First Thanksgiving at the Beach!

So we have talked about it for years and finally, here we are at the beach for Thanksgiving! There is something about being at the beach when its chilly and windy, not very many people are around and you are left to your own musings. Love it!

The only downer is my fam didnt make it down here for various reasons, but I couldnt be happier looking to my left and seeing the ocean and then to my right and viewing the waterways. The house we rented has more room than a gymnasium so there is plenty of room to spread out and do whatever you want to do. The children have been fishing and playing games. Bryan is doing his "beach" puzzle. Katie and Leah are taking the kids to see the Muppet Movie. Nita is putting together her famous sweet potato cassarole. Everyone is doing their own thing.

Gwyn is in cousin heaven, playing with her 'baby' cousin, Ruby Grace, she drove me nuts asking when she was getting here yesterday. She has been attached to her side ever since. Last night she came to me and said, "Ruby is asleep and I am tired too. Can I go to bed?" That request rarely comes out of my children's mouths!

So while we havent actually eaten Thanksgiving dinner, I will count this as a success. It doesnt really matter if its good or not. We are together. We are at the beach. Its all good.

And here we go!

Here it comes...its the calm before the storm. Its getting ready to turn our lives upside down, eating times and content will change and hang time at the fields will include laptops and cell phone conversations. What am I talking about? Baseball and soccer is getting ready to infiltrate our lives.

See my three kids like to play sports. Basketball we have 1 hour games on Saturday morning at 9am and practice on Sunday afternoon. Gymnastics is 1 hour from 5-6pm on Tuesdays. Piano is at 3:30 on Tuesdays. So Tuesdays are the only "crazy" day during the week. Well that is all about to change my friends! With the baseball season comes practice 3 nights a week and games on Saturdays in addition to Gwyn's soccer schedule of one practice and one game per week.

Cooper is so excited to be able to play what his brother plays all year around this year...they are finishing up basketball season where they are on the same team. They wont be in the same age bracket for baseball but he gets to play coaches pitch this year and he will get the crowning effect of getting to play football this summer and fall for the first time. Coop was chomping at the bit to play last year but didn't make the 6 year old age cut until this March. That child lives to catch up to his big brother, unfortunately.

So when you see the big white suburban land yaht with a BW sticker and american flag on the back, know that its the Tankersley's trying to get to a baseball practice, a baseball game, a soccer practice, a soccer game, a piano practice or a gymnastics lesson and just wave us along!

What?!?!? WHO is 40?

Yep, it happened. Not sure how it happened, or where the progression went. But its official. I am in my 40's! Yikes, what does that mean? Am I going to need knee surgery? plastic surgery to look presentable? Stop exercising and running because I will fall apart? My husband will find a young beauty to move on to?

Well I hope all of this stuff doesn't happen for heavens sake. The Forty's are the new Twenty's, right? I feel good, my career is doing pretty well, my family is moving along and while not perfect (what is THAT anyway?) we are working on our discipline and empathy this summer along with reading skills. Wish us luck.

Life seems so filled with things I want to know about and do that there doesnt seem like enough time to do it all. Things like getting my Masters to growing the perfect tomato...the gamut is unreal. At forty I think we come to a crossroads and do one of two things go into survival mode or realize how much there is out there to learn and do. Statistically 40 is about the halfway point for most American females. While there is a lot under my belt for the first 40, here's to making the last forty (if God grants that to me) even better!

I have a dress that I pull out for Easter and very special occasions that I particularly love. Bryan and I laughed at each other on Sunday as we donned our Easter finery. The kids however had matching blue and brown checked madras clothes. Gwyn had a dress with a monogram and the boys had matching shorts and brown golf shirts. Not patent shoes, mind you, but we thought they looked pretty cute and I mentioned to Bryan that we probably wont be able to do the matching outfits for much longer. That's sad.

