Field Trips and Normalcy

After years of guilt trips (spoiler alert Zane guilt really has no effect on me) I finally was able to go on a field trip with Zane. Let me be clear his previous field trips included trips to the zoo and pumpkin patches. All day, outside events where I would be in charge of multiple children. Crazy town, which I was not really too sad about missing. I was working on all these days I wasn't just not going on field trips. So imagine my excitement with the second grade spring field trip was scheduled for a day I was off work and it was a trip to the movies. Perfect!

Zane was so excited for our day together. He was going to get to sit with his two best buddies at the new fancy movie theater. Let me just say how proud I am of Zane's friend choices. Zane is admittedly friends with everyone, but the people that he hangs out with the most are the sweetest, kindest, smartest kids. At the first of the year he was very sad that his best friend from first grade had moved to a different school. They had bonded over their love of pirates and their lack of enjoyment in playing football and fortnight. The first few weeks of this year I could tell he was frustrated with not having a best buddy. As time went on he has found new best friends. A boy and a girl in his class who all like Harry Potter, who like to pretend to be fancy British gentlemen, who will go along with his pretend adventures on the playground instead of playing football or talking about video games. They are the smartest kids in their class, they talk about books, and are competitive, to a fault, about who can reach their AR goal first. Earlier in the year I brought Zane lunch and he invited his two friends to come eat with us. They were polite, funny, kind, and called me Mrs. Korenak. They are the sweetest little kiddos and I'm thrilled Zane has found such a great group of friends.

So I was in charge of these three musketeers, and as chaperone of the year, I bought boxes of candy for them all, even making sure sweet B had something that she wasn't allergic to (she's allergic to most things). Then we got cozy in our reclining chairs and enjoyed a movie. This is the absolute best case scenario field trip. He got to see all his other friends during bathroom breaks and when the movie was over. I checked him out of school for the day and my favorite part of the day was what followed, some one on one time with Zane that did not involve any type of doctor's appointment. I took him to eat his favorite lunch, white mac and cheese at Panera Bread, which he usually only gets to eat after doctor's appointments or procedures. He told me in great detail about his baseball game the night before, which I had missed since Rowan also had a game. He told me about the book he was reading and which book he wanted to read next.

Then we went to find him some new cleats and shoes for my ever growing boy. This was our first shoe buying trip where he is officially in men's shoes. He's eight and is wearing a size seven shoe. I wear a size nine so this seems insane. He also is wearing boys large shorts and his officially 100% too big. He, very sweetly, was concerned that he was going to be coming home with two new pairs of shows and his summer quota of shorts, and Rowan wasn't going to get anything. Since he's so kind I let him pick out a pair of shorts for Rowan was well. Zane was beyond excited to get to pick Thatcher up early so he would have time alone to play with him before Zane got home. Thatcher was thrilled to see him and they had a blast together.

As we were going through our calm, fun, afternoon together I stepped back and was grateful for the calmness and normalcy of it all. There was no drama, no fits, no stresses, no tough conversations or hard things to do (except a brief conversation about how wearing men sized shoes does not make you a man). He was polite, kind, gracious for all the things I bought him, and for me coming with him to the movie. He was excited to play with his baby brother and happy to go outside with him for hours instead of watching TV. He happily helped me do chores and preparing dinner.

Nothing about this seems note worthy I know, but it so is. A year ago at this time our life was in absolute shambles. Zane didn't have a day where he didn't have a full blown meltdown, about something, for months. There were always fights, always hard conversations to have, always pain, always stress, and our house was a ball of dread. All of that makes me beyond grateful and painfully aware of how amazing a calm, normal, regular day is. That has been a big silver lining from all of our hard journey last year, I am grateful for the normal. I'm grateful for schedules that are full, but only of baseball games, work, and school things. There is nothing on my calendar that I'm dreading. There is no huge dark cloud hanging over all of us. It's lovely and Tuesday was a normal, boring day, that seemed like a miracle compared to this time last year.

Thatcher's Dinosaur Party

I'm not sure how we hadn't had a dinosaur party yet at our house, but we finally corrected that error last weekend with Thatcher's second birthday party. T isn't hugely into dinosaurs, he isn't hugely into anything, but will play with the big box of plastic dinosaurs if given the chance and enjoys Dinosaur Train from time to time so it seemed like as good of a theme as anything. His party was postponed a week due to everyone in our family coming down with the stomach bug the weekend after his birthday. It all turned out great since last Saturday the weather was absolutely gorgeous, perfect for playing in the backyard with cousins.

How about the party hat I made for our biggest dinosaur? Zane picked him out for his second or third birthday as the present he wanted from Toys-R-Us (RIP Toys-R-Us). He's been with us through all the moves and has never really gotten put away because he's just so fun. We also had hoards of other dinosaurs lined up all on the counters/tables around the house for the entire week. Easter decorations are also up so it was sort of an Easter Dinosaur party. 

