Our First Astros Game

Max learned a new word tonight that ought to make his Papa proud: baseball. We spent a total of $22 (thanks to the benevolent bag checker who let us bring in our snacks and water "for the kids' sakes"), including parking, and sat three rows from the very top of the stadium. The Astros won, big time, and we all had a blast. And, it turns out that I much prefer indoor, air-conditioned baseball to any other baseball. Almost as soon as we sat down in our seats Weston asked, "When can we come here again?!" I don't know when it will be, but I can tell you we will probably be doing this again in the not-too-distant future.

Water Bugs

Letting Go of the Boys

Weston is just about to pop with pride, knowing that in just a few short months he will start preschool. We toured the school today, and he was thrilled. He will go three days a week, from September to May. He's really ready for this, and I know it will be a wonderful experience for him--even if I have to give up a portion of my full-body hugs on those days. Max will also be out of the house one day a week, at the same school, which is intended to restore a modicum of sanity to my life. I can't believe how quickly my kiddos are growing up.

My life as a thirty-something adolescent

• I'm thinking about a couple of boys pretty much all day long.
• I wish I looked like a sexy fashion model.
• Pimples, zits and other skin disasters.
• The group I run around with can be pretty immature sometimes.
• On the phone again.
• My music is loud, and my dancing is awkward.
• My car isn't fancy, but it gets me where I want to go.
• Pop quizes all too often.
• My chores must be done before I can have any fun.
• I really want to be a grown-up, but I often feel like I'm still a kid.
• I look to the future with excitement (and just a little fear).

Swim Season Finale

We finished up our swim season today with the Divisional meet at Atascacita High School. And the Gators are, once again, Divisional Champs! This was our first indoor pool competitive experience, and there were many more teams competing, and the pool was deeper than any we've been in before, and the starting blocks were higher. So, there were a few mental hurdles, but Ruth still did fantastic (in her mother's humble opinion)! We are so proud of the progress she's made this year and look forward to another fun swim season next year.

In case you are wondering...

My grandmother is recovering nicely from her back surgery. She is getting around very well and is not in much pain. My grandfather is recovering from his heart attack and a mild case of diverticulitis, and should be released from the hospital today. I am staying at my parents' house for a few days, trying to help out, while Jeff is home with the kids, who are all well and healthy now. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers during this time.

Living Murphy's Law

[Our house this morning between 8:30 and 9:00]:

I'm running water for my shower, when Weston comes in yelling at me that my phone is ringing. I shut off the water and make a bee-line for my phone, since I am awaiting news of my grandfather's health after a heart attack yesterday morning. I missed the call, but sure enough it was my mom with the expected update. I dial her back. She doesn't answer. So, I put off the shower and sit by the phone. It doesn't ring, and it doesn't ring. Finally, I give up and head back to the bathroom. I strategically place the phone near the shower and hop in. Still it doesn't ring. I step out of the shower a few moments later to a cacophony of cries from the smallest members of my family. I throw a towel around myself and rush out of the bathroom, where the noise grows increasingly louder. Weston is screaming and crying and saying over and over, "I threw up," while Ruth is chanting "Weston threw up" and trying her best to keep her other brother away from the mess, which makes him super-angry. It is then, my friends, that the phone rings. Obviously, I couldn't get to it. I scooped up the smallest child, exposing my backside to the world (or whoever might have been standing on my front porch), and simultaneously herded the sick one into the bathroom with instructions to wait for me. I then successfully trapped Max in his booster seat, while exposing other parts of my still-wet body to whoever might be looking in my kitchen windows. I had no time to feel embarrassed about these actions. I shove a plate of food in front of the wee one, while in the background Ruth's chanting continues and Weston is inquiring at the top of his voice when he can come out of the bathroom. I put him off a moment longer so that I can dash back into my bathroom for my robe. (Why I didn't think of that in the first place, I will never know). Meanwhile, Jeff is trying to conduct a dignified business call and is no-doubt impressing the pants off whichever client is being exposed to all this hullabaloo. Ultimately, everyone is calm and collected. The mess is cleaned up. The noise has not reached the client's ears in any discernible way. And, I finally connected with my mom and received the update I had been waiting for. It's truly a wonder that people can survive with the sort of sustained insanity that goes on around here, but we are living proof that it can be done.

