Hey Batter!

Soccer is officially over. For someone who really would rather watch paint dry than watch a soccer game, I can say that it definitely grew on me. But then again it was my little guy out there playing, and I can pretty much watch him do anything.
Now we're starting t-ball because you know taking a break and having a breather from the rat race of practice and games is so overrated! Actually, I really wanted to find something to keep us busy during the summer and t-ball season goes through the end of June. There are definitely practices when I'm sweating through my shirt where I'm second-guessing my decision.

If you are ever feeling down and need a good laugh, go to a t-ball game. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Once again, I can't help but think that boys are the cutest things ever when they're dressed up like grown-ups. So seeing them all dressed up like they're major league baseball players was beyond adorable. One of my favorite moments was watching them look like little bobble heads with their batting helmets on. When the batter would hit it, the entire team (infield and all) would run to the outfield to get the ball. We're still trying to teach "play your position" but he's catching on so quickly. Just look at this action!

Since Nolan's baseball obsession started last summer with the movie Everyone's Hero (he even had a baseball birthday party), t-ball has come very quickly for him. He can knock the stuffin' out of that ball and has a really good arm. He even knocked one so far that I just know was going to be a homerun, but a dad on the other team stopped it with his foot. No, I'm not bitter about that at all. We're still working on catching. He even got the first out of the game and gets a lot of action since he's playing first base. I was so proud of him and screaming my embarrassing "I don't care what you think of me, I'm proud of my baby" scream.

One of the dads came up to me and said, "Are you Nolan's mom? Because I really couldn't tell." I love someone with as much sarcasm as me. Was it that obvious?

 maybe he's just a little nervous...

Coach Eric giving him the talk to get his chicken arms out

Proof that he's got his eyes on the ball...good job Nolan!

running to third

gotta give Mommy five for doing such a great job

our first baseman

Meanwhile, Campbell was the bat boy. I think he thinks that means taking all the bats off the fence.

Dancing with the All-stars

In honor of the Dancing with the Stars season finale tonight, I wanted to share a video of Campbell getting his groove on. We love dancing in our house. At least one or all of us bust into dance at the dinner table usually every night. Campbell reminds me of an old dad dancing at a wedding with those elbows. I caught this one right before Nolan's first t-ball game and he was definitely an all-star. I'll get pics up as soon as I can breathe from end of the year stuff at school...7 more days!!!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Zoo crew

It's been ages since we actually did this, but I wanted to at least show our visit to the zoo. Nolan's BFF at school, Cooper, had a birthday party at the zoo. What a great idea. They brought in an opossum, a parrot, alligator and the cutest little penguin that I wanted to snuggle. Nolan was smiling ear to ear.

 We were really looking forward to it being a family event but the night before Campbell's tummy was a rumblin' and we had diaper changes about every 15 minutes. So we decided that we'd have to make it just a mommy-and-me zoo trip this time.

Nolan has been battling allergies this spring (like his daddy) and was sniffling. So I gave him some Benadryl before we went.  I was a little bummed that he wasn't more excited about the zoo. He just stared at the animals and was like "so what." I gave him my best "we're here and you're going to like it," speech and then he said, "I'm just really tired mommy." Poor thing was practically falling asleep at the zoo. He was so drugged from the Benadryl.

We got to see the new MOLA (Museum of Living Art) and it was so awesome. Too bad at this point we were doing the 4 year old walk-thru because he was crashing and burning. I really want to go back just to see this!

Of course the battery died and so I had to take almost all of the photos with my point and shoot camera so sorry for the bad photos. Nolan's favorite part of the zoo? The giraffes or elephants, right? Nope, the carousel. Umph...next time I'll just make sure we bring lots of kleenex and not give him Benadryl.

Young McDonalds had a farm

The boys had a Spring Fling at their school that was during the day and had to dress up like farmers. I know that we're "Old McDonalds" but we're fresh out of farmer outfits in this house. So we did the best we could with piecing our hodgepodge outfits together. I think they both we're more on the Woody from Toy Story theme rather than farmers, but they were good sports. Don't tell Nolan that he had on his cousin, Avery's boots. Shhhh, he didn't seem to care they were girl boots. Campbell's class "sang" Old McDonald had a Farm. When I say sing, what I really mean is they were on stage staring at us while all the parents sang. It was actually pretty funny. I'm not sure who was really performing. We love and Campbell loves his teacher, Mrs. Laura. As you can see, he couldn't care less that we were there and held a tight rein on her the whole time.

