Keeping Up

Or actually NOT keeping up, but I'll try...

Since I last updated, our little corner of the world has become drastically busier--spring has arrived and with it, baseball, softball, tee-ball, pool maintenance, lawn maintenance...what else?  That doesn't seem like enough, but I promise, it is.

Sarah started tee ball.

She's a Firecracker.

Firecracker #12.  They've had more practices than games--lots of rain outs this season, but the first day she got her jersey, she slept in it.  She loves the game.

She loves when big brother has time to help coach 3rd base.

She does not love sharing first base...and I don't love the parenting fail I had just about the time this picture was taken...at her first game...after I told her to go to another position and she said, "No, I don't want to".  I had one of those "NO?!  DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM??!!" mom moments and acted a little bit ridiculous when she started crying about not being on first base.  Not one of those Mother Of The Year days.

Flashback--spring was sort of here.  Almost here.  Sarah was ready to be outside regardless.

These two spent a Thursday at work with Dad.  Sarah needs to be 8 before she can go.  She had such a hard time with that reality.

They had a pretty good time.

Met a lot of kids.  There was a lottery--not everybody got to bring their kids to work.

They stayed longer than they were supposed to--not really spending the entire day with dad because he had afternoon meetings they couldn't attend, but they didn't want to come home with boring old mom after lunch like they were supposed to do.  Saved me an hour of drive time, so I didn't mind.  I did mind that they were late for dinner and didn't eat before baseball.

Those are the little moments I hope to forget.  I choose instead to TRY (key word) and remember these ones.  She is much more the hugger, but he still still randomly give me hugs.  I'll keep taking them before middle school turns him into someone I don't recognize.  I actually caught them in a similar position this morning at the top of the stairs.  Yes, it was her hugging him and his return hug was pretty half-hearted, but at least he didn't let go and push her down the stairs.  I'll take what I can get.  And I love that they occasionally get along when they think no one is looking.
There was a similar moment last night between the girls--they read to each other in Sarah's bed.  I was so tempted to grab my phone or the real camera (which tends to be covered in dust these days), but sometimes I just want to enjoy the moment.  Not everything needs to be documented.

Hannah in her "rag tag" catcher's gear (dad's words).  She's #10--Black Diamonds.  Name was chosen by the coach after the girls had played two games with no team name.  8 year old girls are not that efficient at picking out a team name left to their own devices.

The little kid umpires are so cute!  She is not in love with the game as much as her sister and brother are, but she loves her friends and therefore, she loves hanging out with them.  There are often interesting games going on in the dug out and lots of spinning, twirling and running.  Some grass picking in the outfield.  The girls are learning to pitch and then the coaches step in as needed.  It can lead to some long innings.

But the girls are getting good.  They are hitting and scoring and they even won a game last week.  Never mind that it was so cold that ice actually hit me in the head at one point.

First part of May meant opening the pool.  Lots of chemicals and about 10 days later...

They attempted their first Mother's Day Swim.  It was freezing.  They didn't last long, but they were in heaven.

Because Dad has been around so much and with the conflicting schedules (and Hannah's homework!), the girls and I have missed a lot of Nathan's games& practices.  Therefore my documentation is weak.  This was before a game we all attended.  Pool still on the green side.

Apparently the pool is rather inviting.  This duck (on the diving board) and his wife seem to enjoy themselves.  We wake up to their morning swim almost every morning--and we chase them out periodically throughout the day.

They also seem to feel the pool is their toilet.

What seems like an eternity ago, Dad worked from home with this little miss and got her onto the bus for the first time.  Some friends and I left our house at 5:30 AM and headed to NYC for a taping of The Chew and some lunch.  Such a gorgeous day in The City and a lot of fun.  I admit I was toast the rest of the afternoon after getting up so early.  Really, really fun though.  The show was called "Best Desserts I Ever Tasted" and Patricia Heaton was the guest.  Not a show I really watch, but it was fun & a couple of the ladies I was with sat on the front row/tasting table.  They shared.  The Triple Orange Cake was fantastic!

I attempted it last weekend.  It was yummy.  Frosting a little much and really sugary.  That says a lot coming from me.  The cake was uneven so I went a little overboard trying to even it out with the frosting--the result was a sad defenseless (though delicious) cake being smothered by heavy butter cream frosting.  I am not a baker.  Proven once again by the Buffalo Chip cookies I made for a bake sale this week.  It took me all day and I was kinda crabby about it by the end.  Some other super smart mom went to Dunkin' Donuts.  I saw lots of kids eating those.

