The Day the Weather Broke.

 {first float ever of the season}

Two weeks ago we went to Ryan's baseball game on a Saturday morning, as we were walking to the Jeep without a plan for the remainder of our day Jon suggested we pack a lunch and head to Dean Lake with the kayaks.  These boats have been sitting idle since Santa dropped them on Christmas Day so needless to say the kids were over the moon excited at the suggestion.

We packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and made our way to a park nearby that has a quiet lake where the boys could practice their skills in the water.  We called and invited my in-laws to come have lunch with us and do some fishing as well.

We've had nothing but rain in our area for a month straight so sitting in the sunshine wearing shorts was the best feeling in the world.  The kids played frisbee and fished (with no bait) for quite a while. 

It wasn't long before Jon and David came back from their "learning" and invited the kids to take turns, thankfully we had a life jacket for them to share.

 

 
Of course they didn't catch a thing on their little Spongebob pole, but they didn't care one bit because they weren't sitting in the house, they were burning off energy in the sunshine.

Jon said it was so peaceful out on the water, the kids nearly fell asleep on the ride!

{papa fixing the pole one more time}

We ran uptown to find bait but no luck so we bought a couple of beef sticks and cut small pieces off...still no luck but we tried!

When Nonna offered to play catch with Ryan he told her "sure but only for a few minutes because girls don't play catch."

{let's race}

{dad cheated}

As we were getting ready to pick up and go, Haylee said she needed to go pee but there wasn't a bathroom nearby so I convinced her to go behind a tree.  I told her to drop her skirt and underwear (take them off) and then squat to pee.

In her three year old mind I said "drop your skirt and underwear to the ground and wizz all over them...actually just stand there and stare at the pile of underwear you are peeing all over!"  We had no idea how we'd get her home without pants or underwear so I panicked and then came up with an idea.

Her brother wears boxer briefs...how happy do you think he was when I asked for them?

After being cooped up all winter because of the snow and then weeks on end because of the rain, so this day couldn't have been more needed.  We had so much fun as a family doing the simple things and we're already talking about doing much more of it this summer!

Play Ball!

 

{Haylee and her ring pop friends}

It's that time again folks where we spend lots of our free time at the ball field.  Just when I thought my days would be filled with endless nothings because school is over, something else crept in and stole the extra hours out of the day.

This year Ryan was moved up to machine pitch because they were short on coaches and needed Jon.  The first day out Ryan was so nervous, he kept saying "what if I can't hit the ball?" and we assured him that he would learn.  He also just turned six and everyone else on the team is 7 and 8 years old so he was just sure they would all be better than him.

He had a learning curve but just as I suspected he figured it out quickly and has proven to be one of their best players (four of the older kids are playing for the first time ever).

{he still misses occasionally}

It's funny sometimes to see him on base standing next to a kid who is two inches taller than he is.  This is the first year where they've called strikes/outs, kept score and actually had a winner so the level of competition has been kicked up a notch.  When things are getting close in a game this poor child has a mama pacing the fence line.

{ready to run}

I figure if I keep telling him how great he is, he will have the confidence to keep practicing and improving until he gets to a point where he's not playing on confidence anymore.  I think it's working...you know your six year old can hit when the other team's coach meets him at base for a fist bump.  Please excuse all the screaming!

From now until June, this is where we will be and this my friends is my favorite time of year!

No Longer a Tween...

{the requests for food are growing}

Fifteen days ago we had a teenager enter the house, David was a tax day baby but he's baby no more...on a Saturday night earlier this month we invited my in-laws and brother/sister in law over for dinner on the grill.  David's birthday request was a t-bone so we got the good steak for him and the mediocre ones for everyone else.  As you can see he eats his practically moo'ing which really gags me.

David is on the tennis team this year (finally he plays a sport again that we can go watch) and his aunt Heather was kind enough to make him a tennis cake equipped with a net made entirely of chocolate.

Once everyone left we were going to give David our gift (of money because what else does a teenager want) but I told him if he wanted his present then he had to put on the footie pajamas that have been hanging in his closet forever...he sulked but he did it!  I feel some blackmail coming in his future with this photograph.

{Haylee was laughing and snorting which was hilarious}

Even though he's technically a teenager (with a mini-mustache) he still makes time for his brother and sister which is seriously heart warming because they bug the shit out of him.  As of late he has been teaching Ryan how to play tennis off our garage door and even gave him his old racket. 

{yes I had to go buy Haylee one too}

It seems like only yesterday I was changing this little dude's diaper, yes I changed one.  We are so grateful that David doesn't have the typical teenager attitude...yes he's high maintenance but he's respectful, caring, creative and extremely helpful around our house so in my book he's a keeper!