Summer...so far

To say that this summer has been busy is a huge understatement. I don't know if we've ever been going non stop the way we have this summer. I'm not complaining. I won't share all the things we (I) have had going on, but there have been work commitments, family travel, BASEBALL, Thad's 20 year reunion, etc.

This is marked the "kick off" to our summer--a weeklong trip to Florida. I am itching to go back. I want to retire here.

A LOT of baseball (and tball). This will likely be Olivia's one and only year playing. But Brady sure enjoys getting to play too!

Travel baseball is an all-consuming summer sport. It's like hockey during the summer. I love it. I don't mind the heat.

For as much baseball as Ryan plays, he finds the time to golf *at least* 18 holes a day. If there is no golf, he'll do more. His energy is insane. I know understand why boys weren't half as interested in us girls when we were his age.

I have thoroughly loved watching my 'baseball boy' blossom as a player. While coaching Olivia's team this year, I have watched a little boy who reminds me of Ryan at the age of seven. Then I look at Brady, who is the unofficial baseball mascot. He LOVES the kids, the game, and sits and watches the games. If he's not watching, he's off to the side acting out the moves he sees.

The boys treat Brady like royalty. Ryan and his friend use some bizarre lingo. For awhile Ryan has called Benny. None of us in our house even hear it, because we just tune out Ryan's 'talk.' Low and behold, though, we have realized that Ryan's teammates don't say "Brady!" They call him Ben or Benny. Go figure.

The girls aren't really fairly represented in any pictures. My girls are doing well. Kate is just blossoming. Sometimes I catch myself looking at her wistfully. She is now ten. Her look is changing....she's growing up.

Olivia is seven. She isn't aggressive at all with baseball. She has enjoyed playing with friends, prefers to swim everyday, and is still my emotional child.

Moorhead hosted the state baseball tournament this weekend. Our first two games were big wins. We took down Baxter easily. We moved on to Waite Park, where we won 13-0.
Next up was Bemidji. They got us...and got us good. It was a double elimination tournament, so we weren't out. In fact we had to play Waite Park again today, and it was another decisive victory. Unfortunately one boy badly hurt his knee and gave us a scare. He was taken to the ER, and the boys resumed play.
Next up? Bemidji. But even if we beat them, we would have to play them again, tomorrow....
The start of the game wasn't looking so good. In fact after two and a half innings, 90+ degree temps, and knowing Brady must be exhausted, I wrestled him home so he could nap. Within a minute or two of leaving the texts started rolling in: Ryan got a grand slam!\ We are up one! Ryan is pitching awesome! Crap the other team scored! We are going into extra innings! After innings 7 & 8 were played with no score, Thad texted me, "Wake him up and get here."  So I woke up a deep sleeping Brady, who was covered in sweat, told him the boys were still playing, and we had to go. Luckily he gave me a huge smile...
As we ran into the stadium, I heard cheering...for the other team. Bemidji scored. They won. Those boys played their hearts out, and we were all so proud. I know that they are proud of themselves too.

Playing catch up...and a sweet story

Here I go getting caught up with things! Olivia turned 7 last week. She is in soccer right now, and just started tball. She is a doll, and yet still quite sensitive. At the same time, she is a little go getter on the soccer field.

 

Ryan had his final orchestra concert of the year last night. He was hell bent on not doing it next year. In fact, he thought I was a mean mom for refusing to allow him to quit mid-year. Sorry buddy, quitting won't happen. Lo and behold today, I saw that he brought home for form for summer orchestra camp AND is signing up again next year. Go figure.

Oh yeah, and baseball is in full swing again.

Now on to Miss Katie.  These is something about this little girl...she is blossoming before my eyes. I am showing you the email I received tonight from her teacher. Her teacher is (to coin my Grandma Ada) a true gem. She is the most compassionate, sweet, kind, loving yet with high expectations teacher. Kate has been asking all year if she can just loop so she can have her for fifth grade. But this teacher doesn't do that. To set the story up, the fourth graders had a track meet today. I watched as Kate hung out with her friends...and her teacher. When you see the second picture, you will get a glimpse of what I saw while I was there. It was precious to me.

