None of our local sports teams ended up doing pictures this year, but one of my friends in town (Deirdre Rakus Photography) is a photographer and she offered to do sports pictures for anyone that wanted them. I did them for my kids and even got pictures of my two lacrosse players together!
This story starts with my laziness. I had an Easter wreath on my front door and was quite lazy about taking it down. At some point I realized we were WELL past time it should have been down and I should really do something about that. I finally walked to the front door and swung the wreath down. The “swung” part is quite important here. When I swung it down, I saw something go flying and then saw bird eggs splat on my front porch. I immediately felt horrible. I had no clue there was a nest built in the very top of the wreath where I couldn’t see. I use the front door every afternoon to get Kaitlyn off the school bus and never had a clue.
A few weeks later, I was walking by the side of the house and I saw birds flying around my side porch. I got smart and wondered if those birds had built a nest in top of that wreath. I watched them and confirmed that they had. Since we only use the side door to retrieve packages, I didn’t think too much about it and continued with daily life. Late one night, I opened the side door to put some items on the porch for pickup. Normally the parent birds fly away when I open the door. This time, a bird flew in the house! It took Wade and I quite a while to convince the bird to go back outside. We had lights off, windows and doors open. I had a broom and he had a lacrosse stick. Finally Wade had to catch the bird and escort it outside. It had toured our entire downstairs before it went back outside. Now the door is entirely off limits to use.
I took a picture of the babies today to see how big they are and how close I am to being able to use my door again. It looks like I am getting close!
Ben and I had a free day today so we decided to spend the morning hiking the Storybook trail. I had heard they finally updated the book after several years so I was hoping Ben would be excited to read the pages as we hiked along. It turned out that the story wasn’t quite as engaging as the previous Eric Carle book, but we still enjoyed the hike. (We also saw a snake on the trail. We both jumped a little and then quickly took a picture before it slithered off because we knew Kaitlyn would be mad if we didn’t.)
This evening was the Spring Choir Concert. Alex was not excited to attend but Wade and I couldn’t wait. We have thoroughly enjoyed these events now that we can attend kid-free. The kids did a great job performing and we even got a picture with Alex and two of his good friends. (I did offer to pay $3 per kid in the picture…)
As the school year wraps up, there are all kinds of fun events at all the schools. Today was field day at Kaitlyn’s school and Wade was kind enough to stay home with Ben so that I could volunteer. I worked the parachute station and it was HOT. Thankfully I was only there a few hours and I loved getting to see the kids. There is also a short 20 minute break where each class gets to see Waddles (the mascot), have a popsicle, and take pictures with friends and family. It’s a great way to start wrapping up the year.
We decided to grill hotdogs for dinner and then ended up spending the entire evening outside. The kids ran around, Wade and I sat and talked. It was perfect. Kaitlyn decided to dig out her bow and arrow and do some practicing before dinner. Then Alex picked it up after dinner – that’s what started the battle. Wade and I got such a kick out of watching the battle that followed. Teague brought his nerf bow down and the kids played forever. The little kids were content retrieving arrows and chasing the big kids. (No one ended up in tears – a miracle.) Why can’t every night be like this?
Sports Sundays are coming to a close. Today was Alex’s last lacrosse game. Thankfully it was another Sunday where both Alex and Kaitlyn played at the same time at the same field. I watched half of each game and won’t miss these Sunday morning games at all! Then we had just a little down time before we headed to Kaitlyn’s soccer game. She was overly fascinated with the dirt on the field and sometimes forgot to watch the ball. She also came home covered in grit, but she had a great day. One last sports Sunday for Kaitlyn this season.
Today started early with FunFair setup. My awesome family started the day with me for setup at 8 am and was there through cleanup at 4 pm. (The actual event was 10-3.) Alex was the true rockstar because he was also there last night from 3-6 to help with setup. Wade and Alex were on volunteer duty all day. Kaitlyn ran wild with her friends and Teague was in charge of Ben. I heard later that Teague ate his weight in cotton candy – definitely an impressive feat.
As if that wouldn’t have been enough for one day, we also had plans to go to Monster Truck Jam! Wade and I bought tickets not realizing it was the same night as FunFair. We rushed out a little early from cleanup, cleanup the best we could, and met some friends for dinner before racing to the stadium. We had a great time, but I made a major miscalculation and didn’t bring warm enough clothes for everyone. Kaitlyn and I ended up with Monster Jam branded clothing out of it. The big kids were ho-hum with the night but the little kids loved it!
Alex was kind enough to recreate one of the pictures I remembered from his first Monster Jam experiences in 2012. Here’s a comparison. (Note he’s wearing the same headphones – a happy accident.)
Poor Ben gets dragged along everywhere. Today he got dragged along to another book fair. (He spent all last week at the book fair at the other elementary school.). He was a pretty good sport with his iPad and snacks while I worked the cash registers. Thankfully this book fair was geared to young children so he made out like a bandit in terms of bringing home books.
We are in desperate need of volunteers for the Fun Fair – including cake bakers for the game Musical Cakes. Teague offered to make 2 of the needed 200 cakes. He did a great job and loved being completely on his own in the kitchen. I told him I had so much going on that I couldn’t help at all. Teague did a great job. He made a funfetti cake with blue icing and sprinkles and a chocolate cake with chocolate icing covered in mini chocolate chips.
I got feed back later from the winners of Teague’s cakes that they were delicious.
I have spent the past few weeks heavily preparing for the upcoming Fun Fair – one of our biggest PTG fundraisers. The entire board has been fundraising, planning, and generally working very hard to get ready for this event. Today, I was in charge of buying all the drinks. It took me two trips through the store because I couldn’t pull the cart it got so heavy! My car is now full of drinks and I can’t wait to drop them off at the school tomorrow.
