The Terry Fox Run

Olivia is in Kindergarten now and picking her up from school everyday is always a joy! I love hearing about her day and all her "adventures". Last week, there was a particular day that stood out for me. It was a hot September day and usually she runs to me with a big smile on her face, but on this particular day, she was dragging her feet with her shoulders all slumped forward. She didn't even stop when she got to me for the usual after school embrace, she just walked past me and headed to the car while muttering, "We had to run 8 laps today!" Then it hit me. The school newsletter had mentioned something about the whole school participating in the Terry Fox Run. I didn't think the Kindergarten class was participating in that, but apparently they did....and I sent her to school in flip flops that day (which I never usually do).

I continued to ask her about the run and with each question...the number of laps she recounted, kept increasing. I finally asked her what the running was for (just to see if she actually knew). Her response was, "Some guy died and we had to save money for him!"

The Demo-Derby

Yesterday afternoon, we all piled in the car to head to the Demolition Derby in Hope. We didn't know exactly where we were going or how big of a deal this was, we just figured the kids might enjoy it (well...mostly Braden) and it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon for a drive. Anyway...turns out, this was a pretty big deal and a 3-hour long event. Braden absolutely loved all the crashing and Olivia liked the concession stands...ha! I think she actually enjoyed it too, probably not quite as much, but it wasn't until the way home that she decided to complain. Over and over again, we heard, "That wasn't very fun...I wish there was more stuff for girls to do!" So, we tried to explain to her that we are a family and we do things together. Sometimes we do things that Braden is really into and sometimes we do things that she really enjoys, but we can enjoy things together, even if it's not exactly what we like.

So...when Shawn was tucking Braden into bed last night, he asked him if he liked the Demo Derby and if he'd like to go again sometime. And my thoughtful 4 year old son said, "Well....Olivia didn't really like it, so maybe we can do something that she likes next time!" It's so interesting to see the different personalities coming out in our kids.

My 'not-so-wonderful" day at church!

Wow...I haven't posted anything all summer! It was such a busy summer and I can't believe it's over already. Anyway....we're back in blogging mode again. Yesterday was our fall kick-off Sunday at the church....which I anticipated being an exciting time, but ended up being a super chaotic Sunday, which also meant I was basically doing church 'on my own' with the kids that day, due to Shawn's involvement with the kickoff. Normally, I can handle it fine, but my kids were not in a great frame of mind for this particular day, especially if it meant sitting still in church for any length of time. Maybe it was the fact that we all had to get up earlier...or maybe it was the 'over-exposure' to Krispy Kreme donuts at the church. Regardless....the recollection of this story is not necessarily 'cute'. But, as I've been told by others who witnessed this event, it proves that we are 'normal'...although nothing about this moment felt 'normal' or comfortable to me.

I was feeling quite proud that I had actually made it to church a few minutes early...especially since I was on my own with the kids and 9am services are not easy in our house. So...we arrived early enough to get a good parking spot and were actually able to choose our seat in church. We spotted some friends up near the front and headed on up to sit with them. Other than the kids being a bit loud at times and needing a little reminder to be quiet....things were going pretty well. Then it was time for the scripture reading, which meant that everything else was super silent....except for my son. He is normally quite well behaved, but something set him off and he started crying and screaming loudly, "I'm not loving you anymore!!!" I tried to calmly deal with the situation, but gently putting my hand over his mouth only seemed to escalate the situation. He continued screaming this out, over and over, "I'm not lovign you anymore!!!" I found out later that he thought I was laughing at him about something and being "Mr. Sensitive", that was the thing that had set him off. So...I dragged him all the way up that LONG aisle, trying not to make eye contact with anyone and hoping they had no idea who I was or whose kid that was! I found Shawn in the hallway and quickly passed Braden off to him while I took a few minutes to gain my composure. I can laugh about it now, but it was not funny at the moment. Anyway....the rest of our time at church continued to be chaotic, but we survived. It was definitely one of those days that I wondered...."Why on earth did we come?"