We have had a very busy spring with both boys in soccer (different leagues, different parks) and Edward playing baseball for the first time. Three afternoons a week one or both boys have practice or game in the 5 o'clock hour. Because Edward's baseball games usually don't get done until close to 7 p.m., I try to give the boys an early dinner around 4:30 so they'll be fueled for their activity and also so we don't have to stay up too late eating right before bed.

I haven't succumbed to the drive-thru culture yet, but I definitely understand it better than ever before. If it didn't require driving completely out of the way from home to park, I'd be more tempted. But we've been managing pretty well with the crock pot and with left-overs from the few nights we're home to cook an actual meal.

I do feel like I'm always rushing them though. Precision timing is not their forte. They have no understanding that staring at their shoes for 5 minutes before actually putting them on throws off the delicate balance we're trying to achieve.

Daniel for one, is finding it all a bit exhausting.

On Friday he fell asleep in the 15 minutes it took to drive from our house downtown to pick up John and then on to Edward's baseball game. We executed a stealth drop off of John and Edward, and then I just kept driving for another 20 minutes while he slept. I'm not a big fan of driving, but let me tell you I relished those 20 minutes of total silence! Once he woke up we headed back to the park where he flew up and down the path on his scooter while Edward's team got clobbered despite Edward's consistent hitting. He's not alone among his teammates in short-attention-span fielding. In fact he almost got brained by a line drive while he was playing second earlier in the week. Totally wasn't paying attention to the hitter and only noticed the ball just in time to duck out of the way.