The following conversation was a serious one.

While watching "Zou" this morning... 

Phil:  Zou's mom is really good-looking.

Lindsay:  I know, right? 

Phil:  And she dresses nice.

Lindsay:  And she has beautiful eyelashes!

Coaching, A Lifestyle.

My husband is THE BEST coach ever.  I'm sure of it.  Who else spends HOURS and HOURS making cuts for a U14 soccer team?! ONLY HIM, I'm sure. 

Where we live, soccer is THE SPORT of choice.  It's like hockey to Canadians - something you live, breath and dream.  Every game is treated like the Champions League finals (this includes P.E. scrimmages and recess intramurals) and the boys get extremely invested in the match whether they are a player or a fan.  It's also BIG TIME MAGIC, that black and white ball - a fixer of LIFE.   We're talking academic improvements and spontaneous recoveries from "serious" injuries.  Mmmm hmm.....many-a-broken legs, asthma attacks, and sprained ankles have been instantaneously cured through the arrival of a soccer ball ;)

Phil hasn't coached soccer since our first year here.  Instead, he's been focusing on Varsity and Junior Varsity basketball and has created a program that rivals that of the football program (and actually wins the interest of most students in high school).  The middle schoolers, however, still enjoy this favourite game of the nation and so making the U14 soccer team is a MAJOR DEAL.  When they found out that Phil would be coaching the team this year, they were eager to prove themselves in P.E. by showing persistence and hard work during the fitness blasts and activities.  It creates a minor (ha!) problem when you have an entire middle school trying out for a team with only 16 spots.....

Here he is after school today, making revisions to "THE list" (keep in mind that he has made a billion drafts of this list and that he started these drafts LAST YEAR when he found out he would be coaching the team): 
 

I suggested that he should keep everyone, but as you can tell he ignored my opinion and stuck with his gal that understood the tough decisions that laid ahead....(check out that "Daddy, I TOTALLY UNDERSTAND YOUR TROUBLES" face)!!!!!  Ahhh, these two were like two peas in a pod after school.

Back to Phil.  Being the best coach ever.  If only you were here to see how sick-to-his-stomach this entire process was.  Cutting it down to SIXTEEN boys.....when you have an endless squad of impressive kids - all giving their absolute best effort.  Gosh.  His mind was racing as he considered every angle possible - grades, behaviour, improvement, dedication, family relations, etc.  There were kids with low grades that he wanted to motivate.  There were kids with poor behaviour that he wanted to inspire.  There were kids who went to summer soccer camp and had improved significantly.  There were younger brothers that were more skilled than their older brothers, but was it really going to be okay to cut one and not the other?  How about the triplets?  You can't just keep one.  And then there are the kids that are just amazing kids - good students with kind hearts.  BAH.  Put in an impossible situation, there wasn't a single pro or con that Phil left out.  His decisions are always full of thought and his intentions are always beyond the sole purpose of "winning".  I love him.

Phil managed to whittle the list down to 20 boys before he left for hockey tonight.  I'm sure there will be some broken-hearted boys on campus tomorrow morning - including my own :(

These are the things that I love about Phil.  He has a passion for coaching that is greater than the greatest.  And it's not just his bias wife that notices.  It's those 300 faces that look like they've won the lottery every time they get to be with "Coach Phil". 

I love you, COACH!  You rock the sports world.

Love,
Mrs. COACH
XOXO

It's not so bad when your baby pulls an all-nighter....

(.....if you went to bed at 6:45 p.m. in the first place!)

Ha!  We're surviving here ;)  It's hump day, too!  YAHOO!!!!!!!

Always on the GO-GO-GO!!!

That's us!

 

Some people say I don't have hips.  But Nory is heavy now and my hip is the only way I can keep her with me!

Here's what we did today:

Woke up at 3:55.  Facetimed with Auntie Dana.  Did the dishes.  Woke Daddy up.  Went tutoring for three hours.  Came home.  Got Nory ready.  Headed to the school to watch two volleyball games.  Phil dropped us back at the flat and returned to school for basketball practice.  Nory and I did our PEACE thing and then started to prep meals for the week.  Phil got home.  Meal prepping went into overdrive.  Mini egg/turkey/spinach/mushroom muffins were made.  As were chocolate chip cookies.  As was pasta with two different kinds of homemade pasta sauce.  As was carrot puree and asparagus puree for Nory.  As was cooked squash and mashed sweet potatoes.  As was beef tacos.  As was chopped veggies-to-go......(you get the picture).  There was an ongoing dish train throughout.  Then it was bath time.  Then it was bed time.  Then it was help the new neighbours upstairs time.  Then it was "catch up on three months of Nory's baby book" time.  Then.....................we sat down and crashed.

Another week starts tomorrow!  I'm feeling better and ready to GO-GO-GO some more!

GOODNIGHT!  

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PEACE!!!

While Phil was at basketball this afternoon, I played a wonderful game with Nory called "make a peace sign with toys as fast as you can before Nory starts to take the toys away"! I felt like Art Attack guy, 2013 edition; It was tough work and there was no PVA glue in sight to help stabilize my design! Luckily, Nory's new-found mobility has made me a little more swift and we managed to get the job done ;)

So, here it is - our attempt at sending some peace around the world (or at least to the virtual world)!  We all need to love a little more.  Accept a little more.  Encourage a little more.  And judge less....much, much less.......

