Spring!

Aaron

I spend my days praying for rain so that the baseball/soccer/lacrosse games that I paid for my children to participate in will be canceled.Alex

Josh

But then they are all home and it is raining and we are all in the house together with several friends, not my friends mind you, and I really wish the weather was better so that they could go outside and play baseball/soccer/lacrosse.Jonathan

I love spring. I really do.Joe and Dad.

A distant memory...

Having an evening free is a distant and very pleasant memory. Remember those winter days where everythings was completed early enough that I could relax in a hot tub with bubbles and a good book? Yeah, I can't remember that either.

These days at 4:00 sharp, life becomes a scene of barely controlled chaos. The door opens, backpacks flying, homework and school papers are spread all over my clean floor, my clean counters and my straightened couches. Piano songs are practiced quickly and suprisingly without tears these days. The kids take turns reading to me or I quiz them on spelling words while they fix themselves a light snack which basically adds a 4th meal to their day. Seriously. Sandwiches, apples, carrots, grapes, fruit snacks, pretzels, crackers, cheese sticks... the walk home must make them ravenous.

While these things are going on around me I am busily figuring out who goes where and how I will fit it all in. I am starting to wonder how much longer until Dave gets home because I realize 1 driver can not possibly do this evening.

Sometimes, believe it or not, I will actually look at the color coded calendar in advance and realize that 2 drivers are not enough to take 5 kids plus the 3 in the La Crosse car pool to 4 different locations at exactly the same time! Call for reinforcements. "MOM!!! I need you! And your vehicle. Both of your vehicles actually."

Ok, Mom here is the plan. I will take #5 to #1's track meet. #5 just got up from his nap so he will be happy for a while!

Josh is the short guy in the red. Here not in front. Here in front. Go Josh!

Than I need you to wait for #2,#3, and #4 to get home from school and then immediately take #2 to gymnastics while #3 and #4 start their homework. when you get back take #4 to his soccer game. Dave will go there to watch. Go Yellow Rockets! Then take #3 to his baseball game. YAY Nationals! (never heard of them by the way!)This picture was taken right after he hit his first ever Grand Slam! I missed it.

After #4's soccer game I will have Dave pick up #2 after gymnastics and take #4 to his baseball game. Go Red Sox! You will then take #3 to his soccer game. Run Gold Eagles! (one of these pictures was snapped as he kicked a goal but I don't know which one)I will keep number #5 who by this point can't stand to watch any more games! I will take #1 to La Crosse practice and then Dave can pick him up after #4's soccer game. After #3's game you can take him to the church and I will pick up #2 from Dave where he has been very helpful in entertaining #5 and we will meet you there for #2's Arrow of Light Ceremony and #3's pack meeting. Congrats Aaron on getting your Arrow of Light! Lighting your kerchief on fire was awesome! Do I have #5 or do you? oh I have #5! Eventually we will all meet up at the house and finish homework and practicing and get a bit of peace before bed. Wait. What? The boys want dinner?

Good grief.

Dinner.

Sigh.

News from Team Rollins!

Hey all! I have been seriously lacking in my blogging duties according to my non-blogger sister, Tricia. She won't ever write one but that doesn't give me the right to not write for a few days! I have missed writing however. Thus you are reading this! Here are some of our going on's and random thoughts.....School started. Or hadn't you heard?

I went with Josh to his first morning of Jr. High. No, I'm not one of those crazy moms but the school is under construction and they wouldn't let anyone in before the first day to find classes or open lockers so most of the 7th graders had someone there helping out. We did go an hour early so nobody would see him with his mommy. It didn't work since all the 7th graders had the same idea! I am happy to announce that we got the locker open. And yes, I did have nightmares about it the night before thank you very much!

Alex started Kindergarten.

I thought he would be a bit more nervous but he was thrilled to be going to school with all the big boys! The first day they have a treasure hunt to find all the different parts of the school. Thanks to so many days working with Mom on PTA stuff he finished that faster than any other child. See! There are benefits flowing left and right for sacrificing a year to PTA! He is going to have a great year especially if the teacher likes NY accents. I'm workin' he'e!

From 6 to 2.

