Sperling Central

GO, SAINTS!  Woo-Hoo!  (You can say it was the coin toss, but I will not believe you.)

At first, I thought it would just be a matter of Brees versus Manning.  But it is so naïve to think it would only be a QB game.  I began to wonder if the true X-factor would boil down to the safeties.   As it turns out, nearly EVERYTHING was superior in the Saints’ House (the offense, the defense, the special teams, the running backs).  What was not to love?  But they rose to the glamour of the Super Bowl when Tracy Porter picked off Manning and returned it for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.  Good stuff.  Good, good stuff.

Mike watched the Big Game from an easy chair next to a bunch of other guys from church sitting on leather couches and ottomans.  The kids bounced from trains, Legos, and chase, to pirates, basketball, and lion-tamer at a frenzied pace with the other 312 kids.  (Yes, it’s a slight exaggeration.)  The women balanced the food and parenting.  In truth, I’m lucky to know that there was a game – and that it was football.  It WAS football, right? 

The first paragraph you see here was just part of my Stun & Amaze campaign while we were hanging out with our friends during the game.  I memorized a few quick and profound phrases to pretend to be a sports fan.  In truth, they all know that I do not “do” football.  It was worth a few laughs.

Fun to just hang out with friends - regardless of what was on television.  Mike played touch football with the guys during halftime and ate a little bit of everything.  Ben played chase and ate nothing.  Jon played “All the Barbies Catapult into the Basketball Hoop” and ate 3 large pieces of pizza.  I played Pretend to Know Football and ate all the chocolate I could find.

There you are – Super Bowl 44.

…the verb, not the adjective. 

It wasn’t a mysterious or confusing day, just a rainy one.  One in which indoor games ruled the day.  The rain we’ve been having is the torrential downpour kind, so there hasn’t been much call for anything outside.  We still take Maddy out to piddle, but even that takes place under much duress.  Neither Maddy NOR her owners want to be out there.

We watched some TV.  We went to McDonald’s to let the boys eat and play off some of their stir-crazy energy.  We cooked in the kitchen in preparation for the Big Game tomorrow.  I even let Jon do my hair; his gentle touch is, as of yet, undeveloped.  One of the other highlights was doing puzzles.

Yesterday, I made a new friend.  Wendy lives 75 miles away in San Clemente, but she and her beautiful children drove down to spend the afternoon with us in San Diego.  She and I are the same age.  Her kids, Layla and Logan, are the same ages as Jon and Ben.  Wendy is animated, easy to talk to, open about her life, and passionate about nearly everything.   I can see what drew Leigh to her. 

I first met Wendy at the hospital in Boston on the day that my sister passed away.  Leigh and Wendy were good friends – part of “The Fabulous Five.”  Wendy and I have been emailing for the last several months and, as it happens, Wendy and her family just moved out to California from the East Coast.  (Otherwise, I seriously doubt that she’d have driven out.)  Our kids got along famously — or as famously as 3- and 5- year olds ever do.  Jon and Layla hit it off especially well. 

Hanging out with Wendy and her family was like getting a little bit of Leigh.  I got to hear stories that I hadn’t before.  And, because of Leigh, I get to know Wendy.  It is a gift.  Leigh would be pleased.

As the mommy, I could tell you in great detail about the ALL OUT WAR that my boys declared on each other this morning.  I could regale you with stories of shouting matches and accusations of theivery.  I could provide statistics about “that’s mine” and “he did it.”  I could tell you about the conversations we’ve been having about respect and kindness to our fellow man (and, in this case, our fellow brothers).   Evidently, we should be having more of those chats;  Since I’ve been writing this, Ben has called Jon a big stinkbug.  It was a follow-up comment to Jon calling him a big mole rat.

The truth is, while all of those things are part of Jon and Ben’s brotherhood, they are also good buddies.  They wrestle together.  They chase each other, tickle each other, and play Batman or animals or martial arts in relative peace.  They also play school.  Ben loves to learn things from his big brother.  And Jon – who insists on being the teacher – is actually quite good at it.  (Biased mother showing through.) 

Occasionally, Ben will sneak out of his room during quiet time and join Jon in his room.  They think I don’t know.  They play together in stealthy peace for a long time.  Such buds. 

They’re especially great when they’re outside together.

For those of you who are regulars to our blog, you may recall a post entitled, “Bottomless Pit.”  Back in December, I was simply astonished at how much Benjamin was eating.  And, although I expect Ben to remain a big eater well into his adult years, I could not have foreseen this development in table manners.  I guess he finds this to be a more efficient method for loading the hatch:

On February 2nd, at least in our home, the status of the groundhog’s shadow precedes all else.  Even Poptarts.

This morning, Jonathan bolted to the television as the news finally came in from Pennsylvania.  If you missed it on the networks, you can enjoy the top-hat festivities for yourself at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ4aK9GIsTA .  (FYI, there is a brief pause before coverage begins on this link). 

For Jon, it was a nail-biting moment as Punxsutawney Phil’s official prognostication was announced.

Another weekend, another adventure walk.  As you can see from the picture below, I use the term “wyld” loosely.  We’re basically just walking around in some empty space that borders the ‘burbs.  Part of our trail looks down on a golf course, for crying out loud.  How wild is that? 

Nonetheless, we did see a bee hive, road runner, squirrel, inchworm, stinkbug, caterpillar, giant centipede, some dogs, and several horses.  We also heard a rattlesnake.  (Personally, I am opposed to hearing rattlesnakes.  Naturally, I’d rather hear one than be bitten, but I’d just prefer to see it so I can keep tabs the little monster.)

My favorite part of this weekend’s adventure walk was seeing the horses.  Their riders must have been part of an experienced riding group.  They galloped and cantered and climbed some steep terrain.  I’m sure there’s nothing like a ride under the early morning sun – out in the open.  The wind at your face.  On your cell phone.  (One of the women was urgently engaged on hers as she rode along.  So classic.)

When Mike comes home from a trip – and sometimes even when he’s still gone – he always says, “Home is best.”  And for us, home IS best. 

Not everyone has the kind of home where people take care of each other, but we do.  Mike arrived at the airport the other morning and decided to work from home for the rest of the day so he could be closer to family.  We weren’t expecting him until much later that night, so it was a great surprise!  (Luckily, I had put away my bon-bons and turned off the soaps.  I had gotten the dog down off the sofa and could even account for my children’s whereabouts.)  At any rate, I morphed into Mike’s personal wait staff with lunches and snacks and beverages to keep him at his best.  The boys screamed, “DADDY!” when he first walked in the door.  And both Jon and Ben tried to gain access to him throughout the rest of his work day to say how much they missed him.  Maddy squealed, too, and tried to be a lap-dog while Mike worked in the office.  And that night, after dinner, Mike read a few chapters to the boys from their newest chapter book (Magic Treehouse; Sabertooths at Sunset) before tucking them in for the night.

Although I am the only one with anything even remotely resembling ruby slippers, I’m pretty sure we all agree that “there’s no place like home.”

My boys are not so subtle.  Apparently we need to turn up the heat and get a big screen television:

Jon, Ben, and I dropped my parents off at the airport this morning.  We had a terrific visit with them – in spite of the uncharacteristically wild weather.  (It’s funny how when you have out-of-town guests, the weather goes bad.  Then when they leave, everything returns to normal.  Sure enough, right on cue, the sun appeared over the horizon today and it was a lovely morning.)

Any time we shuttle people to or from the airport, the boys like to stop at the waterfront and look at boats, ships, and airplanes.  This morning was no exception.  It was just 7AM, but they were ready to be tourists in their own city.