Giants Fever

I don't know how we will handle the series- I mean my children were basically parentless for the last few weeks. Dinner? Oh, yeah... that thing that I hastily throw on a plate or pick up from a drive thru prior to first pitch? You mean kids can't live on chicken nuggets and pizza alone? You mean PB and J and yogurt five days a week will not help my kids grow up healthy and strong? Faith and Tanner have learned more about playing alone and taking care of themselves through this playoff season than ever before. Legos have been in wide use, as have coloring and multiple viewings (which for them are more like "acting outs") of The Lion King upstairs in our bedroom (thank goodness for two TV's). For the playoff series my mom sent the kids five dollars each to use at the Merc during the games- that helped keep them entertained for a little bit for each game and I have to say, the sight of Jake holding Faith and Tanner's hands across the street and helping them pick out treats makes me so happy!

The tension of Game 6 nearly killed Brian and I- the kids were in bed (we gave them the choice to stay up for Saturday or Sunday's game and they picked Sunday). Game six was SO GREAT! We were unable to sit down for several innings- jumping around like a crazy person, hopping from foot to foot watching Brian Wilson pitch (OK, so it was only me that was actually hopping around). I was sure one of us would have a heart attack. Oh my gosh we have had so much fun. We spend the games texting with our fellow Giant fans- Sheila and Wayne- our friends we went to spring training with this year. When they won in game 6 Brian looked at me and said, "What the hell will we do with Tanner and Faith for the next series? We're gonna have to buy them a monkey or something!"

We received a box in the mail from Auntie Sue

yesterday filled with Giants gear: a Posey shirt for

Tanner, Lincecum for Jake, Cain for me, Faith got an AT & T ballpark shirt, and Brian got Uribe. All the kids also got sweatshirts. Between that and the flag that we bought after the playoffs, we were good to go! The boys immediately put on their shirts, headed out back and played "pitcher,catcher" in their appropriate roles. Brian's shirt must have been good luck since Uribe hit a home run in the first game. I saved my Cain shirt until game 2 when he pitched an amazing game. Thanks, Auntie Sue, for thinking of us, and also for bringing the Giants such good luck! The next day we got a box in the mail from Grandma Mary. Man, are we spoiled!!! Inside we found the traditional ballpark treat: Cracker Jacks. Also money for a hot dog or pizza dinner for one of the games. Really... this has just been TOO MUCH FUN.

Although Tanner and Faith don't watch all the games with us, they are very into the series. When giving them a bath before the game on Wedn

esday I heard them from the other room saying, "Fear the Beard! Fear the Beard!". When I walked into their bathroom I saw that they had both covered their chins with bubbles and were chanting for our favorite closer: Brian Wilson.

World Series Game 3 tonight. Already got dinner planned and made: turkey and cheese sandwiches with an apple, cheese stick, juice box, and animal crackers (so what if it was sold to me in a little plastic lunch box already made at Walmart... I figure it's better than a happy meal. GO GIANTS!

Fall

I don't know what is up with the weather this year here (other than global warming), but fall is finally starting to show up. This is a picture pretty much out our front door. The leaves are turning finally.

It's has gotten crisper in the mornings. Sweatshirts and sweaters have been broken out and the "Grandma Mary blankets" are back in heavy rotation while we watch the Giant's playoff games. We have the kids signed up for ski and snowboard lessons and are taking the boat in to be winterized next week (we hardly knew ye this year), so we're not preparing for hibernation, but close. If Marisa would just let it go about the amount of football we're watching on Sundays it would be perfect....

Goodbye Football!

Jake's last game was Saturday, followed by his team party. His first football season was a great experience in so many ways. I think Jake learned a lot more than just football plays and blocking positions. He had a coach that pushed him in a way he hasn't been pushed before- not at home, not at school, and not in any other sport he has participated in so far. This was hard at first (and created some controversy between the coach and parents) . Yes, the coach demanded respect and good attention during practice and often doled out "laps" and "pushups" for sloppy play or inattention, but he was also encouraging and kind and found the best in each player. He talked to them after each game about what they did well and what they could have done better, he inspired them to do their best by promising he would do push ups for good plays or getting a guy's flags or whatever- and he always kept true to his promise (one day he had to do 60 pushups). Any injuries were treated with patience and kindness. At the year end party he spoke about each boy personally- his strengths, what he had improved on, what he saw for him in the future in the sport, etc... It WAS hard at first to watch Jake be pushed by his coach. But in the end he is a better guy for it. He has learned some amazing life lessons- lessons that will bode well for him in his real life, too, not just on the football field.

