Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Summertime

Summer is here... and we've been filling it with some traditional summer past times... baseball and bathing. Well, really playing in the blowup swimming pool in the backyard - but I liked the alliteration. Have no fear, we do bathe during the other seasons as well.

This past weekend, we went to the Texas Rangers' game as a family. Oliver is STILL deathly afraid of all of the noises there. So he spent most of the game with his head buried in our laps. He was asking to go home in the bottom of the 1st! He did get a little better there toward the end although we didn't make it through the entire game. Gabriella had no problem with the noises and had a great time. And fortunately, we were sitting on the bleachers in the outfield so there was plenty of room for them to roam. There was an hour rain delay before the game ever started, so to kill some time we played in the kids section behind the outfield. Oliver is great at throwing balls - and loves to do it! So he was mesmerized by the inflatable pitching stand. He waited in line - by far the youngest kid there - and dutifully paid he two tokens and pitched his heart out. He was very brave walking up there by himself and taking care of business. I was so proud... and it was extremely cute! I love the adorable progression of pictures I captured below.


Look how big he looks standing with his hands like this waiting for the balls



He missed the mark by quite a bit - but I attribute that solely to his height disadvantage. His throws were strong and heading in the right direction.


Look at that little man with his Rangers cap on backwards


This afternoon was a warm one... and was shaping up to be a long one with Oliver not napping and Gabby taking a relatively early one. So to keep us all from going crazy, I decided it was time to pull out the old blowup wading pool. It was a hit! However, neither of them were a fan of the cold water - so their feet and hands were the only body parts that (intentionally) got wet. There were a few slips in the water and a few mishaps with the hose that brought a few tears at the coldness of it all! Here are my bathing beauties!







Gabby says: "What, mom?! You're done blogging already!" I know you are all disappointed. But stay tuned for more from the Capital City as we head to Austin this weekend for my sister Natalie's grad school graduation.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Not me... Thursday!

My friend and fellow blogger Brit participates in the "Not Me Monday... being brutally honest and living to tell about it" blog carnival put on by a fellow mommy blogger MckMama. Basically, you tell some thing about yourself that you DEFINITELY did not do (aka... actually did do but are appalled about it) as a way of venting and realizing that no mom is perfect.

I've always thought their posts were cute and clever, but never felt like I had much to contribute... not because I am a perfect mom, but because I wasn't paying enough attention during my days to document the "Not Me's" when they happened.

Well today, for some weird reason, I felt I could contribute... but not because the things mentioned below are excerpts from my actual life experiences. These things would NEVER happen to ME!
  • I would never drive off and leave my garage door up and the door to my house unlocked. Especially when I knew that my garage door was having problems getting all the way down because the sensors at the bottom had been bumped (most likely by a large double stroller). I would always sit in my driveway and watch to make sure my garage door gets all the way to the bottom before driving off. So it won't be me who comes home from a 3 hour errand/lunch trip to find that my garage door had been opened the whole time. However, if this did happen to me, I might wonder if someone had helped themselves to all of your possessions...
  • I would never forget to close my freezer door when getting an ice pack out to keep my kid's milk cold. I am so good at remembering the details (getting each kid a clean milk cup, filled to the top, putting it in an insulated lunchbox with an ice pack to keep it cold since it would be a few hours until lunchtime out with a friend) AND remembering the big things (such as shutting the door to the freezer). I also would not have been running around doing this as fast as I could while my kids were strapped into their car seats in the car screaming for a snack. Our house is so orderly and my kids so well-behaved that this is a scene I cannot even imagine happening here. So... I would NEVER walk into my kitchen after a morning out to find my freezer door opened and all my frozen goods starting to thaw! I would also never forget other big things when remembering small details. For example, when packing for a cruise, I would never remember a small detail like packing a graduation card in my suitcase instead of mailing it so that I would save the price of a stamp and then FORGET to bring something major... like my passport. Like I said, I am so good at remembering the details and the major things so stuff like this would never happen to me!
  • Now if the garage door/house unlocked/freezer scenario mentioned above were to happen to me, I would never walk into the house, see my freezer door open and think "someone has stolen all of my frozen food!!" That would just be a silly first thought to have when walking into an unlocked-for-3-hours house. I would have definitely checked for big electronics or furniture missing first - not my freezer food. Nope. Not me!
Do any of you have some "Not Me's"???

Funny things kids say

Today I was trimming Oliver's hair around his ears and in the back to extend the time until he needs another haircut... and his comment to me as I was cutting was "No, I'm getting bald!"

So he's either worried about losing too much hair because of premature balding or he thought that I was cutting SO much hair that he would be bald when I was done! Either way, I think he's pretty hilarious!

It makes me think back to the Mii he designed on our Wii... this boy has a preoccupation with being bald, don't you think. Maybe he can see into his future... :)