Are you ready for some football?

Just when I think I'm going to get a break from the never-ending barrage of football games, football polls, fantasy football leagues, drafts, etc...along comes the OSU Spring Game. It comes out of nowhere and smacks me right in the face every year, mostly I think, because I'm just not paying attention...unlike the rest of Central Ohio!! We haven't been down to the game in the past couple of years, but Barry always mentions it...of course he does...he is following Buckeye football every single day of the year! Well, this year, we just happened to have nothing pressing that we had to do, and the weather was supposed to be reasonably nice...so we donned our scarlet and gray and took the kiddos down to campus for their first trip inside the Shoe. OMG... their first trip into the stadium...how fun!

The weather was AWESOME at the beginning of the day. We didn't buy our tickets ahead of time(they're $5 presale and $10 the day of the game), since the weather report was iffy right up until that morning. Turned out to be a great move, though, because while we were waiting in line to purchase our tickets, and older gentleman came up and asked us if we were buying tickets for the game. When we replied yes, he handed us 3 tickets (Noah got in free) and told us to have a good time!! SWEEEEEET!!! We still had spent no money, as parking was free as well as the bus ride from West Campus.

We headed on into the stadium, checking out B deck, trying to possibly find some seats under cover, as they were predicting rain later in the afternoon. But after looking around a bit and craving the sun, we decided on C deck so we could load up on our Vitamin D. I'd never sat in C deck before, and I must say the view is awesome! I really liked it! And of course, the kiddos thought it was VERY cool and VERY high.

We only made it until halftime, as the rain started up just before...and besides, the kids had finished off their popcorn and pretzels and the excitement was starting to wear off. Noah flat out asked to leave at least 3 times leading up to halftime. We were absolutely fine with it though, as we were glad that they sat and enjoyed it as long as they did! It was a fun day! Gotta do our part to raise those Little Buckeyes up right! LOL!

Afterward, we headed to Graeters (of course) to satisfy our sweet teeth. Kendall opted for the Buckeye Blitz because she thought it would be the best flavor following a Buckeye game. I guess I'd have to agree with her, except my favorite seasonal flavor (strawberry chip) was in...so I had that. When our bellies were brimming with ice cream, we headed up north to Straders greenhouse and bought a couple of river birches for our yard...they were 50% off! WAHOO! While we were there, my mom called to say she was going to hop in the car and come on up for a quick visit, so we hightailed it home and awaited her arrival. What a fun Saturday!!

But I must admit, I'm STILL not ready to talk football yet!!

She's just like me...

I am a reader...always have been, probably always will be. I have always had a voracious appetite for books...and I don't discriminate between genres. I'll read most anything. Fiction or non-fiction...comedy, horror, mystery, self-help, spiritual, how-to's, autobiographies...you name it, I'll probably read it. Unfortunately, in the past decade, I haven't had the time to read for hours like I used to. Or maybe it's that I feel guilty for sitting down long enough to read. Hey, I'm just being honest here! But whatever the reason, to feed my need for books, I've become more hooked on audio books since I'm in the car so much. It's not always the same experience as snuggling up in bed or on the couch with your book du jour, but hey, it doesn't give me any eye strain! And besides that, it's really about all I have time for right now, unless I want to give up blogging, FB, and photography. So yeah, audiobooks are a good thing.

When Kendall was on Spring Break, I had to take her to work with my one day because I only had one client and didn't see the need to arrange child care for her for one hour when she could bring her DS and sit down in Danny's salon while I saw my client. Danny spoils her rotten, so she was all too happy to comply. Afterward, we walked over to the library, where she wanted to pick up the third Harry Potter book. Well, they didn't have it in. Bummer. So after much looking around, she decided on a big book called "Here Be Monsters". As she read the inside cover, she was laughing and looking quite intrigued. Little did I know....She read the entire way home. She read that whole evening. And the next day at lunch, she walked up to me in the kitchen and handed me the book. "I'm finished", was all she said. That simple.

I said, "You read the whole thing? No skipping pages? No reading ahead?"

"No! Why would you ask that? Don't you believe me? If I skipped pages, I'd miss stuff!"

