Sweet Summertime!

Cue the Jimmy Buffett tunes, pour me a glass of lemonade and pass the SPF 30 – it’s finally summer!  After a ridiculous 10 snow days this year put my last day of work at June 8th, summer couldn’t get here fast enough. 
I left the kids in daycare until Friday, the 10th, because I had some things that needed to be done.  Rudy was still working until noon on Saturday (he had a crazy band thing!).  I took the kids in on Thursday and rushed to the hospital only to find out that the mammogram that I thought was scheduled for Thursday was actually scheduled for Friday.  I was also supposed to have had a hair appointment on Thursday, but the stylist cancelled it because she was sick.  Hmmm…things were not off to a rousing start.  I took advantage of the free time and went shopping for our trip to Florida.  I bought myself some clothes and stocked us up for a few days away from home.  Friday was much more productive.  I had my first mammogram (not as bad as I expected, but still…) and went for a scheduled visit with my doctor.  After that, I had a wonderful outdoor lunch all by myself and then moseyed over to the spa for a mani/pedi & brow wax.  I had a gift certificate from Christmas for $100.  My bill?  $100.  That’s a beautiful thing.  After that, I started to panic about the state of my hair right before vacation.  I did some asking around and found a great person to color my hair at the last minute.  Whew – maintenance is difficult at 34! 

On Saturday, Rudy worked in the morning, then met us for Caleb’s last T-ball game.  Caleb got to play first base and did a great job!  I spent Saturday evening doing some heavy duty packing.  I managed to get pretty much everything packed so that we could load up and go on Sunday.

Sunday morning I had to meet someone at church at 9:45 to get some information, then we were on the road!  The car was loaded to the gills, but we were headed down the mountain.  We stopped in Alma to eat lunch and then cruised on down the highway to Hot Springs.  LaLa and Pops were waiting for us when we got there.  Caleb jumped out of the car literally squealing with excitement!  We spent the afternoon on the lake trying out the new tube that Pops bought for Caleb.  Jimmy and Kim came over by boat to watch Caleb’s first try on the tube.  He LOVED it.  First, he rode with Rudy and then it was my turn.  I wasn’t so sure about it, but I’ll do things for my kids that I wouldn’t do otherwise.  Caleb and I rode the tube all the way to Aunt Harolyn’s house!  When we got there, we swam for a while in her pool.  Nola loved the pool.  She may be my waterbaby after all.  She’s definitely going to be the more adventurous of the two kids!  We boated back home, had dinner and went to bed pretty early. 
It was the beginning of a wonderfully sweet summertime…

T-Ball

We gave Caleb the choice of playing either t-ball or soccer this year.  Much to my appreciation, he chose t-ball.  I signed him up to play in the Bentonville league, because I’ve heard from reputable sources that they have a better program than Rogers.  Because we live in Bentonville School District, we were able to choose. 

Caleb was assigned to the Cubs, which nearly killed Rudy and I since we are life-long Cardinals fans.  But, I have to admit, he looks pretty stinking cute in his uniform, even if it is blue instead of red. 
The first practice was on April 5th.  We weren’t sure what to expect, but felt okay about it since we already knew 2 of the kids on his team from daycare.  Caleb loved it from the very first minute.   Rudy has been working with him in the backyard and that practice paid off, because Caleb threw and ran and hit the ball like a t-ball pro!  Of course, the kids have no idea how to actually play the game, but they are pretty cute while they are learning.  Here are a few pictures of the first practice:

And, of course, after the first practice comes the first game.  Caleb’s first game was April 9th.  I could’ve just keeled over when I saw him in his uniform for the first time.
 

He loved the game.  They all get to bat and nobody gets out and nobody takes score.  It’s just about learning the fundamentals and how to actually play without everyone swarming the ball all over the field.

 

Aunt Kathy came out to see Caleb’s big debut.

And, of course, his Mama and Daddy were proud of him!

Stuff We Did in April

April 1 ~ Nola suddenly started walking!  Of course, that deserves its own post.  More on that later.

April 4 ~ The daycare called me because Caleb had a suspicious rash that they thought was chicken pox.  I picked him up, took him straight to the doctor, got a diagnosis of post-viral rash and took him straight back to daycare.  While I was there, they told me that Nola had been having diarrhea.  I chalked it up to the antibiotic that she was on for her ears.  Later that night, I booked a trip for just Rudy and I in Florida this summer!  Yeah!!!

April 5 ~ Nola got sent home from daycare with fever and more diarrhea.  Turns out she had rotavirus.  Yuck.  My mom came to the rescue and drove up to stay with us since Nola couldn’t go to daycare.

That night was also Caleb’s first t-ball practice.  That also deserves its own post.  Again…more on that later.

April 7 ~ Mom left after packing and taking 365 pieces of Nola’s outgrown clothes to consignment. 

April 8 ~ My friend Sheila and I took our preschoolers (Caleb and Ansley) to see Seussical the Musical at Bentonville High School.  It was so cute and the kids loved it – even though they were totally exhausted by the time it was over.

April 9 ~ Caleb’s 1st t-ball game.  Awesome.

April 11th ~ Ugh.  Benchmark testing week.  Ugh.

April 12th ~ Crazy Hair Day for Caleb at daycare.

April 15th ~ Stacy and I drove to Frisco, TX after school for our girls’ weekend.

April 16th ~ We started our day with a trip to Sam Moon and Cheesecake Factory and ended it with a 7 hour concert at Cowboys Stadium.  We saw Uncle Kracker, Billy Currington, Zac Brown Band and Kenny Chesney.

April 19th ~ Caleb’s kindergarten screening at Reagan.

April 22nd ~ Tornado sirens sent us to the laundry room wearing bike helmets.  The tornado passed just a few miles from our house.  While we were in there (trying to keep the mood light to keep the kids from being scared), Caleb asked if we could pray about it…so we did.

That was the beginning of a very long week of nothing but rain, rain, rain. 

April 23rd ~ We went to the church Easter egg hunt.  Caleb and I dyed eggs and made our Easter cake.  It wasn’t pretty, but it tasted pretty good.

April 24th ~ Easter Sunday – a rainy day, but we celebrated anyway!  A separate Easter post to come…
April 25th ~ Nola ran a fever at school, so Rudy left to take her home.  The rain caused lots of roads in Northwest Arkansas to flood.  It was a difficult drive home from school for Caleb and me.  By the time we went to bed, Caleb was running a fever too. 

April 26th ~ Rudy stayed home with both kids.  We watched the TV closely again for tornado warnings.  It was a horrible week with lots of severe weather.

April 27th ~ Mom came up to take care of the kids again so that Rudy could go back to work.  Caleb had been on the couch with fever for a day and a half.  When she got here, he perked up like magic.  He told me that night that LaLa made him feel better.  I agree.

April 28th ~ Mom and I took the kids to Gravette for a photo session with Kim Durham of KD Photography.  I’m still waiting for the final result, but the sneak preview that I got looks wonderful!