Swensen Sentral

It's mid October and I'm finally starting to see some vibrant colors on the trees here in St. Louis. Oh how I just love this time of year! The earth is so beautiful and colorful like a canvas. How beautiful is the art that God creates. (Post started 19 Oct 2016 but never finished. Wanted to post for documentation.)

Amelie (speaking to Chase who is currently brawling with Sawyer): Chase stop!  I'm trying to talk to Sawyer! Chase (not stopping): Well I'm trying to beat him up! Lesson learned: When you're trying to beat up your sibling, talking can wait I bought Amelie her first deodorant.  Sawyer lifted it out of the shopping cart and upon placing it on the conveyer belt at the checkout stand said, "Here's Amelie's puberty stick." Lesson learned: Kids listen to what you say I recently started paying the kids for some (not all) jobs around the house. Trying to teach them about working and saving, as well as motivate them to work. Yesterday Sawyer did a job. I asked him afterwards if he got his dollar. He said no. I said "well go get it so you don't forget." To which he replied "that's ok I don't need it. My life isn't about money."   Lesson learned: kids are wiser than we think. 

Sawyer has been big on mom and dad time lately. He's always asking Rick or me if he can spend time alone with us. We try when we can, but we remind him that we have other kids too and other responsibilities so we can't always spend alone time with him. Yesterday he was trying to get Rick's attention so he wrote this note.  "Ha dad You are osum."  Translation: Hey dad, you are awesome.  He melts my heart. 

So a while ago I found a letter Amelie had written to Soleil. In it she expressed some nice things about Soleil sandwiched around the sentence, "sometimes I wish you weren't alive." It made me laugh. Yesterday I found a cute tshirt for Amelie that said something like "because I have a sister I always have a best friend". I thought it was so cute and showed it to Amelie thinking she might like me to buy it. Her response also made me laugh. "Aw that is so cute, I just wish it were true."   Someday they will be best friends. Someday. 

I just had a "moment" watching Chase walk into school with his friends around him. Walking away from me all I could see was their backpacks, each branded with some sports symbol: Nike, UnderArmour, Adidas, etc. I'm not sure why it was so sweet to me, but maybe it's because I realized that Chase is becoming his own person, his own individual, not swayed as much by what mom tells him to do or wear. He's got his own style, and his own friends and is finding the place where he fits in at school.  I can't hardly get him to wear jeans or cacki shorts or collared shirts anymore. It's only mesh shorts and dri-fit tees for him.  I guess it's a symbol of him growing up and me losing control, and tells me time is passing too quickly.  And although it makes me sad to say goodbye to the past, I am so proud of the person he his becoming, and the friends he surrounds himself with. He is a good influence on them and likewise them to him. 

Last year was the first time we did anything like this as a family. It turned out to be an absolute blast for all of us, and the kids have been anxiously awaiting their next chance to run! Today was the day!  Sawyer was so excited to be an "official" runner this year. He ran so fast and was determined to "not give up".  He beat his daddy quite fairly.  Chase caught the racing bug last Fall when he joined the school cross country team, so he was anxious to prove himself this year as the fastest of the Swensen clan, or the school.  Amelie was just happy to be together as a family. She was excited to run with her friends, but when she tired out before they were ready to take a walking break, she happily joined her sister.  Soleil was exited for the chance to prove herself to everyone around, that she may be small but she is fierce. She alternated between sprinting and walking and outran her mother.  Cutest runners on the block Soleil said "sisters forever" Ch...

Soleil cracks me up sometimes. Today she was shopping with me and really really wanted something. I initially said no but then changed my mind and bought it for her. She was ecstatic and kept telling me how I am the best mom ever and she loves me so much. Then we went through the drive thru line at Steak N Shake and I got her a meal and shake. She was so happy because I rarely buy "extras" with fast food and she said "I'm so happy! You got two things that are my favorite!   I've always been wanting a mom like this. And a mom like this finally came! And it's you."   These moments won't last forever. 

Today was cold and rainy. So we mostly spent time indoors. Playing games. Watching movies. Napping. A few runs to Target. Ahhhhhh....vacation.  Soleil's hair (and bangs) are all curls in this humidity.  Beach sunsets are the best  Kids were getting kinda bored being inside all day, so we crafted a scavenger hunt for them and the prize was going out for ice cream. Here's the crazies loading up the elevator. 

Today was mostly rainy, so we decided to make it our family outing day. Someone told us about a naval museum nearby that was free and really cool, so we checked that out.  30,000 lb anchor Flight suit that someone actually crashed and burned in and survived Read some stories on the Medal of Honor wall. True heroes.  Who doesn't love the Blue Angels? Trying to be as cool as Chase Then we needed some lunch and decided to try out this highly recommended local seafood place called Joe Patti's. The kids were skeptical but we told them to just think of it as an adventure. They ended up surprising us by actually liking the seafood! Popcorn shrimp and Basa fish. We also tried some other southern specialties: hush puppies, cheese grits, baked beans, and cole slaw. Everything was yum, but we didn't love the grits.  After that we continued our adventure by going on a genealogy hunt. Rick found out that he has a 4th great grandfather named John Magee that we don't know much about, ...

T oday was pretty much about swimming and the beach and forgetting about the time. A...maaaaz...ing.  Kids in the pool. Boys playing football. Dads grilling dinner while I kick my feet up. It's kinda like heaven.