Exercises in futility

Lookin' cute in his new hat and jersey! 

Dear Jesse,

It was meant to be Josiah's first fall ball scrimmage tonight. Unfortunately, the heavens opened an hour or two before; it started pouring around 4 p.m.  Getting home from F&M required wading out to the car in water coursing through the parking lot up to my ankles (my poor sandals will never recover). So instead of packing up a picnic when I got home, which had been the plan for us to bring to the ball field, the boys and I instead got excited at the prospect of curling up with a classic Disney move and pizza. 

But then — and here's the crazy thing — the scrimmage was not called off. I may or may not have snorted (and then sighed) at the email that arrived 35 minutes before we needed to be there. The coach explained that all of the coaches had "decided that this [was] a quick storm." I'm sure he didn't mean it that way, but it struck me as such a guy way to put it. Ah, good, the men decided what the weather would be. Never mind radar showing thunderstorms in every direction and each weather station calling for rain through the evening. Never mind that this now meant we had to scramble for food, get all geared up, and head off to a muddy field...for an event that surely would be called off in very short order. 

But of course being the angel of good cheer that I am, I did the whole thing. With a smile, even, I kid you not. I jollied the boys along and got us out to the (very wet) field with everything we needed. As did every other family. And to be fair, the rain did quit for a bit. But with lightening cutting the cloud dark sky, I overheard Josiah saying to a teammate during warm-ups, "This lightening is not good. We use metal bats!" 

Just as the kids were called to their dugouts to get the game underway, lightening worsened, rain recommenced, and the coaches decided this actually was not a quick storm. Go figure! Without so much as a first pitch, we all packed up and went home. 

Thank goodness I'm such a sports fanatic and have so much free time this relaxing first week of classes! Otherwise I might have been a wee bit annoyed. 

This and that

Dear Jesse,

I seem to have done a rather feeble job of keeping up the blog for you this first week. It's partly because I've been passably busy. But I've also just not felt like I have much in me to say. Don't choke on your disbelief over me being short on words!

Most importantly: the boys and I are alive and well. (You can probably interpret "well" in an expansive sort of way, but it's generally true.) I'm thankful I was able to be at the house every morning and afternoon at bus time, easing them into the first week of school.

This past week also held dental visits for both boys. As you know, they have been counting down days for this check-up, seeing how your mom had promised a cash payout for impeccable dental hygiene over the past 6 months leading to a no cavities verdict. You can see the happy result here!

William also has taken an immense amount of joy this week in filling full size balloons with water. They can hold 1 to 1.5 gallons of water so are absolute bombs. The half bath has seen its share of water clean-up operations, and I have lugged several of these babies out to the porch for his bursting pleasure. I've taken some video but have yet to get it uploaded. Maybe later this week (but don't hold your breath).

Another favored activity this week? Dismantling the couch for the purposes of Nerf warfare. Boys.

We've also done a fair bit of reading, completing our most recent chapter book together plus all of Three Cousins that Mom has written so far. And here you can see William generating his own story with Story Cubes earlier this evening. I can totally get into reading and stories! (Guns and 12-lb water balloons? More of a stretch...)

I see I wrote another blog post called "This and that" several years ago...a similarly random update with photos...  Remember those cute little boys?

Back to School + Back to East Africa

Four fingers for fourth grade, one finger for first.

Dear Jesse,

I've let the blog lapse for ages. But before you left for this current two-week trip to Burundi and Rwanda, you made a sidelong mention that if I could find a moment to put up an occasional 'blog post for Daddy,' it wouldn't be a waste of time in your book. (You were smart to keep the comment very low-key, knowing what's on my plate while you're away!) Seeing that this morning found the boys climbing on the school bus for the first time since last May, I'm here with super-quick installment #1.

Our back-to-school story started yesterday afternoon, when your mom put on a lovely back-to-school party for the boys. She'd made not one but two cakes—to fulfill two different favorite flavor requests—and bought many of their required school supplies. Even more sweetly, she gave them little gifts representing some of their summer activities and memories together, like movie theater style boxed candy and Red Sox baseball cards. I'm not sure how much the boys recognized the thoughtfulness, but I certainly was touched!

As for this morning, all went smoothly. You know that William has been storming big time about the thought of going back to school, and although I've been pulling out every subtle skill and trick I know to get him ready, I was braced for a rough morning. But both boys did a great job getting ready and even posed for obligatory first day photos before heading a few doors down to the bus stop. How is it possible that we have a fourth grader and a first grader??

Just for reference and for a walk down memory lane:

First day 2015: Hélène had just arrived hours before!

First day 2014: In France!

First day 2013: apparently I never posted anything that day...

First day 2012: I see Josiah wore the same shirt for his first day of K that William wore today. :)