Season Opener

Treyton had his very first T-ball game this morning. Galina stood in awe of Big Brother.

He had lots of warming up to do.

Especially for the fact that we've been gone for nearly 2 weeks and his missed practices. He and his fellow "Cowpoke" (that's really their team name) threw it back and forth about 20 times. The other kid caught it once. Here's Coach Jared going over the game strategy. When he asked where they went on the bases, after saying the third base, Treyton piped up and said, "Then you go to home base, but you don't really go home."

There are the opponents.

And Treyton was the last one up to bat even though he is number one. He was pretty excited to be number 1, by the way.

And since he was last up to bat, he hit a home run and all the others from the bases got to run home. (That happens to all the last batters in the line-up, but still, in my mind, a home run is a HOME RUN!) He took a break on third before heading home.

Now it was outfield time. I didn't expect much since he's only been to one practice.

But boy was I wrong! Notice his "ready position"? (He's dead center in the photo below.)

After about 3 batters he came alive! Any time the ball was hit he ran to it, usually got it, and sometimes threw it. Other times there was a pregnant pause between getting it and throwing it.

I was amazed at how unafraid he was, how into it he was. No fear of the ball and a willingness to work hard.

My grandpa would have been proud.

There they are going through the hand shake line. Notice Treyton (number 1) with a firm arm grab to the opponent. He is a good sport.

Go Cowpokes!

Cupcake Flower

Here's a super easy craft. All the materials were just cut out from paper. Treyton just glued on the stem, leaves, and cupcake liner. Fun, easy, and not messy!

Two Little Shadows

TWO LITTLE SHADOWS

I saw a young mother with eyes full of laughter

and two little shadows came following after.

Wherever she moved they were always right there

holding onto her skirts, hanging onto her chair.

Before her, behind her, and adhesive pair.

"Don't you ever get weary as, day after day,

your two little tagalongs get in the way?"

She smiled as she shook her pretty little head,

and I'll always remember the words that she said.

"It's good to have shadows that run when you run,

that laugh when you're happy, and hum when you hum.

For you only have shadows WHEN YOUR LIFE'S FILLED WITH SUN!"

I just came across this poem. Boy did it hit me in the head. Lately I've felt very...hmmm, shall we say velcro-like with my kids. I haven't had much of a break. I've been losing patience and being sidetracked by the responsibilities rather than seeing the privilege it is to have kids. But this poem sure puts it into perspective. Yes, the last couple weeks have been tough, but nothing can shadow the joy that raising children can bring. My life is filled with sunshine because the Son has blessed me so graciously. Thank you, Lord!

New Unders

I've noticed that Treyton's unders have been getting a little tighter on him lately. So I decided to pick up some new ones for when they don't fit. Be prepared....that's what my mom always taught me. Still does, actually. My dad too, come to think of it. Oh the little joys in life. Who doesn't like new unders?

Treyton chose sport ones and Galina got flower/prissy ones.

The football pair was his favorite.

Galina didn't care what they looked like, she just wanted them ON RIGHT NOW!

It's a little early but one can hope.

Fancy pants.

Treyton had to wear them for the rest of the day even though they were baggy. It's the style these days in preschool, perhaps?

Super Easy Appetizer Dip

Oh man, I scored again! This recipe is AWESOME! And, part of the reason is that it's so easy.

• PEPPERONI DIP
• 1/2 pound of pepperoni, chopped
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 block of cream cheese

Combo all and bake at 350 for 15 min or until bubbly. (I used low fat soup and fat free chz, and it tasted great, by the way!) Serve with crackers, chips, or bread or whatever your fancy.

To Gross You Out.

Galina has discovered toe jam. And she's been doing this every night lately. The only thing cute about this nasty behavior is how she says "toy jam".

Oh bother!

Boy Flower

At springtime, it's hard for me to resist making flowers and fairies with my boy. But, successfully resisting this temptation, I decided to make another colorful contraption and am naming it a "boy flower". First, I took a container and drew 4 circles. I used two colors of paper for this but you could use all the same or all different. Treyton wanted ONLY blue and green. Then I folded the circles in half.

Getting out the markers, I put Treyton in charge of decorating the circles.

Then I cut a string, folded it in half, and placed it on a circle.

Time to add the glue!

Next I added a second folded circle in blue.

Keeping it folded, I had glue-boy go at it again. He added glue to the other half of the blue circle.

I repeated the process with another green circle.

Treyton added glue to the other half of the green circle.

Finally we added the last circle connecting it to the first one.

So you actually lay this one down as a whole circle.

The circles fit together like this:

Tie the loose strings into a knot, snip the ends, and there you have it. A boy flower to hang on his door!

P.S. Like his colorful spring necklace? I couldn't resist letting him make that...even though he is a boy. Oh forgive me, Treyton, when you see these pictures when you're 16!

Going Back to Easter

I haven't been blogging much lately since I've started digital scrapbooking. Talk about FUN! I became a consultant, so if you're interested, let me know. Anyways, I realized that I haven't made an entry in quite some time. So I thought I'd look back and share our little, quite Easter. First we went to church...which was awesome! My favorite service of the year is on Easter. We have so much to celebrate on Resurrection Sunday. Of course we were running late, and I didn't take any pics of the kids' darling outfits. Shucks. Oh well. When we got home we switched into jammies for the remainder of the day.After church, Bryce became the Easter bunny and hid a bunch of eggs during nap time.

I found some garage sale toys to put in their Easter baskets. Treyton's was filled with transformer-like robot things. Galina's was a dancing doll and some bracelets.

After they woke up from naps, they got their toys and baskets and raced around looking for eggs.

Treyton was the master egg finder!

Galina kept getting side tracked.

And then we decided to color real eggs.

Bryce's Grandma Helen taught him this tye-dye trick. Wrap the egg in a paper towel and spoon the dye over. Then let it sit for a few moments to absorb.

The tye-dye egg is the one in the middle. Good idea, Grandma Helen! Here he's trying it with Galina. More patience than I had, that's for sure.

She was captivated.

After we were done, so was Galina.

Total meltdown.

We finished the day off by watching the movie Jungle Book. All in all it was a great, relaxing day.