"...But What Does it Have to do With Flying an Airplane?”

I will not write the post that apologizes for not posting.  You've all read it on a hundred other blogs.  No I haven't blogged.  And I haven't read yours, either.  And that's OK.

With my mood swings getting more jagged, the last couple months, I've retreated more and more.  I made the horrific mistake of trying to read the Hunger Games series during one of these retreats.  Good books, but not for when your mental state is already tippy.  In an effort to keep myself stable, I've pulled back my friendships, too.  Real, tangible friends; on real, tangible outings; with real, "tangible" sunlight; on real, tangible pool water or playgrounds.  Even those aren't that often, but they give me solid ground, both literal and metaphorical, to stand on.  I suppose I've followed President Uchtdorf's advice about throttling back without really even thinking about it.

Strangely enough, my new footing is echoed in the ideas presented here, too.



As part of finding my center, I changed my social behavior.  To give me the foundation of warmth and friendship I need to build myself back up, I rely on live conversations with live people.  The need to edit, to present myself, to find the perfect whatever in the endless PR campaign of blogging and even Facebook, was just too much.  I dropped everything that took more than 30 seconds of planning.

So no, you're not likely to see an uptick in posting.  I am, however, much healthier for it.  And that's what matters.

Soccer!!!

We've been wanting to get the kids into soccer for ages. Then, at the beginning of January, Elena brought home a flier from school about a soccer league at the Rec Center. $30 for the season? You bet, baby! Both Elena and Joseph are on teams, and Jonathan is coaching Elena's. They've both had a couple practices and today was the first Game Day.

Joseph was so super excited to go play. He loves kicking the ball, and loooves kicking at the goal. He came running to tell me when he managed to get it in.




He pouted when play took the ball to the other end of the field, though. Hunched shoulders, great heaving sighs...


but he was off again as soon as it came back.


By the time Elena's game started, 2 hours later, it'd started to drizzle.


No matter, Coach and the kids were off and running.


And then the rain picked up and Joseph decided he needed an umbrella from the car. Then, with the game still going on and all the new mud I couldn't let James get down, so I got to hold him. And that means no more pictures because James grabs everything and there's no real reason to go breaking perfectly good cameras.

Anyway, good games, kids!

Pirates of the Duck Pond

Yes, I know the party was three weeks ago. My computer annoys me, and that's where I'm going to leave it. Also, there's a ton of pictures here. You have been warned.

I've been wanting to do a pirate party for Joseph for months. I think I'd started pondering such things in February or March. He loves The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, Peter Pan, Penelope and the Pirates, The Pirates of Penzance (and really, any three-year-old who knows and loves a 19th century operetta ought to be rewarded, somehow) and any sort of pirate themed toy or activity. They use coat hangers as hooks and boxes as ships, fighting monsters or hunting treasure all through the house. How could I not?


We were a bit worried about the weather, which alternately threatened baking heat or torrential downpours, but the big day dawn cool, slightly cloudy, and perfect for a morning in the park.

We had lots of things to do and would be earning pirate gear as we went. First we made parrots from green TP rolls and bright feathers,


and read a story while munching cheddar whales and pretzel squares.


We headed over to Pirate Cove to do battle with a fearsome ship, to earn bandannas. We even raised our foe from it's watery grave so we could sink it again. The geese wandered over as the ship first dropped anchor and watched what we were doing.




Everyone who would stay put got to play Pin The Eyepatch on The Pirate (and earned an eyepatch in return). James had his own patch to play with but was far more interested in everyone else's.


Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the treasure hunt. Jonathan was hiding clues, and I was trying to catch the intrepid band of small pirates. Jack's dad managed to catch some shots, so maybe I'll be able to prevail upon then, once they've unpacked their things in KY. In any case, we drew up picture clues for the kids to follow all around the park, leading them to a great red X that had a "treasure box" full of popsicles beneath it.

After eating popsicles and watching the ducks for a few minutes, we headed back to harbor for a pinata, made by Jonathan. Joseph has made a complete 180, in regards to pinatas, in the last year, from a sort of shy fear to total enthusiasm. All the kids had a great time laying into it, getting in some seriously good whacks. Daddy may have done his work a little too well, though, and he had the honor of finalizing the destruction his work.






Finally, it was cake time. I know, there's been a lot of ships, but you have to admit it's a cool shape. We simply could not get the candles to light, though, because the breeze was just a bit too brisk.



The cloud cover broke up as we were wrapping things up, and we simply couldn't clean up fast enough in an effort to beat the start of the heat. Joseph had so much fun with his friends, and while we wish more of his cousins could have made it we know that it's tough when we're all scattered. Happy birthday, Joseph!

Meetings

It's been a busy day. It started with James' two month checkup. He weighed in at 10 lb 15 oz and is 22 1/2 in tall. He's been snuffly for a few days, but nothing that would prevent him from getting his first round of shots. Baby boy does not like the shots and screamed the whole time.

After the doctor, we dropped Daddy at work (he has a lead on a second job and could start on Monday, if he wanted!!!) then headed on to Andrea's for a play date. Andrea's house is apparently the play to go, though, because two other friends were there, as well. The kids had a blast, which is good because they've been asking all week "when do we go to Mackay and Beckett's house?" We set up the play date not just so the kids could play, but so we could trade pants. We each bought the same style of awesome coral colored bermuda shorts on clearance from Old Navy but in each other's size because that's all they had. We discovered the funny coincidence last week and decided on a swap.

Joseph actually took his nap, today (he refuses about 20-30% of the time, now) and when we went to pick up Daddy of course the kids wanted to go in and get "bites" from the food court. While we were there, they waved to Santa. Elena now asks when Christmas is about every hour. We also saw a friend that recently moved back from Houston, there with her sister-in-law, whom we see at the library story time.

While discussing dinner, Elena offered up hot dogs, hamburgers and pancakes as options. Joseph voted for pancakes, and Elena flipped most of them all by herself.

So, there's my day. Talking to friends was wonderful. I'm amazed I don't do it more often.