Future Olympians!! (And Their Umbrella-Wielding Parents...)

Future Olympians?? Why not?!?!?! I think that's an excellent goal to aim for! (I would actually just be happy with swimming scholarships x 4 in about 10-12 years...) :) I actually found out yesterday that the guy in the above picture with the yellow pants and black trench coat is the coach for the Elite swimmers, the ones who really ARE training for the Olympics in 2016!!

Check out our kids' coach, Coach Hannah, doing her thing that she does so well! She's the one in the blue swim cap, IN the pool with the kids! Best swim coach EVER!! We love you!!!

Daryle and I headed out to take the kids to swim lessons last night and it was of course RAINING. Not such a huge deal for the little people in the pool, already planning on getting wet (seriously, they don't really care) but for us wimpy parents it was less than awesome. You could tell which of us were the novices (me in my sweatpants and sneakers, instantly soaked to the knees) and which were the seasoned experts (everyone else wearing galoshes and "whaling parkas.") I did manage to remember my umbrella though, which only flipped inside out twice.

Truly, my "complaining" is only in jest! It IS a pretty hard-core sport, though, and like anything worthwhile, it does require a certain amount of dedication by both the kids and of course mostly their parents. (Incidentally, swim practice at 4:30 in the afternoon is equivalent to about 2:00 in the morning for a night-shifter, but I digress...) :)

I love watching my children be a part of something that they're really good at, that they love to do, and something that is teaching them a lot of wonderful skills and disciplines. On the way to practice yesterday, Ma-lak casually mentioned that since it was raining, maybe it would be better to stay home and play Play Station instead. (Good try, right?!) I loved my husband's response: "Son, we don't run away from adversity. We swim TOWARDS it."

So here's to swimming, running, or crawling our way TOWARD the things that will make us stronger! (Thank you, Lord, for your "life lessons" that translate into every part of our lives!)

Hopefully if all continues to go well, they'll make swim team this summer and we'll have meets to go to this fall! And who knows - you just might see me waving at you on camera at the 2024 Olympics!!

Food For Thought

I picked the little Smiths up from school today, and the car was immediately filled with the usual sounds of laughter and chatter as they reviewed the day's events. Because I'm just always curious and/or anxious-to-be-in-the-know about what my children are eating, I asked, "What did you have for lunch today?"

Ni'ke piped up and announced that she had a "sloppy Jones" sandwich and she liked it very much. (insert mother's giggle here.)

Rea then casually mentioned that she had rotten pasta.

"What do you MEAN you had rotten pasta??!!" I asked, absolutely horrified.

"I don't know," she said. "It was just rotten."

"Well, what did it taste like?" I probed, imagining the worst, and planning a u-turn at the next stop light to go back to the school and "inquire."

"It was really good."

HUH???

After a few more questions, I discovered that Rea actually had a delightful meal of ROTINI pasta at school today. (sigh) Thank goodness. :)

Speaking of delightful meals, the Ortho Unit at work last night rocked a seriously awesome potluck dinner!! The theme?? "Ethnic Potluck Night" - bring a dish that's common or a favorite from where you grew up. Imagine the diversity!!! Bay Area melting pot of amazing cultures, right HERE! (On a funny note, one of my favorite nurses thought it was "ethical" potluck night, and was offended she wasn't working to participate! :-) hahaha!!!)

We had (to name a few): Puncet (tasty dish from the Philippines), beans and rice - Mexican style, rice and curry - Fiji Islands style, brats (from our Iowa native), and last but certainly not least was tiramisu from our lovely Italian nurse! :) What did I contribute to the pot luck, you ask?? Ham and beans and cornbread, my favorite childhood meal!!

Gotta love left-overs!!!!

This - N - That

Whew! Friday's here! Thank goodness!

What a week. Where to start?! How about first with thanksgiving and gratitude for answered prayers for my Grandma! She had a stress Echo on Wednesday which confirmed that she has a "leaky valve" in her heart. While this is by no means GOOD news, we are so grateful that no surgery is needed at this time and that the findings weren't anything worse. She feels a little tired now and then, but as she says, "Hey I'm almost 83! I think I deserve to feel a little tired!!" :) Grandma, I love you and hope to see you in 2 weeks!! Can't wait!

So after everyone finally was getting well and feeling good and NOT having fevers last week, Rea came down with a fever AGAIN on Tuesday, lost her voice, has an owie red runny nose, and has slept more than I've ever seen her sleep. NOOOOOO!!!!! My heart is breaking... Thankfully they have a 4-day weekend this weekend and lots of rest and prayers will do the trick!

I have to share an "essay" that Ma-lak wrote for me last week. I've been giving him extra homework at home from time to time, especially when he was home sick last week, and one day I asked him to write about his favorite Bible character. This is what he wrote:

"My favorite Bible character is God because he is strong. He makes us all strong and he is a mighty God and a good God. He takes care of me and makes me strong, and that is why God is my favorite character in the Bible."

I smiled all day after reading that! Thanks, God for making me strong and making my children strong, because our strength is in You!!

