I guess it's been awhile...

OK, OK. I know. I have been slacking off on the blog... Here's some stuff that's been going on lately...

Baseball
Keeper Boy's baseball season actually ended today, one game shy of the championship game. They went out in spectacular style... a 13-1 loss. Ouch. While he hasn't complained (too much), it's been a frustrating baseball season for him and for us. He joined an already formed Majors team as a 12-year-old. That means he had only one season on the team before he aged out. Some kids have two or three years on a Majors team if they get drafted as 10- or 11-year-olds. Don't know if it was a matter of not wanting to make the investment in a player they'd have for only one year, whether it was a matter of baseball playing second fiddle to hockey for Keeper Boy, whether it was a matter of Keeper Boy being one of only a couple "new guys" on the team, or whether it was something else... but he played the minimum required time for Majors (2 innings; 1 at bat) in EVERY game this season but two. And in those he got three innings in one and four innings in one. Long story short, I think Keeper Boy's desire to play baseball has been severely curtailed through his experience this year, and it's a shame. I am very glad this season is over and I hope that some day he might want to try baseball again because he does have some talent.

J-Mav is having a great Single A season. He still has four games left. He's figured out the pitching machine and is getting hits in every game. In Single A the kids play all positions, so he's getting exposure to all of them. He is loving baseball (except when the pollen is really bad) and I hope that he can stick with his coach next year. He's great!

Speaking of allergies...
J-Mav was hit hard with allergies this year. Apparently the pollen is worse than it's been in 12 years. He was a MESS in April and through most of May. It seems to have gotten better now. I don't know if it's because the pollen counts are lower or if it's because the medicine regime is working. The doctor has him taking two 30mg Allegra pills in the morning and one at night, as well as antihistimine eye drops twice a day and prescription nose drops as needed. He also uses a Neti Pot sometimes. Poor guy. For a few weeks he didn't even want to go to baseball practice/games because his eyes hurt/itched so much. :-(

Other medical issues...
J-Mav has been dealing with a pesky case of ring worm for MONTHS. The actual rash/scaley stuff went away within a week of going on prescription cream. However, there are still a few red bumps so we continue to use the cream religiously twice a day, keeping it covered with a bandaid when he goes to school (as we were told to do by the doctor until it is completely gone). We have graduated from extremely large bandages at the beginnig, to regular sized bandaids, to the small bandaids he is using now. We are dredging the bottom of the bandaid barrel, using up all the random bandaids we have collected over the past 12 years. I think he's even worn a Sesame Street bandaid or two over the past couple of months. We'll always remember "the ring worm era" of J-Mav's life by the ever-present bandaid in all pictures taken of him from March until now. He has his 7-year well check in mid-July, so I guess we'll just keep using the cream until then and be sure to ask the doctor about it at that time. We were warned it could take a long time to completely clear up, but this is kinda bordering on ridiculous...

Hockey
J-Mav started hockey!! He's taking a learn-to-play hockey class and is all grins when he's on the ice. He'll be taking seven lessons (he's already had two) through the summer, and he will be playing on a Mites team in the fall. He looks so cute in his uniform. :)

Keeper Boy played the spring season with a great group of kids, competing in two tournaments: one in Richmond and one in Philly. The Philly tournament was over Memorial Day weekend. His team ended up winning its division and bringing home a big trophy. Woo hoo! There were three other teams in our division: a doormat team that scored, I think, one goal through the entire tournament; a thug team from New York; and a well-behaved, competitive team from New Jersey (the team we ended up facing in the finals). While playing the one team, our coach told our kids they had to pass at least three times before taking a shot, and Keeper Boy and our other goalie went almost entire periods without seeing the puck cross the blue line into their end. At any rate, the kids had fun (except for the one who broke his arm during the first game), and it was a good introduction to the world of checking for those who are new to Pee Wee level hockey. Keeper Boy will be playing with some of the kids from his spring team in the fall, so it was good to get to know their families over that weekend.

