Parton my Dust: 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.

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.

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.

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.