I'm really showing my age here.... but I can remember hearing this on the radio often throughout my childhood. Or maybe not, maybe my parents just quoted this a lot.... all I know is it seems a fitting way to wrap up the end of the year odds and ends as we put this school year to bed.
So, the last few weeks of school are full of fun and stress; and often, some disappointment. But, never you fear, there's some funny stuff thrown in too.
1- A couple of weeks ago, we headed down to St. George for Matt and my brother Greg to compete in their first ever triathlon. These guys are both crazy busy with work and life, and are relative newcomers to races. They started running in 2011-12; got a few races under their belts. Greg started biking last year and Matt bought a bike this year. Swimming, well, neither of them have ever been super strong swimmers, but figured that if they practiced enough, it should be possible, right? They signed up last fall and Matt gained some vicarious confidence by watching Erin learn to swim competitively this year. If she could do it, surely Matt could do it. Well...... let's just say that Erin is built to swim and Matt is built to.... do pretty much everything besides swim. He has these really muscular legs. Like bordering on Incredible Hulk legs.
Let it be said that the men's skinny jean fad has completely, but necessarily, skipped our house; which in all honesty, I am incredibly grateful for. Anyway, because of Matt's muscular, dense legs... he has a really hard time swimming. So, he enlisted Erin as his coach and they embarked on a training regimen. I think the back of her coaching clipboard pretty much says it all....
Erin took a great deal of delight in working with her dad in the pool. So much so, in fact, when he would stop in the middle of his swim, she would make him get out of the pool and do push-ups. You gotta love it when the student becomes the teacher.
So, after several months of dedicated practice, we were in the car, bikes strapped to the back and headed down to the race. We picked up their packets and then some Cafe Rio for dinner and settled in at the St. George house to prep for the race. Up bright and early on May 21, the grown-ups headed off in the van to the site of the race. Not sure how effectively these pictures show how completely petrified they are of this whole experience.
From my FB post.....
One thing I have learned in my life is that it takes the love of family and friends to get us through. Besides the spouse you pick, and willingly buys into the crazy.... there are people in my life who have seen me at my worst and most vulnerable.... having babies, trying to nurse said babies, caring for me after complicated surgeries..... let's just say, we're tight! This morning, I would add something else to the list..... putting on a wetsuit. Not for the faint of heart and not an easy thing to do without a supportive brother.
This clip always makes me thing of these two. It's nice to see two of the folks I love the most get along so well.
I have a brother?
The picture below shows them getting Greg into his wetsuit. Sorry, but there has to be another movie clip inserted here.
Coats and seals....
So, I left the boys and headed back to the house to get the kids up and ready to head back to cheer the dads on. This is what I found.
These two played so great all weekend. It warms my mommy/sister heart to see my kids playing with their cousins. But, needless to say, when the time came to head back out to Sand Hollow to watch the finish, the kids weren't in to coming..... so Jack was left in charge and I went back out to watch the end.
This is Matt.... coming up the hill from his run. I was thrilled to track his phone when I got there to discover that he made it past the swim. He was so nervous. I watched him run up the hill in his tri-suit and felt a surge of relief that this whole event was almost over. Matt doesn't get nervous about much; he can pretty much wing anything. But he was nervous about this. And so I cheered; and then when he caught up with me, he told me "I couldn't do it. They pulled me out of the water."
Devastating. He panicked. It was an open water swim; much different than the pool he practiced in. It was windy and the water was choppy and he panicked. Well, crap! You hate to see that happen to someone you love. But, after a little self-reflection, he got on his bike and rode and then put on his shoes and ran. I would have dissolved into a big old crying mess. Lucky for me, Matt doesn't cry.
Then there was Greg. This is him coming up the same hill; about 20 minutes later. I don't say this with anything but admiration; he was the last person to cross the finish line. By the time he finished, there was only one bike rack left; the one with his bike attached. But he made it. He did it.
So, how was the experience? Educational and disappointing. The ride from the reservoir to the house was a little uncomfortable and reflective. Greg regaled us with the tales of the volunteers he met while floating with the paddle boarders. After we got back from the race, Greg and Matt headed over to the fitness center for massages booked by Super Sarah. Both of them came back saying the massage was great, but it was telling that they were limping more from the massage that from the race.
2 - So this may have been one of the funniest texts I have ever received and I felt like it deserved a mention in this post. Every week, I get a group text from Jack's baseball coach. It details when practices and games are, which field they are playing on, what they need to work on and who is bringing treats. So, as we are driving down to St. George, I get a text for the week with all the details. About 30 minutes later, I get this text......
I loved this.... so funny. Only because I happen to be what I would term a "particular pooper." Which is another story for another day.... or maybe not.
3 - Jack is moving right along in his tae kwon do pursuits. These are the pictures from when he received his orange belt... but he's ready to test again for...... let me look it up..... for his green belt. This has been a great thing for Jack.
4 - Next up, let's talk about Teacher Appreciation. I mentioned it in the last post, but thought that I'd show you some of the stuff that we did for our awesome teachers at Taylor Elementary. Our theme for this year was "Game On." So we picked a sports theme.
- Day 1 - Teachers got a bag full of ballgame goodies....