The hotel we stayed in in Philly is a whole 'nother story. It was a Quality Inn that is in the process of being renovated into a Wyndham Gardens Hotel. We checked in with little fanfare (once we figure out where to get into the hotel... construction had the front entrance inacessible); however, when we returned to our hotel that night after our first game, we were met with water streaming down our walls and out of the light fixture in the bathroom into the bathtub. That wasn't something we wanted to deal with all night, so we went downstairs to request another room. We discovered that the toilet in the room above us (one of Keeper Boy's teammate's familes) had overflowed while we were all at the hockey game. Great. Not just waterfalls within our room, but TOILET water falls. Ick. We got a new room, but it was a King bed instead of two doubles. Of course, this is the one time we didn't throw in a sleeping bag. Had to wait for a cot to be delivered. By the time we were all set up, it was after 10pm. Late night for J-Mav! Our room was fine after that, but we weren't impressed with the hotel for a variety of reasons. I won't even waste time talking about them, but I was moved to write a review on TripAdvisor.com. It's never good to piss off someone who likes to write letters. ;-P

Braces!
Keeper Boy FINALLY got his braces in April. He had relatively little trouble adjusting. I think he took Motrin for two days after he got them, and ate mainly soup, pasta, and mac & cheese for about a week. Since then, completely normal. And we've already seen a big change in his top teeth! Good thing because OMFG! Braces are WAY more expensive than when Hubby and I wore them many moons ago!

School
Eh. Not much new to report. Same old struggles. Keeper Boy did bring his Math grade up from a D (yes, he had a D for the second quarter) to a C and everything else back up to As and Bs. We're hoping for all As and Bs for the last quarter. We'll see. He has MUCH room for improvement in his study habits.

J-Mav is doing well in school. His reading has improved enormously since the beginning of the year, as has his writing. And he likes school most days. The attitude toward school is directly proportional to how tired he is. More tired=less enamored with school and with his teacher.

Weight Watchers
Yeah, not even going there. Let's just say I have A LOT of clothes in my closet that I can't wear right now. :-(

Hockey, Part II
The Capitals. Sigh. We had such high hopes that we'd be sitting here watching the Capitals in the Stanley Cup finals. But alas, instead I'm sitting here watching the Flyers (which I guess, for me, is the second best scenario) and Blackhawks. The Captials just couldn't get it done against the Habs. I guess the only thing that makes it slightly better is that the Habs also took out the Penguins.

We did hear late last week that the Caps will be playing in the Winter Classic (in Pittsburgh) on January 1, 2011. That's very cool. We entertained the idea -- for about a second -- of making a hotel reservation and trying to get tickets. But we quickly came to our senses and realized we'd be a lot more comfortable sitting in our own rec room. And we'd save A LOT of money. So that's the plan. Perhaps we'll try to go when DC hosts it, which apparently is also in the works for sometime in the next three to five years. Not quite sure how THAT's going to work since some years it's in the 60s over new years. This past year would've been perfect, though! Guess the NHL takes it chances...

Work
In other news, I quit my job at ManTech. My last day was May 24... almost exactly a month shy of a year there. Weird to leave a job so soon after I started, but it just wasn't the same job I took those 11 months ago. Re-orgs (yes, multiple) and executive management changes just weren't making me very happy to go to work every day.

I wasn't completely miserable, and I could've stuck it out, but I had an oppoturnity to take a position as Corporate Communication Manager at a small government contractor... Zimmerman Associates, Inc. I have been there a week and so far, so good. :) I will still be working in proposals, but I will also be working with website content and marketing material... much like I did when I first started at Datatrac all those years ago. :-) I am in the process of creating and implementing standards for proposals, style, editing, etc. Stuff I love! :)

Grandpa
When we were in the Philly area for the hockey tournament over Memorial Day weekend, we went to visit my grandfather. Well, first, J-Mav and I went with Mom and Dad to Grandpa's house. I wanted to visit it as I haven't been there in more than 20 years. I have such good memories of gathering there with my dad's side of the family every Thanksgiving, up until the year after my grandmother died. I remember the house being big, with a big yard. The thing is, it's not really so big! My dad pointed out that it seemed big because I was smaller. That's probably true. He said my next-oldest cousin had the same thought when he visited a few months ago.