Kate did the long jump, 400 meter dash, the 4x4 800 meter relay, and the mile. She told me she took last place in the mile...at 8.01. Okay seriously? That is a good score and all the kids who did better ran FAST! Wow. I was certainly proud of her. Kate isn't competitive at all. As a matter of fact, I know Kate was probably grateful she took last rather than someone else. Like me she gets a little...fixated on feeling badly for others. She told me a few weeks ago out of the blue that the reason she never went after the ball in tball (four years ago) if someone else was also going for the ball, was because she didn't want them feeling badly. 

So here's the email....and why I love this teacher...and why Kate loves her....

I just wanted to let you both know how PROUD I was of Kate for all the events she was in...& her finish of the mile!  Of all the girls in our class, Kate ran the most today.  She just finished the co-ed relay and the first call of the mile was given.  She didn't even hesitate.  She trucked right on over to get ready to run!  Since I was on the field cheering the milers on...I could tell Kate was hurting on the last lap.  However, she picked it up and coasted to the finish line!  That takes a lot of courage in front of all your peers!   She did an AWESOME JOB!   When we got back, I asked them to write one thing that stuck with them from the meet.  She wrote about the 400 meter dash and the mile run....getting last place.  I whispered to her..."You know how many years I have watched kids quit in the mile because they weren't winning?  I am soo proud of you!"  Not every kid has that kind of courage!   WAY TO GO, KATE!   That's a true winner. 

What is so cool about this teacher is that she sends emails like this regularly. I simply cannot say enough good things about her. I really can't say enough good things about ALL of the teachers my children have had. 

Next time I swear I'll talk about Brady..and Peaches!

She's ours!

After a weekend of fun with Peaches (can't get over that name), we are now her owners. We fell in love with her, the kids adore her, and her owner realized that to find someone/somewhere who could love her and give her attention is too important to take her away from it again. My heart breaks for her owner. We all have lost dogs, and it is such a painful experience.
Peaches is doing well. She walked into our house on Friday night without so much as one jump, bark, or annoying behavior. She is a little...okay a lot overweight. We have been walking her, and she's thrown up a couple of times after. But it's good for her to move around more.
Brady, who has been forever scared of dogs, loves her. He calls her Doggie. Thad mistakenly calls her Lazzie, because she looks like my parents' old bulldog.
So now we have five kids. Literally a dog is like a child. She needs to be wiped down every time she takes a drink, her folds, eyes, and ears need to be cleaned daily (if not more), and she has horrid smelling gas.

I will provide more pictures soon....

Tonight Thad and I are going to coach Olivia's tball team. It's her first night. It's my first time as a coach. This should be...interesting.  I have to leave tball early and run Ryan to his orchestra concert. Then I will sit in a sweltering gym  with several hundred other people while it's 85 degrees outside. So it will be around 105 in there. Whoo hoo.

Tomorrow is the AP government test. I can't believe I made it. I can't believe my students made it with me.I've gained around 8-10 lbs in the last few months. I'm pretty ticked about that. I guess when I eat healthier more often I don't gain so fast. Whoops.  I was blaming hockey. Now I'm blaming work and soccer. Then I will blame baseball. What would be the best choice is to blame myself, only eat healthy, find time to work out more (impossible), and just quit blaming everyone and everything else.

Peaches

This is Peaches. We have been asked to foster her beginning in July-January. Thad is only going along with it for my sake. What a guy! Seriously though, she needs a home while her daddy is away at military training, and we are happy to help. You have to truly love bulldogs to see their beauty. We may have her this weekend and do a trial run. I will let you know how it goes!

