Jack gets really goofy sometimes. This night he was running around the backyard in his undies, belting out Greatest Showman tunes at the top of his lungs.
Everyone spoiled me on Mother's Day. I love, love, love these three kids of mine. They bring me such joy and fulfillment.
Gemma lost her first tooth. After weeks of it dangling loosely and Gemma not willing to budge it if it gave her any pain, I resorted to pushing it out while sitting on her with her arms pinned down during the Tickle Game. She was only traumatized for half a second, then became super excited about the Tooth Fairy coming. We went through a similar experience two weeks later with the tooth next to it. Her big teeth are coming up behind and pushing them out. Crazy - my other kids were older than this when they each lost their first tooth.
Jack played the piano at the school talent show. I was surprised he signed up, but he was all nonchalant about it until there was an actual audience in front of him. Then he was relieved to have it over with. He did so great! He really loves playing the piano.
Swim team practice started in May and Gemma is so, so excited to be big enough to be on the team this year. She's been swimming her heart out. We switched teams from last year; Hazel has several friends in this group and it's made a big difference in how much she's enjoying herself. Jack likes that there are junior coaches in the water helping the kids learn the strokes. It's a good fit for us.
We loved being on the basketball league this spring. We are totally going to do it again next year! I talked up the Utah Jazz glory days from the '90s and everyone really enjoyed themselves at practice and at games, and we got a lot more use out of our hoop out front. It was a little bit insane having swim and basketball overlap by two weeks, though, so we all took a big sigh of relief when the season finished up.
We went camping again, over Memorial Day weekend. I don't know what we were thinking. Oh, wait, yes I do. Todd gets in these stints where he's like, "The kids love camping. It's cheap and we make great memories. We should totally go!" and he books us online while ignoring my protests of, "You and I hate camping. We don't sleep well. It's so much work to get ready and to clean up. We should stick to day trips." Todd forgets. He forgets how bad it is. Then we get there and he remembers and it's too late. For the record, the kids really do love it. But they love anything out of the routine. It doesn't have to be camping.
We played in the water and that was cool. Kayaks and river wading are both awesome. Also, both things we could do during a day trip. Just sayin'.
We came home a night early from camping because - surprise! - we weren't sleeping well, then decided to jam-pack our weekend and spent Monday at the beach. It was a perfect beach day. Long drive in the traffic, but worth it. The weather was so great, the kids loved burying each other in sand, we body boarded, there were jellyfish all over the place and Jack had a blast collecting them, Hazel made a massive sand castle, Gemma nearly lost her swim bottoms because they're old and stretched out. We came home satisfied.
Croce has a running club for the kids, where they run or walk laps around the field and keep track of how many miles the kids complete. Jack worked hard to achieve the 50 mile milestone. Hazel earned it to, and said she wished she'd tried for the 75. Next year, baby!
Todd flew the Blackhawk to the tiny Livermore Airport last week and invited the young men from church to meet him there and get a close-up look. I brought the kids over and was amused at how much ownership they seemed to feel. They ran right up to the helicopter as soon as the engine was turned off, and climbed all around it, beaming, like they were showing off a new sports car to a friend or something. I mean, look at Jack's beaming face below. I hope they never forget how cool their dad is.
Gemma had her last day of preschool and can't wait to go to kindergarten. The other night at dinner she said she wished summer was over so she could go to kindergarten right away. I said, "But you love summer. You love swimming, and wearing shorts, and the hot weather." And Gemma said, "I know. But I love kindergarten more."
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| Miss Kelly, Gemma, Miss Kristine, Miss Theresa |
