Sebastian's dinner time prayer tonight:

Dear God, Thank you for this food. Bless this food to our bodies. And please send food around the world to all of the people who don't have food and are dying so they can eat. In Jesus name, Amen.

This Week STINKS!!

Literally! There have been more 'memorable poo' incidents this week than I would have preferred, to put it nicely. One happened just a little bit ago actually. Meagan is on the potty training path, and has been doing fairly well (considering she just started). Well, she caught herself in the middle of going this afternoon after lunch. She went running to the bathroom, so I sat her on the toilet to let her finish. When she got down, instead of letting me clean her like she usually does, something compelled her to just SIT DOWN on MY LAP! Ugggg! That was gross. I had a poopy little butt print on my leg (thankfully I was wearing long pants).

That's my first story. But, even worse than that....I think it was Wednesday or Thursday night. Meagan had learned to open doors on her own earlier that afternoon, so I had to camp in the hallway at bedtime to keep putting her back in her room. So, I had been sitting out there reading for about 20 minutes, when Sebastian goes running past me into the bathroom. About 30 seconds later, Isaac comes out of the room too, saying he had to go to the bathroom really bad. I told him to go in our bathroom in our bedroom because Sebastian was using theirs. So, Isaac ran off down the hall, and was gone for about 15 minutes or so. He came back by me, went straight into his room, and I didn't hear from him again after that. I thought nothing of it.

Well, about 2 1/2 hours later, Luc and I came up to go to bed ourselves. As we came upstairs, I went to check on the kids, and he went on in our room. As I was covering Meagan up, I hear, "OH MY GOD." Never really what you want to hear. I was thinking Meagan had gotten up and torn up all of the DVDs in our room or something, but as I walked around the corner, and surveyed the room, everything seemed in order...Until I got to the bathroom. Apparently, Isaac really meant it when he said he had to go BAD. Obviously, our bathroom was too far for him to run, and he didn't quite make it. On the floor in front of the toilet were 'piles' covered with toilet paper (that was, by the way, still attached to the roll). It was like connect-the-dots with TP and poo. It was smeared down the toilet, it was on the rugs, it was on the floor. Poor guy had done his best to try to clean up (or cover up), but must have been afraid of getting in trouble, so he never said a word. Let's just say, I short-cut the clean up by throwing away the bathroom rugs. I would rather replace them than waste the time and effort and cleaning supplies to try to clean up that mess. So anyway, the funniest part of the whole thing, in my opinion, was Lucas, who decided to go check out the boys to see if either of them had it on them. So what does he use? Meagan's Thomas the Train flashlight that makes chugging and whistling noises. I could hear him in the other room turning the light on - "Chug chug chug Whoo Whoo." Very discrete, Luc, very discrete. Chalk this up to a classic moment in parenting. At least it was good for a laugh - hope it never happens again.

Girly

Other than the fact that I debated on the spelling of 'girly' this page came together fairly quickly. My spell-check had nothing either way, so I looked on-line. I found it both ways there. ?? So I picked the 'y' ending (mostly because I liked the Y font better than the 'ie' font I had to work with. LOL)

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Journaling: Well, with all these cute and flowery doodles and frames, I set out to find the perfect picture of you in all your girly glory. But try as I might, I kept coming up with the total opposite - pictures of black eyes and bruises, of you wearing army hats, football helmets, or your brothers' shoes or undies. In virtually every picture, your face is a mess, your hair is in your eyes, and you are in the middle of mischief. You, my dear, redefine girliness. You have your own set of 'girly' qualities that make you YOU.

Credits

Hey Beaner!

How long did it take you to come up with your rant on your MB? That was quite entertaining, and I wanted to give you recognition for your creative writing skills! Thanks for the good laugh, Bud!

Shhh! Quiet, she'll hear you!

Well, my kids were in rare form this morning! The boys woke up before me, and, like they often do when they're up first, they headed to the basement to play play station...but not before asking permission. Well, I may not have been fully functioning yet, but I distinctly remember telling Isaac NO this morning. He, apparently, ignored me.

