Enjoying the Games

A lot of evenings and weekends are dedicated to sports these days. It's a good thing we all enjoy it. My parent's are faithful fans too. Even Aunt Lissa and Tripp occasionally come cheer. We eat a lot of meals on the sidelines. Pinterest has been a huge help for easy dinners on the go. Two new favorites include, Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta (I swap tomatoes for cucumber) and 5-ingrediant pasta salad. I have make-shift Bento Boxes for Ryan and Avery and often divide salad ingredients up if I don't think they will like the real thing combined. Wraps and PB&J work too ;)

Mason's Team- Just an iphone picture. He is on the far left, standing.

 

EJ is the score keeper for Mason's team. That is Mason at bat.

 

Occasionally, I take his place if he is only counting pitches (the "visitor" team counts pitches, "home" team keeps stats). I am not ready for the real stat book. It's fun for me, because it means EJ is at the beckon call of Mason's littlest fans instead of me and I get to really watch the game.

These two are such good sports.

 

The summer is going to seem might boring after our spring calendar dies down.

Family Fun

We took another road trip this weekend. After the older 2's basketball games we headed to my parent's mountain house. I couldn't resist taking a pic of her. The only time she is not moving ;)

 

On Sunday a majority of us went skiing. Ryan was only out there for about an hr. He is young enough to be considered free and my dad had OLD used skis, so he played around a bit.

EJ and I haven't been on the slopes together for a long time! It was fun to reminisce about our dating days, back when we rocked snow boards. It's too hard to help new skiiers on snowboards. I haven't skied in SO long that I was nervous, but it was just like riding a bike, phew!

I barely went down any runs with my sister, but she was there :)
I did a lot of checking on the boys in their lessons, or "teaching" Ryan. My body is so out of shape that it's probably just as well, or I might not have been walking today ;)

Owen in the bright orange, made some major progress this year. It's his 3rd time, Mason's first. EJ enjoyed having Owen on the slopes with him.

My dad graciously paid for the boys. He has always loved skiing, I learned when I was 5! He is pretty determined to get the boys out there. They don't seem to mind and we are grateful for his generosity.

Ryan rocking the too-long-vintage skis for about an hour. 

The rest of the time he hung out with Grandma, Avery and Trip at the house.

We returned home right before the super bowl. EJ quickly got to work on dinner. Philly Cheese Steaks (his idea) and Owen was pretty pumped.

Owen got our "party" set-up in the living room.

 It wasn't a fancy party, but the sandwiches were yummy!

We were all a little disappointed at the outcome of the game, but it was a great ending to a fun weekend.

Last Week

Last week was a bit of a blur. I kept my head down and jugged along. EJ was gone M-TH, we missed him like crazy! And missed his birthday (in person). We were thankful he could be on the sidelines/field Friday and Sat.

 Check out the gorgeous sky, Fri evening. Ahh...

Sat. morning we watched our "porcupine" (team name) in action. This was his 3rd game and the first one that he has "looked alive" and oh, so much like his brothers at this same age :)

So Different

Oh, boys!

So what do three boys, three years apart, do for entertainment on a teacher workday? Pretend they are professional basketball players being announced for a game, of course. Specific background music, different numbers and names each time and a mama who grew a little hoarse from the 30 minutes of "announcing" with her best announcing voice ;)

No playing teacher, tea party or doctor here. Although there was some dress-up when Mason and Ryan decided to be mascots. Didn't get pics of that though. Darn!

SugarPlum is going to think she landed on Mars ;)

Hoop, There It Is

I have be super busy. Mostly by my own doing. That requires a post of it's own. Needless to say the house has seen better days. You know it's bad when 3 baskets worth of clean clothes are waiting to be put away (not counting the older 2 boys' clothes b/c they put theirs away before dinner each night) and before that can happen the drawers have to be organized b/c it's too messy to fit in the clean clothes. So, while I was refolding all of Ryan's clothes... he made a sport out of it. You know you are the 3rd boy, when an open dresser drawer warrants the retrieval of ball (which doesn't take much, we have them ALL over the place) and a game of hoops ;) All his idea!

#1 Fans

The boys and I enjoyed a picnic dinner on turf and cheered for EJ. The other team didn't show :( Fortunately, they had enough players plus a few stragglers for a pick-up game. It was fun sitting under the lights.

My Biggest Boy

Look who else is playing soccer ;)

I attended not just 1 game or 2 games, but 3 games yesterday. Owen, Mason and EJ each played.

Normally he will play Friday nights. This may have been our only chance to see him play. At least not without hiring a babysitter ;)

He definitely had the biggest fan club!

Game Time

#24 is mine. I can hardly believe it.

