Sports

The boys played soccer again this spring. Originally we didn't think they would be able to play t-ball this year so we thought another soccer season would be fun. We decided to let James play up with the 5 year olds and let John-Mark play on the 4 year old team. Last season James was the star on his team and John-Mark really didn't get a chance to shine so we thought this would be good for both of them. A little more even competition for James and a chance for John-Mark to show us what he's got. Well, turns out James was not what was "holding" John-Mark back :) He's just really not that in to it. He was more interested in tackling other kids that tried to take the ball from him than actually running and scoring. The first game was a complete distaster with him showing no interest what so ever. So, for game 2 I bribed him with ice cream. I told him if he atleast tried and played hard he could have ice cream after the game. Would you believe that kid went out and scored a goal in the first 2 minutes of the game! I so wish I had a picture of his little smiling face turning around giving me two thumbs up. He then promptly ran off the field and asked for his ice cream :) Not so fast son, you have to finish the game. So we know he CAN play and we also know he really doesn't care. The rest of the season was hit and miss. Sadly I didn't get any pics of John-Mark playing. I forgot my camera every game except for James' last and John-Marks team finished a week earlier.

James did pretty good this time around. He definitely had more competition and wasn't able to score 5 or 6 goals every game but I was proud of him for sticking with it and not getting too frustrated. Near the end of the season he was kind of over it but he finished strong with a great goal in the last game. Then they all got popscicles and trophy's so he was super pumped about that :)

 Fancy Foot Work :)

 Cooling off after the game with his team

 Showing off his trophy (John-Mark got one too which made him like soccer again:)

His team!

As I said, I didn't think we were going to do t-ball this year because most leagues play on Saturday's and with J's work schedule he would have to miss A LOT of them so we had decided to hold off until James was 5. Then I found out that the Y has summer t-ball that practices and plays on Monday nights which is perfect for J's schedule! Honestly, I don't think any kid has been more excited about anything EVER!!!

In our Tampa Bay uniform

Coach Allen (aka Daddy) helping him get ready to hit

Hey, Batter Batter, Swing Batter!

Running the bases

I don't know if there are more kids or daddy's on the field :)

We decided not to let John-Mark play and see if he was even bothered by it. So far, not so much. He prefers digging in the dirt to all the demands of preschool sports :) Love that kid. I can't wait to see what he ends up really LOVING!

Funny story- James obviously thinks he is in the big leagues because after his game he asked me when "all the people" were going to come and watch him play. Hmm, well buddy, probably a few more years or so. Our little field doesn't even have bleachers so I doubt the scouts will be out just yet :)

This and That

Playing in the rain -  It was a beautiful sunny day and the kids were jumping on the trampoline and then all of the sudden the bottom dropped and a downpour came! They all started yelling and running to the house but they were already soaked by the time they got to me so I told them it was ok to go ahead and play in the rain for a bit. I wish you could have seen their face - WHAT! REALLY? WOO HOO!!!

Getting ready for football season! Roll Tide!!

 
My mom made the boys UAB football jersies too! GO BLAZERS!!!

Playing Dress Up - Buzz and Spider Man

Then Minnie Mouse had to join in :)

 
James has become quiet the little Picasso lately :) He loves to color and then display all his artwork over his bed.


Does this look familiar? John-Mark is the one above and Ben is below - they are SOOO much alike - not only in how they look but how they act - Just like big brother one of Ben's favorite places is looking out this window :)

This baby boy is all over the place - and fast too!! His other favorite places to be are looking out the door, pulling up on the dishwasher, trying to climb in the fridge (you have to get in and out fast or he will be there in an instant!), and the bathroom!  He LOVES the bathroom - if he sees the door open he gets so excited and crawls as fast as he can to get in there - why, I don't know!

Ben continues to be a mostly super happy baby. At least once a day he will loose his balance and fall back like this - but what is so funny is that he'll just lay there - like a little bug stuck on his back for at least 5 minutes. He doesn't cry or whine - just lays there and looks around - kind of like "Is someone going to come get me?" Often one of the "big" kids will come pick him up or eventually he'll get up on his own. Here he fell amongst a pile of shoes by the door - happy as can be :)

He is also "talking" quite a bit. He loves to growl and grunt and if you growl at him he will mimick you. He also love to click his tongue in his mouth (he is SOOO much like John-Mark - we joke that you can hear John-Mark coming before you see him because he's always making some kind of noise with his mouth!). He also is saying "dada" I guess that is officially his first word. Gracie and I are working hard on getting "mama" but so far it's just "dada" :) This Sunday he will be 9 months!!! Crazy!

Facebook Photos

On many of the blogs I read there will every so often be the "I phone dump" post. Well, I don't have an I-phone so it takes some work to save pics from my phone to my computer and then upload to my blog but due to my phones low memory I recently decided to go through my phone photos and save them to my computer and delete them from my phone. Most of these photos have been posted on facebook but since this blog is my kids scrapbook I wanted to post them here too. Some of these date back to when Benjamin was a newborn.

Publix with all four when Ben was itty bitty - I put the groceries under Benjamin's pumpkin seat :)

Smiley Baby Boy!

Bama Ben!!

My baseball boys! My friend Nikki made the boys these super cute matching shirts :) Look how blond and long both boys hair is!

About a month we went to get in the car to go to the gym and I realized Jeremy had accidentally taken Benjamin's carseat in his car - ugh! I've really been trying to get back in the gym and I rememebered we had this car seat in the attic for a friend so I buckled it in really quick and Benjamin got to ride like a big boy for the day (facing forward!) He loved it.

This was the first time Ben got to sit in the "drivers" seat in the Publix shopping cart - He was haaapppy!

I may have posted a similar pic but I LOVE this one - Gracie in her camo, brothers rain boots, heart shirt and pig tails! Love this tomboy princess :)

This is how I found Gracie one day recently when I returned home from grocery shopping and she was home with Daddy and the boys. She has on her pj's, a different pair of the boys rain boots and is muddy from head to toe!

My friend Jen Latham gave us this Mini Mouse costume and she LOVES to wear it. The boys wanted to take a picture with her - do you think she adores her "boys" as she calls them?

We happened to be at the zoo when they opened thier new giraffe exhibit (and believe me if I had known we would not have gone that day - I think every school in a 50 mile radius was there on a field trip!) But it worked out that Gracie got to have a semi-private feeding with the giraffes and was on the news! I was standing off to the side feeding Benjamin - does she look like she needed me?

(The boys were in a zoo class - so they missed out :)

On one of the first really hot days of the spring I set up our little baby pool so the kids could cool off a bit. Well, it had been a while since I did the whole swim diaper thing and apparently I used a pull up instead of a swim diaper - I didn't realize it until Gracie's hiney kept getting bigger and bigger -Baby Got Back :)

John-Mark did it again! He passed his swim test at the YMCA - he had to swim over 40 feet -  in fact he had to take the test twice because about a week after he passed it they changed the distance and he had to do it again - of course my little fish had no problem :)

This was the face I got a few nights ago when I told Gracie she couldn't have a treat after dinner because she wasn't eating her brocoli - It also came with a "Don't be ugwy mommy!" And this is why we call her our "sassy sisser"

The "big" kids chillin' in the rocking chair at mom-mom and Papa Steve's