I need to get last weekend’s CHaD post done before this weekends Halloween fun begins!

Last weekend Rosy came up and joined us for another CHaD Hero run/walk. They used to just call it the “CHaD Half” and it was easy to say, now they’ve added a 5K run or walk, a 1 mile fun run, and a 10K hike, so the whole title is just unclear to me. I think they call it the “CHaD Hero” now, but I feel like it needs the word “race” or “event” or something after it. Anyway… we did it!

The weather was drizzly that morning and the forecast was iffy (and variable depending on who’s phone you looked at), but we bundled up and headed out anyway. By the time we got there the rain had stopped and things were looking a bit better. We hung out a bit, joined our team for a photo, then headed off on our hike!

We munched on sandwiches, chatted, and generally enjoyed the day. The kids were awesome and didn’t complain even once! Lex kept saying how nice the day was and how happy he was to be there. I was so happy to be there with them as well. Eve and Rosy did half the hike well ahead of me and Lex. Occasionally they would stop and wait for us, but as soon as we caught up Eve would take off running again. Next year that girl will be doing one of the running events!

Over the river…

… and though the woods…

… and through the fields …

We stopped at a water station and had a little lunch. Eve though maybe shoving a water bottle in her pants would be a good “pocket” but quickly changed her mind. :)

They had inspirational messages along the way. Lex liked this one.

Eve and Rosy waiting for us slow-pokes. (I have no image editing software on my computer these days so my photos are all straight off the camera (SOC) and the camera isn’t the best these days. #firstworldproblems)

Waiting for Alan at the finish line.

He came in strong, beating last years time and his own personal best. He was a happy guy!

He even had energy for hugs at the end! :)

Rose took a happy family picture for us. :)

Our team leader hosts a big after party at her house each year, but this year we bailed and headed home instead. Alan has a gym membership and was eager to soak in the hot tub, Lex had Lego League, and I just wanted to be home. It was a nice way to end the day.

Next year Eve and I are going to run the 5K! That’s the plan at the moment anyway. :)

I had a funny conversation with the kids this evening, standing in the hallway. Lex said that sometimes at school kids talk about words he doesn’t understand. The conversation proceeded and we discussed “the D word” and “the F word” and several others. The final question was, “and what does doody mean, not d-u-t-y like I know, but spelled some other way?” So then we ended up in a discussion about all the different words that mean poop. My kids are so sheltered. :)

I’m going to ramble. It may or may not make sense. I may or may not even proof-read before posting. We’ll see how it goes.

My kids are so different. Different from each other. Different from how they were before. Different from other kids. The differences are striking lately. I’m sure the changes have been slow and subtle, but it’s coming to the forefront of my mind lately.

Lex, my stubborn, fixed little boy has been so flexible, so kind, so generous, so helpful, so supportive, so easy going, and so sweet lately. He is eager to help with the leaf cleanup (there will be a post on that, just as soon as I get a break from leaf cleanup!), he makes good choices, he is smart and creative, and generally a pleasure to be around. He is buggy at times to Eve, but great with me. Tonight he had a fight with Alan and ended up in his room. I was surprised because that hasn’t happened in so long. I went up to talk to him and he was able to talk through the whole thing, think about his options, and make a good choice. He verbalized a few bad choices, but when I asked “what would happen after that?” or “what do you think dad would say?” he was able to think it through. He ended up back downstairs in a calm, problem-solving discussion with Alan and the evening progressed smoothly.

Lex is ready to rake!

While we’re on the subject of Lex, do you think it’s harder to be unpopular or to have child who is unpopular? Well, maybe unpopular isn’t the word, but he’s not popular either. I grew up the same way, having just a small handful of friends. I’m really the same way now. Lots of acquaintances, but only a few close friends. I see the same thing in Lex. He’s ok with it and so I’m ok with it, but often I hear of happenings (thanks to Facebook!) that his friends are at and he isn’t invited to and I feel sad for him. Quietly on the inside, of course, never out loud to him. He had a friend over the other day, a boy he considers his best friend, and the kid played with Eve the whole time. We were in the car for part of it and the boy literally sat facing Eve with his back to Lex. Lex thought the playdate went fine, so I didn’t say anything, but I thought the whole thing was weird. I tried to disengage Eve towards the end, but the boys wanted her around.

Eve, on the other hand, is no longer my easy, go with the flow little girl. She has found her stubborn streak and is showing it daily! She makes noise non-stop, but rarely actually says anything. She moves constantly – running, jumping, bouncing, wiggling… Oh, to have her energy! Next spring I’m signing her up for the local track team. I wanted to do it this year, but she refused. I think she needs an outlet for this energy and if she won’t pick then I will. I’d love for her to do the swim team too, but she refuses. It’s a huge time and money commitment, so I don’t push her. Track is cheap and a lot less time, so I might push for that. Not only does she move constantly, but she leaves messes everywhere she goes. I think she might be ADHD. Everyone is these days, right?! She leaves unfinished work and toys scattered everywhere. If I ask her to put something down, she literally drops it right on the floor. If I was more diligent with the Toy Jail, I think 90% of her stuff would end up there. She wouldn’t even be able to buy it back anymore either since she rarely makes it through family meeting for allowance these days! (Reading that toy jail post I noticed that Lex also went through a period of dropping toys on the floor… and he was roughly the same age as her then… hmmm….) The house is a constant mess of her messes everywhere. Drives me crazy!

This is what Eve thinks about raking the leaves.

She’s also an emotional roller coaster. Do hormones kick in this early?! I should probably Google that some time. She’ll be manic happy, bouncing around, then get angry about something (like when I ask her to brush her teeth or Lex looks at her funny) and burst into a screaming tantrum. Ugh. Fortunately after a few minutes on her own she usually calms down and rejoins the group. She’s ready to play again, but we are left emotionally drained. It reminds me of Lex and his fighting days. He’d bounce right back, but we’d be wrecked for hours. Eve has some other things going on that I’m not going to blog about. There’s a fine balance on the blog, but I write it mostly for me, but also for you, and of course it’s available to anyone, so I do need to censor it sometimes. As the kids are getting older I think that will happen more and more.

On the social front Eve has all the friends in the world. She has lots of friends at school and always has friends who are happy to come over and play. Sometimes I get cute notes written from her friends asking if they can have a playdate soon. She makes friends with everyone she meets, including the neighborhood dogs and cats. Her socializing often drags the rest of us out to meet people too, which is nice. We pulled together our fun last minute yard sale this summer because Eve was out chatting it up with the neighbors. I see great things in her future. I’d love to get her more involved though.

Mostly they are pretty perfect though. :)

Anyway, I’m about done for today. I had a frustrating day, working on the leaf clean-up and trying to move the “bedroom rearranging” project forward, while also cleaning up messes behind everyone all day! Eve had a high-energy friend over, then a melt down at family meeting, then Lex had a melt down at dinner (to be fair it followed closely on the heals of MY melt down at dinner!) and the kids ended up with a pretty late bedtime. Now I’m exhausted and ready to crash with a mug of spiked apple cider and a snuggly hubby.