Easter hunt drama and some sweet dance moves

It's been a fun April. Here's a quick update on the goings-on at our place:

TP - Went on another campout since our last post, tilled our garden today and has been mowing, edging, fertilizing, and aerating our lawn like he's going for the title of "greenest lawn on the block" again this year. Cleaned out the garage, helped me clean our bedroom (does anyone else's master bedroom get cluttered the way ours does? It's amazing how things accumulate in there), been working out like a madman, and is also working hard at supervising the front end of Costco, running the registers and keeping lines flowing freely. He has been busy and he takes such good care of us.

JP - Still running a ton in the early a.m. hours (glad it's starting to warm up, now I only have to wear 2 layers) getting ready for a half in July, subbing at her old school about twice a week and tutoring a 5th grader twice a week, has been baking a ton lately, coaching tball, trying to coax Kate to eat (she is such a small eater! Whose baby is this??), and happy.

CP - Practices hitting the ball off the tee or plays catch daily, eats everything in sight, is very observant and caring and aggressive and out of control, all in the same minute, asks to swordfight on the Wii almost daily, been working on his dance moves and band-aid application skills.

KP - Rockin the piggytails daily, in investigative mode and will scoot/crawl around the house checking everything out, helps me unload the dishwasher by handing me the utinsels, hates getting diaper and clothes changed. Growing every day.

I mentioned Cole's dance moves, I posted a video at the end so you can see for yourself the talent this kid has. He found some of Tyler's old radio headphones and wears them around the house, FM radio blaring, dancing with this serious face, arm out, and bouncing. It cracks me up!

We went to the Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum and they have this great kid's area where they can dress up like pilots and "fly" in real cockpits. It took a lot of tricky parenting to get him out of that suit and home he was having so much fun.
Love this!
They even had adult sized jumpsuits for the grown ups who wanted to dress up. Jessica and I played along.
Kate crawled under here and was happily stuck for a few minutes, she thought it was great.
Easter hunt! Cole loved this one we did at the city park last year, so we fully expected a good time this year again. Not so. After waiting for over 45 minutes in line for the hunt to start, there were so many kids in the 0-3 group that the eggs were gone in seconds. Cole took about 5 steps, picked up one egg, then turned around defeated. I didn't blame him. We started out so excited too! We just had to make up for it with our own great hunt at home.
Here's the face 10 seconds after the hunt. :(
Much better when you're the only one hunting at home!
Other fun activities we've been up to...watercolors with neighbor friends,
and hanging out at the ballpark. This is after Cole's game last week, it was a beautiful evening and everyone was in a great mood. Kate loved getting thrown in the air.

And Cole loved his after-game hot dog. It doesn't get much more American than this. If only we had some apple pie...
Cole wanted to read Kate a book one morning, it was adorable but only lasted for a few minutes.
He also discovered he loves eating lemons. He eats them like orange slices, and then eats the entire rind! Ew! He ate a whole half of lemon this way.
After church on Sunday. I love that face! Both of them.
Here's Cole after church. He's really into white ties like daddy and the deacons lately.
I stuck this on her nose and it stayed there for half an hour! Fun.
Here's a fun picture: one night Kate was having a hard time getting to sleep so I was helping her for awhile, which meant Cole was unsupervised for longer than usual. This is what I found, Cole with about 10 band-aids stuck to his leg, covered in neosporin and hydrocortisone cream, with many other unwrapped bandaids stuck to the floor. His face says how bad he felt.
Here's the leg!
So a great month overall. Looking forward to May - Kate turns 1 on the 22nd!! Here's a video of Cole rocking out.

For the love of the game

I absolutely believe that baseball is one of the most wonderful things about being an American. Something about the smell of the grass, the pace of the game, the hot dog/bbq smell, and kids running around with their gloves and hats makes me feel like life is so good (which it is). So you can imagine my utter happiness when my son decides that he loves the game too. I am picturing the blissful years ahead, packing snacks, lounge chairs, and sunscreen to baseball fields to cheer on my firstborn. Of course that hinges on him still loving the game as he grows up, but I'm not ready to consider that option yet.