When I got finished showering and getting dressed and ready for the day, I headed down to see what the boys were doing - they were being so quiet! Oh. They were doing what I told them they couldn't. I thought about it, and decided not to blow a gasket - I would just go down and talk to them about it. Weeeeelllll..... I was greeted with the Jango Fet dance on the Bounty Hunter game. They (somehow...who knows how) found 'outtakes' on the game menu, which led them to this crazy dance performed by Jango and some fellow Star Wars characters. The boys were CRACKING UP! I mean, I thought Isaac was going to just burst he was laughing so hard. "Okay, boys, that's enough. Turn it off and let's go have breakfast." I walk upstairs. A few minutes later, they follow. I assumed (you know what they say about assuming) they had turned it off like I asked.

Before I go on, let me just add a side note here. When I came up from the basement, I found Meagan, with a chair pushed up to the counter, climbing on the counter and going through the cabinet where she knows the cookies are kept. Isn't she way too young to be climbing on counters??? Anyway...

After breakfast, the boys headed back down to the basement to 'play.' As they're bounding down the stairs I say, "No more Play Station." "Okay, Mom!" they chime. All is quiet...they must be doing legos or something. Then I hear Isaac laugh, followed by 'Ssshhh, quiet, she'll hear you!" That was all Mommy needed. Within thirty seconds, that PlayStation was unplugged and stashed away, not to be seen again for quite a while. Amid other punishments, they got themselves a LONG gaming reprieve.

(2)

Here's a page I finished last night of Meagan. This is one of my favorite pictures of her from the birthday party - she looks so grown up, though!

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Journaling: This picture of you takes my breath away. Is that really my baby girl?

Click for Credits

Another Sebastianism

I love the funny things Sebastian says. He very rarely says something 'wrong' but when he does, it's so darn funny! For instance, he still says 'askident' instead of 'accident' and 'afost to' instead of 'supposed to.'

The other night, we were sitting in the basement playing on the computer - zoo tycoon is a big hit around here lately. Well, Meagan was grumping, so I had to get up see what she needed. While I was away, 'Something happened,' as Sebastian put it, and the computer screen just went black. He thought the computer had completely turned off, but actually, our monitor had croaked. So I told him not to worry, it was just the monitor, and the zoo would not be lost. I had been expecting that the monitor wasn't going to hold out much longer. Lucas just plugged in a spare (a much smaller spare!), and everything was fine.

The next day, Sebastian seemed a little mopey. I asked him a few times what was wrong, and he just kept shrugging me off. Finally, he came up to me and said, 'Mom, I'm really sorry I broke your thermometer.' How can you not love that kid!

She's 2

Okay, so Meagan's birthday party...We had a great day! It started out looking like it was going to rain, but the sky cleared up, and we had sun and a warm breeze all day. We made an easy lunch - Lucas did all the work cooking on the grill! And Meagan had a blast playing outside and visiting with grandparents & Shane & Tina (and her brothers, of course). And she got all kinds of goodies - some CUTE clothes, some books, big girl undies (!!) a tricycle, a pink t-ball bat & ball and a glove to match (from her brothers), and a camo hat that she ADORES. From us she got a Thomas flashlight that makes noises when it lights up, and a Furr-real kitty, which she (maybe with Isaac's help) named 'Meow.'

The boys picked out her present all by themselves (well, they told me specifically what they wanted me to get for her from them, at least). Isaac came up with his idea first. "I want to get Meagan a pink t-ball and a pink glove." This started Sebastian's wheels turning, and it wasn't long before he said, "And I want to get her a pink bat, so she has her own and will stop beating mine up." Ulterior motives, but she liked it, so no harm no foul!



All in all, she had a great birthday celebration. It's hard for me to believe that she is 2! But I think I will go through that every year - I just can't believe how quickly time passes. One day I'll blink, and she will be grown. I guess I'll have to be sure to enjoy every moment between now and then.

Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzz Zzzzzzz

Well, I am feeling a little better today than I was yesterday - still not great. Today was a pretty uneventful day - Sebastian went to school, we stayed here. I did a lot of resting, a little laundry. Nothing too exciting to report. I did get a chance to check out the birthday party pictures, so I'll share those with you as soon as I get a chance to edit them and all that jazz. And hopefully I'll be in better condition tomorrow to share some stories from the weekend. Off to bed now. See you tomorrow!

