basketball

February and March Recap – the shamefully abbreviated version.

Besides a birthday party and a scout dinner during February, I had the pleasure of two art lessons in my elementary schoolers’ classes, two Joy School (preschool) lessons at my house, and about 20 basketball games between Rachel and Eve.

Add to that a major choir concert for Lily (for which I got to provide piano accompaniment) and a choir dinner show for Anna (for which I got to make two desserts to be auctioned off-guess what one of them was? You got it. Peanut butter chocolate cheesecake.)

Whoever said life was busy with five kids? Understatement of the year.

Fortunately for me, I actually enjoy Rachel’s games , Eve’s are entertaining as all get out, and it’s safe to say I love my kids’ choral events. All good things. Nonetheless, exhausting.

Cool teacher award goes to me for letting the kids jump on the couch and ottoman.
They look like they’re falling asleep but I can assure they’re as jazzed about Joy School as ever.
At the free throw line – take one.
2nd take – ready and engaged.
Band concert.
Rachel’s awesome basketball team this season.
Oh yeah, and then there was that time that I won the Wicked lottery and got 13th row seats for $25 a pop. Highlight of my year.

Due to Rachel’s foot injury in her basketball tournament (and my major burnout) we decided to cancel our spring break trip to Arches National Park. Considering that the weather in Boise was forecast to be considerably warmer than in Moab, it turned out to be a wise decision. So much for heading south.

We all worked on homework and projects, putting us in a better position to face our spring with optimism and enjoyment. Sometimes being boring pays off.

We also marked Anna’s 16th birthday at home for the first time in a long time. Her birthday inevitably falls on spring break so her celebration usually consists of a store-bought treat scarfed down in a hotel somewhere out of town. One year, she actually spent her birthday flying to Japan and missed all but two hours of it, owing to the difference in time zone.

This year, Tim got to treat her to brunch at our favorite breakfast joint (her first “date”) and we all showered her with love, presents, and her chosen birthday dessert – fruit pizza. This year has been a tough one for Anna and I think a low-key, mostly family celebration was just what the doctor ordered.

Potty-training and the flu, with a little fun thrown in.

January looked a whole lot like this:

The flu reared it’s ugly head at our house this winter. None of us ever get the flu shot (I’m not anti-vaccination by any stretch of the imagination, just not convinced the benefits outweigh the costs on this particular one). The last time anyone in our family had it was 2011 and, thanks to a successful quarantine, it was limited to one child.

Not this time. Four out of five got it, one after the other. I had at least one kid home from school for 2 1/2 weeks straight.

On the upside(if this can be considered an upside), the family flu epidemic coincided with this:

(He’s wearing underwear, if you can’t tell). Here’s a better shot:

Yep, potty-training. Deep breaths. So what’s the upside to potty-training during a flu epidemic?

Well, no one’s going anywhere.

So potty accidents stay at home, where they belong.

How did it go? Well, it’s still going, you might say. With the exception of my oldest, perfectionist that she is, potty-training is a months-long ordeal at our house. Life’s too busy to get oneself to the bathroom on time, I suppose.

One difference between Jack and my girls, however was that he doesn’t seem to mind sitting in poop. (The girls each voided once in their underwear, just to say they’d tried it, before deciding, not worth it).

Jack, however, couldn’t be bothered with dropping it in the toilet until I told him he could play the iPad while squatting. Boys and their electronics… Why be productive when you can play to your heart’s content all under the guise of a bathroom visit?

Sorry to Jack’s future wife. A mom’s gotta do what a mom’s gotta do.

We celebrated Eve’s birthday this month. Double digits. My phone had been confiscated for repairs at the end of December so I have no pics to show for it. Thanks to Tim for maintaining some sort of a visual record.

She requested breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and chocolate croissants, a steak dinner and a mint brownie ice cream cake. Mom delivered on all counts.

Eve also got a party with friends at the bowling alley, plus a piñata and other games at our house. Unfortunately, all pictures of above activities are on my loaner phone-I’m the dork that forgot to download them before turning it back in at the apple store. Face palm.

