It took me so long to sort through my thoughts on the COVID anniversary that I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do here on life over the past couple weeks. Not that we've been too busy, but I suppose it's been a nice, pleasant run--just enough to keep us occupied and not bored.
I noticed this flower already showing up in my yard two weeks ago. I guess the warm winter has encouraged things to crop up early, and that was before a couple rounds of really nice weather came through.
I had been getting in a lot of walks lately, which was really nice. We've had five days in the 60s or 70s so far this year, which is crazy. And a lot of days in the 50s. I won't complain about that but I am worried about my plants and the poor farmers. Everything is starting to bloom. I found these gorgeous crocuses around the corner last Wednesday.
They're so cheery! I've seen a few daffodils, and as I was climbing through the way back of our yard trying to find a ball the boys lost, I noticed our forsythia was already trying to bloom! Those normally aren't out until mid-April, so we're definitely running about a month early. It happens, I know--we've had warm weeks in March and early April before, but this has been the nicest string of weather in recent memory. Lots of sun, not a ton of rain, just really pleasant for this time of year. Of course, spring started this week and the entire week is well below average. We have snow on the ground and more coming, along with stiff winds. It's been brutal and almost like winter realized it missed its cue, and finally decided to show up. I noticed this new growth on my hydrangea last week and I panicked a little because I lost a lot of new growth (and probably blossoms) due to a late freeze last year and I didn't want that to happen again.
I went out over the weekend with four garden stakes, some clips and ties
and a big old sheet to try to cover it for the week. I am hoping it
works, but I'm just going to have to keep checking on it because it's a
darker sheet (I used an old ripped one so I wouldn't be ruining it) and I wasn't sure if it would be too warm under there when the sun is out. I honestly don't know if it's
too much or too little, but I figure there's still air circulation and
it'll protect it a bit. I need to hope it holds in the wind, though. So far so good, though I had to reposition one stake, but everything is still green underneath so I'm hopeful. The farmers have to be absolutely panicked because everything has to be running very early and we have a long time before our average last frost yet. I just saw, too, that a ton of daffodils were planted at Mt. Hope Cemetery locally, and they were all opening earlier this week, but of course we now have a long stretch of weather that's too cold and snowy to enjoy them. Hopefully the cold weather is just enough to preserve them (and not kill them) until next week when it might be warm enough to maybe take a walk there. Fingers crossed. But the snow has been a little demoralizing after having so many nice days. I like my cozy sweaters and hoodie dresses, but everyone has been in spring mode for weeks so this feels pretty annoying currently. But I only had to shovel once or twice this year so I suppose I should shut up and deal.
Our weeks have been a little less hectic since Jacob's basketball season ended, although he's still been keeping us (mostly Craig) busy with training appointments and shooting sessions. He's working with his trainer, going to a special UR Medicine athletic training clinic, seeing a nutritionist, and putting up shots whenever he has a chance. He seems to be doing a lot better with his injuries, but the one evaluation he had confirmed what we already knew, that the power from one leg is significantly less than the other, due to the injuries and subsequent loss of strength. So he's working on getting that equalized. As a result, he skipped a middle school combine he was selected for this past weekend and is likely going to skip the travel season too. His coach is mostly fine with it--although he did pull back a bit on his approval this week because he's being told Jacob should be out there a bit more and encouraged him to play after all, so we'll see where that goes. We're hoping we can find a compromise because we really want him getting his strength and conditioning to where it needs to be, because the rest will hopefully take care of itself if those things are running on all cylinders. He needs more power, strength, speed, and agility to be an elite player, so now is the time to get all that where it needs to be, so he's in prime condition for his next varsity season and the recruiting season next spring. Jacob has been swearing that this focused time is exactly what he needs, so I guess we'll see if that's the case. I'm hoping if anything he can play a shorter season and keep practices manageable. It would be weird not being part of a team full-time and I hope he doesn't lose any reaction time in games, but hopefully it's the right move. In the meantime, I really want to enjoy our Easter and hopefully make it to Craig's 400th straight game if we can.
We did find out Jacob got named as a 2nd Team All-Star for his league for the Varsity season, so that was pretty cool. He was the only freshman on the Division II list. He had two teammates on the first team, another with him on the second team, and two of his former teammates made the first team as well. It's a nice accomplishment, but obviously he wants to aim higher! We found out one of those former teammates and a former youth teammate are both headed to prep school next year. They're going to the same one, and there's actually a kid Jacob played with on his first organized summer basketball league team (the one that won a championship) that is already at the same school. It's in Connecticut, but apparently they like Rochester kids! We knew both of those kids were aiming for that, but it's an odd feeling knowing they're off on their own next year. Jacob insists he really doesn't want to go to prep school. He'd rather stay home and aim for 1,000 career high school points. It's hard for me to gauge if he's avoiding something or really just does prefer to stay home. It could be intimidating going away, between balancing school and basketball, his dietary challenges, and wanting to make sure his injuries and general body challenges are managed. Sometimes I want him to get more independence but maybe that's not the way or the time to do it. We don't want to pay tens of thousands of dollars for that either, so it would have to be the right offer regardless. I don't want him to count anything out if the right scenario were to come along, but he seems pretty set on staying put. For now, anyway.
