How a Walk to School Can Change Everything...

Hi Max!

I am a ritualized, structured, and systematized person and I have my Sunday Night, Nightly, Pre-Leave, and Morning Rituals Click here for video of The Four Enriching Rituals. As part of the Morning Ritual, I've made a change that has many benefits.

Some questions I get about time blocking, time management, and balance evolve around doing this versus that. Family vs. Work, Family vs. Working out, TV vs. working out, social media time vs. television, etc. One of the ways to work towards a more balanced and harmonious lifestyle is to combine some of the spokes of your life wheel (instead of looking at them as mutually exclusive). The biggest one I hear is physical activity or working out. There are many ways to combine working out with other activities: while watching your favorite show, use the elliptical or a treadmill - and you can get those cheap; while working and doing phone calls, walk on a treadmill - we are seeing more of this, for family time, work out with the family. The last one is what I've started doing.

Each morning instead of dropping you off at school (by car), we are walking to school together. It's 2 miles round-trip and is a great way to start the day for me. We chat and talk about the day. It's very focused (no computer or phone) family time but also incorporates a brisk walk/physical activity. I'm glad I've been doing this. The results are already coming in...

I'm more alert during the day. I am not worried about spending time with my family. It's happened. Walking before eating burns more calories and walking in the morning burns calories throughout the day. It's an easy lifestyle change that could be done every day without adding time to my day. Walking 2 miles every morning 5 days per week is a great activity in itself. Add pushing a stroller and hearing your priceless words like, "Here comes a Mustang" like you said this morning and you have a welcome addition to the Morning Ritual.

I get to be there for the "Quantum Leap" moments. Like this morning, you said the ABC's all the way through, named every car color perfectly, and the "Here Comes a Mustang" comment was truly special. You saw the cars coming from all the way at the entrance of our community and before I even saw it you said out of the blue, "Here comes a Mustang." Sure enough, here comes a maroon Mustang down the road. Made me laugh out loud.

You are SuperSmart! :)

Love you!

Blessings,

Max's Dad (Michael)

Had to share... Family + Festival = FUN!

Hi Max!

Had to share this from this weekend! :) We had some fun at the Festival of Trails in Gardner, KS. Too funny! Goofy times! It was a Happy Birthday for me - lots of laughter.

Click on the picture to see a larger image.

Blessings,

Max's Dad (Michael)

05-28&29-11 Sunday is Son-Day... THE TRAIN!

Hi Max!

This weekend was Memorial Day Weekend and as always, we had the Maher Family Reunion in Independence. Any doubts as to how good your memory is were erased when you instantly asked if we were going to ride the train again. Sheri and I had a big laugh. Then, for the next 3 hours, you said, "Ride the train? Ride the train?" It was cute the first time, not so cute the next 900 times. :)

As we turned into the Independence (KS) Park, the first thing you saw was the REAL train that is parked at the Park for people to climb on and see a train up close. Nevermind the water slides, full-size fighter jet, dinosaur slides, pool, putt-putt golf center, and other distractions (er, I mean attractions). :) You were all about the trains. But alas... a hitch in our plans... the train that goes around the park was DOWN! Battery dead and no driver according to the rumors! I thought, "Oh boy."

You took the news a lot better than I thought. We sat down to eat and you were pretty focused on making a mess - and eating some. After lunch, you played trucks and cars with the other kids. Your big dump truck was a hit and besides fitting dirt and branches was the right height for you to run and push it - or is that push it and run? :) You were momentarily distracted. We ate, talked to relatives (relatives who really love YOU: Great-Aunt Linda, Great-Uncle Dan, Great-Uncle Jim, Great-Grandma Maher (still sharp as a tack), Taina, Nancy, Teresa, Paula, Uncle Rob, Aunt Lisa, Aunt Susan, Uncle Steve, Uncle Brian, Grandma Maher, and cousins Allie, Brady, Luke, Marissa, and Daniel). It was a great reunion - the most I've seen at a reunion.

You and I happened to be right next to each other when we heard, "WOO WOOOOOOO!" The train's whistle had blown and it was up and running again! Knowing that it could be one of only a few circles the train would make, I grabbed you and we made our way to the train. Fifty cents later (yes 50 cents) you and I had our tickets and were in line. They opened to gate, we went towards the front (same seat as last year?), and before we knew it, we were yelling, "All Aboard!" and we were riding THE TRAIN!

You loved it! We talked about the pool, the slides, the water, the jet, the child statues in the middle of the park, the dinosaur, the carousel, the giant slides, and the putt-putt golf center. It was like you were seeing them for the first time (again). It was almost like your entire focus was the train and now that you had achieved your goal of riding the train, the entire park came into view.

