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!

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?

I’ve been Jocelyn’s team manager for over a month now and have yet to post any of my crazy emails. I always hit “send” and bite my lip hoping that a) nobody is offended, b) nobody thinks i’m crazy, or even worse c) nobody rolls their eyes, because i am just SO not funny.

Yes, I know, I AM probably SO not funny, but I get a kick out of it, and i’m the (queen! czarina!) team manager, so neener neener!

Enough blather, here you go:
___________________
Look at me – I’m emailing in a relatively early fashion! And I can’t seem to stop using exclamation points! Someone send help!

First, a little teaser on how things are going to go down NEXT weekend, which is PICTURE DAY.

First off, make sure your kid has no jam on their face (this is one of my biggest issue on picture days). (OK, on every day, picture or no picture.)

Next! Our team pictures are being taken at <school>, at X:XXam.

Here is a map for <school>.

As you can see, it’s just down the road from <soccer fields>.

Please try to arrive by X:XXam.

Your child should be all ready for gametime, which means GOLD jerseys, shin guards, socks, and of course, no jam on the face. Hair brushing is optional. (Unless you’re in our house, where you will be screamed at if you take a step toward a child with a hairbrush in hand.)

I have the picture envelopes/order forms which has all the ordering information, and they will be handed out this Saturday. If you lose yours, there will be more available at the school on picture day. It’s nice to fill it out beforehand along with your check, so come picture time, you are free to spit on the corner of your sleeve and wipe jam off of faces.

We will then mill around the field (or gym, if it’s rainy) until it’s our turn, and then all our kids will get their individual picture taken, and then finally, all the kids and the coaches will have a team picture taken.

EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT BUYING PICTURES, PLEASE ATTEND PICTURE DAY. THE REST OF THE TEAM WANTS YOUR CHILD IN THEIR TEAM PICTURES!

After the joy that is “picture day” is over, we will then troop over to to play our game! The bright side is that our soccer events will all be over by noon and we can all spend the rest of the day letting our children get jam on their face while sipping mimosas! (Yes, I know, I live in fantasy land.)

Whew!

OK, that’s NEXT WEEK, so let’s get on with this week, shall we?

Arrive: X:XXpm
Gametime: X:XXpm
Jersey: BLUE
Field: #X
Snack duty: Jane Doe

You know the drill: shin guards, jerseys, water bottles – and jam on the face is totally optional! Wahoo! Go crazy!

I am NOT going to be at this Saturday’s game, but my husband will be there, and will probably be very embarrassed to be handing out photo envelopes on my behalf. Be sure to tell him makes a great soccer mom, and that he’s got a little smudge of jam right *there*. You can even spit on your sleeves and wipe it off!

Have a great game and hopefully we won’t get rained out of our Monday practice again!

-amy, who tries not to worry that her jam obsession may affect her mental health

PS! On a totally unrelated note, I am singing in a concert of big band/jazz music on Sunday at 4pm (and will be in rehearsal Saturday, thus my absence) and if anyone is interested in attending, I’d love to see you there! Tickets are $5/each and kids totally free! More info here: http://www.pwchorale.com/ (I am going to try not to have jam on my face for this one, but I make no promises!)

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!