Ethan did indeed turn up with a fever this morning and a cough that sounds suspiciously croupy to me. He obviously felt much better after the motrin kicked in, but he and Daddy are kickin’ it at home today.

So me and Jocelyn were on our own on our way to school!

I must say, I’m pretty impressed with the iphone’s camera quality. But the subject still does have to hold still. Will someone please build me a app for “keep kid in place for picture”? I’ll expect that in the app store shortly!

One of the things we did for James for father’s day was make superman t-shirts. One for daddy (SuperDaddy!), one for Ethan (SuperBoy!) and one for Jocelyn (SuperGirl!).

Ethan didn’t want to wear his on Father’s day, but Jocelyn was more than game. A shot of SuperDAddy and SuperGirl at SuperSweetWaterTavern where the supers get their Father’s day sustenance (not to mention beer).

I also made a print of this image and framed it for James:

It was a nice father’s day, even though near the end I did have to say to James, “I realize it’s father’s day and I should be watching the kids so you can relax and all, but you may have to step in in order to keep me from strangling them.”

In other news, summer camp is in it’s first week, which means lots of fun activities for the kids at school. Ethan usually goes somewhere for a specific activity (bowling, pool, mini golf) in a school van in the morning, and then comes back in the afternoon more open playtime. He is also allowed to take his Nintendo DS to school (which wasn’t allowed during the school year by us or the school) and he usually is playing it when I pick him up.

Wednesday as I was tucking him in to bed, he said, “My neck hurts.” Now, James has been sick for the last three days so I immediately checked his forehead for any signs of fever and felt his glands. All fine.

“Is it inside your neck, like your throat? Or more on the outside, like your muscles?”

“It’s on the outside.”

Hmm. I told him he’d feel better in the morning and left it at that.

Yesterday when I picked him up at school, again, he was playing his DS. I tore him away so he could you know, say Hi or give me a hug or something, and noticed his eyes were red-rimmed and somewhat bloodshot. Suddenly I realized what his “sore neck” was from.

“How long did you play your DS today?” I asked him on the way home.
“A LONG time,” he answered.

We have a gamer-boy on our hands, who has strained neck muscles from hunching over and bloodshot eyes from peering at the screen for who knows how many hours a day.

I told him when we got home, the DS was done for the day. I also stressed the importance of taking BREAKS and that there were LOTS of OTHER things he could do at summer camp, he didn’t have to JUST play his DS all afternoon. I also talked to one of the counselors and asked her to maybe encourage him to do some other things this afternoon. We’ll see.

Gamer-boy.

It has been a really nice week.

Children-wise, I mean.

The kids have been so happy go lucky. Last Friday was the last week of “school” and this week was designated as “daycare only” at their school, which means Ethan has gotten to bring his Nintendo DS to school with him and play to his little heart’s content, and probably not much of any change for Jocelyn.

Next week summer camp starts, which is filled with much more exciting things, especially for Ethan, since he is in the “big kids” summer camp. He gets to board the school’s vans each day and head out to the pool, skating, mini golf, & bowling. Jocelyn gets to have game day, splash day, movie day, and imagination station day (all at the school).

So I was kind of afraid this might be a blah week for them, but they’ve been so cheery and happy I am looking back at the week, kind of amazed. In fact on Wednesday when I picked them up, they were so lovey dovey and happy that I commented to them, “You guys are happier than a pile of puppies!” which made them laugh and giggle with even MORE happiness.

We all had so much fun at the pool last Sunday that I promised I would take them after school on Friday. Yesterday Ethan asked, “How many days until Friday?”

“Why?” I asked.

“Because Friday we’re going to the POOL!”

“Well, you should be happy because TOMORROW is Friday!”

“WAHOO!! I’m going to swim under water again! And I’m going to show Daddy this time!”

These kids. So cute. I hope the “happy” streak continues for a LONG long while.

Saturday recap:

It was a busy weekend. Saturday morning we had Jocelyn’s last soccer game. We all melted into little puddles. Then we went drove over to some air conditioning so the coaches could hand out soccer trophies and the kids could eat cupcakes. Then we went to Target and bought some new pool toys and headed home for lunch and more air conditioning.

When we were ready to brave the heat again, we headed out to Old Town Manassas for their annual train festival.