I wandered through the house, which my parents and my aunts and uncles have been working on going through and boxing up since my grandfather moved into the assisted living facility. It was dark and seemingly stuck in the 50s or 60s. But it was much as I remembered it... except for the not being as big as I remembered it. J-Mav thought it was cool that my Dad had a bedroom in the attic and was very concerned that the floor was "tilty" in various parts of the house. He was fascinated with the sunroom for some reason. I finally saw the basement and wine cellar. In all my years, I had never been in that basement. I took some pictures of the outside when we left. It definitely needs some work, inside and out, but it's still my grandparents' home and the house my dad grew up in. J-Mav said it looked like a haunted house. That may be, but I think any ghosts that are there are the good kind. :-) That visit makes me want to go back and walk through my other grandparents' home again, just to see what the new owners have done with it. It was also a big, cool house.

On Sunday, Hubby, Keeper Boy, J-Mav, and I visited Grandpa between Keeper Boy's hockey games. We spent a little over an hour with him. He was eating lunch when we arrived. The man can put away some food! I went and said hello and told him we'd sit in the TV area and wait for him to finish because I didn't want him to not eat because we were there. I'm not sure he recognized me right off the bat. We took him down to his room after he was done, but not before a woman came over and told Hubby that he was very handsome and she loved him. :-) Did I mention my grandfather lives in the memory unit of his assisted living facility?

We took him down to his room, which is very nice. The whole place is nice, actually. It's in a residential area and it has a homey feel. Even the dining area looks and feels like a super-sized dining room in someone's home. Very nice. Anyway, we took him to his room and he was telling us how the restaurant has "gone down hill" and that they'd been going there for years and it just wasn't the same anymore. We played along. Then we started looking at some pictures that were displayed and at that point he definitely knew who I was, and he made the connection between the pictures of the boys and the boys standing in front of him. Keeper Boy and J-Mav did great with him. They didn't seem scared or put off by anything or the fact that he was in a wheelchair. We had warned them that great-grandpa might not recognize us, so they were prepared.

The TV had been on when we went in, I had my back to it most of the time. After a while, Keeper Boy made an interesting face and we realized it was on E! and the show that was on was Kendra... a reality show about a former Playboy bunny. We asked grandpa if he was watching it, and he said he never watches TV, so we turned it off. Didn't think the boys needed to be seeing it, though they might have disagreed. :-) Anyway, we looked at all of his pictures and talked about who was in them. And then we gave him a couple more that we'd brought. He seemed to like them -- he flipped through them multiple times, either to look at the again, or because he didn't remember seeing them a few seconds before... not sure which -- and made comments about how the boys are both so tall. Eventually we had to leave to get back to the rink, but it was great to see him and he looked good.

Summer
I think we're mostly organized for summer. We're renting a lake house with friends in late July. Keeper Boy is going to sleepaway camp in early August. J-Mav is doing the same camp in early July, but as a daycamper. He's not ready to go away for a week yet. He's a homebody. They're spending a week at Grandma and Grandpa's house in PA, and a week at Grandma's house in OH. Keeper Boy is doing tennis camp and is on the waiting list for an adventure camp. He's also doing a half-day, week-long camp as a sort of orientation to middle school at the end of August. J-Mav will be spending time with the same wonderful girl who watched the boys last summer, as well as a week with the college-aged daughter of family friends. They'll be busy all summer and I think it'll be a good one! The boys and I are also meeting my college roommate and her kids for a weekend at Knoebel's Grove. We're all looking forward to that!

I'm done...
OK... that's all I can think of for now.

Screeeeeeech...

The all-star team managed to play its game tonight through an annoying mist. It's always sad when officiating contributes significantly to a loss. Tonight was, unfortunately, probably one of those instances.

The boys contributed to the loss with plenty of fielding errors, but the ump (the LONE, large ump who didn't stray more than five feet from home plate for the entire game) blew two calls that definitely affected the score. One of our kids was called out at first when he was clearly safe, and a ball that was about two feet wide of the baseline was called fair in the top of the sixth, allowing the winning run to score for the opposing team. Terrible call.

Why there was only one ump is a good question. "Scheduling conflicts" was the official answer. All the other games we played had FOUR umps... a plate ump and one at each of the bases. And the officiating has actually been good. Not to say the kids would've won had those two calls not been made correctly tonight; however, we would've definitely had a better chance! The final score was 9-8, and Keeper Boy's all-star career for this season came to a screeching halt.

