Where Have I Been?

Well, where do I start?!

I'd like to say that this burst of overwhelming business is temporary, but I'm afraid it is here to stay for a while. 

The winds of change are blowing our direction and right now, it's all I can do to grab hold of the kite tails and hold on!

So here's a brief (Brief for me - that is!) re-cap of all that has been going on for the past couple of weeks:

First off, we start with Kaitlin's first ever Hershey Track Meet. This was sure a lot of fun. 

She ran at the Pineview High school track and ran the 50m dash, participated in the softball throw and did the standing long jump.  She is sure a cutie and I had a lot of fun watching her.  She is such a sweet girl and carries herself beautifully.  She took 2nd in her heat and sure looked like a runner as she ran it. She has so many cute friends that we had fun cheering for and watching run, too.  Plus, it was fun seeing a lot of moms from my ward there and cheering for their kids as well. 

(Have I ever mentioned how much I love living where we do?)

It was fun watching her so nervous before the gun went off in her race. 

It sure brought back a lot of memories.

Next, we'll throw in some pictures of the boys playing baseball.  Yes, baseball.  Brandon and Brock have started Little League.  It is sure fun to watch them developing as little ball players.  They have an amazing team.  I can not believe the talent that so many little boys in our area have.  There are 12 teams, each consisting of 10-14 boys in either 1st or 2nd grade.  All of those little boys will all go to Pineview High school...gasp!  Yeah - it's going to be competitive, but that team is going to be GREAT!

So far, their team hasn't lost a game and Brandon and Brock are both playing great.  Brock told me last week that he went 3 on 3 during his game.  I said, "You mean 3 for 3?" No. He meant 3 on 3!  Well, we're still working on the lingo...but other than that, they are well on their way!

As long as I can keep managing up to 3 games per week and 2 practices and homework  - we sure are enjoying it!

Okay, in the middle of all this - let's throw in the Science Fair.  Last year, Kaitlin took 2nd in Science Fair.  This year, the boys were so excited to get to do their own projects.  So, Super-mom (AKA - me) helped all 3 kids come up with ideas, test them and do their projects.  It was quite a big deal!  I was so proud of each of them for what they did and was pretty excited for the Science Fair.  Well, Tuesday night before the Science Fair, we all went out to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  By the time I got home, I wasn't feeling so good, and went straight to bed.  Sometime around 5:00 am, I woke up and knew that I was sick.  I began throwing up and didn't stop until 12ish.  Thankfully, Cole didn't have to go to work that day and helped the kids get ready for school and helped them take and set-up their science projects at school. 

Funny side note: That same morning, Cole finally noticed just how bad Brock's hearing had gotten again.  He came home from setting up the science projects, called our ENT, got an appt for THAT DAY (which I could have never done), took Alli and Brock to the Dr. appt, and came home with both Brock and Alli scheduled for surgery 2 weeks later! (Geesh! Talk about getting things done!)

As he was dropping Brock back off at school, Kaitlin was in the office saying that her stomach hurt.  Rather than be grateful he was there when she needed him, he sent her back to class.  Well, about 10 minutes later, she puked all over the hallway and down the back of one of her friends! Oh yeah - he was in big, big trouble!  So the school called me and I sent him right back to get her! After that, Kaitlin and I were sickies together in bed!

The sad thing was that both of us still felt too yucky to go to the Science Fair that night.  I was so sad for Kaitlin.  She won 1st place in 3rd grade.  (Cole forgot to take a picture of her project, but I'll get one at District.)

 Brandon took 2nd in 1st grade and was so proud of that especially since his project didn't turn out like he thought it was going to.  I almost didn't make him finish it, but then decided he needed to see it through.  He was sure proud of that 2nd place.

Brock's picture is up above.  He took 1st place for 1st grade. Yep, the Roundy boys took 1st and 2nd place in 1st grade! How cool is that!  So Brock gets to continue to District with Kaitlin.  It was a fun night for our family; I just wish I could've been there! Darnit!

The boys were so proud of their medals.  They wore them to bed for a couple of nights and wore them to school on Thursday and Friday. It was pretty cute!

Interspersed between all of the above, we are still playing soccer. 

I love the friends that they are all making through their soccer teams.  I feel like Cole and I have met some awesome families that we will be friends with for a very long time.

They are all playing awesome. Brock is finding that he loves (and is very good at) being a defender. Brandon loves trying to score.  Kaitlin is an amazing half-back and boots the ball a mile.  She even scored her first goal last week and it was a beauty!  I'm not sure who was cheering louder, me or Brother Finch!;)

And of course, the crazy month couldn't end without a little bit more chaos!  Oh no!  To top it all off, Brock and Allison both had surgery...on the same day!  Yes, we are crazy!  Brock had his 4th set of tubes placed, this time permanent T-tubes.  We are hoping that this will help his ears stay clear and give him his best shot at semi-normal hearing conditions.  Allison got her tonsils and adenoids out.  She has needed this since she was only 6 months old and finally the doctor said it would be fine to go ahead and do it.  Brock handled his 5th surgery in his lifetime fine.  Besides his usual post-anesthesia puke, he was fine within a few hours and handled the pain with just a few Tylenol.  Allison on the other hand, came out of anesthesia ticked at the world and made sure EVERYONE knew about it!  She was inconsolable and honestly, worse than I could have ever imagined.  She didn't quit crying for hours until she finally wore herself out and fell asleep.  She wouldn't ever take any of the liquid medication and therefore managed the pain with nothing more than Tylenol. She was miserable and she was a stinker.  She was exhaustively needy and whiny and refused to eat of drink anything for days.  She is finally at day 10 and doing much better.  Thankfully that surgery is out of the way and hopefully she won't have to deal with anymore tonsillitis! It has been an extremely long 10 days with her.  She is usually my blissfully happy child and she has been awful!  Poor thing!  (Poor me!)

And yet, in the middle of all of this, we've been trying to take time to just enjoy what we are doing.  It all goes by so fast.  I can't explain the feeling I get, sitting in my trusty ol' chair watching Cole or the kids playing ball and just feeling like I am so blessed. During these moments, I have time to reflect and realize just how much I love this little family of mine.  I love each day that I get to spend with them, whether it's memorizing articles of faith on the way to soccer practice, throwing baseballs in the back yard, cheering on the sidelines, reading books at bedtime, or refereeing disagreements (which drives me crazy) - I wouldn't choose anything else in the world than right here, right now.