Crazy May and into June!

Wow - it is already June - where does the time go? We had a busy month! Emmalee has been playing softball every weekend, and still loving it! Micah has been playing soccer on Mondays, and not really loving it. This past Monday I reminded him "Hey, you have soccer tonight!", hoping to rouse some enthusiasm. He exclaims "Oh yeah!" and then his smile goes away and he says "but I have no soccer skills. oh wait, I have one skill - running fast." And indeed he does run fast across the field - not always in the same direction as the ball - but fast nonetheless! After his game Monday Steve asked if he liked soccer and Micah said "no, there are too many teams (meaning players)". So at least he gave it a shot. His last game is this Monday. Next Spring we'll do t-ball. He really wants to do that!

Over Memorial Day Weekend we went on our annual trip to NY. We left on Thursday evening this year and made it to Mike and Andrea's in Syracuse around 11pm (we would've been about 35 minutes earlier if Steve had taken the exit I told him to take rather than going the "scenic route"). My favorite quote was when he said "YOU are questioning ME on directions?" He later apologized... We spent Thursday night and much of the day Friday at Andrea's, then said goodbye to Emmalee and Lily and took Micah with us to Rochester, where we spend each Mem. Day Weekend at our friend's Courtney and Rick's house with anywhere from 4 to 7 other couples from college. THANKYOU ANDREA for keeping Lily. She would have been a nightmare out there! Micah, however, had the time of his life. The only other kids were 4 other little boys, ranging in age from 1 to 6. He had a blast. So did we. Always a good time up there. Monday morning we drove back to Andrea's for a picnic and to get the girls, and then drove home.

This past Monday we took Micah's toddler bed out of his room and he FINALLY got his big-boy bed! He was so excited! He loves it! Also on Monday we had a fun MOPS playdate at a local park. It was a beautiful day, and Micah and Lily had a great time!

We had some excitement on Tuesday when I found a HUGE spider, bigger than any I have ever seen before, on the kids' playscape outside. It was too big to step on, so Steve bee-sprayed it, and then we watched it die a slow death. This picture was taken while it was dying, and had already started to get smaller - it was really gigantic. It's carcass is still outside, and even all shriveled up, it is about the size of a quarter. Wednesday afternoon I found it's slightly smaller little sister in our basement - and stepped on that one. Gross.

Last night was no fun. Shortly after Emmalee went to bed, she got up and was crying that her ear hurt. We gave her some Motrin and sent her back to bed. Later during the night, after Steve and I had gone to bed, she came into our room crying about her ear again. She got into bed with us, and Steve went down to sleep in her room. She tossed all night, and woke up every 20 minutes or so crying in HORRIBLE pain. Therefore, I didn't sleep either. At 3am I was finally able to give her another dose of Motrin, but it wasn't touching the pain. It was a rough night. This morning, Steve brought her to the walk-in clinic. I thought that would be better than waiting for her doctor's office to open at 9, considering that I probably wouldn't even get through by phone until 9:30 or 10, and then wait for them to see her. She was home by 9:30 with antibiotics for her "monster ear infection" in her left ear, and one brewing in her right ear as well! She was hoping to be able to go into school, being that her class had earned a special "cozy reading day" today, but she promptly fell asleep on the couch as soon as she got home and is out! Poor thing!

And now it is the weekend again! I will be working all night, Emmalee has a softball game tomorrow and then Steve's brother and wife and kids are coming over. Sunday Steve has baseball games, and I have a busy day at church, then work on Sunday night! Whew!

My 4th Child

Look closely at the banner Emmalee made for me at school, and you will see that I have an extra child. Yes, we have been hiding Uma away for several years now, but she decided to make an appearance on Mother's Day this year.
Actually, Uma is one of Emmalee's friends at school, and since she helped Emmalee make the banner, Em thought it was only fitting that her name be on it as well. Cute.
Mother's Day was very nice - although extremely hectic! Steve and the kids made me french toast and bacon, which was delicious! They gave me the Wii Fit game, which we have all been enjoying! Micah made me a tissue-paper-stained-glass pen holder at school, and Emmalee made me a very nice card at school. It mentioned how I am extremely good at cooking, and I had to wonder who she was thinking about when she wrote that... :-) Emmalee had a softball game in the afternoon, and she played very well! I had to work at night, but that was fine. It was busy, and the customers were generous! We missed going over to Grandma and Grandpa's house, though.

Sports Star!

Emmalee had her first softball game this past Sunday afternoon. She was fourth in line at bat. The coaches pitch and, if after 5 pitches the girl does not hit the ball, they pull out the tee for her to hit off of. Which I think is stupid - what happened to 3 strikes and you're out - but oh well. So the first girl gets up at bat. 5 pitches pass, then she hits it off the tee. The second girl gets up at bat. Again, 5 pitches, and she hits it off the tee. Third girl - same thing. Then Emmalee gets up to bat. I'm standing there praying "please don't make her need the tee", and I know Steve, aka Mr. Baseball, was praying the same.

One pitch passes, then another. She's swinging, and missing. The third pitch she swung, hit it straight down, it hit her on the leg and sat there at her feet. They called it a foul ball. Fourth pitch - CONTACT! The ball goes flying through the air! HOORAY! She got a base hit, and came home! She was up at bat 3 times, hit the ball each time (no tee!), and made it home twice. She's really enjoying softball!