Work, PTA, and repeat

So the last couple of weeks have been pretty eventful in the Erickson household.  Steph got less than encouraging news on her follow-up appointment.  For anyone who doesn't know, she had a hysterectomy on December 3rd and has been off work since.  She was planning on going back to work on February 7, but her stitches have not healed and she was told to take it easy for another four weeks.  She did start back at work part time, working just the mornings and only at a desk.  I got bad news a week ago when I was informed that the company was doing some corporate re-structuring.  I have now spent 6 days without work and I have cleaned the house more than I would like to admit.  Haven't had any job offers yet, but have met with three different recruiters and hope that I will have something sooner rather than later.  Carter has been doing really good at school, he has gotten almost all of his spelling tests right this year and we have been told he is one of the smarter kids in the class.  A couple of weeks ago Steph and Carter had a mother/son event for the school's PTA.  In true Steph fashion, she is the vice president of the PTA, and was running this event.  They had a scientist come and do some chemistry experiments and while they waited the kids created paper rockets that were shot off by air compressors.  Needless to say, they kids had a great time and it was an even that they will be having again.  This last weekend was the father/daughter dance that the PTA put on and even though Hadley is far from going to it, I still went as our neighbor, who is a truck driver, could not get back to go with his daughter.  It was a good dress rehearsal, but going to a father/daughter dance with someone other than your daughter is awkward to say the least.  Yesterday Carter and I had a "guys" day, we went over to Iowa City for the Hawkeye wrestling meet and basketball game.  It was a long day, but I think that he had fun, if only the basketball game would have had a better outcome.  He did get his picture taken with the Insight bowl trophy that Iowa won last December.

Basketball

Carter has once again started basketball.  He is still in the type of league that does not allow steals, blocks, or keep score, but he enjoys it just the same.  Like most years, he is one of the tallest kids on his team and has a mixed team of girls and boys. He has had two games so far, scoring two baskets in each game and getting in trouble multiple times for blocking shots and stealing the ball.  His team has 12 players on it however, so he spends more time on the bench than he does in the game and he is always the first one to volunteer to go in if someone gets injured.  When he is on the bench, he is sitting on the edge of his seat pining for his turn to get in.  His game has gotten much better since last season, he actually dribbles now instead of just picking up the ball and running like a running back.  He loves playing point guard so that he can have the ball in his hands as much as possible.