Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Hard to believe that today is Tracy's 41st birthday...especially after he outperformed the twenty-somethings at GoRuck Austin!  The younglings and I wish he were home with us to celebrate, but we will make up for it on Saturday after the Tough Mudder.  I believe Birthday Soup and chocolate cake with confetti "icening" will be on the menu.  Yum!  We love you, babe!

 ~~~

Today's funny kidism:  I was helping Pookie study for a test over major muscles.  She was repeating them and identifying them on her body.  She pointed to her bottom and said, "booteus maximus".  What?  I thought she was being funny so I asked her to stop being silly and repeat the correct name.  Straight-faced, she said, "Booteus maximus, booteus minimus...right?" 

I can't wait 'til the PE teacher hears that one!

Full Wolf Moon Oracle

I love my iPhone, and one of my favorite apps is "Goddess Oracle".  It's a handy little app that you can use when you're looking for guidance or needing some tough love.  It includes a fairly comprehensive reference catalog of goddesses and explains how each one was significant in her culture and what her appearance in your life might portend.

The feature that I like is the "oracle" function, which randomly (?) generates a Goddess for you.  I prefer to believe that it's not so random, and that there is a reason why I'm reading about a particular Goddess on a given day.  I enjoy "consulting my oracle" on the day of the full moon, and spending time thinking about what she represents through the month.

The Goddess for the January moon is Brigit, "Fiery Arrow", the Celtic Goddess of protection, fire, and hearth, and patron of warriors.  She encourages me to strengthen and heal myself in some way, and to engage life boldly and courageously. Interestingly, Brigit is most celebrated on Imbolc, a holiday which occurs on February 1...during the time when I will be thinking about her.  See?  Not so random after all.

GORUCK Austin Pics

Pook, Bitty and Bean showing off the GORUCK load (30 lbs!) that Daddy carried.



Future GORUCKers :-)

Family Strong

This weekend, the kids and I thoroughly enjoyed getting to meet the GORUCK team and some of the other challenge takers downtown at Mellow Johnny's (Lance Armstrong's bike shop).  We dropped Tracy and Amy off there for their Saturday night adventure - the first ever GORUCK Austin.  The GORUCK Challenge is not a race or an obstacle course.  It is a six to eight hour "challenge tour" of the location, incorporating sightseeing of things like the State Capitol, Sixth Street, the Stevie Ray Vaughn statue, Lady Bird Lake, Zilker Park and the Barton Creek Greenbelt with enjoyable activities like running, log carrying, flutter kicks, pushups, and fireman carries, during rain and 45 degree temps.  Tracy and Amy's group covered about 18 miles, but their adventure was a little longer than it would have been because ten miles or so in, they came across a domestic assault and intervened.  Since they were off-duty, they had to hold the offender and wait for uniformed cops to arrive, which, considering it was Saturday night and downtown, took a while. The other participants got more than they bargained for - all that is the GORUCK plus an up close and personal example of Austin's finest in action! 

The kids and I went back to pick them up about 1 am.  Tracy knocked on the window and woke me up when the group came in around 2 am.  I thoroughly enjoyed watching the team "welcome" them, then turn them around and head them out to do another four miles.  From my perspective inside the warm, dry vancar - funny!  They finally finished up about 3:15 am.  After congratulating everyone and dropping one of the guys off at his hotel, we celebrated with breakfast at Kerbey Lane and then fell into bed about 6 am. 

I am so proud of Tracy and Amy!  Not only did they complete the challenge in the face of adversity, they also helped the entire group succeed.  It is a great thing for our kids to see that kind of camaraderie and dedication in action...and especially for them to have strong female role models.  Before the event, Bitty commented that Amy is pretty tough "for a girl".  After hearing about all the things she did - including helping to tackle the bad guy - he concedes that she is "just pretty tough".  :-)

I am inspired by hearing about their adventure, and I am motivated to embrace a lifestyle of "action, energy, and purpose"!

Mouths of Babes

Lately, Beanie has been experimenting with the different names she might choose when she grows up. 
Tonight, she and Pookie played dress up.  Beanie was a vampire, and first her name was Ivy, then Draculaura, like the doll.  And then she said, "Hmm.  August.  August can be my name when I grow up!  Miss August!"

lololololololol  :-)

Barcodes

Thursday is my "early day" at work.  Last year, I negotiated one early day/week during the school year, instead of taking a pay increase.  I value my early day soooo much...in terms of my sanity it is worth much more than its equivalent dollar value. 

Today, we watched an episode of The Electric Company, which involved detectives and mysteries and barcodes that translated to clues. The kids thought the barcodes were super cool, so just for fun, I made one for the blog (again). 



We are so tech-hip!

A Scarf for Pookie

I learned to crochet the first time when I was a child; my Granma taught me how.  I learned again as an adult during a weekend visit with my Aunt Bet.  I've been working on one project or another for at least ten years.  Last year I made Bitty a stuffed blue elephant and I made Beanie a pastel scarf with flowers, but Pookie couldn't make up her mind about what she wanted.  She finally decided on a ruffled scarf like the one I made for myself in 2009.  She chose a very pretty multicolored yarn and I added some ivory with a metallic thread, and during my time off after Christmas, I made this for her.

This is a very easy pattern, freely available from Lion Brand Yarn.  There are a couple different ruffled scarf patterns on the site; this one is called "Ruffle Colors Scarf" and only uses three different stitches.  So easy!  Best of all, Pookie loves it!

Mouths of Babes

Beanie: "...and there is one really good thing about leaves.  Leaves are free!"

2011: The Year of Blogging

Happy New Year!

As promised, I am starting off 2011 with a return to blogging.  Not only am I blogging, but I also intend to post one picture each week.  I may even set up a second blog for adult topics.  Wish me luck!

As for the kiddos, Pook, Bean and Bitty celebrated the New Year at home with me.  We toasted with sparkling apple cider and double chocolate truffles...and were all promptly sound asleep by 12:30.  :-)

Today, we talked a little about setting goals for ourselves for the coming year.  Bitty's goal is to learn to read (more).  Pook and Bean said they want to learn to swim well enough "to go to to the deep end at Dick Nichols pool", and Pook added that she plans to stop biting her nails (one way or another!).  Then Bitty said, "And my other goal is to teach the sisters how to do flips underwater!" 

These are some serious resolutions!  I'll keep you posted on our progress.