37 years & counting???

First off, Happy 37th to the oldest Strawn of the bunch here.  After Lars ran up to him and said "Happy Birthday, Daddy!" at the end of church, The Rev announced to the congregation that he was one year closer to being dead.  That's one way to look at it, I guess...

In happier news, we celebrated with a grill out & cheesecake last night with friends and delighted in the warm weather we've been lucky enough to sustain out here.  I know winter is going to come quickly, hit us like a Mack, and it's going to be cold & windy & bitter & probably awful with no snow to boot, but we're holding on to 70 degrees as long as we can!~

I'm a bit ashamed to say I have no photos of last night's party endeavor, but I assure you, there was wine & good laughter from all!

This afternoon, in 73 degrees, the kids & I walked up to the football field for the "Punt, Pass & Kick" competition of the year.  This is an old Bridgeport tradition that apparently ended some years ago and is trying to be resurrected.  The idea is to see how far you can throw a softball, throw a baseball, pass, kick and then punt a football. Not all at the same time, thankfully.

Elia, in charge of the "T"...and the football...

Lars and Eden were in the group for pre-K/K together and I have no idea what I'm going to do when Lars will be in any sort of separate group of Eden.  They stick together like glue.  Eden said to me, "Mom can you find Lars a new friend, he won't leave me alone."  At one point, he was holding on to her shirt yelling, "Don't leave me" and she was yelling, "Lars I'm right here, stand out of my space bubble!"

Eden gets some air on a kick!

She really tolerates him better than I do.

At any rate, all the kids seemed to have fun.  A bee sting ended it for the one other girl in Eden's group, on the first practice for the first event, which left Eden as the token girl for the group.  I don't think she noticed.  She was unhappy, however, that she did not throw the ball as far as the other boys, and only beat out two of them, one being Lars.  She said she'd have to get working on that over the winter months.  I hoped we could practice with snowballs.   But I'm not holding my breath. 

This year's event was coupled with a fundraiser for a local toddler who was burned in a campfire over the summer, and it was a real joy to see her out getting around so well.  Her & Elia, 3 months apart in age, are becoming fast friends. At the end of the potluck, the girl was riding in Elia's stroller, and Elia was reaching for the football she had.  I told them not to worry, they'd get to know each other more before they went to Kindergarten together.  It is, after all, a pretty small town.

In the end, we came home with more than we went with, both in food (candy for the little kickers) & fellowship, having been able to get to know some more of the townsfolk. That's probably my favorite thing about doing community events here, I always seem to meet somebody, even after nearly 5 years.  One woman wanted to know if I made the enchilada's.  When I said that, yes, I had, she gave me her phone number & email, wanting the recipe.  I also got a bowl of hot sauce from somebody else and gave away my Sweet Pickles to somebody who said he normally hates sweet pickles, but loved these.

Good Food.  That's my kind of talk!  Beautiful weather. That's my kind of event!  Friendly people.  That's my kind of town!

Lars gets ready to punt!

Now I lay me down to sleep..... 

whoever may mind, whatever the reason, whenever I feel like it, wherever I happen to be, however I deem necessary, without a care in the world, dreaming happily about that next home run.

The love-hate relationship: Fundraisers

I don't know what happened to the simple days of selling Girl Scout cookies and calling it good, but now that my daughter is in Kindergarten, we have begun the age of fundraisers.  I have many, many thoughts on fundraisers, most of them negative, but I'm not going to be a stick in the mud parent who locks my child up in a closet during fundraiser time and shreds their fundraiser catalog when they are not looking then blame it on the dog. 

I first began despising fundraisers when I had a kid walk up to my door some years ago, ring the door bell and shove a catalog in my face as soon as I had opened the door, all while I had a screaming baby in my arms.  I'm sure the screaming baby had something to do with it, but I snapped.

Now don't hate me just because of that, hear me out first.

