Busy, Busy, Busy

I'm so sorry that it's been so long -- AGAIN. I thought things were going to settle down after the Bar Mitzvah. Well, I obviously thought wrong. It's been busier than ever.

The last two weeks I've spent hours and hours every day working on a work project. It went well and I actually enjoyed it, but basically all I did was work and do the basics to take care of the house and kids. I was already hopelessly behind on "things" (paperwork, correspondence, household projects, etc.) because of the Bar Mitzvah and this put me futher behind, but it was an important work project and had to be done.

Once it was finished, i spent some time this week catching up on post-Bar Mitzvah tasks, especially errands like returning the 11 dresses I had bought for Michela and we didn't choose, the 14 dresses for me, the 6 dress shirts for Jacob, etc. etc. Would you believe that I returned over $2,000 worth of clothes?!

we're gearing up for a very busy weekend. the kind that i have to do a typed up schedule for marlon and i to keep it straight. i won't give you the hour by hour rundown, but basically tomorrow (sat) we have: 1 baseball game, 2 softball games (semi finals and then championships), an "all star meet and greet" for Michela, two teams parties (one swimming all afternoon, one dinner and that's here), 7 hours of dance (jacob), 3 hours of dance (Marlon for the dad's dance) and i think i forgot a couple of things!

the next 2 months are going to be beyond busy with baseball allstars, softball allstars, dance competitions, big annual dance show, harrison's musical at school, normal end of year stuff, etc... I'm used to "busy," but these next two months are going to be hard for even me to juggle.

Here's a "bullet point" summary of the highlights of what's been going on (in no particular order other than the order i'm thinking of them):

-I got an iphone! so far i love it, BUT i haven't downloaded any songs or applications or had time to configure the email or anything. the texting is amazing. i got it last week. i need to make time to figure it out and get it configured.
-I'm doing a great job of maintaining my weight. i'm not really losing, but i'm not gaining either and i'm eating a full array of foods, so i'm very pleased with how it's going. hopefully eventually i'll start to slowly lose a little bit.
-i bought a FEW new things, including JEANS and a BELT. I don't think i EVER wore jeans or a belt before, believe it or not. i even have jean shorts now. and some cute capris.
-Jacob had his auditions for next year's honor groups at dance. Jazz/lyrical were last week, tap was tonight. he thinks he did well. we'll know in a couple of weeks.
-Michela made the softball all star team!!!!!!!!! She was so excited. it's very competitive. It's also going to be a very intense 6-8 weeks of 4-5 practices a week and tournaments every weekend. it's a very highly competitive level of play. it'll be a great experience and she's becoming quite a good softball player so we're hoping she'll keep it up and will be able to get a scholarship for college.
-Harrison also made his baseball all star team!!!!!!!! He was also excited. things will be equally intense and time consuming for him.
-in light of the two all star teams, our summer plans are completely up in the air and i've been trying to figure things out. we were talking about renting a motor home and taking two weeks to drive to texas to be with marlon's family, taking detours along the way to see things. but now we can't really be gone two weeks because you have to sign a committment contract for all stars. so we MAY still go to texas for the 4th of july weekend or we may do something more local, or we may just do little day trips around here all summer.
-our kids have the longest summer they've ever had this summer - 6 weeks. (not sure why.) usually we have 4 1/2 or 5 at the most. I'm trying to line up some camps for them because 6 weeks is too long to just sit around and i have a lot of work projects to work on. I think all 3 are going to go to SURF camp every day for a week. funny, huh? they have surfed a bit and want to learn how. it's a california thing. harrison might go to football camp (see below), jacob wants to try a basketball camp (huh? basketball? jacob? well, great if he wants to!). he may do a dance intensive. i'm looking into a softball camp for michela, etc. i think that jewish sleepaway camp is out of consideration because they can't be gone a week b/c of all stars and dance.
-Yes, harrison now wants to play football. he wants to try out for the freshman football team in high school (he has one more yr first). Matt Leinart is his idol. Matt Leinart runs a football camp for 5 days (overnight camp) here in long beach. Harrison is sending the receipient of his "camp scholarship" to it (he asked matt leinart's brother ryan if they'd make up the difference in cost between the $300 he raised and the $700 it costs and they said they would!)
-Marlon was away for a week and while he was gone i enjoyed a "special night" with each of the kids alone. harrison and i splurged (calorie wise and financially) and had a nice dinner out at the Melting Pot. Jacob and I went for manicures and pedicures and then had dinner at a cafe. Michela and I picked up dinner and ate it in a movie, just the two of us, then went shopping for some new clothes the next mornig.

ok, this is long enough. i'll try to update more often so that these aren't so long. and i know i still have to post bar mitzvah pics!

Barbara