A Few Pictures From Saturday

We started off our Saturday with Henry’s baseball game.  He had a couple of good smacks of the ball and did a good job fielding.  He has really bounced back from his injury.

After the game we made a brief stop at the farmer’s market that was set up nearby.  It was definitely not the largest market I’ve ever seen, but it did kind of make me want to set up a booth and sell stuff.  Maybe next year.

On the way back from the market we picked up lunch and then headed over to the church because it was our family’s turn to clean the building.  After sweeping, vacuuming, dusting and tidying, we all practiced bearing our testimonies over the pulpit.

And then guess what?  More baseball!  William’s game was in the afternoon.  He played a great game and did some great fielding as well as having some great hits.  He even got a double.

 

Sunshine and Baseball and Stuff

This has been a baseball week.  The boys had games everyday from Wednesday to Saturday.  Henry’s been working on his range of motion in his arm and I’ve been working on not hovering over him like an overprotective hen.  Ben worked with Henry a bit and deemed him healthy enough to field in his game on Saturday.  He probably would have let him bat too if I hadn’t been such a worry wart.  Henry got to play pitcher, left field and right field.  He sat on the bench when his team was at bat.  I think that in another week he’ll be ready to bat.  I can see that he is getting stronger every day but he is still working on being able to rotate his lower arm from a palm-up position to palm-down position without moving his elbow.

After a solid 3 hours of baseball engagements Saturday morning, Ben and I worked on the yard for a couple of hours.  Ben mowed and I weeded, but I swear it doesn’t look like I’ve done anything at all.  Ben found some frogs while mowing which the kids loved.  Last time he mowed he ran over a rat, so I guess mowing brings all sorts of surprises.  I should mention that Ben’s not the only animal hunter in this house, Tim Tim made his first kill yesterday.  I called him inside and he came sauntering in with a dead mouse in his mouth.  I thought for a second that he had grass stuck to his face but it was a mouse tail.  I panicked a bit and Ben tried to usher the cat back outside with his kill but Tim Tim kept batting the dead mouse across the room on his way out the door.  It was quite funny looking back, but quite gross when we were in the middle of it.  I found out later that Tim Tim kindly brought his dead mouse up to the apartment over our garage and left it for Ben’s cousin Paul.  Nice move Tim Tim.

Oliver wasn’t such a fan of the sun.  I slathered him in sunblock (except for a patch of his face that I must have missed because it turned bright red this morning) and gave him a sunhat and sat him in the shade, but even then he wasn’t happy.  Later that night he double-fisted a snow cone into  his mouth and then this morning Ben discovered that Ollie had cut his first tooth so maybe he was teething and not a hater of the sun after all.  He seems too young to be getting teeth what with not even being 6 months old yet.

In other random news:

• My computer seems to be possessed of an evil spirit.  In the very least, it hates me.
• I’m turning 35 next month which has me pondering all the various eye creams on the market.  I’ve been noticing the faintest of crows feet beginning around my eyes.  It’s silly that I’d even notice considering I’ve had deep frown lines since I was like 7.  I’m pretty sure I was born scowling.
• I want chickens, bees and a dog.  Maybe not in that order, and definitely not for awhile, but someday.
• A few weeks ago our septic alarm went off at 3:30 in the morning.  It turned out to be faulty wiring that we’ve since fixed.  We now have a nice trench in our concrete that we’ll have to fix at some point.  I’ve learned a few things about being on septic.  1.  I don’t like it.  2.  When something goes wrong, I always imagine a giant explosion of poo happening in the backyard.  3.  I’m pretty sure septic guys are paid to stand around in your backyard looking down holes.  Every time I looked outside they were standing around looking at another hole… and they made nice amount of money doing it.
• I danced in a Broadway type musical number for a church activity last month.  I was super nervous about doing it, but it was a lot of fun and it reminded me how much I enjoy dancing.
• Ben is playing his french horn in a church production tonight.  He hasn’t played since we’ve been married (8 years this month!) and I don’t know how long before that, so this opportunity has been really fun for him.
• Adelaide is potty trained.  Unless I declare this fact to anyone in which case she’ll pee her pants.  Without fail.
• I’ve been hanging artwork on the walls.  I can’t tell you what a difference this makes in helping this house feel like our home.

I certainly have a lot of random things to say!  Perhaps I should try and blog a little more often so they don’t pile up.

I have been keeping up on my picture-a-day blog, so that helps a little.

On the DL

Henry suited up and went to his first t-ball game this season.  He brought his mitt (even though he can’t fit it on his hand) to catch any balls that might come over the fence toward him.  He sat on the bench and watched all the action.  It broke my heart just a little bit.  At the end of the game he got to have part of the team snack which almost made up for not getting to play.  Henry is a good kid.

Game Ball

William earned the game ball at his baseball game today.  It was definitely his best game to date.  He hit the ball off the machine at all three of his at-bats.  He played third base and short stop and left field this game and did a great job.  He was so proud of himself.  We are too!

