Batter Up!

Memorial Day baseball. One more week of school left until it's summer for our house. (This will be a short post, as I'm testing out the Blogger app on my phone.)

Two More Weeks

Monday, May 13th:

At Jocie's house- Reid flying on the swing while Aiden inspects the ants by the flowers:

Reid wanted to wear his sunglasses once we arrived home. I only caught a little bit of him singing, but he's our guy who tends to break out into song. You'll notice his fingers are doing the itsy-bitsy spider motions:

Thursday, May 16th:

I met up with Sandy and Jennifer who walk to school. They live on the other side of this golf course. I parked my car at school and run/walk to meet up with them as close to their houses as possible and then walk back to school with them. My long shadow on the golf course:

Eric sent me this picture of the boys at the park. He said they spent a good half hour throwing pebbles in the pond:

That day, I joined Sandy and Jennifer on the way home too. I got in a little over four miles that day. It felt good to get some exercise and I hope to get a lot more this summer. My much shorter shadow in the afternoon heat:

Some more views of the the golf course:

The boys when I arrived home:

Eric and I went to a Rockies game. Coors Field is straight ahead:

Grandma watched the boys and tried to FaceTime from her computer. I could barely see them (the sun was still in our eyes), and they could only hear me but could never make a video connection:

Go Rockies!

Eric left again on Friday, but he had almost a 24-hour (minus commute time) layover in Denver on Saturday/Sunday.

Friday, May 17th:
Reid and I played baseball. He is purposely slow-motion pitching so I could take some pictures. He's really into the mechanics of hitting and throwing and is quick to give me pointers if I'm doing it wrong:

This is his mean face to intimidate the batter:

This is his new glove that he received for his birthday:

Now he's the fielder while I pitch to Aiden. He dives for every ball he's going for:

Aiden would prefer that the press buzz off:

Slide!

Safe!

Saturday, May 18th:
More baseball. Aiden is showing off his intimidating look:

Sunday, May 17th:
A brief FaceTime with Stooey and Uncle David:

I made some brownies tonight so I could make my Ma's Chocolate Marshmallow Frosting. I hosted book club on Tuesday night and she brought them over. (I picked my dad's favorite: Steinbeck's Tortilla Flat. While I loved it, everyone else hated it. Except for Ma, who I don't think was giving me a sympathy vote.) Luckily, the brownies were a big hit and Eric ate all of the leftovers before I had any more, so I figured I would make another batch tonight. Aiden was happy to help. "Yummy! I wuv bwownies!"

Sometimes the boys like to bring an item upstairs to hold while we're reading books. Aiden forgot his item so he went back down to retrieve it. He made me and Reid laugh when he showed up with an armful including two bats and a baseball.

Mother's Day Weekend, 2013

Wednesday, May 8th:
Daddy's turn to read a bedtime story. We usually read six books and trade back and forth. He left on a five-day trip the next day.


Thursday, May 9th:
While I was finishing getting ready, Aiden told me he needed to wear two of my necklaces that day. He agreed that they would probably end up getting broken while playing at Jocie's house and decided to leave them at home.


Friday, May 10th:
After five weeks with snow and a week with rain, Friday felt like a true spring day. Grandma took care of the boys that day, because Jocie needed to take the day off. They had a great time with her, including bike-riding and making play-doh. (The next five are from her camera.)











That evening, we went back outside to play after supper:

Waving goodbye to Grandma:

Aiden had to watch her car drive away as close as possible:

Turning back to me in great delight after Grandma honked the horn:

Off they go on their new birthday Strider bikes. Right now they don't really sit down on the seats, but just walk their bikes wherever they are going:





I thought they were going to ride around the cul-de-sac, but they had another idea. They wanted to run along  the rain gutter, which I didn't realize had been dammed up with mud and sticks. The boys had very soggy shoes and socks by the time I discovered what they were up to.











My new Facebook cover pic:





I figured there was no sense stopping the fun at that point, so I just moved my lawn chair over to the trail and continued to work on my knitting. Someday this will be a scarf/shawl. Hopefully before next winter.

Selfie.

Grandma walked by as she enjoyed a nice evening walk:

"Bye, Gwanma!!!"

The drowned rats:








Saturday, May 11th:
The boys "rode" their bikes over to the park.














































Reid told me Daddy wears his hat like this and wanted to make sure I took some pictures we could send to him:





Another lovely evening, which included hauling rocks:










Sunday, May 12th:
Mother's Day and one year without my dad. :(
Snuggling with my guys in the morning:


Decorating Grandma's Mother's Day card:

Meanwhile, Eric went from New York to Miami and back again:

The boys and I picked up Grandma and headed for a Sunday morning drive in the mountains. We went up to Conifer and Evergreen, which if you look them up on a map are part of my huge school district:

A stop at a park in Evergreen:





Me and my Ma. :)

This evening we were able to FaceTime with David, Kelsey, and Eva:




We tried to get a picture of the boys with Grandma outside this evening, but they ran away to hide behind the trees. As Grandma was getting ready to leave, she suggested they sit up on the half wall, which was the most exciting idea ever! The boys both chose to wear their Rockies shirts today. That would have put a big smile on Papa's face. I can't decide which one I like the best:









Bath night. After baths, I sing "Rock-a-bye, Baby" to each of them. Tonight they were adamant that I needed two babies to rock at the same time. Good thing the three of us are good about sharing tight quarters.









Pouting about something. I think I made them stay upstairs while I retrieved their water:

Back to smiles during book time. Aiden was sitting on the edge of the bed rail behind me while Reid was on my lap. They take turns sitting on my lap through the six books:








Before I forget a couple of little stories, I was tucking the boys into bed last week and was telling them that I loved them "Lots and lots!" Aiden: "I wuv you wots and wots!" Reid: "I like baseball!"

Reid has also changed the lyrics of some of our lullabies. The Math song which, as you all know because of your keen familiarity with the Quadratic Formula, ends with "all over 2a" is now "all over two footballs." "Skinamarinky Dinky Dink"- instead of "I love you!", Reid sings "I love football and baseball!" He's a sly one.

From my mom's camera:
Saturday evening:

 Sunday morning:

Still really want to catch up with the last half of March, April (the boys turned 3!), and the first third of May. *Sigh.* Figured I would try to sneak in pics from this weekend before I return to grading tonight. I'm so desperate to be caught up with school work and get a little bit of a breather, but that's just not meant to happen this school year. I hit the wall quite a while ago, but the fact that I slept through (or turned off?) my alarm Friday morning is a sure sign that summer break would help me tremendously. I woke up to the sound of my mom unlocking the front door at 6:30, which is usually when I need to be out the door. Yikes! Good thing I wasn't taking them to daycare that day, because I probably would have received a call from Jocie or the secretary at school wondering where I was.

Missing my dad so much today, as he passed away one year ago today. I feel like I've been sprinting a marathon the past three years, so I'm struggling to get through May as is. I could go on and on, but I think I'll leave it with a little sign I bought last fall:
"Perhaps they are not the stars, but rather openings in Heaven* where the love of our lost ones shines down to let us know they are with us."  (*Or as the boys say, "Papa's in Heben.")

More than anything else I wish my dad was still here, but I'm very thankful he is no longer suffering.

Love you, Dad!

Sniff, sniff.