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Team of the Night Memories

20 Jun

Chopper and the Orioles

They played a fun season of tee-ball as the Orioles and got to celebrate it all while creating lasting memories as the Team of the Night at the Gwinnett Braves.

Moments I will cherish include:

  • How Nate was excited to get some players’ autographs without having any idea really what the word autograph means.
  • How he told me an hour before the event that he was going to hold his hat on his heart for the “prayer.” (National Anthem)
  • How Nate held his hat on his heart and stood so still and silent during the National Anthem.
  • How he trotted in pace with the First Baseman, Mauro Gomez, as they took the field while both of their names were announced to the stadium.
  • How he looked so tiny compared to the 6’2″ player while standing at First Base.
  • How he didn’t look scared while standing a field away from me next to that 6’2″ player he didn’t know except from “He’s number 30! He hits home runs!”
  • How he loved sitting and watching the game with is teammates and then couldn’t sit still because a mock game of their own started.
  • How he picked the green eyeball that hasn’t won all season and it WON.
  • How he got to pose for a picture with Chopper – something he’s been wanting to do for some time now.

I wonder what he’ll remember most from all of it. Every bit of it made him beam. Even the score. G-Braves won, 8-2.

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Summer Camp – Week Four

19 Jun

What a fun week for the kids at camp! They started swimming lessons and told us about their accomplishments each day. (“Guess what?! I went in six feet today!”) And, not only did they make their crafts, but they got to eat them as well!

The theme was about cooking and food. The kids drew pictures about food, made rice and bean beach scenes and made noodle necklaces which I have pictures of below. But the edible art they created, naturally, didn’t make it home. They made ants on a log and trail mix and then munched them up.

I think the cooking week inspired Nia to help at dinner too. The other night she helped with green beans and watched as I made beefy noodles, asking questions about the seasoning and why I was doing what I was doing. Nate tasted the green beans and told her, “Yum, Nia! You made these? They are good!” He made her so happy. She gave him such a sweet smile and looked at me like, “That was special, huh, momma?”

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Nate's Food Art

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Nia's Noodle Necklace

Rice and Bean Beach Scene

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Father’s Day at the Baseball Field

19 Jun

Dugout Moment

As part of Andrew’s Father’s Day gifts, he got to experience the Gwinnett Braves‘ dugout for a family picture (and a whiff of hard-working player aroma), play catch with the family on the outfield next to the players, have his name on the scoreboard (although we missed it) – and – he was treated to a pint glass proudly donning the logo for the G-Braves. (You know that’s what I really wanted to get him.)

I’m not sure who loved it all more – Andrew or Nate. I think Andrew did because Nate’s happiness and excitement is such a great gift for him. Especially when Nate caught the practice game ball from one of the other team’s players. The player went to throw it to Nate but then hesitated – probably because he wasn’t sure if it would be safe to throw it to him because of his size. Nate was ready for it though – glove out and face telling the player, “I got this.” He sure did too. The player and the people around us all cheered and looked shocked at Nate’s catch. Way to go, buddy. That made daddy so very happy and will be a special Father’s Day memory for all of us.

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Eight Dad Days Old

19 Jun

You are old enough as a dad to know about the comfort of snuggles on the couch while watching tv, play-wrestling on the living room floor (that usually ends with someone in tears after immense happiness) and endless hours of catching the kids as they jump in the pool or ask to be carried from Point A to Point B.

You are old enough to know about scraped knees that you magically fixed by poking the injured child in the armpit creating laughter and healing (this does not work when I do it, by the way), sleepless nights due to sickness or baby schedules, lunches for school, routines for morning, noon and night and countless (and difficult) time-outs and punishments.

You are old enough to know the importance of putting your children first and you never show a selfish heart in anything you do.

You have not made it to the driving years, serious relationship years, out past curfew years or broken bone years yet, but as we experience this parenthood journey together, I know I can always look to you to try to figure out the best way to handle the challenges and heartaches.

Happy 8th Father’s Day, Andrew. The kiddos and I (Joey and Clark, too) are so very lucky to call you ours. Thank you for being “just you” – as you always tell me. The kids thank you too.

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Decorating Dad's Day Cake

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They can't wait to give and receive.

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Sweet words of love from Nia.

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Nate says it says, "I love to play baseball with you."


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Second Recital Reflections

15 Jun

Three sparkly costumes, a gazillion hair/bobby pins hidden in strands of hair, several applications of impossible to apply red lipstick and eight stage visits later, our Dancing Bean has her second recital all wrapped up in our memories.

