Spring Fling

Oh my goodness...it has been a while again. I have actually considered taking this blog down once or twice. I still might. It's so much easier to update my facebook status or send a tweet about what is going on with us than to take the time to sit at the computer and type. Part of the problem is that I rarely use our PC anymore. My phone does most things the computer does, and some things it doesn't, so most of the time I just get online on that, and I'm not inclined to write a blog post on my phone keyboard. But, sometimes it is nice to give a more detailed update on what's happening around here.

We are almost to the end of this school year. It was originally supposed to be over on June 1, but thanks to our snowy winter, and then an unusually wet spring, we missed lots of days and now the kids don't get out until the NINTH! I am still shaking my head over the schools being shut down because of rain, but the extent of flooding in this state and other areas around this part of the country has been epic. And then, once the flooding stopped, the tornadoes began. We have been very fortunate in central Arkansas that we haven't been hit too hard. Slightly north of us the town of Vilonia was nearly wiped out, not to mention the destruction in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Joplin, Missouri recently. Horrifying. I have been almost completely avoiding the news coverage of the Joplin storm; it makes me sick to my stomach and worried that the same thing could happen here in only a few short moments. Fortunately, the weather folks are saying we should be at the end of that weather pattern for the foreseeable future, so maybe we can breathe easy for a little while, and those whose homes were destroyed can have some time to salvage what little they may have left and find a new start.

I am also in denial that in just over a week I am going to have a second grader on my hands! Nate has really grown and progressed so much over the past school year. He can read almost anything, he can spell many things without assistance, and if he doesn't get it exactly right, you can certainly get the gist of what he is writing. He has been a whiz at spelling, has struggled somewhat with math, and really has enjoyed most of the lessons he has had in school. Last quarter he got straight A's on his report card, and his teacher tells us he is a joy to have in class. Recently he has gotten busy with baseball again. After not being sure he wanted to play this spring, he changed his mind and has jumped into it with both feet. He is one of the best players on his team, and as a result he has been selected to play on the Sylvan Hills Diamond Hawgs all-star tournament team this summer. Our park will have three tournament teams this summer, comprised of the best kids from all the league teams. This year he has been playing on the Cardinals, and last we checked our team was in second place in the league. He has been playing third base, and has come a long way with all of his skills, especially catching. We are so excited that we will get the chance to watch him play on an "elite" team this summer. We think he will learn a lot more about the game and improve his skills even more. He is really excited too! We have our first team meeting and practice in the morning with our first tournament starting June 3. I am so glad he decided to go ahead and play ball again, because he has truly been enjoying himself, and is realizing that he is pretty good at this! It helps that our team has a winning record (as opposed to last year when we lost almost every game), but he is also figuring out that being part of a team and competing can be fun. While I hope he enjoys it and sticks with it (because I LOVE watching him play), if he decides he doesn't want to continue any further with baseball, that will be okay with me. But I want him to find something he likes to do and wants to be involved with.

Amy, a.k.a. Pootie, continues to be a mess, a handful, a turkey...well, a Pootie. It really is a shame that she will be too young to start Kindergarten this fall, because I feel that in most areas, she would be fine. In fact, I feel that she is in need of more structure than daycare provides, the kind of structure she would get in school. She is a smart kid, and the drawback to her daycare is that her class age range is anywhere from just-turned-3 to about to start school. Therefore, all classroom activities have to be geared toward the skill level and understanding of the younger kids. While the older kids aren't being harmed by any of this, they aren't really being challenged either. I'm sure that when Amy does finally get to start school, she won't be behind the other kids, and if she happens to be lacking in any areas, she will be up to speed in no time. Also, Phil and I are really looking forward to not having to pay the cost of daycare anymore. We are ready for the $400 per month raise we will be getting! We are also going to have to find her another extracurricular activity to participate in. She quit dance (rather abruptly) back in October, and she Needs Something To Do. She really can't stand us paying so much attention to Nate when he plays ball; in fact her behavior is at it's worst at the ball park. I have mentioned going back to dance, and also have suggested she might like gymnastics, or even softball. Her answer to which activity she would like changes almost every time we discuss it, so we will make an announcement at a later date...actually one of the local gyms offers a Tap n' Tumble class that I think would be right up her alley: 30 minutes of dance, 30 minutes of gymnastics. Perfect.

Speaking of Amy and her desire for attention...we have been chatting with Nate about what he would like to do for his birthday next month (his SEVENTH OMG), and it never fails. Only moments after starting the conversation, Amy interrupts and insists we need to talk about HER birthday party, which would be over five months from now. Sigh. Nate and I have taken to talking about it in the car after I pick him up from school, before we get Amy from daycare. Poor kid gets almost completely overshadowed by his sister sometimes. They have such different personalities.

To follow up my last post, about my sweet kitteh Otis...We have had Sophie back to the vet twice for follow-up visits for her thyroid. At the first visit, her thyroid level was still way too high, so the vet doubled her dosage, and suggested again that we probably need to do a surgery on her to correct the problem. At the second visit, I was prepared to talk to them about payment options for the surgery, since we didn't have $500 or $600 just lying around. Fortunately, we avoided that whole situation, because her thyroid level was way down, in fact down a little too far. So we adjusted dosages again, and now we don't have to go back for a year. We still have her living outside in the garage. It was going to be temporary, but on one of her trials back in the house, she peed on Amy's bed, so back out she went. We may have to make concessions this summer when it's 110 degrees in the shade, but I am loving not having the litter box in the house. I didn't really think she would live this long after Otis died, but she is hanging in there. We do know for certain that once she is gone, we will be a one-species-pet household for a very long time.

Ok, so that brings us to me and Phil, and we are pretty much the same. Working, ball games, school activities, and trying to find some time alone here and there. My job has been extremely busy, and we have been critically understaffed, so that's a good time. The positive side is lots of overtime, but on the flip side we have all been working like dogs every shift. Phil's job is steady, Thank God. He has also been enjoying baseball season. He isn't an official coach, but he is a Dugout Dad and helps out with every game.

I would like to say that we are looking forward to a nice, quiet, lazy summer...but it's not really shaping up that way! Oh well, we would just be bored. We are counting down the days until our beach vacation at the end of July. We enjoyed ourselves so much last summer in Destin that we decided almost immediately that we would be going back this year. We found a cute condo, and cannot wait to lie on the beach, baking in the sun while the kids play in the surf. Is it July yet???