Been good, but glad it's almost over

Darren's been away for the past few days running the apprentice mid-year retreat and I've felt overly surrounded by motherhood. You know I don't like some things too much--dealing with sick children in the middle of the night (however endearing they may be), doling out food so much I've lost my appetite and simultaneously can't be satisfied. (There are some things that are downright humorous--like the dream that Luci constantly, at breakfast, says she had . "I had bad dream. Peter Pan took me and I was flying." I also enjoyed telling Jesse that little boys are made of puppy dog tails all afternoon, and finally having him ask, "Mommy, you're just joking, right?"

Tonight Darren and I had to go to Jesse's school auction right after D got back into town. It was to be a fun event yet something we had to do some work for. For weeks, we have collected donations to be sold at the auction, I baked a pie for the event, and we had some jobs assigned to us at the auction. It's now almost over (Darren's still closing out) and was a decent time, and we're happy to contribute to Jesse's wonderful school.

Tomorrow, the deacons from church are coming over for lunch. We'll treat them to a vegetarian feast of black beans, platanos, and tortillas.

But I'm ready for a little break from the kids and their sickness, happy that my stress over the auction can dissipate, and thinking it's gonna be a good time kickin' back with the deacons. I mean, how complicated our beans? And luckily, the house is in decent shape.

So happy to say good-bye to today, if the kids and car alarms can keep quiet tonight, and even happier to see tomorrow evening coming.

Mr. Troy

Mr. Troy is the elderly man that sits in his motorized wheelchair at the corner of 21st and Capp St. He lives in the senior home on the corner. He is the lollipop man.

Sometimes when he sees the kids coming he'll holler at them, but now the kids pretty much beat him to it. I remember when Jesse was so young, I could actually take the lollipop from him because he didn't get what it was. Then I remember when the kids vaguely got what Mr. Troy was about, and so I'd try to avoid him (without him knowing of course) but man, he'd zip right up to me and corner me with that wheelchair. ( I was just trying to be a good mom and prevent some sugar in my kids lives! ) Then there was the stage when my kids optimistically thought that every black man in a wheelchair was Mr. Troy and referred to them as such. That sure created a lot of false hope.

Now they really know Mr. Troy and they have come to rely on him, so much so that he can not only thrill them but let them down. One time it seemed that Mr. Troy (because his supply was running low) was actually trying to get away from us, but of course with my kids screaming at him, he couldn't fake his lack of hearing for long. He turned around, gave a warm smile, and my kids mentioned lollipops. Mr. Troy handed one to Luci, while saying "Here" and said to Jesse "Well, you're a big boy now" and handed Jesse an orange, after which Jesse's face became immediately downcast.

Mr. Troy has served as a good neighbor and also as an object lesson in gratitude, politeness, etc. I've had to coach Jesse on how to be thankful even when disappointed--even though a let down has only happened once, we rehearse how to be kind if it doesn't go our way. I find myself saying "He not just a lollipop man, he's a person." Nevertheless, we adore Mr. Troy and it seems the relationship is mutually fulfilling. Just today, Luci plopped Black baby into his lap, and Jesse punched buttons on Troy's wheelchair, an action which propelled Mr. Troy to put on his safety lock.

I love running!

Missed my Wednesday morning run that I usually take before hanging with my friends at the cafe because I took Alice Rouse (head of RYSE at my beloved Starlight in Boston) to the airport. But Pea and I were able to squeeze it in before the kids went to bed, as Darren was enjoying his time with the kids before heading off on his 2-day retreat. And thanks to Alice, I now know how to save my knees when running downhill--tilt your body downward!

We zipped up 20th to Dolores Park, which is wonderful at 6:45 pm in this weather. Peanut rolled and rolled and would catch up with me as I ran the perimeter. Then we stopped to throw the ball (a coveted activity since P has been out of balls for days) before resuming our run. Peanut could barely muster up enough energy to keep up on our run home. I had to run zig-zags or run back to her just to keep running. On the way home we bumped into Lisa Scandrette and Nancy Gnass, 2 of my favorite neighbors and friends. What a beautiful run! I only wish it was longer, but then it would be without Peanut.

"We had a busy day"

This is a favorit saying of the Prince children. They like to say it as we HAVE a busy day, and after.

Today was a day where we really needed food. The cheese was all gone--therefore we could rule out eating pizza, quesadillas, cheese and crackers, and many other things that are happily enhanced by the sprinkling of cheese. The cocoa powder was gone--what would I do without my chocolate milk concoction? And we needed tofu, as well as black beans and millet. So off to the stores we went. First was Safeway and I HATE big grocery stores. (I have to ask people to find things for me multiple times.) Apparently Jesse does too as he did his classic shivering in the cheese aisle. Then we hit Rainbow, in my opinion the creme de la creme of grocery stores. For being so good at the store (Jesse put DOWN the organic chocolate candy basketballs) the kids shared a bag of veggie booty on ride home.

Then we scarfed down some leftover chicken casserole and went out for a walk because Pea needed her walk and we needed some sunshine. We stopped at Garfield Square Park where Luci enjoyed putting her baby on the merry-go-round and Jesse dangled from the monkey bars, a monumental thing for him lately, as those have always been big kid things.

At 1 p.m.,we reentered the house, changed Luci's sand-filled diaper (no problem to her), and began naptime/quiet time.

Jesse sat engaged peacefully on the couch in his room listening to Peter and the Wolf 3 times, noting that the flute was the bird and learning to recognize the clarinet as the cat. Man he loved it!

I was in the kitchen throwing together some vegetarian chili for dinner.

We then had to wake Lu up from her nap so that we could make it to J's schoolmate Ian's house for a playdate. J loved the garbage truck and Luci chased the cats around while Ian's mom and I exchanged small bits of info about our lives.

Then it was home to a quick dinner, wrestling, Mommy reading Green Eggs and Ham to Lu, and Daddy reading Green Plagues and Lamb? (What is the name of that book Papa Dan?)

The kids are in bed peacefully and I'm off with D to a local spot with some folks in town for InnerChange's summer xchange planning meetings....Peanut's coming too, yippee!