He has nothing to hang his head about. He had a GREAT post season. He was the team's leading hitter over the three games played. He'll tell you that tonight he batted for the cycle. He did have a single, double, and triple. The homerun is suspect, but we'll let it slide. He hit a solid single (maybe a double if the scorekeeper is feeling generous), and then kept running and made it home due to fielding errors. But hey, we'll take it!! :) He was SO excited!! That almost happened to him during the regular season one time. He hit a triple and the coach got caught up in the excitement and sent him home when he probably shouldn't have and he was tagged out at the plate. So maybe tonight made up for that. :)

Anyway, he also had some great plays in the field. He was the right fielder on this team. Not a position he is used to playing, but he has a great arm, so he is a strong outfielder.

The only positive to come from tonight is the knowledge that we now have our evenings free again! Woo hoo!

I think all around it was a great experience for him... and now we have yet another baseball cap to find lying around the house. Joy!

I thought things were slowing down!

Well, I thought things were supposed to be slowing down with hockey over and the end of baseball season being this past weekend. But that hasn't been the case. Keeper Boy was named to the All-Star Team, so that's been every night this week. It's a double elimination tournament. They lost their first game and won last night, so they're still alive. They're supposed to have a game tonight, but it looks like it will be a wash-out. Not sure what that does as far as the schedule.

To backtrack a little bit, J-Mav had his last baseball game Saturday morning. The kids did a great job, and we had a little party for them afterward. They each got a personalized baseball from the coach and a trophy. He had a great first season of baseball!

Saturday evening, we had the seasons end party for Keeper Boy's baseball team. It was a potluck cookout at one of the assistant coach's house. A good time was had by all. It was supposed to have taken place after the championship game, which was originally scheduled for Saturday at 3pm. However, the game was moved to Sunday afternoon after several games last week were postponed due to rain. So we had the party before the season was actually over because Keeper Boy's team made the championship game!!

They showed their opponent they meant business right from the start, scoring the maximum five runs in the very first inning. They never slowed down. Great hitting. Great defense. I think the final score was 13-4 or something like that. The kids got great trophies, and Keeper Boy got the game ball for being the game MVP!

The all-star tournament is to be over by 6/23; however, I don't know how rainouts affect that. We will pretty much be playing every night until the team loses another game. Then they're out.

I have been productive during my two weeks "off;" however, it is clear to me that I will not get everything done that I wanted to. Two weeks at home seems like a long time until you make a to-do list!

Drugs are good...

This morning I am thrilled that Keeper Boy still has three days worth of antibiotics left to take from his strep throat diagnosis. Why? Because this morning I found out that one of the kids on his baseball team has been diagnosed with what is likely the swine flu! While it's not likely that he would've passed it along to anyone on the team, I'm sure the concentration of penicillin that's currently in Keeper Boy's system can't hurt in helping to ward off the possibility!

Bad for the baseball team, though. The team has it's first playoff game on Friday night, and (if they win) the championship on Saturday afternoon. The kid with the flu is one of our best pitchers. That's gonna hurt.

Oink!

Great day!

Today was a great day for Keeper Boy and J-Mav... we celebrated by allowing them -- and, in fact, encouraging them -- to both have dessert after dinner. They were kinda surprised, but didn't ask twice. They know better than to look a gift horse in the mouth. (That's how that saying goes, right?)

Starting with J-Mav: he was giggling as he came running toward me off the playground when I picked him up from school. GIGGLING! I asked him what was so funny. He could barely contain himself. "I got ALL of my stickers, Mama! ALL of them!"

He has a behavior chart for which he can earn four stickers before lunch and four after. The four areas for which he can earn stickers are keeping his hands to himself, being quiet while he works, raising his hand, and staying in his own space. He's struggled with the being quiet while working one. Not today. Awesome job, J-Mav!!

