Any Day at the Waterpark is a Good Day!

My Dad and I took all the kids up to the Saint Mary's Aquatic Center for some much needed energy exertion. After 8 days of straight rain, not sure why we decided on more water but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The kids had a blast, the park was not crowded and we all got a bit of sun. Tristan last year was not tall enough for the waterslide, so he made up for lost time and rode it maybe a half million times. Savannah was all of a sudden afraid of the bucket that spills water on the big playground, and Jack made friends with another little boy and they played nonstop in the lazy river. On the way home we stopped for ice cream because I was craving a soft serve. Fortunately, we found a Dairy Queen so I wouldn't have to be grumpy. There is nothing worse than a grumpy Mom after the waterpark! :)

Feeling Moldy

It has rained here for 4 straight days, the pond is over the willows, almost to the fence, roads are flooded and closed, creeks are overflowing and my toes are getting moldy. It has rained well over 18 inches in Jacksonville, with some of the surrounding areas getting more than 29 inches of rain. We are in a several hour dry spell at the moment which is bliss, the street actually looks dry but the ground is full of squishy. Life here has been normal, as normal as Yerger fashion is for this family. Savannah has a horrible busted up lip from falling on her bedpost. Jack has a black eye from going to Pump It Up to play yesterday (had to try and get out some of our wiggles), and Tristan is doing well save for his 8 year old attitude getting him into trouble. We went to the boys art fair this evening and bought some of their Picasso pieces they have been working on. My Dad bought Tristan's and I bought Jack's. We will get more as the school year wraps up and I will send those out to all you other grandparents out there so don't worry. We are hopeful that we will see the sun again soon, I mean after all we don't live in Seattle or Portland, we live in the sunshine capital. I can only hope our house doesn't decide to float away in the middle of the night or we are in trouble.

Another Big Hit By Bug

Well now everyone can see Bug hit a great pitch. Unfortunately, you can also see Bug get yelled at by the first base coach because he stopped at first base when he had been told to run through to second. I think he was too excited to go any further. At any rate it was an awesome hit and I am counting down the games we have left. I am ready for a break, that is always how it goes. We are so excited for a sports season to begin to dread the nightly games as the season goes on and on and on. Mother's Day was fun, I got flowers, cards, bookmarks, handprints from Savannah, and what was left of the peppermints that Jack brought home. I think he ate most of them. We started our day off at church and finished up with a play, The Magic Treehouse Musical downtown. Tristan loved it and tried to keep telling us that this part and that part were all in his book, blah, blah, blah. And Jack kept folding himself up in his seat. And Savannah decided to eat every snack in the backpack. And I decided I needed a glass of wine at intermission. Everyone did well and we decided that the dragons and the Dancing Curse were our favorite parts. And then we came home and the kids had the nerve to ask what was for dinner. I think we had cereal, but I can't even remember, guess it wasn't too impressive! And our last news was that yesterday Tristan's second grade teacher passed away. She was sick but this was unexpected and Tristan ended up calling me in tears wanting to come home. And of course I had picked up a shift and had to tell him no. Fortunately a friend of his was able to take him home for a while. He needed to vent about it and have some extra hugs and we had big prayers last night, but he was ready for school today. That is a traumatic thing to happen to 8 year olds, fortunately, kids are highly resilient and they can process, deal with and move on without too much chaos.

A Mom Has To Brag

Well I have to say that this was the best game that our little Orioles have played and it was actually the kind of game that you really enjoy watching. Tristan was second up to bat and hit a ball into the outfield that made it to the fence. He got a triple off of it and scored a run. I was jumping up and down screaming, total hysteria. I think Steve Martin said it best in the movie Parenthood......isn't it weird how a grown man's happiness can be tied to something as simple as his kids baseball game....or something to that extent. I completely understand. I have felt poor Bug's frustration with not getting a hit yet. He has hit the ball but they have all gone to the pitcher or first baseman and he has been thrown out. He has made it to base many times on walks and usually makes it around to home, but this was his first legit hit, and a magnificent hit it was. He walked the next time up to bat and made it around to score again. And then the final touch on his day of glory. A line drive was hit between first and second bases (he plays second) and he ran, knocked it down, twirled around, picked the ball up and threw the kid out at first. It was one of the most amazing plays I have seen and coming from an 8 year old, even more amazing. They ended up winning the game, coming from behind to beat the number one team in the league. I was ecstatic.....that's my kid I kept shouting! But the whole team did well, kids hit the ball who haven't been hitting, there were catches from kids who couldn't catch a ball to save their life, it is finally coming together as we are beginning to count down the games left in the season. And of course as proud as I was of my little Cal Ripken I did have to turn and look at the other two who were covered in watermelon, popsicle, cheese fries and dirt. And again am reminded of the movie Parenthood, we are on the roller coaster because the Merry Go Round is boring, it just goes around, if we didn't have the downs we wouldn't be excited for the ups!

Where Did the Last Two Weeks Go?