As for Carter, his basketball season (and probably his career) is now over. It turned out to be a pretty good team. We started with two ties, but in the end they were 5-1-2, which was a nice turnaround from his past two teams that only combined for one win over 14 games. This team grew a lot over the course of the year. All but one ballhog reformed themselves, and at least the one that didn't was still a decent scorer. Carter spent most of the season frustrated since he only scored a couple times and barely got the ball, but the wins were nice. I captured this shot at the second to last game. Pardon the coach's and Carter's socks--it was crazy sock day.
Last Tuesday was the last practice of the season, and the coach had promised the kids a coach/parent vs. player scrimmage. We were joking about how funny it would be if Jacob played because those kids might not know what to do with themselves when they saw him shoot! I thought about emailing the coach ahead to see how he felt about Jacob playing (either as a joke or for real), but then wasn't sure, and then I had second thoughts altogether. But in the end Jacob wanted to come anyway and ended up playing! It was pretty funny because Jacob and Carter were guarding one another for a good chunk of the game.
Carter did what he could, but obviously Jacob's a tough one due to height alone. The adults
definitely dominated pretty solidly, especially because the parents
were purposely making it tougher when the kids weren't passing, but the kids
didn't do too bad. And technically I guess they won because the last
shot was the winner, and Carter actually got it! He did get a little
bit of an assist from Jacob who let Carter steal it, but his teammates
were just looking him off, much like they do in games--like he could
literally be open right in front of them and they'd either shoot a bad
shot or pass it to someone else--so Jacob took matters into his own
hands, I guess. It was a super fun game to watch, lots of laughs and
crazy shots, but the best part was that it seemingly inspired the kids to come out firing in
their last game--they had a 23-2 lead at halftime! Of course, the bad news was that they were playing Carter's friend Ben again. We beat them badly last time, and it happened again. Oops. Here they are guarding each other again.
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| Carter is wearing a sweatband on his head because his coach gave them to everyone as a year-end gift. It was pretty cute seeing them all wearing them! |
My parents came in to see him play, which was extra fun. We had a nice afternoon together, enjoyed the game, and then came home to some really delicious Salvatore's pizza to finish off the night. After the game, the team took a nice team photo, and believe it or not, Carter won that Nets flag through a Rock, Paper, Scissors game after the postgame meeting! I have no idea what we'll do with it, but it was fun!
So, basketball is probably out of the picture for him now. It's pretty clear it's not his sport at this point. Even though this team won way more than any other, he usually ended up frustrated since he wasn't scoring and people wouldn't pass him the ball. It was still fun watching this team evolve and his coach was pretty great. I love how encouraging this league tries to be, so it's a little sad to be moving on. He's really excited for baseball, though, so that might be making his exit extra easy. I'll ask the question when registration info comes out in October, but I think he's done.
Sunday was the year-end celebration for the league. It was a bit bittersweet knowing this was probably our last one of these, but it was a good time nonetheless. Carter's coach got honored with a special sportsmanship award, and also took part in a funny challenge. As I mentioned, his coach was pretty great. He's a really nice guy, so sweet to the kids, so encouraging, and the director specifically mentioned how impressed she was that he took the time to memorize a handshake/high five for each individual player--I think I mentioned a while back that Carter's involved a quick round of Rock, Paper, Scissors. It really was cute, and he absolutely deserved that award. The competition involved a player on the team answering basketball trivia, and if they missed, the coach had to put two or three marshmallows in their mouth. After each round they had to try to say, "Upward Basketball", and once they couldn't say it or had to spit them out, they were out. I thought they were doing pretty good, but he came in third out of four. The last two were troopers, and no one really knows how the winner managed it! The winner did walk out (presumably to the restroom) shortly afterward looking a little "off" so I wonder if holding them for that long made him feel sick-ish. It was fun to watch, though
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| His coach is in the blue-gray shirt, clearly smiling! |
At the end they go through and announce the teams and players as they come up and get their year-end gift, which was a backpack this year. It's been things like a basketball and mini-hoop in the past.
So, with that, on to bigger and better things. Baseball is at the top of that list, and actually, I guess one of those things is also his music pursuits. We had another fun venture into that on Thursday. Carter was part of the Greece String Festival, which is where all of the elementary and middle school orchestra members (generally all strings) play in one mass concert. This was in the high school gym of the school he'll be attending next year, the same gym where Jacob's team beat his current school last year in the sectional semifinals. It turned out to be quite the event. It was so amazing to see all of the students. Elementary kids are on the left, middle school on the right.
