Baseball All-Star

Check out my favorite All-Star baseball player...soooo handsome! Go METS!!

Playing 1st base and ready for action

Action Shot! Getting that ball always requires a good roll!

Sleepy Baby

I love it when they fall asleep like this...

Oil Ranch with Daddy

April 21st marked Field Trip Day for Jack's class. This trip was to the Oil Ranch and Luke went as a chaperone; having been as a child, Luke was excited to take his own boy to experience everything the ranch has to offer. As you can see from the pictures below, a fantastic time was had by all!!

Jack and his friends Hannah and Avery -- they all rode together

Jack's class

Jack climbing on the tires

Handsome big kid

Riding his horse...love this face

Jack's yelling "Saw 'em off!" at the longhorn.

Pumping water

Milking a cow -- we had to explain that the milk did NOT come from the cow's wiener...apparently cow parts are a little different than people parts for him

Jack wandered over to hear this lady teach about Native American items...notice he's in the middle of another school.

checking out a teepee

Jack was the first kid to climb to the top and ring the bell

Halfway to One!

Now that Grace is 7 months old I thought I'd share her 6month stats (insert sarcastic chortle here). She weighed 15lbs 11oz (roughly 35th percentile), was 24.25" long (roughly 5th percentile...shorty!) and had a head circ of 17.25" (roughly 75th percentile...up from 50th -- surprise she has a big head!). Overall she is growing well. Since her visit with the doctor a month ago I know she has exploded in length as suddenly all of her pj's are too short. Grace basically skipped 6-month size clothes. She can squeeze into a few onesies still but mostly she's in 9-12 (0r 6-12 depending on the brand). That particular accomplishment puts her in a new category for Pearson babies as the boys never wore a size beyond their calendar ages.

Let's see...things she can do (could do at 6 months). Grace is loving tummy-time. She picks her feet and arms/head off the floor and can spin herself on her tummy, making it easier to get a good look at all her brothers' shenanigans. Grace is an independent sitter. This particular feat is also much earlier than the boys, and truthfully is more of a survival skill than anything. She HATES solid food. OH MY does she hate it! At 6 months she's tried cereal of all kinds and all consistencies and screamed through it all. Now that we are firmly in her 7th month I can say that we got the go-ahead from the pediatrician to move past cereal and onto veggies only to find that she hated sweet potatoes as well. I made them at home, bought her Gerber, everything to no avail. Gave up on those and moved to squash only to discover she loves them! Can't get enough of them! (I tried to return to sweet potatoes and they were still a no-go but we also like carrots now!). Grace is crazy-attached to her pacifier and is in the midst of a teething storm -- nothing to show for it though but a lot of cranky-girl and copious amounts of drool. Additionally Grace is quite the talker. She is super-loud (to be heard over the boys) and babbles incessantly (another huge surprise...). Grace seems to like to be around girls; I think she likes the conversation (or maybe she just appreciates not having darts stuck to her head all the time,). Unlike the boys who wanted to face the world when carried, Grace prefers to face her holder; she gently (most of the time) places her little hands on your cheeks and likes to stare at your eyes. Finally, she is IN LOVE with her brothers and her daddy; the boys always make her laugh and she saves the biggest smiles for Daddy's homecoming after work.

Happy 6 months my blue-eyed beauty!

Grown-Up Thoughts

Now that I've posted a plethora of pictures (not pinatas for those curious) and have satisfied the kid-picture need in so many readers it seems "ok" for me to return to my blogging roots. I begin with only a few caveats: one -- don't judge my writing as I'm beyond rusty; two -- the details I set out on this virtual notepad are all the ones I want to disclose; don't ask for more because I'm bad at saying no and don't ask to talk about it...not in the mood. Alright. Here we go.

I've been thinking a lot lately about regret. Real and true grown-up regret. Not "I shouldn't have worn heels when subbing in 3-yr-old Sunday School" regret but "that was a terrible decision and I would do just about anything to change it" regret. Yes I know...everything happens for a reason. And I used to ascribe to the school of thought that held changing any one decision could potentially change them all, resulting in unforeseen disaster. I used to...until now. Now I stand at a place in my life where I can honestly say I messed up; I made a mistake; I chose poorly. I thought I was doing the right thing, making the correct turn on the right street. Bottom line I thought I was following the path God set out. Now I have a gut-wrenching feeling that I was wrong, terribly and horribly wrong. Fix it seems to be the culturally conditioned response. Only I'm learning there really are things that are unfixable and this is one of those things.

I like metaphors -- they take the ambiguity out of things. So here is my current one: it feels like I'm on a road and I look to my right and I see the road I'm supposed to be on, going in the direction and toward the destination for which I was originally destined. And me? I'm stuck on a road, heading ultimately to the same destination but rather than taking the beautiful, scenic route I'm taking the route that detours through the dark and desolate. And there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I will forever miss out on the beauty because I made the wrong choice. Depressed yet? Seriously though...this is the first time I've ever had true regret. Perhaps another part of being "grown-up." Whatever it is, whatever it's called, it's new and awkward and thought-consuming these days.

That's enough for now I suppose...time for more pictures, yes?!

He Did It!

April 19th found us at Jack's preschool Spring Program (yep -- a different one than WAM). This time Jack was in blue and singing about being a boat. The BIG NEWS of the night was that for the first time, in all the many performances he's been in, I caught him on camera dancing and singing!!! He was singing about being a gorilla. OOOOO-ah-ah-ah!

Brothers are for...

Teaching you about dragons while hangin' out in under-roos.

This is not a posed picture. I heard Sam babbling on about dragons and such and came around the corner to find them like this.

WAM Spring Musical

April 7th, the WAM (Worship Arts Ministry -- think kids' choir) presented it's preschool spring musical. It was a fun-filled evening full of songs celebrating spring and Jesus's resurrection. The 4-year-olds were flowers (the girls) and bees (the boys). As has been true in every other performance, though Jack knew every single word to every single song in the program and though he could do the motions in his sleep he was overwhelmed by watching the audience and the other kids. He sang but with little emotion and often forgot to do the motions. He just gets so caught up in people-watching. No matter -- he made a cute little bumble bee!!

My Easter Bunnies

You have no idea how much work it took to get this picture...


I thought I was going to have to settle for something more like this...

NASCAR fun

For my Dad's 50th birthday we all pitched in to get him a NASCAR experience -- 8 laps in a real race car at the Texas World Speedway. We made the roadtrip at the end of March to watch the experience live. We had a BLAST! The boys loved the cars and I thought I was going to have to pull Sam off the track (seriously they needed a higher retaining wall!). Dad ended up driving 16 laps and from all the pictures he had a good time. Now the boys yell "Go Papa GO!" at every racing game they see/play; Jack tells me he's moving to Pearland to get ready for his race someday when he'll get to race #88 (that was Dad's car); Sam shouts "PAPA RACE!" when he hears a big engine. Jack is still wondering why there was no trophy though...

Enjoy the pictures of our trip!

Dad driving the #88 car -- his 2nd 8 laps :)

The boys watching the cars zoom past

Dad ready for the day

Sam checking things out

Jack -- and his goofy new pose

Little Boys with Big Boy Toys

Our Guitar Hero

Grace decided to play guitar with Daddy. She liked the lights! Truthfully she went to the guitar on her own -- Daddy just helped her get into playing position. Silly little girl!

Bottled Giggles

I wish I could have bottled the giggles that filled the air this day. Sigh. The pictures will have to do.