Keep Tri-ing, Never give up...

There is this song from the show Yo Gabba Gabba, and I think it is called "Keep Trying" - and well Jonah always sings it to me or Jocelyn when we are trying to do something and having a hard time - so then we started singing it back to Jonah & Vera when they tried something and didn't always get it right the first time (for a video of the song see here).

So here is the deal... today is my last blog post for probably a really long time...

I had been sort of obsessing about my "year anniversary" of the blog which would be on April 1... and I was making all these plans to go to the biggest kaleidoscope in New York when we went up to NY for Easter... and a bunch of other craziness...

But then that universe... it has a way of speaking sometimes.  Sometimes you need to just say, "take that universe!" but then sometimes - I think it is good to listen to what it is telling you - or trying to tell you... (At least that is the way I am internalizing my mindfulness training right now - to stop trying to write the perfect ending to every story and just be with it all... and let it happen)

It goes like this... this past Friday, I lost my cell phone and my lap top was stolen from my car... yes both on the same day in a matter of hours.  I had backed up my cell phone to my computer a few months ago... but my computer hadn't been backed up since probably August... I know I know I know - totally stupid...

Lucky for me, most of the good pictures have already been posted to the blog since August - but you all know how much it sucks to not have your phone or your computer... and it makes the blogging thing kinda impossible... sorta

I will get a new phone and a computer tomorrow.

But I decided to stop blogging for a while.  It was an awesome experience.  I am so thankful I captured the almost year of Jonah & Vera for them.  I am excited they will get to see it one day and I am proud of myself for doing it.  I had a goal and a pretty much completed it.  I did skip the month of August.  I also started taking off holidays and weekends.  And now, I am ending two weeks early, but otherwise I did it - and that is cool.  I need a new goal right now - I am moving beyond the blog to something else... seasons change, years pass, and goals need to be renvisioned.

Wait for it...

Jocelyn and I are going to do a Triathlon...

Neither one of us have ever done it before.  I am totally scared of biking.  Jocelyn is not so excited about the swimming.  But we are going to do an Irongirl together.

It is on September 8 in Flinstone, MD.  (The Iron Girl Rocky Gap Triathalon)

Training has started.

As Jonah & Vera tell us and we tell them all the time - the key is to just keep

TRI-ING!

so that is what we are going to do.

We told the kids today and I showed them my bike helmet, goggles and sneakers.  They were very excited.


Wish us luck!

I plan on bringing my kaleidoscope with me during all of my training - because it always comes in handy...

For the next 6 months, Jocelyn and I will be hanging out at the gym and on the trails... if you see us please shout out some encouraging words! (We plan on bringing the kids with us whenever we can - you know because our lives aren't chaotic enough?!?!)

Go Team!

Sometimes you just gotta give it a TRI?!?!?!

Happy Monday!  Good luck kaleidoscoping your own bits of chaos!  And remember to TRI and have some fun out there!

Love,
Heather (the kaleidoscoping mommy)

Hellos & Good Byes!

Good Bye Summer - Hello Fall!

Thank godness!

The fall breeze whooshed in yesterday morning!  It made me think of crunchy leaves under our feet, the brilliant colors of autumn, apples(maybe even pumpkins), and YES SCHOOL!!!  We had to find some long pants to wear and everything!

Whoop! Whoop!

Yesterday was Jonah's first official day of school (even if it was a shortened one because he is "transitioning" in a full schedule - and we had an official play date at the playground at his school last week plus an open house on Friday - you can never be too prepared for these things...).

It made me remember how that "not very august August" began... We started August off one Saturday with a fantastic day splashing in another friend's pool on her roof top down by the Navy Yards.  It was wonderful and hot!  The sun was shining and we all swam the afternoon away!   Time to say Good Bye to roof top swimming for a while.

Yesterday, it was Hello to a new schedule.  Hello to a new school bag.  Hello to a new routine.  We really need it over here.

But with the Hello was my first Good Bye to Jonah in his new classroom at his new school.  And wait for it... it was completely uneventful!  How fantabulous is that?!?!

Jonah hasn't been one for Good Byes... especially at school.  So today was a big one.  He walked in to his new classroom - it has birds on the door.  He is in the "Birds or Parrots" class (or Tukim as they call it in Jewish Nursery School).  He saw his new teachers (who he had met last week at the open house) and sat down with the scissors... his new favorite activity. He gave Vera hug and me a quick wave and that was that.  Good Bye. Vera was not so happy about leaving and she sort of had a little hissy fit all the way to the car.  That girl really wants to go to school!

When I showed up just over an hour later to pick him up - he was ALL smiles.  A huge kiss and hug and a big Hello mommy!  His teachers said he had a great day.

Hellos and Good Byes.  Really really heavy & powerful stuff.  Whether it is saying it to a season, your kids, a loved one, a job, a relationship, an address or a way of life... often hard, but part of life.  You know, just like that song by the Byrds (yes, the same name as Jonah's new class) from the Bible passage in Ecclesiastes 2-3:

To everything, turn, turn, turn
There is a season, turn, turn, turn.
And a time to every purpose under heaven.
A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep...

And yes, appropriately so, today is also September 11... 11 years later.  Another moment of Good Byes and Hellos in our national conscience.  All of this, just in time for next week's Jewish New Year, they are my big introspective thoughts for the day.  No matter what happens in life, no matter how many Good Byes and Hellos we must utter, no matter the context, change is what happens in life and often in the midst of chaos.  I see my challenge to make it wonderful and beautiful whatever it may be - and the kaleidoscope helps - but what also is a challenge is to remember the things worth remembering - because forgetting is often worse than saying Good Bye or Hello.  Our memories are what keep us grounded and centered.  They help us not to make the same mistakes twice and to know how to reach our most important triumphs again.  As this season turns from one to another, as we think back 11 years ago today, as we approach the Jewish New Year and as I watch my kids each day becoming more of who they will be, I choose to say my Hellos and Good Byes with strength and introspection, maybe a few tears, but always with a healthy dose of remembering what needs to be remembered for a lifetime to come.

With those "oh so heavy" thoughts on your mind, I leave you with the pictures below- they are just plain fun!  Enjoy!

By the end of the summer, Jonah was swimming like a fish - without the noodle!

with our cool buddies who had a pool on  the roof!!

Vera napped for the first half of our  pool outing...

Finally all four of us - in the pool at once having a great summer afternoon!

Vera is a little fish too!  GOOD BYE SUMMER!

HELLO FALL!  HELLO FIRST DAY OF NURSERY SCHOOL!  HELLO TO NO TEARS AT DROP OFF!  HELLO TO MY BIG BOY!

Lots of hugs on the porch before they hugged again as we sad GOOD BYE at school!  My two sweeties!