How true...my thoughts exactly! I guess I just wasn't prepared for her to read so voraciously already. But really, I don't know why I'm surprised...

In Training

For 4 years, Kendall has been asking to do TaeKwonDo. We'd been pushing it off only because she was involved in weekly swimming and gymnastics classes at first, then swimming and piano...there's always a full schedule. Plus, I guess I thought it would pass...maybe it was a fleeting fancy. You know how that happens with kids!

But Barry and I had been talking with Kendall about how she's getting older, and now is about the time that kids start to find "their thing"...the activity/interest that they love more than any other...the one they want to spend all their time doing, instead of just randomly trying all different kinds of things. Sadly, in this day and age, if kids don't get it figured out early, they are really behind and then don't want to participate. We saw this particularly in soccer, as she first tried it 2 years after everyone else her age had started. Many of the kids attended soccer camps year round, and Kendall felt like she didn't pick it up fast enough and lost interest quickly. I've talked to many other parents who also feel this frustration. It's like, if your child hasn't been training since age 3, just forget about it. What's up with that?

Anyway, she wanted to give up swimming...but that's not an option in our house. Why? Because of this...Swimming is a part of life around here until I am confident that these kids are safe around that pond. Yes, she's close...she's been swimming weekly since she was 3...but I wanted her to keep it up for just a little while more. So I made her a deal. She could start TaeKwonDo if she swam until summer break, and swam her hardest and best with no complaints. That was all it took. She was sold!

So in March, she took a free class to get a feel for it and see if she wanted to try it. This, of course, was a formality because we KNEW she was going to want to do it...and a LOT of it. Were we wrong? NO. She was so excited!!! And even more so because her friend Garrett decided to give it a go as well. (And of course, this makes me happy because Garrett's mom and I have worked out a carpool...because the TKD center is 25 minutes away from my house!) So the way it works is we pay a monthly "tuition" and she can go to as many or as few classes per week as she wants or is able to get to. They offer a class for her level every day except Sunday, all at varying times. Needless to say, she's been getting there an average of 5 days per week...are you getting how much she loves this yet? On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the class is at 4:55, so she rides the bus home with Garrett, and his mom takes them and Barry picks her up on his way home from work. On Mondays,Wednesdays, and Fridays, class is at 6:25...so we eat dinner, and then pick Garrett up on the way and drop him off on his way home. Saturday is kind of a crap shoot...class is at 11:00, so we make it if we can.

I'm seeing some real positives to this sport, as opposed to some of the others she's tried. First and foremost, the emphasis is on respect and discipline. Second is the focus. Third is how much fun the instructors make it while still coaching the kids. Not once has she said she didn't want to go. Fourth is how much these 2 instructors have made it so much like a sort of family. I even enjoy going and watching. Kendall loves to teach me when we get home...it's so cute!After a the first few weeks, Kendall came running up to me after class and said, "MOM!!! I really think I've found 'my thing'!!! I'll tell you what...I think she might be right. Here she is right after receiving her 4th stripe...the red one. Yesterday she participated in her first belt test, to receive her yellow belt. She was fantastic, and I'm not just saying that because she's my baby girl. One of the parents grabbed me on our way out and told me so...to which I replied, "Do you really think so? I thought it was just me being biased!!!"

She laughed and said no, Kendall was clearly working hard and having fun.

And really, what more can I ask of her?

My Little Helper

If I need help, I can almost always count on my little helper. Noah LOVES to help. Give him a job, and he's ready to go! So the other day when I was working on a new recipe for Party in the Pantry, he was VERY excited. "Can I help, Mama? I want to run the mixer!" It's all about running the mixer, folks. He's very mechanically minded and intrigued by the way things work. Oh, that and he always wants to lick the beaters too... :)

Seriously...you cannot resist this boy! So we donned our aprons and got to work...me tweaking and tasting, him measuring and mixing. We had so much fun, and the results were good too! I think you can tell by his face that the recipe was a winner...Isn't he a cutie? Ornery as hell, but a cutie nonetheless. I can't get over how much older he looks in this picture!

So be on the lookout soon for these yummy tropical oatmeal cookies. They were scrumptious!