Catching up #2

I almost fell victim to that classic blunder... say you're going to start blogging again and then forget to blog. Here we go, more catching up:

Spring

• A's teacher wasn't able to challenge him in any way, so he spent more and more time in class just reading. Not an ideal situation, but his reading level jumped from The Magic Tree House to The Books of Beginning and Harry Potter. His writing also improved and he won the "Young Author" prize from his class. 
• Spring finally arrived at the beginning of April. My absolute favorite time of the year, when the world and I wake up from our hibernation.
• We had a baseball game or baseball practice almost every day. Both kids showed promise as pitchers, surprising no one.
• Both kids also took part in a soccer clinic.
• We had a big party to celebrate three years in America. The US-Pakistan-Ireland-Puerto Rico-Jamaica-Guatemala crowd ate Ethiopian flag cupcakes and painted Ethiopian flags on their faces.
• My mom continued to visit regularly, making the long drive from upstate New York. Her relationship with my kids is very important to them and to me. She also continued to ask about my blog.

Summer

• The school year ended and summer camp began. It was a challenging time of year for D, as transitions are always hard. Luckily he really liked camp. This year there was more music and dance than in the past and D loved learning to whip and nae-nae.
• On weekends we did the usual summer beach, amusement park, soccer stuff.
• We had various visits with cousins and everyone got together for the second annual family bike ride & camping trip on a rail-to-trail in central PA.
• A's hair got long enough for corn rows. They really suit him. Initially we relied on friends, then on a professional, but I'm working on learning to do them myself. 
• A finished reading the entire Harry Potter series. D listened to the whole thing on CD, and started peppering his everyday speech with phrases like "conjure a patronus," "oak-matured mead" (apple juice), and "searing pain" (the shower was too hot).
• Both kids celebrated summer birthdays (10 and 8 years old). A had a party at a fun local park with friends and D preferred a day of beach and boardwalk with family.
• My mom took her three oldest grandchildren (one from each family) on the trip of a lifetime to Alaska. My mom is 77 years old and the three oldest grandchildren are 11, 11, and 10, so we were all very impressed and she was pretty tired at the end of it. A got to see humpbacks, orcas, bears, moose and elk, and visit glaciers, and go on a ride with sled dogs. He had a wonderful time. D didn't mind staying home too much because he got to go to a new amusement park.
• T got a job at a small biotechnology company, working on vaccine candidates.
• I was sick for several weeks and was grateful that with T's new job, I'd be able to cut back on hours in the fall.

Now all I have left to catch up on is the last month.