Nolan completely redeemed himself from the Christmas pageant performance. He sang two songs and was singing very loudly, but I couldn't have been more proud of him for not being shy and being such a performer.

 When we got home I couldn't resist taking more photos of him in his outfit. These are some of my new favorites. He, of course, wants to wear this outfit everyday now and his newest "when I grow up" ambition is to be a cowboy and help people. Yee Haw!

A real love story

My friend Beth sent this to me and I was laughing out loud it was so funny. Soooo true! 

And the trophy goes to...

Saturday was our supposed to be our last soccer game, end-of-the-year soccer party, and our first t-ball game. How in the world were going to do it all, I have no idea. And thank goodness for the rain on Friday because it was all canceled. So we were able to make it to the soccer party. Each kid got their trophy and Nolan was appropriately named, "Most Improved." I would say that he definitely earned that title! Those three goals he made were the biggest confidence booster for him and he talked about it all week. He was so excited about that trophy and we are so proud of him and how he came out of his shell at the end of the season!

Our coach's wife makes cakes (good to know for future parties) and made an adorable soccer cake for the kids each with their own little star. We took our cake "to go" but I think we ate half of it in the restaurant because it was so good.

We took a group shot and it was too cute how proud they are were of their trophies. In the car, Nolan said, "It has a star, because I'm a rock star." Let's not get ahead of ourselves, David Beckham.

But my favorite of the day wasn't the trophy or that he thought he was a rock star. When we got home and as I tucked him into bed for his nap, he asked me, "Mommy, how old am I now?" That crazy rock star thought it was his birthday party! You know it's a little confusing. There were lots of people,  presents (trophy), and there was cake...everything you need for a birthday party, right? I'm proud of him that he was happy enough just getting a trophy...good to know before I spend a ridiculous amount on his party.

Through the eyes of a child...

I had to share this picture that Nolan recently drew. He drew it in Sunday School. It's a picture. No, not of a jack-o-lantern...it would be a portrait of me. Normally, this kid's artistic talent is undeniable, but either I need some plastic surgery or he might have had an off day. I do love that he gave me some glammed up eyelashes and Angelina Jolie lips though...that part I'll keep.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

As you know from my past posts, I had finally come to the realization that Nolan was going to be our brain, and maybe not so much our athlete. He gave me a glimmer of hope a few weeks back, but then was back to his butterfly chasing/flower picking self for the past two weeks.

Saturday morning our church just put in a brand new playground for the kids and Justin went up there to help. He came home to see Nolan's last soccer game, but I was on my own in the morning and Campbell was in a mood...a big one. So it was a challenge to get them fed breakfast and lunch, soccer gear on and out the door in time for the game in between tantrums. I didn't have time to eat lunch myself and Justin had been so busy working on the playground that he hadn't eaten either.

I had sort of given up on the soccer season last week. I mean we didn't even bring the camera or camcorder for goodness sake. We're starting t-ball this week so I had pretty much moved on. I told Justin, "I'll go grab us some lunch." Those are my famous last words that will haunt me forever. I ran to Subway and it took me a little longer than expected and call it mother's intuition, I thought to myself, "Watch him score his first goal while I'm out getting something to eat," as I was driving back to the game.

Sure enough, as I'm walking up Justin says, "Hey, Courtney has something to show you on her camera." And I knew...I was officially the worst mom. I was so upset at myself that I had done that. Then my inner 5-year-old self came out. I was pouting. I couldn't believe that I had been so stupid to miss his first REAL goal. Those other two don't count...one was for the other team and the other was when the ball was dead. This one was the Real McCoy!