We always got a Christmas dress to wear to the Nutcracker and church on Sunday, and an Easter dress when I was growing up. Loved it save the tomboy years 3rd grade to 9th grade when I thought dresses and tights were invented by men to make women uncomfortable. Still a pants girl to this day, although I am a lot more comfortable in a skirt or dress than I used to be.

But to your point everyone was excited to get their new duds and parade around to our clapping and admiration. The best was when Heath drew a picture in church of a cross with Jesus on it and an arrow to a cave then another arrow to Jesus with wavy lines around him (meaning he is alive) and a last arrow to a drawing of a city complete with sky scrapers. Well at least he was listening about the basics of the story, right?

2009 New Years Resolution!

Happy New Year! Well, I have done a really poor job of documenting this last year with the kids. While they are becoming more physically independent (potty, dressing, feeding themselves, etc) their dependence is growing in the mental and comfort arena. We traded one dependency for another.

So in keeping with the New Years theme, I have been thinking about what my New Years resolution is this year. Last year was to exercise regularly and with the help of my super cute new running partner, Dani, I kept up with that pretty well. Not running as much during the winter but have picked up swimming laps once a week and doing a pump class once a week for some resistance training. While I feel great, I think a flat stomach is not for me in this life. :-( This year I am going to focus on a mental attribute.

Here is where the kids come into play. I have a theory that your children amplify what you need to work on personally. Self control is an issue in my household. Unfortunately my children have inherited my emotional impetuousness.

So here it comes the New Years resolution #1: rather than saying what immediately comes to mind or what I feel at the moment, I am going to work on thinking before acting and get my children to do the same. Any advice in this arena is greatly appreciated. I'm not sure how to go about this process of learning self control. Yoga? Mind exercises? Signs all over the place reminding me to think before I act? Mmmmm, maybe a self help book is in order....or maybe it just has to become a focus. We will see as we explore this new years resolution and try different things to see what works.

We will keep you posted.

Bizarro World

Today we were outside playing with a neighbor kid who is an only child. So, I realize we can be overwhelming to the most patient of souls, but he was in constant freak out mode because one of my children was either playing with his toys "incorrectly" or not putting them back exactly right. I know, I know...obsessive compulsive, you say. I would say this kid is definitely heading down that road. LOL.

Anyway, the point...I blow these "freak outs" off because I secretly think its good for this child to be introduced into a little chaos, ie, the Tankersley Family, and no kid typically likes to share. It doesnt matter if they are an only child or not. My other neighbor happened to come over with her little girl and it really got on her nerves, the way this little boy wigged out all the time. She said he was making her nervous.

After thinking about this, it led me to think about how uptight everyone seems to be and the things that we do get uptight about. While the neighbor kid doesnt phase me a bit, I thought about how particular people get about certain things. My Dad is a great example. Likes complete cleanliness, order and labels everything. "A place for everything and everything in its place."

I have always thought he wasted HUGE amounts of time and resources cleaning things to the perfect degree. My philosophy growing up was to straighten my room when told, and when things stick to your feet sweep or run the vacuum. Dont get me wrong, I dont think slob is the right word for my cleaning habits, please, I do have some pride for heavens sake!

But, like a lot of other things in my life, I do what I have to do to pass basic inspection and move on to bigger and better things. Detail oriented personality will never be on my Meyers Briggs personality profile. Big picture...does it look OK in here if someone stops by? Then lets go outside and play!

So back to Bizarro World...my kids are in luck if my theory is true. My theory is that we tend to endeavor to be the opposite of our parents. Our parents never are good enough. I will tell you I appreciate my parents a whole hell of a lot more now that I am a parent than ever! Why do we search for Bizarro World? Were our childhoods so awful? Maybe the answer to that is yes for some, but I am thankful to say I had a really normal fairly healthy childhood. While I would say my parents were a bit uptight, they were loving, caring, well meaning people doing the best job they could with what the good Lord gave them. Thats all I try to do from day to day. So if we bring this full circle does this mean my kids will be clean freaks? I could only hope!

