Opening day, Field Trip, more legs

J had his opening day for tball on Saturday, and this is the only good picture that I got! But this is when their team was announced and they got to wave their hats at the crowd. The look on his face was priceless! He played two games and loved it. Don't ask who won, they don't keep score and I lost track. Although he claims they won the first game, 4-3.


E had a field trip to a park and bakery last Thursday. It was a gorgeous day. We saw baby ducks, the kids played and ended the trip with gigantic doughnuts.


"I don't want a picture."



First ride in a swing... fussed at first and then chilled out when it started to sway.


These are the other baby legs that I got. As you can see above she again decides she will not smile, though she agreed to the picture.


Whole different mood here, that's my girl!

Saturday and legs

We went to a friend's yard sale on Saturday and E took her baby along. There were swings, which was great for the kids to play on while we browsed.


O here kept saying "off, off" in a very calm voice, two seconds later he threw up. Poor guy.


I have been waiting for these knotty legs to arrive and they came yesterday!! I was so excited I changed his outfit immediately to suit.

D walked in and said "hello ballerina". Our conversation went like this:

D: So you finally got some huh?

M: Ya, this lady was closing her shop so she was practically giving them away.

D: So they were free?

M: Well, no...but almost!

D: I see, so you're telling me you actually bought legwarmers for my son?

M continued to explain how she also got them for E his daughter who can wear all of them so really she got one type of clothing item that will work for two kids.

(e's will be modeled in a later post)

Tball and Getting Out

J started Tball a couple of weeks ago and is loving it. He's great at bat (he can hit a ball when D pitches to him), and he's improving on throwing and catching. This has been a great way for him to exert his seemingly endless energy. The only drawback is now on the nights he does not have practice he seems more wired, as if if body now NEEDS tball to wear him out at night.

Great swing, athletic skill from his dad.

Standing around picking his butt, needless to say where that comes from, I'm so proud!

Last Saturday the weather was unexpectedly gorgeous (it was supposed to rain all day) and somehow I didn't make it outside. About 4:30 I started to feel really down, it just hit me and so at dinner I told D that I needed to get out, how about the park? When we told the kids we were going, E did not fail us by asking "why are we going to the park?" "Oh," I said, "because mommy is feeling a little blue." Pause and stare from the four year old...."you're not turning blue." Of course I'm not.

This little guy is such a happy boy. The other day I put him to nap on his belly, went to get him and found him on his back! I can't believe it as he is still shy of 3 months. He loves to talk to us and laugh, it seems so early for all of this, but we love it.

By the time I realized I needed to turn off my flash, they were goofy and done with posing. Ah well, this is the real stuff.

Fun Find

I know that this post has nothing to do w/ the kids, but I wanted to share my found treasure. I love fabrics and therefore was excited with my discovery. SO I have seen this can in my attic for a while now and I finally brought it down and dug through it. It was left there by a previous tenant and since this house is over 100 yrs old, it could have been anyone.

Please ignore dirty laundry in background :)


Here are some of the fun fabrics I found.








There were a lot of knits so I'm assuming it from the 70's. There were also a couple of started clothing items, but I will enjoy playing w/ these scraps.

Nothing Wasted

So my mom saved almost all of my dance costumes (even ones from around E's age) and I finally pulled them out for the girls to play with. Of course they don't pick out the ones that are their size. I'm sure I wouldn't have either at their age. I took multiple pics and could not get E to stand still for any of them.



All of my children have worn camo as babies (coming from a hunting family and marrying a man who also hunts), and I realized that V will be too big for it soon if I didn't hurry. So here he is thrilled with his attire.


J said, "Mom, now take one of me and the baby". He is uber good with his little brother. If I'm making dinner and baby starts to cry, often J will say "I'll take care of him Mom" and then he proceeds to lay next to him and talk to him. SO SWEET! And yes, I am "mom" now. I'm still "mommy" to E, and sometimes I make J say "mom" or "mama". It's so cliche', but they really do grow up so fast. The other day D and I were talking and somehow it made me think of J getting married someday and I started to cry! Goodness, he's only 6 1/2. Still, I can't handle the thought. Another great reason for the Lord to take us now!

Jump and etc.

J participated in Jump Rope For Heart on Friday and had a blast. The school had different jumping "stations" that they set up for the kids. Though he tells me the last station was the limbo. Thank you to Grandpa Maltby and Grandma Linda for their sponsorship! He's going to get some very fun prizes!


E and I had big plans last Wed to go into the city to a super cute kids boutique and with the spending money from Grandpa M, add to her dollhouse furniture. We got there and it was closed! So sad. I then proceeded back to the car to discover that I had locked my keys in my car. Luckily my sweet sister in law was available to fetch our spare keys and deliver them to us. Another blessing is that we were not along. Our friend Deanna was with us to witness my absent mindedness. So after that failure, we headed to Starbucks for treats and as you can see below, E is getting sucked into the subculture(that her dad hates) of Starbucks. It's a short/kid's hot chocolate, no espresso yet!



Three of my dearest girls collaborated and sent V a box of goodies. He is modeling some of the loot below. Yes, the boots are too big for now, but aren't they fun?

Happy Easter

HE IS RISEN!! and you say??? That's right, He is risen indeed! (My friend T and I have a fun tradition of me stalking her by phone and saying He is risen and she responds. I just always loved the way she emphasized the "indeed" that it became a thing. Perhaps it's her Lancaster County accent. Don't hate me t)



The Thursday prior to Easter I filled in for another mom and helped in E's preschool class. She has been asking me to do this for a while now, and when I told her about it on Tuesday, she asked me everyday several times to make sure it was true. I did feel wanted as a mommy. So V and I went to her class and enjoyed observing her in that environment.



Her teacher brought and "Easter bunny" to class. Originally named Barnabas, it is now called Bun Bun after having babies :) E could have held her the whole time, she love love loves animals. (I thought all kids did, but there is a diff between the way her and J respond to them, since they were babies)


Everyone has a job for the month and for March she is the weather girl.



Whenever I ask her what her favorite thing to do in class is she says, "um... i like the painting."




My goofy girl with the bunny ears that she colored and cut and mommy stapled on crooked




Saturday we spent most of the day in our pj's. We read the Easter story (again) and put Easter stories on paper and colored, and then we colored eggs. I always love doing this. We did an egg for V too.





On Easter Sunday we went to church and then headed down to D's moms for lunch. I took a Lemon Velvet Tart. It was delicious!! But it was very rich, a tiny slice is all you need, which is perhaps why it's a cooking light recipe, tiny servings. Okay, I just looked it up for the link...NOT cooking light, it's Southern Living...makes sense.

Decked out in Easter gear.


V's first Easter, and he was looking mighty fine as this outfit matched his eyes perfectly, although the pic does not do it justice.



Yes, an egg hunt. Really I think I do it as an excuse to have some chocolate in the house.


E was not feeling 100% that day. We often found her snuggled up with somebody trying to rest. This time it was Uncle Dwayne.

For those of you looking for the details on V's development, as of last Tuesday he weighed 12.5 1/2 oz. He is 24 inches long. Head and chest have a girth of 15 inches. He is a growing, healthy, happy boy. He wakes up on average 2-3 times a night still and in the mornings I'm exhausted. But he brings us such joy. He is cooing and talking more and more everyday. (video to come) The latest thing I've noticed is that he is talking to toys. Below you'll see a yellow lion(?) that plays music. I caught him talking to it as if he was saying "please, will you play me a song?" In the other one, which was taken today, he was staring and cooing at the giraffe, "oh giraffe, you are so silly!" He's a great communicator :).