Ping Pong Thoughts from “It’s officially spring!”

I can’t really believe it’s mid-April. The kids have six weeks of school left (after this one). I have eight. My kids are taking their standardized tests. Our school will start them the first week of May. It’s that time of year when there is not enough time to cover all the topics I need to teach, but way more time left than I want to actually be in the classroom.

It’s still unseasonably cold, but the sun has been out regularly. It hasn’t rained in something like 10 days! (I can’t believe I’m actually writing that.) The downside to all the sun is that my allergies are totally nuts right now. I guess it’s officially spring! I’ve been getting allergy shots for years, and my symptoms are so much better than they were, but I still have weeks when my eyes burn and my throat itches and my ears get super stuffed up, despite using a daily steroid nasal spray. This is one of those weeks.

Our daughter is getting her first phone on May 1st. It’s for her 13th birthday, which is in early June, but she did some work to “earn” it a little early. To hear her tell it she’s the only 7th grader, or 12 year old for that matter, to not have a phone. She’s probably not too far off. All her friends have had them for years. But we held out and we’re glad we did. Her iPad is old and in rough shape. The cell service on her Apple Watch is spotty at best. It’s definitely a good time to make the transition, with tons of screen time and app limits. She’s been doing a really good job this year – working hard toward long and short term goals, staying on top of her school and homework, completing her chores without much reminding, and thriving in multiple friend groups. She’s definitely showing the maturity required to get a phone. And while I wish we could wait even longer, she already has waited way longer than anyone else she knows. I’m excited for her.

{UPDATE: I ordered my daughter’s a couple hours ago! It should be here early next week!}

We’ve been spending crazy money lately. Between several sets of plane tickets (St. Louis and Hawaii), and all the kids summer camps, our next VISA bills will be 2-3x more than usual. And our CPA hasn’t filed our taxes yet (we’re in a federal disaster zone so we have an automatic extension) which means we had to move some money around to make it work. I feel very lucky that we have the money to move around so we can cover all our big summer spending at once. I really hope that next summer our daughter will not require so many expensive camps. And the following year I’m hoping our son won’t need after care (I just had to sign up for next year and it never stops killing my soul how much we spend on after care for him). Any money we’re saving on child care will go into their 529s, which could really use the boost.

My husband left very early this morning for New York. My in-laws are coming every morning at 6:50am to cover the 1.5 hours between when I leave for work and when our son goes to school. My husband wrote them out a page of notes, with times and reminders. He really does have the mornings down – I learned quickly last week that I am not nearly as efficient in the mornings as he is. I’m VERY grateful that my in-laws are willing and able to come help us, because I’d be taking A LOT of time off this week if they weren’t.

I really hope my husband has a good time. He’s been struggling and needs a break. He’s also hoping this conference will give him some clarity about his job. He’s pretty miserable at work right now, and he’s hoping that meeting with his peers from other cities will either remind him of why he wants to stay, or inspire him to start taking next steps in his career.

I’ve planned a lot of friend time for the kids this weekend. My daughter’s three friends are spending the night on Friday (my son will sleep with me – a special treat) and my son’s friend is spending the day with us Saturday (he can’t spend the night, but he’ll be with us until the evening). Sunday I was thinking about taking them to the De Young. We have a membership, but its not my husband’s favorite spot. I could also take my son to the Academy of Sciences while my daughter’s at art class. My teacher membership just gets me and one other person in, and we could pick up my daughter from art after we go.

I just heard the laundry go off, so I’m going to move it to the dryer and head to bed. I hope everyone is doing well.