The End is here!

I think the time has come... the end is here. And I don't mean because Trump was elected President and who know where we'll be in 6 months.... But, after 7 years of documenting the Hyzyhouse Happenings, I think it's time to throw in the towel, mainly because with the kids not living at home anymore, it just seems a little pointless.  John and I don't lead very exciting lives, work, sleep, eat and try to find a little time to play.  I spend most of my time rowing, coaching rowing, talking about rowing and as my family points out repeatedly - no one wants to hear any more about rowing. So,  I really don't have much of interest to relate here.

It's not near as funny or interesting when everyone is doing great and making us proud, which the kids do on a daily basis!  Zack is killing it at UVa and Brenna is almost finished with her masters and actually had 3 job offers.... actually 3 companies out there looking for Bat Ecologists... who the hell knew!!  Looks like she may be heading to the real world out in Minnesota with a job in her actual field of study.  The world is an amazing place.

It's been a great run... Hyzy's Out!

Let the PANICKING begin....

T-2 hours and Brenna Hyzy arrives home for 2 weeks!!!  I can't wait to see her... but at the same time T-4 days and we drop Zack off at UVa and I am really not ready for it.   I honestly thought I'd be okay by now.  I know he's going to be fine, I know he's going to have a great time, I know that I will eventually be fine, but right now when I think about it I feel physically sick to my stomach and legitimately feel like I'm having a heart attack.  I know that once we're actually doing it, I will have plenty to keep me busy.  Brenna will be here for another week after he's there, I have work starting on Monday, we're gearing up for Fall Crew, coaching in the Fall Camp, so plenty going on.  But, it's the thinking about it... the imagining going back to school and him not being there, not popping in to say Hi and raid the candy basket... going to practice and not having him to talk to about it and ask advice of.  No one to keep me posted on the team gossip... it's going to be hard.  And bottom line... I'm not ready to let my baby boy go.

Zack and the A-word....Adult

There's no way it's true... how can my sweet baby boy, the light of my life, my buddy and partner

 be an official...ADULT.  18 freaking years old!  It seems so cliche... but time just seems to be speeding up the older I get.  Seems like not so long ago, we were worrying about pacifiers and pull-ups and now he can sign his own excuse notes for school, vote and go to the doctor by himself.  I just don't want to believe it.   It was a quiet celebration, Brenna was home and we went out to dinner, then he had a Co-ed sleepover... I must admit, he's the most difficult kid to buy for... he doesn't want anything, he doesn't really do anything and seems happy enough with what he has.

A little college prep present... he eats Ramen all the time... not he's got the proper tools.

Movies with his friends,  Brandon and Shannon.

The morning after, such a good group of kids!

Dinner at Smokey Bones.

It was pretty low-key, but then he's a pretty low key kid and I think he enjoyed it.  Time just keeps moving on...

Thought provoking Zack...

Sometimes, most times, I'm just amazed at the people my kids are growing up to be!  I'd like to take credit for it,  but mainly I just thank the stars above that we're so lucky!  I mean, who would have thought that my little Brenna, who once took a zero on her Spanish homework, because she didn't know which basket to put it in and was too afraid to ask, would be living all the way in Wisconsin getting her Masters Degree and talking about a PhD!!???

And Zack... so damn funny, it's not even fair!  Smart, kind, thoughtful and deep.... just a pleasure to be around and I'm not sure how may people can say that about their teenage boys!  He's a thinker... and quick....

He said something to me the other day.... We were talking about how much he's grown up and how when he was little we used to have to piggyback him everywhere and that now, he can probably piggyback me everywhere.   And he said.... "Just think, one day you picked me up for the last time and you didn't even know it, but it was the last day you ever did it!"  Say what??!!!  What kind of teenage boy, thinks like that.  It's a pretty deep, self-aware kind of thought.  He wasn't saying it to be mean or make me sad, he was just contemplating how fast time goes and that you sometimes don't realize how things change.  I, of course, still get all teary-eyed thinking about how true it is.  How many "lasts" do we let slip by without ever thinking about it or stopping and taking the time to really appreciate? Suddenly we turn around and those infuriating toddlers or preschoolers, or middle schoolers are all grown up and moving out and starting to make their own lives....  I know it's a cliche, put they are cliches for a reason,  it all just goes by too fast and the older I get the faster it goes!  I want to make a real effort to treasure it all.

