April

Only seven more weeks until summer!!!?! What??? Where did the time go? I can't believe April is almost gone. So much has been going on, yet I have not had time to post about it. So here is a quick glimpse at this month so far in the lives of our family:

1. My in-laws came the first weekend of April to see the boys play some baseball. Unfortunately, Colby's tournament was cancelled; but, they got to see some great Hooks games! We had a fun but quick visit. I believe that I am the luckiest person in the world. I have wonderful in-laws. I hear my friends complain about their in-laws and the families they have married into -- I married into the best family ever! (And I am not saying that just because they read my blog!!)

2. The weekend my in-laws were here, Colby found a caterpillar at the ballpark and begged for us to let him bring it home. He named it Penguin and put lots of care into making it comfortable and safe. Feeling pretty certain it would be dead before morning, we were all shocked to see that it was busy making its cocoon on Monday morning. We have had lots of fun watching it and are waiting eagerly for the butterfly to emerge. Colby is even keeping a daily journal, to track its progress.


Penguin is working hard.

All finished with his cocoon.


Chris and Colby made a net contraption so when he becomes a butterfly, he can fly around and dry his wings.
And now we wait...


3. That same weekend, Connor and one of his teammates collided into each other while packing up their bat bags. After seeing our doctor and having x-rays, we will find out if his nose is broken tomorrow. I am pretty sure that if it is, I will no longer be in the running for 2009 Mother of the Year Award because I wasn't even going to take him to the doctor! After several adults told me it was at least fractured, I decided to make him an appointment...6 days later!

4. Chris spent the second week of April in England and Austria. The boys and I had a quiet, relaxing Good Friday and Chris made it home in time for Easter. We woke up Easter morning to the first tp'ing job (of many, I'm sure) on our house! How quickly life changes from hunting Easter Eggs to cleaning up toilet paper!



5. This past Tuesday, Chris and I met two of our sweetest friends from high school and college for lunch -- Carrie and her husband, Kurt. Carrie was one of my best friends in high school, my college roommate and was in our wedding. I was in hers and Kurt's wedding. And, then we moved apart. We haven't seen each other in nine years and we had SO much fun at lunch. I really thought they were going to throw us out because we laughed so loudly and often! They have not changed a bit and will always be dear to us.



6. Tuesday evening, while at Connor's practice, Colby and his buddy found another caterpillar. He begged me to let him take it home. I convinced him that we didn't want to mix Penguin and the new one -- the new one might disturb the whole "changing" process. One of the other mothers who has a 4-year-old said that he needed to bring a bug to school on Friday and if there was an empty water bottle, she would take it. Colby ran to the car where he had an empty bottle and proceeded to poke holes in the cap with his pocketknife -- I had no idea what he was doing or that he even had his knife in the car with him. A few minutes later, he comes screaming across the parking lot holding his finger as it gushed blood everywhere. The knife had closed up on his finger and cut the tip VERY WELL. Chris and I rushed him to Urgent Care where they sewed him back together -- six stitches on that little fingertip. Yep, 2009 Mother of the Year Award is out of my hands for sure! Luckily, his baseball tournament was rained out this weekend and he should be as good as new for next weekend! Needless to say, he wants me to throw that knife away!



7. Tuesday also began a little renovation process on my kitchen. Our house is 10 years old and is needing a little updating. This was the first project that we hired someone to come and do and, guess what...it is done!! We had a fluorescent light box in the middle of the kitchen and have replaced it with recessed lighting. Amazing what a difference this made!! We finished painting the ceiling tonight and are expecting a new oven and microwave in a few weeks! Yipee!!

Before:



After:



We have had a very rainy weekend, which was a welcome event. We have been able to take a breath and enjoy each other for a few days. Here's hoping the next few weeks are a little less eventful!