Guest post from Dad

On Thursday, 1/31/13, I had quite and experience with the kids. Their after school program is called CASA.  Every year right before the NFL Super Bowl, CASA helps the kids put on a CASA Super Bowl. They assign 5th graders as team captains and play a football game in the school gym. The kids that don't play do other things like cheerleading, making posters, bringing snacks, make noise makers, put on a halftime show, etc. It's big fun. Parents are invited to watch but it starts at 3 p.m. so this year there was only about 6 parents there for the 40 some odd kids that are in CASA. This was the first time in 5 years that I could attend. It was inspiring to me to see all these elementary school kids participating in different portions of the game with minimal adult control. The teams played good football, scorekeepers did "mostly" good, etc. But it was clearly a kids run event. Kudos to the CASA teachers.

Anyway, Reed (4th grade) played football and did wonderful. He played as a good teammate and leader. He played defense, offense (QB and receiver). He showed great sportsmanship and hustle. He was encouraging players, laughing, high-fiving and having a ball. He threw 2 TD passes and caught 1 TD pass. All the while just having fun.

Amy, (2nd grade) however, I think stole the show. Through the whole game she was watching, cheering, playing with friends, "sneaking" out of the gym and generally have a great time. She dancing the cotton eye joe and macarana during halftime. She was one of four kids to hold he signs that the team ran through at the beginning of the game then she hustled to the stage to sing the National Anthem as a complete solo, using a microphone on stage in front of a gym full of her peers and adults. Her teachers said she was the only kid who volunteered to sing. All eyes were on her and she nailed it. She was loud, clear, confident and simply breathtaking.

Then I sat with Amy while we ate pizza after. I couldn't be more proud of our kids.

Happy birthday to me!

Last week was my birthday, and Amy spent lots of time making me two cards. She wrote the text of the card on the computer so she could really perfect it. Then she included it on one hand-drawn card and one she drew on the computer. These are most definitely my favorite kind of presents!

Traditions

Over Christmas, I asked Reed what his favorite Christmas traditions were. He said "Do we have any traditions?" What? We have about a million traditions for Christmas! I guess Reed just didn't connect the word "traditions" to the things that we do together every year to celebrate the holidays.

Let me think...

Christmas PJs!

• Putting the tree up the day after Thanksgiving
• Special new ornaments each year for the kids – this year Reed's was a flag football guy and Amy's was a tae kwon do girl
• New Christmas pajamas for everyone
• Driving around the neighborhood to see Christmas lights
• Family cookie day
• Visiting Santa
• Building gingerbread houses
• Baking cookies for Santa and leaving out carrots for the reindeer
• Christmas Eve Eve dinner with our family
• Christmas Eve gathering with the Wenzells
• Going to Poppy's church for Christmas Eve services
• Christmas morning breakfast with our family
• Christmas dinner with the larger family, always with Broccoli Casserole

And this is probably only a partial list! Anyway, I think he gets it now.

The apple didn't fall far from the tree

Over the holidays, Amy orchestrated a shopping trip for herself with Aly, Nikki AtLee and Nikki Mitchell. This is a girl who's (mostly) not afraid to ask for what she wants, so she asked for this trip and made it happen. Girls shopping day: set.

In the week leading up to the big day, she was eagerly planning how things would go down. She used the new iPod Touch she got for Christmas to painstakingly create this shopping list:

Her OCD mother couldn't be more proud. I can only imagine how much time she spent typing this out, getting it lined up right, thinking things through. I love it!

I know she gets these traits from me, but I swear I wasn't this organized when I was a kid. That only truly kicked in when I was an adult, I think. So is it more nature or nurture? Is she hard-wired to be organized, or did she learn from our examples, or maybe it's a combination of both?

Amy always wants to know exactly how things are going to go down. What time are we leaving? How long will it take to get there? Who's going to be there? How long will we stay? When I get home, do I have time to read before bed? I guess it's how she helps order her world, where things are so often completely out of her control.

I know these are skills that will serve her well!

So funny

The other day I was sorting laundry, as I've been known to do since I love to have a good time. Amy was getting dressed and came in to ask "Mom, are you still accepting laundry?"

Yes, indeed, I am still accepting laundry. On a continuing basis. :)

Lasts

I guess this is a fitting post for the final day of the year. I've been thinking lately about "lasts".

It's easy to track some firsts, and even know exactly when they're going to happen - first time meeting grandparents, first airplane flight, first time at the ocean, first day of school, first roller coaster ride. It's easy to document those firsts and hold them in your memory forever.

You don't know when some other firsts are going to come - at least not exactly. First smile, first steps, first tooth lost. The excitement of these expressions of growth are so wonderful. Babies are basically blobs the first couple of months of life - and then you get that first real smile and everything changes. They have personality! They can give something back! It's amazing and beautiful. Firsts are incredible.

But "lasts"....well, they are different. You don't realize a "last" has happened until much later. We've already past so many lasts - the last time we'll hold a sleeping infant, the last time we'll put a baby to sleep in a crib, the last time we'll send a child off to kindergarten. But there are other lasts that are still to come for us. The last time your child holds your hand without a thought of what anyone else might think, just wanting that sense of security and comfort. The last time they wander into your room at night, climbing into bed and going right back to sleep. The last time they enjoy having you visit their classroom to help out. The last time they'll take a nap with you. These lasts are going to come and go and we probably won't even know it until months or even years go by.

I'm trying not to dwell on these things, instead focusing on savoring these special moments every time they happen. I'm so grateful for our beautiful, loving children. I wish I could keep them little, but I know that's not possible. I'll just do my best to enjoy every single stage.

Building some great people here

As a parent, sometimes you wonder if you're instilling your kids with the right values and teaching them to do the right thing. Yesterday we had a couple of examples of how we (hopefully) have our kids on the right path.

First, there's Amy. This girl is a hard worker. She (mostly) doesn't quit when things get hard, and she will work all day if it's something she's interested in. She does extra school work. Give her any job, she's glad to do it. She loves (LOVES!) to serve people food or drinks, happy to take orders and deliver them. Yesterday was our annual Cookie Day where the family gets together to make treats for the holidays. We were at Jennifer's for four hours and I think Amy only stopped working long enough to eat some lunch. She measured, poured, stirred...any job, she was happy to do it. What a work ethic. Right afterward, she went to a Brownie gathering where they decorated cookies to take to a nursing home this week. She said she decorated so much, she didn't even get to have a cookie.

And Reed. Nana wasn't quite up to participating in cookie day this year, but I wanted to bring her some of the goodies so we headed over to her house. Reed was genuinely happy to do this, and eagerly carried the cookies in to her. I know this is a small thing, but I was touched to know that he understands it's a tough time for her, and that the small act of bringing her cookies would mean a lot to her.

Couple of good kids we've got.