Amen sister

I saw this on facebook tonight. I love it. I loved this show. I love it even more now.
Some people use their blog to discuss their personal views. I haven't really done that. But I am today.
I respect other peoples' opinions about issues, so please respect mine. You don't have to agree with me. You don't have to like what I think, but I, for one, do not find this to be detrimental to society.
What I find detrimental is a home life that lacks love, lacks care, involves fighting more than anything. Even my dear sweet husband who probably doesn't agree with me on this has said, "In my job I see more broken homes, more neglected children, more sad situations that most people can't even imagine. If two loving people are raising a child, who am I to say that's wrong?"
Guess what guys? Most of those homes he sees aren't gay couples having kids. They are just people who have had kids.

In life, we need to try to move away so much from labels, and just think of everyone as a person. It's not easy, and we are only a couple of generations removed (in my case one) from ending segregation.

So how about we stop worrying about: who's Black, who's white, who's Hispanic, who's Native American, who's gay, who's straight, etc. Let's all just be.

**This is the (hopefully) last PSA coming from my blog for the next year!**

Differences

AJ's post inspired me. How can kids be so different yet come from the same pool of genes? I would argue the greatest of differences lies between my sister and I. Just the other day she said, "Boy we are different. From personalities, to coloring, to body shape, everything." She's so right.

Ryan: Hot and cold. Strong willed. Pushes until there is a breaking point. Only will give up if he gets his way or has lost several privileges. Autonomous, athletic, funny as heck, very quick on his toes, and at the same time, one big fat giant pill in our house day in and day out.

Kate: Warm. Bizarre as all heck. Loves being weird to get a reaction.  Unique, creative, unaffected by perceptions of her, doesn't care about peer pressure, and by far the most loving of our kids. Tells us every night she loves us, kisses us good night, offers kind words daily. Tries to be mean to Olivia when we aren't looking and can be quite sassy.

Olivia:  Less hot and cold. Her emotions aren't tied to anger, but frustration/crying. Private like Ryan. Cries when things don't go her way. Easily hurt. Seems to need a lot of reinforcement in general. Hardest to feed.  Yet she is easy...easy to please, easy to have around, not annoying at all, and overall very sweet. Easy but rather needy.

Brady:  Always been happy, easy, kind, loving, etc. Recently has become strong willed. Loves his daddy. Loves his big sister "lii-ee-uh" and loves the big kids who come over.  Makes everyone smile and is quick witted. Just last night insisted when we got his hair cut that he wanted it "up." I figured out he wanted a buzz cut. So we got him a buzz cut. I'm realizing he is growing up terribly fast as the result of having older siblings.

d

Ugh

I was just reading my friend's blog post about February kicking her a$$. I can relate...too well.
I don't like to complain about being stressed, because we ALL have life issues that cause us concern. Many have it way worse than I do. But for my own sake I am going to blog about my personal stressors.

I am teaching a new class. It is kicking my a$$ into a whole new territory of stress. I am teaching Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics. Let me tell you what. This is NOT a class I would have taken in high school had it been offered, and I know I wouldn't have passed! Everyday at school I am pouring over about five or six different AP workbooks, the book, online sites, heck anything that can offer me help. I also teach another class, so that needs my attention. Then at night between the kids' stuff, I spend anywhere from 1-2 hours on it.

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THIS CLASS! I'm sorry, but I have no clue (but I'm learning) about PACS, Super PACs, Election Laws, and okay I could write until the cows come home. So not only do I have to get it, but I have to present it in a way that the kids think I sort of get it. These kids are the best and the brightest in our school. It's no secret they are more intelligent than I am. Almost daily they ask me questions that I can't answer. The best part? I have a student teacher who seems to be able to answer the questions. They call him "prof." Yeah that's not a kick to the gut. I've been in tears more times over work since January than any other time in my job.

This is what I need to tell myself each day...:
I will get through this
I am healthy (okay except for the awesome 24 hours migraine I had for the first time in my life this weekend. I blame "the class.")
My family is healthy
My husband supports me and lets me work as needed
I am a better person because of this class
A professional challenge is good
So I have to give up a week of my summer vacation to learn more about this stuff this summer. So I can't apply for a history seminar. So what? I am so happy. (okay that's a lie)
And again one of my favorite mantras: What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

Back I must go to work on my presentation about Interest Groups. Sounds thrilling huh?