Creations by Karen

I have some fun news to share! I've been keeping quiet for a few days, but have been given the okay to spill the news. I've been invited to be on Karen Lewis's creative team. You can find her products at One of a Kind Scraps, Digital Freebies, and Designs in Digital. I'm super excited about getting to work with her designs! Of course, I'll post all of my layouts here, as always!

Eeewww

Just checking in to let you all know I'll try to post birthday party pics tomorrow if I can. Today I'm feeling eeeewww, and I'm gonna go crash on the couch. I haven't even looked at the pics yet. Hoping tomorrow is a better day. Later.

Bike Ride

I did this page in pieces over the last several days. I finally finished it last night, so I thought I'd post it. I've found with some of my other pages, if you click on credits, you can actually click on the picture on that page to see the layout bigger. If this is too small to see, give that a try.

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Journaling: Today we took a bike ride - down to the end of the circle and back. This is the start of Sebastian's second summer riding a bike, but Isaac is just getting started. After a bit of practice, Daddy decided to let Isaac go on his own. He headed down the sidewalk, all of us tagging along a little distance behind. As he neared the end of the sidewalk, though, it became obvious to all of us that he was not going to be able to stop, and he would crash off the end and into a sign. As soon as Sebastian (who was pedaling on his bike) saw this, he jumped off his bike and hit the ground running. He ran so fast he got in front of his brother's bike in time to stop him with his foot and avoid the crash. When I asked him about it later, he just shrugged and said, 'Well, Mom, that's what big brothers are for.'

credits

Ninja Invader

I had a ninja invader in my house last night - or so I thought! I was in the basement on the computer. Lucas was in the kitchen on his. Around 11:00 I got tired and decided to call it quits for the night. So I headed up the stairs to the kitchen. Lucas wasn't at the desk, and all was quiet, so I thought he had gone up to bed. But as I step around the corner coming off the stairs, he comes LEAPING out at me. Truly, I'd say he was at least four feet off the ground - arms and legs flared, and he whoops (I have no other description for the sound he made) like a ninja -'Whaaa!' I jumped a good few feet off the ground myself. He scared the POO out of me! I told him I thought he was some kung-fu guy, and he about peed his pants he was laughing so hard at me. I'm glad he was entertained! It really was pretty funny, I have to admit (now that my heart is out of my throat, and has returned to its regular rate of beating). Hey, at least it makes for some good blogging material! LOL! I'm married to a crazy man!

Frolic

WHY does my daughter HAVE to climb all over me as soon as I sit down at the computer? It's a Meagan magnet!


Anyway - on to what I came here for! I got one layout, and almost another done last night. So I'll share the one I finished. I have always LOVED these pictures of Meagan playing in the leaves, but I've never gotten around to doing anything with them until now. The journaling is just simply the dictionary definitions for 'frolic.' The 2-pager is kind of hard to see, so I'll post each individual page as well.

Credits

It's been a day

Wow, this was one of those days. After already being out at the bus stop for a few minutes, Sebastian somehow still managed to miss his bus. (He said his head got cold, so he came back in, and started watching tv - I was in the bathroom and didn't know until it was too late). And Isaac and Meagan spent all day YELLING! At each other, at me, at the cat, at the toys, at thin air - whatever - just YELLING! I was SO ready for nap time by the time 12:30 rolled around.

The boys and I spent a little time building a zoo today on Zoo Tycoon. That was fun - and addicting, like most sim games. Currently, our alligators and polar bears are angry because there's too much poo in their cages. True story. And of course, being the boys that they are, Sebastian and Isaac think that is just hilarious! But it's a fun game, and they are learning quite a bit from it actually.

T-ball was FREEZING tonight. I kept hoping they would call it for weather, but the darn sun had to come out just in time for the game to go on. Sebastian did really well, though. Even paid attention through almost the whole thing.

Now the kids are all in bed, and I'm ready for an evening to myself, full of quiet & scrapbooking. Tomorrow is another day full of cleaning & getting ready for Meagan's party this weekend. But, no more work and craziness for tonight - just chillin'.

