Things That Rock

1. Picnics in the park, watching Tim play tennis, on a pleasant afternoon. . .


2. Sitting outside by the flowers, eating our yogurt pops, and having Ethan say, "It's nice out here," plain as day, twice. Also, yogurt pops rock, and both Kate and Ethan would vouch for that. Kate will protect hers until the death. She loves those things! I don't have pictures of Kate or Ethan by the flowers, nor do I have pictures of yogurt pops, but I do have pictures of the flowers, and they rock (the flowers, not the pics). . . .


3. Church, particularly as of late. When Ethan came back from the children's message last week, Kate leaned over and gave him a big hug. Also, this week there were something like 20 kids aged 0-3 in the nursery, and although I was in charge this time and had no idea how to watch all those kids (but I had help, thankfully), I was excited to see that so many young families are making it a point to attend worship. AND Ethan loves the music at church, and plays his air guitar, sings, dances, and beats his drums. He rocks out.

4. My job. I am so excited to be back in school now. We started a little over a week ago. This year I am teaching World Geography, U.S. History, and 8th grade Accelerated Algebra. I must give the full title of that last class because it is a new one for me, and one that excites me. I brushed up on my algebra all summer. It was a blast. The kids in this class are ones that usually understand math and love a challenge and love to find out how math is used in the real world. I don't feel huge pressure that I will fail them if I explain something "differently". I know we will go far this year, and that I will be able to be creative, even in teaching math, which I have often thought of as a class in which one must "plug away," much like one trains for a marathon. All my students seem to love learning, are creative, and will make this year a great one. Something that I am looking forward to in the next several weeks is creating a colonial mini-town with the goal of helping "history come alive" for 14-year-olds. The kids have lots of ideas, and it should be fun to learn together about jobs, money, and styles of the 1700s. BONUS: Not only does my job rock, but getting to do this ON THE JOB is pretty awesome too. . . .



5. Working out. Several weeks ago I started going to early-morning work-outs at the local rec center. So far I've gone twice a week, and I run or walk the other days. I feel so much stronger, and I'm hoping my last fun run will show improvement because I have been giving myself a better-rounded routine. Plus, it feels so great to get home at 7:10, get ready for the day, and know throughout the day that I have already accomplished one of my daily goals.

6. Book club! This month we have been collecting titles from our book club members, and Friday my fellow leader and I assembled a list for the entire school year. This time I am going to have my game together! I have already ordered a bunch of the books from used book stores and vendors. Last year I waited too long to get my hands on the books we were reading, so often I showed up to book club not even done with a book. Now I have a system, and the books we are reading sound so terrific. We are reading Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs this month.

7. Some days rock. Thursday I got all my school work done, played Slip and Slide with Kate and Ethan, straightened up the EN-tire house, made a delicious salmon dinner on the grill, and had a quaint table set on our back patio, all by the time Tim came home from work. That day rocked. I thought to myself, "I should be this awesome every day."

Other days DO NOT rock. I don't believe in calling stages "terrible", as in "The Terrible Twos", but several days last week BEFORE Slip-n-Slide Thursday, I was calling it like it was, and it was pretty terrible. Let's just say that Wednesday morning Tim found his phone with five missed calls and several messages from the night before. The first one was something like, "Tim, please come home from tennis as soon as possible. I need help. I'm not doing well." Click. The next message contained nothing but Ethan's crying (wailing?), as I told him he should call his dad to tell him what was bothering him. (I'm trying to teach Ethan to express his feelings. . . "Ethan, if you're sad, say, 'I'm sad because my toe hurts'", etc. It's like, so effective with an almost 3-year-old that's bawling and can't even speak clearly on a good day. Just so you know. But it WILL pay off eventually. So I hear. )

There were at least three nights in a row when Ethan did not go to sleep before 10 p.m. A lot of crying was involved, and I'm not sure what was wrong. Was the potty training really that much of a transition for him? I prayed. The answer came. A revelation, really. I put a stereo in Ethan's room, and now he listens to music as he falls asleep. His preferred album (his favorite word is album) is Rock-a-bye Veggie, a gift from Uncle Dan and Starr for his first Christmas. The Terrific Twos are back!

Other things that rock. . . .

8. Hiking with our kids.


9. Kids being musical.

10. Independent kids. I love when Ethan steps off a stool that I set him on, just so he can climb up BY HIMSELF. Same with his hat. He takes it off, just so he can put it on BY HIMSELF, in case I was touching it when he put it on the first time. "No, I do it." Love it. God made kids to become independent.

11. Kate trying to say lots of new words. Eyes, socks, light, mama, dad, Ethan. She is so cute. And cuddly.

12. Sleeping kids.



13. Broccoli that looks like a little man. (By the way, Kate and Ethan can easily polish off over half a bag of frozen vegetables in one sitting. Even I don't like my veggies that much.)


14. The Soloist. Tim and I watched it last night, and it was good. Go rent it.

15. Going out on dates with my husband, and in-laws that watch the kids to make this happen. I ran across this link called The Great Date Experiment that has activities for spouses to do on one date a month for six months. It's been fun so far, and it can be done for cheap if that's what you need. Go for it, and then rent The Soloist, or 17 Again.

What rocks in your life?