Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Belated Mother's Day Post

I love that Tate can turn anything into a party or celebration. She is going on her 2nd grade field trip today, with her daddy, and she is beyond excited. She could hardly do her homework last night, and then she decided to make hers and his lunch for today (oh the patience that took - peanut butter and jelly mess, and seriously, 30 minutes later and a VERY full bag of "stuff").

Tonight I leave for Yellowstone. My mom and I are going together, to work on their rental place a bit, and to enjoy a lot. I am most excited about not being woken up at 5:30am to feed dogs, to having a full bed by myself (I will miss David, just not moving dogs at my feet), and about sitting and being with my mom with beautiful surroundings. Wine, knitting, picnics, so excited. I just may pack some pb&j sandwiches!! :-)

Mother's day was lovely - the kids and David made me pancakes. I had to go back to bed to receive them! Tate made a delicious fruit salad, cherries, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, bananas. Like I said, she loves a celebration. I could hear them all in the kitchen talking, then all of a sudden, three people yelling at each other, then back to conversation - it was hilarious. They brought me flowers, cards, and each of them had made a poem.




Smith had a noon soccer game. 80 degree weather (my calves got some color!). Toward the end, our goalie kicked a ball, and one of our players was right in its path - very close to the kick, got hit with the ball and broke both his lower arm bones!! Poor guy. He and his mom spent the rest of the day in the ER. The boys had 5 more minutes to play after that, and at the end of the game, battered by the other team and shaken by their buddy's injury, they came off the field with a flower for each mom. Last year it was a bit more enthusiastic, but I believe we won that game last year!

I was typing out my list of stuff for David to have while I am away - things like who the kids are going home with, when to give the dogs their medicines, etc. I think I have some serious job security. It's hard putting all that is in my head down on paper, and coordinating who is going where and how it impacts the others. Moms are awesome.


Yellowstone

My mom and I headed to West Yellowstone, MT, to work on their rental unit, and to have some FUN. We had some flight issues, and traveling with my mom is always an adventure, but the good kind! Our connection was on time while our first flight was late, so we got to make eye contact with the pilot but not get a seat on our plane. So, we stayed in Minneapolis for the night. Delta couldn't get her luggage for us, so they gave us two mini overnight kits that were full of tiny things. We spent the next day at Wal Mart and Bed Bath and Beyond, getting things for us and the rental, then off to Yellowstone!

One of my favorite places ever, it was great being there in their off season. The weather could not have been more perfect, and my mom and I had a blast. 














Monday, May 12, 2014

Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend was just gorgeous. We even had a light sprinkling PERFECT rain on Saturday (perfect nap weather!). Two soccer games, breakfast in bed, beautiful flowers, lunch at Chipotle, lots and lots of family time. It was a great weekend.

I am one lucky mom. Parenting is hard. Really hard. But I find some things get easier, and more enjoyable, for sure. Tate and I can laugh at things together now that she didn't "get" before. Smith is always there helping with groceries and his 7th grade humor. I am fortunate to have these two as my own - they are just my style.



Domo wants to help cut the fruit



Sunday, May 4, 2014

7th Graders are actually pretty cool!


Smith taking a selfie with Honest Abe


DC War Memorial Museum (??)

Didn't lose any of them!

MLK - disappointing memorial for such an amazing historical figure

I recently went on Smith's 7th grade field trip to see the monuments in DC. I was very pleasantly surprised about my group of 8 boys. First, Smith introduced me to all the boys in his group, we got on the bus, and we were off. When we got there, two of the boys in particular were intent on keeping track of the other 6 and me. They made my job much easier.

We started at the Lincoln Memorial, then to Vietnam, World War II, Korean War, had lunch in the DC Warm Memorial (who knew that one even existed??), Martin Luther King, Jr, and finally FDR. That one is my favorite - I have been to all of those except the MLK one before (which I didn't care for), and good thing because even though I had 2 helpers, I was still constantly counting 12345678, 12345678, making sure I had them all.

What a difference of the kids in 7th grade. The size differences in the boys is huge - Smith is on the smaller side, but with a lot of people in his size group. Then there are the 6'2" guys. And the girls! My goodness, many of them look like they are already in high school.

Great trip, glad that my son still is okay with me being around. I sure like that kid.

Too much!

This past week was a blur. Kids had their normal stuff, plus work is BUSY. Tate's school's Variety Show was performing Friday night so we had dress rehearsal Thursday, at the same time as my mother in law was flying in for a visit, and at the same time as Smith and David's soccer practice. She had to take a taxi in, and while she is easygoing and said it wasn't a big deal, I felt really bad about it.



There were a lot of issues with the sound system at the school, so practice was 3 hours instead of 2. I was in charge of kid control - getting the acts ready for backstage and giving out the evil eye as necessary to keep them quiet.

Friday, after my barre class and my first haircut of 2014 (!!), it was time to take Domo to a necessary unscheduled vet visit - he had a few gross puppy things going on. So, that ended up on the agenda. We didn't get to go see places she may want to live in on Friday, as after we got a yummy lunch at Panera, it was just about time for me to drop her off and go volunteer in Tate's class.

We had a friend's three kids over after school so I could get them all fed before the show. We went off, and helped coordinate the chaos. The show and all the hard work paid off - it was seamless from the pleasure side of the curtain. The sound was great, the work backstage looked effortless. Smith and one of his best buddies were back there helping, too. In fact, they were also part of Tate's act - they were the background donuts!



Saturday was Tate's soccer game in the morning, then we looked at nearby condos for my MIL, then her tryouts for Travel in the evening. David evaluated the boys tryouts.





Sunday was the Brownie Art Show - we have a great troop and parents - one parent is the artist, so she worked with the girls to create their pieces. Another mom and her family own the winery where we had the event. And then the leader, TARA HOLT, is just the best. She organizes all these kids and parents and creates fun and personal growth and happiness. We are all lucky to have her!!




My parents got there, just a little after 4 teachers from the school came to see the art. How cool is that - their teachers came!! My parents and MIL and I sat together to drink some wine and relax afterwards, while a few girls played around on the grounds.


Long recap - what a full 4 days. This week will be "regular" busy.











Followers