These came yesterday....Words Fail Me.

My boy is making me happy - 2 things

Sitting watching my boy eat... 3 eggs, 2 waffles, a bowl of grapes and half a dozen slices of bacon.  Eat baby eat!!  Still doing the "refugee sit."  He still eats like a camel... nothing but goldfish and fruit snacks for weeks at a time and then suddenly it's cheeseburgers, bacon dogs, eggs and bacon.   I just try and hold on to the eating times! :o)




 I woke up yesterday to this sitting by my phone.  Say What??  What teenage boy wants to get up at 5:00am to go to an Erg class with his mother??  My BOY!  That's who!   He's such a great kid, so off we went and erged away!

Can you say EMPLOYED!!

My boy went for his first real world job interview today!!

And he slayed it!  He will be working down at the park and marina behind our house.  He'll be working on the docks renting boats, kayaks etc and then he'll also be a "caretaker" which means he'll drive around in a golf cart taking care of stuff. It's a couple hours a day, 5 days a week and the hours will be flexible around his coxing and college visits.  I'm very happy that he has something that will get him out of his cave in the basement, give him a little more spending money, zack, but won't completely overtake his summer.  Really the best of both worlds!  GO Zack!

It's Bragging time... Zack Version

Zack was nominated for the Prince William County Youth Salute Council.  They choose 14 kids from each high school in the county, they get a photo shoot and then this huge display is put up and moves around the county.  At Malls, the government buildings and then at each individual high school.  They have to write a couple of essays and then they pick an overall winner.  I think there is some sort of monetary prize.  Anyway, we weren't even going to fill out the application form, but his counselor encouraged us to do it and he was selected!  Very excited, one of only 14 from the whole high school.   We went for his photo shoot, he needed 4 different poses, so we chose crew, academic team, chess club and then just a casual pic for our themes.  I think they turned out pretty darn good.

He's so freaking grown up and handsome I can't believe it! How does this shit happen?

What just happened - Part 2

Apparently,  I woke up this morning and my sweet precious baby boy, turned into a SOPH.FREAKING.MORE in high school over night!

What the hell Time Train???  It seems like just yesterday I was stressing about his first day in high school and now it's the first day of summer and he's a freaking sophomore!  Sometimes I think I want to  stop the Time Train and get off, but I'm also really enjoying the ride!

P.S.  I love this pic, because it's captured Zack doing his refugee sit... He has sat like this since he was a toddler and it cracks me up that he's still sitting like that!

Regatta #4 under our belt!

We traveled down to the Anacostia to race a bunch of private schools this weekend in the Cindy Cole Cup.  It was cold, windy, the day after Prom and the competition was all private schools.  It went about as well as could be expected. :o)  But any race is a good race, if you can learn something and I think Zack and his boat learned many things.  The deck was stacked against them from the beginning.  The conditions were so bad, that they had to move the start line to avoid the whitecaps at the beginning. It was cold, it was windy, the current was crazy strong and there were no lane markers!  Coach Meehan forgot to register their boat, so they couldn't race in their 8.  They ended up breaking them into 2 4's - a light 4 and a heavy 4.   They had only ever been in a 4 maybe twice.  They also had a totally different coxswain since there were 2 boats instead of one.  Then the icing on the cake... the Novice 4 race was full, so they put them in the Varsity 4 race!  I think a couple of the Varsity boats had one rower that weigh more than any 2 of the boys in Zack's boat! Could there be anything else going against them?  But once again, they survived, they didn't flip (although they tried) and hopefully they learned some valuable lessons.  He seemed pretty positive when he came off the water.   Art and Karen and Mark were all here visiting and hopefully enjoyed watching Zman race.

