Quickly Slipping Away

Today's mandala was captured from Moment to Moment blog, if you'd like to see more of their gorgeous creations and their process click HERE.

Finally made it to one of Ethan's baseball games since many times Ben is playing a soccer game or has practice on Tuesday's at the same time as Ethan's games Alex has been helping me out by taking her little bro to baseball while I take the other to soccer. Thank you. I finally made it to a Friday game, they did really well and it is always interesting to watch the kids pitch to each other. We've got three boys who are working on their arm. Ethan has been practicing his pitching at home but during games he usually plays shortstop or midfield. He's sportin' some seriously long skater boy hair right now but a hair appointment is made and he is looking forward to cutting his luscious locks. I can't believe how much it grew since the beginning of the school year!

Fox's track season ended on a bit of a bummer, they went all the way out to Carrollton for the Tri-Valley Conference, warmed up, lined up for the first race (2-mile) and then came a rumble of thunder so rules say the meet must be postponed for a certain amount of time, so they sat on the bus and waited only to have the officials make the difficult choice to cancel the meet since it was continuing to thunder and it was raining. However, the last meet he ran, Lapeer West Invitational he had a phenomenal showing, he came in 2nd in the 1-mile with his best time ever...5:56.....Woot! The kid who won was one of those runner savants that stayed a half a track ahead of the group the entire race, so it was on. It looked as though Fox was going to come in third but on the last quarter mile he poured it on and whizzed passed his closest competitor for a great finish.

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The school year is zooming to a close with many final presentations, honors night, concerts, etc. This week Ben will go to Otter Lake for his Trek Adventure Field Trip at Covenant Hills Campground and participate in a variety of team building activities including the Zip Line! Ethan will go to Bay City to the planetarium with me as a chaperon and then on Friday I get to go with Ben's class to the Art and History Festival between the Chatfield School and Mott CC campuses to see some amazing art and a civil war reenactment.

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Ethan was assessed for band this past week and although he insisted prior he wasn't interested in being a part of it he is now talking about playing trumpet. I still want him to continue with his guitar as well and I'm concerned about his practicing habits which are a bit lax to say the least. I'm glad he's excited about it but I told him we'll wait until Fall to make the final decision. Ben will continue with percussion next year; the bands did an informal concert for the elementary to get them jazzed up to be in band and Ethan was so proud he told all his friends his brother was playing the bass drum and bells. Fox will however, say goodbye to his Euphonium for high school since it's really not his thing as you can tell by his D+ because he never practices or turns in said practice sheets which is the majority of their grade. He's As and Bs in all other subjects. Oh well, we all can't be Branford Marsalis.

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After several summers of neglecting my gardens I have finally got my mojo back and am enthusiastically working my way through my perennial gardens and getting them in tip top shape. When things begin to bloom I'll share some pictures and maybe even some before and after shots. It is incredible to think that will all the different varieties of plants I have around here I've never purchased any perennials. But this year I treated myself to a few new purchases. Davelin Farms had the most gorgeous Bleeding Hearts for only $6 a pot and I've always wanted to add them to my Hosta garden so I bought three (you know you're always supposed to plant in odd increments) and they look awesome in their new home. I also bought a vibrant red Asiatic Lily that I just couldn't resist. Instead of planting a vegetable garden I'm doing salsa ingredients in big containers. Next summer I'll probably dive back into a big veggie garden but it's not time yet.

I leave you with a little bit of my own yard art, a view across my pond. Have a fantastic Memorial Day everyone!

Plenty Goin' On

I didn't mean to let so much time lapse between postings, the days just got away from me. Let's see, Fox returned from his Washington DC trip in tack and I timed the pick-up perfectly pulling in right behind the busses....love it! Alex went to prom AGAIN, but for the first time with an actual date. Fox has been doing well in track, his best being at the home meet, he took 2nd in the 2-mile and 1st in the 1-mile with a time of 6:19 plus they won the 4x800 relay again but didn't break the school record as they were hoping. We were getting a lot of stuff done around the yard and gardens, that is before the rain started. Took Jake in for his spring clean-up; see the before and after pics. In addition to working on some verfication and writing projects I've also been subbing, did a day in pre-school special-ed even and some floater days at the elementary while teachers did science training. I still don't understand why they don't hold training workshops when school is not in session..... Plus the LCCC had their "Spring into Song" concert which had a great audience both Friday and Sunday with selections enjoyed by all.

Fox thought the DC trip was decent but confessed that vacationing with a huge tour of people is not his first choice for sight-seeing. Everything seemed really rush, rush and since they had to rush off to the souvenier shop they missed Prince Charles and Obama coming out of the White House by ten minutes! He reported that everyone got along in his group which was good and the play "Happy Days" was a big hit too.

