The Sunday Summary that Aims High

Last Sunday, Ryan and I got into a little bit of a "discussion" about his tendency to go overboard in the "Goal Setting" arena. For example, he decides he needs to lose weight and so his goal sheet for the week (oh yes, he has a goal sheet for the week), reads

1. Work out 14 times (I'm not making that up even a little bit)


2. Eat 1400 calories a day--isn't that what they eat on the Biggest Loser when they're trying to lose 24 lbs a week?!

So I have to bring him down to earth (I have a real talent for that) and he has to try to stand his ground. So after our discussion, I noticed his goal sheet on the floor. This is what it said (again, NOT making this up):

1. End world hunger


2. Achieve world peace

In contrast, I found a little booklet Emma had made for school. It was super cute and if our scanner wasn't upstairs and I didn't have to lay down on the ground after each foray up said stairs from exhaustion, I would scan it in, so you could see how much work she'd put into it.

Anyway, after telling about herself and her family, on the last page, she'd written her goals for the school year. These were her goals (word for word):

1. Get a B on my last report card


2. Get a C on my first report card

(You realize, of course that this is a girl that has a VERY easy time at school.) Shoot for the stars, Em.

So somehow, we need to meld Ryan (Mr. World Peace) and Emma (Miss Mediocre Grades) to have some sort of balance in our house.

That huge long essay I just wrote is actually only the LEAD IN to the Sunday Summary. (I'm imagining groaning at computers everywhere). I just wanted you to know why my angle for this weeks' summary dwells on each individuals Goals for the Week:

Jane learned how to finally ride a bike without training wheels. See how she ROCKS the bike:

Jane's goal for this week is to convince her parents to buy her a new bike, as this hand-me-down looks ghetto, has flat tires, brakes that don't work and half a pedal.

Here, in the following picture, Emma looks like she is super-cool and chill,

but she wasn't so chill on Sunday, when one of the Primary Counselors came frantically running into my class, telling me Emma needed me. Her teacher explained that Emma was choking on a piece of hard candy, that she is okay, but that she really livened up the Primary Program practice when she stood up wheezing for air and pointing at her chest. Later, she sheepishly told me that is wasn't actually a piece of candy--IT WAS A MAGNET that she'd found on the ground. Yeah, she's 9 1/2. Still eating non-food items off of the floor.

Emma's goal for the week: Pass the magnet. (Should I write a whole post about that?)

Seth's preschool co-op has been at our house this week and we've had fun.

As the youngest kid in preschool, his goal is to not be intimidated by the fact that he the ONLY kid who doesn't know the letter A.

Gabe attended his first pack meeting, and because of an initial (but short-lived) enthusiastic push by Mom, has already gotten his Bobcat patch. He was bouncing off of the walls with excitement at being old enough to participate.

His goal for the week is getting his Non-Sewing Mother to attach that Bobcat patch, so he can wear it proudly. (We've heard rumors of non-sewing adhesive, for which I will pay millions, should I get my hands on it.)

I personally have to aim low. I'm trying to decide between

• not making and eating a dessert every single night this week


• not yelling the words "I'm done! Really, guys, I'm done! If I hear one more request, I'm losing it" before 8 pm


• and limiting my Rolaids/Pepcid/Zantac ingestion to 5 per day.

What do you think?

You already heard Ryan's goals, so watch for an end to the economic crisis and the Iraq war this week.

We hope we inspired you to set your own goals this week and will keep you updated as we achieve all we've set out to do.