I am over fundraiser-ed at this point because it was my 3rd door bell kid of the day and it was still very early.  I asked him, "What do you want me to do with this?" and he looked at me, bewildered, and shrugged his shoulders. He said, "I don't know.  My teacher gave it to me and it says on the paper what it is.  I think.  Somewhere."   He says this as he turns the paper in several directions, flipping it over 3 times in my hand.  I asked him sweetly, "Child, what is your name?" and he said, "I'm not sure I'm supposed to tell you because I don't know you."  I tried something different, "What grade are you in?"  He stared at me.  "Fair enough, I don't want you breaking any house rules.  Where is your mom or dad?"  His answer?  "At home."

So, let me roll my eyes and get this straight:  You are a nameless child wandering the streets without a parent, coming to MY door, (a stranger, no less), to throw a catalog in my face and stand there like the confused child that you are.  Then, when I ask you a simple question, you are terrified.  Probably because I spoke and you weren't expecting any questions.

Why wasn't he expecting any questions you may ask?  Because we have so trained ourselves to expect this kind of behavior from cute little kids who come to the door with a catalog, selling something or asking for donations for a good cause.  Like, jump rope until you have a heart attack and give me $5.00 while you're at it.  Or maybe you just want to get them to leave, so you put a quantity in a box as quickly as you can, whip out your checkbook, and send them on their way.  I'm not sure your reason.

Personally, I just like to support the locals.  Educational trips, new band equipment, football jerseys, boy scout camps, and the like. I'm all for it. And I love chocolate, and pizza kits, and cookies, and wrapping paper.  It has nothing to do with the current economy at all, or kids having to pay their own way in life, or parents not having enough money.  Like the years of the Depression were any better, and they got along just fine without fundraisers.  I really like the way polite, well dressed kids come to my door, knock, smile, introduce themselves, make small talk, tell me about the trip they are attempting to take and so on and so forth.  I'm happy to look at your cause.  It's the cute but rude, clueless ones that irritate me.

Anyway, I digress.

I now have a cute little kid of my own, begging me to go door to door.  I compromised.  I told Eden that she could go ask people that she knew.  And that she had to be polite and tell people exactly what they would be supporting if they chose to purchase something.  And if they said "No, thank you" that she couldn't pout or look like she just got slapped.

So, we practiced.  I told her if she shoved the paper in anybody's face, even once, she was done. 

"Mommy, My name is Eden.  Would you like to buy some chocolates to support the Girl Scouts?"

"NO, GO AWAY!"

She looked like she might cry, then thought better of it and smiled a little grin and said, "huh?"

Fast forward to this evening.  We are at a JV football game, working ambulance, and here's Eden with her pen and catalog in hand, big smile on her face, walking up and down the sidelines, trying to sell to the kids on the bench.  I shooed her into the stands and told her to find adults that she knew to ask.  Politely.  And then I hid under the stands until she was done.  Until a child found me with her OWN paper, saying, "Hey.  Do you want to donate money for me to play basket ball for your heart?"  After a 5 minute dissertation in which she knew more than most, I dug out 9 quarters and two nickles from my EMS pants and put them in her envelope, signing my name in the appropriate spot on her paper. 

While I was cowering, and complaining about all the fundraisers that kids are expected to do to raise an unreasonable about of money for every club known to man, a wise one enlightened me with the thought that in this process, if parents care to teach them, kids are learning to present themselves to people in a proper way, and it'll teach them important life skills as they grow up.

I'll admit, I'd never thought of it that way before.  Thank you.   

"Well OK Eden, let me see your catalog"

"Mommy, I'd like you to buy these, because they look really good and I want to eat them."

"Eden, you can't tell people what you want them to buy, they get to pick for themselves"

"Well, I was just trying to help.  I helped others."

"I know, dear child, I know.  I love you. Fundraisers and all.  Forever"

Eden's first Girl Scout Event: Learning Archery

Now, who's selling Little Ceasers pizza kits?  Those are my favorite.  You know where to find me!