Soccer season stinks

My kids love it, though. I need to try harder to like it, but I just can't. Three different teams, fields and coaches. So many different practice times, and almost weekly I, as their chauffeur, need to be two places at once. Throw in a baby who screams every single time she is buckled into her car seat and you have yet another reason soccer season stinks. You would think that number six would be chill and like the car, since she's doomed to be in it half of her life, but no, nothing but screaming. It's fantastic. Then there are the games every Saturday until June -- three different ones in the heat of North Carolina.... Good times! But, season after season, I am there cheering on my kiddos, perched in my chair, cowering under my golf umbrella to keep out of the sun. Here's to yet another hectic season... Yay!

Today...

It's tourney time, so P and I have filled out our brackets and are chilling on the couch taking in the action. I love the madness!!

March is amazing

here in NC. I love it. I know that once March hits, our winter days are over. I just checked the forecast and for the next 10 days, there will be no temperature below 71 degrees. Bliss! Of course the heat is coming, but I can take the heat, it's the cold I don't like. After all, if you can't stand the heat, get out of the South!

Beach trip

Some photos from Chris and the "middle kids" beach trip.

Sleep

I have been amazed lately by how much I can accomplish on very little sleep. It has been far too long since I have had more than a couple hours of sleep at a time. In the mornings I feel like I was hit by a train, but get me a shower and I'm much better. This is amazing to me! Maybe it's because I know I will, in fact, sleep all night at some point in the future. Maybe despite my old age I am becoming used to sleep-deprivation. I don't know, but I do know that one doesn't die from lack of sleep-- Despite how badly it feels! Just keep going! (and hope there is a nap in your future!)

A springtime miracle!

After much huffing and puffing, packing and hacking (George has a bit of a cough), they are off. My lovely hubby and our four middle kids, leaving me home today with just our little one. (the high schooler arrives home at 3) This could be considered a miracle in its own right, however yet another amazing event occurred. I decided to remedy my nasty naked toes and get a pedicure and take baby P with me in the hopes she would sleep in her car seat. And the miracle is: she did just that! Ok, I know that other peoples babies do that all the time -- what's so miraculous about that, you ask? It is simply this: our babies don't sleep in their car seats, they scream. So we have learned to leave that silly seat in the car and carry the little screamer sans seat. It is usually much quieter. So not only did our little screamer sleep blissfully through my heavenly pedicure, she slept on while I ran another errand and got the car washed. It was almost two hours she slept in the car seat.... MIRACULOUS! And boy am I grateful! I even took a photo to prove it:

The ins and outs of school

Here in our neck of the woods my kids are on year-round school. At least some of them are, which is a problem. My 9th grader is now on a traditional calendar now that she is in High School. This means that only three of our four school-aged children are out of school for their Spring track out. So, this means we take half-family outings and trips, and they are strange. For instance, tomorrow, my amazing husband (who has an equally amazing job that gives him flexibility) will take Daisy, Henry, and George, along with our preschooler, Ollie to the beach for a couple of days. Cool for them, not so much for Sadie and I (and Phoebe, our tiny one), who get left behind. So, I have used Wake County's new "school choice" program this year to request that all my children be put in schools with a traditional calendar. Now all we can do is wait and hope we get what we ask for. So, here's to hoping that half-family vacations are a thing of the past. I'm skeptical but hopeful that this time next year we will be looking forward to Spring break and planning our long summer break like most of the country does. A Mom can hope, right?