We heard about it 2 years ago, when we happened to go into town the day AFTER the festival, and then last year we missed it for some reason (probably soccer) so we had it on our calendar and were determined to NOT miss it.

It was hot, and fun. It was under a big pavillion so at least there was shade.

There were about 6 big train layouts and I think Ethan could have stayed there all day.

He didn’t say much, but just kept wandering here and there, eyes never moving from all the trains.

I see lego trains in our future.

Jocelyn was very excited to see one train car with fish in it - She pulled me over to show me, and I was shocked to see that yes, they were real goldfish! We stayed a while, looking at all the layouts and climbing on the old caboose (which is there all the time, not just for the train festival).

Then we headed out to a birthday party/barbeque at one of James’ work friends. They had a kiddy pool and a sprinkler thingee that had a rocket launcher and the kids got their suits on and were in heaven. I let James watch them while I stayed in the blessed air conditioning. The kids and I didn’t get to stay long however, as I had a birthday party to take them too. In retrospect, I should have just RSVPed NO to the party and planned on staying for the BBQ, because they’ve been to about a ZILLION parties in the last 2 months. But oh well.. I’ll know better next time I guess.

Sunday, James took the kids to the pool while I went grocery shopping.

They came back and had lunch and then I took them BACK to the pool, where Ethan finally learned how to hold his breath and go under water! Granted, this was with big goggles, the kind that goes over eyes and nose, but I’ll take it.

He was very VERY excited with his accomplishment and can’t wait to go back to the pool.

Jocelyn escaped with I think a tiny sunburn on her cheeks, Ethan was a bit red on his back and his shoulders, and I got totally roasted on my upper back and shoulders. Ow. Hopefully we all heal before the next time we head back. And next time, I’ll be sunscreening everyone up every HOUR (including myself!)

We have a Code Red on heat here in the DC area until Tuesday. We really were lucky to go as long as we did without the excruciating heat, but summer finally decided to stop looking the other way and blast us with the heat and humidity. Ah well.

Hope everyone’s weekend was good!

So now that I have ostracized all ELEVEN of my readers (i know, a gross exageration) by NOT POSTING A THING FOR WEEKS, let me just slay you know with the WORDS WORDS WORDS!

….. WORDS!

No pictures, either, not even if you beg!

Some assorted thoughts and happenings from my mother’s visit (my dad did not come at the last minute, doh!).
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Tonight when Jocelyn pulled off her t-shirt, part of it stuck on her head. Usually, we leave it there and call it “long princess hair!” But this time, it was partially covering her face, specifically, her left eye.

“I’m a PIRATE!” she called out gaily.
“She’s a PIRATE!” Ethan called out gaily.
“Look it’s a PIRATE!” I called out gaily.

“Ahoy!” said Ethan.
“Ahoy!” said Jocelyn.
“Say, ‘Yo ho yo!’” I said.
“YO HO HO!” Jocelyn chortled, pulling her t-shirt down further over her eye.
“Say, “WALK THE PLANK, YE SCURVY LASSEY!” I said.
“WALK THE PLANK YOU FLOPPY PLASTIC!” Jocelyn said.
“Say ARRRRGHHH!” Ethan said.
“ARRRRRRRRRGH!” Jocelyn said.
“Say ’schwab the deck, ye landlubbers!” I said.
“Schwab the deck you ladyfingers!” She hollered with delight.

Then I turned into mean mommy and made them brush their teeth, despite their claims that pirates don’t brush teeth.

TONIGHT:
Blessedly, no planned activities (ie: birthday parties, free scoop of ice cream days, soccer/tball games/practices, etc.)
This means we will be home to:
change all the sheets on all the beds
- our bed has about a cup of sand in it, thanks to Ethan taking off his socks in there
- the kids’ beds haven’t been changed in over a week now
Start laundry, make sure all soccer/tball uniforms are, or will be clean for Saturday
Find soccer picture order forms that need to be handed out to parents Saturday (check under laundry)
Wash mountain of dirty dishes in sink
Make kids clean up their art table and the 1,472 million tiny scraps of paper that have fallen on the floor around said art table. (check scraps to make sure they’re not the picture order forms)