In other news: Jack got a Dexa scan, his second ever. Last time he got one, I had to pull out all the stops to get him to fall asleep for it. He was 18 months old and, considering that one had to lie completely still for approximately three minutes, sleep was an absolute must.

Naturally, I went into this scan apprehensive about the same possibility. He’s a three-year-old boy in constant motion (except when sitting on the toilet with an iPad in his lap, of course).

On the plus side, three-year-olds CAN be reasoned with, contrary to popular belief. I simply told him he had to lie super still while they took pictures of his bones. No ouchies. And that’s all it took.

One and done, folks. My kid is amazing.

His scan shows a 42% improvement in spine density and 18% overall improvement. Great news, obviously.

Basketball season began in January and that pretty much sums up our month.

Rachel ready to get in the game.
Eve in shock that she was selected for the jump ball. (Second shortest on the team).

Despite the woes of the flu, January was pretty darn great. No snow shoveling to speak of, so what more can a girl ask?

March recap.

We kicked off the month with the elementary school’s annual art night.  Art night requires no small sacrifice on the part of the volunteer art parents at our school, among others.  Jack and I spent the better half of the week hanging black paper, matting each piece of artwork and hanging it for the students to show off to their parents.  Jack deserves a medal.  So do I (for keeping a toddler reasonably entertained in the hallways of an elementary school for two days straight – I get tired just thinking about it).

Here’s the result:

 

Rachel and Eve both wrapped up their basketball season.  Rachel’s team made it to the championship and won in double overtime.  Rachel played the entire time and made half the shots in the final game.  So proud of her energy and persistence.

St. Patrick’s Day came and went…but not without some green sprinkled donuts to brighten the day after cleaning the church early that morning.

And, Jack finally decided that adult shoes can be fun toys.

We wrapped up the month with spring break – in another post.

February iPhone recap.

I rarely post to Instagram, Facebook even less, so I feel like I should slurp a few pictures off my phone to demonstrate that February actually happened.  Here goes nothing.

Rachel and Eve played a lot of basketball.  Keyword: a lot.  Wait, that’s two words.

Anna and Lily sang in the junior high benefit concert.  Anna sang a solo for the third year in a row – and rocked it, naturally.

Jack endured another three days of infusions.  He looks pretty happy about it, right?  The kid is a model patient, I tell you.  He takes that needle like a man.  Whatever that means.

We kept Valentine’s Day simple (it was Jack’s third day of infusions).  Tim brought me lunch at the infusion center and I managed to eek out a few heart-shaped pancakes for breakfast.  (I might have also hand-written love notes for each of the “loves” in my life).

Eve designed her very own Valentine box with almost zero help from the parents.  Yay for self-directed children!  I’d like to think that I train them up that way, but it’s very possible that, in a family of seven, our kids have given up on trying to get our undivided attention.  Ah well, necessity IS the mother of invention.  Right?

We celebrated Chinese New Year in true Egbert fashion: with friends, homemade Chinese food, and a food fear factor contest.  This year’s selection of “goodies” from the Asian grocer were particularly delectable.  Dried squid, grass jelly drink, banana tofu, sardines in sauce, to name a few.  Can you tell by the look on my lovely daughters’ faces?  Yum.

Lily opened her first checking account, a rite of passage in our home that she was eagerly anticipating.  That girl is ALL about independence.

Tim took me to the opera for Madame Butterfly.  The music was beautiful, as expected (Puccini) but the story?  Oh boy, what a downer.

Jack is following in his sister Anna’s footsteps and has earned himself what we lovingly refer to as “the belt” at bedtime every night.  Too many mornings of a wet bed and a nude toddler warranted his new accessory.

Eve took advantage of the spring-like weather and assembled a hobo stick full of food for an afternoon out in the field behind our property.  Oh, I’m so glad she hasn’t outgrown the wonder of outdoor adventures.

Last but not least, Grandma and Jill surprised us with a quick visit!  The perfect break to the winter doldrums.  We took a walk on the Greenbelt to soak up some much needed sunlight.  It was cold, but our Vitamin D was replenished.