Hasta manana.

Week in Review

Wow, it's been a while since I've had a 'real' post - something besides a scrapbook page. Let's see if I can remember everything...it's been a long week.

I guess I can start with Sebastian's music program on Friday. WAY cute! It was farm-themed, so all of their songs were animal related. All of the kindergarten classes - morning and afternoon - were all together. They all sang each song, but during each song, a handful of kids got to come to the front to do something special. Sebastian went to the front on the Chicken Dance. No singing, but LOTS of wiggling. It was soooooo cute - he has a funny little wiggle! And after it was over, he did ask me if I cried at the last song. It was a song they did in sign language, and it was about planting seeds of love and peace in their hearts and letting them grow and bloom. It was a very pretty song, but there was no crying. I think he was a little disappointed that I didn't cry. LOL!

Lucas got to go to his first t-ball practice on Monday. He quickly determined that watching practices was going to be a gigantic test of his patience. Sebastian, again, wasn't paying much attention. I'm not sure what he was doing - making up kung-foo moves maybe? It was nuts. But he was having fun at least.

Not the same story for t-ball on Wednesday. We had a MAJOR melt-down. I guess he was overly tired? Hot? I'm not sure. But at some point during their throwing & catching part of practice, which is the FIRST thing they do, he came over and sat down behind me. When I realized he was there, I told him to get up and go out & play. It was all downhill from there. He worked himself into hysterics! He was sobbing and gasping and choking and coughing. In general, making a huge scene. I let the coach try to calm him down, and I stayed out of it for a while. They took a break for drinks, so I took that as an opportunity to talk to him and try to help him settle himself. Didn't work. He got all worked up again because he had missed throwing the ball (because he CHOSE to sit down??), and in turn, nearly missed batting as well. About 10 minutes later, he came back over to me for the second time - still crying. He was just getting himself wound up, and he was starting to act hateful to his coach, his friends, and me. All of a sudden, he starts coughing really hard (still sobbing profusely). I was in mid sentence, "Don't you dare throw..." Too late. He threw up (not lots, but enough that it was gross) on my arm and on the grass in front of me. Okay, that's enough. Mommy has reached her threshold. "Look, it's okay to be upset, or mad, or frustrated, or whatever you are right now. But it is NOT okay to treat people the way you are treating them right now. Get over yourself. Get back out there, and finish your practice." So he sulked over to the dugout to get ready to start a quick scrimmage. When it was his turn to bat, he walked up to the tee, looked at me, and half-heartedly swung at the ball. But he HIT it (which I think took him by surprise, because I don't think he actually meant to). So he dropped his bat and ran. He just happened to be the last batter on his team, so they had him run the bases. In his eyes, he just hit a HOME RUN! All his troubles were forgotten, and the evening took a turn for the better. They played on the playground for a few minutes after practice, and they all crashed hard when it was time for bed.

I realize that a lot of Sebastian's problem with t-ball comes down to this: His whole life he has always been good at whatever he tries - in most cases, since he's the oldest in the family, he has been 'the best' at whatever game he's playing. Now that he's on a team where he's the youngest and the smallest kid, and he's just middle of the pack as far as skills go, he's feeling a little lost. I talked to him about it the other day when we were playing in the yard, and he said, yes, this was a lot of what was bothering him. I just simply told him that not everything in life is going to come easily, but that some things are worth working at. And I reminded him how awesome it's going to feel when he finally catches or hits or whatever else really well. I think he got it...may need some reminding from time to time, but I think he understood.

Well, on to Friday. Friday morning, we took our last field trip for motor development. We went to a kids' hands-on museum in a town not far from us. It was pretty cute. They had all kinds of stuff - a post office, a grocery store (which was a huge hit with Meagan and Sebastian), a stage and costumes, a music room, a rock climbing wall, and on and on. They had a good time, especially because Keylee went with us.

Oh, at some point this week, we also planted a garden along the side of our house. The boys have been bringing home potted plants of all sorts, and we were running out of room in our window sill. So when Isaac brought home a 2-foot-tall sunflower stalk from his library class, I knew it was time to plant our window sill full of plants. So, after Sebastian got on the bus, Isaac, Meagan, and I headed to Meijer, got some top soil and a few other plants to add to our garden, and headed home to get started. We planted 2 sunflowers (one from each of the boys), a bean (Sebastian's from church), 2 cherry tomato plants, and a regular tomato plant, plus 4 green pepper plants.

