The Meltdown Update

Well, after last weeks epic meltdown I thought I ought to at least report back. As you can see, I survived. It wasn't pretty, but the things that needed to get done, did. Pete and I sat down, planned and scheduled what we (the kids) had to do , when and just ploughed through with a minimum of tears.


First up was Joey's ancestor report. We did Italy/Pete's family for Zach's report a few years ago so went with Mexico/my ancestors for Joey's. (Yes, I was tempted to reuse Zachary's report, just in case you were wondering!)

The "suitcase" above was filled with facts about our family and Mexico.

I really was planning on just whipping out your basic cupcakes with sprinkles for Joey's baseball party on Sunday (I can't bring myself to use store bought). I found myself with a smidge of free time after the little ones went to bed on Saturday night so decided to try something with my fondant.

I wasn't especially happy with how they turned out, but figured they would do.



On Saturday, between baseball game number 2 and 3, Zach and Pete built his catapult out of a mouse trap and spoon and did the experiment (which flings further? A mini marshmallow or jumbo one?)




On Sunday morning Joey had another baseball game, so Zach and I skipped that and stayed home alone to power through the rest of his science experiment.

We had some nice together time and finished it with time to join Pete and the boys for the baseball swim party.

It was nice to sit in the sun and relax, knowing the last of the school projects was done!


The boys all had a great time swimming.

And Christopher ate a hot dog bigger than his arm.

And Joey's missing class book?



I found it just today, hidden in one of our book shelves. No one can recall putting it there, so I guess it walked on it's own.


(Vinnie lost his first tooth on Tuesday. It has nothing to do with this post, but had to share!)



Three and a half more days of school and counting! Let's hope the last day of school has a little less drama than the first!

Open House Meltdown

Tuesday night was Open House at the boys' school. The boys, especially Vinnie, had really been looking forward to it. And by a pure stroke of luck, no one had a practice or game scheduled. What could be better?!We decided to go youngest to oldest, so started in Vinnie's kinder class. While checking out all his work and art I found out that the big class pajama party was the previous Friday evening, not this coming Friday like I thought. My heart sank. I noticed the reminder in his back pack on Monday morning, not realizing it had been in there since the previous week. I was then also told I had already missed the deadline to let the principal know any requests for the upcoming year (we are not allowed to request teachers, but you can let them know any personality quirks about your kid that will help them pick a good fit). I was nearly in tears and began feeling panicky. We then moved on to Joey's second grade class.


While looking around Joey's class I noticed their class book on display. I asked one of the mom's if she knew when we would be getting our copies of it. "We got them a couple of weeks ago," she said. A couple of weeks ago??! Did I forget to turn in the order form? Did I give it to Joey and did he forget? When I asked Joey he said he did have the book, but wasn't sure what he did with it. Two days later I still don't know what happened to his book.

We moved on to Zach's fifth grade class. Thankfully the hour was almost up and his class was a lot emptier than Joey's. There was a lot of cool stuff to see, including a power point report that he made with the state report he (we) had done earlier. Unfortunately by this point Christopher was tired and generally being a pain in the ass, making it difficult to really focus on what Zach was showing us. Also, I was feeling like I was having a full blown panic attack, wondering what else I had missed or forgotten to do. It was obvious to Zach who was clearly hurt by what he perceived as our lack of interest.

We had promised the kids ice cream so we headed over to Baskin-Robbins. On the way I burst in to tears. Loud, sobbing tears. Peter looked at me like I was crazy, and I just completely fell apart. I ALWAYS feel like I am two steps behind. Always the one turning in the permission slip in late, doing the project the night before it is due, forgetting it is crazy hair day. Last year we even missed a couple of birthday parties because I never even found the invites until the party had passed. We even had a "system" this year. The kids put their papers in each of their slots, then we look through them.

The problem? They don't always empty their papers, and we did not look enough. I am tired. By the time we get home from work/practice/the game I am wiped. It is all I can do to get through dinner and clean up. I just don't have it in me to then start looking through backpacks and signing papers.


And school projects? We have 2 big ones due in the next couple of days that we have barely made a dent in. Between sports, Joey's communion this year, and projects that were due earlier I just haven't had time to get these ones going.

