Just come catch-up (not ketchup)

 I feel like a slacker blogger.  While there have been times in the history of this blog that I just couldn't wait to blog about something, that hasn't happened for quite a while.  So I just don't blog.  Or I sit down to blog and then talk myself out of it, because I decide it is a poor topic, worry about Internet predators, get sidetracked with interruptions, and on and on.  Today, I decided that I would play a little catch-up and post a few things with pictures, since my posts have been a little lean on pictures this year.  

The big T had his birthday a few months ago.  He's on the count-down now to leave the teenage years behind.  He did age out of his dental insurance before his braces were off--very sad, indeed.

Our other laddie had a birthday about a month ago.  Ice cream cakes all around.  He also has his permit.  He is a guy with a hollow leg--just now he is having his third breakfast and it is 10:30 a.m.

Here are the two piano recital kids (from about a month ago), waiting for their turns to play.  They pulled it out of the bag yet again. I am not really a piano mom.  Children who take piano lessons need piano moms.  Heaven help us all.

Hey, a little Easter posturing from the cast and crew.  Since L had a swim meet Friday and Saturday of Easter weekend, we went on our picnic on Monday since the kids did not have school that day.  A good picnic equals Subway sandwiches picked up on our way--my favorite kind of picnic.  We were supposed to have a family Easter egg hunt--the eggs were all "loaded" and waiting but through scheduling problems, weather problems, and miss-communication, we are STILL trying to find time for that!  It will eventually happen and all will be well. 

L went to prom (as you know from my previous post) and here is a picture of her group.  Lovely, isn't it?

This is a photo from a swim activity last night--the club swimmers were trying their hand at water polo.  What I really wanted to post were pictures from last night of L looking like a mermaid in a water walking ball.  However, I have worries about girls in swimsuits and Internet security.  So this will suffice.  Fun evening and L swam 200 laps of the pool for a fundraiser.  If you're inclined, we will still take donations.  You pledge so much for each lap she swam--so 200 laps at, say, 10 cents would be $20 or of course you could offer, say, $1 per lap and send $200, and so it goes.  :0)  The sky's the limit.

Here is our faithful hound and B on our Easter picnic (along with my fingers by his shoulder--thank heaven for cropping).  B is already doing fire work this season.  That is good or bad depending on the perspective one has.  Good for income but fires can be bad.  He's working on a fire in our neck of the woods even as I type, besides still taking care of his regular work. 

I went to visit this lady this week--my auntie.  I hope I do as well as she does when I am her age.  I keep telling myself that I am, after all, swimming in her gene pool, but I do not know if I will do as well.

My walking partner (dog) and I have gone on a few leisurely walks lately because the weather has been so fine.  Except for her aversion to vents or grates in the road, she is a pretty good partner.

In lieu of a picture of me, I am including a picture of where I work.

So there's my ketchup . . . I mean catch-up.  Bye.

Prom Tonight!

L and her date just left for the Junior Prom dinner and dance tonight!  What fun!

Hi ya

Another draft post that never made it to the blog. This is all old news.

It has been a while since I posted here so I thought I would toss out a few thoughts for the 2pattyesque-starved masses. HA! As if.

High school swim is over for this year and club swim continues. Club has much the same practice commitments as we have had this past school year but fewer meets.

L felt good about her state swim times--she was in three relays and one individual event. She PR'd (set her own personal records) in her relay splits and she stayed constant in her individual event (the 500). I never knew swim could be so exciting--this year I know a lot of swimmers on the three high school teams that practice together and I cheered and cheered for all the swimmers I know.

This high school swim season has just flown by.  It certainly seemed shorter than last year and other "returning parents" have mentioned the same thing to me. I think this is the "forest principle" at work. When I was on my mission, the first time I rode my bike through a forest, it was really disorienting and it felt like it took forever because there was no end in sight. After the first time, it never felt that long again because I knew the way and I knew how far away the "end" was.

T just finished his first computer building and repair class and is on to his second class (Repair II). He was very pleased to have participated--we may have to frame his certificate of completion!

As I have said before, I do not like to write about two children and leave one out. I can talk about one and leave out two but not the other way around. This is probably a holdover from being one of three siblings and therefore having a thorough understanding of the "three dynamic."

J is working on his piano recital piece with four weeks to go. He now wishes he had chosen a different piece.

Seven Impossible Things

1. Have an invisiblity cloak that worked.
2. Go back in time and ask my parents questions that I never thought to ask them.
3. Fly like I do in my dreams or at least levitate and move around that way.
4. Own a mortgage-free, maintenance-free cabin in the woods.
5. Live somewhere in Europe for a few years and travel around.
6. Have my mind stay intact until I am done with it.
7. Have life never disappoint me.

The game was . . .

The game B looked for all over the county was . . . RISK Halo Edition.

New Year's Eve Report

*Note. I found several draft posts that I had never finalized. This is one of them. I think I was waiting for pictures? Who knows.

We have a family tradition of holding a New Year's Eve party here at our house for just our family. I have blogged about it before but it began back when the kids were little (still trike-riding age).

The general party format has been as follows (with some variations through the years): we start out making wish bags--we use gift bags and apply things like glitter, stickers, paint, or whatever we want to decorate our bags. Then we have a big meal with lots things to snack on besides. Then we play games. These used to be skill games and trike races in the basement and we've graduated to board games upstairs or games like Apples to Apples or Curses.

We used to do a pinata in our basement until we finished our basement and swinging sticks while blindfolded no longer suited the space. Then we moved it to the garage. We haven't done the pinata for a few years--I guess that is how it is when the kids become teens. It was a main-stay in earlier years and second to the wish bags as must-haves.

When we ring in the New Year, the wish bags are passed around. This time they hold small gifts, hats, noisemakers and other celebratory items (we have used silly string, plastic leis, poppers, streamers, etc.). Then most years we would have fireworks in the backyard.

This year, my husband saw some construct-them-yourself bird houses at Lowe's that he thought would make a fun New Year's Eve activity. He bought a bird feeder and four houses. We skipped decorating the wish bags and simply reused some from last year. The bird houses were so fun to make and they took longer than we guesstimated.

My husband had searched all over the county for a particular board game for us to play--and he did find it--and we were too tired after the bird-house building to do anything but break out the wish bags and ring in the new year! We even postponed painting and staining the bird houses until another day. We didn't have fireworks. I'm not sure we thought about it in all the search for that darn game. Besides it was too cold.

We had a good time and we look forward to a good year ahead. After all, why shouldn't it be a good one since the new year was properly greeted?!