Practice makes Piranha

I can't remember which Howe brother in law use to call me the PE Nazi (Peter, Aaron hey it could of even been Jeremy?). I have the belief that just like academic classes in High School are graded on how well you perform, PE should be the same way. I don't think that a student taking Biology should get an A just because they dressed appropriately and showed up 90% of the time. No it all comes down to tests and a performance of their Biology knowledge, if they can't run a lab test well, they don't get an A for showing up. The same should be for PE, A's go to the kids who perform outstandingly. They win the badminton tournament, they run the mile under 7 min (OK maybe 8 min.) Well maybe my theory has changed a little bit. Olivia my very precocious 5 year old, has wanted to be a Palo Verde Piranha since her sister swam last year on the team. She had yet to swim a 25 without stopping a requirement for joining the swim team. But I had talked to the coach and as long as the team roster wasn't full what would the harm be letting her workout with the team? The coach was on board for letting her participate. The first meet came....and went she didn't compete. But we knew at this point she could do it. The day of the second meet she was really nervous but she said she wanted to do it. It made me nervous watching herself sike up to it. She was to do one event freestyle. She got up looked like she was going to run away and then the buzzer went off and she jumped into the pool and swam her heart out not stopping once to grab onto the lane lines, she was awesome. She finished! She didn't get first but she didn't get last a real A performance. I cried at the finish line because I knew how much she really wanted to be on the team, it was beautiful a real Rudy moment. Once I knew Liv could do it and wasn't in jeopardy of being replaced , I began to recruit for Bella's relay (hey I maybe willing to give an A for effort but I am still competitive). The recruiting was a success. They now have an awesome medley relay and a freestyle relay. Incidentally Bella has an awesome backstroke, she has gotten first place every meet, not that it matters ;)

Not even a shelter dog will stay in this place.

Like every smart house seller should do, we decided to buy a dog. This was not a whim decision. We have for some time wanted to buy an Australian Shepherd dog. They are dogs that need to work, like to run, and are protective and even like to herd children. We think they would be the ideal dog for us when we move out to the land. They will run around with the children and warn them from danger a real Lassie dog. They also like to herd goats and since Suzie and I will be making homemade goat cheese, (look for it in classy health markets), we thought it would be perfect. Anyways, that bread can be expensive so we were delighted to find out that six such puppies were at the Pound. We went down there with the kids to pick out the dog that best fit our family, a social non aggressive one. We decided which one we all liked and ask to be able to play with it in the Pound yard. The Pound lady asks will this be an outside dog. Yeah, we have five acres of land for the little guy to explore. She then says well this is a puppy and it can't be outside for at least 6 months. Then I say well after that it can be outside, right? She says no then it will be displaced because it will have gone from a little cozy house to being thrust outside. Then she says you can go back to the kennels to look for a dog that is primarily an outside dog, look for one with a yellow tag. She wouldn't adopt out the shelter dog to us. The kids were so sad, we had known this was the kind of dog we had wanted. I was dumbfounded are you kidding me? The whole car ride home the kids were so sad and I was fuming. She would rather keep the dog in the Humane Society instead of adopt him out to a loving family. When I got home I called the Humane Society up to ask who they would adopt out the dog too. Unfortunately I got connected to the same ridiculous lady. She said she would adopt the dog to someone who would have it as a primarily house dog. So I tell her that we have researched this breed and they enjoy a job to do and prefer a farm like lifestyle ie a place to roam. She then tells me too many people put their dogs outside and buy them to be a yard ornament. I told her we did not drive all the way to the humane society to buy a yard ornament. Next time I get one of those flyer's in the mail asking me to donate to the Humane Society I won't feel a twinge of guilt when I throw it directly in the recycling bin. I know it is not the best time to buy a dog, but when providence knocks you open the door.........or have it get shut in your face by a mean lady who prefers to spend her days smelling cat urine and wet dog hair than learning how to interact with decent folk.

Ponies and naked girls

I love that Suzie loves summer and some days I do too, but some days it feels like they are twice as long! we don't have a TV hooked up to watch television, we still watch TV but it is on the Internet or we pop in a video. Some days like today I feel like all I am doing is telling my kids to 1)get off the computer 2) get out of the cupboard and 3) stop changing your clothes! On Monday our pool is closed so no swim team, no lessons, great more time to relax, yeah right. Finally I am able to pry the kids off the computer after watching way to much big kid Disney on line and I am happy to see that Olivia is playing with her barbies, Holman desperately wants a buddy to play with so he tries to join in any way he can. He grabs his horses and gallops up to Livvey's undressed barbies who are waiting patiently for a home made dress made out of dish clothes, and Holman says to Liv, "the ponies are watching the naked girls." At three he means nothing by that but let me tell you those barbies are getting some permanent clothes or they are hitting the trash. We don't get live TV in our house to avoid such perversions :) Ahhh the summer boredom......... And yes I have read to my kids today :)