Summertime and the livin' is easy

Here are the kids on the playground. I cannot believe they are all growing up so fast. When we moved into this house three years ago, Alex was starting middle school, Ed was starting elementary school, Amy was not even two, and I was pregnant with Sam. Now Alex is starting high school, Amy is going into kindergarten, and Sam is two and into everything.

We are having some beautiful weather. Hopefully we can play outside today.

Second Swim Meet Tonight

Our second meet is tonight. So far I just know that Ed is swimming the individual medley. He is at the upper end of the age group this year, so he is one of the stronger swimmers. (Although his freestyle looks a little off for some reason. He looks like a caveman swimming. No offense to cavemen.)

I am scoring the meet. When I score a meet, I think of my friend Linda who died the day Amy was born. (And then Amy almost died on her birthday 16 months later.) Linda used to do the ribbons for the meets. The scorer sits next to the ribbons person as we share data. Linda died of ovarian cancer. She fought it for a long time. The last summer she was alive, I was pregnant with Amy. She and I were not allowed to work swim meets that summer because she was not healthy, and I was not having a healthy pregnancy. So she and I were both dropped off at the pool gate and we sat in the shade. People brought us water and food. And we sat and talked. And talked. Her son was our coach, and he was 18 when she died. I got a lot of great mom advice from her that last summer. She knew Alex well because she was the aid in his kindergarten class.

So tonight I will be missing Linda.

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

That is all.

Update

We made it through the first meet. Our team won. Alex had three first place finishes and two third place finishes. The meet started with some excitement, but not in a good way. First, there was a huge thunderstorm right when warm-ups were supposed to start. Thunderstorms and swim meets do not mix. Then, a swim team mom fell and broke her ankle coming down the stairs to the pool. It was a compound fracture. We called 911, and they sent the fire truck. The fire truck sent for the rescue truck because they needed paramedics. They then called for an ambulance because Cobb County Fire Department does not do patient transport right now. (They are working on changing that, though.) Meanwhile, an older gentleman in his great big caddie sideswiped the fire truck. So, two police cruisers came to take care of the accident. Now, at this point, no one is in the water because it has thundered in the past 20 minutes. We finally started the meet about 30 minutes late. We didn't get home until almost 11. I was exhausted. My plan to run this morning didn't happen. However, I will go tomorrow.

Ed made the academy soccer squad. Yea!! (I think I am happy about it. It is a big commitment.)

Tomorrow is my last day of work until August. That I KNOW I am happy about. Friday I need to shop for a dress to wear to the wedding on Sunday. I also need to shop for a new "Mom Bag." I looked today at the Flashy Frog, but nothing was quite what I wanted. So off to Casabella Friday. Or tomorrow. But probably Friday. I like shopping in local shops. (So please don't tell me Casabella is a chain...)

On tap for this week

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday--Work. Ugh. Although these are days we can go out to lunch, which is rare for teachers. And we can never come up with anywhere good to go!

Tuesday evening--swim meet Alex and Jules, soccer try-outs Ed and Dave, little kids home with Unkie

Wednesday evening--Jules dinner with Sheree (She was the person who guided me through the certification process the last two years.), soccer try-outs--Dave and Ed, little kids home with Alex (I will owe him big.)

Thursday evening--tennis practice--Dave

Friday afternoon--lunch with Patricia

Saturday morning--Dave tennis

Sunday--Dave and Jules attend wedding

Studio work--Owen's quilt, sew strips together for AIDS project

Keep walking every day. Keep doing yoga every day. No eating fast food all week.

One more thing

I think I have mentioned in the past that I have a fear of parking. Not driving. Not driving in Atlanta rush hour traffic. Not sitting on South Cobb Drive when Lockheed lets out. I have a fear of parking. So I try to get everywhere early. I got to graduation so early today that the graduation before ours was still letting out, and I couldn't go in to park. So I went to Red Hen Fabrics. I got a book by Valori Wells. I am very excited about it because it has lots of circles. YEA!!

Saturday

Today was graduation, the last time I will see most of the students I had this year. It is a little sad, but more happy. These kids are going places. My refrain has been, "I expect great things." And they take it seriously.

Tomorrow I will start on the t-shirt quilt. I hope to get it done this week. That may be wishful thinking, though, as I have to work three days this week. But I would love to get it done by next Sunday.

Academy soccer tryouts are this week. I am such a laid back kind of soccer mom that the whole academy things is scaring me a little. But Dave will still be one of the coaches, so I guess it will be ok.

The first swim meet with the new team is this week. I will be scoring the meet. I hope I remember how to do that! Alex is swimming. Ed will be at soccer tryouts.

Chimney Repairs and Trees Gone

Our chimneys both need new caps and pans. It is an expensive fix. But, with the drought over, we need to be protected from the rain.

We had 4 trees taken out today. They were all touching the house. We had them trimmed last year, but they grew back, as trees do. So now they are gone. I think the house looks better, and I can see the play ground area from the back deck. We do have to plant something new in front of the house, but we have to wait for them to come back next week and grind the stumps.