The boys have really missed their cousins. It must have been nice to have a large group of friends/cousins/pals to hang with. They always had someone who was willing to walk with them and laugh with or stick up for them. We all missed those darn kids. I have missed the daily morning phone calls from my mom but I have totally not missed seeing Tricia every day. My kids are the only ones who need someone to talk with , laugh with or stick up for them. Darn those kids. Sniff, sniff. Stupid allergies. Football! Soccer! Basketball! I think that is it besides scouts, YM, piano and viola. Retired president takes on volunteer coordinator, room rep tea and monthly newsletter. I should have just been president again. Sigh.

My Joe! This only one at home punk is such a joy! My mom came to one of Jonathan's soccer games and Joe came running up to give her a hug and after hugging her he looks up at her and says "Grandma, haircut?" OK a couple of things.

1. I was so glad I had already noticed and told her it looked good so I wasn't shown up by my baby. and 2. What 2 year-old notices things like that and comments on it? He has this weird thing with the "fuzzies" (yarn ties) on his blanket. He loves them. He rubs them under his nose when he gets tired. If they fall off the blanket, he stores them in his ear. It is just one of those things that he does. I went to the Stake Enrichment Night where the subject was Avoiding Emotional Burnout. Didn't apply to me but I enjoyed hearing about other peoples busy lives. A few things that the therapist/lecturer mentioned that I liked...

• Our culture must be the only one where not only do we feel guilty for the things we do but the things we don't do!
• Do one thing in your life that brought you joy when you were a little kid.
• Make a Things I accomplished today list at the end of the day instead of just a to do list every day.
• If you have a hard time saying "No" say instead "Let me get back to you" then get up the courage to say no and get back with them.
• We had a fun night with some of our EAT friends. The Hallman's hosted and after dinner we went back to their house for peaches and ice-cream. Dave and I stayed way, way too late and it reminded me of my college days hanging out until all hours of the night after Home Improvement! Thanks Joe and Anita!

My June Life So Far

What a great month!

This month has been packed with busy, chuck full of swamped, yes, a plethora of time consuming hecticity. (yes, I made that word up. but I like it.) Therefore, to save time we will go straight for the Cliff Notes version.

This exciting month starts out with a continuation of the last 2 months.

Baseball. Double, Triples, Outs, Strike Outs, Aaron hit by pitches 3 times while at bat (talk about flinch factor), Josh hit once while running bases (what are the odds), Jonathan and Conner on a beautiful pitcher to 1st base out and then the darling point-at-your-cousin move right after! Loved that.

Next we move smoothly into a delightful evening of hangin out with the gals (difficult for our heroine who has only boys in her house). These are the gals of Chi Theta Chi (XOX). In review Chi Theta Chi is an LDS sorority at the University of Utah. These fine girls were once officers together and in the 18 years since then have gotten together on a very regular to semi regular to not near enough basis! The evening was wonderful and it was so good to see all of them again. Look at all that 80's hair!

The story moves rapidly into the next chapter which was once again highlighted by a hangin with the gals evening. This time the gaggle of girls were some of the gals from the ward who used to serve in the YW together! Together we single handedly solved all the ward problems in one evening!

Wouldn't it be fun to create your own ward? Shannon Hale could be the YW President. Steve Young could do YM's. Mitt Romney for Stake President! What other suggestions can you think of? Hhhm..

Back to our story.

Not stopping for a moment after the gals nights the weekend had a few fun and amazing events. My Baby, Monkey #1 turned 12! Happy day! He was also ordained as a Deacon by his father, my amazing husband! What a blessing to have in our home 2 priesthood holders! Josh is a spiritual boy who recognizes the Spirit. He is happiest when he is doing anything sports related. He is super fast and really excited about being active. He enjoys reading and school but only after exhausting his body first! He is curious, scatter-brained and an amazing problem solver. He is also a big ham.

A few more baseball games. yada yada yada...

My Baby, Monkey #2 turned 10. Amazing. Aaron is my boy with the sensitive heart. He is amazing with kids and they love to be with him. He is wicked fast and wicked smart. He likes to be with people and make them laugh. He tries hard to make good decisions and he knows what to do when he makes mistakes.

Tonight we talked about the day he was born. He was especially fascinated by the other names we were thinking about naming him. Alex, Andrew, Logan, Adam. I was going to be Laura or Brad if I happened to be a boy. Dad came up with Kelli out of the blue. Weird. Were you going to be named anything else?

Well that wraps up June so far! Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion where... I may get some laundry done, but don't count on it.

Take me out of the ballgame!

