James is much, much better! He just came zooming around the corner with his vacuum cleaner and is vacuuming the hallway. He is also using the on-board dustbuster to get into the corners. All of the other guys did this kind of stuff too, but sometimes I wonder if James is going to take it a little farther than he should. He goes off the deep end when he has something on his fingers and has a complete meltdown when his shirt rides up and his belly is showing. He screams and screams and holds his hand up as if it were covered with something horrendous until you run over with a wet paper towel and clean him up (or pull his shirt down). While we were in Mexico, he wouldn't step on the sand without his shoes and socks on -- and he insisted on the socks. He wouldn't let me put his shoes on him without the socks. James is very particular. I hope he relaxes as he gets older.

I have registered Andy and Benjamin for Little League. They are very excited about it and practice batting all the time. They have never practiced catching, so I don't think that section of the game is going to go as well. I also discussed the local swim team with the guys the other night and Andy, Benjamin, and Elias all want to sign up. I know they don't really understand what it is they are signing up for, but I think it is very important to stress swimming out here since there are so many pools. Now for the bad part: the baseball and swim seasons totally overlap. Swim practice is 5 days a week. Baseball is two to three days a week (we haven't gotten the schedule yet). I figure what is going to happen is that the guys will go to baseball on Tuesday and Thursday (and sometimes Saturday), and then swim practice on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thank God that swim practice is only 30 minutes for Benjamin and Elias. Oh yes, and CCD is Tuesday afternoons. It is going to be a busy spring. The baseball season runs for 8 weeks, but the swim season runs from the first of April through mid-July. I hope they like the swim team as much as I did!

There isn't much else going on here. Ron did our taxes last night and we don't have to pay, so life is really good! We have invited our next door neighbors to dinner this evening. They have been so welcoming to us and have had us to dinner and to several parties at their house, so I am overdue for inviting them here. I am cooking a ham and I think I will glaze it with maple syrup and brown sugar. I am also going to make my mother's brownies, but I am going to use Splenda since the 12 year old daughter is diabetic. I hope the brownies come out. I have heard horror stories about Splenda messing up recipes.

This week, I am hoping to do more bike riding on the street and more running. I am going to try to go to the local track and run there in hopes that it isn't quite as hard as running anywhere else. I may end up walking the final phase of the triathlon.... but I WILL finish it! I did finally succumb to peer pressure and buy a pair of those really unattractive biking shorts. While they are comfortable, they are VERY unattractive. They have a band of elastic around the bottom of the leg that is there so they don't ride up while you are wearing them. This is a good thing. However, the other effect that they have is as a rubber band around your leg, just above the knee. My leg ends up looking like a sausage -- expanding tremendously just below and just above the band of elastic. Not attractive at all.

There is only 5 weeks until the triathlon and I am beginning to get a little tense about it. I am gonig to have to do more running... like, any running at all will help at this point!