the balancing act

We're all adjusting to the new normal right now, and life is crazy.  Crazy, I tell you!  Case in point, I just tried signing into Google with a wrong email address 5 times and then couldn't remember my password.

As a parent, life is a constant balancing act.  And it seems when spring rolls around, things always feel even more crazy.  Here is a list of everything brewing right now.  Its all good, good stuff. I've been hitting the pillow hard every night and passing out immediately.  My body needs to catch up to my mind, which is running a million miles a second.

• Logan's t-ball season, and the once to twice a week practices, and we'll soon add games.  Opening Day is next Saturday and we'll spend the first half of the day navigating our way thru 1,500 kids all wearing white pants and baseballs hat for the big parade and event.  It will be time to fly the banner!

• The night after little league opening day, Dylan has invited three friends to spend the night for his first ever sleepover birthday party.  I've been busy planning a few fun things that night for the boys, and we're excited to have overnight guests.

• Dylan's actual birthday falls the following week, on April 14th.  I can't believe he's turning 8. We've been busy planning some surprise gifts for him, including an iTouch he has no idea he's getting.  He's going to love it!

• Sunday, April 10th, we have a super fun family event to attend that my wonderful friend Dianna over at Tatertown plans - the Second Annual Family Egg Hunt at a local park.  Last year was the inaugural year and it was a smashing success.  This year we're organizing lots of fun, food and games and a visit from the Easter Bunny himself (aka Dianna's hubby)! I can only hope we have the same beautiful weather we had last year for this day of family fun. 

• We've been planning a big camping trip for mid-May to Harpers Ferry, WVA with 7 other families.  Looking forward to that for sure!

• Our master bathroom remodel plan is underway, and we've been meeting with our contractor and designer to get the plans all set.  Demolitian begins April 30th, and the remodel begins right after that.  We've been shopping furiously for all the various items needed to transform our old, builders-grade, yucky master bath into a pure organic, natural, beautiful and luxurious spa.  The most exciting part; we've decided to add a heated floor.  Oooo la-la!

• My new job!  I'm loving it so much, and finding it both totally challenging and totally doable. I've been working approximately 20 hours per week from home, and while its been an adjustment here and there to make it work, things are going swimmingly so far.  I adore my coworkers, and it couldn't be a more perfect set up.

• Spring Break is coming April 16 - April 24th. We'll be heading to my Dad and Bobbies for the first half for a nice visit.  We plan to definitely go to Busch Gardens one day, and possibly Jamestown another.  Hoping to do some boat fishing, grilling out and celebrating Dylan's birthday with them, too!  We'll come home to celebrate Easter, and I've been trying to organize and do the Easter baskets for my boys now, before we leave, so its all done by the time we get home from spring break.

Whew.  In between all of that is the usual ... trying to keep up with laundry and cleaning, meal planning and cooking and getting together with friends, taking the kids to birthday parties, getting Logan's kindergarten registration paperwork ready, getting ready for Dylan's 2nd grade field trip and volunteering in his language-arts class.  It was a lot to keep up with 'before' but now its a SUPER lot, and like I said, my body hasn't quite caught up with my brain yet. 

Its a ride, a roller coaster, and I'm loving every exhausting minute.  Even if I'm so tired I could fall asleep typing thiszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

19 days

We have a mere 19 days until school begins. I've been trying not to think about it too much, as it means our days will soon be starting MUCH earlier than they ever have before, there will be homework and lots of obligations we just haven't had to deal with since early last June. 19 days. We have two more trips planned this month, we're not letting summer end quietly.

Here's my list of what made this summer rock (other than some great vacations obviously):

1. Weekly playdates with Grandma Lynn. We've been able to swing a day with Grandma almost every week this summer. Most of our time together has been spent wrangling the boys thru Costco or Target while we ran errands, or at the pool. But its been nice spending so much time with Grandma since during the school year its not quite as easy.

2. Free movies. Our local movie theatre (and I'm assuming this is true all over the place) plays free kids movies twice each week during the morning. We've taken advantage of this whenever we've been able to this summer and met friends there, or gone solo. After the first trip of spending $20 in refreshments for a 'free' movie, I wised up and we brought our own snack stash in my bag. How can they justify $6 for a small popcorn and $4 for water? I don't feel even one bit guilty being a snack smuggler.


3. Our garden. Andrew did an excellent job planting our maiden garden and we've had tons of great veggies so far this summer. A few times I've pondered 'what's for dinner' only to suddenly remember there was broccoli or tomatoes ready to pick and all I had to do was walk out back!

4. Free summer concerts. We've attended many a free concert this summer and spent lots of evenings with friends, laughing kids, a glass of wine and great food, while rocking out to some good tunes. I'm really going to miss this when summer winds down.

5. My little rolling cooler. I know, it doesn't seem a likely candidate for this list. But I can't count the number of times we've loaded up that cooler with sandwiches and gone off to the pool or a park this summer. I could just pile our towel and toy bags on top of the cooler and wheel right on into the pool. Priceless!

19 days. Let's make them count.