 Saturday afternoon I sent out a request for donut holes to the Aunts and Uncles. They are Thatcher's favorite and I had neglected to acquire any. His Aunts and Uncles delivered big time, both sets bringing dozens of donut holes and Aunt Abbey even brought real donuts as well. Thatcher would have stood in his tower and eaten this entire bowl of donut holes had I not taken it away from him. He has a real problem.

 Caught red handed.

 His brother's helped make the cake, which turned out to be one of my favorites. I bought new, smaller dinosaurs for the occasion, which came with the perfect sized trees as well. Also my secret to most cakes is chocolate rocks. They are adorable and I use them in the majority of my cake creations.

Finished product, it looks pretty similar to Rowan's first birthday Zoo cake.

Thatcher loves singing happy birthday to people and quite enjoyed having it sung to him as well. The big dinosaur joined in on the singing too.





 Thatcher blew out his candles like a champ!

 Kid's table fun!

Present time! Thatcher still isn't a huge fan of unwrapping presents, but his cousins were happy to help get his goodies out. The Richard's bought him his own scooter and the Blakley's got him more dinosaur things and tools for his play dough.

 Then we headed outside to play and somehow this little stinker convinced me he needed another donut after all those donut holes and his piece of cake. Look how proud of himself he is.

 The cousins played a pretty intense dodge ball game against the Uncles. The Uncles are all getting old aren't as quick as they once were. I also have decided I need to plant a tree for third base, there is always lots of confusion as to where third base is and arguments ensue. I'm thinking a red bed tree.

 Alice found her daddy running very entertaining.

 Baby Worth is getting so big and has the most wonderful, chubby cheeks. I got to snuggle and love on him and even put him to sleep. These two are the cutest things ever.

 Not sure what the final score of the dodge ball game was, but every one seemed to have a great time and went home full of cake/donuts. In amazing, ground breaking news no one got sick at this party. I feel like that never happens with my kids birthday parties so I'm taking it as a big win.

 Monday we woke up and had leftover donuts, courtesy of Aunt Abbey, then headed to his two year old well doctor's visit.

 He is every minute of two, immediately being scared of the nurse when she came to get us. Stranger danger is real for two year olds and she's the one who always gives him shots. He is, as you probably guessed, large. He weighs 34lbs and is some equally ridiculous height. When we measured him on our growth chart board at home he is right at how tall Rowan was at three years old. He's definitely my big model.Other than being large he is a healthy, happy, little guy and took his shot like a champ. He got a Spiderman Band-Aid which he talked to the rest of the afternoon. "Spiderman, what you doing?" So it was all worth it.



It's Baseball Time Again

It's that time of year again, time to spend our evenings at the ball field, or in the backyard playing catch. This year both boys were very excited to have the season start. They've been working the backyard, hitting, catching, and throwing for the past month or so and a two weeks ago the season finally started. This year, to make things more interesting and more difficult, the boys are playing at two different locations. Rowan is playing at the fields by the gym, that's five minutes from our house. Meanwhile Zane is playing all the way across town at the usual ball fields, a solid thirty minute drive in the evening. So on the nights when they both have games we have to split up and Zach and I each take one. Thankfully so far the two nights they have both had games Aunt Abbey and Uncle Brent have hung out with T so we could each actually watch the games.

 





This year we asked Rowan to put forth just a tiny bit of effort, at home when he's practicing with Zach, and at practice with his team. The past few seasons he's phoned it in. He was good and he had a blast, but it was obvious he wasn't working hard or trying to get better at all. If you're going to due something you should do it as best as you can. So far this season he has worked very hard. I'm so proud of him. He practices hard at home. He goes to his practice and his Zane's practice and works hard during both of those. He keeps up with the big boys like a champ. This little bit of effort has gone a long way and he's doing amazing. I've seen two of his games so far and during each one he got multiple outs, had great hits, and most importantly had so much fun. He's on a great little team where everyone gets a turn playing everywhere and they are finally old enough to start making some plays. They generally know where they should be throwing the ball, even if they don't always make a good throw, and rarely does anyone catch it. On Tuesday I was watching Zane play, but Rowan had a great game on the other side of town. He got four outs, including a double play to end/win the game. He caught a fly ball then ran and tagged a kid out. To say he was proud of himself would definitely be an understatement and I couldn't be prouder of him either.



Meanwhile across town I had the absolute pleasure of watching Zane play for the first time this year. T was at Abbey's so I could actually watch the game. Zane is doing really well playing third base this year. He made some great throws to first base, tagged a kid out on his way to third, and had three big hits. One hit was just a few feet away from a home run. His team this year is doing pretty well. In the Spring there are upper and lower divisions so we don't have to play the super good, crazy competitive teams. Playing teams that are at the same level as we are makes it much more fun. The kids are making plays, making good throws, getting outs, and everyone is hitting well.



