At the end of February, Sam had his little league draft. They are legit here in Munster. He had to go field some balls and hit some balls and then the coaches all watch and draft teams and apparently it takes them a month to do so. Sam was pretty nervous, he confessed to me after, but he did a nice job. He caught 5 of 6 balls and hit all three pitches. So, I think he is proud. He got drafted to The Red Sox and I believe practices will start in April. Henry didn't have a draft, but he will be on a team and will have practices starting in April as well.
At the beginning of March, we took a road trip to Louisville to surprise Aunt Rachel for her birthday. She had no idea we were coming, and it was a great time. We went out to eat, visited at her house a bit and also hit up the science center which was a lot of fun for the kiddos.
The whole family battled with illness over the past couple weeks. We've had colds, coughs and stomach viruses being passed from person to person which is getting old. I think we are at the tail end of it, but as usual, I caught it and it is lingering with me worst of all. The cough is sort of mind-boggling and I will be so so so so thankful when it is gone.
The kids had spring break this week. The day before spring break started, we got the kids report cards and they worked so hard and did so well that we wanted to surprise them, so on Friday afternoon, Craig and I got a sitter for Gus, picked the older boys up from school and treated them to the Spongebob movie. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were quieter days where the kids played a lot at home, lots of marathon Harry Potter readings going on, and my dad babysat quite a bit because I had two monster tests at school and a huge project due. (I made a video on YouTube about childhood depression for one of my classes. Here's a link if you wanna see it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z62DWQ57ww8)
The kids stayed at my parents house on Wednesday night and through Thursday so that I could join Craig at a work function -- they got the silver award for Baldridge on Thursday night and I was so proud to be there to see it and cheer Craig on for all his hard work. Today, I decided to treat the kids to one last fun Spring Break activity since I've been sort of MIA most of the week and Craig has also been gone day and night -- for work and for the show he's performing in. So we ended up going to Jak's Warehouse which is one of their most favorite places in the universe. It was a good time and we finished out strong tonight with a long HP session.
Tomorrow, Craig is taking the older boys to breakfast before going to his rehearsal. He hasn't seen them since Tuesday, so they are sort of vibrating with anticipation of alone time with their dad. And we'll also be getting them such much needed hair cuts. And then next weekend, we have a much anticipated trip from Nina and Papa Cliff.
Some things that have been going on with Sam: We're really proud of how well he did in school this semester. His grades have always been strong, but he worked really hard on some of his bad habits - like disorganization or trouble with listening and he really made HUGE improvements. And it was really cool to see it pay off for him in such a major way. He was clearly really proud of himself. He continues to be mainly basketball focused with hints of other interests here and there. He is a big reader. We went to the library two days ago, and I think he's already finished all four books that we got for him. More challenging topics are jumping up for him lately. He's asked some pretty specific questions about where babies come from and some harder, more existential questions about God, Jesus and heaven. So, it's been an interesting time with him.
Henry had his final performance for his acting class. I got a bit of it on film, but then ran out of space on my phone before it got really good. It's down below if you want to watch what I was able to capture. He did such a good job. He was off book and even prompting his scene partner with his lines. He was funny and loud enough and seemed pretty comfortable. And then we all played zip zap zowee with them and he thought that was the best thing that ever happened. He clearly had every parent in the room charmed by the end of the evening which is par for the course. Henry also had a really good semester at school. He has not caught the reading bug the way Sam has yet but I think it's because it's not coming as easily to him. So we try to read to him a lot and let him take his time. The last thing I want is for reading to seem like a chore to him. He is getting extremely excited about his upcoming trip to Disney World with his Grandma Jane and PawPaw. In fact, today, he actually packed an entire suitcase unbeknownst to me. It was like 95% toys. And the rest was nearly every blanket in our house. Oh, and a turtle nightlight. Henry is turning into quite a little artist and is always drawing really interesting pictures on just about any piece of paper he can get his hands on.
Gus is developing quite a little personality. He loves to say no. It is one of his favorite words and he says it and then just laughs at the dismay on all of our faces. He loves reading books and going outside. He has a lot of fun playing with his brothers, though he and Henry can go head to head a bit. He is talking a LOT more, which is great news. He'll sing Happy Birthday all day long if you ask him to and often sings along to songs in the car too. He is Mr. Destructo and can tear a room apart quicker than you can clean it up.
Craig and I are pretty exhausted most of the time. Between his work and shows, my school and studying, the kids school, extracurriculars, and home life in general, we feel sort of heroic at the end of each day. But I look back at the conversations and little moments that we get to share together and feel overwhelmed by our life of hectic blessings.
Much love to you all
Gen
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