FQB

I was originally going to post about Wyatt's last two baseball games, but then this sweetness popped up in my photos.  She is so good at baseball and tee ball and soccer - as long as I'm giving her food!  You can see a little yogurt melt in her mouth here. Ha!

I can't believe that this girl is almost 20 months old.

Tee Ball Girl

Reese is having a lot of  fun playing tee ball this year. The weather has really gotten in the way of practices and one or two games, but she is so excited on her game days!

She loves to run the bases - but this girl is fast!  It's hard to get her out - unless she hits the ball directly to first base.

 She is getting good at catching and learning where to make plays.  She tried her best to get this one.

 This picture of her taking off from home plate cracks. me. up.  Goodness gracious, is she ever intense about running the bases.

She got to be pitcher at her game last week, and she did an awesome job!  She even managed to get two outs!

Of course, how could you have a bad game when you've got the cutest cheering section ever?

 Even when they're being a little silly.  Or in Hudson's case, stuck in baby jail (yes, that's what we call the stroller for him).  Wyatt prefers to run off and play with his friends during Reese's games, and Hudson doesn't really tag along.  Reese and her friends actually play with Hudson, so he doesn't really run off during Wyatt's games!

 I can't believe how close we are to the end of baseball season - the extended winter weather, lots and lots of rain, and cancelled games have made for a slower season than usual!  Of course - it just means summer's on horizon.  I should probably start looking at camp schedules!

Easter Morning

Brian and I dropped the ball on Easter this year.  We had NOTHING for their baskets the day before Easter - so my sister was kind enough to come watch the kids while we went shopping, and also went to see Captain America.  Of course, he still ended up at WalMart at midnight.  Easter traditions and all.

The best thing was seeing that these three decided to have their first "sleepover" while we were gone.

Oh, the sweetness.

Didn't last long though, because we moved them to their own beds. A three year old on the edge of the bed spells trouble.

After everyone was situated in their owns beds, the Easter Bunny came.

(Note to Easter Bunny:  next year, only ONE mixed bag of Skittles, Starburst, and Starburst Jelly Beans is needed. Don't go overboard with candy.)

 Everyone waited patiently to check out their baskets.  And then they had jelly beans for breakfast.

 I got an adorable picture of FQB in her basket last year.  This year?  There was none of that.

Although, this is pretty stinking cute.

 My artist made the entire family bunny ears.  Here she is modeling hers!

 And the rest of her Easter artwork.  She works on a new project every day.  It can be exhausting when I go to her room in the morning and see paper everywhere!  But she is definitely feeding her creative side!

We left our house (late because everyone slept in!) to head to my parents' house for breakfast!

Color Me Rad

My mom and sister called a few weeks ago and asked if Reese and I wanted to run the Color Me Rad with them. If the race were held on any other Saturday we wouldn't have been able to participate, but Spring Break gave us a free weekend, and we decided to run!

Reesie loves my brother's dog, Charlie.

Before the race!

She enjoys running.  She doesn't have any stamina, so she would sprint and then walk. She is really fast though, so when she sprinted Katie and I would have to as well.  But the race course was packed, and there were four of us, so there wasn't a whole lot of actual running taking place anyway.

Of course, once we got about halfway through the race, she decided that she needed a break.  Aunt Katie to the rescue!

Brian surprised us at the finish line!  He mentioned that he might come see us finish the race, but it was cold, rainy, and super windy, so I wasn't sure that he would bring the other three kids out in it!  It cleared up a bit, so they made the trip.  Reesie and I were so excited to see our favorites cheering us on!

Thanks for inviting us Katie and Didi!

Easter: Egg Dying

The kids begged and begged to dye our Easter Eggs last week.

I may have used it as bribery to get them to clean.

Just saying.  It was Spring Break and it was a long, cold week.  My house was getting destroyed every day.

On Thursday I was satisfied with their cleaning efforts, and I was also running out of ways to keep them occupied that didn't involve being outside or spending any money.

I kind of love that Wyatt has misconstrued the meaning of "bunny ears." And also Hudson's smile here.

 These two are old pros at dying eggs.  But they prefer mixing everything up to make "rainbow eggs."

 This little guy prefers to let his eggs sit for a bit so they get darker.

 Working on their rainbow eggs.

 Everyone was obviously hard at work.

Of course, after the eggs were completed the boys decided that they didn't like them.  And then Reese proceeded to eat 8 of the eggs...in 4 hours.  I guess that means she likes them.  But really, she likes everything!  

Hudson's Spring Program

Hudson's Spring Program was last Thursday.  He was not quite as into the singing portion of the day as he was at Christmas, but he still had fun!

 He cracked me up with his hands in those pockets!

 This picture of he and his friend Ellis cracks me up.  What's got you down, little guys?

Reese's Spring Program

We had Spring Programs at school last week.  Reese and Hudson had their performances on different days, so we got to go twice!

