It's in his blood...

So Cal is convinced baseball (and football) is in his blood. I think at first he thought it was because he was named after Cal Ripken, but now he has a true reason. Recently he found out that my third cousin was a quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons (Steve Bartkowski), so he is obsessed with this; it's rather funny. I personally have never met the guy, though my Mom and several other family members had the opportunity to see him play on multiple occasions and meet him (I was a toddler at the time, so I stayed with Grandma). Cal wants to write him and meet him. Then Cal found out Steve's Dad played for the Cubs, and my Great-Grandpa was on the farm team for the Texas Rangers. He was unable to play majors, because he went to war instead. But I guess this means it really is in Cal's blood. He made two outs for his team playing first base Thursday night in one inning. Here is one I caught on video. Perhaps he is destined for the big leagues like his ancestors : )

Dancing queen

Maddie yesterday afternoon before rehearsal, with her goofy grin...

Maddie and her friend, Lauren, after their rehearsal.

I seriously own enough makeup to fit in a small ziploc bag, and I don't really have a knack for doing hair. But she turned out pretty cute anyhow. Too bad she fell asleep on the way to the rehearsal (the location of recital is 40 minutes away) and her hair went flat by the time we got there. Sheesh, some girls there had their hair professionally done and more makeup on than I don't know what. Oh well.

Big recital night tomorrow and then again Saturday. Photos aren't allowed during the show, and group photos were taken the night of the rehearsal, and so I took a few, too.

irresistable!

The first purchase I've made for the new baby...$2.99 on clearance at the Children's Place.

and probably there won't be too many more purchases, seeing as we have plenty to go around, be it boy or girl. If it's a boy, I might have to buy some more outfits, seeing as what is packed away of Cal's will be 10 years old!!! We are buying a new crib. We really should've with Maddie. I'm sure we'll just go to a resale shop or rummage for that.

a few things...

Cal has slept over the past two nights at my Grandparents' house. The girls have been inseparable...literally. Sometimes it involved nice things like reading or playing doctor, but there has been an awful lot of wrestling and arguing and fighting. It's going to be a l-o-n-g summer.

The kids had excellent report cards, plenty of 4's (great!!) which are hard to come by (the public school gives 1-4; I find it very weird & I don't like it). While we intend on sending them to the private school in fall, curiosity still hit when finding out who their teacher would be in fall, hypothetically remaining at the public school. Poor Cal, for the second year in a row not a single close friend in his class. People he knows, yes. But his two best friends were each put in a different class as well (there are 3 different classes for his grade level). Same thing happened to him last year. He made a best friend in second grade, and then hardly spoke to him again once in third grade since they were separated. Kaycey's grade only has 2 different classes, so chances of her getting friends in class were much higher. I can't stand this method, and will never understand it I suppose. I was with the same 18 kids for 9 years, and I wouldn't change that at all.

I have been searching high and low for landscaping ideas for a sloping front yard. I am not having much luck, and will probably end up at the library. Not that that's a bad thing. And not that we are in some rush to landscape. Neither of us want a high maintanance yard anyhow. But I thought maybe there was something I could work on in the summer, besides painting the porch. We'll see. Our to-do list keeps growing!!!

Another big thunderstorm last night. This time we unplugged the *new* TV.

officially summer...

That Maddie...what a ham.

Though I'm not sure it feels like summer. Today was the kids' last day of school. Weatherwise, today was a great day. In the days ahead, not so much. I don't think it will feel like summer for a while. We will keep busy for sure no matter what the weather, with house stuff, baseball Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights thru end of July for Cal & Kaycey, Brewers games, gymnastics (for Maddie), dance day camps (for Maddie), Girl Scout camp for Kaycey, Girl Scout day activities, baseball camp for Cal, overnight camp for Cal through Camp Philip (through our church)...just to name a few things!! It'll be one crazy busy summer.

I made a few very simple cards; one for each of the kids' teachers and one for the bus driver. The kids took the cards on their own and wrote in them.

card for the bus driver

for Kaycey's teacher

for Cal's teacher

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

Went to the Dr. today (nothing exciting today, but 3 weeks and 6 days till we find out if it's a boy or girl!!!) but they needed a urine sample. Maddie was rather fascinated by this. Quoting Maddie, "Wow, when I grow up I wish I could pee in a cup just like you, Mom"