I don't know what it is about this time of year exactly. Maybe it's the relief of having the birthdays over with. Or maybe it's the craziness of baseball and softball season. I took a hiatus from blogging about this time last year as well. But this year I also have a job and I've been working out like a crazy woman. I'm not totally sure what's up with that either, but the bathroom scale? It's not up at all. In fact, it's down, so I feel the need to keep working out like a fiend. I doubled down on yoga this week, made it to pilates, ran about 10 miles (total). I've also been at school a lot, taking kids to the library, helping kids with writing, helping kids with reading, helping them construct bird nests, serving lunch.
At the same time, turning 40 doesn't seem to be agreeing with me very well. I'm facing a very classic mid-life crisis and dealing with it poorly. Here I am at 40. I've achieved most of what I set out to do. I'm in desperate need of a second act, but I don't know what that is and I'm not willing to do less parenting to achieve it. Hmmm.
Anyway, so where were we anyhow? Well, there was this:
Smunch started his baseball season as a member of the Phillies. He has a nice team. I like them. And, much like last year, he's one of the better players on this team, where he's one of the weaker players on the club team. It's probably good for him to have the contrast.
And there's this:
Mam seems to be enjoying playing with the Pink Butterflies. And I'm enjoying being the team manager again, but parents really are crazy. I feel ridiculous having to tell another mom that her 5-year-old daughter canNOT play with those big earrings in her ears because she really might tear her earlobe off. It's very obvious. It's not my kid...and yet, I'm responsible. And I ask them not to bring snacks for their kids to eat during the game because it's very distracting both to their kid and to the other players. The game is only an hour. I think they can wait. FEED them before you come for heaven's sake! But several parents don't take my pleas to heart. Their children are a problem. Apparently, I also need to ask them not to bring
toys for their daughters to play with during the game. Ugh. At least the girls themselves are fun.
One of my other high school buddies finally saw fit to turn 40 as well, so my group of friends all attended her party in The City. It made for some fun photo opportunities.
And all of us were there...which is always nice. This will be a fun year that way.
Got to hope it's this good ten years from now!
Spring break came and went. I took the kids up to the zoo for part of one day, but mostly we were at home, waiting for Smunch's next baseball practice to occur. So, it wasn't quite the fun spring break one might hope for. We spent the final weekend in Manteca, playing at at baseball tournament with the Mavericks.
There's not a lot to do in Manteca, but they do have one heck of a baseball facility there. Each field was built as a replica of a famous ballpark. On Saturday, the Mavericks played a double header at Yankee Stadium. Apparently, the tournament organizers weren't really up on the habits of 9-year-old boys because their games were scheduled back-to-back at 6:30pm and 8:30pm. Although they didn't get back to the hotel until 11 that night, they were all psyched to get to play under THE LIGHTS at least.
Now, the day before the tournament, the coach sent the parents an e-mail saying that not everyone was going to be in the starting lineup this time around. This time, he said, he was going to field the most competitive team he could. I knew what that meant. It meant we were driving to Manteca to see Smunch play just a few innings of three long games. Bummer. That's pretty much the way it played out too, but the Mavericks played respectably. The mercy rule was never invoked. They always played to the time limit. And Smunch even managed to walk, steal second, have a short conference with the coach...
steal third,
and finally score the tying run by stealing home.
He never actually got a hit during the tournment, but he had a good time, even though he didn't play much. And the hotel had a pool, so he and Mam got to swim with the rest of the team before their lackluster game at Fenway Park on Sunday. Who could blame them? They were tired. They hadn't slept well at the hotel. Their opponent was relatively local and their team got to go home early and sleep in their beds Saturday night.
I admit it was kind of fun, but I was still left wondering why we bothered. While Daddy kept score on his iPad, I took over the controller for the outfield scoreboard. At least that was mildly entertaining.
And last weekend was Easter. I guess that ought to get its own blog entry. I didn't take nearly enough photos, but that's O.K...
If you're not the religious sort, Easter is pretty much all about the Easter Bunny. That's sort of silly when you think about it, but it gives the kids something to look forward to. Mam started asking about Easter at least two weeks before the day arrived.
We didn't dye eggs this year. I'm the only one who will eat hard boiled eggs, so I didn't see the point in wasting them. The Easter Bunny left markedly fewer plastic eggs around the yard than in previous years. There were complaints that there wasn't enough candy. There was plenty of candy. I still anticipate throwing out the majority of it, like every other year.
Our cat, Oliver, was fairly desperate to join us and since he's learned to open the back door, he almost did...
I didn't take any pictures of breakfast. We'd picked up some cinnamon rolls and bear claws at the local bakery. I scrambled some eggs and Daddy cut up some fruit. We ate on our everyday plates. It was yummy and totally nausea inducing. I had to take a nap afterwards.