Conference Saturday

I love conference weekend.  Twice a year we get to listen to the prophet and apostles speak at General Conference from the comfort of our own home.  I always take notes to help me pay attention and usually I try to have some sort of packet for the kids to color while they listen.

All the kids did great, but William especially impressed me.  He was listening and paying attention and even told me what his favorite talk was at the end of the day.  Usually I try to make something delicious to go along with all the lounging and today it was strawberry and Nutella crepes.  So delicious!

In between sessions of conference, William had his first baseball game.  It was absolutely the most miserable weather for a baseball game.  It was cold with pouring rain and a side of wind.  Addy and Henry lasted about half an inning before I had to race their shivering blue little bodies back to the car for some warmth.  At Ben’s wise suggestion, I took them to McDonald’s for some hot chocolate.  We brought one back for William who was positively frozen and then parked in a questionably legal spot so that we could watch the remainder of the game from the car.  Ben pulled William into the car before his turn to bat so that he could thaw out a little.  They eventually decided to end the game early and let us all go home to dry out.

It’s too bad it was such awful weather, because William was so excited for his first game.  This is his first year playing machine-pitch baseball.  They get 10 tries with the machine and then tee comes out if they weren’t able to hit it.  At least that’s what happened today.  This year there are also outs which makes it a lot more interesting, though there still isn’t any keeping score.

Soccer Picture

I think Molly looks exceptionally pretty in her soccer picture this year.

Swimming Lessons

This week the boys began swimming lessons.  It hasn’t been easy to get up and out the door for 8:30am swim lessons, but it has been worth it.  The week got off to a tough start when Henry had a near breakdown in his class.  In my defense, the class descriptions are a little difficult to navigate and I really did put him in the class that I thought was right, but Henry’s class was a little too challenging and his teacher was not very understanding or gentle.  About mid-way through the second class my mommy instinct was telling me I need to make a change.  So I marched (waddled) down to the office and requested he be switched right then and there.  Henry joined William’s class and it’s been amazingly wonderful ever since.  Both Henry and William are working hard and have made a lot of improvement in just a week.  (Having a kind and loving teacher makes all the difference in the world!)

We  have another week left in this session and then I’d like to continue with some lessons during the school year.  I just need to figure out a few other scheduling things first.  It’s really important to me that the kids all learn how to swim for safety reasons, but I also appreciate the exercise opportunity it provides.

A Perfect Day

On Wednesday, Ben took his dad and the boys to a Mariner’s game.  It was Ben’s father’s day present to his dad and he scored some great tickets off of craigslist to make it extra special.  Their seats were just a couple of rows behind home plate.

Adelaide and I spent the day at the beach and I remember thinking how unusual it was that Ben hadn’t called me.  Usually he calls to check in with me several times a day to see how I’m doing.  When he walked in the door with the boys that evening, he had the dreamiest look on his face.  I think it’s the happiest I’ve ever seen Ben other than on our wedding day.  It turns out that he got to witness one of his favorite Mariner’s pitch a perfect game from the best seats he’s ever had.  It was a dream come true for him.

After gushing about how wonderful and history-making the game was, he sat down and listened to the entire game as it was rebroadcast.  Oh my.

I may not have shared his excitement, but I loved seeing him so happy.  The boys thought it was pretty cool too.  :)

Golf Camp

William has his turn at camp this week and his choice was golf camp.  He was a little disappointed that he couldn’t hit the ball as far as he’s used to (we have real clubs at home and at the camp they were using plastic clubs with tennis balls), but he had a lot of fun.  They taught the kids some golf basics like driving, chipping and putting and some of the lingo like birdies and par.

They also played lots variations of tag and other racing type games.  He had a really fun time and it was a fun way for him to get some exercise and meet new friends.  He was sad that today was his last day and would have gladly kept going if the camp were longer.

I wouldn’t say that the golf instruction was top notch but it doesn’t really matter.  There is a different more thorough golf program that we’d like to put the kids in sometime this next year.

Our experience with summer camps was definitely positive this year.  It was nice that they were all staggered on different weeks so I never had to feel like I was being pulled in too many directions.  I’m so happy that the kids had a chance to participate in so many fun things.  I hope we are able to do it again next year.

The Rain Strikes Again

When I saw the rain this morning, I thought for sure that Henry’s camp would be cancelled.  When we arrived at the field the rain was coming down in buckets, but after a thirty minute wait to let the lightning and thunder pass, the camp went on as planned.

It was good news too, because I’m pretty sure missing the last day of soccer camp would have broken Henry’s heart.  The same thing happened last week with Molly’s camp, only she had to spend the entire last day inside hiding from the lightning and she was not a happy camper.

Henry played his little heart out and didn’t complain even once about the wet or cold.  He was one of the youngest players there, but he wasn’t intimidated at all.  He scored 2 of his team’s 3 goals (they played three on three) leading his team to victory in their mini world-cup match.  His team got a certificate for the win.

On the ride home he was silent and I looked back to see the saddest little face staring out the window.  I asked him if he was okay and he told me he was so sad that camp was over.  Poor little guy!  I’m glad he had fun this week though.