Mom Knows the Score

I have no idea what happened to the New Year's resolution of making a weekly entry in my blog, but let's just start where we're at, shall we?
My kids are the greatest. I remember an "A-ha!" moment many years ago. I traveled with little Lyle, Diana and Bryan to visit my mom in Hawaii and went to the beach with my friend Patricia Eddington. She had no kids at that time. She watched me playing and interacting with them for a while and said, "Motherhood agrees with you." Yep. I think even if I'd had no children of my own, I would still love children, which is why I adore my job at Tricks gymnastics teaching the parent toddler classes. I had a great Mother's Day. Marv prepared both a big breakfast and a big dinner. He and Peter purchased wonderful flowers. Emmy made beautiful art for me. Diana knit a groovy scarf and found the cutest video tribute. Bryan and Lyle called for phone visits. Lyle was frustrated because his card wasn't on time--I said--DON'T WORRY! My son the dental student! And performing artist! (Please see their blog for the video!) I couldn't be prouder! Bryan was frustrated because he thought he was going in on flowers for me with Kevin, but then Kevin ended up going in on earrings with Jackie and forgot about the flowers! I told him a phone call is enough! He has a job and is graduating from UCLA! Look at the son I raised! I must have done something right! Kevin kept trying to call, but every time we connected someone else called in, or we had just sat down to dinner or to watch a show! He was a good sport as always and we finally got to visit before bedtime. (By the way, the Blue Fairy earrings were fabulous!) For those here at the family dinner, I did a "Hobbit" Mother's Day and had a gift for everyone. It started because I wanted to get the new Rick Riordan book in the Percy Jackson series for Peter, but I ended up with craft supplies for Diana, a book and sewing machine (!) for Emily, a hands free device for Marv's car, and a cool Star Wars card set for Mac. A fabulous Mother's Day was had by all.
Speaking of celebrations, we made Bryan's birthday memorable (5/5) by making his favorite dessert, a pizzookie, even though he wasn't home to share it with us.
As you know, it's baseball season. Since I have never really understood all the excitement (yawn) of baseball, I decided to learn to keep the scorebook at Peter's games. I even bought my own book so I can practice when I'm not needed as the official scorekeeper. It's actually quite complex and I still make mistakes, but I'm getting much more reliable. The by-products of this new skill are my brain is staying awake and I'm appreciating the games more.
Marv is still coaching basketball and the boys have a fun, though inconsistent, team.
Peter missed three days of school with a terrible case of poison oak April 29-May 1. I think he may have picked it up when Lucy got out of the yard one morning. Peter was the one who got her back. (She may have had it on her fur.) Diana has a photo on her blog. Thankfully, he was better in time to have a wonderful time with his entire sixth grade class at Shady Creek Camp last week. One of this favorite things there was playing Ultimate Frisbee and the 6 foot 7 inch twin Naturalist Counselors they called Sasquatch and Yeti . He was in a cabin with a great group of friends, including Blake and Brandon White. It was his very first time away from home for more than one night without mom or dad.
Emily's swim season began officially with time trials on Saturday. After attending any swim meet, I always feel I have survived a marathon. She was spectacular in the IM, her first time to swim this event. She had personal bests in all other strokes except her freestyle which we'll need to work on. She continues her weekly gymnastics. She has taken up sewing, having completed two projects, a pillowcase and tote bag. The tote bag was hard work, but the results made it worth while. She and I traveled to San Diego for a movie audition in April, which was a good experience. It looks as though we've found housing with Kevin, so we plan to go temporarily to LA for the summer.