Sochi in our family room

Olympic fun continues.

What started with this bobsled a week ago

became this last Sunday




It's the entire winter games in our family room!

David and Mary spent the afternoon building the Olympics.

And playing with the Olympics.

Uncle Daniel was here visiting.  He is a huge fan of the Olympics, so it wasn't hard to recruit him to join in.

And when I say they pretty much made the whole winter Olympics, I mean it.

You can't have the Olympics without a torch.

The kids included the medals podium, of course.

Complete with medals.

There was an Olympic village, with transportation to take the athletes to their venues.

Some of the events (with spectators!) that David and Mary built were

figure skating

ice hockey

men's skeleton

and this would be Noelle Pikus-Pace

speed skating

alpine skiing and ski jumping

cross-country skiing

biathlon

and snowboarding.

Phew!  What an afternoon.

Great job guys!




Can we get some gold medals over here for Olympic spirit and creativity in the face of a boring Sunday afternoon?

Olympic fever

David and Mary are loving the Olympics.

Sunday after church Sara and I went upstairs to take a much-needed nap.  I turned on the Olympics for David and Mary.  When Sara and I came back downstairs two hours later, I found the family room turned into a giant bobsled run/speed skating track/biathlon course.  They had gone Olympic-crafting nuts, and it was AWESOME.

Look what they made ...

David made this bobsled.

I love it!  So so so much!

David is also the one who made the bobsled track.  It was out of pillows and baskets and trays.  But I made him clean it up before I ever took a picture.  His Lego guys had a great time on it before Mean Mom came along.

Mary made a bobsled too.

Yay for bobsledding girls!

And these are Mary's speed skaters.

And let's not forget a custom, decorative gun for competing in the biathlon.

Care to venture a guess as to which three events were on TV Sunday afternoon?

David and Mary are so much fun.  (And they seem to be the most fun and the most creative when I am out of the picture snoozing away.  Hmmmm...perhaps I should write a book about being a better parent through taking naps.)

Anyway, the Olympic fever continues with late bedtimes and video clips at breakfast.  And it's about to get more intense because Uncle Daniel THE #1 Olympic fanatic will be here this weekend.  Hooray!

P.S.  David and Mary don't remember their very first Olympics.  But I do, as it had me reflecting on my Olympic dreams.

Another belt test

Last night David tested for his orange belt in Taekwondo.

Mary has ballet on Friday nights, and I realized I couldn't take Sara to the belt test.  So it was a group effort of family, friends, and neighbors yesterday evening.  Thank you, all.  It was such a treat to sit all by myself and watch David.

Because of the weather, David's classes have been cancelled a fair amount.  So he wasn't as prepared as he would have liked to have been.  He was nervous.  But he tried his best.  I assured him that Master Park appreciated his efforts.  David sets such a good example of hard work and serious effort.

And he broke another board!  This one was thicker than the last one.

David has been such a hard worker in all aspects of his life lately.  He attends tae kwon do two or three times a week, he diligently studies his spelling words, he watches Sara for me, he helps clean up, he is keeping his room organized, he's quick to practice the piano every day.  I am very grateful for him and his hard work.

I may or may not get around to posting the video.  But you can see a couple of minutes of class and a  side jump kick.

Some feelings so far

Greg left a month ago.  These are some of the feelings I have had so far.

1. Relief.  It is a relief that Greg is gone so that we can finally start counting down.  It can't end until after it begins.  The weeks before a deployment are depressing no matter how hard you try to avoid it. 
2. Sadness.  I have felt really sad two times.: When I was putting away the last of Greg's laundry.  And when Greg admitted in a short midnight email that he misses Sara.
3. Happiness.  Yes, I am happy.  See #1.  (Also, everything is relative, and I am so much happier now than the first few months after we moved here.  Something literally broke in my brain when we got to Cincinnati.  Why it was so hard is an analysis for another day.  The point it that the adjustment to life here was much harder than the adjustment to Greg's absence has been)  I like how simple life is right now. I think this is biggest reason why I am happy.  I am focused on my children. I love being with them, and I enjoy the rhythms of everyday life with them.  This is a special, close time for the four of us.  I know a lot of people are concerned that I "get out."  But, so far, there is nowhere I would rather be than at home with my children.  I like them.  A lot.
4. Mentally fatigued.  Everything is slightly more complicated.  I am very blessed to have many people on whom I can rely: my brother and sister in law, good neighbors, many friends from church, as well as Greg's colleagues at AFIT.  But that doesn't mean it's easier or just as easy as having Greg around.  So every birthday party that inevitably starts/ends during Sara's nap, every inch of snow on the driveway, every dead car battery, every choir concert or school play, every inconvenient errand is a calculation.  Is it reasonable (and/or easier) for me to take care of this myself? If not, then who is the best person to ask for help?  It only takes a few moments--to decide I need help and arrange a carpool or find a sitter for Sara or whatever.  And I am so grateful that so many people are quick to help!  But I am surprised by how mentally draining it is, deciding if I need help and deciding whom to ask.  
5. Inflexible.  I feel like we (I) don't have a lot of capacity for extra stuff.  We have our routines, and just a few extra things on top of our normal, expected routines can quickly take its toll on me physically and mentally.  For example, a late weeknight out bowling with the Cub Scouts and a big, last-minute school project would have been easily absorbed by both me and Greg.  But it doesn't take very many of those kinds of "extras" before I start to feel depleted.  We are doing well, truly.  I have my head above water.  But it wouldn't take much water for me to start drowning.