April 2016 Recap

April seemed like three long months rolled into one, though I'm not sure why.  Maybe we just had so many different things going on that it feel like they should've been more spread out.  We started it off with Spring Break at Great Wolf Lodge.  It was a great vacation and just what we needed before the insanity that is May arrives.

To try and save time, I'm doing bullet-point highlights.  For your reading pleasure, I have grouped some like items together and included headings.  You are so welcome:

Kids' School:

• Audrey and one of Luke's teachers both have summer birthdays.  With all my years of experience (all three of them) as room mom, I knew I didn't want to celebrate in May.  It's too crazy and it robs them of getting separate end of year and birthday gifts.  Being a December baby, I'm admittedly a little sensitive to this.  However, what a few more years' experience would've taught me is that all it does is push May's craziness into April.  What I should have done is figure out when their half-birthdays were and celebrated then (though I think that may have equated to December for at least one, which is worse.  And in January people are broke, February is Valentine's Day, and March is Teacher Appreciation, so who knows.  Hopefully next year they'll fall in September or October!)  ANYWAY, we celebrated two teachers' birthdays this month.  We didn't go too crazy, but it does take a whole lot of nagging reminders and some coordination.  

• We "celebrated" Audrey's birthday this month at school as well.  This consisted of bringing in popsicles for her classmates.  Done and done.  

• Both kids' schools put on a brunch/lunch for their volunteers, which was really nice.  Though I had to fast at one because of an insurance health screening appointment I had afterwards, I still had a good time getting to visit and meet some new people.  I also got some neat school swag.  (I know...DORK.  I think I'm still too new of a school mom to be over that stuff yet.)  

• I subbed in Luke's class for a couple of hours while his lead teacher held parent-teacher conferences.  It served as a great reminder that I am totally not cut out for that.  By the end of my morning, we were so behind on the centers that I was basically just doing some of the kids' crafts for them.  I kept waiting on an email from a parent that said "Tommy said Mrs. Heather did his craft for him today" to which I would be forced to reply "Well maybe Tommy should know how to count to three by his age."  Thankfully no one asked and my secret was safe...until now.  

Small Group/Church:

• We continued meeting this month and then wrapped up our semester with a cookout/hangout on the 24th.  It was a good semester and we enjoyed trying a new video curriculum format.  As is usually the case, however, we were ready for a respite by the end.  We will miss everyone but hope to have a few get-togethers over the summer. 

• Our church put on a 5k that we were supposed to do with the kids, but we backed out at the last minute.  The 2pm start time was a pain and we just had too much on our plate.  I was a little sad when I saw all the pictures the next morning and heard how fun it was, but I got over it when we were crawling into bed after a slammed Sunday and I still felt good about what we'd accomplished that weekend.  

Kids:

• Luke had his four year check-up and is very healthy.  He did not cry at any of his FOUR shots.  He cried before them in anticipation, but not a tear during!

• Audrey knocked our socks off with her desire to participate in her music class's "Share Day."  She wanted to play "Happy Birthday" for her teacher while a friend sang since we were celebrating it early.  She was going to play it on her music teacher's piano, but we realized the night before the big day that she was used to practicing with the letter notes on her keyboard.  David taped over them and, after practicing another ten times, she confessed that she had memorized the shape of the pieces of tape that covered the notes.  Off came the tape and the stickers and out came the tears.  She practiced a ton more, but just kept stumbling.  Long story longer, I walked her in the next morning and was ecstatic to see a flier on the music teacher's door that said bringing in your own instrument was permitted.  (We gathered it was okay based on what Audrey remembered from the instructions, but sometimes six year olds don't always do the best job relaying info correctly.)  I had loaded the keyboard into the van just in case so we went out to retrieve it.  She'd prayed the night before that God would help her "do her best and not be upset if it wasn't perfect."  (Girl.  My mantra.)  David and I were nervous wrecks that morning knowing that, one way or another, this experience was going to mark her.  Thankfully, she did great and even played it twice.  No doubt her talented and outgoing little friend helped ease her fears.  She was pretty pleased with herself and I could not have been prouder.  Not because of how it went, of course, but because she had this idea and went for it!  This is not the same AJ as a year ago and I'm tickled to death about how much she's blossomed.  

Other noteworthy happenings this month:

• I got to go up to see Kara twice this month.  At the second visit, she was in a rehab facility and was discharged a few days later.  Unfortunately and terrifyingly, she had a relapse of sorts and ended up back in the hospital for five more plasma exchange treatments (equaling a ten day stay.)  She is doing phenomenally now though and is actually feeling stronger than she was at the end of her rehab stay.  The plan is for her to go home tomorrow and then see a specialist next week to figure out what the treatment plan should be from here.  Please keep praying.  

• I fulfilled a lifelong bucket list item and worked on a Habitat for Humanity build with our small group.  We installed dry wall for nearly seven hours (thereby exceeding my previous experience with a drill by approximately one million) and it was fairly painless.  The couple that will be moving in was there too and it was really cool to get to see firsthand who would be blessed by the job.  

• This blog turned SEVEN!  Yes, I wish I wrote more often, but I'm still really proud that it's lasted this long.  That's like 144 years old in blog years.  

• David and I celebrated 17 years since we met and 16 years together this month.  I met him when I was 16, so I've officially known him longer than I haven't now.  That's a whole lot of time, y'all.  And I still say he's my best friend. 

• My nephew Carson turned eight years old, which is crazy.  We celebrated at Dave and Buster's and the kids had a ton of fun.  

• We took the kids to the Georgia Tech Spring Game.  It was a gorgeous day and they lasted pretty well until halftime.  I think David was feeling his age as he walked around campus and saw all the new buildings.  Nonetheless, it was really neat to get to show the kids around ("Daddy had classes in that building!" "Mommy drove through the football stadium here!"  Yup.  True story.  And I was 100% sober thankyouverymuch.)

• I am doing a very short triathlon in a few weeks.  This month I broke down and took three private swim lessons, which turned out to be a very good call.  My coach tweaked my form a lot and pushed me to a new level.  I got over the plateau I'd been unable to get off of and finally felt confident enough to register for the race.  I'm still super nervous, but now I feel like I can at least finish the thing.  I may be last place (no, seriously.  It's a small crowd and I'm slow) but I'm going to give it my best.  

• We went to Alabama for the day on a Saturday.  It was so good to see everyone, most of which we hadn't seen since Christmas!  Good food, long chats, and gun shootin' ensued.  The best.

• I rolled out the Timber Trek info and contacted last year's sponsors.  Go to www.timbertrek5k.com to check out the details!  

Update on Resolutions:

I'm doing pretty well with most of them.  We did the Habitat Build for our service project, David and I had three dates, and I went out with a girlfriend for dinner.  I got to spend some time with family both at a birthday party and outside of one.  I have begun working on my drawer-by-drawer organizing/cleaning out in the kitchen, but that's as far as I've gotten.  Hopefully the bathrooms, office, craft room, and garage will get done in the next couple of months as well.  I also need to get on it and attend a neighborhood/community event, but I feel like that'll be a lot easier to do in the summer months.  And blogging more?  Well, you know.  Something to strive for.  

SO that's it.  That was April 2016.  We're in the homestretch of the school year now, y'all.  Hang in there (and five bucks says I'll be writing that same thing at the end of July!)