Carter takes a lot of pride in his playing, although he doesn't practice nearly as much as I think he should. Part of that is that Jacob is a jerk and will blast music to drown Carter out when they're home alone. I've reminded/encouraged Carter to go up to his room or go into the basement when that's the case, but he still manages and seems to be first chair for everything at this point--although there's usually only 2-3 other violas, but still. He made me a little nervous that day as he was practicing because he had a lot of mistakes and stops and starts, but that's the beauty of a large group and no solos--you can blend in a lot better than, say, Jacob on the basketball court.
I was really impressed by the middle school orchestra in particular. They sounded significantly better than the elementary one, although sometimes I think the simple songs can work against the elementary group. I took videos of all the songs so my parents could see them later since it didn't stream.
Here is one called "Frog in a Tree" that was just the elementary orchestra:
My personal favorite was "Seven Nation Army", which was actually a familiar song. The whole orchestra did it, so it was pretty impressive.
I have to say, it was chills-inducing! With all of those musicians, it was just really cool. They seemed to have fun with it, and I know it has to be neat for all the teachers to see it come together like that. I love watching Carter play and I'm so proud of him. I really hope he sticks with it, which at this point it seems like he will, at least for another year. I think it gives him a nice point of connection heading into middle school next year. It drives me nuts that Jacob keeps putting down the orchestra and saying that "band is cooler", probably in part because some bands play sporting events and he loves that. I mean, when I was in high school we called people "band geeks" (lovingly, but still), and I think the orchestra folks just sort of slid under the radar, so I don't think it's a bad thing at all, but times have changed. Even still, I think it's a really good thing. He has one more concert coming up in May. This coming weekend is all-county chorus, which sort of an exciting new opportunity for him. I don't know that he will continue chorus next year since he's been less excited about that, but I think this event this weekend could be fun for him. We'll see! He came home with major sniffles today, so hopefully they hold off from anything too terrible--particularly because he has one other important thing happening on Friday that I'll share hopefully in my next post!
Otherwise, we've just been muddling through March. Feeding Jacob has been increasingly challenging since he's been more focused on his nutrition. He's already so limited, but then he wants high-protein, lots of carbs, and almost more food than we can stock in any given week. On top of it, he gets sick of things that he eats repeatedly. He tends to fixate on foods and then burn out on them, so he has a love-hate relationship with things like eggs and sometimes bagels, has gotten very picky about cereal, and currently wants these corn dogs I found at Walmart all the time. It's hard to keep things stocked, most dinners disappoint him, and his snack cabinet is overflowing yet again because he stops wanting to eat things so they just sit there because throwing out $7 boxes and bags of snacks drives me nuts. We did have one victory a couple weeks ago. I made French toast sticks! I found an air fryer recipe and because his usual bread has been having really thick heels lately, we finally had good, thick bread to try it with. They were coated in cinnamon sugar and they were really good!
I also tried homemade corndog muffins with less success--they were OK but definitely not what he's been craving since I found the good ones at Walmart. I have a slightly irrational fear of deep fryers or any sort of extensive oil usage, so I fear we're not getting too close to that...although I did suggest trying to spritz the ones I made with oil and air frying them separately to see if they crisp up. I also made some air fried cauliflower the other night that everyone ate, which was practically a miracle. But dinner tends to vex me at least a few nights a week.
Other quick shots:
- The boys are playing a ton of baseball whenever the weather cooperates to get Carter ready for his season to start later next month.
- The Knighthawks have rediscovered their winning ways, so they might make the playoffs after all. Craig is getting close to his 400th game, so we're hopeful health and whatever else cooperate in the meantime. We'd like to go on that trip since it's in Hamilton and we haven't been to Canada in ages, but it all depends on whether Jacob ends up playing basketball.
- Jacob is reverting a bit to his getting-out-of-bed struggles from last spring, but at least he's actually going to school and still getting his work done, even if breakfast is a recurring pain (see above) and he's not always on time. Ugh.
- I'm pushing through a weird time at work--not a lot of major projects but a lot of little things I'm herding forward--while also trying to hire my new assistant, which is only going moderately well with suitable candidates but no standout ones.
- Jacob had the day off school yesterday because, of all things, they found a dead body in the city’s reservoir and there was a boil water mandate. As a result, city schools were closed, and because that cuts out bus service for his school, he was off too. Crazy. Turns out the guy had been in there for weeks, so…good times.
- Easter is also dependent on whether Jacob ends up playing, but I'm really hoping we get to do a family weekend this year. I'd like to get back to the special "Journey through Good Friday" event at my parents' church, in-person church for Good Friday and Easter, Prunes and Noodles, and Easter gatherings with both families (although Craig's will be on Saturday and he can't make it this year). I really missed it all last year. Hard to believe it's only a week away right now.
So...that's where we stand. Wish us luck with the stupid sniffles.
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