So what DOES make me uptight? My children getting out of control, screaming, being mean to each other, and teaching a class for the first time. Getting over scheduled makes me slightly uptight but it also gives me focus. People being mean/cruel to other people, backbiting, and not saying what they really mean rank up there as well. Oh, yeah, when I know someone is mad at me for a justified reason.

The list could go on but it would require more thought. The point of this installment is that if I do everything wrong as a parent, if our children are looking for bizarro world that means they will be great parents...right? :-)

Its Been Awhile!

Wow, its been almost a year since my last post! In the past year so much has happened its all a blur! My consulting/contracting business has taken off and is doing gang busters. Its about to go to another level if I secure this deal with a national project management company...will keep you posted.

Heath is in K4 and while we had a rocky start, he has settled in and had finally charmed his stalwart teacher. He will be making the move to public school next year so I am currently researching schools in the area and just met with the leading candidate today, Summit Drive Elementary. Love them! At the risk of sounding like a total redneck racist, I really didn't realize the extent of Hispanic migration to SC until I started visiting local public schools. Wow.

Heath continues to be extremely rough and tumble. We just signed him up for T-ball starting in March. Can anyone say "Bank Loan, Please" when it comes to children's sports?!?!? $110 bucks for a 4 year old to play T ball! Ouch! Doable now but what happens when we multiply that by 3 kids who want to do 3 sports...please remember me in your wills!

While he is a high energy kid, at bed time he still wants his yellow crocheted blanket and teddy bear and Mommy to lie down with him to talk about "things" I really have to remember that this is special time that I will long for later, rather than see it as an obstacle between me, my pj's and a good book.

Gwyn is officially passive aggressive which is really interesting to compare with the boys who are just plain aggressive. While she does have some mood swings (you got that from your Mama, Gwynnie-sorry!) she is in general a somewhat shy and sweet little girl (you did not get that from your mama, Gwynnie!) Unfortunately the boys are so demanding that G and I don't have long conversations. I do know that Joshie and Hannah are her "best friends" in school. She loves the color pink. Catherine, Emily and Amy are her babies that she carts around everywhere! She is a great and varied eater when she is hungry and when she is not hungry she just wont eat. She is a starch girl. G likes a pretty outfit to wear, loves dresses, shoes, and accessories, but she doesn't like for you to mess with her hair much.

Gwynnie gets along great with Heath, and can get along with Cooper if Heath isn't around. So that makes for an interesting household! Gwyn is definitely the 'Switzerland' of the Tankersley family. She doesn't want anyone left anywhere, and cries when Daddy acts like he is leaving Mommy at home when everyone else is in the car....while the boys are laughing hysterically and screaming "LEAVE HER!" (losers!)

Cooper is the bull in the china shop, pot stirrer, trouble maker, and general jack leg that likes to make absolutely sure there is no peace and quiet in the household. There is never a dull moment with Cooper in the house. He doesn't like a game unless you are moving, no tv except he can stand about 15 minutes of scooby doo and einsteins then he has to get up and go do something, and while he loves books, he wont look through a book unless you are leading him through it. Bryan often asks me how me and my shadow are doing as he follows me around the house and kitchen asking "What IS this?" about everything from wall paneling to potato peelers. He LOVEs to make a batch of Kool Aid and he also likes to unload the silverware from the dishwasher.

One thing about Coop is that he is the wiggliest lap dog you have ever met. The only way I can get his eye patch on him every morning ( has to wear it for an hour every morning b/c his eye's are crossing -ambliopia) is to hold him down and stick it on then kiss his face all over until he stops trying to pull it off. He is a lover and a fighter-its all about the attention in his book if he cant get it with loving then he will turn into the fighter to get the negative attention! Say a prayer for me when he goes through puberty he will be all over the map!

Lastly, Bryan is doing really well with Dark Corner Films. Visit darkcornerfilms.com to check out some of their work. He is really in his element with this business and their documentary is coming along nicely.

So now you have been caught up! I am planning on updating this MUCH more frequently with our hijinx and craziness so stay tuned!