Spring - an Olympic Event

I always thought, as a young mom, that life would be so much simpler when my kids were older and, therefore, more self-sufficient. NOT! What I have since learned is that the older your kids are, the more complicated life is and the more "events" there are that you want to be involved in and be a part of.



So, Trey and I are learning that raising a family of 4 kids involves Olympic stealth and sometimes the "passing off of the baton" and the "concurrent running of laps" around town. It keeps us young and out of trouble (all of us)...or so we keep telling ourselves. Tired is how I truly feel - but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I know that we will look back on these times and someday we'll miss it.

It seems like every May involves so many end-of-the-school year activities, that we are just running from one to the next (hence, no post for 3 months)...

We'll start with Bella, since she is in the middle and rarely gets acknowledgement first. She just finished 4th grade and had her spring band concert. She is looking forward to the 5th grade and has already asked when she will find out who her teacher is; she is anxious for summer to be over since she misses all her friends.Her plans for the summer are to stay away from her brothers so they don't pick on her, take swimming and diving lessons, and R-E-L-A-X. She is such a kind, thoughtful girl and is growing into such a beautiful young woman!

Paige made it through kindergarten and IS NOT looking forward to 1st grade. She is the only one of my kids that didn't like school at this age, so let's hope this isn't a precurser of things to come. All of the kindergarten classes had a picnic (it was 42 degrees, blustery and windy that day - gotta love New Mexico 'picnic' weather) and her class sang, "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" - Paige acted out the "birthday" part of this song...so cute! In addition to the picnic, she had her final dance recital, which was so dang cute and much better than the first one they had back in February. She has decided not to take dance next year, but wants to take gymnastics instead (with Bella), so we'll have two tumbly-back fliping monkeys instead of just one!

Yes, this is Andrew...with the hair. I have to say, as much as the grandparents don't like the long hair, he actually looks good with it and it is beautiful hair - wish mine was as nice! Andrew had 8th grade "promotion" which means he is movin' on to high school! That means that we will have a Freshman and a Senior...and two teenage drivers - Lord help us!!! The hormones at our house are out of control! He hates having his picture taken - can you tell? Nonetheless, these pictures make me smile whenever I look at them...so Andrew! He finished up a great year of pitching at Altamont Little League and has started Freshman football at Sandia. If you can't find us at home during the fall, it will be because we are living at the football field with C Team games (Drew), Varsity games (Travis) and Booster Board commitments (Trey and I)...we might as well just load up a camper and drive around.

Travis finished up his Junior year at Sandia with an academic letter, a DECA letter (marketing), a golf letter and a football letter...where we will find a jacket big enough for all those letters I don't know (ha ha). He is taking the summer off from working (except for his grandparents and parents) and is playing summer taxi service...a lot, as well as golf practice and football practice. He got invited to play in the Calloway Jr PGA tournament in Las Cruces, NM, which is June 16-17 and will also be playing in some Sun Country Jr PGA tournaments and the City of ABQ tournament. We are trying to get him some exposure to recruiters and the offer of a scholarship - we have already heard from UNLV and Florida State University.

So, amongst all the craziness of May - a baby shower bash for our sister-in-law - and planning a 40th party for my best friend in San Diego...we decided to have a kitchen renovation done. I don't really know what we were thinking - the dates just fell at the wrong time. So basically we had NO kitchen for a week - no sink, no stove, nothing. We had dishes all over the house, stacked in every room, the microwave and toaster oven set up in the garage on the workbench...let's just say it didn't bode well for the lady with OCD (that would be me). But, I will say, the granite is soooo much nicer than the white cruddy tile that was missing a lot of grout and that I had to clean every Saturday with a Clorox bleach pen. The kitchen still isn't completely done - as you can see...it is a work in progress, but we can cook and eat in there; and we have running water (with a new sink, faucet, cooktop and countertops). Yay!

As for Trey and I, we are just trying to keep up, work, put food on the table (which, with two growing boys is nearly impossible to have enough - they eat us out of house and home; one hamburger patty or salmon filet is not enough for each of them, they have to have two each... and, if nothing else, they eat butter by the spoonful - ugh! - good news is, it is less for me to eat, so I am losing the weight they are gaining) and spend as much time with our family as possible. We realize that these days are passing by so quickly and it is important to spend the time to create lasting memories for all of us. Occasionally we get out alone together and sometimes with some of our friends...who are also running the same race we are. At this point, we are in close competition for bringing home the gold in this event, but the competition is fierce!