Today, let's see...

Today started time trials at swim team. Alex has a beautiful stroke thanks to a wonderful swim coach years ago. I often wonder where that coach is. I saw him a little over a year ago working at Trader Joe's. He was very important in Alex's life for a couple of years. I made this quilt for him when he quit coaching. (Bad picture, I know. And what a messy room we had.)

The boys are swimming for a team near our new house this year. I am getting to know new people. We are going to join the pool over here. It should make for an interesting summer. Sam is big enough for the floaty suit to work now. Amy is about ready to swim unassisted.

Plans for this summer include:

• cleaning up and out the house
• t-shirt quilt for a friend's son
• AIDS quilt panel with Rebeca and Paula
• AP Calculus BC course (courtesy of a nice scholarship from College Board)
• time at the beach with my parents (my mom is having surgery next week, and I am going to go help my dad take care of her in a couple of weeks, my sisters are going next week)
• join the AP English Lit class at Starbucks for a lit discussion (I will have most of these kids, too, next year)

Well, off to check on my little ones.

Isn't she lovely?

Here she is at her first ballet recital. She signed herself up for the class at the beginning of the school year. And she had so much fun. She even got to do tap, which I never did. It was so fun to watch them dance. I love being a ballet mom. (And I learned how to put her hair in a bun. It wasn't easy, but I did it!)

The school year is winding down. I have three days of school and then three days of post planning next week. Then it is swim team for four weeks, and then hopefully a long trip to the beach. However, we have to be back in time for soccer camp, and for the Milan vs. US game at the Georgia Dome.

Almost done

I should be fully certified as a teacher in about two weeks. All that is left is some shuffling of paperwork by the powers that be. 8 days until the AP exam. I'll see you all then...

Sunday Drawing

I did this drawing today. It was inspired by Notes from the Voodoo Cafe.

Last night at Fiber Art Fusion

Last night, I went to my monthly Fiber Art Fusion meeting. We had a drawing workshop taught by one of our talented members, Mary Akers. Click on her name, and you can see her beautiful portrait work.

First of all, I don't draw. I really don't. I love making stuff with fabric, but I don't draw. So, I was a little nervous going into last night. Mary put us all at ease, and within no time, we were all drawing and sharing our drawings. It was a ton of fun, and I will try to take pictures for you all soon.

I really had a lot of fun, and am going to go purchase some charcoals soon. We used vine charcoal, and it was much less dense than I thought it would be. I am not sure what I was expecting, maybe to be drawing with some Matchlight or something. I even got my fingers dirty, which is not something I enjoy.

It did bring back memories of middle school art class, though. For three years I drew, painted, sculpted, did rubbings of, and other stuff I cannot remember of a dried out sunflower. If you went to my middle school, you, too will remember the sunflower in the art room.

Last night we drew peppers, fruit, wine bottles, pitchers, and bread. Well, those were our choices. I didn't draw all of those things. Peppers are a lot of fun to draw. They have lots of highlights and dips and curves.

I had a great time. Mary was an awesome teacher. I cannot wait until part II of this workshop.

Stuff and Nonsense

I am listening to Earth, Wind & Fire on my iPod. I love my iPod, but I have to be conscious about not using it to block out other people. I am very shy. I tend to need to escape from people, and an iPod is a great way to do that. I started using it at the grocery store for a while because I got tired of defending where I worked when people asked. No one asks you questions in line when you are wearing earbuds.

Yesterday, Alex and I attended the Lego Robotics Super Qualifier in Warner Robins, Georgia. I took my iPod and calculus books, planning to find a corner to hide in to plan next week. I was going to watch Alex's rounds, but I was planning to hide otherwise. Instead, I ended up talking to a couple of other moms. I had a great time. I spent all day talking to two women I had never met before. Both were very interesting people, and they were interested in me, too. I am glad I didn't hide behind my calculus books and iPod.

Alex had a great time at the event. They did not do well enough to move on to the next round. However, this is the furthest any team from his school has gone. And they made vast improvements to their bot during the day. And the boys did ALL of the work without adult intervention. Alex was just excited to be there. And he was a leader to the younger kids. He was impressive, if I do say so myself. I love my kids' schools, and the teacher in charge of this is just one more reason. He was wonderful. I hope he is still there when my little people get to middle school.

Have a great week.

Wii Fit

I have been Wii fitting for five days now. It is a lot of fun, and it is a good workout. It keeps track of my weight (dropping), my BMI (also dropping), and my workout time (increasing). I have been skiing, ski-jumping, boxing, running, hula hooping, doing some yoga, some strength exercises, and playing a game where I have to navigate in a bubble down a river. (I haven't been able to complete that one, or the tight rope, yet.) And, it is really easy to hook up. Lots of fun. I hope I can keep it up when I go back to work tomorrow.