And then Keeper Boy: as many of you know, he got four Cs on his 2nd quarter report card. Had he been giving his best effort and gotten four Cs, we wouldn't have cared. But we knew he hadn't given it his best effort. So we had a long discussion and a deal that if his grades weren't up at mid-term, baseball would be in jeopardy. He was fine at mid-term, according to his teacher, so we let him play baseball and hoped for the best. Today he got his report card. He brought those four Cs back up and made the honor roll! He was very pleased with himself, and we are proud of his hard work.

Late this afternoon, we were also notified that he made the spring travel hockey team. It's a big change from this time last year, when he was being begged to come play for the same team. I don't even think he tried out last year. I don't remember. They just needed a goalie. This year, there were three very capable goalies vying for two spots during the two-part tryout. Keeper Boy earned one of the spots, so we will be at the rink for practice the next four Thursdays and in Aston, PA for a tournament over Memorial Day weekend. Congratulations, Keeper Boy!!

Tonight, Keeper Boy had a baseball game. He got on base all three times he was at bat (two walks and a hit) and scored every time. His team played well and won the game 11-8. Keeper Boy played three innings at first base, two at catcher, and sat an inning.

We went to Ruby Tuesday's for dinner after the game, and that's where the boys had their treats. Always fun to watch their eyes light up when we tell them they can do/have something they're usually no allowed.

Oh, and the Penguins lost tonight. That's ALWAYS a good day!! ;-P

Fire and ice

Saturday, as I previously posted, was a fabulous day weather-wise. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and the kids were on the ball field. And, while I put sunscreen on the kids, I neglected to put any on myself and paid the price for wearing a sleeveless shirt while sitting outside for four hours.

Last night, Keeper Boy had another baseball game. It had been overcast and spitting off an on all afternoon. But the field was open, so off we went. As the front came closer, the temperature dropped into the upper 40s. We endured two lightning delays before finally starting the game just before 7pm -- an hour late. (When lightning is sighted, they are required to wait 20 minutes. If no more lightning is sighted, play can resume. If more lightning is sighted, the 20-minute clock re-starts.)

I took refuge in the back corner of the dugout since I keep the score book and it's difficult to write in pencil on wet paper. As I sat there slowly turning into an icicle, I was keenly aware of the seams in my t-shirt (under a sweatshirt, a windbreaker, and a blanket) rubbing against my still somewhat tender (though no longer on fire) shoulders.

What a difference three days makes!

Weekend...

What a great weekend!! The weather was amazing, it was opening day for CYA baseball, and we got together with not one, but two great family friends! Who could ask for more?

Keeper Boy has try-outs tonight and Wednesday night for the spring travel hockey team. So Friday evening, Hubby took Keeper Boy out to the rink for a stick-n-shoot to get in some ice time. He hasn't really been on the ice much in the past month. Hubby, however, forgot his own skates. So instead of being out on the ice working with Keeper Boy, he watched from the other side of the glass and talked to one of his friends who had also brought his kid out. J-Mav and I hung out at home.

Saturday morning was the opening ceremonies for CYA Spring Baseball. It's always fun to see the kids parade onto the baseball field, but then the ceremony part is pretty long and drawn out. 90+ minutes after it started, we got outta there. We ran a few errands (chief among which was getting Justin a BLACK baseball belt, because the other two colors he already has won't work with this year's uniform) and grabbed lunch before heading to the field for J-Mav's 12:00 game... his first ever baseball game!

J-Mav is playing in the Coach Pitch League. That means, the coach pitches to the kids. Each kid gets five pitches and if he or she doesn't make contact with the ball, the T is brought out. Everyone plays in the outfield, and the kids bat in numerical jersey order. They play three innings. It was a challenge to fit those three innings into the 90-minute time allotment. It's largely a teaching situation, and it was fun to watch. J-Mav was up to bat four times, I think. He hit twice on pitches and twice off the tee. He even made it around and scored a run one time! No score is kept in this league. It's all about kicking dirt if you're in the infield, inspecting grass if you're in the outfield, and what's for snack after the game!