It's seems that I have blinked and now it's May. It shouldn't be surprising really that time has passed so quickly, I mean I do have 3 kids, two dogs, a fish tank, a house, a new job, two kids on baseball teams which consumes about 5 days a week, cooking, cleaning, laundry (dear me, the laundry) and trying to take a deep breath and not forget anything important, like writing interesting and informative emails to my husband who is out chasing drug bandits. And on top of all of that my father in law was here to help out. And help out he did. He carted those kids back and forth to school, to haircuts, numerous trips to Walmart and Target (their favorite stores to go too with a grandparent because there are toys), and helping out with the baseball games. By the middle of the second week here he was exhausted. I told him that he would go and take a two day nap when it was all over and he was home. Every parent does this, gets the kids up and out, is a homeroon parent or team mom or dad, carts their kids around to sporting events, and the list goes on and on, but I think that they forget as they become grandparents and have been out of the cycle for a bit. Well poor Cappie, he got a taste of it firsthand. We'll be lucky if we see him again. :) Just kidding, they are taking the boys for a couple weeks this summer. Other than that we are working hard on potty training, Savannah actually had her first success in the potty the other day and I am dreaming of days without diapers. On a totally separate issue my job is going great. And to make it even better they found me a day shift position from 7-3 working with a 4 year old boy in his house. And it's only three days a week. Just enough to get the hang of it all and still be Mom, life is great!!!! So until the next drama in my house (which should be in about 5 minutes), like Savannah climbing a cabinet, getting the paint blotters down and painting my upstairs carpet green and orange-no it doesn't really match my decor- or Jack running around in a Batman mask and princess dress, or the dogs throwing up God knows what downstairs, well maybe after all of that I will go and drink a mimosa. Cheers!

Bug's First Pitching Experience

Well let's just say that they didn't light off the fireworks after the game! Bug did great though for his very first pitching experience. He walked a number of kids and some got hits but he never wavered and always looked confident. The first kid that hit off Tristan, he was able to field it and throw him out at first base. I was so proud! The other team did score 5 runs though which is the limit although not attributable to Bug, the kids in the infield couldn't throw or field a ball to save their lives last night. He was up first and got a hit but was thrown out at first, but it was a hit and a confidence booster. From there though the night pretty much went downhill quickly and left up parents wondering why they don't serve hard liquor at the snack shack. I think we lost 18-4, it was one of those nights where nothing goes the way you want, not a hit, a throw, a catch, a rundown to first where Bug lost a ball out of his mitt and the runner ended up scoring.....it was not our night to play baseball. Fortunately, tomorrow there is another game. Losing is something new to bug and he is handling it rather well, he gets upset but we talk about it and he sees he is improving this year and they are clearly playing some teams who have been together for a year or so. Last night he admitted to me that pitching is harder than it looks, but he is all ready to try it again! Go Bug!

Ahhhh, Wouldn't You Know It, Life is Just Not Always Easy.

For those of you who don't follow facebook at all I have been enjoying some quality time in the Emergency Room as of late. Yes I know, usually once Jaesen leaves the washing machine breaks, a kid breaks an arm or needs stitches, dogs throw up on the carpet. This time it is me. I developed this rash on my lower legs last Thursday and thought to myself, "What a dork, can't I shave without giving myself razor burn?" As the day wore on the rash got more intense and started creeping up to my knees, by the time I went to bed at 10 my ankles hurt so bad I couldn't rotate them and the rash was mid thigh. By morning my knees ached along with my elbows and hands. Of course it was Good Friday and all the kids were home so I had to find someone last minute to watch the kids while I trekked to the ER. Thank goodness for our German neighbors down the street who took on my 3, plus their 2 for 6 hours. I was diagnosed with vasculitis, which is an inflammation of the blood vessels. I was given steroids and told to come back the next day because my blood work was quirky. By this time it was moving to my lower back and was painful as the capillaries started exploding leaving mass quantities of blood under the skin, fortunately it was not itchy!!!! I got a sitter the next day and headed back to the ER where my blood work was still not great and they wanted to admit me for IV steroids. Well let's see, I thought, husband just left on Monday, 3 kids at home, no family in the area, nope guess I can't do that, give me the oral steroids. They have been helping, no pain, the rash is starting to subside, my joints are not painful anymore and I had another blood draw yesterday that shows my levels finally coming back towards normal. So there will be several more follow on visits for me, to make sure the blood tests return to normal and to figure out why I got this. It is an immune system disorder so can be quite serious, causing kidney failure, aneurysms, hopefully I just had the dermatological type and I just get to look like a leper. I'd rather look like a leper than have kidney, heart or brain issues though, so bring on leperdom!! I have to say that it is much harder to deal with the cruise emergencies when it is you, I am much better at dealing with the kids, dogs and appliances, I have to many other things to take care of for me to be sick. My little secret though is I have nothing to do this week other than take naps, scrapbook and prepare for my new job, so relaxation is on my plate.