America's Pasttime

A year and a half ago I signed Jack up for soccer. I believe I consulted him, and he said that sounded like fun. So, after the first half hour, filled with drills and practice, Ryan and I saw our future--sitting on the sidelines, cheering on our own little Pele. Hmmm...then the game began. That brought our dreams to a screeching halt. We realized that our child much preferred practice to playing and the idea to the reality and that 3 is way too young for organized sports. We said to ourselves, "It will be a LONG time before we do this again!"

So, when Jack expressed some interest in playing baseball, we were a bit hesitant. However, he continued to show excitement about the idea, so I figured, Hey, why not? Famous last words??

At this point, no! Jack had his first practice on Friday night, and it went really well! He listened, followed directions, and seemed to enjoy it! Hooray! Here is a picture of our future Albert Pujols! (He's the one in Cardinals red.)

Caroline gets to watch her brothers, but her favorite part was the bleachers.

Our other little kiddo has always loved throwing a ball. (In fact, he often gets time-outs for throwing things, but that's another story.) Remember how we had decided that 3 was too young? Well, we opted to disregard that wisdom and sign Grant up for t-ball. It only took us about 2 minutes to wonder why we'd wasted the money. Because of his hesitancy to do anything, I decided this might be my only opportunity to take pictures of him playing t-ball. Doesn't he look cute in his helmet? Next week both boys get shirts and hats, so we'll see if I get a photo of Grant with his whole uniform and helmet next week!

Mother's Tea

On Wednesday we had the Mother's Tea at school. I made the choice to be a "mom" that morning and not a teacher. It's hard because I teach at the same school, but I don't think anyone really minded, and all of the moms understood--at least, I think they did. I didn't hear any comments from anyone except for how much they enjoyed it. Spending that short period of time one-on-one with Jack was so nice, and I really think I'd like to start making these sorts of "dates" a regular thing for our family. It's hard but even more important, I think, as we add more kids and as they grow up.

Here is a picture of my pre-k kid and me, and although not exactly from the breakfast, it was taken the same day.

Jack made a card for me--here is the front and the inside. I will tell you some of the answers he gave were pretty much accurate and others were not. However, I will not tell you which is which--it's much more fun to guess! :)

He also gave me these lovely flowers.

It's hard for me to believe than in less that 2 weeks Jack will have his pre-k graduation and will be off to kindergarten. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a bit sad and fearful at that thought. He's definitely ready, but I feel like the countdown to kindergarten has started rolling and with that the beginning of the end of his innocence. Is that too dramatic?

Our Easter weekend fun

We had a fun weekend. Because of all of the rain I wasn't sure if we'd be able to do anything outside, but the showers held off long enough for us to enjoy an Easter egg hunt. There were 5000 eggs at this hunt, but they were probably gone within 5 minutes! These kids are good egg finders! Well, my kids didn't get so many, but I am sure other more ambitious kids did!

The hunt was not without obstacles. There were huge puddles of water in a saturated field. Jack decided to swing over this one, which, as I'm sure you can guess, ended with him falling in the puddle and soaking his pants and shoes.

scanning the field to figure out the best egg hunting route

I tried to get a nice picture of the boys waiting with their baskets. This is what I got.

We decided Caroline needed to get in on the fun, so Jack helped her by handing her an egg. She was completely content with her one blue egg.

walking with Daddy

Another activity we did was to make Resurrection Cookies. (Should that be capitalized? Probably not, but it just seems more appropriate or something!) It was really neat to see how each step of making cookies correlated to part of the Easter story. The boys really enjoyed it, and Jack seemed to understand and enjoy the Bible part as well as the baking part.

First we beat chocolate chips just like the guards beat Jesus. Then we smelled vinegar, which is what they gave Jesus to drink on the cross.

We placed egg whites (representing new life), salt (to signify the salty tears Jesus's followers shed and the bitterness of our own sin), and sugar (the sweetness of Jesus's love--that he loved us so much he died for us).

When we finished the cookies we put them in the oven and taped it shut to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb. The magazine where I got this recipe said, "Go to bed. Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus's followers felt despair when the tomb was sealed too." Hmmm...maybe Grant is a little too young for this part. He was literally wailing for around 15 minutes that he wanted a cookie. I felt really bad and tried to use the magazine's explanation, but of course he didn't understand. It just seemed a little cruel to do that to a 3 year old. Maybe next year will be easier for him. Jack didn't seem to have a problem understanding delayed gratification--something to be said for maturity.

Here is how they looked when they were done. The best part is that when you bite into them they are hollow. I explained that they are empty just like the tomb where Jesus was buried. It is so cute because every time Jack bites into one he says, "There is nothing in it! It's empty!"

I loved this activity! It's one of the few times when the boys and I have baked together that I haven't hoped that they would lose interest and go play somewhere else. (Does it make me a bad mom that I admit I usually hope for that?) We will definitely do it in the years to come!

He is risen~Happy Easter!

For your Easter viewing pleasure, I must post the obligatory Easter pictures.

Yes, this is the best one of all three of them.

my handsome boys!

my beautiful baby girl!

What a week!

Here is how the week started--isn't this baby adorable?! She turned 14 months last Sunday!

What a week! Seriously, I think this has been one of the most draining weeks of this winter. Last weekend Grant started coughing, but he's had an on-again, off-again cough for the last few months. On Sunday he seemd to be a bit sicker, but I assumed it was just a cold--no fever, just a cough and runny nose. Monday he woke up with a fever of 102.8. Ugh! That meant not only did I have a sick kid, but I also had to try to find a sub, which is more stressful than having an ill child. Throughout the day I treated him with ibuprofen and Tylenol, but his fever spiked to 103.8 and 103.7. Scary stuff! After 48 hours of this, I took him into the doctor, who tested him for strep. It came back positive, which actually surprised me. He's had a lot of these viral things this winter with the same symptoms: fever, swollen glands, massive tonsils. It's so hard to know when these things are serious and when they are just viral! Anyway, after lots of medicine (we used almost an entire bottle of Motrin), sleep, water, and TV (hey, don't judge until you've been stuck inside with a sick kid for a week), Grant is finally on the mend. Is it too much to ask that no one else gets sick? I'm not sure I can do another week like this one.

You can sort of see his swollen glands in this one.

Grant had so much experience with the thermometer and medicine syringes that his bear, B.B., became his patient when he and Jack were playing.

This is a view we saw often this week--a sick, sleeping boy passed out on the couch while watching a "Thomas the Tank Engine" episode. Poor baby!

She walks!

Caroline has been on the verge of walking for awhile. In fact, I was sure that she would be our early walker and beat her brothers' "walking" age of 13 1/2 months. Hmmm...well, not so much. However, she did start before she was 14 months, so that's a good thing! This video was taken earlier this week and is mostly for the benefit of family who saw her taking a few steps but not really walking. My baby is growing up and will soon be a full-fledged toddler--complete with a will to match. Tonight, before laying her down in her bed, I held her a little tighter, knowing that before too long she'll be too big--and too busy--for me to snuggle her.

But I don't want to do chores!

I had told Jack that we were going to start a "chore chart" for him and possibly Grant. After I vacuumed the kitchen and dining room, Caroline grabbed the vacuum before I could put it away. She was having fun with it until she couldn't push it anymore, which was also when Jack asked, "Are you going to make Caroline do chores, too?" This picture coincided with both Caroline's frustration and Jack's comment. I think we'll wait a few years until Caroline has to do chores!