I’m so proud of her for remembering all those moves! I am amazed by how much they have to learn. And – don’t forget to smile! She just had three dances to know too – some girls her age had four or more. Wowza. I think that’s so impressive and shows such discipline. These girls all love it too. The costume changes, the makeup, the dressing room fun and, of course, the performing. They even know some of the other dancers’ routines. Dancing backstage as they wait for their chance to shine. I especially love how they all quietly sang along to the songs before theirs.

It was a night to cherish and now it’s time to rest up because she’ll soon begin preparing for next year’s show.

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Ready for the Show!

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Passing Time Between Performances

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Bean and Honey

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Bean and Her Special Guests (Yay for Paul and Honey!)

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Proud of Our Dancing Bean

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Dancing Rainbows

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Our Sleepy Star

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Summer Camp – Week Three

11 Jun

Week three of summer camp featured all the usual fun like swimming, new songs and games, but it also offered lessons on staying safe (Safety was this week’s theme) and baseball-packed mornings for Nate.

Nate loved crashing the ages 6 and up baseball camp. From what he tells us, he held his own with the older boys and by the look of his uniform at the end of each day, it seemed that way. Sweaty, dirty and STINK-y. He learned how to bunt and met new friends who taught him how to not “respect the pouch.” He still giggles about it.

During summer camp, the kids met with police officers, firefighters, a member of SWAT and the American Red Cross. They told me they learned about everything from tornadoes to fires and “not to pick up guns if you find some.” The fire lesson really bothered Nate. He told me before bed one night that he wished our house was smaller and that our roof was “down there,” pointing to the second story’s floor. He said that way he wouldn’t have to worry about jumping out of a window, he just could.

I suppose with knowledge often comes fear – and a mommy and daddy to comfort them.

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Police Swag

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Pretty cool caption, Nia.

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Escape Plan!

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Nate's Baseball Camp Certificate

 

 

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Dancing Bean 2011

10 Jun

Bean, having a blast during her dance recital dress rehearsal. Good luck on the big night!

Second year for ballet:

Second year for tap:

First year for jazz:

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What’s this say? And this?

7 Jun

We’ve been treating Nate like he’s doing incredible tricks each time he reads something that surprises us. He’ll read the tv’s channel guide, amazing us with the reaction of, “Nate! How did you know that, buddy?! What’s this one say?” He won’t always know the others we are asking about but he will try to figure out the words, learning them in the process.

He even started to read a book he was just browsing through at a store recently. He opened it and read the first sentence, “I want to go.” Our reaction, of course, “Nate! That’s so great buddy!”

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Nia is proud of his reading too. She is always updating us when Nate reads something we may miss. While we were at a baseball game, she kept praising him for reading things off the scoreboard monitor. She’s been so excited about his reading that she even made him flashcards. She brought them to me and said, “He can make sentences with them!”

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It’s really fitting that she is such a big cheerleader of his reading. After all, she used to read to him.

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Summer Camp – Week Two

6 Jun

The second week of summer camp was a shortened one with Memorial Day off, Nate at baseball camp for part of one day and a Daddy’s Day Off on Friday – but the kids still brought home some art for us to admire. The theme for the week was “Things Outside.” When I asked Nia what she learned about, her response was, “I don’t know.” How fascinating. I did get a few nuggets of wisdom from her involving her art:

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"Stick bugs look weird but I already knew that."

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"These are sail-man hats." She made hers at camp but then came home and made me a special one. Extra awesome.

Nate brought home one of his drawings and he asked me to, “Find the wasp, Mommy.” I felt so bad as I pointed at just about everything on the paper, never once hitting the wasp. He laughed at my silliness because he just couldn’t understand why I couldn’t see that wasp.

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Betcha can't find the wasp in Nate's drawing. Nope. That's not it.

They may not be retaining everything they learn while at summer camp but it seems this fish’s face sums up the time they are having there.

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Love Nia's Happy Face Hand Fish

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Summer Reading – When Do We Start?

2 Jun

I am loving Nia’s suggested summer reading list. Harry Potter, Judy Blume, Nancy Drew and Chronicles of Narnia? What a great list! I’ve been waiting for the day to introduce her to Harry. I can only hope she enjoys the Harry Potter series half as much as I do. (That way I can at least talk about them with her after I re-read them for the I-lost-count time.)

Along with the books of her choice, Nia will add the dictionary to her reads, just because she’s been wanting to learn more vocabulary words. (Awesome.)

I wonder which book she’ll want to explore first?

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