Batter Up!

Fall ball has begun!  Ethan has been counting down the days since the end of last season until he could play baseball again.  Their first game was Saturday after exactly three practices.  Ethan came home after practice to tell me that he would be the opening pitcher for their first game -- Ethan has never, no never, pitched before -- apparently, the tongue helped with his aim.

Very interesting form!

The good news: he did not hit any batters, and he did throw a strike. The bad news: he walked 6 runs before the dreaded coach-to-the-mound pow wow.

Yes, he did catch this!

Good game boys!

After the game, Ethan was pretty upset and muttered something about never playing baseball again.  I wish he could really know how very proud I was of him, and how I was in awe of the fact that he walked out to that pitching mound and threw his pitches with virtually no training at all, and no fear.  I know that he did his best, and he pitched his little heart out, but he can't see that; he only sees the loss.

It breaks my heart a little to see him so sad after being so excited.  I wish I had the magic words to help him see what he did accomplish and to help him to know that winning isn't everything, but, at 9 years old, winning is kind of everything.

Welcome Back

The backpacks and new clothes were hung by the front door with care, in hopes that the first day of school would soon be there ...

 Well, I managed to get my three big kids off to school today without too many tears -- well, truth be told, the only tears were mine.  Yes, some tears from joy (that is little "j" not big "J"!), but I have to say putting Hannah on the bus for her first day of Middle School brought back the memory of her getting on the bus on her very first day of kindergarten.

Oh, so very brave!

I remember walking her to the bus stop and she was all smiles until she climbed up the very big steps -- she turned around one last time with such a brave wavering smile trying so very hard not to cry, she broke my heart.  Joy immediately jumped in her car and followed the bus through all its stops until it arrived 20 minutes later at the school where they were both in tears.  Fastforward 6 years, and I still felt as if a piece of my heart was being pulled out when I saw Hannah's bus pull away this morning.  Nobody chased after her today since, as defined in the bestseller Parents of a Middle Schooler,  the rules clearly state that parents must strive to appear non-existent.  Chasing her bus down and frantically hugging her as she stepped off would probably not be cool!  I did embarrass her by taking a few (OK 37) pictures, and blowing kisses, but otherwise I just let that big yellow bus take my baby to the next chapter in her life.

NOT Gymboree clothes!!

Best looking group of Middle Schooler's

Here comes the bus

No problem climbing up the steps today!

Really Mom -- no more pictures ... and so it begins!

Of course, we also had two elementary school kids to get out the door to the walking train stop, so there was no time to linger in my nostalgia, it was still all hands on deck!  Most of the real drama for Ethan and Olivia  took place last week when the classroom/teacher assignments were posted.  The papers were posted at 4pm Friday afternoon just before the administrators snuck out the back door and turned their cell phones off for the weekend!  Although the teachers were important to Joy and I, the kids really only cared about WHO IS IN MY CLASS????  Luckily, Olivia got three of her BFF's in her class, and Ethan scored a few good men and one "arch-enemy"! 

Yeah, I'm all that!

We managed to get the "little" kids out of bed (thanks to our new alarm clock nazi), dressed, fed (well, pop-tarted!), out the door for the requisite first-day-of-school photos and to the walking train meeting spot with minutes to spare.  No tears were involved with this drop off, but my heart did flutter a little as I watched my brand new 2nd and 4th graders parade off to school with shiny new backpacks full of sharpened pencils, new unbroken crayons and all the dreams that their little shoulders could carry. 

Walking to the walking train!

The gang is all here

Do boys have BFF's? ... I think so!

My hands did feel a bit empty as I walked home with conflicting emotions.  I was sad that our summer of fun was over and that the kids would be gone all day (AND that homework would be coming soon), yet I was also a bit giddy with the thought that my house will now stay a bit cleaner, my cheese sticks will not be depleted daily, and maybe, just maybe, I will get to watch one of my TV shows while eating those bon-bons!

In reality, I still have one small underoo-wearing cowboy at home for 3 more weeks until preschool starts.  Thank God Charlie is not starting kindergarten today, for my heart could just not take that. We are going to spend today working on an after school surprise for the kids, enjoying some quality Charlie and Mommy time, and counting down the hours until we can pick up Hannah, Ethan & Olivia! 

Yummy

13 days and counting ...

I have spent the last 2 weeks in vacation purgatory -- catching up on the things that got neglected while we were on our whirlwind journey to Texas, you know, little things like laundry, mowing the lawn, buying groceries, vacuuming and weeding the garden! When we left for vacation, my garden was just starting to grow:

by the time we returned, I was harvesting vegetables twice a day, and frantically searching online for new ways to cook zucchini and tomatoes!

Today's bounty

The kids have had fun reconnecting with their "long lost friends".  Yes, we were only gone for 17 days, but you would have thought it was years.  Within minutes of arriving home, Hannah was out the door to the latest Harry Potter movie with her friend, Ethan was asking for a sleepover, and Olivia was on the phone setting up a playdate! 

They have also been working on perfecting their waytoolatesummerbedtime routines which involve staying up later than Mommy and Mama, and sleeping in until noon!  Mostly they have all been enjoying the long, lazy last days of summer before school starts in 13 days (but who is counting)!

Don't even ask!!

I began the task of getting the kids ready to return to school:  I spent an entire day color coordinating binders and folders (and matching them to their appropriate subject -- green for science, red for math ...), buying and sharpening pencils, trying out new backpacks, comparing the pros and cons of the Trapper Keeper vs. the Five Star Flex Hybrid Notebinder, and driving between Staples, Target, Five Below, and Office Max just to get the perfect pencil case.  I (oops, I mean my kids) will be so ready for school!   I haven't been in the closet for 25 years, but I went back in last week, literally!  After taking stock of which clothes do and do not fit,  I took Hannah back-to-school shopping for her big transition to middle school in 13 days (but who is counting!).  She would not even walk into The Children's Place or Gymboree with me, nope, it was all Justice, Aeropostale and The Gap.  She wanted to buy clothes that were "hot".  I asked her what kind of clothes were hot, and she said she didn't know, but apparently she knew they did not come from Gymboree!!

Rockin' the skinny jeans

Uh, which one is NOT the dummy?!

Our wonderful neighbors gave Ethan a really cool antique slot machine which has occupied his moments between DS games -- he loves playing it any time that he can get it away from Joy, who is curiously addicted.  Sadly, the game is played with tokens, not quarters, so nobody will get rich playing it, but it is a lot of fun, and it gives the kids a new thing to fight over!

We have had a terrific summer, and I am a little nostalgic as the days begin to get cooler and the sun starts setting a little earlier, but we still have a few adventures planned for the zoo before school starts in 13 days (but who is counting?)! 

Now it is off to bake some zucchini bread, and roast some tomatoes ...