It starts.

Today, I was talking to my biggest boy (N) about Michael Jackson holding his kid over the balcony railing...not because he's old enough to remember or it was even relevant to anything at all, but because I was supposed to be guessing "King Kong" on Draw Something, and all I could see was Michael Jackson holding a baby wrapped up in a blue blanket while a red plane flew overhead.  Yeah, I know.  It was obvious to me, too, but I just couldn't make it work with the letters I'd been given.  Oh well.

The whole point of that, and the title of this post, was that N randomly started singing "The Circle of Life" and calling me "Simba" instead of my usual title of "Mom."  That got ME started with all of the random lines from "The Lion King" and Rafiki just got stuck in my head.  I love that having children allows me to be able to watch Disney movies without it being considered weird.  Sidenote: I'd totally watch 'em anyway.  I'm way weird; it's part of my obvious charm.

We are in the midst of a crazy semester: all three of us are in school, I work 3/4 time (it's legit, I promise), and N's rocking it in baseball.  I'm looking forward to it settling down a little bit, but I doubt it'll last long.  I swear, we thrive on the chaos that we force ourselves into on a daily basis.  We're halfway through baseball season this weekend, and I'm so proud of my boy.  He pitched last weekend, and I've never been so nervous.  He's only 10!  I've thoroughly enjoyed watching him grow and gain more discipline over the past month or so...now, if only it could be utilized at home, too!

B (the little biggest boy) is taking a break from all things sporty, and frankly, I'm not sure how single parents handle sports with multiple children and everyday life.  It's definitely a learning process, that's for sure.  He did Tae Kwon Do for quite a while, and while he liked it, he didn't seem to sad to give it up.  We've adopted a "one sport" rule, so in order to try something else, he had to take a break.  My silly asthmatic, allerg-erific boy wants to play soccer.  Or baseball.  Because both of those are EXCELLENT choices for him.  He's stubborn and determined, just like his mom.  Just ask her...

I tend to "speak first, think later" a lot, and I've found myself trying to stop and just slow down a little.  If I don't slow down, I might miss something important.  I've had enough missed opportunities to last my whole lifetime, so it's something I'm really trying to do, not only for me, but for my boys, too.  It's really hard for a planner (read: control freak) like me to just slow down and take the day for what it is, but I've learned, especially here recently, that life's too short to just blow through it.  You miss out on so much when you're hurrying from point A to point B, and if you don't watch out, you may never get a second chance to experience what you missed in your rush to get there.

So, my new mission in life is to pay attention, to be there, and to take my time.  It freaks me out...a lot, but I'm going to do my best.  I don't want to wonder what I missed out on; I want to be able to say, "Yeah, I did that...and it was the best decision I ever made."

Catch y'all later!

Aubs