Finally, Sunday we celebrated Mothers' Day. We really just took it easy, played outside for a while. We did go to Red Robbin for lunch, though. Yum! Lucas was on-call, but we managed to get through the day without him having to go in to work. So that was a plus. It was a good weekend, a great Mothers' Day. I got 2 more plants - a flower from each of the boys, so I planted those outside this morning.

Magic

I am still plugging away at Grandma's album. Of all of the pictures of their life spent together, I am partial to this one of Grandma & Grandpa by the ocean. I first saw it shortly after Grandpa had passed away, and it brought tears to my eyes. Their expressions and body language speak volumes. I knew right away this picture had to have a page to itself. But I've almost been hesitant to scrap it because I was afraid I wouldn't do it justice. Finally last night I built up the courage to attempt it. I figured, at least I'm doing digital, so if I mess up, I can just start over. But I'm happy with how it turned out. I think the page does not overpower the picture, which is just as it should be. It's been such a blessing to me to be able to go through these pictures one by one and become familiar with parts of their lives that I would never have otherwise known. This, though, has been my favorite. Hope you like it.

Journaling: There should always be a certain awe as we stand at the edge of the ocean. Bud & Theona Dec. 1977.

Credits: Sweet Genevieve - Butterfly Boheme, Puddles Alpha; font - violation

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY

I just wanted to get a big shout out to all of my moms for Mothers' Day. I love you (all of you!), and hope you have a GREAT day!

Dear Meagan

It's hard to believe my baby is almost 2. The 'little' years are quickly slipping away from me. Soon I will be Mommy to a baby no longer (if you could even call her a baby now). Today I started thinking about her life so far, and I realized that I had no idea who she was going to be when she was first born. So I wrote her a little letter this evening, and (of course) did a layout for it.

Journaling: Almost 2 years have passed since this day. Look how tiny and new you were. We had just met only hours before this picture was taken. The world was full of possibilities, and we could only wonder what direction our lives would take together. Little one, I must admit to you now that I completely underestimated you in this moment. You, so tiny and dependent. I had no idea what a strong little girl you would soon prove to be. I had no idea what an incredible spirit God had placed in you. Each day I am amazed to you. Some days I am exhausted by you. But every moment I love you and I am thankful to have been blessed to be your mommy. Sweet girl, God has great things in store for you, and I know beyond a doubt, you were designed for a life beyond extraordinary.

Credits: Sweet Genevieve's Raspberry Mocha kit and grunge brushes. Font is High Strung.

I did it again

One more thing before I go to bed...

I DID IT AGAIN! I forgot there was a race this weekend, and I didn't pick my drivers! But, at least I 'won' last week - I'm definitely living for the weekly action now, and not the season scores. Oh well, all in fun! I'm just rooting for anyone who will beat my husband!

It's a cookout!

You are cordially invited to a barbecue - hosted by MY HUSBAND'S FACTORY!

Yikes! I got a phone call this morning during motor development. We were all outside playing, and one of the ladies in the church office came out to find me. Odd, because no one (except Lucas or my neighbor) knew I was there. I figured it was Nicole telling me something about Monique (one of her daycare kids I had with me). Well, it was Nicole, but she was NOT calling about Monique. She was calling to let me know that the plant caught on fire this morning. She said she knew I would want to know, and she didn't want me to get in the car and find out from the radio or something like that. Wow, that was not exactly the phone conversation I was expecting walking in from outside. So many thoughts went running through my mind all at one time. The first one being, I'm so glad Lucas wasn't in there. The second one being, I hope everyone is okay. And the third being...well, I won't go into that.

So as the day went on, between news from Nicole's friend at the plant, and news from what Lucas was piecing together from people at work and at other plants, we started to get an idea of the degree of damage caused. At one point they had closed the highway it's on and had evacuated the businesses in the surrounding area. But I guess they got it contained fairly quickly because only a short time after I got the phone call, I could not see any smoke or anything coming from the building (from a distance at least), and the road was reopened.

