Goals

Tonight we had our family home evening, and Eric was in charge of giving the lesson. Last week I had the lesson and we talked briefly about goals, then the plan was for Eric to take each boy individually (except Asher), and talk about and write down some goals for the year. He took Brandt first, and then we ran out of time and had to put off Eli's one-on-one time until this week.
So Eric continued the goal-theme for tonight's family night. I had asked Eric how it went last week with Brandt, and he had said, "Fine," with a roll of his eyes. I wasn't sure WHAT that meant, but didn't pursue it further.
Well, tonight I found out. Eric began by re-explaining why we set goals. Then he said that once we decide what our goals are, we need to come up with a plan of how to achieve them. He then turned to Brandt and said, "For instance, Brandt, your goal for this year was to be a Power Ranger. What kinds of things do you need to do to achieve that?" Brandt then responded that he needed to work on his moves and stay up at night. Then, he gave us a demonstration of several moves.

Eli has been learning about goals of another sort. He has been playing basketball this year, and he had his first real game on Saturday. He is still figuring out what is going on most of the time, and when he does know what to do, he hasn't mustered up the killer-instinct to quite get it done, YET. He has improved remarkably since the start of practice. He can run and dribble at the same time, and can even look ahead while doing that some of the time. And he has pretty accurate shooting. He actually made a point for his team (via a free-throw).

Asher has been a real drama king lately. Once he can talk, I should seriously think about getting him into acting. He can rejoice, complain, disapprove, ask a question, and answer a question all using the phrase, "Hun, duh, duh," said with different voice intonations and facial expressions. And even STRANGERS can tell what he's communicating. It's amazing, really.

I've been busily putting together track for this spring. I am advertising through the schools, newspaper, Parks and Rec's website, and Trak Shak's website this year, so I may have a much bigger team. I've been mentally prepping myself for that. Last year the most successful practices, as far as running smoothly and efficiently, were the ones where we had the most kids show up. That "group-think" thing gets them working together instead of complaining. I try my best to make practices fun, and I think they are mostly fun, but with running, there are inevitably times when the kids just don't want to do it. During those times. its nice for them if they know 10 other kids are enduring it, too. Misery loves comopany.

Workout log:
Friday 1/9/09: I ran through the trails in the sports complex and then to Trussville Springs to the trail there. I ran a bit on it and met Eric and Asher there. Eric got to have all of Friday off b/c he had worked so dang much earlier in the week. It was so nice. I ran a total of about 6 miles and walked 2 with Eric and Asher.
Saturday 1/10/09: I ran through the sports complex and over to the historic district and back. I was gone about 54 minutes. I pushed the pace for a good portion of it, but I didn't wear my Garmin (I hadn't charged it from the day before) so I'm not sure how fast I went.
Monday 1/11/09: I biked 50 minutes downstairs whilst watching "The Sting" with Robert Redford and Paul Newman. I didn't finish it, but I'd like to. Robert Redford *was* so hot.
Tuesday 1/12/09: I ran pushing Asher in the stroller on the trail in Trussville Springs. I ran the 1 mile length 6 times, plus to and from the parking lot at the office there for a total of about 6.8 miles. It took me about an hour. Then I came home and did weights. Asher is amazingly good for my weight workouts. Sometimes I use him as my weight on squats, which may as well be a rollercoaster as far as he's concerned.