Making memories

Our extent of outdoor play is limited, to say the least. The only time I go outside is if I'm in a pool or walking to my car. Even checking the mail waits until the sun is near going down. I thought it might just be me being pregnant and feeling like I'm in a constant state of "Stop, Drop and Roll" because I'm so on fire. But I know it's not just me because everyone's talking about how we're over 20 days in the triple digit heat and looking up the forecast is the biggest waste of time because there is no end in sight.

At the beginning of the summer, I ordered the boys to play outside right after breakfast for at least 20 minutes but they would only last 10 minutes and I gotta tell you, I don't blame them. It's brutal! One evening the boys really wanted to play catch with their daddy. It was after 8:00 p.m. and we actually made it outside to tolerate it. But these boys were craving some much needed outdoor time.

 

 

With the t-ball season over (THANK YOU JESUS!) it was good practice to throw and play catch. It seems now that the season is over, Nolan's actually got a pretty good idea on how to work that glove to catch the ball. 

Campbell, on the other hand, just loves to make the meanest pitching face he can to intimidate the opponent. But for every mean face, he has a super sweet face.

 

I'm SO getting payback from the torture I put my mom through...my favorite phrase as a kid? "Mom, watch this!" But it usually was more like this...

"Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, MOM! Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom, Moooooooooooooooom, watch this!" 

They loved getting to have that time outside because it feels like it's been months since we've done it. And getting some quality time with Dad was probably the best part of it.

Shortly after this, Justin took them to see a Fort Worth Cats game all by himself while I was on my girls' trip. I thought he'd lost his mind but he said that they absolutely loved it. Guess I just needed to be out of the picture and give them some male bonding time.



Of course, it wouldn't be a typical evening if someone didn't get hurt.

But that can easily be fixed by just acting like you're going to bite their face off. Silliness seems to work a lot better than being overly sympathetic in our house. It must be part of raising boys.

Fort Worth Scaredy Cats

To kick off Father's Day weekend, we packed up the boys and headed to a minor league Fort Worth Cats game. It's right by our house and it's so nice that we can kind of get our feet wet before he hit the major league baseball games with both boys. Last time, it didn't go so well with Nolan. Long story short... Nolan hates fireworks.

I'll admit I was preparing myself for a little bit of forced family fun since it was nearly 100 degrees that particular day and Campbell will not stay in any place for more than 5 seconds. But I was pleasantly surprised that both both were great during the game. Nolan was captivated by the players. Campbell was more captivated with the Cat mascot and pointed him out every minute of the game. We mentioned to Nolan that fireworks would be after the game. He seemed a little worried but said, "I'm going to be really brave, mommy. They're just lights in the sky, right mommy?" We just kept reassuring him that he was going to love them all the while thinking, "Hope he doesn't flip out."

I don't know what it is about baseball that just makes you happy. You just feel so American watching it. And the stadium is right by the river so we had a couple of people ride up on horses...only in Texas.

You could just see that Justin was eating up every second of having his boys there to watch the game with him.

Everything was going so well. I even thought for a moment...wow, things are getting so much easier now that both boys are getting older. Why do I do that to myself? Why do I allow myself to let my guard down? The Cats won and then it was fireworks time. We didn't know the stadium was going to go pitch black.

Cue the meltdown...

Then the fireworks started....and so did the crying screaming. I know the people in front of us were hating us. Justin had Campbell and I had Nolan and in unison we were holding both of their ears and pleading for them to calm down. To make matters worse, we chose to sit closest to the fireworks and so they were really close. At this point we're so far away from the car that by the time we'd get to the car, the fireworks would be over. So we just toughed it out. It was one loooooong fireworks show. I think Nolan said, "Is it over yet?" at least 30 times.

That's it, I'm buying earmuffs for the 4th of July.

Take me out to the ballgame sing along

One night in the midst of rocking to Campbell to sleep one night, I decided to spice things up from our normal run-of-the-mill songs and I sang "Take me out to the ballgame." And, that's when the obsession started and Campbell ever since requests "SOCCER BALL!!!!" every night a million times before bedtime.

He then started to sing with me and it's just about the cutest thing hearing a toddler sing. My favorite part is that he's making key changes. He's like his mama, it might not be the right key but at least he's trying! I

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Nolan Ryan

Well maybe that's not really his name but he's definitely taken to baseball. One day this summer my parents watched the boys. My parents are the equivalent to Netflix when it comes to their movie selection. We "rent" from them quite often. My mom bought this new movie called Everyone's Hero about baseball and now it's his newest obsession. To be honest, I'm ok with starting a new one. Cars was starting to get old after two years. Now he sleeps with his baseball, wears a baseball hat 24/7, and imitates the movie several times a day with conversations we have.

So we got out the t-ball set along with the bat and baseball and he's really good! He can make contact with the real bat when we pitch to him. My favorite was when he was up to bat and he suddenly spit on the ground. I was a little disturbed but he told me, "That's what they do in baseball." So funny! He likes to throw the ball and act like it's in slow motion like the movie too and his facial expressions are hysterical. He had a hard time remembering where to put his hands on the bat so I came up with a little reminder since he had a freckle on his left hand. I told him to put his freckle on the bottom. Now when he picks up the bat I can hear him whisper to himself, "Put your freckle on the bottom." He's really good at taking pointers and doing what we tell him. So now when I play with him he'll tell me, "Mommy, don't take your eyes off the ball!" Here's a few of my favorites!

Nolan's interpretation of Yankee Irving (below)...pretty good!