Boys of Summer (and other activities)...

Slowly but surely we're seeing signs of spring in the air. The trees are budding, flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and the sun is staying out until well after 8:00 (when it comes out, that is). Because the weather is not quite so freezing (it's still pretty dang cold out), we've been getting out more! Hooray! The most notable thing that's been going on is that the boys have started league baseball. Because it's the first year for both boys, they're on the same team. At first, I didn't know how I felt about it. Okay, I knew exactly how I felt about it. I didn't like it. After a few practices though, I'm okay with it. It makes it way more convenient for me, plus their coach is amazing and I'm glad that both boys get to work with him. It's a good first experience for both of them. Anyway, it's been a long time since I did a good old picture overload. So here goes:
A little backyard spring training:
Josie is such a good little bat girl.

I love that when they practice, everyone gets involved (including Disco - he loves a good game of catch)!
Noah's class has been learning about 'community helpers'. For sharing this week they had to bring something that represented a community helper. Noah got to bring his daddy's old lab coat and one of his stethoscopes. Such a handsome future doctor!
Clayton wanted to try it on too!
Of course they then had to practice listening to their heartbeats.
Disco had to go to the vet to have his nails clipped. Because he gets such bad anxiety when anyone touches his nails he has to be sedated. Poor Disco. Noah was there to keep him company in his melancholy state. I thought it was sweet.
For Easter, the boys got kites. It has been rainy every day since, which has disappointed them so much because they wanted to fly kites so badly. Finally, this weekend, we got a break from the rain and the first thing we had to do was get the kites out! We picked Clayton up from school on Friday and headed straight to the park. Josie played on the playground while the boys flew their kites on the field right next to it. We had an amazing time. We laughed, we ran, we played. It was the perfect kite flying day. I'm so glad we took advantage!

The boys were surprisingly good kite fliers. We loved it and can't wait to go again!

Today was the opening day for baseball. It started with a parade to the park. Each team got to ride in the back of a truck with their coach. It was very exciting and very cute. This is Clayton and Noah's team. They are the 'Martin's Supermarket' team. Unfortunately, Clayton had to miss the parade because of a birthday party, but Noah was able to be there and loved every second of it. I LOVE his grin in this picture (he's bottom right)!
I think he's so cute!
Josie was underwhelmed with the parade. I love this picture so much. It cracks me up.
After the parade, they had some opening ceremonies and then it was time for each team to play their first game. Since it was mostly ceremonial, each team only played one inning. By this time, Clayton was done with his party and was at the game. He has really developed a love of baseball and was thrilled to play in a game today - even if it was only one inning! This is them warming up.
Clayton in the field.
He's actually a great fielder (says the unbiased mom). He really keeps his eye on the ball and goes after it and throws it right where he's supposed to. Since he's one of the oldest kids on his team, he's one of the best and it's good for him to be so successful. I loved watching him out there!
Noah struggles a bit more than Clayton (he doesn't share his brother's enthusiasm). However, I'm hoping that as the season progresses, he'll get better. He knows how he should stand when fielding (so professional).
This was his position of choice for the majority of the inning though. Still cute, but less effective.
Clayton at bat. His pants are huge. I tried to convince him to wear his jeans instead, but there was no way he was taking off his baseball uniform (and he did wear it ALL day long)!
Swing batter, batter, batter.
Noah up to bat. First you have to tap the plate...
...then take a wild swing at the coach pitch ball...
...then make a successful hit off the tee with your tounge out!
Josie was a good cheerleader (way more managable than she was last year).
She was still all over the place, but at least this year she isn't putting everything in her mouth! That alone makes her way easier to manage!
She got hold of Clayton's glove while he was at bat and raced as fast as she could to get to the field. Fortunately she's not too fast and was easy to catch! She wanted to be out there like her big brothers.
A post game pep talk from the coach! Team 'Martin's Supermarket' did great! They're going to have a wonderful season, I can feel it!
This was right before Clayton went up to bat. I don't think I can get enough of the 'tounge through the hole' pictures.
The most handsome boys of summer!
One of their new favorite past times is climbing the trees in the woods by our backyard. There have been tons of scrapes because of these trees, but the boys don't seem to care. They love climbing these trees!
My two little monkeys!
Just thought this was cute. Love that little face.
Our summer is shaping up to be a busy one. However, if this spring is any indication, it's going to be a fun one!

Easter

I had grand intentions of photographing all of our Easter activities this year. Long story short - I didn't. You can blame it on pregnancy, but I don't know how much that actually had to do with it. I just didn't take pictures. Let it be known, we did color Easter eggs, eat a delicious Easter meal, and the children did wear nice springy clothes to church. Fortunately, my sister-in-law never leaves home without her camera! I'm lucky that she lives so close. She can document my children's lives when I fall short.

One of the things we did was have an Easter egg hunt with Jared and Kerstin's kids. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to do it since the weather has been so crummy, but it miraculously cleared up for Easter weekend (and then went right back to crummy). However, we were able to spend the weekend outside, which was nice. The kids were thrilled with the hunt. It was a smashing success!
Despite Josie's somewhat crusty expression, she was super excited to participate in the egg hunt.
Clayton was an easter egg hunting machine! I love that he's old enough to be this excited over all these little holiday traditions!

Landon, Ella, Clayton, and Noah.





Josie was surprised and delighted to find that there was candy in the eggs! I think that was the highlight for her!
Sunday morning, the kids discovered that the Easter bunny had come! Josie was thrilled with her new Dora book!
The goods!
Noah's basket was trickier to find, but he eventually found it. There was a kite and a nerf gun in it! The boys have been dying to go out and fly kites, but since the rain returned, there hasn't been a good day for kite flying.
Airplane candy!
Clayton's Easter basket was the trickiest of all to find. He was a trooper though and persisted until he found it. He was pleasantly surprised with a Magic Treehouse book, a kite, an airplane candy, and a nerf gun! (Smart Easter Bunny. He put the same things in each boy's basket. No coveting, no fighting. He's a genius!)

Josie in her Easter outfit. What you can't see are her super cute gold gladiator sandals. Sometimes I covet her clothes.
Handsome Noah. Tragically, there is no picture of Clayton. Yes, there is some mommy guilt there. He was tying his shoes when I was taking pictures and then we were running behind and I thought 'I'll take his picture after church'. Didn't happen. Bad mommy. He was extremely handsome though.
Post Easter slaughter. We turned our backs on Josie for 10 minutes. Mistake!!!
She'd gotten one of the unwrapped chocolate bunnies off the counter, snuck it into the toy room, chewed through the wrapping, and ate the bunny's face off. You got to hand it to her, she's determined!
Despite our lack of pictures, our Easter was a good one. The boys are old enough to understand the true meaning of Easter and Clayton and I actually had a couple of really good discussions on resurrection and the life of Christ. We enjoyed spending time together with family and had a great weekend!