Last season every game was brutal to watch. There were a lot of new kids who were still learning the game and struggled with the basics. They lost every game but one, I think. It's not fun when you are never winning. After the season we talked to Zane about switching teams. We offered all kinds of options to him. In the end he wanted to stay with the Lake Monsters. He wanted to stay with the friends he knew on his team. He liked his coaches and he wanted to stay with them. I kind of questioned this decision, but I respected his loyalty. So it was wonderful to watch him out there playing a close game, getting big hits, getting to slide into home, and making plays.

Zane does not have a lot of God given talent. He can't fall back on being little and quick. He's not a natural born athlete. However, he is beyond tenacious. He never quits. He works harder than any kid out there. He drags his dad out to the backyard every single day to hit balls for as long as Zach will throw them for him. He can be coached, he takes instruction, and works so hard to get better. I would not have blamed him at all if he wanted to quit after surgery. But he never even thought of that, he just kept at it, day after day. He took his failures and just kept going, letting them help him get better.

 



Beyond the game I was amazed to watch him, almost nine years old, fully independent. I never once had to help him with any of his gear. While lots of other parents were in the dugout unpacking their kids bags, making sure they remembered everything, reminding them to get their hats and gloves, I was sitting their beaming with pride. Zane was helping his teammates get ready. He was the first one the field, hustling to his spot. After the game he was the first one out of the dugout with all his things. He cheered for his team, and watching him surrounded by his teammates he seemed so mature. He's so grown up, and so happy. All he's been through has made him stronger, independent, able to take some failures and not let those get him down.

He had another game Wednesday night where the all the joy and magic weren't quite there. They started strong with some good hits and a three up three down defensive inning. Then the wheels started to fall off. They were playing a really good team, one of their players got a home run and all the balls were going to the outfield. Everyone on our team was tired from having played games two nights in a row. It wasn't pretty. However, Zane got two people out at third, had a great hit, then tried way to hard to get a home run after the other team got one. Back to the reality of little league still being a bit of a train wreck at times. However, he had a great time. I had a wonderful time watching him play and he's learning new things with every game. T came last night which is always fun and look at just how adorable he is. Thatcher is either going to love baseball and be amazing at it, or he's going to absolutely hate it after spending years at the ballpark. For now I enjoy having a cute little nugget to play peek-a-boo with during these rough games.



Happy Second Birthday Thatcher

Dear Thatcher,

Your birthday week kind of fell apart as everyone else in the family came down with the stomach bug you had brought home from school earlier in the week. By Friday, your birthday, you were feeling much better, but sadly dad was fully sick and missed most of the day. Your brothers got you up early so you could open your presents before they headed to school. You had been talking about getting presents all week and were very excited to finally get to see them.

You got the classic two year old gifts, a new lawn mower, a toddler t-ball set, a new puzzle, and fire station Mega Blocks. The shark and dinosaur wrapping paper was also very exciting to you.

 The only right way to start your birthday was with donuts. We even took your brothers before we had to drop them off at school. You ate a whole bag of donut holes and part of the Spidey donut you picked out for yourself. Donuts are your favorite thing and I was so happy you got to share some with your brother on your special day.

 

Your brothers were so sad that they weren't going to get to spend your birthday with you. You gave Rowan the sweetest hug before we left to take your brothers to school.

 

You and I had a great morning. We went shopping, then came home to play baseball and swing outside, two of your favorite things. Then you requested Mac and cheese, your favorite, for lunch.





 After naps you even let me cuddle you for a few minutes, an amazing gift for your mother. You picked out some new dinosaurs at the store which we played with most of day.

 Zane came home sick after lunch and by the evening it was becoming clear that both of your brothers were fading fast, which meant that your party, which was scheduled for the next day, was probably not going to happen. So we went ahead and let you open your presents from Grammie, Papa, and The Prance family since we weren't sure when we'd be able to celebrate with the rest of the family. You loved your fire truck from Grammie and played with it for the rest of the evening.

 

 After dinner we sang to you and you were the only on feeling well enough to eat cupcakes. It wasn't the greatest of celebrations, but we tried. In good news you had a great time and seemed to have a wonderful birthday despite the rest of your family not feeling great.

 

 

 So now, sweet boy, you are two years old. You think you're the biggest of boys, but you will always be my baby. You are so funny and light up everyday for our entire family. I can't imagine this life without. We love you so much little man. I wish I could freeze time in this moment, in this stage. I'll try to soak up every minute instead. Here is to another amazing year with you.

Happy Birthday!
Love
Mamma