Picture of the Week - 3/26/2015

It's really starting to feel like Spring around here.  The temperatures are still all over the place (gonna be near record lows this weekend...) but the blooms in the trees and the daily announcement of an ever-rising pollen count are sure signs that winter is behind us.  Has it snuck up on anyone else that Easter is less than 2 weeks away???  It's snuck up on me for sure!

I was bathing the little boys the other night and it struck me as funny that they looked a bit like they were Easter eggs sitting in purple dyd.  They LOVE those Crayola bath color tablets that change the water to whatever color they choose for the day.  They can stick with the basics and go pure primary colors or they can mix and match, like they did with the purple.  (PSA - the color tablets DO stain carpet when you dunk them in the dog's water bowl and then "paint" with them.)

No other big news happening for us right now.  More lacrosse.  More school.  More work.  Yadda yadda yadda

We DID, however, manage to plan our 2016 vacation schedule already.  Yes...  2016...  We had to jump on a house rental for the beach because the one we wanted had already booked most of the summer of 2016.  Apparently it's a super popular place!  We're excited to get to try it...  in 15 short months.  LOL  We also booked the Buckeye Cruise again for next year.  I already can't wait!  They got a bigger boat next year out of Fort Lauderdale.  It will be fun to see some new stuff.

Have a great week everyone!

Picture of the Week - 3/19/2015

There has been a fair amount of turnover on our street int he last 12 months.  This isn't super surprising considering it's been almost 8 years since we moved in.  (Side note - HOLY COW!!!  How did that happen?!?!?!?)  We have swapped some good neighbors for some...  less good.  And we've swapped some bad for some MUCH better.

One transition happened at the end of the cul-de-sac right before the holidays.  The VERY nice old man who used to live in that big old house sold to a family with 4 kids.  The kids living there now are all older than ours.  Their youngest is a boy in 8th grade.  By all accounts they are a very nice, normal family.  Well, as normal as you can be with 4 kids!  (Ha!  I'm SO allowed to say that!!)

As a gigantic 6th grader, Spencer is bigger than the 8th grader and despite having very little in common, they have hit it off.  This is pretty exciting for us because Spence doesn't have many friends that he just hangs out with.  He's not really home enough to hang out much and with a built in playmate in Quinn, we've never tried very hard to do things like play dates and sleepovers and all that stuff.  I would never call Spencer anti-social, but he doesn't have a posse.  You know...

Well with Christian moving in down the street, the big boys have begun just hanging out with a group of boys from the neighborhood.  There's also a kid from a neighboring sub-development that must cut across country to get over here.  When I say they just hang out, I mean they JUST hang out.  Outside!  Sometimes they take lacrosse sticks.  Somethings they take music.  Sometimes they take nothing.  Sometimes they take shovels.  They have been building some kind of tree fort.  I can't actually see them from our house, but they can hear us when we holler, so they can't be very far away.

Pictures the boys took of each other in their "no moms allowed" fort.

I'm thrilled that they are 1) hanging out with other kids and 2) spending SO much more time outside.  I think they have easily spent more time outside in the last 6 months than they did in the 2 years prior.  (Sports practices not counting...  because we DO spend a ton of time outside...)

This new behavior is also a little sad because just as they are starting to enjoy our backyard, and the wetlands that we back up to, the area behind us is getting ready to see a ton of new development.  Like so many other places in Forsyth County, that land has been sold and will be turning into a sub-division with 60+ houses.  This isn't (or at least shouldn't be) surprising because Forsyth County is still one of the fastest growing counties in the entire country.  Road construction, new schools, and new sub-divisions are a very normal part of life here.  But this particular development is hitting, quite literally, very close to home.

We are lucky in that just behind our property is a small stream and 2 ponds.  This area is all classified as wetlands, so it can't be disturbed.  We will not have any new neighbors DIRECTLY behind us, but there will be people back there.  Our days of seeing nothing but an empty field are just about gone.  I'm sure the boys will have a blast watching all the activity happen back there over the next few years.  I will do my best to keep them from causing too much trouble back there!  I just hope the makeshift tree fort makes it!

Here's a picture of our backyard.  You can see the silt fences they have installed just this week.  That means land clearing can't be far behind.  In this picture you can also see the 2 ponds.  There won't be anyone on our side of those ponds.  After the leaves come out on all those trees, you really won't be able to see the field anymore either.

Have a great spring weekend everyone!  We are looking forward to a visit from Grandma Sharon and Aunt Karen.  We're planning on dragging them all over north Atlanta for lacrosse games and practices.  Luckily for them, we don't have any all-day events this weekend so we will get to avoid the PB&J at the park "dinner".

Picture of the Week - 3/12/2015

You guys, time is going TOO fast.  I feel like I'm hanging on for dear life.