Working the fan faces!

We also hosted the Pasta Party this week.  It was quite an experience.  I just love these kids so much.  Such a great group!!

So much food, so many shoes, so many boys!  But a great time.  I'd have them back anytime!

We have a new Rower... It's Official

I don't know how people blog in a timely manner, especially the important stuff!  I mean we have and important event, like Zack's first regatta, and I'm so exhausted at the end of it and for the next 2 days that there's no way I could sit down and form coherent thoughts and then something else happens and before I know it - I'm playing catch up again!  Oh well, it is what it is I guess.

Zack's first regatta was this weekend and it was an unqualified success.  Brenna was able to drive home and spend the regatta and easter with us, so that was a big score.  I was completely nervous - the weather around here has been just awful, cold and windy.  The kids did not get a lot of water time prior to the regatta.  My honest goals for the regatta, have them stay in their lane, nobody fall out of the boat and find the finish line!  Done, Done, Done.   The exciting thing about the crew team this year is that there are enough freshman boys to field two 8's!  There is an A boat and a B boat - I think Zack was a little disappointed that he was in the B boat, but I just told him "you be the best B boat rower they have and work hard and you'll make it to the A boat in no time."  He gets that, and is already talking about what he can do to work harder and be more serious.  I was very proud of his attitude.

It was beautiful day.  The kids rowed over to The Point early and hung out, bonded and got to watch the Varsity boats race.

Before I knew it, it was time for the race!  I think Brenna was more nervous and beside herself than even I was.  She kept saying, "you don't understand - I KNOW what can go wrong!"  I kept telling her to "keep it to herself"  I could imagine enough worst case scenarios on my own!
They had a little trouble (all the boats) lining up and getting ready for the start and then they were off...  One of the other teams racing, had their rudder (called a skag?) break and they actually ended up crossing over and tangling with our A boat!  There was so much drama, that I almost forgot to watch Zack's boat.  The A boat recovered and ended up finishing the race.  Zack's boat actually did really well, they ended up coming in 3rd with no drama and no problems.  I thought it was very exciting and I just couldn't believe that my baby boy was out there rowing in a race.  He was just so awesome, an athlete, a big boy and doing it all on his own.

I felt the same sense of amazement that I did when Brenna raced.  I just can't believe that I birthed something that is capable of getting out there and rowing that 8 down the course.  It is such and amazing sport, so inspiring, impressing and I have to pinch myself that - that's MY kid doing that!

Not only was it a successful race, but they came away with 3rd place ribbons in their first regatta.  Doesn't get much better than that!
Then, the perfect end to the race.  The men's 3rd 8 was down one rower for the row home and the coaches were willing to let Brenna hop in the boat and row home with them.  The catch... we didn't think of it until the boat was already on it's way home in the middle of the river.  That didn't stop my girl, she jumped into a coach's launch...WITH AN OAR.... and climbed into the Men's boat...IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RIVER... and rowed that bad boy home!  She was so thrilled, got a blister and talked about it all night long!  Girl Power!

All in all, an amazing Regatta for all of us.  I can't wait until next weekend...
ROW HARD!

I'm still alive update/ Zman birthday

I've been sick for that last few days, so I'm going to use the next few days to catch up on the last few days.  I've had "Blog" on my To Do list for the last 2 weeks, but in the mornings I'm so overwhelmed by all the things whirling around in my mind that I can't sit down and concentrate, and by the evening I'm so wiped out all I can do is sit and stare at the boob tube or my spider solitare game!  Main excitement... my sweet precious baby boy is now 15 years old!  I just feel like I need to pull the emergency brake and jump off the time train.  Not only did one of my teenagers... move out of the teenager category, but now my baby boy, my cuddle bug, my zack a doodle is 15 fricking years old! 6 months away from starting to drive, who knows how far away from his first girlfriend, and just growing up (literally) so fast I can't keep up or keep him in pants!!  It was actually a very quiet birthday.  He didn't want to do anything - no party, no going out.  He wanted waffles for dinner and didn't even give me a birthday list... so he got some workout clothes and mainly a big IOU if he thinks of anything he wants.  He's at a funny stage right now, still loving and affectionate, but spends most of his time in his room on his computer.  But when he does poke his head out - he's funny and endearing and loveable.

