I love baseball games in the summer - hot dogs, popcorn and beer. What can be better?
We headed to see the San Jose Giants the other night. My son donned his baseball jersey, hat and glove. My daughter got dressed and choose tights, pink dress and high tops. Vive le diference!
CAR TRIPS with KIDS was the featured topic of one of my favorite e-newsletters from the Sesame Street Workshop. I used to LOVE road trips. Remember when you and your favorite road trip partner, jumped in the car with a back pack of clothes, some snacks and a map of some kind. Those were the days, when you could be spontaneous and decide in the morning that you wanted to be in Las Vegas that night to put a bet on your favorite basketball team. Boom, you were there in no time and your only worry was whether to stop at “In-and Out Burger” or to try one of those random diners, like the one with the giant dinosaur and thermometeroutside it. Who eats there anyway?
Now every road trip is a carefully orchestrated drama. Here is my checklist for any trip longer than 2 hours:
1. 2 kids and 1 husband. – (You ALWAYS need as much support as you can get. I've had to do it alone once - never again!)
2. Snacks, something not too sugary! Who needs 2 kids bouncing off the walls at 70 MPH
3. Drinks, ice chest maybe
4. Portable DVD player What did people do without these?
5. Movies for the DVD player – some for a 7yr old and some for a 4yr old and 1 compromise movie that they both like.
6. Toys – Pokemon cards, Barbie dolls and any absolutely necessary stuffed animals
7. Coloring books and crayons
8. Magnet paper dolls - These work for about 20 minutes, but hey take what you can.
9. Wipes/paper towel for accidents
10. Pillow, maybe blanket
11. Music – mine and for the kids. Hip hop to do in-car aerobics with and something mellow to help when they are coming down from the snack induced sugar rush.
12. Special surprises, in case someone melts down and needs something to look forward to. (Essential to any trip longer than 4 hours)
13. A battalion of car games that the WHOLE family can play while I try not to run anyone over. We like rhyming games and finding VW Bugs.
14. Candy - for when nothing else works!
David Levin at Sesame Street has some great ideas for ways to have a road trip that doesn’t involve blood shed. I’ve tried most and they work.
But I need more ideas as we are about to head out on a 6-hour trip to Los Angeles for a weekend, where everything is at least an hour away. We've not even talked about how to prepare to have grandpa in the car too!
HELP!!
I was reading Bridges book, Transition: Making sense of life's changes, today. Key take away - name your transition, mourn it, celebrate it and then move on. I'm officially in transition. I quit my job to launch some kind of online-business and spend more time with my two kids, a 4-year old ballerina-princess and a 7-year old pokemon obsessed soccer player. I am still trying to crystallize what the online business is going to be, my first attempt can be found at my other blog Starfish Circle.
I love my new life - well not quite yet, but it's getting better. I'm picking the kids up earlier from school and am feeding them before 6:30 p.m.! What a feat for a working mom. I'm even cooking and not driving through McDonald's. Yee haw!
I have recently undertaken several new projects - learn how to blog, redo the garage and turn it in to a home office, figure out to squeeze blogs into my already busy day and not become obsessed by them, paint the house and get handle on the blogosphere. No small task, as I am sure you all know, especially in between loads of laundry and the pile of dishes that never goes away. I've also coordinated the school jogathon, organized a first communion party, chaperoned 2 field trips, set up an ice cream social and year end Boy Scouts celebration. I'm exhausted - in retrospect working in an office was almost a "vacation" from the rest of my life. hmmm...
Last week, I was reminded that I am not going through this transition all by myself - but the whole family is getting used to it. My son is used to being picked up late from school - 5:30 or 6:00 p.m., so since I have been self-employed I have been picking up my son earlier - 3:30 or 4:00 p.m. Seems like the least I can do, right? Well my son's best pals surrounded me after school one day last week and asked ever so sweetly, "Caden's mom (because I don't have a real name) when are you going to get another job? You're picking Caden up too early we need more time to play." I think to myself, I never win do I?
For those of you who don't know, the fine ladies at Silicon Valley Moms Blog are offering a makeover for one lucky mom. I would love the makeover to help me get to a place where I can figure out how to a do it all - okay, maybe just do some of it with better quality. At the very least, the workouts may fill up my time productively, so I can pick my son up later:) and restore the balance of order for the second grade at Caden's school.
