♪ Take me out to the ball game ♪

We had our first T-ball game yesterday and all of the kids did so well. First, let me tell you how adorable and hilarious it is watching the kids chase the ball all over the field. They were like little mini baseball players who at times had no idea what they were doing. Very enjoyable! Ethan was able to bat twice, made two home runs, played pitcher and catcher. He loves anything that deals with sports so he enjoyed it a lot. It was so hard for me to take pictures because of the fence in the way but we were able to get some good shots.

Ethan at the pitchers mound.

Ethan smacking the ball

Ethan giving Dad a high five for making it to first base.

Ethan pointing to his next stop..home base!

HOME RUN!!! RAHRAHRAH!!

Ethan sitting in the dugout.
That red mark on his face is due to a playground incident.

Ethan and his teammate Finn

Gracie with Emi, Finn's sister

Good Morning

Lexie is a very happy easy going baby who happily plays by herself when she wakes up in the morning. As soon as she hears her door open she immediately flops onto her stomach and tries to see who it is. I think it is so cute how she immediately knows where to look and how excited she gets when she sees Eric and I.

This what we see every time we open her door.

Kissed by an Angel

On our last trip to Duke for Lexie's stem cell infusion we boarded a plane and I sat next to this woman who I will probably remember for the rest for my life. She takes one look at Lexie and says in the nicest voice, "Oh ..she was kissed by an angel!" I said, "Ugh.. what?" and then she replied with, "That raspberry on her nose. Her angel knew she was really special. So she kissed her on her nose to leave her mark because she wasn't ready to let her go." You know when you hear or see something and you get that feeling in your throat. The one were you think you are close to choking but you just have to swallow and breathe because if not a waterfall of tears will just make their way out. I didn't know this woman but she grasped onto my emotions. During the plane ride I found out she was mother to two special needs children which helped her decide on occupational therapy as a career choice. When I said goodbye to her she gave Lexie a gentle squeeze and said " Good luck with your infusion and it will all be okay....remember, she was kissed by an angel!" So, every time I look at Lexie and see her angel kiss I remember that woman and how she will always be remembered as an angel in my eyes.

Spring Break Party!

The best way to end spring break is by throwing a party...right? Which is what we did! Our friends all gathered and we celebrated but I forgot to take pictures till the end!! However, these pictures made it through!

Finn & Ethan

Lucy & Gracie

Our party animal..Lexie

"If you give a pig a party"

Last week was spring break and we got to join our playgroup at the Magik Theatre to watch "If you give a pig a party". Ethan and Gracie absolutely loved it. With their hands full of popcorn they watched it with excitement. It cracks me up when they roar with laughter after a joke has been told. Lexie on the other hand was a wiggle worm and kept goofing around. Lately, it just seems like she is blooming so much. During the play she was either clapping or trying to steal kisses from me. It was a great day!

African Anteater Ritual

African Anteater Ritual is the first thing I thought of when I saw Gracie dancing on our deck. If you are like me, a huge fan of 80's movies then you should remember a little movie called Can't buy me love which starred a dreamy Patrick Dempsey. Remember the dance he learned for the school dance. How he thought it was some new cool dance move but he missed the end of the TV show where it was stated it was a African ritual. Oh...how I wish I was a teenager in the 80's!

On Fire!

I don't know where he got the motivation from but my hubby was on fire this weekend. He stained the deck, built a raised garden for me and the kids, and added a backsplash in our kitchen. My only request for the weekend was the garden but he must of not thought that was good enough because he went for that and more.

The garden turned out great and the kids had a great time planting and watering it. Gracie was the most excited and kept saying "Such a beautiful garden!" I am hoping this serves as a lesson to the kids about eating healthy, not being wasteful of food and most importantly helping out our local food bank. We can't wait to see those buds sprouting!

However, the project of the weekend was the backsplash and it is FANTASTIC! It has changed the room more than I had imagined and I absolutely love it. Sometimes I just catch myself staring and quietly cursing that we waited this long to install one. When we first moved in it was on the list but it was probably forgotten about when I lost the list. ;)

Lexie enjoying the spring weather on the deck

Ethan working with his tools

Gracie felt jealous and requested I take her picture with her using her tool.....to pose with not actually use.

Hubby working hard!

This one just cracks me up!

Gracie planting our seeds
Ethan helping Mommy move the dirt around

I love how when I ask them to take a picture together, they not only stand real close but they put their arms around each other. Makes this mommy's heart happy!

Before Backsplash

After Backsplash

Yes....he is amazing and very taken!

Kiddie work out!

Went to FUNtastic Playland today and the kids got in a workout too!

Ethan's Announcement

Ethan and Jayden

I still had to get a video of him saying it!!

On Monday, Ethan's teacher informed me that Ethan was going to be apart of Thursday's morning announcement. Since it is Black History month they are covering influential African Americans. Ethan and his classmate, Jayden, were assigned Nat King Cole. Now the way morning announcements are done nowadays is totally different from when I grew up. There is no intercom. Every classroom has a TV. First picture on the screen was the American flag where everyone said the pledge of allegiance and then it was the Texas flag where the same thing happened. After that, the 5th graders opened the show with a introduction of the days events and then it was pre-k's turn for their little skit. Next, it was the first graders turn who's poster board was about Rosa Parks. After they were all done, the principal gets on and gives the rest of announcements and finishes it off. I was way more nervous than Ethan when I realized it was going to be filmed. I pictured the little microphone stand where you push the button to speak. Not a TV Station with a green screen! Thankfully, Ethan doesn't take things too seriously because he did not seem to be concerned about it. He was like..."Yeah mom, we are on TV". When it was his turn to speak, he spoke in the microphone and looked straight at the camera. HOWEVER, my camera cut off half way through their speech. I wanted to cry!!! It wasn't the battery because it was saying it had half of a battery left. Anyways...He did FANTASTIC and didn't really even look at his cheat sheet. I was so amazed at how grown up he looked. What I love is that he was very proud of himself. When we were first given his script, we were both very nervous that he had to memorize it (higher grades get to read theirs) and the fact that there were some big words. Ethan just turned five and we are in the beginning process of reading where we are sounding out small words so I knew I needed to find another way. That is when I realized he just needed hints to help him out.


Here was his cheat sheet. He read the small words and used the pictures to help him with the other words.

I know you are probably wondering how does a boy on a float relate to the word "influenced". Well, I asked Ethan "When you hear the word influence what do you think of."
He said "Like a big float that you have to inflate".
That's when I knew!

Highchair Music

Anytime Lexie is sitting in her highchair you can bet money that she will banging the TV trays the entire time. Sometimes, when we are having dinner we have to move her away from them because it will get to loud and she will not pay attention and eat her food. However, she just tries to wiggle out of her highchair almost falling out to get to them. Her speech therapist cracks up about it all the time.

*I was being sarcastic when I said Lexie was deaf and blind. She is not but unfortunately it is still labeled on her paperwork. They base it on the fact that they have no idea what she sees even though she has done great with every exam. I always reply that they have no idea what I see but no one calls me blind. Oh well! *