Bathroom Day

The bathrooms in my house get cleaned once a week, whether they need it or not (though, now that I think about it, I can't remember a time when they did not, in fact, need to be cleaned). So, if it can be said that there was something fortuitous in Weston coming down with a little tummy bug today, it is that it fell on "Bathroom Day," thus making it unnecessary to have more than one of those this week. That is not to say that I had to limit my cleaning activities to the bathroom today, but truly, it could have been worse. Weston was just the saddest little thing today, and I could just hardly stand it. I'm really hoping it's just a 24-hour thing and that he will be back to his happy/healthy little self tomorrow. I'm also hoping that the rest of us don't pick it up.

I'm still here

Somewhere in the midst of birthday parties and swim meets and planting seeds and a pedicure and my grandmother's back surgery and learning to send text messages and a whirlwind tour of Texas to drop kids off and pick them up and a pile of laundry that never ends and a sink full of dirty dishes and dinner parties and Bible studies and morning walks and sitting in the massage chair and a myriad of mundane things that don't even deserve to be mentioned, I'm here. Just so you know.

Birthday Weekend

Seven

Sweet Ruth~

You are seven today! Can you believe it?! It blows my mind to even think of it! In this last year you have moved to a foreign country, completed a year of homeschooling, relocated to a new city, and taken up a new sport. All without batting an eye. You are amazing! Not to mention beautiful, thoughtful, brilliant, and creative. You make me smile every day. And I continually thank the Lord for giving me the opportunity to be your mom. I love the way your eyes light up when you figure out some problem. I am thrilled when you come up and hug me for no reason. I'm touched by the way you love your brothers, and indeed, how you love everyone. I'm so very proud of you and the lady you are becoming! You are a blessing in my life. I look forward to watching you grow and learn even more in the coming year. Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mom

I have so much to tell you

• Ruth knocked somewhere in the neighborhood of 17 seconds off her backstroke at her meet on Saturday, and received a nice time improvement ribbon at practice yesterday, which thrilled her to no end.
• Max has a new tooth and isn't shy about using it. He bit me on the shoulder yesterday and left a bruise.
• Weston is officially 3 1/2, as of yesterday. We celebrated with donuts for breakfast and McDonald's for lunch, and a few little items off his wish list: gumballs, a brown lollipop and, of course, eyeballs. We are still waiting for his custom-made giraffe t-shirt with a red "W" on the back to arrive.
• Max has learned how to climb out of his crib and has been moved into his pack-and-play until he figures out how to scale that one, which won't be long. He is also working on perfecting his climbing of other things. He has been found, in the last few days, standing on his dresser, sitting on the patio table, in the sink in his bathroom, up on the counter-height dining table, jumping on his brother's tall cargo bed, and up on the playscape--both at our house and the park.
• I have been buying and using coffee implements like a crazy woman. First, a variety of flavored coffees. Then, a new (cutie red) coffee maker to replace the (boring white) one I broke. And, finally, a coffee grinder. Today, I even went so far as to make my own frozen coffee drink--not even to be sociable, but just because I wanted it.
• We were able to get our van into the mechanic yesterday and also bring it home fixed on the very same day.
• The story time lady at the library somehow got the impression that a video can count as a story if it is loosely based on a well-known children's story. (Don't get me started on the completely ridiculous message of said video).
• We will be finishing up our first year of homeschool tomorrow.
• Ruth is turning 7 on Friday.
• Both sides of the family (including grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even a great-aunt and uncle) will be here over the weekend to celebrate Ruth's birthday and to watch her swim.

Memorial Day

We spent time with family, had a picnic at the lake, ate watermelon and played in the sprinkler. What could be better?!

What's more fun than watching a DVD in our van?

Getting pushed through the intersection by Grandpa's pick-up. According to Weston.

On the way to our Bible study tonight, the air conditioner in the van wasn't running as cool as we thought it should. We suspected tampering from the under-five-foot crowd we run around with. On the way home, we began to notice strange sounds and smells shortly before a myriad of warning lights came on on the dash and smoke/steam began streaming out from under the hood, forcing us to take back our suspicions. Thankfully, my in-laws are in town visiting, so we called them to come rescue us. My father-in-law showed up in his pick-up truck and decided to give us a little nudge through the intersection, in the hopes of getting us safely to a gas station so we could better assess the problem. The kids were absolutely thrilled by the prospect of being pushed along by another vehicle (even if their mother was not)! And, Weston enthusiastically volunteered that this was "more fun than the black radio," which is his code name for our DVD player. I had a slightly different take on the situation. We did make it to the gas station and got things cooled off enough to get the van started, and were able to make it home safe and sound, another adventure under our belts. I guess the next adventure will be finding a good mechanic. Woo-Hoo!