This has been ridiculous soccer season in terms of weather and game rescheduling. The photo below was from a couple of the decent night games we've had. The past Saturday was just awful with the rain going on all day but the kids still played because there was no lightning. We had the Noon game and by then the field was so flooded when the kids kicked the ball it wouldn't even go anywhere because there was so much water. I must admit I was a a bit disgusted the coach (who was also refing) didn't call the game after half time since it was so cold and miserable. The kids hung in there, I give them credit, and guess who got sick....our coach. Practice was canceled for Tuesday because of it.

We have had so much rain lately that the two ponds on our property are about to connect. However, it doesn't seem to bother our new neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Goose, in fact we've got two couples, one with 4 goslings, the other with 3. They usually don't stay long but I'm starting to wonder if these are the same geese that keep coming in every year. Wish I could tag them somehow.....

This is our last full week of school for the year. Woot! Since we have a long weekend around Memorial Day there will be two 4-day weeks then three and a half days and we're done!!! Ethan will do 4th-grade graduation on the last morning of school, All-Band Concert is the last Monday of school and I will get to chaperone one more trip with Ethan's class to the Bay City planetarium. Hope its a good one.

Off He Goes!

After two canceled meets the middle school track team finally got their chance to run at the Brown City Invitational that hosted seven teams from surrounding areas. This was the first time Fox ran three events during a meet. He started off strong in the 2-mile and came in 5th place, even got to hear his name over the loudspeaker. The 1-mile race was next after not much down time, his legs were sore and although he ran a good race and came in really strong in the end he did not place. Unfortunately I had to leave to get to LCCC practice and missed the 4 x 800 relay but from all accounts I've heard it was pretty incredible, the North Branch team took it by a landslide. Our first runner got them a 200 meter lead and every runner in turn kept and increased the lead, very exciting.

Ben played his second soccer game on Saturday, got the first goal in of the game and they won again 5-3, tomorrow I'll finally get to see them play. Ethan had baseball pictures at the same time as the game so we had to divide and conquer. Fox also had the state forensics competition down at Wayne State University on Saturday although I did not attend. He did great, made it into the semi-finals, and received an Award of Excellence plaque in Sales. I think New Balance would be happy with his representation of the company.

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Last night I dropped Fox off for the 8th grade trip to Washington DC; what a wild scene that was. Three busloads of teenagers heading off to Gettysburg, then DC to tour Arlington, the Memorials, the National Zoo and Smithsonians, with a stop at the Luray Caverns on the way back. It was funny to hear moms commenting how their sons wouldn't give them and hug or kiss because all theirs buddies were around, Fox was no exception but I knew how he was going to be before we even got there. I won't see him again until Saturday; as much as he's been driving me a little nutso with his teen-dizziness I kinda miss him already. Thankfully he's with a good group of guys to hang with for the trip though and I hope it will help him secure some friendships.

Prior to our weekend festivities I became royally obssessed as I'm sure many did. After watching the Wedding of William and Catherine on Friday I then got sucked in to all the background programs on them. I'm still jonesing for more info about the after parties. Princess Diana certainly did a great job with those boys, although they've had their "wild days" they've turned into two fine young men and England would be blessed to have William as king.

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Talk about pomp and circumstance to the max, the entire ceremony was memorable but my favorite moments were 1) during James Middleton's reading from Romans 12, Kate looks up quickly at William and he gives her this sheepish grin and eye roll that was priceless, 2) John Rutter's composition "This is the Day" was magnificent and I was floored by the Westminister Abbey Choir in general, 3) as they did the carriage processional afterward I was touched when they went by the memorial, William saluted and Kate bowed her head, so very sweet. I can just hear the talk in my mind as they practiced their spacing so that he didn't elbow her in the head! and lastly just seeing William and Harry saunter down the aisle as they arrived and spoke with the clergy and their uncle (Diana's brother), it was so cool to see them walk comfortably in tandem as they made their way around.

Who'd have thought these two little curmudgens would turn into such fine men.

This little blond guy is certainly going to be one to watch out for, Mr. Tom Pettifer, son of William's former nanny, even though you never hear him talk you can tell he's got charm and confidence already.

Ok, well I guess I'll conclude my little tangent and get back to reality...... if I must. The kiss did surprise me though after such a sweet and personal ceremony I was anticipating William going all Clark Gable, grabbing Kate in his arms, dipping her and landing a long, lingering kiss on her, oh, but that's right they're English and gestures like that are most improper!

Back to gardening, editing and subbing......hope all is well in your world.