I shall not bore you with details on why I am currently feeling like we are driving around the Atlanta Perimeter at 80 miles an hour, while changing a tire, and eating dinner, and somehow trying to engage with all 4 little (and very distinct) personalities strapped into seats behind us.  You all have already suffered through too many email updates filled with exhausting descriptions of our weekly schedule commitments.  Add to that my previous over-sharing about my new job's impact on my mental state, and you are all probably ready to chuck this message into the "delete" pile.

We are really, really busy right now.  I'll leave it at that.  (For any grandparents or others contemplating a visit to see us, do NOT under any circumstances use this whiny message as an excuse not to come to our chaotic house!!!  I really mean that!!!  Just don't expect a Better Homes and Gardens experience - and sleep before you get here.)

The bright side of being really busy is that ALL the stuff going on (well except maybe the daily struggle to get all the inclement weather day assignments done) causing the schedule strain is good stuff.  Work is good.  It's hard, but it's good.  The boys are all healthy and awesome.  They are funny and pleasant and relatively easy.  More of our efforts are going toward hanging out with them and less toward just merely taking care of them.  That's cool, right!

One of the biggest schedule strains right now is lacrosse.  It would be a drag, if we didn't enjoy it so much.  With 3 boys playing, we have 5 nights of practice and games pretty much every Saturday AND Sunday all spring.  (This week our only free night is tonight and Bob has a conference call scheduled from 5-8 because his client is on the west coast...  good times!)  No idea why the schedule-makers feel the need to double-book so many weekends.  Also no idea when these schedule-makers grocery shop and do laundry...  but that's another question for another day.

Last Sunday we were at the park, on a beautifully warm and sunny spring day, from 12 until after 6.  I can't even pretend that I didn't have an enjoyable afternoon.  It was pretty awesome to get sunburned while watching the boys play.  The big guys had games while the little guys played in the dirt with Transformers and TMNTs while eating every snack and drinking every drink we had packed into the cooler.  Spencer was a beast as goalie and his team won their game to remain undefeated and Quinn was on the losing side of a double-header, but did manage to score a goal while playing attack.
And then it was Zane's turn for his practice.  I was the mom sitting on the bleachers with her chest all puffed up with pride when both the big boys wanted to go help the brand new boys and girls trying to learn the game.  They really are such good kids.  And little Beckett would NOT be left as the only Bovy boy outside the fence, so he insisted on putting on HIS helmet and taking HIS stick out to the field too.  If you have never seen a 3 year old in a helmet walking around a lacrosse field littered with bigger players, you simply have not lived.

Here's a picture of all 4 of my boys in a clump of other kids during the Little Shooters practice.  S and Q were helping manage the little guys.  Zane is wearing #80 toward the left hand side and Beck is in the front, right beside Quinn, who made it his mission to make sure his littlest brother was safe and happy the whole time they were out there.  (My heart burst right about then!)

And here's another picture of my 3 big lacrosse players.  So very proud of these boys!  (And no, Quinn isn't shrinking, the other 2 just won't stop growing!)

Picture of the Week - 3/5/2015

So...  my brain is tired...  and this is gonna be short

I started my new job this week.  And I think it's going to be a great fit!  I'm actually really excited about it.  But it's HARD starting something new.  Remembering all the names alone has taxed my brain cells.  For anyone interested, I am working for a small company called REACH Health.  They are a healthcare software company focused on providing telemedicine capabilities to acute care facilities (aka hospitals).  For the first time in, well ever, I am working on something that can actually help people in a real, measurable way.  Pretty exciting!  If anyone happens to be interested in learning more, let me know!  I'm happy to share more details about what I'm up to these days!

So I took 2 pictures in the last couple of days that amuse me.  The first one is an unstaged picture of our foyer.  As Quinn would say, "It's very fancy, YO!"  I wish I could say all that lacrosse stuff wasn't always there, but it totally is.  Whatever... if you come visit and think the foyer is a mess, look the other way.  I refuse to let it bother me!  (And yes, that blue thing on top of the big bag is exactly what you think it is.)

The second picture is my drive to work yesterday.  FOG!!!  Seriously weird weather!!!  I'm so tired of fog.  I don't remember ever being in fog as frequently as Bob and I have been in over the last 2 weeks.  Freaky fog!  I really miss the sun!

Thankfully we are supposed to warm up nicely after today and the weekend is supposed to be mid-60s and sunny.  This is a VERY good thing since we have 5 lacrosse games and 2 practices between Friday evening and Sunday night.  We will be at Sawnee Mt Park from 11:30 until around 7 on Sunday in case you need us...  I'm gonna pitch a tent up there one of these days.

PS - My mom had her first shoulder done yesterday.  She had a bad tear in her rotator cuff and a torn bicep and some bone spurs.  She had all that crud cleared out and sewn up and came through the surgery beautifully.  But she's not allowed to use her arm for 6 weeks...  anyone who knows her understands when I say she's already bored!  Send her an email or give her a call.  She'd love the diversion!  (She's got to have the other one done too...  but that's going to have to wait until later in the year.  We're currently in debate to determine if 2015 is going to be the year of the Fog or the year of the Shoulder Sling.)