Max had the long awaited dental cleaning.  He is a new man with fresh breath.  He's also on a kidney diet prescription food and enlapril, fish oil and soon to be aspirin.  Good grief!  But he's doing great.  He's kind of become a beggar after all of the antibiotics he's had shoved in lunch meat the past few weeks.  I can't make a sandwich without him right next to me staring and barking.  He can't hear me say "NO!" so I just glare and shake my finger at him.  It doesn't work.

He's officially 13 now.  We aren't sure if it was April 27th or 28th, but we celebrated enough to cover it.  He even had special dog cookies.

One day between all of the pool maintenance and running around to baseball & softball, we came home to find him waiting patiently at the front door.  Oops!

Hannah spends a lot time on her head.

She's the only one who can swim in 68 degree water without turning blue around her mouth.  She has been dragging her friends either in or near the pool one by one.  Sarah and Hannah's friend, Emily, spent most of their time relaxing in the towels.  Hannah was in the water a lot.

If she's not in it, she's nearly in it.  Dancing.  Playing.

She loves the pool.  She's a busy girl.  Homework has been a HUGE adjustment here, but she is so diligent and such a hard worker.  We are currently working on reading a book for her Dress Up Biography Book Report.  She chose Jackie Kennedy--because "her husband died on my birthday you know".  She is very enthusiastic about this project even though the book she brought home is a tiny bit grown up for her and we're working through it slowly together.  She is so eager to get her index cards done so she can practice.

Another love.

Sarah's friend, Georgia, had her birthday party at the same farm that we registered Hannah for "horse camp" this summer and they were kind enough to include Hannah in the party fun.

They played in a hay loft and fed the horses apples and carrots.

Sarah was a little less sure about the whole feeding part.

But still a happy girl!

They each got to ride more than once.

It was such a cute, low key birthday party.  Very chill at the farm.

Sarah lost her first tooth!  She is thrilled!  And $5 richer.

As per her sister, she requested to keep her tooth.

She had a super fun double play date at our house, then lunch and I drove them all to school.  Georgia, Lila & Sarah are three of the 6 girls in afternoon kindergarten.  Thankfully the rest of the Firecrackers are in morning kindergarten and she's met lots more friends for next year.  Lots of fun girls!

Mother's Day Weekend was not the least bit disappointing.

Nathan keeps it simple.  "Thanks Mom" and who doesn't love football?

Dad's new friend.  As our neighbor calls her husband's "Dear John".  She says he actually misses "Dear John" in the winter.  Dad & John are super speedy at taking care of the lawn, but it is so much work--and (seems to be) constantly raining.

Sarah had her first field trip to the public library on Wednesday.  She was surprisingly excited considering her sister's field trip was NYC, but she was most excited to have her official Ironia Elementary School orange field trip hat!  Something I was much more concerned that Hannah had on her much bigger field trip.  It was not acceptable to borrow Hannah's orange hat.  Thankfully the school came through.  She's holding her library card and a coupon for a free library card holder.  We cashed in her coupon last night after tee-ball and softball were rained out.  Never mind that we just went to the library on Monday for Read To Rover--a program where the kids got to read to service dogs.  I didn't get any pictures because Sarah was nervous about reading to the "big dog".  She did well.  Nathan read to the small dog about, what else, but football.  Hannah read "Shoe La La" and Sarah read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".  She's a little caterpillar obsessed since they have had some in her classroom this month.

It feels like he's a tad neglected in this post, but he's doing great.  Yesterday they toured the middle school.  He participated in the 5th Grade Talent Show on Wednesday night.  A group of his friends put together a skit spoofing "So You Think You Can Dance", "American Idol" and "The Voice".  I didn't get any pictures.  Soon to be Middle School kids don't pose much for moms.  Especially moms trying to sort out sisters and bake sales.  He was Usher.  It was funny.  All of the 5th graders did a fantastic job.  This was not something they had to do, but chose to do.  Impressive to see them get up on a stage singing, dancing, acting, and performing.  They worked really hard--as did the parents.  There are some hardcore parents around here.
He's busy getting ready for the Science Invention Convention and we are all trying to manage the calendar full of 5th grade activities that seems to keep growing.  He doesn't feel like the new kid and we're so thankful for that.

We're heading into a relatively calm long weekend.  Weather doesn't look so fantastic, but maybe they'll find some pool time somewhere in the three days and we could all use a little down time before June sneaks up on us!  They finish school in about a month which means Texas is just little over a month away.  We can't wait to see everyone and remember what HOT feels like. (At least for a couple of weeks).

Time to go.  Keep up.