Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Some of Nash's friends from kindergarten formed a baseball team with one of the dads as the coach. Nash was over the moon at the first team meeting to already know so many players.

Those boys had no trouble bonding.

Nash was a little slow to warm up to baseball. 

He was often on another planet in the outfield but he did enjoy his rotations in the catcher paraphernalia. 

By the time the last game of the season rolled around, he was starting to enjoy the sport a bit more.

He definitely enjoyed goofing off with his buddies in the dugout while he waited for his turn to bat.

He eventually started remembering to drop the bat and run.

Nash had the best cheerleaders each Saturday.

He was so proud of the pin they gave me to wear. I couldn't get over how funny and endearing his photo was with his squinted eyes and one ear sticking out.

They let all the boys sign the team banner at their last game.

And then something kind of amazing happened. In the last inning of the last game, Nash was the last up to bat and the bases were loaded. 

He slammed the ball straight down center field. Nash wasn't known to make a lot of contact with the ball, so there was a ton of cheering going on from the team, coaches and parents when he made his best hit of the season.

He ran around those bases and couldn't wipe the smile off his face as the crowd (albeit small crowd) went wild. It was the perfect way to end a season of growth.

I can't speak highly enough about the coach and assistant coaches that were so patient with him. The parent support was off the charts as well. We formed a tunnel after every game for the boys to run through. 

And let's not forget the main reason Nash was on board with each practice and game. The beloved trophy that he knew would be placed in his arms if he kept at it.

It will be nice to reclaim our Saturday mornings but I'm a little sad that this season is over. Nash says he wants to play again next year and we're crossing our fingers that he can play with his buddies and amazing coaching staff again.

Mother's Day

My mind is drawing a blank on what to write. There's so much I could say about mothering and the mothers that influence me. But I'm having a hard time focusing amidst the bickering siblings in the background, the slew of uncompleted homework spread out on the kitchen table, the pleas for it to be dinnertime, the fear that the baby will wake up any second and the rush that will come as soon as the dinner hour, cub scout pack night and bedtime begin.

Yes, I'm in the thick of mothering and even though I often feel like I'm losing my mind because everything is swirling around me faster than I can keep up, these boys make my world go round.

Troy and the boys made sure I felt loved and appreciated on Mother's Day, starting with breakfast in bed and lots of homemade gifts.

Troy covered every meal of the day. He knows that the way to my heart is bread and cheese so he tried out a new bread blossom recipe after church. What made all of his preparations even more impressive is he didn't eat anything he made because he's been eating really healthy. He even timed the grilling of the chicken for dinner to be completed at the same time as the corn on the cob, biscuits and roasted potatoes. That is no easy feat and his labor of love was not unnoticed.

My only requests were some time alone (I was able to escape for a few hours over the weekend and it was dreamy) and some photos with my boys. Let's just say some boys were more cooperative than others. 

It sounds and looks like any sort of down time I might have had is now officially over, so there you have it. Mother's Day 2016.

36 Hour Reunion

Just over a year ago, we lived within blocks of two families that were some of our best friends. We went on dates almost every single weekend, took trips together, found out the gender of babies together, worked out together, played on sports teams together and celebrated holidays together. Our family was the first to break up the group but another family moved to Vegas a few months after we moved to California. And next month, the one remaining family is moving to Michigan. 

Since we're spreading out all over the country, we worked for months to try to find a date that all of us could meet up in Vegas. We were determined to have one last reunion while everyone still lives within driving distance of each other.

We finally found a weekend that would work, but it meant rearranging flights, missing events and only having a 36 hour window of time together. The weather was gloomy and half of our family was sick, but that didn't stop the boys from thinking they were in absolute heaven, surrounded by their friends they miss so much. 

Not even rain could keep them from throwing their swimsuits on multiple times and jumping in the pool.

Even Crew tested out the water.

I thought he would only get his toes wet but before I knew it, his shirt was soaked.

Finn came down with a brutal fever and wheezing cough. He slept on and off the entire time we were there. 

It happened to be one of my friend's birthdays so we did manage to escape for dinner and dessert at the Paris hotel. It's hard to think about how far away we all live from each other now and how much has changed in the last year. It's a good thing Michigan happens to be my home state and Southern California happens to be a vacation destination because I don't think I could go too long without seeing these faces.

Strawberry Fields Forever

We joined our preschool aged friends on a field trip to pick strawberries. Despite the scowl on Crew's face, he was genuinely thrilled about being on a real farm.

He might have been slightly nervous about the fresh vegetables they passed around on the hayride.

Especially the onions.

Finn was happy to be entertained by other boys on the field trip.

We eventually arrived at the strawberry patch.

Crew was very careful about picking the very best strawberries to fill his basket.

Only Finn would taste the fresh strawberries from the ground. Crew was insistent that we had to go home and get a knife to chop them up before eating them.

Finn discovered the art of chucking strawberries across the patch.

He eventually lost interest in eating and chucking strawberries, so he moved on to collecting rocks.

We left with red hands, muddy shoes and a pound of delicious hand-picked strawberries.

Less than 12 hours later, that pound of strawberries was long gone.