Boys' Trip

The whole family planned to drive to Florida last weekend, but with Maddux's last minute illness, she and I had to skip the trip. Once we realized Maddux would be ok with a few days of rest, Lehr and Eli hopped into the car and headed south.

Nana has been ill for a few months, and Lehr and I thought it was very important to get down to see her. We prepared Eli for the possibility that Nana may not be the same talkative, active Nana he knew, but you never know how kids are going to react with seeing loved ones sick. Even though Nana spent most of her time in bed while they visited, Lehr said that Eli hopped right into bed next to her for a snuggle when he saw her, and chatted her up when she was awake. The boys did slip away for a quick trip to the beach, but most of their time was spent hanging out with Nana.

First Swim Meet

Tonight was the first Swim Meet of the 2012 season. It was *only* a practice meet (meaning we didn't swim with another team), but the kids did the same thing(s) they would do at any other meet, and it was timed, so it was real to them!

Since she's still four, Maddux isn't allowed to compete yet, but she does still get to practice with the team and swim the first race at each meet. Since she is the only four-year-old on our team, she did that 'race' solo this week. Before anyone else entered the water, my girl climbed up on the blocks, dove off and swam a 25-meter freestyle. Awesome. She did pause halfway to look around a few times, but in all fairness, they'd practiced 'starts' that morning (meaning that several times that morning she dove in, swam a few strokes and turned around). After that she was done for the night, free to hang with her friends in between their races.

Eli doesn't turn seven until August, so even though his peers are all competing in the next level up and even though he practices with them, he races in the 6-and-under category. This is proving to be very beneficial for him. He did REALLY well in all three of his events (25Freestyle, 25Backstroke and 4-man-100Freestyle-Relay). Summer is here!!

4th ER Visit

Not sure how it's possible, but we've been to the ER four times between the kids and every trip has been for Maddux.

Mad Dog woke up last Thursday vomiting and very weak. If you've followed her timeline you'll realize that the only real blemish on her wellness in her four years has been through a few 'episodes' such as this. Lehr didn't even think to call me at camp as this is usually a very routine thing that runs its course within a few hours. Unfortunately, this time she continued to get sick once/hour and couldn't keep even water down. At the twelve hour mark I decided to call the doctor. I'd been researching 'stuff' all day and had determined that outside of treating dehydration, there wasn't much to do for her other than let the illness run its course. (She had no fever.)


As usually happens, the questions the nurse and then doctor asked me caused me to be more concerned, so off to the ER we went. While she wasn't dehydrated, she couldn't do anything other than lie flat (even cradling her in your arms caused vomiting), so the ER staff immediately gave her a Zofran (aka miracle pill!). It cured her nausea on the spot. She was then able to sit up in a bed and drink 8oz of gatorade without any problems at all. After about an hour (to make sure it stayed down), they released her and gave us a few pills for the road.

She took a few days to fully recover, complete with several ups and downs, but by Monday morning, she was back to being Maddux again.

School's Out For The Summer...

Maddux, The Graduate

Maddux graduated from Pre-K yesterday. Unbelievable. That little baby with a not-so-little personality is ready to start "real" school....

Lehr and I spent the morning at Maddux's school watching all three classes of preschoolers sing many songs and receive "diplomas". Maddux has been walking around our house singing all of the songs for weeks, so I'd heard them before but I was still impressed. The kids did a great job, paying attention to their awesome music teacher and doing all of the right hand motions with their lyrics.


As expected, Maddux was most excited about 'punch and cookies' after the main event. She was happy to share her cookie with Daddy, of course.

Swim Team

Summer is here! Well, almost. But the best indicator that summer is near in our house is the start of Swim Team practice. This week kicked off the first few practices after school. Eli has gone through a season before, so even though he's going to have to work up to the level he finished at last year, he has the experience to know that the first week is hard, but it gets better after that. Poor Maddux gave me a look at yesterday's practice (her first) that said, "What have I gotten myself into?!?"

Eli is going to practice with the 7-8's this year, even though he has to compete with the 6U group. (Most of his friends and classmates are in 7-8.) Both kids are even more excited than usual because our head coach is one of their former baby-sitters, "Mr Michael". It's going to be a great summer!

Mothers' Day

The kids treated me right, each making me a cool card and showering me with love, breakfast and flowers. (Eli made me a cool book at school, as well.)

It was a very rainy day, so after church we came back home instead of hiking or biking somewhere fun. I had many organizational things that needed to be done, and as 'un-fun' as that sounds, being able to do them uninterrupted was all the gift I needed that afternoon. Lehr took the kids out front and played in the rain for an hour or so. And since he is the best dad ever, he also created a very functional, slippery slip-n-slide. He cut up some old ground cover and pulled out the soap...the rest is history. The kids ran up and down the hill time after time, slipping, sliding, and having an absolute blast.

Maddux's Last Game

This morning was Maddux's last softball game of the season. The weather was not very compatible; it was raining when we arrived at the field. Unfortunately, the game got cancelled. Fortunately, our team was already there and the rain was minimal, so we turned it into a practice/pick-up game with adults and kids. The girls had a great time playing with dads, me and Eli, and it was a perfect way to end the season. Maddux got a trophy and a snack, so she was happy. Our schedule is now cleared up a little more, so Lehr and I are happy.

Eli's Last Game

It's been another great baseball season for Eli, but this morning it came to an end. There was a game earlier this week that got postponed due to rain. Unfortunately for the boys, it was rescheduled for Friday night. Eli's team is especially young, with the majority of the kids having their 5th birthday just this spring. That usually means that Friday games, after a week of school and whatnot, do not find the Blue Jays focusing and playing well. So we ended up losing last night. The next tournament was scheduled for this morning, just over twelve hours after their exhausted loss. They put up more of a fight, but not enough to continue in the quest for the final game. So Eli is now officially NOT in the Shetland league anymore. As excited as I am for him to move up, I am also sad to say good-bye to the younger league, where the pants never fit right and the jerseys are always way too big.

Maddux's Ballet Recital

Maddux has been participating in a short ballet class once/week after school. She's learned so much and for the past few weeks she's been dancing around our house in a somewhat organized manner, practicing for her end-of-the-year recital. This afternoon, we got to see her and her class in action. It was a glorified ballet class, complete with costumes (just borrowed - what a great idea!) and tiaras (pipe cleaners). She had a blast and Eli, Lehr and I loved watching her so focused on her performance. After she finished, Lehr gave her a special bouquet of flowers...life is good.

Maniac

Maddux is officially a biker. She doesn't ride her bike often, but when she has, it's been on training wheels. About a month ago Lehr and I stuck her on Eli's bike (sans training wheels), just to see. She kinda got it, but only rode for a few minutes. But we got busy and it got cold and rainy... Fast forward to last week when Lehr pulled out Eli's bike again and voila. The video below is from her 2nd attempt that day.