I don't know if it's just different with boys, but he still seems to genuinely enjoy or at least not mind my presence when I come to practice or hang out at school.  He's smart and he's funny and I don't know why he doesn't have girls clamoring over him, but I'm glad he doesn't.   All too soon so other girl is going to steal my baby boy away from me, but for now I'm going to enjoy all the time I can with my almost Man.

I say It's Cold, he says Whatever....

Why o' why does my teenage son refuse to wear a coat, hat or gloves when it's freaking 18 degrees outside?  I've tried everything, nagging, begging, "there are freezing kids in Minnesota who would kill for a nice warm coat.  All I get is a tolerant "my mom's an idiot" smile and "will she just give it up" head shake!  You can't tell me he's not cold walking to the bus stop and then STANDING at the bus stop WAITING for the bus....  For heaven's sake, I'm sitting IN the house and I have an undershirt, hoodie and fleece jacket on!

It always comes full circle

I remember when Zack was really little, he loved and worshipped his big sister so much.  And as will all siblings, especially ones that have a large age gap like ours, most of the time Brenna was just bothered by her brother.  He was the little pain that always followed her around, always wanted to be wherever she was, always wanted to do whatever she and her friends were doing and was never happier than when she would deign to play with him.  He just loved her so much.  We use to tell her all the time "be nice to your brother, he loves you so much and one day you are going to want him to play with you and he's not going to."  But, again as with most parent/child interaction, she never listened to us.  He was just a silly bother to be tolerated.





I noticed over this past summer,  that just like all teenage boys, Zack had begun spending most of his time in his room.  Interacting with us only when he was forced to.  Preferring the company of his computer and his Ipad to his family or his sister.  And it began to bother Brenna, she would complain to us that Zack ignored her when she talked to him, or he wouldn't go running with her when she asked him.  I tried to explain that he was growing up and pulling away - as he should.  Well, as Brenna's winter break began to draw closer, I found myself having a very familiar conversation with Zack.  "Now you know Brenna will be home soon.  I want you to be nice to her.  She just loves you so much and I don't want you to ignore her and be mean to her."  He just laughed and rolled his eyes, but I knew that he appreciated being the one in control this time.  He has been nicer and I find it a little bit freaky that they get along so well.  They go shopping together, they go to wing night together - it makes me think that we did do something right along the way.  How lucky they are to have each other and how lucky we are to be their parents!

First Day... We survived.

 Kindergarten

We both survived the 1st day of high school!  I think it was probably rougher for me than Zack.  I do think he was a little more nervous than he let on since when I woke up at 6am he was already in the shower!  He also voluntarily picked out his own school supplies.
    I worked in the Spiritwear Store all day and he actually came up to the store at lunch time and said hello.  Quite different from his sister who use to walk the extra long way around the school to avoid me! :o)  I got to see him at lunch and he apparently found someone to eat with and seemed to be smiling and fine when he exited the cafeteria.

9th grade

     He found his bus just fine, got home safely and proceeded to regale me with tales of his day....NOT!
This is how our recap of the day went:
Me - "How was your day?"
Zack - "Fine."
Me - "Come on throw your mom a bone, tell me something..."
Zack - "It was good."

That's it... that's all I got.  This child should become some sort of super secret spy, he's so good at keeping mum!  But from what little I could pry from his tight closed lips... it seemed to be fine.  His teachers are "cool." And that's about it.
But I'll take it, no drama, no tears and seems to be fine going back tomorrow... I think I consider it a success!

Nervous, worried, hesitant and little excited with a few small seeds of panic thrown in...

