One Busy Saturday

Adam playing games before Derek's piano recital

The Little Maestro

It seemed like everything piled up on our calendar for Saturday, May 19.

Adam had a 9:00 baseball game on Saturday morning, so we had to get moving early. Derek played with a friend, Jameson, from his class who was there because he has a little brother on Adam's team. Helen and I helped out in the dugout.

We went home for a couple hours before Derek's baseball game and tried to get organized for Derek's piano recital, which was to take place after his game. We tried to find some decent clothes for the boys to wear. It's times like these when our lack of attention to wardrobe bites us. I hate the idea of spending money on things that we never\rarely use and since we rarely ever dress up, nice clothes is one of the things that falls into that category; which is fine until one of those rare times happens - like a piano recital. We did manage to find some decent khakis and collared shirts for the boys and Adam even had some decent dress shoes. Derek made due with some dress sandals.

We rushed off to Derek's baseball game and then rushed back home to get changed for the recital. Helen, at least, got a shower. I was too busy herding the boys and had to settle for an extra application of deodorant.

We rushed to make the recital on time because we had requested that Derek go first so that we could make it to the boy's end of the season baseball awards ceremony. We made it on time only to find out that the previous recital was running long. Nini and Nana and Poppy met us and waited around with us - for over half an hour. Derek mingled with some friends from his class and Adam played a game with everyone where he tried to run by them without someone grabbing him.

There were 50 kids to perform so we were glad Derek was going first and that we wouldn't have to stay for the entire recital. It's always nice to hear the kids play, but 50 is asking a little much. Derek made his way to the piano while everyone got settled. He sat there like a football kicker waiting to make the game winning kick. After his teacher introduced him, he launched into his song, "Turkey in the Straw" (listen to a version here) and played it flawlessly. He likes the song and loved to play it while practicing his other assignments, but he would usually just whip through it as fast as he could. We kept telling him to slow down and practice it like he was going to play it at the recital. I don't think I ever heard a practice run as good as the one he laid down when the pressure was on. He played it with great timing and inflection. We all congratulated him on a terrific job.

We hustled out of the recital and said our goodbyes to Nana and Poppy. Nini followed us to the baseball awards ceremony. The boys changed into their baseball jerseys, but kept their dress pants and shoes on. It was a nice ceremony with music and a slide show of pictures from the season, trophies, and ice cream. There was a piano in the hall and Derek ran through a very quick "Turkey in the Straw".

We said our goodbyes to Nini and then we ordered pizza for dinner. I made the original pickup, but then we all went back together again after the pizza place gave us the wrong pizza the first time. We ate pizza and watched "Night at the Museum" and really enjoyed it.

With all our activities we had to pass up the opening day pool party at our swim\tennis club and also missed out on chipping in with the swim\tennis club on their "Adopt-A-Road" cleanup.

Mother's Day

Breakfast in bed for Mommy

Adam couldn't wait to dig on the dirt pile at Nanna & Poppy's

Derek just loves Lindsay

The boys and I made breakfast in bed for Helen. In the afternoon, we went to Helen's parents for the Bresnan family Mother's Day celebration. The guys handled most (ok - a lot) of the planning, cooking, and cleaning. It went off pretty well if we do say so ourselves. It was great to see our sister in law, Chris, celebrating her first Mother's Day. She's a great Mom to Lindsay and we love how she's enthusiastically embraced Motherhood and we always look forward to her blog updates.

Baseball

We finally got around to taking some baseball pictures this past weekend. (Note: You can click on the pictures to expand them). The boy's games were back to back so my mother (Nini) and Helen's parents (Nana and Poppy) took the opportunity to come out and catch both games.

Since it was Mother's Day weekend we took everyone out for lunch afterwards at Norcross Station. Helen's meal choices were limited to mashed potatoes and soft vegetables since she had some dental work done the day before. After lunch, Poppy and the boys walked over to Thrasher Park to play. All in all, it was a very nice day.

Helen's Gum Surgery

On Friday, Helen had gum surgery because it was receding around one of her teeth. She went in to work for a few hours since she's so busy finishing up the school year. After she left school, she went and had her allergy shots and then stopped by my office since it's close to the periodontist. She needed some reassurance because she was a little nervous about the surgery. The whole procedure only took about a half an hour and she was much happier when she stopped by afterwards.

Helen wasn't sure how she would be feeling so she made plans to have her parent's, Nanna and Poppy, pick up Adam and meet Derek at the bus stop after school. The boys are always excited to see Nanna and Poppy.

After school, Derek had a "popsicle social" at Jones Bridge Park with his class to celebrate the end of the school year. The boys ran around like crazy and were worn out by the time I got home. Helen said she chatted a little, but was a little self conscious about her mouth since it was still numb and she didn't want to start drooling while she talked.

At first Helen wasn't even going to fill her pain killer prescription because she felt fine, but the pain kicked in over the weekend and she was glad to have the pain killers. After a few days, her mouth felt much better.