I had the luxury of being a soccer coach for the past couple of months for my daughter Kiley's Soccer Team - the Rapids. My husband, John, is the talented one. He actually played the sport his whole life and is pretty good, I might add. I, on the other hand, have simply watched many games on the sideline from my beach chair, featuring our 7 year-old son. I get the basic rules.
A few months ago, we signed Kiley up at our local YMCA and of course, they were in need of coaches. They must have caught me on a good day because I signed up as an assistant coach. I naively thought to myself, "They are all smaller than me. I think I can run faster and I know which goal they should be kicking the ball into - how bad could it be?" The duty of a mommy is never done.
Long story short, the YMCA had too many kids, so I was quickly promoted to coaching my own team. First order of business, recruit people who KNOW what they are doing - my husband, John and 7 year old son, Caden become coaches! The smartest move I ever made. Let's make this a true "Family Affair". The whole family now has matching light blue t-shirts. (So cute!) BTW, 7 year-olds can be great soccer coaches.
We have a team made up of eight 4 and 5-year olds, where for most this was their first experience with an organized (a very loose term, in this case) sport. I made sure we had t-shirts, snacks, and soccer balls. I provided hugs for boo boos and was head-cheerleader. John and Caden led stretches, drills and taught the kids about "trapping" and how to properly kick the ball. I think we (our team's parents and me) ALL learned a whole lot.
Some highlights and lessons from this season's fun!
SNACK TIME
Coach John: Okay everyone, we are going to learn how to trap the ball. That is when we stop the ball with our foot.
4-year-old player: Huh? Why do we want to put it in a trap? (Kicks the ball into other team's court and takes off to retrieve it)
Coach Sheila: Trapping a ball means stopping
4-year-old player: So let's just say stop the ball instead. (Kicks the ball into other team's court and takes off to retrieve it)
Coach Sheila: Good point, but that is what soccer players call it.
4-year-old player: Okay, but I'm a kid, not a soccer player. (Kicks the ball into other team's court and takes off to retrieve it)
Coach Sheila: Not yet! Alrighty, let's have snacks!
GOAL!
Coach John: Okay everyone; we are playing another team for the first time. Which one is our goal?
Kids: That one! (Everyone points to a different direction, 4 of 8 get it right!)
Coach John: Right!
MANTRA
My daughter is a petite four year old. She is a self-proclaimed "ballerina princess", who is tough enough to handle balls being kicked at her by her big brother. Yet, when we are with the team she suddenly becomes afraid. I'm sure it is part noise and part the number of kids; it's simply overwhelming. Unfortunately, she was not alone with the fear of the ball and the giant mass of kids running in a "bunch" chasing after ball. So the theme of this season: "Run TOWARDS the ball, Not AWAY!"
The other saying heard many times on the field, "NO, snacks are for AFTER the game!"
The whole experience was a blast. I think John and I have a whole new respect for coaches everywhere. Would we do it again? Heck yeah! Though John thinks it's better when you can make kids run laps when they don't listen. I think that as long as there are snacks and mommies with beach chairs ready with hugs for when their kids fall down, I'm in.
I recently quit my job and decided to start my own business from home. Whew!
As you can imagine, I often wax between being elated and proud of this what is surely a "BRILLIANT and BOLD" move to wanting to slit my wrists for being so irresponsible. What was I thinking? A mother of two should have a steady job with good benefits. My own father freaked when he heard of my news. Fortunately, I have more of the "it was a good idea" days than the "crawl under the covers" kinda days.
This blog is my attempt to chronicle my new adventures of a self-employed mommy working from the soon to be renovated and decorated garage. (Yes, that happens in all my spare time in between speaking with clients, doing laundry, volunteering at my children's respective schools and yoga class.)
Where did the name Xiaolin Mama come from? My children and I love to watch this cartoon, Xiaolin Showdown. It is about four young warriors who are learning to and battle the forces of evil. They save the world on a daily basis by protecting ancient artifacts which have magical powers, aka Sheng Gong Wu, from villains. We love to watch the battles. My 7 year old son loves the martial arts and my 4 year old daughter loves the girl warrior, who kicks-butt on a regular basis! I especially like the "master" who teaches his young apprentices how to be patient, work as a team and how to beat a monster with his eyes closed.
I think this new path of working and being home to really "parent" requires all the super powers I can muster up. Hope you tune in to read about my crazy mishaps and laugh WITH me, as a figure out how to be a "master" in my own right.
|