PEACE!

F / F YEAH PUMPKIN

This morning we went to the grocery store and I wasn't shy when it came to loading our cart with some more Libby's.  The cans of pumpkin in stock had reduced by more than half and I'm guessing they will vanish by next weekend as this week is "American Week" at the store.  I had to get my fix when it was available to me! 

Anyways, when we got home I was all gung-ho to make a pumpkin smoothie to kick off my pumpkin spree.  Although Phil was skeptical, he took over blender duty and threw in whatever I asked him to (sidenote:  I so love how he embraces my enthusiasm for silly things like pumpkin-eating sprees). 

Things we put in the delicious autumn beverage:  pumpkin (OBVS!), a banana, skim milk, ice chips, honey, and cinnamon.  Once blended, I topped it off with some whip cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  It made for a really pretty picture.
 

Until I went to take the photo, knocked the table with my leg, tipped over the glass and sent pumpkin smoothie flying everywhere. 

The important thing is that it tasted DELICIOUS.  And I have ten more cans that say it's going to happen again.  The drinking part, I mean.  Not the being-a-clutz thing. 

PUMPKIN.  F YEAH!

You don't even know how much fun we had with ribbons and strings today!

I think it was one of my finest mother moments yet - bringing out a shoebox of "things that go with blouses, dresses, and shirts" in an attempt to keep Girlie stimulated for more than ten minutes.  Well, folks, it worked!  And it worked BETTER THAN a charm!  This random mix of fabrics kept Nory occupied (and laughing hysterically) for a good chunk of the day.  The ribbons and strings were thrown, tasted, shaken, dragged, tangled, shared and AWESOME.  "SNAKEY-SNAKEY" was the best part - the game where we both held an end to a string and wiggled it back and forth along the ground.  Dolly was a real sport and hopped over it each time it came her way.  This created some top-notch hysteria in the Parkinson house that Phil managed to capture on video.  If my computer had the ability to accept new megabites of stuff, I'd share it with you.  Perhaps you could plan a visit here and witness the whole thing yourself instead?  Yes, I like that idea best.  Hmmm.....maybe that's the key to attracting guests to this attraction-less place:  withholding NORY MEDIA.  AHHHH!!!

Just kidding.  I'm not that mean.  But university IS expensive these days.  And making you pay for Nory pics could be an even FINER mommy moment than my last.  MWUA, HAA, HAAA!

Dear Ribbons and Strings, thanks for making our living room a giggly, happy mess this aft.  Although you're a nice addition to some of my work attire, I think you've earned a permanent place in the E.D. toybox.  CONGRATS!

A CUP of JO(Y).

At four in the morning, there's no better view than this one :)

Other Random Things:

1)  My birthday is three months away.  That means I am 27 years and 9 months old today. 

2)  Hearing Kumari call Nory "GIRLIE" is the cutest thing.  Being home sick the last two days, I've heard her implement a few of our regulars. 

3)  I'm downloading Survivor right now.  Phil usually watches it on Friday nights here, but I thought I would surprise him with an early viewing :)

4)  I made a comment to Phil the other day about how strange it is for many of the Disney Junior characters to speak with a British accent.  Well, last night we realized that we must be getting the UK feed, because back home, the characters sound completely American.  Haha.

5)  Doc McStuffins is my new favourite Disney Junior program (I now voluntarily watch this channel when Nory is sleeping).  Last night's episode got me hooked -  it was a Valentine's Day special and the cute little lamb was questioning her cuddliness.  Poor thing.  Don't worry - the ending was a happy one ;)    

F YEAH PUMPKIN!

Last weekend when we went grocery shopping, the store had a whole shelving unit of Libby's canned pumpkin.  This made me naturally ecstatic and I threw two cans into the cart without a moment of hesitation. 

PUMPKIN. 

I love it.  There is something so homey about ALL THINGS PUMPKIN.  It reminds me of warm sweaters, cute scarves, pretty leaves, BACK-TO-SCHOOL.....all things GOOD.  Heck, I even think of football on a Sunday afternoon (something I don't normally get a smile from).  It seems to be the symbol of the season and when you live in a season-less place, a simple can of pumpkin at the grocery store can skyrocket your mood and make your heart feel shiny and bright. 

I am home from school again today.  Big bummer.  I actually cried about it this morning.  I hate being sick and I HATE missing school.  Which is why I hosted my own personal pity party for the first few hours of my day.  Then I decided to become a grown-up, snap out of it, and think of something HAPPY. 

PUMPKIN.

Yes, I thought about pumpkin.  That glorious moment at the grocery store last weekend, when I saw can after can of autumn-y goodness and angels sang in the background.  AMAZING. 

I followed that up with a trip to Pinterest, where I entered that magical, 7-letter-word into the search bar.  I wish I could say "SHA-ZAMMM" in this next sentence, but that's for determining song titles/artists and that's not what this is about.  So, instead I will say......TA-DA!!!!!!!  The most incredible website was found. 

HERE it is. F YEAH PUMPKIN!  A curse-laden gateway to the most delicious pumpkin recipes you will ever find!  Mmmmm hmmmm.......pumpkin cookies, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin cakes, pumpkin and peanut butter spread (I encourage you to re-read this heavenly union), pumpkin squares, pumpkin loaves, etc., etc., etc.!!!

My life has been forever changed.