Wrestling

This week you attended your first wrestling match (1/21/09). I kept my eyes closed most of the time, so as not to witness any injuries, but other than that we had a fun time. You were wary of the surroundings at first, not that I blame you. Those high school gym buzzers are loud! We watched your friend Brendan and the rest of the local high school team and you seemed to catch on quickly, shouting "Get up!" to the wrestlers. I'm still holding onto the hope you choose a safe hobby, like golf or chess, but on the terrifying chance you do wrestle, here is a picture of you at your first glimpse of the sport. You were far too interested for my taste!

Man of Many Faces

J, I have to apologize for not posting more photos of you lately. It seems most of my pictures result in a Jason blur...you never sit still! We were having fun the other day at lunch, so since you were confined to one spot I grabbed my camera and started shooting. The handsome results:

Resolutions for 2009

So, it is January 2009. Typically my New Year's Resolutions start with "lose" and end with "10 pounds," but this year I'm going to end that tradition.

Instead, I resolve to:
1) replace my morning and evening Diet Cokes with green tea and decaf green tea
2) have breakfast: oatmeal, flax seed, walnuts, and blueberries
3) add yoga to my Jason-friendly nap time exercise DVD regimen
4) pack lunches for Daddy when he is in the office
5) finish putting away the Christmas decorations before February rolls around ;-)

I am going to be seriously pissed off if, in 10 years, some researcher discovers the miraculous healing benefits of Diet Coke.

The Perfect Sandwich

Peanut butter, banana, and mayo. I have many happy memories of eating these with Granddaddy. He makes a mean PBB&M sandwich. Perhaps we can persuade him into making one for you on his next visit!

Don't mock it until you've tried it.

My Favorite Things

If I had to describe myself in one word (other than the obvious Mommy, wife, daughter, and friend), it would be reader.

I love books. When I was a little girl my Mom would talk to me and I would be so wrapped up I wouldn't even hear her. Reading is like escaping into a little fantasy world with friends. My Mamo and I used to spend all day outside by the pool, reading. I thought I was very grown up! And throughout my life books, and the characters in them, have been friends.

I'm so thrilled that you love to read, too! You grab your books, run over to the couch, and say, "Read books!" Right now your favorite books are about trucks, trains, animals, and letters. You also have a book made especially for you by Aunt Kathy that has pictures of all your favorite people and things in it. You are reading that right now, as I'm typing!

Some people are very snotty about what they read. I hate that. Don't let anyone else tell you what is good or not. Each book is there just for you to consider, and if it is "good" the characters and the story will just become part of you. I just finished reading a teen book series (The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer). You know what? I loved them! Doesn't bother me a bit that the primary audience is 15 year olds. The characters and the story were fantastic.

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Carson McCullers) is widely touted as one of the best novels of the 20th Century. I couldn't stand it. I know it is supposed to be this wonderful commentary on race and innocence and oppression and all of that. Doesn't change the fact that it was pure torture to read.

I have spent many very happy days of my life reading "chick lit" and romance novels. Seriously, Jennifer Weiner and I could be best friends. And Sandra Brown...well, if a woman ever has a bad day all she needs to do is sit down with a Sandra Brown novel.

I wish I could take back every minute I spent reading The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway). On the other hand, For Whom the Bell Tolls (also Hemingway) is one of my favorite books ever.

I think John Irving is a genius. Same goes for Tom Wolfe. Those two, I just can't put their books down! Sometimes this is embarrassing. I read The World According to Garp on an airplane and I spent the entire flight hoping the gentleman next to me had not read it. John Irving is quite the pervert.

My Daddy used to read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Mark Twain) to me, and I fell in love with Tom Sawyer. I wish he had been my first boyfriend when I was about eight years old. What a little rebel!

Thanks to Harry Potter and his friends, I want to visit London just to try walking through the brick wall at Platform 9 3/4.

Scarlett O'Hara. Need I say more?

There are so many great children's books... The Little House on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder) series, The Babysitters Club, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, Encyclopedia Brown...I am so excited to share some of them with you!

I suppose what I'm trying to say is to give ALL books a chance. You'll be missing out if you don't at least try James Patterson and John Grisham, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Nathaniel Hawthorne, the Bronte sisters and Jane Austen, Shakespeare and...well, I suppose Shakespeare should stand alone. And if you don't like Romeo and Juliet, so be it.