The Adventures of "FATMAN"

Last night, Bryson and I were in the kitchen doing homework, and Nathan came in with a cape and a stretchy fabric book cover (for his head) and asked me to put it on him so he could be Batman. (The corners of the book cover poke up like little bat ears. It's pretty funny.) Well, he doesn't exactly say "Batman". It sounds much more like "Fatman". After he left, we laughed and the conversation turned to what a superhero named "Fatman" would do. In light of my recent struggle with climbing over my "weighloss wall", I decided he should save me from eating too much chocolate. We had a good laugh about it, acting out how it would all go down. After his homework was done, Bryson drew me the first-ever authentic Adventures of "Fatman" comic strip. It is with much pride that I post it here for all of you to enjoy. (Please disregard the capital letters and bad spelling. My son is much more articulate in the drawing than the writing!! I also wanted you to notice that the "madam" in the cartoon is eating a chocolate bar, and Fatman's hat is a chocolate kiss.) Sure do love that special little boy!!

Starting from "Behind"

Well, the new year has begun, without so much as a moment of resolution or "newness" for me, except putting up a new calendar. In fact, I've found myself still trying to catch up from the last three weeks of celebrating, playing, and having everyone at home. Sarah and Steve got back to the real world last week, but my other three kids had an extra week off from school. It was so wonderful having everyone home together during the holidays and we had so much fun together. But, by yesterday, when everyone was forced back into a routine, I found myself breathing a sigh of relief (and still going to bed way too late). The last few days were a little much for all of us. The kids were really getting crabby with each other, the house was very far from clean, and the relief I thought I'd feel with a new year and new beginning, was almost haunting me with how far behind I was starting from. I kind of feel like I'm running a 15 minute race, and starting 3 minutes after everyone else. (And I really hate running, too.) So, I'm using this week to try and catch up, and hopefully, by the 3rd week of the month beginning the new year, I'll be ready for 2010 to be here! (Translate as: much more coming, including my new year's goals I should have set two weeks ago...)