Prayers for Grandma

Remember I told you about my countdown to March 5, exactly three weeks from today? My mom, and grandma, and aunt, and cousin are coming for a visit! This will no doubt be one of the hightlights of our whole year, to be blessed with a visit from family!

I talked to my grandma yesterday, and due to her having high blood pressure and some abnormal readings on her EKG, she's having some tests run on Wednesday next week. She's tired, but feels well, and is HOPEFUL that all will be well and she will still be able to come. Of course there will be a lot of disappointment for all of us if that doesn't happen, so will you pray with us??!! For health and healing, freedom from fear, and FAITH!!!!

Thank you!

Another Installment of Funny Things My Kids Say

It's been awhile since I've written about the delightful and not-so-delightful things that come out of my childrens' mouths - and indeed it's NOT for lack of material! I thought I'd catch up a bit, so please allow me to "journal" for the sake of posterity. Here's a few snippets from our ever-entertaining boys.

Ma-lak: For three days in a row, the lunch lady at school reminded Ma-lak to "PLEASE tell your mom you're out of lunch ticket punches." He apparently kept forgetting, prompting a phone call from her to us. She couldn't stop laughing when she told me that on the third day of reminding him, he said to her, "You know, with all the stuff my mom and dad ask me to remember, I just don't have any memory left."

A week or so ago, Ma-lak was taking a VEERRRRY long time to finish his breakfast. They were running late for school, so I kept hurrying him along. He just sat there and barely touched his food - very strange for him if you know how this boy loves to eat!! I tried to wait patiently... Finally he looked up at me and sighed and said, "I feel like I'm wasting my time. I'm not going to eat this stuff." Um, WHOSE time were you wasting??!!

Ya'shar: Ya'shar has trouble remembering his slang expressions and tends to get them a little mixed up at times. And whenever he DOES use slang expressions, it reminds me that he probably picks up a lot of those expressions from us. (Daryle and I are constantly asking each other, "Do I say that a lot??") So the other day, Daryle and the kids picked me up after a meeting. As soon as I got in the car, Ya'shar was excited to tell me something. "Hey, Mommy! Guess WHAT?! You're never gonna believe what happened today! It's going to freak. you. UP." Could NOT stop laughing over that one.

Monday night I was getting ready to leave for work. It was about 10:00 pm, and Daddy had told Ya'shar he could stay up a little longer than usual. (He really loves that.) I gave them a kiss good-bye, and Ya'shar says, "Bye, Mommy. Are you going to Wal-mart now?" "No!" I said. "I'm going to work! Why would you think I'm going to Wal-mart NOW??" "Well, I thought you WORKED at Wal-mart, you go there all the time." Oh boy.....

NORCAL Jiu Jitsu Tournament!

A very eventful day!!

Daryle and the little Smiths have been going to Jiu Jitsu for a few months now and they absolutely love it. Don't ask me how it's different from Tae Kwan Do, other than being equally difficult to spell, but they seem to be learning more and getting more out of it than their last experience. (Lots of grappling and wrestling and holds and tapping out.) They are quite competitive, too it appears, especially when they're in an actual tournament with people watching! (We have no idea where they got that from.)

Anyway, there were only 5 in their age group (meaning our children and one other little boy!) Rea ended up getting 1st place and Ni'ke got 2nd. Hooray!! Everyone was starving by the time they got done, so they swung by the house to rescue me from my day of domestic slavery and off we went to eat lunch at Hank's Creekside Cafe, Santa Rosa's best kept secret. (Crab Cakes Benedict! Who new??!!)

So we are now recovering at home with a wonderful lazy evening of popcorn, hot chocolate, and a yet-to-be-determined movie!

I love love LOVE my weekends off!!!

Blessings to ya!

After Tournament Posin'

Oysters, Anyone??

"Um, no thank you," said Ya'shar. :) So very polite! You haven't seen anything till you've seen a 4 year old try to gag down an oyster. Let's just say that while he can put some sushi away with the best of them, he did NOT however inherit his dad's mysteriously weird palate for raw crustaceans.

Sorry, Honey! Gotta side with Ya'shar on this one...

No More Medication Station!!!

It's been a looooong past few weeks! But we're so grateful to FINALLY be feeling better all around! After taking the boys to Urgent Care this past Wednesday, I was trying to remember the last time we were ALL healthy, all at once.... Couldn't remember, but it was some time in 2010. (sigh) Anyway, viral bronchitis stinks. Not that any other kind is a walk in the park, but at least you're given antibiotics and FEEL like you're doing something for them.

Yesterday was the first time they've ALL been to school at once. Needless to say, they slept good last night! They're over their fevers and feeling stir crazy, so Daryle took them to their Jiu Jitsu tournament this morning! Hopefully he took some pictures since I threw the camera at him and begged, "Pleeeeease!" as they ran out of the house this morning!

Did I mention that it's in the low 70's here all weekend??!! Absolutely lovely weather for early February, wouldn't you say?! And my countdown is getting closer to arrival - 4 weeks from today some of my favorite people are coming to see me! Mom, Grandma, Aunt Lori, and McKayla will be here and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

Won't be long now!!