Lucas went in to the plant around 4:30. I took him dinner at 8:00ish. At that time, he said they had 2 lines running, and they were getting ready to try to put glass to the one that had been in the midst of the fire (at least I think that's what he said. If I'm wrong, I'm sure he'll correct me when he gets a chance to read this, and then I'll pass that along, for anyone who's interested). It's now almost 11:30. I haven't seen or heard from him since 8:00. So I guess they've still got a bit of work ahead of them. But truthfully, while this was QUITE an inconvenience (and a damper on his hopes for a work-free weekend), it could have been MUCH worse than it really was.

As for me, I just miss my husband, and I was really looking forward to hanging out this evening. He worked 2 weekends ago. Then last week and weekend I didn't see him because of a machine repair (except to deliver late-night dinners). And then this week he was gone in Toledo for training. At this point, I'm hoping to salvage some time to celebrate his birthday Sunday. How long until retirement??? LOL!

(On a lighter note, I haven't forgotten to tell you about Sebastian's music program. I just am too tired, and it's too late to try to do picture editing. I'll try to get those pics posted tomorrow.)

T-ball

Yesterday was Sebastian's first actual t-ball practice - no rain. It was nice and sunny, but it was kind of cool. And, much to my daughter's delight, the field still had quite a few muddy spots from Monday's rain. She just got progressively muddier as the evening went on. I figured once her jacket and pants had a little mud, there was no point in stopping her. Dirty is dirty. So she had a ball!


Let me back up a minute. Yesterday in itself was pretty interesting. As a favor to Nicole, I offered to watch Austin yesterday. He's one of her daycare kids who is just a few months younger than Meagan. He was nice & easy - took a good nap, played well - couldn't have asked for better. After nap & snack, we all headed outside because my house just couldn't take cooped-up kids any longer. Soon, Sebastian came home from school, and Keylee came over until her dad got home. Then Keylee's friend & her cousin showed up for a few minutes. So it was me and 7 kids (8 if you count Kyle, who I was 'semi-responsible' for, but who was not actually present). But it all went fine, and they all had a lot of fun together actually....maybe too much! Meagan & Austin seemed to really hit it off, and by the end of the afternoon, THIS was the scene (yes, they're holding hands... sshh, don't tell her Daddy!):

So, with all the craziness, I opted out of cooking, ordered a pizza, scarfed it down, and headed out to practice. (Might I note at this point in the story, that I DID have Sebastian & Isaac go to the bathroom before we left). As we were driving off, I realized I had forgotten the field assignment schedule, but I figured we would figure it out when we got there. I, however, was operating under the idea that Sebastian was on the Tasty Twist team, when, in fact, he is NOT. So, we did manage to find the Tasty Twist field right away, but it did us no good. And since I had no other idea what our team name might possibly be, I was at a loss for where to look next. I just knew that none of the kids or coaches on that particular field looked at all familiar.

We did finally find the right field - about 10 minutes late (oops!). So he jumped right in to pitch & catch with one of his coaches. Watching a row of 5 & 6-year-olds trying to catch is quite entertaining. A few times one or 2 of them accidentally stood in the right place and the ball fell into their gloves. Other than that, it was more like pitch and chase. But, Sebastian did really well at throwing. So I guess we'll just focus on the positives and trust that the rest will come in time! They're 5 & 6.

Interruption #1 - Sebastian is doing the potty dance. And we are in the field farthest back - nowhere near a restroom. I quickly weigh my options: 1) haul all 3 kids a quarter mile back to the school & hope to find an unlocked door, and hope that Sebastian makes it all the way there, and miss another 15 minutes of an hour & 15 minute practice; OR 2) head for the bushes. Option #2 it is! One benefit of having a SON on the team! So, we head off to the side, along a row of bushes & brush & trees. Apparently, at this point, Isaac determines that he's missing out on something. He runs over to join in. And he does. So I'm now standing with TWO kids peeing in bushes. We've only been here for 15 minutes!

Back to practice. Next task - running bases. At this point, I realized there are a lot of things about baseball that I take for granted as givens. Like knowing which direction to run. Apparently, not a given. I guess it's a good thing they practiced that (LOL)!

