May on FB

B: I am not good at leading people. I am just good at telling them to get out of my way.

😆😂🤣😆

An example of why parenting is so bizarre:

-8yo brings home pea-size ball of grey clay from school and proceeds to play with it for days and is devastated when he loses it

-I buy 8yo package of clay with 12 different colors - he will not touch it

Watch out world! Watch out and try not to laugh (too hard) if you see me rockin' one of these next week.

ETA: While I am optimistic about using this, I will not be taking walks on the beach or hiking up mountains with it. And I may still go up and down the stairs on my butt.

Spring 2023 done. 

Did I compare Google, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and Twitter to middle school drama in my last assignment of the semester? Yes, yes I did.  But, I am DONE.

My kids refer to the years of my childhood as "the 1900s". 🤦‍♀️😆🤦‍♀️

I just want to be clear that it is incredibly rude that Ben's mom would not drive him to school this morning. Sure, she's supposed to be "non-weight bearing" on her right foot, but that doesn't mean she can't drive with her left foot! 

It finally happened!!! I FINALLY saw a bizarre ad in my FB feed!! I mean, you know this day will come, you just never know what it's like until it happens. 

Just know that what I say I say with a great deal of love and suspicion: I can only assume that one of my kids is eating AAA batteries because despite buying them in bulk I can NEVER find any. 

(we buy the rechargeable ones so they *should* keep circulating)

I was going to post before and after pictures from getting my cast off and stitches out, but after seeing my leg I decided to spare you all 😵‍💫

Memorial at Millersylvania

It may be grey and cloudy. I may be recovering from surgery. Teenagers may be very difficult to wake in the morning. But that didn't stop us from having our annual Memorial Day breakfast at Millersylvania. 

We may have been in nature. We may have been surrounded by trees and water. There may have been chocolate chip pancakes. But that didn't stop our kids from spending time staring at a screen.

And chocolate chip pancakes there were! 

And a sexy chef!

And Jason even got the highest form of praise from Michael - a high five!

And then the pink soccer ball came out and shenanigans ensued.

At one point I was taking a video of the older boys playing "keep away" with the soccer ball when Josh whacked Michael (on accident) in the groin with the ball. Brotherly love at its finest. These are the memories that will last! 

Josh is 19

Back in the day I would spend some time thinking about what to get the boys for their birthdays. For Josh, those days are (mostly) gone. Our computer/cyber security expert son wants things that I don't understand. Now he sends me a list that I share with whoever asks or he gets gift cards and is let loose on Amazon. BUT the little gremlins that run the algorithms on Amazon showed me a desk-sized wavy man and I knew they finally got something right. And by the look on his face when he opened it, I am pretty sure I am on to something.

And everything else came from a list that was mostly incomprehensible to me.

Uncle Doug was kind enough to BBQ for Josh's b-day dinner and then he and his friends played laser tag the next day. 

Welcome to your second year of adulthood, Josh!

Foot Surgery, Or Proof I Am Not A Runner

On May 12 I had foot surgery...again. I really hope this is not a habit. And the right foot is so much worse than the left foot. This time (sigh) I have a longitudinal tear in my peroneus brevis tendon that did not heal. Why did it not heal? Who knows. But after weeks in a post-op shoe and weeks in a boot, it was definitely not healing. And so heigh ho heigh ho it was off to the orthopaedic surgeon I went. At first I was sent home with this:

And today I was upgraded to this and the status of "weight bearing as tolerated". To paraphrase the immortal The Princess Bride, that did not mean what I thought that meant. I assumed there would be actual walking at this point, but I was disabused of that idea at my appointment. This actually means some day, hopefully soon, I may be able to hobble from my bed to the bathroom while not in excruciating pain and, presumably, it will slowly get better from there. 

Woo...hoo?

Michael's First Half

A few months ago I signed up for a half marathon. For fun, I signed Michael up as well. Then, well, my body rebelled against the idea of me being a runner and...

But do you know who's body does not rebel against running? Or, at least, he's young enough to bounce back quickly from any problems? 

MICHAEL! 

He got up early on a Sunday and ran and ran and ran and then decided this was much longer than he thought and ran and ran and then heard there was only one more 5k left and then groaned and then ran and ran and....

...crossed the finish line! 

And this was the point when he figured it probably is a good idea to have races in the morning because this shirt was too hot by the end of the race. 

Respectable showing for someone who didn't train. Not sure if he'll do this distance again, but it did inspire him to go and sign up to do another 10k.

Nicely done, MikeyWikey!

Michael Prom

Who decided that he wanted to go to prom a week before prom? Well, let's just say that his lack of planning is easily surpassed by his sense of style...provided he has a father who is willing to drive around the morning of the big event and help him track down an outfit.

April on FB

 

How I predict the conversation with the physical therapist will go tomorrow 

😆

It's mid-April and after a school year with several colds and his twice a month OT appointments, we finally got the dreaded "attendance" letter from the school.  Which I find amusing because there is nothing more that I want than for THIS KID TO GO TO SCHOOL!

Luckily, I had already discussed the possibility of getting this email with the school admin staff who told me it is auto generated and laughingly told me they already know that I am NOT the kind of parent who keeps their kid home for fun.

My kids: "It's not fair! Adults drive and have a car and can go anywhere you want to whenever you want to."

My driving schedule this week

-drive a kid to OT

-drive a kid to ENT

-pick up a kid from school

-pick up a kid from track

-drive a kid to voice lessons

-pick up groceries

-pick up a kid from track meet

Which makes me curious about what my kids think adults want to do 😆

"Oh yeah...." - the refrain of the ADHD child who has to be constantly redirected through the 45 torturous minutes it takes to get ready for school every morning doing the same tasks he's been doing for 2.5 years.🙄

While I appreciate that Google Maps gives me the option of picking a route that avoids tolls, what I REALLY need is an option that tells me how to avoid school zones and school busses.

My sense of style could be best described as "could be mistaken for pajamas"

This kid! When he was younger, this kid made noise all. the. time. Last year he found choir. Or maybe choir found him. He has done beautifully with the help of his choir director and voice coach. Using his formidable powers for good, he won regionals for bass voice and today CAME IN THIRD at STATE! He is amazing and we are so excited to see what the future holds for him.