Keeper Boy had his first game at 2:30 at a different field, about a mile down the road. He's playing in the AAA League. They DO keep score, they CAN steal bases, they DON'T have snack, and the last inning is unlimited runs (all other innings there's a five run "mercy" rule). Keeper Boy mostly plays first base or catcher, though they have him in the pitching rotation this season, too. He did pitch part of the last inning on Saturday. The coach asked if I could keep the score book. I told him I'd be willing to try but that I hadn't attempted to keep a score book since I was about Keeper Boy's age -- and that was in the program at Phillies games! But I got the hang of it. I told him I'd keep the job if he thought I did okay. Guess I'll find out tomorrow night if Keeper Boy's game isn't rained out. (Right now I'm thinking of scouring the Internet for some ark plans.) Oh, and Keeper Boy's team won. I think the final was 6-4 or 6-3.

Saturday evening we got together with friends -- someone I've been friends with probably since before I even went to Kindergarten (with a too-long falling out at the end of/after high school that remains, to this day, one of the only major regrets in my life)... and her hubby and three kids. They moved to a new house almost two years ago and -- while we talk on the phone and over email and Facebook -- we'd never seen it, even though it's only 20 minutes away from our house! With five active kids between us, scheduling is an issue. Anyway, the house is beautiful, dinner was great, and we had an excellent time catching up and hanging out. The kids all get along great and we promised we wouldn't wait that long to get together again. Now we have to make good on that plan!

Sunday was about house and yard work... and hockey. Hubby mowed the lawn for the first time this year. I took care of the inside stuff. The kids did their chores and finished their homework. Then Hubby took Keeper Boy to the rink for another stick-n-shoot session (and remembered his skates this time) and J-Mav went to play at a friend's house for a few hours. Though what I really wanted to do with all that quiet time was take a nap, I finished the vacuuming and laundry and marinated some chicken for dinner. When everyone got home, we headed to BFF's house for another great evening of hanging out. We supplied chicken and brats for the grill and BFF and BFF's hubby supplied all the sides and dessert. It was a fun evening, as always, and the kids all get along like siblings because they've known each other all of their young lives. During our visit, I discovered that my goddaughter has a sophisticated new hairdo that makes her look older than her six years, and my godson has his first official girlfriend... long distance. Her grandmother lives down the street from their house. She actually lives three hours away. Everyone's growin' up!

On our way home, we saw a large police/fire response presence by J-Mav's school. We didn't know what was going on as we didn't see a fire or anything. I emailed a friend who lives over there and asked what was going on. She freaked out because she and her hubby were on their way home from seeing a movie, and her kids (high school aged) were home. She said she never dialed her home number so fast. They were fine, though they didn't know what was going on. She emailed me back once she got home and got the scoop... a car had been speeding down the road (in our quiet little subdivision) and hit a parked car (which then flipped over and into someone's yard) and then ran into a house. Yikes! I drove by the house in question this morning and it's all boarded up in the front and it looks like most of the shrubbery and front porch posts were taken out by the errant car. Craziness! Apparently there was a person in the house, but he or she wasn't injured. I think there were two people in the car. They had minor injuries and were taken to the hospital. Don't know any details other than those.

So that's about it. A little bit of everything this past weekend... might make the week ahead seem a little boring!

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Extended family update...

Lots of people in my family are doing some cool things recently, now, or soon!

My brother finally secured a new job a few weeks ago and is a Warehouse Manager for a company that is ramping up operations right near his house. His wife is finishing up her certification training and will be working soon as a medical biller/coder.

My cousin, D. is having much success in a Weight Watchers at Work program that is similar to the one Hubby is doing. Way to go!

My aunt and uncle and their three sons (my NJ cousins) and one of their significant others are in Las Vegas this week. And as I type my uncle and the NJ cousins are hiking down into the Grand Canyon (with intentions to be back out this afternoon). How COOL is that?

Another cousin (the one that got married in January) and her husband just got back from what sounds like an excellent trip to Florida via the auto train.

Hubby's brother will be home from Iraq on a two-week R&R in a WEEK! My sister-in-law is so excited. We won't get to see him, but at least we can talk to him on the phone without a multi-second delay!

Our niece is finishing up her junior year of high school and looking into colleges. She wants to go into Forensics. She is one smart cookie and will shine at whatever her chosen field is, but forensics!? That rocks!

I'm sure other members of our family are doing awesome things, too... those are just a few things that I happen to know about. :)