Tom shortened the strings so it wouldn’t be as dangerous…and Owen still almost nipped Tom’s leg. 🙂 Needless to say he only helped for a few minutes.
Tom shortened the strings so it wouldn’t be as dangerous…and Owen still almost nipped Tom’s leg. 🙂 Needless to say he only helped for a few minutes.
Owen in his new shoes. I didn’t buy them specifically for t-ball, but when we realized they had mini cleats on them (they’re actually men’s race shoes) we figured they’d be perfect. He loves them.
Getting ready to bat!
And as a bonus, I made two new mom friends (and they’re friends with a few people I already know)!
Today was a teacher work day so Owen didn’t have school. I also picked today as a day for no technology—no TV, no iPads, no iPhones—so I try to do at least one fun project. Today I picked cake. 🙂 Owen did pretty good cracking eggs and mixing and I just let Katie dump things into the bowl and mix (with help). 🙂
Taking a Lego break.
Doing chalk in the back yard (on the steps—and as you can see in the next picture, any cement surface) since it was very sunny and the front doesn’t have shade OR anywhere to sit.
I told Owen he looked very dapper in his shirt (I had sent him upstairs to get dressed in his own) and this was the look I got: Yeah, I know. 🙂
That look. All I did was ask her to smile for a picture. Stinker.
I then surprised Owen with a Brick Loot box so he had fun building the Lego-ish toys. This was a 3-in-1 toy and I was surprised he actually built all three!
I love this boy.
Owen had early release today so after setting up for the book fair, I took the kids to the playground. Owen was running around playing by himself and I watched him do this.
I asked later what he was doing and he said playing dead. He was playing war. 🙂
The weather just isn’t cooperating with us this season. Owen’s had two or three practices canceled due to rain/wet fields/cold thus far, and tonight’s game was rained out as well. 🙁 They’re hoping to make it up, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
I feel bad for Owen—he should have had like five practices and two games by this point, and he’s had one practice and one game.
He usually brings me some new creation every morning. 🙂
I apologize ahead of time for the volume of photos…but this was his first real game so I wanted to show it all. I promise there won’t be nearly as many from upcoming games. 🙂
Practicing with daddy beforehand.
Typical Owen. He had grass-stained knees before the game even started!
Tongue out!
Not a kid from Owen’s team, but so cute I had to take a picture. 🙂
He had SO much fun and was SO excited about everything—it was awesome to see. And Tom had a great time, too, as he’s envisioned this for SO many years. 🙂
Tom helped Owen get dressed for the opening ceremonies! I’m not sure who was more excited.
Owen was hamming it up in the mirror. Please excuse the disaster of a room. (We’ve been getting the downstairs ready for a dinner party so lots of stuff is being dumped in our room!)
Doing a little fielding practice with his coach.
We have to bring a ball for Katie to play with—she loves to play catch and she’s actually pretty good!
Running the bases just for the fun of it.
He had his tongue out in lots of the pictures!
The T-ball teams were the last to walk in.
All the teams lined up (all teams from all age groups):
And then it was back home to clean for our dinner party…and to get ready to go back to the fields for Owen’s game at 1:30!
Katie is a force to be reckoned with.
Tom was able to come home from work in time to go with us for the monthly Lego build.
Once again, it was a complete cluster…though completely different than the last time. This time, we were prepared with our blue Lego Passport, but as we got in line, the lady in front of me told me we needed to have a white card. What?! I briefly explained our last attempt and them telling us we needed the passport but the line to get the passport was 100 people long. She said she had no idea about the passport but this time we needed to wait in a different line to pick up the card which would then allow you to get the Lego set. What?! Ugh. Thankfully Tom was with us so he and Katie went and waited in the ticket/card line and Owen and I waited in the actual Lego line.
Two different visits, two completely different routines. I don’t know why they seem to have no clue what’s going on. At least the lines for both weren’t long at all.
So we got the Lego pack and decided he wanted to build it right then. They have tables set up with numbers on them (which I had no idea why) but I asked if we could build it and we were told that we didn’t have an appointment. What?! Yeah, turns out when you pick up the card from the other line you had to tell them whether you were just picking up the Lego or if you wanted to build it at the store. Tom thought we were leaving (as did I) plus the next open time slot was an hour away. I told the worker that my husband picked up the card so I had no idea that there was an appointment time and I must have shown my exasperation as he took pity on me and said there were some openings because they were ahead of schedule so we could go ahead and build.
It took Owen all of three minutes to build the flying saucer. I took my first picture at 5:15, the completion picture at 5:18, and the post-build picture after we left to meet daddy and Katie at 5:20. 🙂
Meanwhile, Katie had been playing down the hall at the play area. 🙂
And Katie pouting.
They weren’t nearly as excited as they were the first day, and I’m not sure why. (They were eager enough to WANT to do it, but once we were outside and painted for 10 minutes, they were about done.) And of course, since they stayed perfectly clean the first day, I didn’t make them change into different clothes…and it’s the day Katie got paint all over her.
So I pretty much did all the painting just so it wouldn’t be wasted.
We told Owen he had to wait for us to come get him in the morning, otherwise he likely would have found all the eggs before Katie even got out of bed! (We also said it in case we didn’t get around to hiding the eggs before bed and Tom had to do it in the morning.)
Every time Katie opened an M&M, it went straight into her mouth. 🙂
A “fused” photo so I had one without Owen’s tongue sticking out. 🙂
Some fancy twirling in her new tutu. And we have NO idea where Owen got the “I’m going to text my friends” bit. NO IDEA.
Katie has started taking after Owen with the crazy faces when I’m trying to take a picture.
The ears didn’t fit Owen at all so it was only a matter of time before this happened!
Since it’s Easter, I thought I’d pull out a pretty hand-me-down dress from the Beson girls—and of course Katie LOVES it! She kept saying “It’s so BEAUTIFUL! Look at my beautiful dress!” 🙂
And the best two:
And since she was dressed up, and we were actually all getting dressed to go out on errands, we took a family picture!
We don’t have much candy but do have other things…so I suggested to Owen maybe he could ask for less candy. I may have also suggested Katie might want a tutu. 🙂
This was the Easter Bunny’s response:
It was sunny but windy and chilly.

Katie: Mama, look at that pillow on the floor.
Me: ???
Another T-ball mom: The base.
Me: Ahhhhh.

Enjoying some cuddle time.



They learned the different positions, practiced some fielding, and each had a practice at-bat:
Tom was helping on the field and said it was like herding cats. Yep, that was exactly what I had been thinking. 🙂

They have had five scheduled practices. Owen missed one due to our vacation and two have been canceled due to weather…so he will be playing his first game only having had two practices. It’s going to be a HOT MESS. 🙂
We had only used half of the paint, but the driveway and sidewalks were about out of room so we just used regular chalk today. Normally this keeps them occupied for at least an hour, but after the coolness of the paint yesterday, they were not having much fun with the plain chalk and it only lasted about 15 minutes.
I ordered pizza for dinner and the kids love to watch the progress meter (ordered, baking, out for delivery, etc.). They didn’t move an inch for a good 15 minutes. 🙂

Even though I was the one that bought the paint, I really hadn’t been looking forward to it at all (because…mess!) but then I read this article on Facebook: Why You Must Let Your Kids Jump In Muddy Puddles (about the Muddy Puddles Project) and I instantly knew what we were doing today. If you read the article, get your tissues handy.
And a few close-ups of some of the drawings (taken the next day after they were completely dry):
A bunch of Owen’s Legos migrated to the kitchen counter… He said they were having a battle.
She can finally—most of the time—make it up the tube herself!


Owen showing Katie what she looked like with her new headband.