SATURDAY:
7am - Everyone rises and parents struggle to bathe dress themselves and get 2 children dressed as well. (OK, maybe just 1 parent struggles while the other dresses themself.)
8am - Ethan’s Tball pictures. (Face should be jam free.) (perhaps with just 1 parent)
9am - Ethan’s Tball game. (Other parent arrives with other child)
11ish - Tball game over.
11:15 Amy freaks out that she hasn’t found picture order forms yet.
12:30 - Amy choir rehearsal
1:30 - Jocelyn soccer game (send james your sympathies for dealing with this on his own) (hopefully picture order forms have been found by now)
3:30 - Amy choir rehearsal over
4:30 - Amy & kids Ikea trip (w/ or w/out James depending on how frazzled he is from dealing with the soccer game on his own) to obtain goody bag items for upcoming Ethan birthday party (note to james: if you don’t come, your wife may come home with unplanned purchases) (like a RUG, we really could use a RUG in the basement!)

SUNDAY:
8:30am - Amy rises, struggles to bathe and dress herself
8:45 - Amy gets breakfast for the kids (who will be up by then) before heading out, still bleary eyed, for the third week in her PAID SINGING GIG!! (I know! I rock, baby!) (I singing in a church choir for sunday mass)(lightning hasn’t struck once!)
9:30 rehearsal
10:30 - mass
11:30 - mass over, amy heads home
12:15 amy arrives home and crumples in a heap on the floor.
1:30 amy picks self up and gets ready for choir concert, and leaves for concert venue
2:00 amy rehearsal at concert venue
3:30 james gathers various quiet activities (coloring books, paper dolls) and heads to concert with kids
4:30 choir concert in which amy has several solos
5:30 concert over, after vague milling around and socializing, amy and family head home.
6pm - amy and james collapse in a heap on the floor while the children play at the art table and scatter roughly 2,258 million tiny scraps of paper on the floor.
7pm - amy freaks out that her parents will be arriving in exactly 1 week and hasn’t managed to clean the entire house from top to bottom and will have no time in the coming week or weekend in which to do so! Whew!

So! Busy weekend for us! How about you?

GARDENING
We planted some peas, but other than that, no garden planning has been done this year. Last year I sweated blood and tears over my sweet little indoor starter seedlings, and then I promptly killed them when I tried to harden them off outside (and it wasn’t the hardening. it was the not watering. i suck). So all the grow lights stayed in the closet this year and we’ll just be putting things directly into the ground.

I won’t be growing zuchini or cucumbers, because a) no one ever ate any but me, and b) the zucchini grew to GARGANTUAN sizes before I could pick them, which makes them less yummy.

The raspberries look like they are going to take over the world, the roots have REALLY spread out, and the strawberries are all intermingled with the raspberries. I should have done something about them last fall and now it’s too late. Note to self: Move the strawberries somewhere ELSE next fall. We already have a TON of little green baby strawberries growing. I can’t WAIT.

We’re doing sunflowers along the deck again - I LOVED those. We planted them on Sunday. I may also plant a pumpkin, because our mystery pumpkin was so much fun. Will definitely plant it later in the spring/summer though, as the pumpkin was ready long before October, and we’ll want some for halloween, o’course!

GOALS
I’m totally screwing the pooch on some of my new years goals, so I need to go over that. Blech.

KIDS
Soccer and tball season is upon us. Ethan’s games are going well, and I think he is really having a ball. Jocelyn love, love LOVES her soccer practice/games and even if she is a little clingy during them, afterward she always says, “I had SO MUCH FUN!” We had a vague repeat of the first game from last spring and I had an eerie deja vu feeling. It’s fun, but it really does run us ragged. Our menu planning is going to go SO downhill. I am the manager for Jocelyn’s team, so far I’ve only forgotten 1 thing. ERr, 2 things. At least I’ve come a long way since our first soccer game. Maybe.

EASTER
i have very cute pictures that i need to do something.

PHOTOS
It’s a shame that I fell off the 360 photos thingee because now the camera is sitting there, getting dusty. Someday I should pick it up again.

MONEY MONEY MONEY!
OK, not really money, but budget. The more I use YNAB, the more I LOVE it and I want to wax philosophical about that and see if I can’t get some of you to USE IT!

THAT’S ALL, FOLKS!