To say he was excited about playing t-ball is an understatement. I am one of the coaches (along with my good friend/neighbor Jaymie) so we were able to take a lot of the equipment home. That turned into him becoming attached to a certain helmet which he slept, ate, and traveled to Costco in. He constantly talks about how hard he can throw, how far he can hit, and how fast he can run. When it came time for our first game this past week, it all culminated in one of the best days of my life. To see my son in uniform (Red Sox too, one of the benefits of coaching is you get to pick your team) and playing on a team, it was heaven. I think I'm sounding a little dramatic about this simple event, but being someone who grew up playing every sport every year all year round and loving it, this just makes me happy. If he changes his mind later and decides ballet is his thing, then I'll learn to love that :)

He has six more games so there will be plenty more pics, here's just a few from opening day.

This was his team pre-game in the dugout. Coaching tball has little to do with baseball knowledge and lots to do with child management strategies. Cole is sitting on the bench, hat and glove on.

My little slugger, so excited!
This is the helmet that became a permanent part of his wardrobe for a few days. He's getting ready to bat first. He did a great job hitting the ball off the tee hard, but we definitely need to work on running to first base, not chasing the ball! He's so used to shagging his ball after he hits it off like we do at home that he chased right after it.
His gal pal Ellie.
Bumble the Bee, our local Salt Lake Bees mascot, was there signing autographs and such. We waited in line and when it was his turn Cole says, "Will you please sign my hat?" When Bumble took it and kneeled down, Cole turned and gave me this face and said "He is signing my hat!" It was adorable.
Later that night when Cole was talking about his day he told me he loved Bumble.
The loyal fans! Mom and Tegan broke a few speeding laws I hear to make it in time for the game, we're so glad they did :) Jess was the official videotaper, and poor Tyler had to work. We love him!
Eating at Chili's post-game. My kids cannot be bothered to stop eating for a picture.
Some pics from earlier in the month...Kate has now graduated to piggy tails almost everyday and they are the absolute cutest thing I have seen. She is our sunshine!!! Happy, warm, constant. And Cole is our lightning, bright and brilliant and unpredictable. Those were kind of cheesy analogies. Oh well. I'm feeling more wordy than usual.

Playing catch with daddy in the front yard.
I love love love this kid!

Tyler had the opportunity to take his 15 scouts to Goblin Valley and Moab this past weekend, which is in Southern Utah. He is the ultimate scoutmaster and loves what he does and does it so well. We miss him when he's gone but feel great that he gives so much to his calling and does it all with a big smile. This is one of the slot canyons they hiked through. How handsome is he?

Kissing the rock that looks like a face. Kind of jealous, I must say.

Delicate Arch with Tyler below.

Just another of sweet Kate to end with. She's crawling like a pro, she has two forms: one is a scoot where she tucks her right leg under while she scoots around so she can sit up quickly, the other is the basic crawl which she will only choose when she's in turbo mode and sees something she wants right away. She loves standing though and cruises everywhere along the furniture. She's kind of independent for a 11 month old and will just crawl around checking out all the rooms while I am making dinner or playing with Cole. She is so mellow and even tempered.

Here's a video of the scoot! I thought she'd break out the turbo speed to get the chocolate graham I placed on the floor, but I don't think she knew what it was or else she would have hurried faster :)

Featured!!

We once became friends with this great couple, Tyson and Julie. They had just gotten married when we met, we were recently married and child-less as well, and we quickly found out we had much in common - we honeymooned to the same place, attended the same university, we all loved meat, and Julie and I were both first grade teachers in the same district. And then we moved away to Farmington, and they ended up moving away out of state, and we really miss them! But we still keep in touch. And Julie has a terrific blog called teacher-2-mom.blogspot.com with wonderful ideas for moms from moms who used to be teachers. Anyway, I got to guest post on her blog last week and you can see it here: http://teacher-2-mom.blogspot.com/2011/04/moms-who-teach-mondays.html. Just a few things I do with Cole each week. It was fun! And made me want to do more.

Check back soon - on my to-do list for this week is to blog about Cole's first tball game! Adorable!