5/26 Blog: Our first dance recital

My little girls have their first dance recital this weekend and last night was the "dress rehearsal."
I took it seriously and did the whole routine, fixing their hair as instructed (curly in the back), make-up as instructed (blush and lip stick) and so on. The school even asked that you do video and pictures at rehearsal vs. real performance to make things easier, so we did. We even gave our girls their "flower bouquets" last night to make it special.

It was a terrific night. I was so pleased with the girls. Yes because they new their routine which showed me they listened and learned from their teachers. But more so because they smiled from ear to ear, sat still in their seats for the entire 90 minutes and had a great time. Of course all of the kids fell asleep on the way home, which made getting out of the car very busy. So busy that I totally forgot I had a call with Asia, in fact I didn't even think of it until I was getting into my car this morning. I felt really bad, as I hate people waiting on me. Thankfully it was during their work day and I didn't make them stay up.

Once I got the kids back to sleep (which is always hard when they wake up and say " but I'm not tired") I took a quick shower. I was totally stressed as I had a Fox 19 appearance this morning and had to prepare all of my props to share (I was talking on easy picnics and meals to take with you on outings). I knew a shower would relax me.

I headed downstairs, at this point after 10pm to prepare. Of course I made a list. I always like to have a list to work from, but under stress even more so. I listed everything I needed, then packed what wasn't in need of refrigeration into a large bag. I put the list of additional items on the counter near the fridge so my morning could be as easy as possible.

At this point I was sort of wired so I did some other items. Made my grocery list out for Amber. Replaced her money draw to make sure she had enough for the week. Filled out paperwork that had come home with Ben and so on.

Finally at 10:45 I realized, I need to go to bed. I actually slept like a baby...which is saying a lot as this has been a humid week in Cincinnati and Arnie and I have been trying to not turn the air conditioning on. So instead of my normal tossing and turning, I actually slept. I guess I needed some stress and lots of activity to really tire me out.

Blog 5/19: Dusting off hte cobwebs

So, the one night I decide to get back on the horse, I get 90% done with my entry and hit the wrong button...so we start again. I guess that is the story behind this blog. I am not sure what happened but I definitely got in a rut with things concerning the book. Maybe I just needed a break, or maybe it was the start of baseball season...either way, it has been a long time.

Life is still moving forward. I will say it has been CRAZY since we got back from vacation. As I already said Baseball started. This would be enough with Ben playing double A and Claire T-ball, but on top of that Arnie is managing the Pirates (Ben's team) and I am assistant coach of Claire's. We of course had to make things more busy ;)

We are still managing to keep our family in tack. Hockey finally ended but for all of April we spent Wed nights at the rink and then had our "family eat out night" afterwards. Mondays are now baseball practice, so Amber feeds the kids at 5, I pick them up and we head to the field where Arnie meets us. We don't get to eat together but we spend the night together at the park...which had a great playground for the girls thank goodness. All in all we are still doing amazingly well and eating together as a family 6 nights a week, so I know we shouldn't complain...it is just often earlier or later than usual do to other commitments, which I am sure will be normal life from here on out.

Work has been even more nuts than home. I am dealing with two major organizational shifts at once...the "reinvention" of the Marketing function which I am in which includes new measurement tools, scorecards, career paths, talent management and more. And the reorganization of Global Beauty and Grooming which is the business unit I am in. Honestly if I could just wake up in three months I would sign up for that option. I don't mind change, but the combination, on top of normal family and work things is making life a bit too much. I honestly can't wait for it all to be deployed and over with.

On a good note I took a half-day and chaperoned Ben's field trip today. I know he was SO HAPPY to have me there and it felt great to be with him. He knows there are only 13 days left and is counting down, so it was extra nice to have one more Kindergarten memory to share. Well I need to get to bed, I am extra tired as Arnie went for a bike ride tonight, got a bit lost and didn't get home until 9:35pm, so I had the kids to myself. That wouldn't have been bad, but I decided to go for a walk with them for exercise, stop by the barbers to get Ben's hair cut, take them for UDF ice cream thinking he would be home at 8:30 to relieve me...but he wasn't, so bed, etc also fell on me...totally fine, just a little extra tired.

Happy hump day tomorrow.