People think I have it all together. They comment on all I do--work, run, make fun cupcakes, blog. "How do you do it?" they ask. Terribly, it seems. I feel like an imposter. It might look like I have it together, but I don't. Everything done last minute, half fast, or completely overlooked. And my house? Don't even get me started on that. Total disaster, all the time. Where is the time to just kick back a play a game with the kids? What can I do different next school year? All I know is that I can't keep going on like this.

And to top it all off? I suddenly have gray hair. I am sure there is a direct correlation between the number of school projects this year and the amount of gray hair I am now sporting.


Now I am off to work on the Joey's ancestor report, Zach's science project on catapults, change the sheets Joey puked in last night, wash Zachary's pants for his baseball game tonight and plan the 40 cupcakes I need to make for the baseball party this weekend.

Just 10 more days of school...

Mother's Day Mice

Last Thursday I was treated to a showing of "Mother's Day Mice" by Vinnie and his class. Vinnie played the part of the red fox, and pulled off his line perfectly.
I now have the third plate in my "Happy Mother's Day" plate collection. One more and my set will be complete!
Vincent and his "girlfriend" Alle hung out after the play. The two of them are adorable, and still insist that they will marry some day.

Today has been a great day for me. When Pete asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I said I wanted everyone to go to Mass, then I wanted him to take the kids away for the day. They have been gone all day at a SJ Giants baseball game, and I had alone time to work on some photo projects. It has been wonderful!



Happy Mother's Day to all the mother's out there, especially to my mother for all she has done, and continues to do for me. Love you Mom!

Quicksilver

Today was the Quicksilver 25K trail run. (that is roughly 15.5 miles) I have been looking forward to this run since I did the half marathon last September. It is in Quicksilver park and is all trails of various sorts and all hills. You are either going up or down with almost no flat areas.

The race started off with a fairly long, steep up hill. I am the type of runner that takes a couple of miles to get in to my groove. This is a tough way for me to start. On top of that I developed a severe side ache that took me about 15 minutes to shake. After that though, I felt great. Obviously tired and fatigued at times, but overall great! It is such a beautiful park with some fabulous views. How lucky I am to have this practically in my backyard!

I really wasn't sure what to expect for a time. This is such a different type of running compared to road racing. Initially I guessed 2 hr 45 min, than after looking at last years times hoped for under 3 hrs. I also set a goal of no ankle sprains, ticks or poison oak.

I rocked it at 2 hour 45 minutes!! I wasn't wearing a watch and there were no clocks on the course, so I was shocked to turn in to the finish line and see that time! I was even more shocked to have Pete and the boys come up to me about 5 minutes later. Because I told him 3 hr for my time, he just missed me coming in.

Don't they looked thrilled to see me? When I picked up Christopher he told me I needed to take a shower!

We were given by far the most awesome shirts. It is a thick tech shirt, almost a jacket. The logo (which is the very first picture above) is embroidered on. I wore it all day! (after my shower of course)

The 25 K was run in conjunction with a 50K and 50 mile race. Initially I thought how ludicrous it would be to run that type of distance in those conditions. What kind of crazy person does that? In the days leading up to the race, there was a part of me that wished I was doing the 50K. Of course, while running today I thought no way! It was hard to fathom doubling the distance I had done. The ultra runners were such a friendly bunch, and it was an amazing race. I would love to be able to say "I ran an ultra." It just doesn't seem enough to be able to say "I have run a marathon"--these days it seems anyone can do that. But an Ultra?

Maybe someday...

Communion, cupcakes and swimming

Last Sunday our niece, Laurel, had her First Communion. She was beautiful!


After the Mass, we had a get together at our house for both Joey and Laurel. Of course I made some cupcakes for the big event. I got the idea from Bakerella.
I hunted high and low for the dessert tower that she used, but could not find one anywhere. I had waited until the last minute to start looking so was not able to order one on line.


Instead I borrowed the tiered plates and used those. Although cutting out all the crosses by hand was a bit time consuming, the cupcakes were easy and fun to make.

The honored boy and girl of the day loved them!

And no Contini party is complete without swimming!

Thanks to Uncle Roy for all the fun stunts in the pool!

Happy Communion Joey and Laurel!