Are You My Mother?

For Daniel's Back-To-School Night, students in his class had to write a short description of one parent. The teacher read the descriptions out loud during the classroom meeting with all the parents. Parents then had to guess if the person described in the essay was them. Here is what Daniel wrote:

"Who Am I? By Daniel Kauffman

Do you recognize this elegant woman with dark brown hair?

My mom has dark brown hair, brown eyes and the smell of Pert [shampoo] when she gets out of the shower. She's short and old. Her eyes sparkle like water when the sun hits it.

My mom is always caring for me. My mom is funny. She makes me laugh. My mom helps me a lot. She is fun to play with. She's cool playing with me. She's very smart with computers.

My talented mom is good at making dinner and lunch. She is very fast and good at texting. She's very good at making me mad then calming me down. She gets scared easily.

My mom enjoys watching me play baseball and my sister soccer. She enjoys reading, writing, and math. She also loves school.

Are you my mother?"

I find it interesting that he thinks I'm elegant. :) I find that comment so endearing. I should ask him what his definition for elegant is. The other thing that cracked me up is that he notices the smell of my shampoo, which by the way, thanks to a new friend who knows a lot about hair, I am now using Nioxin shampoo and Redken conditioner and neither smells like Pert. I wonder if he'll notice the difference. I also thought it was funny that he mentioned that I text a lot. I'm a little embarrassed by that comment, but I can't blame him for writing the truth. I'm just glad he didn't write other more embarrassing truths about me...

And I'm not THAT old. :)

Never-ending Summer

Summer starts in Texas around April. That's when we start getting those 85 degree days regularly. By the time school gets out at the end of May, the days are scorching hot and the temperature is hovering in the upper 90's. So when the end of August rolls around and the heat is unbearable--always above 100 degrees, I am so ready for a sign of fall. Typically, that sign is the first day of school!

This year, however, summer seems to be dragging on. After spending countless hours getting ready for school --organizing school supplies, picking out clothes, packing lunches, getting backpacks ready, and finding that shoe that always seems to disappear when you need it most--Daniel wakes up with a fever on the first day of school. How can a child who has had one cold all year get sick the day school starts? Somehow that one little incident has thrown off my entire plan for the week. I was supposed to walk three miles this morning, go to the grocery store, mail my sister her reading glasses, drop off some things at Goodwill, write thank you cards, etc., but now it's noon and I am sitting here in my PJ's reading Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and taking my son's temperature every hour. I have spent most of the morning playing with our new dog Sadie and my two year-old. I guess I am disappointed because it feels like a normal summer day and I m so ready to get back into our fall routine. Hopefully, for his sake and mine, his fever will break and he will be off to school tomorrow so fall can officially start (for me. )

TTYL.

Texas Round-up, Here I Come

I am not sure why I was so nervous about the 10k I walked/ran today.  I loved it.  Absolutely loved it.  I didn't die (not yet anyway).  My brain didn't swell.  And they do have porta-potties along the route!  Woohoo!   

My friend Julie and I walk/run a lot together so it was fun to do this race with her. We didn't run the whole way, but we did run a lot.  I didn't train as well as I should've. I know this because I am lying on the couch nursing my very sore legs.  They feel like they are going to cramp up any second. My awesome neighbor across the street, who happens to be a nurse in a cardiac unit, brought me a gatorade and an orange this afternoon after I told her I had a headache.  She said I was dehydrated.  So no, not everything was perfect, but I had a great time walking and running those 6.2 miles this morning.  

I had expected to be done in 2 hours since it normally takes me 45 minutes to walk/run the first 3 miles and I was sure it was going to take me more than an hour to finish the second 3 miles.  I told David and the kids to meet me at the finish line at 11 a.m.  Well, to our surprise, we finished in 1 hour and 42 minutes.  My sweet husband showed up a the finish line right at 11 a.m. and we had been sitting for more than 15 minutes already waiting for him.  I felt so bad for him.  He had the camera ready to go and he had missed me crossing the finish line. Oh, well. Next time, the whole family is going to run the race so no one will miss any of it.  

I loved it so much that I am considering running the Texas Round-up 5 K on April 25th.  

TTYL.