Well, I guess Nolan saw me pouting and didn't want to disappoint because not even five minutes later, he ran the ball down the entire length of the field and scored. You better believe that I was acting like a fool...Subway sandwich in hand and all. There were olives and lettuce flying all over that field! He was so proud of himself!!! I felt a little bit redeemed but was still kicking myself for missing that goal. What do you know, he goes and scores ANOTHER goal! TRIPLE threat! At this point I think he's really wanting me to just eat my words. Thank goodness for other moms who AREN'T losers like me. My neighbor, Courtney, videotaped his first goal. How lucky was that? She (like all of us) thought that her son Hank was going to score the goal. So I keep telling myself that I didn't really miss his first goal, I just saw it on videotape. Go with me on it, ok? It helps me sleep better at night.

Don't blink...you might miss it!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Mother's Day

Saturday was a full day of soccer and a young family event at church so we crashed hard early Saturday night. So my first Mother's Day gift was that the boys let me sleep in until 9:00. I had to go wake up Nolan at 9:15...he was out! It was wonderful and very much needed to catch up on sleep. I'm known to stay up way too late working on blogs and other silly things (it's the only time that I have time!). I asked Nolan to get dressed and this is what he came downstairs looking like. I had to pause as late as we were to take a picture....so priceless.

Before we left for church I wanted to get at least a couple of pictures to remember Mother's Day with my boys, so we snapped a couple in a jiffy before walking out the door. And, you even get to see my flowers while they're still living...just give it a week.

 I found out that I was the back up for Children's Church this weekend and the teacher just had a baby so understandly their family wasn't at church. Justin took care of it and made sure that someone else covered it so that I had a teach free day at church...so sweet. They handed out flowers to all the moms in church...too bad my children walked past me and were looking for some other mama. Justin had to chase them down the aisle to point out where I was. Justin sang and played guitar during the service with another church member, Dee, called "Mama's Last Amen" There were ladies tearing up all over that sanctuary. It was pretty and I was so glad that I got to be in the service to hear it.

Next, we headed to my mom's house to celebrate with her. On the way, Nolan called Gram (Justin's mom) to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. We wish so much we could all be together to celebrate.

My sister and her girls were there and my wonderful niece Madison took both boys to eat outside with her and my other nieces so that I could have a nice quiet lunch. It's the small things in life that make me happy. My mom was happy to have most of her grandkids with her. Can you believe she's missing five grandchildren from this picture?

After our wonderful lunch we exchanged gifts and cards. I'm still enjoying the beautiful flowers that the boys brought me to my picnic. I decided after smelling these flowers throughout the house, that I might just go buy myself flowers every week. I also enjoyed a fabulous pedicure that made me just melt.

 Since it was a little chilly out today, we cuddled up in a blanket. I'm not sure if it was because it was Mother's Day, or just because they were cold, but the boys actually sat there and let me snuggle.

Before I had children, I NEVER cried at movies. Justin used to call me heartless while he would be fighting back the tears. Notice I said before children because now I'm an absolute mess. All it takes now is a commercial, and it's a weekly event when we're watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition to send me looking for Kleenex. I can't help but think of "What if that were my child," with anything I approach in my life. I bawled today in church, cried Friday night at a movie and that's just in the past two days. I know that I've never laughed, cried, or smiled as much in my life as I have in the past 4 1/2 years. What can I say?  I love these boys so much. They are my strength. They are my heart. They are my everything.

A Day at the Museum

Since I only showed pictures of tantrums and pouting the other day. I really wanted to show how much fun we had with our friends at a birthday party at the museum. It was such a beautiful day that we ate outside and let the kids run.

I never knew that Tinkertoys could keep my children entertained for so long. I might have to put that one on a birthday/Christmas list. Usually toys with a million different parts drive me crazy, but if it keeps them that entertained it might be worth it!

Can I just tell you how happy I am already that we spent the money on the family pass? We've already used it three times since Spring Break. I think it's going to be a lifesaver on those hot summer days where I need something to do. I highly recommend it...pays for itself in two visits.

Here's the birthday crew.

Campbell got a chance to go shopping for some food. I don't know what it is but I find irresistibly cute when little ones act like grown ups...cooking, shopping, dressing like grown ups (like the boys dressing up in suits for Easter...they looked like they were going on a business trip). So during his grocery trip, I just couldn't help but have a smile on my face seeing him put fish, cheese, bagels and checking himself out at the register. Am I the only one who finds this irresistible?


This one is my favorite...I mean seriously how cute is it that they just look like miniature grown ups?!