Adam's Kindergarten Orientation

On Thursday, I took Adam to an orientation for kindergarten. We could tell that he was excited, but a little apprehensive. He still doesn't have a firm grasp of time. Despite our explanations, he thinks that he's going to kindergarten from now on and won't be going back to pre-school to finish out this school year.

Adam and I were greeted at the door to the school and Adam was led by a parent volunteer to one of the kindergarten rooms. I went to the cafeteria with the other parents. Ms Schmidt, the principal, started off the orientation telling how she could tell the first timer parents because they had notepads and tears in their eyes and were ready to take down every detail. The parents who were sending a middle child were easily chatting with friends and working the room. And the parents who were sending their last kid to kindergarten were dressed and ready to go shopping.

I saw a number of parents from our neighborhood and sat with the Morgan's. Sylvia said she had already teared up twice. When I emailed Helen and described the morning, she said she had teared up a couple times also.

One of the speakers told a funny story about a little boy on his first day at kindergarten. The teacher noticed the boy over near the back packs and asked the boy what he was doing. He said, "I'm going to see my Mommy". The teacher explained how it wasn't time to go yet, the class was going to eat lunch and color. The boy reluctantly returned to the class. It wasn't long after lunch before the boy was back over at the coat racks gathering his stuff to leave. The teacher once again went over and explained, "Honey, it's not time to leave yet. We're going to go outside and play and then come back and read a story". The boy, once again, rejoined the class. But as soon as the story was over, the boy was back trying to gather his stuff to leave. When the teacher explained that it wasn't quite time to leave yet, the boy threw up his hands and said, "Who signed me up for this anyway?"

After the orientation, the parents went to the various kindergarten rooms to find their kids. Adam was coloring and enjoying himself. We walked down the hall and found Ryan. The boys were excited to see each other at the "big school". Then we went on a school bus ride around the surrounding neighborhood. Adam had a good time and seems eager to start kindergarten.

Weekend Update

Derek's Self Portrait

Me reattaching the tire swing

Ground Support

Adam had an eventful week. I was pushing him on the tire swing when the rope busted. He took a good fall, but didn't hurt anything. It did scare him, though. He cried a little and then thought it was cool and couldn't wait to tell Mommy and Derek. Adam also went on a field trip with his preschool class to the "Yellow River Game Ranch". He was excited all week. However, the biggest thing that happened to Adam this past week is that Helen registered him for kindergarten! I don't think she cried, but I'm sure she will when we take him to orientation.

Helen went to the dentist for a routine cleaning and when the hygenist asked if her teeth were bothering her, she pointed out one tooth that didn't feel right. The dentist looked at it and said that her gum had receded quite a bit and that she needed to see a periodonist right away.

Helen saw the periodonist and they confirmed that she needed to have a skin graft otherwise she would be in danger of losing the tooth. She made and appointment for this Friday to have the procedure done. The periodonist also noticed that there were some grooves in one of her back teeth that may be from brushing too hard. We were happy that the problems were discovered, but irritated that these are problems that take a while to develop so that it seems that our dentist should have noticed them earlier. What if Helen had never pointed out the tooth that bothered her? She said she's going to ask the dentist about that.

On Friday, we did our bowling outing at work, but were in a rush to get back for a meeting so we didn't make our usual Wendy's run. I was really tasting that triple too. So much, in fact, that we went to Wendy's for dinner - much to Derek's delight. Derek usually finishes Adam's burger, but this time he also finished Helen's, which is usually reserved for me. Looks like there's going to be competition for Wendy's cleanup from now on. I don't think there's any doubt that he could finish a double combo.

On Friday night, Helen and I watched "Children Of Men", which I borrowed from a friend at work. It was not a "feel good" movie, but very well done.

On Saturday, the boy's baseball games were canceled because of the overnight rain. It was a welcome break. We had a relaxing morning and then went to Johnny's Pizza for lunch before grocery shopping.

In the evening my friend, Tony, who I used to work with came over for dinner. It's hard to stay in touch with old friends once you have kids, so it was good to see Tony. The kids roped him into a couple games of "Go Fish" and checkers. Helen made a Mexican dinner with quesedillas in honor of Cinco de Mayo and even made authentic flan for dessert.

Helen and I stayed up and watched "The Prestige" - another very good movie, just not the "chick flick" Helen's looking for. I told her she's going to have to pick the chick flick herself. For me, it's like the NFL Draft - I'm not looking to fill a specific position - I'm looking for the best athlete.

On Sunday, I went on a long run. Then Helen went on a long run and the boys went with her on their bikes to the middle school track. I drove up a little later with the baseball gear and pitched some batting practice to the boys.

Derek and I went to the hardware store to get some new rope for the tire swing and various other items. He likes to browse the aisles like I do - looking at all the neat stuff. Adam stayed home with Helen and had lunch and a long nap. Derek and I had lunch when we got home and then we read some "Harry Potter" and took a nap.

In the evening, the boys helped me reattach the tire swing after it broke earlier in the week with Adam on it. After dinner we made calls to the family to setup Mother's Day plans for next weekend. We can't believe it's already Mother's Day!