I am a strange person. I pay good money for my boys to play baseball and then I find myself praying that a game will be cancelled for some reason or another. I might as well call it a donation! It is just that with 2 games and 2-3 practices per week per boy I feel as if I live at the ball park. It would be nice if it was just one ballpark but the different leagues play at different parks so Aaron may be at West Bountiful, Josh at Centerville and Jonathan at Mills Park! Then I am supposed to get homework done and feed those little boys EVERYDAY! (Can you believe they expect to eat everyday?) So does anyone have great ideas for meals that take under 15 minutes from start to finish?

Tricia's son, Conner, is on Jonathan's team which is fun for us all! I enjoy chatting with Tricia (as if seeing her almost everyday isn't enough). We were laughing during a game recently about how we are both that type of Mom that gets into the games and takes it quite serious. We blame both Mom and Dad for that one.

A little bit of knowledge sometimes makes it hard to be patient. We never played baseball but all the boys did and Dad coached them all so we know what the boys should be doing. They should have their eye on the batter and be thinking about where they will throw the ball if it comes to them. It is a thinking game. Who should I be backing up? I have 3 balls and no strikes so what should I be expecting. The boys should be down in position and focused on the batter so sometimes we are slightly annoyed by the boy who is dancing with his mitt on his head at third base or the other boy who is in the outfield sitting down filling his hat with grass! It makes me laugh but my boys better not be doing it!

Then there was Mom, the fan. She has all these little sayings that we find ourselves saying over and over. "See ball, Hit ball! "Keep your eye on the ball" "Good eye" and so forth.

Dave was teasing Tricia about how last year she was so annoyed because there were a few boys on Jacob's team that refused to swing at the ball, EVER! The parents would cheer them on by saying "good eye" when they wouldn't swing! Tricia was dying because it had nothing to do with a "Good Eye" if they wanted to be truthful the parents should have been saying " Way to just stand there!" or "Nice no effort".

Josh was one of those a few years ago. It was his first at bat in his first year in the kid pitch league and he got pegged right in the arm. He was not only scared to swing at the ball but he was scared to stay in the box! We finally had to pay him to swing! It worked though! He started getting some hits and thereby some confidence! Lucky for us Tricia's son wasn't on the team that year so he didn't have to be reprimanded by his Aunt!

Catch ya at the ballpark! Go Yankees, Orioles and Cardinals!

What a week!

This was one of those weeks when you are so very amazed that you survived!

1. Dad is home! We had a rough week at the hospital. On Tuesday Dad's oxygen levels were not improving and he was becoming more and more despondent and depressed. We were very worried about him! On Wednesday morning they did some more tests and we got the horrible news that he has multiple blood clots in his legs and multiple blood clots in his lungs. We were appalled and terrified. No wonder he can't get enough oxygen. There is nothing more that they could do to break up the clots other than keep giving him the medicine that he was already taking. We decided that we (meaning Mom) could give him the medicines he needed at home so we finally brought him home on Thursday afternoon. He is so much happier and so are we. Hospitals are not fun places. He has been able to see his kids, some grandkids and the dogs (Hope and Walter). He has seen neighbors and friends and been able to visit with some of his brothers. We don't know what the future holds but at least he is home and happy!

2. 13 years! Dave and I have been married 13 years on the 16th! Where has the time gone? I had no idea at the time what a great husband and father Dave would become! I couldn't do this life without him!

1. He always helps out (in fact this week he did it all with no help from me!) with laundry, cooking, shopping, and cleaning.
2. He wrestles with the boys so I don't have to!
3. He makes me laugh sometimes even against my will.
4. He would do anything to make me happy.
5. He is a great provider and a hard worker.
6. He is still a good kisser. Much to the distress of the boys.
7. He enjoys serving others. He tries hard to choose the right. (He did choose me after all)
8. He has a great smile and it always makes me happy when I can get him to smile!
9. He is always willing to say he is sorry. He is also very quick to forgive.
10. He is my best friend. The person I want to talk to first. The person who I want to remember the joke for. The person who will have empathy even when he doesn't understand what I am talking about. The person who would never laugh at me unless he was supposed to be laughing. The person who would sacrifice almost everything for me. I am so lucky!

3. Sports for kids! I know there are many arguments pro and con for putting kids in sports but I must admit that I am a fan. They learn about winning and losing and being a good sport regardless. They learn about practicing, working hard, listening to a coach and ignoring the crowd. They learn about having good days and bad days, about playing for the good of the team and if that is not enough they come home tired and ready to sleep! So here we are ending basket ball and starting baseball and soccer. What fun!