignment.

I work as a Research Analyst at a social policy firm. Seren has been to my office before but it had been a long time.  She was so excited to drink hot chocolate and 'commute' with me. We arrived later than usual, at 9 AM and met some of my friends. She got her hot chocolate and said 'WOW' when it quickly brewed in front of her face. She said, "Do you sit here and drink hot chocolate all day?"

We hung arond the office and started to review her homework sheet. The sheet asked her to describe the best parts of her mom's job, the least exciting parts, etc. The last question said, "Is this something you can consider doing in the future?"  She was previewing the sheet in anticipation of what she'd need to fill in. She said, "Well, I haven't had the day yet but considering I already do research all of the time anyway, I'm going to go with 'YES' for that question."

What a love.

So at 10, we had registration. It was a top notch job. The kids came in in dresses, shirts with collars, etc. Everyone was so excited! We had about 50 kids at our office- ages 5-13. And on my gosh, were they excited and pumped!

The organizers created a whole host of activities which kept the kids busy from 10 until 12. Then we had lunch with our children and then once again, they were in activities until 2:30. They took a tour of the facilities which included our gym, our kitchen, riding up and down in the service elevator, checking out our server room, and looking at the library. It was LOUD but it was fun.

They also had the kids conduct a phone survey. (We do a lot of that here).  So all day, the parents were 'surveyed' by very well trained folk! It was awesome to hear a little voice on the other end of the line asking us questions about our food habits and our children's food habits. It was a thrill!

Lunch was a riot- we had a picnic and spent some time running around outside. The sun was shining and it really was a wonderful day!

At 2:30, I had to bring her back to a 2 hour meeting! UGH! But she was amazing! I was so proud of her. She read, made paper dolls, colored and did stuff on the wipe board. Truly, amazing. I called it a day at 4 pm and we ran to the ice cream truck.  We also got her face painted in a beautiful butterfly!

And she made a 'friend' with one of my work friends. Kids are amazing that way!

Here are some pics from the day. It was so awesome! And my office feels VERY quiet today.

Starting the day with hot coco!

In our long meeting...making paper dolls.

With her new buddy  by our company's sign!

Learning the ropes on telephone survey techniques!

Face paint complete! Sitting at mom's desk!

Love you kiddo!

Puppies Help

We, as a family, are sorta struggling through things recently. On our minds on a daily basis is where we are to move. We are really dissatisfied with the education that Seren has received and know we need to make a big change. But we are struggling with our own fears and a serious lack of direction. Add in professional performance reviews at the office, the Boston bombing and two little kids and I'm feeling a little on the emotional edge.

Seren had a rough day today. Yesterday and today her teacher was absent. And the poor little thing just came unglued. Her piano lesson was also cancelled today. So her whole 'routine' was off. Sam said when he picked her up from school she cried and cried and cried.  Yesterday she asks me, "Mom, what is a bomb? I heard something today about a bomb in Boston? What the heck is a bomb?"

Oh, to have to explain something like a bomb. Oftentimes ignorance truly is bliss.

So tonight we were playing in our front yard. We were throwing a ball around, bouncing it, sprinting back and forth; usual fair for us. New neighbors moved in a few months ago. They are a young couple who we like. They also have a new dog named Charlie. Every day Seren begs me to visit Charlie. And everyday I think "they are probably eating dinner" or "I don't want to bother them."  Tonight when she asked, I started to say 'no' again for the same reasons.

But then she said, "I don't know, I think playing with Charlie would cheer me up."

No brainer. I knocked on my neighbors' door.

They were gracious and welcomed our small team of Charlie enthusiasts into their back yard.

Seren was really right, puppies help. He certainly cheered me up.

Eggs

We dyed hard boiled eggs to celebrate Easter. The entire thing took 5 minutes to do and about 25 to set up. Standard fair.

The next day, we ate some of the hard boiled eggs. Wyeth struggled with the peel for quite some time before asking, "How do you get the wrapper off this thing?"

Meanwhile Seren informed me that she and her class were looking for "signs of spring."  She added, "But not like real signs that say 'one way' or 'stop'. Like 'signs' of spring, ya know? Like a flower."

Right. Gotcha kid.

Wyeth and Seren both went to an egg hunt. They had a good time. They also noted that some kids didn't "catch" many eggs. The image of eggs running wild so that the kids could 'catch' them made me smile.

Giving it a little test drive

We are on the market for a new house in a community that better meets our needs. It is a long, slow, painful process that for me, is  full of anxiety.

Seren is the best note taker. When we go to visit houses, we arm her with a notebook and a pencil. She writes down what she likes and what she doesn't like.

I took her on my own two weeks ago to visit 3 homes. One (ugly) home had a loft. " Mom! What do you call this?"

A loft.

"Why?"

I don't know. I guess that is just what it is called.

"I don't like that very much. I'm going to call it a playroom."

Ok.  And "playroom" was written down as one of the homes' feature she enjoyed.

When we got to the backyard she turned to me and said, "Mind if I give it a little run?"

I was puzzled by her question. A run of what? What are you talking about? I figured out she meant she wanted to run around the back yard.  I nodded and said that would be fine.

She tucked her little notebook under her arm and took off sprinting to the back of the yard. She pivoted and sprinted back to where I was standing.

"That will do."

Oh, I howled! She is a total riot.

By the way, house hunting SUCKS.