       Tomorrow's the day... I know I've said it before but I cannot believe my baby boy will be in HIGH SCHOOL!  It's exciting, heart-wrenching, gut-clenching all at the same time.  I know in my head that he is totally ready for this.  He is happy, confident, strong.  He has plenty of friends, he's been up at the high school with me, taken tours, for heaven's sake he's been in this same school system since he was in the 3rd grade.  It's as close to a "home town" as any military brat could ever get.  I KNOW he's going to be fine, but my heart is FREAKING OUT!!  Now is the time that I try not to project all my insecurities onto him.  Will he be able to find his classes, will he have any friends, will he have someone to eat lunch with, will he be able to find his bus home... you know the drill....
      I dont' think I even worried this much about Brenna, of course part of that could have been that she was deep into the obnoxious, rude, snotty teenage years, so maybe we didn't like her as much! :o)  Zack is just barely dipping his toes into those rude, obnoxious years!  We still like him a lot...mostly! :o)
    It makes me laugh, if you ask any of the boys...Zack, Tyler, Sal or Wyatt if they are excited or ready for school,  they are like, "yeah, sure, whatever."  If you ask any of the mothers, they are likely to fall into a quivering ball of nerves and doubts.  That's why we're all meeting for mimosas and drunken gummies as soon as they get on the bus!
There's noting wrong with drinking at 730am...right???  Just a small orange juice drink...it's actually a healthy breakfast drink...

He's ready.  I know he's ready so I'm just gonna hold on tight (but not too tight) and go along for the ride!

It's finally happened, I hoped it wouldn't, but it did and I'm sad!

So the day I knew was coming, but hoped never would, has and it stinks!  Zack is finally, officially a teenager.  And how do I know you might ask....

Because everything I say is stupid, I don't "know" anything, I couldn't be any more "out" of it.  I knew it would happen eventually... it did with Brenna and I suffered through it and came out the other side okay, but that doesn't make it any easier.
I think it's especially sad for me because Zack is my baby and I've always been his favorite so it's hard for me to sit there and listen to him think I'm stupid.  We were always buddies. With Brenna - she always like John better than me, so it wasn't as heart-wrenching when she started verbalizing her disdain... but my Zacky...I am just sad!

Brace Face #2

Zacky has finally lost all of his baby teeth.  The kid is going to be in High School and he just lost his last baby tooth!  As soon as that puppy fell out we marched right over to our orthodontist and slapped some braces on that boy.  He did really well.  Fortunately there's not much wrong with his teeth so it looks like he'll only have to have the braces for about a year.  Once the braces are off we'll work on the funky tooth.  Dr. Stern says we can have it "built up" whatever that means.  Anyway, we got the braces on Monday.  He felt pretty rotten the first two days.  Now he's pretty much up and running, but just working on figuring out how to chew.  They had to put two little plastic bite adjustor things on the back of his two front teeth so it's making it very difficult for him to chew.  He's handling it like a trooper.  Now the best part... the requisite braces pictures....

Before

Getting ready

Traditional horror mouth picture

Brushing buddies

After

Can't Freakin' Believe it!

So this is it.... Last official day of Middle School!  Not sure who is happier...Zack or me.  Although, the  thought of my sweet, pweshus, baby boy up there at the High School interacting with all those delinquents and MEN!  Makes me a little bit nervous, but he'll do great!  But how will Mom do?  Sometimes I just want to stop the time train and get off!

Could he be any more handsome and grown up?

I have a little hope, a small light at the end of the tunnel...

Zack had his BFF Sal over today along with Sal's brothers and this is what I caught them doing....

They were doing CRAFTS!!!  Actually, they were building boats out of paper, toothpicks and tape.  Then they were going to float them in the tub and see whose was better at floating a quarter or something like that. I was a little fuzzy on the details, but  I was just so thrilled they weren't playing Xbox or MineCraft (otherwise known as MineCrap) on the computer.  They were actually using their brains!  Maybe there is hope that their brains haven't rotted in their heads and dribbled out of their ears!