After a few laps around the field, they moved on to fielding. YIKES! The coach had a pretty decent approach, though. I must say I admired his ability to get 10 kids to focus & head in any semblance of the same direction. He kept the focus on getting in front of the ball, rather than on actually catching it, so they all felt like they were accomplishing something big! Very cute! Sebastian gave it his all! He got right down, and actually as practice went on, he got not-so-very-bad at it.

Interruption #2 - How is it even humanly POSSIBLE that the child has to pee again?! Now we've moved out further to another open field. The bushes are pretty far away. The school is even farther. But, there's a pine tree! Perfect! (I realize at this point that my child might become 'the little boy who always has to pee.')

Back to fielding. Sebastian gets moved to first base (which was marked by a tennis ball). Well, while the coach is working with the other kids, Sebastian decides to play with first base. So he picks up the tennis ball and starts throwing it around. 'Sebastian put the base down!' Sheesh, kid! LOL!

Well, practice is almost over, and there's only one thing left to do! Bat! This was what he had been waiting for! He had even brought his very own aluminum t-ball bat that Santa brought him for Christmas last year! Very pumped! And he smacked the crap out of it! It flew right through the net, and went past the pee pine tree several yards away. He hit a few more times, and the coach decided he was done for the night. They got cookies & Gatorade & we all headed home. Sebastian was SOOOO excited to talk to Daddy on the phone to tell him how good he had done. Meagan was covered in mud from head to toe, and Isaac was ready to go home and start up our own t-ball practice in our front yard. All in all, it was a good (and memorable) first practice. All I can say is that the games (starting 1 week from Monday) should be pretty interesting!

Retro Birthday

This is officially my 101st post! I wasn't sure when I started if I'd actually keep up with it or not. So far so good, I guess!

Last night was my first night all week of scrapping - which is amazing since Lucas has been gone all week. Sweet Genevieve is releasing 2 more paper/element packs tomorrow, so I wanted to get something done with at least one of them. After MUCH debate, and cost consideration, I've decided to continue with Grandma's book digitally (so PLEASE let me know if this is NOT okay with you before I get too far into it. It's easy enough to redo a page or 2, but I don't want it to get too far gone...anyway, I'll leave it at that. If I don't hear from you otherwise, I'll keep on with digital). When I saw this paper pack - retro daisy - I thought immediately of all of those 70's pictures of Grandma & Grandpa that I have to scrap still! I found this picture of the gang at Grandma's birthday in 1973. (The white smears at the top are the names of everyone in the picture, blurred out for internet sharing. )

I've got more to share later - some pictures from yesterday of the kids. Hopefully the t-ball pictures turned out good. I haven't looked at them yet. For now, my daughter is stinkin' it up, and if I don't go change her, we're all gonna suffocate LOL!

I KNEW it was too quiet!!

Three years ago, Sebastian pulled one over on me during nap time. I thought he was being quiet because he was being good and doing what he was supposed to be doing - staying in bed & going to sleep. NOPE! He was being quiet so as not to draw attention to himself! When I went to check on him, I found him in the hallway 'painted' (as he said) with Mommy's makeup!

Fast forward three years to last night. Meagan was in the room with me - in my bedroom. I was standing with my back toward the door (and toward the bathroom) folding clothes on our bed. She got bored and went to find something to do. I thought (wrongly) that she had gone out into the hallway - probably into the boys' room to play. When I went to check on her a few minutes later, I was more than surprised to find her only about 15 feet away from me, covered head to toe in petroleum jelly!! Uggg! I should have known she was being too quiet!! I was torn between scolding her & grabbing the camera. I did both - first take pictures, then scold. LOL! All I could think when I was sitting there trying (TRYING) to clean her off was how much she reminded me of Sebastian when he was her age. And I couldn't help but wonder which was worse - colored makeup that stained his skin and spilled all over the brand new carpet or colorless Vaseline that isn't water soluble, doesn't come out of hair, and clings forever to the inside of washing machines (which I subsequently found out after trying to wash her clothes)! I think I preferred the makeup!

(Ignore this)