We waved at mommy and she took the photos. The conductor was kind enough to go around twice and we saw things we missed the first time around (can't look to both sides at the same time! :) It was great to ride the train with you. Makes me look forward to next year's Maher Family Reunion at Independence Park.

Blessings,

Max's Dad (Michael)

P.S. We also stopped by a carnival and had some more fun! Photos -->

Max makes out like a bandit...

Hi Bay-Bee!

Well Max, you made out like a bandit this weekend! Sheri (your momma) had her Baby Shower on Saturday. You now have enough clothes to get you to kindergarten! We are going to have to add on to your already walk-in closet.

A big thank you to Jolene Soetaert (your aunt) who coordinated and orchestrated the entire event. She also made a cake while Lisa Soetaert (another aunt of yours and Patrick's mother) made some cupcakes. The cake was a football and the cupcakes were baseballs. Too cool. By the way, you better like sports because there is definitely a theme with ALL of your decor, clothes, and bed. :)

Big thank yous to your great Aunt's Joyce, Annie, and Margie as they got you some terrific gifts. Joyce's KU bag with a one-of-a-kind monogrammed (MAX) KU Christmas stocking was a hit of the Shower. Big thank you to your cousin Michelle (who is on #3 in 3 years :) and Aunt Annie's daughter. Big thank you to Sheri's cousin's (Tony) wife Megan who brought Orissa (her daughter who looks like a princess) and AJ along with some great gifts. Big thank you to my sister Susan and my brother's wife, Lisa. Great gifts gals! Also, giant thank yous to Angie Clauder, Arlene Ladegaard, Denise Mills, Ilsa Steward and Debbie dear friends of the family! Special thank yous to the grandmas - Mary Ann Maher and RoseMarie Soetaert who spoiled the unborn like only grandmas can! And what a treat it was to have great-grandma Mary there. Through the health issues, she perservered and made it over to our house! If I forgot any one I'm sorry but Sheri and I (and Bay-Bee) are deeply grateful for your presents and your presence and even more grateful for our relationship with you. Max is so very lucky to have you in his life and Sheri and I feel the exact same way. Thank you.

Bay-Bee say Thank YOU!

To Your Success,

Bay-Bee's Papa (Michael)

Family Reunions, Four-leaf clovers, and Chinese Food

We had our Annual Maher Family Reunion this weekend. It's every year on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend. We have it at Big Hill Lake near Cherryvale in the southeast corner of Kansas. It was a good time. We saw Paula and her son, Blake and her daughter Lauren. We saw Dan (my dad's brother and your great-uncle) and MaryLou. We saw Linda (dad's sister) and Edith (dad's sister) and Jim (dad's youngest brother) and Neddy (Jim's wife). We saw Jana (Edith's daughter) and Taina (Linda's daughter) and Taina's daughter. Then there was our immediate family, Susan and Courtney, Brian, Mom, Rob and Lisa with Brady and Allyson. Everybody, your uncles and aunts, your cousins, your great-uncles and great-aunts, everybody is looking forward to meeting you next year. You'll learn to grow out of your shyness with the Maher family. :)

Something that was really cool was that while Sheri and Brady were walking they came upon a clover patch. Sheri goes, "Ooh, Brady, wouldn't it be cool to find a four-leaf clover?!" Brady goes, "Yeah!" They went from one patch to another, then lo and behold, Sheri found a four-leaf clover. A real one! I didn't even know they really existed.

Isn't it interesting how we will lose weight, we'll tan, we'll do a bunch of different things to prepare for a class reunion, but we basically show up as we are for family reunions? Isn't it great that family loves us just for who we are and how we are? :)

I'm typing this after your mom made Cashew Chicken. The thing about Chinese food is that it fills you up pretty quickly, you feel a little bloated afterwards, then you are hungry in about 2 hours. You'll get it. I'm guessing there are some Gerber's mini-meals that make you feel the same way.

By the way, Bay-Bee, I'm reading a great book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby (or something like that). It talks about systematizing your day and having standard sleep times (sleeping even before you are sleepy). I'm excited about this book because I live a very systematized life and my life has been fantastic since I have implemented my time blocking and task blocking. So hopefully, you won't have to be 30 years old before you learn this fantastic lesson.

We have a doctor's appointment on June 9 (Monday) but we won't be able to find out if you are a boy or girl yet. I'm excited to find out. It doesn't matter to me... boy or girl. Just want healthy. :) So you sleep now. I'll try to get some work done so I can earn some money and start preparing for your college fund. :)

To Your Success,

Bay-Bee's Papa (Michael)