- Day 2 - Teaching Trading Cards..... this idea didn't exactly work out as planned. Originally, they were going to look something like this....
This is Jack's teacher. She has been fantastic for him this year. He has started to figure the school thing out and to understand that even though he may not want to do everything that is asked of him, that he needs to always do his best.Anyway, for a slew of reasons, I couldn't get these to work out. So instead, the teachers got a stack of teaching/education related quotes that they could "trade" with other teachers. Kinda lame, but they were good sports.
Day 3 - Next on the list of things that didn't really turn out as planned..... were coaches clip boards with lots of sports related quotes.... like "winners never quit and quitters never win." Again, the plan was to put them in frames, but the frames I ordered from Dollar Tree were too small. So, we adapted, and the teachers got clip boards.
- Day 4 - This was my coup..... Thanks to a connection to the Larry H. Miller Corporation, I was able to get baseball tickets donated for all the teachers. So hopefully, they'll enjoy a night at the ballpark and eat a hot dog or two over the summer.
- Day 5 - The teacher luncheon. This has long been the thorn in the side of anyone who plans Teacher Appreciation week, because trying to make it possible for all the teachers to sit down and enjoy a meal together can be difficult. This year, we tried something new and had lunch on Friday after school. It turned out great. We had it catered by Plates and Palates.... which is always awesome. The teachers loved it and I think we started a new tradition.
5- And since we're talking about baseball, another funny text from Jack's baseball coach. It should be said that he is the media spokesperson for a neighboring school district. This was the his text last Monday.
6 - Tessa Jane..... this little girl has my heart. And the heart of every person in my family. She is a playmate/surrogate sibling for Will; the little sister that Jack says he's always wanted and just a plain old cutie pie! We have been lucky enough to have her in our house on Monday's and Wednesday's during this school year. She has the cutest little giggle and she calls me "Rebet-tah." Truth be told, we have had way more adventures because of this little girl than this lazy, old mom probably ever would have sanctioned if it was just me and Will. Here are some of the highlights.
It has been so fun to have her come to our house and climb into bed with me and Will and snuggle and watch shows before school. She and Will love to play pretend: Princesses and Superheroes is their favorite game. They have had fun building pillow forts and playing blocks. They will play Lego games on the Xbox for an hour and they love to play Play-Doh. We have a half an hour between the start of Will and Tessa's school and this little girl has become my Swig buddy. She and Will negotiate who gets to have the front cup holder in the van and who is the leader upstairs and who is the leader downstairs. Tessa loves our dogs and likes to read stories. We played a lot of Daniel Tiger and play kitchen this year. She loves chicken nuggets with ranch and prefers to have ham on her sandwich instead of peanut butter and honey. She loves all things Frozen and she and Will have had to negotiate that too.
We had big things planned for today... we were going to snuggle in our jammies, go to Swig and Build-a-Bear.... eat lunch at McDonald's and play make believe all afternoon. But our sweet Miss T is sick; she went to Grandma's today instead. Will was so sad. Doggone it... Matt and I were sad too. I really hope she starts feeling better soon, so we can play.
7 - Preschool Graduation. I have real mixed feelings about the end of preschool. Will has gone to Mrs. Brooks class every day this year and he has genuinely loved school. He has learned lots of new things and honestly, I think he is headed to kindergarten more prepared than any of my other kids. At the end of the year, he has a patriotic program and the kids sing songs and get to be center of attention for a bit; which is awesome. A note that some of the videos linked in here were too big to cut and paste directly into the post..... so I'm trying Google Drive. If it's a different color and underlined, then you click on it to watch the video.
So fun to watch these little ones get to throw their caps in the air.
Will has been so lucky to go to school with his cousin Aspen for the last two years. The conversations I have overheard in the car between these two are the absolute best!
Will loves Mrs. Brooks.
Okay, I'm putting this one in, because everyone else is Yankee Doodle Dandy-ing and Will is kind of doing his own thing. And remember when I told you that we watch a show called "Bob's Burgers?" Well, Will's little dance here reminds me of Tina and Jimmy Jr.'s slow dancing in this episode. Sorry that it's a recording from the TV, but this is the only clip I could find on YouTube.
Tina and Jimmy Jr. and Gene with the Ding-Ding Song
And then here is Mrs. Brooks talking about Will again.
So back to my mixed feelings.... he's had a great year and he's ready to go to kindergarten. But this means no more kids at home with me all day. It means that now the school district officially controls the lives of all my children and there is no more option to just keep the kid home with me because I want to. I can't think about it too hard or I might actually be sad. Now, the first day of first grade.... I will be a wreck. I just know it.
So that is the rest of my story. School is out in two days and although in some ways I wish I could say that we will be sitting around doing a whole lot of nothing, that is not the case. The kids have lots of stuff going on and we have some fun family trips planned. First one starts on Tuesday.... to Pittsburgh for a week with some of our favorite family members. Over the summer, I have plans to make a quilt, enjoy my new planner hobby, do a lot of travel planning for next year, learn calligraphy and work on my tan. Oh, and build a fairy garden. I think I might start on that this weekend. Right after I finish cleaning my craft room. Because that is definitely happening before I leave for Pittsburgh! You are my witnesses.
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