It's a different game this time around. Bigger field, goalie, referee, keep score and they play their positions (or at least recognize there are specific positions to be played).

 He's the blurry one in the background with the ball. Just love how everyone looks as they run.

I think he'd rather be playing football or baseball. This might be the end of soccer. We'll see.

1st games

Owen and Mason had games at almost the same time, Saturday at completely different parks. Gotta love it. I took Mason. On the way we picked up a headboard for Sugarplum ;) A craigslist find.

 This was a pretty regular occurrence... Mason and the goal and no one else in sight  :)

He "claims" he doesn't want to play soccer (now that we've signed him up). 
Doesn't really look like that to me ;)

End of the Season

All good things must come to an end. Owen was sad to say goodbye to his Ironbird's team.

 They were a great group of boys and they had incredible coaches.

 The boys wore faux mustaches during the game. (Owen's coach and the opposing coach are good friends so there was some added fun and joking)

 Still very serious even with a sticker on his face the whole game :)

The team celebrated the end of the season with a pizza party...

  

water balloon fight and ice cream sundaes which I forgot to photograph.

 That is Owen below ganging up on the coach ;)

 Even Ryan got in the mix (in the yellow stripes)

Thankfully 2 of the boys attend our pool. So at least he will see them over the summer.

Friday Nights

We have spent a majority of our Friday nights at the ball field this spring. We are usually there for 2 hours. That is a long time for the younger 2. Ryan manages to keep himself busy. Mason too. Although I didn't get any pictures of him this week. We've also had games on Saturdays and a few scattered on the week days. That is a lot of picnic dinners before pool season ;)

He loves it! How can I not?

{ top picks }

Upwards may be over, but they still have basketball on the brain :) Bracket time!

Spring Training

It's official. Baseball season at our house has begun. In another week, basketball will be a distant memory. Go IronBirds!!

Opportunities

At the beginning of the season and almost all of last b-ball season, EJ would take Owen to practice (and stay). Well, recently I have discovered I quite like taking Owen myself. I get almost an hour of peace and quiet no one needing me ;) Plus EJ gets some one on one time with Mason (after Ryan is in bed) which rarely happens otherwise.

I also attended this weekend's game by myself. EJ stayed home to wait for the delivery of new mattresses for the big boys.

Between Friday night practice and game time on Sat. morning I had quite a bit of car time with Owen. It's so much easier to "enjoy" him when it's one on one. He calms down so much and we usually have great conversations. Well, I am usually just answering lots of questions. And they are usually sports related, so I am probably not answering them too well ;)

At the beginning of each new sport season, I drag my heels, for selfish reasons. It's a time commitment for all of us. But I quickly remember and SEE the advantages in team sports. Especially as Owen gets older. There are so many opportunities to talk about people's character, moral choices and loving others. (Remind me this in a few weeks with Little League starts).

His first ever foul shots. He was so excited and nervous. He missed the first one but sunk the 2nd one. His teammates were so excited for him. I loved watching a new confidence wash over his face.

 

His first successful "lay up." The tongue helps ;)

Celebrating Joshua

This weekend we had the blessing of visiting with dear friends and celebrating their son, Joshua's 8th birthday. He and Owen are 6 weeks apart but attached at the hip when they are together. When we left today we pulled into the driveway across from their house to turn the van around. We were all wishing that was as far as we had to go to get home. Being neighbors would be awesome!

Joshua's party was an indoor soccer party. Owen's highlight for the weekend was the hour they spent on the field (keep in mind he had already played b-ball earlier that day).

Mason had a great time too and played the entire time at full speed. Amazing!
His favorite part was playing legos this morning with Owen and Joshua.

Joshua (at the head of the table) had a smile on his face the entire party.

 We had cake with all the grandparents and some cousins afterwards.
Courtney rocked the cake. It was a stadium and so cool.

I loved watching these 2 SIT and organize their cards together. I couldn't help but remember our visits several years back when I wasn't sure Owen would ever just sit. He could barely contain his excitement in their presence and usually made us miserable by the end. What a blessing to see him maturing.

I loved watching EJ and Pat laugh together. Like really LAUGH! They were goofing off with Joshua's remote control helicopters.

I loved Levi backing up his adorable self to sit on MY lap.

I loved seeing 6 sleeping bags lined up in one room with empty beds b/c no one wanted to miss out.

Mostly, I loved the time I had talking with my dear friend Courtney. She knows me so well. If I were to start a sentence in the middle, she would still know what I was talking about. She inspires me, challenges me, loves me and listens to my nonstop chatter ;) Her blog is a blessing to me, I get to see more of her life and heart that way. But there is nothing quite like being with her in person!!
Blessed.