Bald, Like Grandaddy

Max has been needing a haircut for a while now, and for one reason or another we just haven't gotten it done. But today, after story time at Barnes & Noble and after lunch, with Max happy and tired to the point of utter compliance, I decided to pop into a place in the mall that could take him immediately. The lady sat Max up like a little prince in her chair and the following ensued:

Lady: What do you want to do today?

Me: Just trim it up and make him look like a little boy.

Lady: Will the clippers bother him?

Me (thinking she meant to use them for cleaning up the edges): No, not at all.

Lady: Good. This way it will not be too short and will not be too long.

[The next thing I knew, the lady had the clippers in hand and was going right up the middle of Max's head, and I realized she could have left off the first part of her last statement entirely].

Me: GASP!

Lady: It will look very nice.

Weston (a few minutes later, watching with delight as piles of hair hit the floor): MOM! MAX IS GOING TO BE BALD! HE'S GOING TO LOOK JUST LIKE GRANDADDY!

I'll say this: the boy will certainly not be getting too hot this summer because he has too much hair! Still, he is a cutie-patootie, if you ask me!

Let Me See Your Butterfly

Inside, Outside, Upside Down

When I woke up this morning I felt different. I felt rested and refreshed and ready to start my day. I wasn't stiff or sore in my hands or feet, and I easily climbed out of bed and got moving. On my walk, I came across a bunny who couldn't be bothered to take more than two hops away from me. I also saw two turtles sitting right beside the path, and I briefly comtemplated bringing one home.

When I got back to the house, my three-year-old was up (not bizarre) and was seated at the table with breakfast he had gotten all by himself (bizarre), without making even the slightest mess in the kitchen (very, very bizarre).

I offered to play a game with the kids this morning after Ruth finished her school work, and Ruth declined. Weston, however, played enthusiastically...twice. Without losing focus or interest. And, Max occupied himself happily during the course of the two games.

Jeff stopped in the middle of his work day to fire up the grill and make us a fabulous, somewhat gourmet lunch.

While out running errands this afternoon, I stopped at Sonic for my Vanilla Diet Dr. Pepper fix and was stunned to find regular ice in my cup instead of the famous Sonic Ice.

The line at the post office moved quickly, and Max wasn't a bit fussy while we were there.

I found books at the library on the subjects I was looking for, without assistance and without Max ripping books off the shelves like some major award was at stake.

Then, at the grocery store, on my way to check-out, I was overcome by a need for some of the fresh brewed coffee they had out to sample. I simply could not walk away. I had to have it.

That's when it really hit me that today was no ordinary day. I somehow woke up in an alter universe or something. Nothing was quite as it had been. I don't quite know how I got here, and I don't have any idea what will happen tomorrow. I just feel so disconnected with reality and discombobulated, too.

Easy as S A T

For the last three days Ruth has been taking the SAT (Stanford Achievement Test) for first grade. We prepared her that the test would be testing a wide variety of skills and that there would probably be some questions she didn't know. On the first day's debriefing, we asked how the test went. She said it was easy. We asked if there weren't any difficult questions, and Ruth laughed out loud. "No," she replied, through snickers, "it was very easy." She also told me later that she LOVED taking the test. Yesterday, she was disappointed in herself that she had to use scratch paper for some of the math problems, rather than doing them all in her head. But still, she thought it was pretty easy. She even quizzed Weston on some of the questions, and when he answered correctly, she said smugly, "See, I told you it was easy." Today, she didn't have much to say, except that she finished the book she had taken in to read in case she finished any sections of the test before other testers. We won't know her actual scores for a while, but we are glad that she felt good about the test and that she wasn't intimidated by it, since this was her first real test to ever take.

Mother of the Year

One of my very favorite cousins-in-law sent me the most fabulous Mother's Day greeting. I laughed out loud, and I hope you will, too. Happy (Late) Mother's Day to all you hard working mommies out there!

Gator Bowl

Today was Ruth's first swim meet. It was just a time trial, so we weren't competing against another team, but it was still a pretty big deal. Ruth was amazing! She swam like we have never seen her swim before, and she just did great! That's not to say that her times were the fastest of the group, but she was diligent and determined, and she finished all four of her races without going over to the side or the rope for a break (a first for her). And the main thing was, she had a great time, and she was proud of herself. (And her parents were super-proud of her, too--in case you can't tell from my ridiculous yelling in the video). And, aside from the swimming part, the meet was just a lot of fun. The park and pool areas were covered with parents and siblings and swimmers all cheering each other on and enjoying the beautiful day. And, the concession stand starting serving nachos at 8:30 am. What's not to love about that?! Check out the pictures, but if that isn't enough for you, come watch Ruth swim live and in person. It's just an all-around good time.