Race Nerves

I am getting very nervous about the Capitol 10K this weekend. Why did I sign up for that? I am not a runner. I am so dreading this. The first thing that got me nervous is the waiver I had to sign. It talks about runners who die during the race having no legal recourse. Die? What did I get myself into? Then I took a look at the elevation map: lots of hills. Ugh. I hate hills.

I actually waited until the last possible moment to sign up for the race perhaps hoping that something very important might come up and I wouldn't be able to go through with it, but no such luck. I am on for Sunday at 9 a.m. Deep breath. What if I am the last one to cross the finish line???? No. That won't happen. What if I drink too much water and I get a swollen brain???? What if I have a heart attack in the middle of the thing or an aneurysm???

Ok, back to reality. This ain't no marathon. It's a six mile race. Who dies in a six mile race? Right? I will be fine. I will be fine. I will be fine. I will not be the last person to cross the finish line. I will not let my brain swell from all the water I'm going to drink. Oh, no...what if I have to go potty from all the water I might drink??? Are there porta-potties along the route??? Aaargh. Too many scenarios I have not thought about and probably shouldn't...

TTYL.

Rice Sandwiches

I went to a reading last night by my favorite author, Sandra Cisneros. The Austin Public Library Foundation sponsored the reading in honor of the 25th anniversary of the publication of The House on Mango Street. As with most things good that have happened in my life, my husband introduced me to her writing.

When we first met, he owned a copy of The House on Mango Street, a collection of powerful short essays about the lives of Latinas in poverty. I read it voraciously. I could identify with the narrator of almost every story. It seemed that her stories were about me.  

My all-time favorite short essay is "Rice Sandwich," about a little girl who wants to eat in the "canteen" with the kids who bring lunch to Catholic school every day. After relentlessly pleading and begging her mother to please pack her a lunch, her mother agrees, but they don't have lunch meat so all her mother can pack her is a sandwich made out of rice. The little girl couldn't be happier. She walks in to school with her lunch and a note from her mother asking the mother superior to let her daughter eat in the canteen. But the little girl is not prepared for the humiliation that awaits her.

Every time I read that story, I weep. Seriously, not just tear up a little, but really cry a flowing river of tears. I guess it's because the story reminds me so much of when I was a little girl and how badly I wanted to take a lunch to school. My dad always said no because we already got a free lunch at school. I couldn't stand those free lunches, especially on the day they served Tortilla Soup. It was so gross.  Everything was all mixed together. It looked like it had already been processed in someone's stomach. I longed for the day when I could bring a lunch box to school filled with goodies from home and then one day, I met my friend Julie Farmer.  She brought a lunch to school every day and she hated that. Funny how life is sometimes, but what a perfect opportunity for both of us! I gave Julie my free lunch ticket and I got to eat her delicious bologna or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  

Anyway, last night Sandra Cisneros read two new short stories.  Like the rest of her writing, they were powerful and funny. I did not realize Sandra was such a funny person. I should've known since her stories can be very funny. Her last story was about her mother dying when Sandra was 53 and how that made her feel like an orphan in the world. In the story, two little girls who just lost their mother also lose their cat, Marie. 

"Have you seen Marie?" the little girls walk around asking in the neighbors. 

"Marie, where are you?!" they call out.  

They don't find Marie but in the process of looking for Marie they discover that they are really looking for their mother. When they finally start asking about their mother, her spirit responds: "'Here I am!' says the Wind."  

"Here I am! say the Trees."  

"Here I am!' says the River." 

As usual I am not doing her story justice.  It was beautiful and as with most of her stories, by the end, I was sobbing like a baby. But the beauty of being in a room full of Sandra Cisneros fans is that when I looked around most people were sobbing, too.  

TTYL.

Spring Break

I am starting to get more emails with comments about this blog and it is starting to get a little scary for me to write in here knowing that people are actually reading this. Most comments are congratulatory except for the one from my friend Kim who chastised me for using too many chemicals to clean my house (read my "Whirlwind" post). She's right. I shouldn't use that many chemicals, but I don't like my house smelling like vinegar all the time....

Anyway, this post is not about chemicals or housework. It's about the best time had by a family during Spring Break this year. I love traveling with David and the kids. It is so much fun to be together in the car. We sing. We read books aloud. We play games. We listen to music. We read some more. The kids write in their journals. They make puppets out of socks. They read independently. They eat A LOT. Actually, we all eat a lot. We feel so, so lucky to have such wonderful traveling kids.

