Two days and counting

My baby starts school in two days. We are all counting down the days. Trace is very excited and I just keep tearing up when I think of him being so big. Of course, I know we'll all survive, but I am known for not transitioning well, so here's to all the other mothers who are not dealing well with their babies going off to kindergarten. Surely, I am not the only one.

Trace did ask me if I was going to miss him when he is at school. I said yes, and that I might even cry a little bit. He just told me to look at his seat in my car with the stickers to think of him. I mean, come on! He is my baby and I am just a mess. He is so thoughtful and has such a good heart that I think he might actually be a little worried about me.

Thank God for family and friends who are loving me and allowing me to ramble endlessly about this whole thing. I am sure they'll be glad once it starts too...

Momma didn't die

Those were the words JP had my mom (Nanny) tell Trace on our way home from the eye doctor's office yesterday. I had LASIK and the day before the surgery I told Trace and Elizabeth that I was having eye surgery. Trace said, "Momma, just don't die." So, we said some prayers and the whole thing went great. I was a little apprehensive about it, but the valium they gave me helped, and I was a rockstar as far as I'm concerned.

On the way home, JP called Nanny and told her that everything went great. He told my mom to tell Trace that, "Momma didn't die." JP said he could hear mom tell Trace and then heard a loud, "Whhhewww!" from Trace. JP and I laughed so hard. I guess Trace was a little worried and so relieved that I dodged the bullet.

So, here's to the fact that I'm still alive and can see without glasses or contacts!

The American Crawl

Just a quick note that the kiddos started private swim lessons with PJ this week. They had class on Tuesday and Thursday and it was amazing how far they came in two 30 minute sessions. Trace was pretty apprehensive about it the Monday before the first class and asked, "Momma, why are you making me take swim lessons?" Want to know my response??? "Because I don't really know how to, so you are going to learn now while you are young." Now, don't get me wrong, I can stay afloat and get from one side of the pool to another, but it isn't proper technique (and sure isn't pretty).

So, I'm cheating a bit and trying to take notes in my head from their lessons to try for myself. Maybe we'll all end up little swimmers before the summer is over...both Trace and Elizabeth's favorite swim is the American Crawl with the flutter kick...and the favorite trick/game is diving for rings or sticks.

Dare devils

We had a great 4th of July. We are so lucky to join family friends at their amazing Lake Travis home complete with a pool, hot tub, and boat dock. The lake was down and dropping about a foot a week with the drought, but that didn't stop anyone from having fun. My two little ones actually took my breath (and almost my lunch) away.

The boat dock has a second story landing where you can jump about 15-18 feet down to the lake. I have even done this myself (once) since I am not really fond of heights or depths of water. So, sure enough we joked on the way down there about the kids doing that one day...some day...well, one day, some day was YESTERDAY. Elizabeth and Trace all decked out in their appropriately fitted life jackets, went up top to check it out with JP. Elizabeth is my crazy one and was so excited and said she wanted to do it. Trace was shaking his head and looking not so sure about it.

Well, after MUCH back and forth and debate, I watched from the house as my little girl jumped off all by herself. I wasn't in the water to see her reaction, but they all said she came up laughing. I can only pray for her safety and my sanity as we grow up with her.

Then there is Trace, my more reserved/shy child (if we can call it that), who is much slower to take risks, but is also highly competitive. I just knew he'd never take the plunge, but what do you think happened after he saw his younger sister jump??? He walked right up, shook his arms a couple times...and went flying. He didn't come up smiling, but he did do it a couple more times.

As I've told this story a couple times today, I've gotten some horrible looks, and I actually get nervous all over again. So, feel free to judge me and my mothering decision. I am still questioning myself now. Thank God they are both ok. I'll have to decide if I can watch it again next year.

I want to do that...

Pictures will follow, but I just thought I'd share about my baby Elizabeth (if you can call a 3 1/2 year old a baby). It has been such an interesting thing to see how different Elizabeth (also known as Frizzie Lizzie or just simply Frizz as JP calls her) is than big brother Trace. Trace was and can definitely still be a momma's boy, but Elizabeth takes it to another level which I am enjoying. She always wants to do what I am doing including all the following:

• cooking or preparing anything in the kitchen 
• loading the dishes
• washing the dishes or veggies from JP's garden (this provides hours of fun and lots of water on the floor)
• doing laundry, including lugging the laundry basket with me back and forth and loading the washer and dryer
• running errands, including grocery shopping, Target runs, etc. - she calls these "girl dates" because we leave JP and Trace behind to have a "boy date"
• washing my car (this is ONLY if we go to the "out car wash" as she calls it - which is like a Genie or something where you actually get out and they clean it while you wait inside because she is terrified of the other drive through car washes and screams and cries the whole time - which just makes Trace laugh the entire time)
• and finally her latest chore was mopping, she wasn't very good at it, but it was the effort that counted.

 I loving having her around to help out and normally I end up loving all over her because she is just precious. I am human though and am having to work on limiting the times I get frustrated that she's slowing me down and just enjoy the moments because I bet this too shall pass and the time will come when I don't get quite so much help.

The Trophy

Trace's coaches pulled through and he got his first trophy for their tball tourney championship. Trace was so proud of it - he wanted me to take a picture, but he said he had to have all his stuff with him. So, here is the picture we have of him in all his tball glory.

 Then, in true Elizabeth style...she got all upset and wanted her picture taken too. So...see what she picked as her prop. Some day she'll laugh at herself and her awesome mop bucket.

Champions

The Hays Blue select tball team won the championship game! We won our first game at 10AM and then had a tough game at 3PM. It was really eventful (I was totally nervous the whole time) - with hard little hitters, parents yelling at the umpire, and coaches yelling at each other when there was an intentional tripping of one of our boys by the other team's first baseman as our little guy rounded first...yup...I told you this was serious stuff.

The biggest news was that there was NO TROPHY for the champs! Trace was not the only one to ask where it was. They got t-shirts with Champions on it...but their coaches have promised to find them some trophies.

The jury is still out if JP and I will commit to have Trace in tball All-stars this summer. It was a little unnecessarily intense and of course we didn't completely agree with how they were telling Trace to hit (yes, we are those parents...Trace even said, "Daddy, they made me go so far back...") Either way, it was probably a little TOO eventful for a tball game, but Trace said he had fun and that is all that matters.

At least now we have an entire week with no tball...happy Easter to us all!