Angel or Devil?

What could possibly be wrong with this sweet little boy? Look at how peacefully he is sleeping. How adorable he is. One would look at this and think there couldn't possibly be anything wrong.

 But if one was to step back a little bit further one would see that this sweet little boy

 is not actually sleeping in his bed. In reality he has climbed up to the top of his sister's bunk 

bed. He has climbed up a ladder with 2 missing rungs taken out for the sole purpose of 

deterring him from doing this very thing. Oh this boy!

All Comer's Meet

One of the most amazing things about living in our area is the fact that it is Track Town USA. Having married a runner I have inherited a love of everything track, and the fact that I am the mom of some amazing runners means that this is a big part of our world. This past week the Olympic Trials for Track were held at Hayward Field. During the middle of the trials they held an all comer's meet for the kids. I insisted that the kids get a picture in front of the double decker bus. They should just be happy I didn't make them all crowd into the red phone booth, because I definitely considered it. The weather has been pretty goofy here. Thus that is why Midge is wrapped in a blanket. That and the fact she didn't listen to mom when she said to bring a jacket. 

 There were a lot of people there but it was neat to see the track and all of the extras they 

brought in for the trials. The little kids got to do the 60 meter dash first and they had them 

grouped by age in the stands. 

 Huck ran first. He held on to Midge's hand and fell down 1/2 way, 

but he got right back up and kept running to the finish line. To be honest I think he 

wasn't quite sure what to make of the entire thing.

 Little Miss was a fire cracker. As soon as they said go she took off. She kept looking to her right and spotted the fastest runner and crossed over next to her and ran neck and neck until the last few steps she turned on the turbos and beat her. I think it comes from all those races with her older siblings. 

 Leo ran the 400 meters. It was a little hard to see my little guy all alone on the great big track. 

He was amazing and set a personal record of 1:30 and got 4th place. He was the youngest 

because he had just turned 8 and did a fantastic job. 

 Midge is in the pink T-shirt. She got 2nd place and is still learning a lot about pacing. She needed to go out faster in the first 100 meters and we think she could have easily gotten 1st since she has run times recently faster than her 1:21 time. Midge has a tendency to get very anxious before meets. She is so talented and we are trying to teach her ways to work through these panic attacks and channel her anxiety to help her in the race. Sometimes she lets her nerves get the better of her and she stresses herself out. It is a learning process and we are trying to work through it. I think that if she can stick with it and master this she will learn a life skill that will help her in the long run and other aspects in life. In the meantime she is teaching Ken and I patience and the boundaries of when we need to push her and when we need to loosen up and give her more freedom. It is a balancing act. The thing we have come to realize the most is she thrives on positive reinforcement. This might seem obvious, but it isn't always easy to give a child your love and attention when they are screaming at you because they are so nervous. As a parent you have to dismiss what they are saying or at least understand the root of where it is steaming from. From my point of view it isn't always easy because Midge becomes very dependent upon me personally to reassure her and give her 100% of my attention. This isn't always feasible when I also need to give our other 3 children reinforcement and attention. As I said before it is a balancing act, but I am proud of the kids and what they were able to accomplish that day. 

 After the meet we headed over to the Fan area. Each kid got a free T-shirt and were able to play around with some of the hands on activities. 

The month of May and June

June is a crazy time for us. We have the end of school year wrap-up activities, a birthday, a wedding anniversary, and daily life happenings. To say the least I am a little behind in the blogging. I had wanted to give some of these individual entries, but that isn't going to happen. 

So I will settle for a chronological synopsis. 

 Midge was able to participate in the Hershey's Try-outs. She competed in the 800 which is two laps around the track. She is only 10, but she turns 11 this year so she had to compete in the 11 and 12 year olds. She did a fantastic job and placed first for her age group so she has been invited back to compete in the state meet in July. It was a cold day but we were there to support her. 

Leo brought along his little buddy. 

 Immediately following her race we went over to Leo's soccer end of the season party. His coach had some kind words for him and he got a trophy that was a cut out of him. 

 We then headed up to my parents to help them work on the RV and get it ready for camping trips this summer. While there we took the kids up to Chip Ross park. I haven't been up there since high school.

 Huck was able to walk most of the way himself. 

 It was fun to be able to see my parent's house from the top. 

On the way back Huck started getting tired so he hitched a ride.

 When we got back it was time for Midge's orchestra concert. This entire year she has been practicing several times a week violin with a great teacher before school. 

 Mr. Weissbarth is really good with the kids. He started with a ton of students and we watched the kids fall out one after the other. Midge complained sometimes but she stuck with it and learned so much. We are really proud of her. 

 My parents were able to come down to support her. 

 Ken's mom was in town and was also able to come down and see her. 

 The other big event was Little Miss's preschool graduation. We were supposed to do it in a park, but as you can see it was cold and rainy. 

 I love this picture of these two. 

 We wanted to try out a new hairstyle for the events and here was our attempt.

 Great job sweet heart. You did great.

 Right before we started the graduation Little Miss looked at me and said, "Where's daddy?" So I got on the phone and called him and told him his little girl wanted him there. 

He hurried over and she was so excited to see him there. 

 My little Leo had his birthday the day after school got out. Unfortunately he woke up on his birthday throwing up. He was so angry that he was sick on the first day of summer break and his birthday. The next day he was doing better so my family came down and we celebrated his birthday. My father made him this amazing plane by hand. Now we just have to keep Huck away from it. 

 Both of our older kids earned Em's Baseball tickets so we took them to a game. What did they think of America's favorite past time - Boring. 

 We have really been on the go and have been wearing the kids out. I had to take pictures of Huck in this position because it is hilarious that he fell asleep this way, 

but more importantly I needed evidence that he actually sleeps. 

 Every year we go strawberry picking. This year we chose a new spot called River Bend Farms. I really liked it. They were very friendly and they only charged $1 a pound for u-pick strawberries. 

 We ended up picking 48 pounds of gorgeous sweet strawberries. 

 We then proceeded to make strawberry shortcake...

fruit tarts...

 Victoria's strawberry cake...

 strawberry pie, smoothies, strawberry waffles and pancakes. Yummy!