The first day of our journey to the Grand Canyon was last Saturday. We packed the night before and were able to leave the house at 5:30 a.m., a first for us! We had several short stops along the way that day -- the longest stop was a 30-minute break for lunch at a playground -- but made it to Tucson, AZ by 6:00 p.m. (Really 8 p.m. our time, but it was a nice bonus to gain two hours during that trip. ) We traveled a total of 900 miles that day with three kids in the car, the youngest being only 21 months. We couldn't believe it! Wow! Now we feel like we can go anywhere in a day! We were hoping to camp during this trip, but after checking the weather we realized it would be too cold for me to camp. I don't like camping when it is going to be below 32 degrees at night. The projected temps for most of the areas we visited were in the low 20's. Too cold for me! (But not for my husband who has camped through a blizzard in Alaska!).

I am a list person and don't want to bore you with details so here's a quick itinerary of our trip and what we saw each day:

Day 1: Traveled 900 miles from Austin to Tucson.

Day 2: Visited Saguaro National Park in Tucson where the kids earned their first of four Jr. Park Ranger badges. That night we drove north 6 hours to the Grand Canyon!

Day 3: Natalia woke up at 6 a.m. begging to go the see the Grand Canyon. David took her while the rest of us slept in. We spent all day exploring the park. Daniel and Nati also got to hike down part-way into the Canyon on the Bright Angel Trail with David while Isabella and I ate ice cream and walked the South Rim Trail. Isabella spent most of her time in the stroller or in the backpack. The trail is fairly safe, but there are areas without a rail and it made me a little queasy to have Isabella walking around so close to the canyon's edge. That night we also watched a beautiful sunset. The kids earned their second Jr. Park Ranger badge that day.

Day 4: The whole family woke up early to watch the sunrise over the canyon. It was very cold, but totally worth it. The colors look majestic as the sunlight reflects and shadows are cast on the sides of the canyon. We drove to most of the lookout points on the east part of the South Rim trail and then we were ready to move on. That afternoon we drove to Navajo Nation. Our first stop that evening was in Monument Valley, a breath-taking display of red clay and sandstone formations that sore into a gorgeous blue sky filled with billowing clouds. (See picture above.) Several western movies have been filmed here. We didn't want to leave, but we had reservations for that night in Canyon de Chelly also in Navajo Nation.

Day 5: Canyon de Chelly is a gorgeous area that has been inhabited by the Navajo for hundreds of years. It is hard to explain how beautiful this canyon is. There is a lush, green valley at the bottom along the river that runs through it. I think it is more beautiful than the Grand Canyon. We hiked all the way down into the canyon to see pueblo ruins. The hike itself was only 2.5 miles round trip and it was fun for the kids to walk down these beautiful cliffs. The kids also earned their third Jr. Park Ranger badge at this park.

Day 6: We woke up early this day too and visited the Painted Dessert and Petrified Forest National Park. This was another amazing spot. We hiked the Long Logs trail and the Agate trail. The kids loved seeing the rock logs and learning how trees turned to stone. That evening we drove to Albuquerque and got a quick look at Old Town Albuquerque. Beautiful! The kids earned their final Jr. Park Ranger badge this day!

Day 7: Woke up in Albuquerque and drove all the way to Austin with one stop in Roswell, New Mexico to picnic and play in the Spaceport Playground. The kids loved the aliens!

The Grand Canyon was absolutely stunning and I am so glad that we went, but I have to admit that my favorite part of the entire trip was our visit through Navajo Nation. David found Sing Down the Moon by Scott O'Dell at the Monument Valley Gift Shop. We read that aloud to the kids on our way to Canyon De Chelly. It is a poignant story about a little girl whose entire clan is brutally escorted out of the canyon by American soldiers and taken to Bosque Redondo at Fort Sumner. It helped explain why we were seeing areas of stark poverty amidst such beautiful landscape. The book provided us with a frame of reference for the rest of the trip and possibly for the rest of our lives...

TTYL.

Balance

I am energized by being around people. Is it because I grew up in a large family with many people around me all the time? I slept in the same room as my grandma and my six siblings until I was 15. The only reason my sister and I moved to a room of our own was because a friend made fun of me for still sleeping in my grandma's room. I love the noise, the warmth of a full-house, but I also love being alone with my own thoughts. Balance is good.