Spencer Reaches 100!

Yesterday at school, Spencer reached his goal of running 100 laps at Junior Joggers. To achieve this goal it has meant that every Wednesday that there was Junior Jogger's, Spencer would give up his play time during recess and go run laps. I should mention that this started back in October and that Spencer would plan his outfit accordingly, so he would be able to run really fast.... He would also plead with me every Wednesday morning to have his lunch put in a brown paper bag or have hot lunch, so that he wouldn't have to take his lunch box back to his classroom and thus be the first on the field and have more time to run laps. He has worked so hard and ran somewhere around 50 miles. His legs and feet have hurt and he has enjoyed every minute of it. We're so proud of him for sticking to it and reaching his goal. I thought of taking a roll of toilet paper and having a finish line for Spencer to run through, but Rob thought that was a little over kill. When Spencer got home I asked him if he would have liked my idea, but with a puzzled look on his face he had no idea what the toilet paper was for. Apparently he's never watched very many races and didn't understand the concept of running and breaking the finish line. He probably would have just ducked underneath it. Oh well, I thought it would have been fun, .....maybe next year.

Witnessing an UGLY Moment

Last night I was rummaging through our storage unit for a few items. Right across from our unit was a mom, her 2 boys, and her screaming baby, who were sitting in the front of a really old, rusted SUV. As I was on the phone with Rob trying to locate something, this lady just started screaming at her kids. It's late at night, dark, (and this lady was rather large and rough looking) ---thought I should add that, but anyways, her boys, who were around 10 & 6 were apparently trying to prepare a bottle for the baby. I guess they added too much formula or something that made their mom so irate, I'm not really sure, all I know is that the mom just started shredding those boys with the most abusive and foul language. It was so bad and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. I froze. At first I was thinking, I can't believe she doesn't care that I'm standing so close and can hear what she was saying. I wanted to say something, but honestly was a little frightened of this trashy mom. Think of a mid 35-year old woman who looks like she lived out in the woods in a shack of a cabin and could split wood with her axe with one swift chop. There were a few softball bats in our storage unit, and I thought of grabbing one and going over and beating her with it. I kept trying to think of what I should do, but had a feeling that I might just make things worse for those boys and she might take out her anger on them even more after all was said and done. --Maybe that's just a cop out, but regardless...I can't get it out of my mind. I was instantly so angry and shaky and wanted to go take this lady OUT, how dare she talk to HER kids that way, but I was scared... When I got out of there I called Rob and he tried to make me feel better. I asked him what he would have done, he said he'd have called the Cops. I wish I would have. I wonder if that baby was even in a car seat. They were all shoved in the front seat. There's no way it could have seated 4 people legally. I'm so mad at myself! It was such an ugly moment! All I can think of how horrible it is for those kids. And I didn't say anything. I don't know...I guess I know what I would say and do next time if I was ever in this situation again. But the really sad thing is that I'm sure it's so common for those poor kids and for so many others kids who have shoddy parents. Today, I have made a concerted effort to speak softly and nicely to Spencer & Carter and to take my role and calling as their Mom a little more seriously.

Just thinking about it gets me all worked up again. I don't know, have you ever witnessed an ugly moment like this? What did you do? If, in the future you did, what will you do?

A Nice Surprise....

Last weekend I played in my first USTA Tournament. It was so much fun and to boot.... we even won. I had 2 doubles matches with my partner and we won them both. I had 1 singles match, my very first by the way, and barely managed to pull out a win in the tiebreaker. -Let me just say it wasn't very pretty. I was so stinking nervous! But it is just so much fun to be part of an all girls team and to play competitively at something I love. Unfortunately Rob and the boys were unable to come, because a few were sick, it was a late match, and the whole logistics of having one car just didn't work out. But when I came home Friday night, the first thing I saw when I walked in the door was this awesome poster that my boys had made. It made my whole night. Spencer explained the whole thing: which pictures he colored, and which picture Carter colored, how it was Dad's idea, and he showed me the things that he wrote, and well-- I absolutely LOVED it! I love that Rob thought of me and involved the boys, I love how they had fun doing it, and I love to be loved!