Last year was bittersweet for Wyatt because it was his final time participating at preschool, and this year was Reese's final performance.  We think. We think.  We are really going back and forth constantly about what to do with her.  We LOVE their preschool, but we feel much more at peace with the idea of sending her to public Kindergarten than we did when we were making the decision about her big brother!  We know the public school now and we love it, so it's making the decision a little tougher.

This scatterbrained mom forgot to grab the SD card out of the computer before we left for school, so even though I had my Canon (and even got snap happy with it before I realized my mistake), all I've got to show for the day are iPhone pictures!

They sang their songs and then went back to class for their party.  They followed the party up with an Easter Egg Hunt!

And of course the Easter Bunny showed up to surprise them all!

4 year old class

3 year old class

I can't believe how big she's gotten since she started school three years ago - and she's learned so much!  I know she'll miss her preschool, but she is soooo excited to go to school with Wyatt again next year!

Busy Season

There are many things that overwhelm me as a mom of four (it's true.  Do not think I have this mom thing down to a science or all figured out.)  There is the constant need to pick someone up from somewhere.  There are errands.  There's cleaning and laundry and meals that need to be prepared.  And bills and calendars and homework.  

The funny thing about this season is that I always think, "When we get to this stage, things will get easier."  In the last year I think I've told myself that life would get easier when:

- Wyatt started school all day and Reese went to preschool 5 half days a week:  pick up at 11:45 and 2:20 every day.  There goes a solid nap for the littles.

- Finley stopped breastfeeding: eh, not that drastic since she was down to 3 feedings a day when she weaned at 15 months.

- Hudson was potty trained: seriously?  diapers allowed me the freedom to do many things in peace.  Like get to the back of Target without someone screaming, "I need to pee!  I need to pee!"

- We had some downtime on weekends: this is actually the perfect opportunity for the kids to destroy my house.

The thing is that it's not going to get easier. It's going to get harder and more stressful and maybe a little sad. Because they're going to get bigger. There will be times when everyone is potty trained and they can all go before we leave the house.  At some point, I'll be able to tell them to pack their own lunches (on weekdays and for our marathon weekend days).  Someday we won't be stuck at the ball field in the middle of someone's nap time...because no one will actually take a nap.

And then? I'm going to miss all of it.

But for now, she knows how to make the best of our busy season.  And I need to figure out how to do it, too.

And you know, if it included a nap for me, that wouldn't be so bad.

Wyatt's Birthday Party

We celebrated Wyatt's 7th birthday last weekend with a party at the zoo.  Again.  And again.  And again.

I'm going to let the pictures do most of the talking here :).

He wanted a hockey cake this year.  We just had the bakery make a hockey rink on the cake and we added his hockey guys.  Wyatt orchestrated the game.  Including the fight.

Reesie and Sophie spent most of the time before the party talking about how they were NOT going to touch a snake!

But Wyatt did (and Reese did, too)!

They had a few other animals that they kids could look at - a scorpion and a chinchilla.  Wyatt was able to touch the chinchilla, but no one else was.

Cake time with Evan and Derek!

After the party, our group set out to explore the zoo.

Cousins and zoo explorers - Derek, Wyatt, and Colin.

And Piper and Reese are cousins and colorful girls!

Wyatt had a really great party.  We were so happy so many of his favorite people were able to celebrate with him!

March Little Things

March came in like a lion....and went out like one, too.  So. over. snow. and. rain. and. cold.

We were able to overlook our jealousy of the warm Florida weather to catch a few spring training games on TV.  This little guy loves watching baseball, and he really loves watching Derek Jeter play! (Also? He loves Sonic slushes.)

Hudson's class learned about Dr. Seuss all month.  Doesn't he look downright adorable in his hat?

Reesie has obviously already played her first game, but she was so excited for her first practice.  She was counting down the days!

She also got her 15th reader (and her 16th, but I don't have the picture.  Oops).

Finley got into the St. Patrick's Day spirit in her Shamrock skirt!

And she enjoyed her Tuesday morning alone without all the other kids!  This year is the first time that I've only had ONE kid at home since before Reese was born.  Two days a week it's just me and Finley.  And next year we'll be alone three days a week.  Insane!

I've been doing more shopping at Sam's lately, and I'm always surprised by the cost (it always seems cheaper without Brian tagging along), and how sweet these two are together while we're there.  Also?  Obsessed with FQB's polka dot jeggings.

I ordered these prints for Reese a few weeks ago.  She picked out which princesses she wanted and decided on the arrangement.  I'm quite happy with her choices of Merida (brave), Mulan (warrior), Rapunzel (dreamer), and Anna and Elsa!

In March I started a little project.  I decided to finally paint the garage hallway and start an actual honest to goodness backpack station.  I stained letters to go above everyone's hooks one night while Brian and Reese were at a hockey game.

And I painted the hallway as well.  My living room is SW Comfort Gray and I LOVE it, but I decided to tone it down a bit in the rooms with less natural light.  I moved down a tone to Sea Salt, and I really, really like it!  Next up are the bathrooms.  Maybe they'll be in the April catch up?  Ha!