I am reading an excellent book right now called "Free Range Kids" in which the author talks about all the ways that kids today are given less responsibility, less independence, less trust to make good decisions while also taking less of the natural consequences for making decisions that result in bad outcomes (moms and dads tend to rescue kids a lot more these days in ways that don't teach kids to take responsibility for their actions). The book is fascinating and challenges parents to let go, worry less, and trust their kids more. Anyway, this book coincides perfectly to what I experienced as a parent in football this season: I had to let go- of my desire for Jake to always feel comfortable and let him experience the pain of loss, a bad game, and an injury here and there without my immediate support. I left that to Coach. After practices 1 and 2 Jake wanted to quit. It was so much harder, more intense than any other activity he had been involved with. There really wasn't a lot of "hand holding" or coddling in the beginning. He stuck it out and had what he says is his best sports experience ever. Was it hard for me to see him go through periods when he was bummed out about a bad play or pissed off that he had to do 20 push ups during a practice? Sure it was. It is so hard as a parent to see your kid struggle. But seeing him struggle and in the end persevere is huge. It has made me a better mother and Jake a better person.

Sillybandz

Why couldn't I have been the person who invented these? There's no advanced education or science background involved and this person, I'm sure, now owns some island in the Bahamas or something.

Jake came home pretty soon after school started with some sillybandz, they trade them at school and all his friends have them. It's pretty funny at the beginning of football practice to see all the boys run over to their parents on the sidelines to take off their sillybandz as coach won't allow them on the field. But since Jake liked them, of course Tanner and Faith had to have them also.

As they were in such high demand, Mom and Dad seized the opportunity to use them as bribes for behavior at bedtime. We still, to this day, seven years after the fact, have trauma at bedtime. This blog could have just as easily been called, "Bedtime Struggles" for all of the stories, plans, and gray hairs that we have shared with everyone here. But, since they do have to go to bed every-night, we continue to fight for ways to make it easier. So Dad went to the store a couple of weeks ago and bought a bunch of sillybandz. We put them in a big jar on our counter and if the kids go to bed without issues and sleep in until 6:30 in the morning they get a sillyband.

Jake has gotten a bunch and trades them with his buddies at school and with Tanner as well. Tanner has gotten just as many as Jake, but can only seem to be able to find two or three at any given time. Faith loves them and clamors for them every morning that she has earned them. She wears them for about 7o seconds or so before taking them off and leaving them somewhere, at which point Dad picks them up and puts them back in the jar.

So far these seem to be one of our better bedtime currencies and we've got a whole jar full to go, so hopefully they will continue to be popular for awhile so we can continue to stay sane.

Tanner-style

Tanner has really started to come into his own in pre-k this year. He seems more confident (a big step for him) and has just started to seem "older". The other day he came home and asked me to cut his hair (since both kids are clients of Dad-the-Barber these days). He was very specific as to how he wanted it, I asked Marisa first and she agreed. So here's his cut. He was very happy with it and asked for it to be spiked up. My middle son, a spirit like no other.

Fall 2010

It's been a great season so far: Giants in the playoffs and Boise State is continuing to kick butt. The weather has turned, leaves have fallen, Halloween decorations are up. The costumes have been picked out (Jake- football player, Tanner-Simba or a football player or a fireman, Faith- horse or princess). I love fall- probably for the same reasons I love spring: everything is changing and showing the promise of something new (in this case, the promise of winter and snow and cold weather, I guess!). For a girl that has never been at one with "change" I do love the changing seasons!

The Giants in the playoffs has been huge fun for us. Last week we had to go watch the Padres/Giants final game at a sports bar since Direct TV wasn't showing it. Luckily we had

a babysitter all lined up (it was supposed to be date night anyway). We had a great time watching games 1 and 2 of the series between Atlanta and the Giants last week- even though they lost the second one and it was way too late for us to be awake on a work night (We are 10 o'Clock people and the3 1130 nearly killed us. In fact, I kept falling asleep on commercial breaks in the 10th and 11th innings and Brian had to keep waking me up!). Today's game was a little tricky: a 230 game on a Sunday afternoon. It was gorgeous outside so we bookended the game with a family walk and a family bike ride. Keeping the kids entertained during the actual game was another matter. They did a pretty good job of keeping themselves entertained and I only felt mildly guilty about leaving them to their own devices for 3.5 hours. But at one point I actually gave Jake and Tanner a 10 dollar bill and sent them to the Merc to buy whatever they wanted. Seriously. They came back with gummies and ice cream and snickers bars and lemonheads- which we divvied up between all five of us in the 7th inning. MMmmmmmmm a healthy dinner for us all! Lucky I didn't have cans of silly string or spray paint handy or it could have gotten really messy. (Note: the next morning the boys came down dressed for school in the exact clothes that they were wearing during yesterday's game. Even down to the undies. This in support of another Giants win tonight. Should I make them change? Or be proud of them for this bit of Giants fanatical thinking?)

Last weekend I took Tanner and Faith

to the Scarecrow Festival downtown at the Botanical Garden. They had a great time looking at all the different scarecrows. We got to vote for our top 3 choices and all of us put the Monkey one as #1. They also got to pick out pumpkins and take a hay ride. Fun stuff. So, fall continues. Once Halloween arrives it is a slippery slope to the New Year so we are definitely trying to enjoy the calm before the storm!

And, of course.... GO GIANTS!! Get us a win tonight!