12/12-12/18/2010

Uhm...Just a moment please.  I need just a moment to get my bearings every once in awhile.  A moment of peace, a moment of silence, a moment with sitting still, a moment to close my eyes while awake, a moment to take a big deep breath, a moment to let every muscle in my body relax, a moment of NOTHING.  It's healthy to take those moments, those moments give you energy and those moments help you refocus. 

Where the hell is that moment that I needed.  Didn't happen this week but it should have.  It should have happened once a day, it should have happened once every few hours, it should have...you get it? Should have, could have...didn't..PERIOD!  Oh, that will be New Year's Resolution #1 FOR SURE!

The pedal is to the metal and we're off.  The weeks between Halloween and Christmas are usually a blur.  There are endless get-togethers, errands, baking, gift wrapping and then add in regular life and man, those should haves are much needed!

The kids got out of school on Friday and don't go back after New Year's. Kinda nice to throw the schedule out the window for over two whole weeks but on the other page it's difficult to get that long list accomplished when you are the main source of entertainment for a 3 & 7 year old. Add the ingredient RAIN in and it's a wash. Not just a pinch of rain, I'm talking about rain being the main ingredient here. It should be an interesting 2 weeks with the forecast we have in store for us. NOTING: I am NOT complaining. There is not a single flurry ingredient in my daily recipe and that's how I like to bake!

It was the week of Sutton's Christmas recital.  He's getting better and better at the singing part.  The roar of voices behind him don't shock him nearly as much as they did the first time. 

Here's his little class of 5.  I think there's suppose to be one more little boy who didn't make it.

Oh boy!  This may be one of my favorite photos from this concert (of course my favorite would have to have Sutton in it.)  In going through photos this one was a STOP and Laugh Out Loud one!  Elliott for sure kept the crowd entertained!

 I received a call on Friday evening that was pleasantly unexpected.  It was the gym teacher at BradOaks Elementary telling me that Chantzelor was going to receive the Good Sportsmanship Award at the flag ceremony on Friday.  When I listened to the message I was a little surprised that Chantz didn't come home and tell me that he earned an award but then I thought that he probably didn't know. So, I didn't tell him a thing about it.  Scott, Sutton and I ventured over to the school for flag ceremony and would have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for one little girl in his class who recognized me and poked Chantz to tell him we were there.  He still didn't know why we were there and that was apparent by the weird look on his face.  When they finally got around to giving out the award I think Chantz was actually shocked.  Now, he's all for earning awards but when time comes to actually accept them he gets very quiet and shy and doesn't really enjoy the personalized attention all at once.  He's more of a one-on-one high five kinda guy!  So, we proudly watched him humbly accept his award in front of the school.  This isn't an easy award to get.  He was only 1 of 5 (or 6???) kids out of 600 to receive it for this day.

Now this brings me back to the post from awhile back about how they really are listening to you.  Just the week before him and I had a LONG conversation about the 'correct' things to do.  I believe this conversation came about because he said something along the lines of  'Well, I'm way better than 'insert name he said' at that.'

BRAKES WERE APPLIED AND WE WERE SCREECHING TO A STOP!

Those of you that really know me and my competitiveness know that I'm all for being the best of the best and holding records and winning but there's A LOT more to it than that.  That one little comment from him turned into a lengthy conversation about how everyone has different things in life that they're good at. 

It went (in my shortest version) like this,

''Chantz, not everyone is going to be great at the things you're great at but remember that in being the one of the best you need to take charge and make sure that everyone is included so they can be better.  It's so important to make sure everyone has a turn and you never, ever make fun of someone because they aren't as good as you are. You know why?  Because whether you realize it or not they're probably better than you at something else.  And, when that 'something else' comes along and they are better than you, you sure do want them to help you and give you a turn, right?  So, it's not about being better than 'so and so' or better at this or that it's about being the BEST YOU CAN BE and in being the best you can be you help others be the best they can be too, even if it's not 'as good' as your best.  People will notice for themselves when you're great at something BUT they will appreciate that you're great at something AND nice too.''

And then the next week he got this award.  I can't say that I wasn't a little choked up watching him stand up there.  The things that the teacher was saying about him was verbatim what I had said to him.  To sum it up was that Chantz got the award because he displayed many acts of kindness on the field.  He made sure that every single person got a turn and he wasn't a ball hog. 

Holy Macaroni...He did listen!

WAY TO GO CHANTZ!  SUPER DUPER PROUD OF YOU!

Feel free to leave comments if you're reading.  I won't lie, hearing feedback good or bad is kinda like opening Christmas presents.  Hopefully I'm not boring you too much with my kid bragging lately!  Trust me, it isn't always this grand so I have to take it when it presents itself!