Summer is finally here.

Sorry for such a long delay since the last post.  We have been so busy with baseball and I was working on my 25th class reunion and the Elmwood High School Alumni Banquet.  The banquet and reunion were both held this past Saturday, so I spent much of yesterday just vegging and trying to recuperate.  It was a bit of a stressful weekend. 

John has had a few baseball games so far this year.  His team moved up from the Wee Wee league to the  Pee Wee league.  (it had to be a man that thought up those names)  They are learning, but it might be a few more games before they get the hang of all the new rules.   So far this year he has pitched, played first base, and center field.  Here are some pictures.

Noah is in Squirts baseball (coach pitched) this year. It  is their second year in this league and are doing pretty good.  They rotate positions so Noah has gotten to play many different spots.  I think his favorite is pitcher.  He has been practicing in hopes that he will be able to pitch next year when they move up to the next league.  Here are some pictures of Noah playing.

Ben has been enjoying his brothers games to a point.  Sooner or later he gets bored and wants to run out in the street.  The boy is fearless, and he has an odd fascination with license plates.  He is always wanting to go up to cars and touch the numbers and letters.  He also likes to play in the sand.  Unfortunately not all ball fields have a play area close to the field so I can watch Ben and the game at the same time. 

Ben has also gotten worse about climbing up on the sofa and wanting to stand and walk instead of sitting.  This morning he went over the edge of the sofa, just as I was grabbing for him,  and landed on his head.  Luckily he was just scared and not hurt.  It must not have made that much of an impression, thought, since he was back at it again in a matter of minutes.  I tried putting him in time out when he would do it, but that did not seem to help either.  Hopefully this is just a phase that he will pass through quickly. 

Friday was the last day of school for the big boys.  Randy has taken the boys golfing twice this weekend.  I am really enjoying that membership I got for them for Christmas to the local golf course.  It is a great way to get some time to myself. 

Here is a picture from my class reunion.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to get together and spend some time with old friends. 

Prayers for Sweet Ella

Little Ella is one of our blog friends who is just about the same age as Ben.  She has two older sisters who are just about the same age as my John and Noah too.  She was just diagnosed with leukemia and has started chemo.  Pray for this precious and brave little girl as she fights this disease. 

                You can link to her site here.

Perenniels and Outdoor Toys

It has been a pretty busy last couple of years and I have been neglecting some of the perennials around the two houses.  So one Friday while Ben was down for his nap, I decided to tackle the flower ring that at one time held tiger lilies, but now was mostly weeds and rocks and a bunch pavers that used to form a ring.  

I ran an extension cord outside, hooked up the monitor so I could hear Ben when he woke up and got to work.  Turns out there were way more tiger lilies in that planter than I thought.  After taking them all out, I counted over 100.  I put most of them back and potted 10 or so to give away.  Then I dug up some Lilly of the valley and split a couple Hosta.  Ben timed his nap perfectly and woke up just when I was washing my hands. 

My friend Andi, had asked if I could help her put in some plants at her house, so I decided to take some of my extras over to her.  It took a couple days after work to set out the plants I brought, plus a few more bulbs that she had.  On the last day I noticed a small slide in her back yard.  It was the perfect size for Ben.  I mentioned to her that I needed to find a slide like that, and she said I could have that one, as her kids had outgrown it.  Then she also gave me a short basketball hoop, just the perfect size for Ben to dunk.  

It was a nice trade.   Plants for toys.  I think I came out ahead on that one.
Here are a few pictures of Ben enjoying his new toys. 

 

Then it was time to go in.  Don't worry little Ben.  We will get to go out and play again real soon!

Learning is good

Back in February on a cold and icky day, I went around the house and took pictures of many of the objects that Ben uses on a daily basis.  I added the name of the object on each picture, then color printed, laminated and cut them into individual cards.  Ben loves looking at his cards. 
At the same time I uploaded the pictures to SnapFish, and ordered 2 copies of each of them, in hopes of making a matching game.   We received the pictures some time ago, but I have yet to get anything done with them.  We do go through and name the items in the pictures every now and then, but have not really gotten a chance to work with them on a regular basis.   Here are a few of his cards

Yesterday Ben was looking at his cards and held one of them up to his ear and started speaking very in a very animated way.  I could not figure out what he was doing until I caught a glimpse of which picture he was holding.  Here is the picture:

  Now Ben has been known to take any device with buttons (calculator, remote, etc) and pretend it was a phone, but this was the first time I had seen him take a picture of a real object and interact with it in the correct way.  I was very excited.  Now I really do need to get those cards laminated. 

The other thing I want to comment on is today's popular music.  Now I am sure that back when we were young, there were plenty of songs that our parents wished we did not listen to, due to their questionable lyrics.  In fact I can vividly remember listening to "Hungry Like the Wolf" when my Mom was around one day and having a conversation where she expressed similar concerns to the ones I have today.  (Yes I know I am dating my self by saying this.)  But then those songs seemed to be more the exception not the norm.  Today however, it seems like every song that comes on the radio needs to be censored in one way or another, and that does bother me.   

One of the most recent violators is the song Bedrock.   It came on the radio the other day while we were in the car, and I promptly turned to another station.  However, both my 11 and 7 year olds continued to sing it without missing a beat, or a word.  Until the chorus came up.  John sang the chorus correctly, and little Noah sang "I can make your bed right now".   That is right little Noah.  You have the lyrics exact correct.  Now go make your bed!   Later I asked John if he knew what they meant by bed rock .  He replied with the most innocent smile on his face "Isn't bedrock the layer of rock right below sedimentary rock?"  Now I am sure he knows more than he is letting on, but thanks for at least giving me the illusion that you are still a sweet little boy.