Play Ball

Today was a mom day I will remember forever.

It was my little boy's T-Ball opening ceremony.

Baseball/softball has a special place in my heart. It was 'my sport' back in the day, although I only played for my high school a couple of years. I mostly played for the city rec league, and did their All Stars team for a couple of summers.

Its a place I began a lot of important relationships in my life. I still talk to most of the girls who were once team mates which I think is extremely rare, if not unheard of. Its also the place where my then boyfriend stole my heart just by showing up every game to sit in the cold bleachers and be supportive, annoy the fiery blazes out of the coaches, sing the cheesy cheers, and be my biggest fan (well, besides my parents, but lets face it, they were horribly biased).

Baseball was also a part of Tyson's childhood. He didn't play too many seasons and had somewhat lost interest in 'organized sports' as he called it by the time I met him. But from what I understand, for his short years in Little League and Babe Ruth, he was a pretty capable little slugger himself.

That said, Tyson and I have that common thread in our childhoods, and we've been really looking forward to the distant future, when Dawson and Anabelle's moment on the mound would arrive.

Then all of a sudden, today, out of nowhere, it was here already.

In the shuffle of our busy family lives, the harmless little scribble of 't-ball opening ceremonies' written hastily on the calendar didn't really prepare me for how emotional it was going to be. Then I found myself in a mob of parents being directed to the bleachers as Dawson greeted his new team mates, and headed out across the baselines into center field where his coach slipped a maroon hat and a giant jersey over his tiny head. Suddenly, I was choking back sobs.

I cant even describe the look of complete joy and excitement plastered across his filthy little face as they announced his team, "THE TORNADOES," and the little teenseys ran the bases as the parents cheered. My baby boy was waving his hat around his head like a cowboy comin in for the winning lasso the whole time.


It was the strangest/saddest/happiest/full circle moment for me. I was beyond thankful for remembering my sunglasses to hide behind... I don't think any of them realized I was sitting there plagued with nostalgia and utterly humiliated for being 'that parent.'

Honestly, personal 'warm and fuzzies' aside, I wasn't too sure he would be in to the whole experience. We've been telling him it was coming for awhile now, but he hasn't asked a lot of questions on his own.

But it is completely evident after this experience... once he saw that field we had him at peanuts and cracker jacks.


The Atascadero News took his picture for the paper with the mayor.


He is very VERY proud of his uniform, and happily played right along at all my requested photo ops. He even requested a special picture by this tree displaying his number... which perhaps not-so-coincidentally is exactly half of the #14 I wore so proudly all those years ago.


And who could forget his #1fan... who (thanks to Taylor Swift!) is very proud of her spot "on the bleachers" for now... although I'm not sure she will be happy at the sidelines forever. She has already had a princess fit about why he gets to do t-ball and she 'has to do ballet!' (which she adores, unless she is told there might be something else shes missing out on). I have a feeling it might not be long until she trades in her tutu and tiara for a trucker hat.


Tyson has been working long and hard on Saturdays for us, and unfortunately missed out on being there. He was kind of disappointed, I think he might have realized it was going to be a 'moment' before I even did. But Dawson couldn't even wait until we got to the car to call his Dad and tell him all the exciting details.


And those pesky Saturday shifts should be ending soon. We are hopeful for a Spring filled with t ball games in the warm evening sun, and having Dad around to drink it all in with us.

Its looking pretty promising.

Crossing One Off My Bucket List

My friends rule.

This one is for Stephanie Brown, and that boy of hers, who helped me fulfill one of my 'before I die, I must-"ests.

On Sunday mornin, we committed an unthinkable sin.

We skipped church, and went a shootin!


Pretty hot, right? Well... get a load of this here cowboy:


Come to find out, I married some kind of a sharp shootin maverick cowboy!... No, no... not Sarah Palin.

Tyson is a GOOD SHOT! He blew the very first pigeon thrown to him right out of the sky after not firing a gun in a decade. I was impressed.

The boys seemed to have a great time. Of course my husband wants a gun now. (Shhhhh! I kind of do, too).


It was really really fun to watch, and really fun to try too. I have a big black bruise on my shoulder! How cool am I?!

I almost chickened out at the last second... it sounds like good clean fun on paper, but when it comes to staring down the barrel of the matter, apparently I'm all talk. I got a-scared!

I'm so glad I did it tho. And I'm already hankerin to do it again.

"And what did we do with the kids while we went and played with guns in the wilderness, miles and miles from the nearest hospital and in a questionable cell phone reception area?,' you may ask?

Oh... you know.

We found the most reliable babysitter in town. Her name is Daisy, and the kids adore her.


After the shootout, us girls took off and spent a lovely afternoon at Stephanie's baby shower. Baby Hutch will be here SO SOON, and I can't wait to meet him and see his sweet little face. Anabelle had such a great time, getting to be with the grown up lady's and spend time with just me, and Dawson and his daddy explored the unknown terrain of Stephanie's parents amazing piece of property and played with guns some more.

We didn't get home till after dark, and after the kids went to bed Tyson and I both agreed it was such an amazing and fun day all around, one of my absolute favorites. A little bit of danger... a little bit of playtime, a little bit of party (and cake!), a little family bonding... ahh. That's just the stuff life is made of.

So thank you, Steph and Jerad... we can't wait for our kid's first official play date together, baby boy in the oven has SUCH cool parents.

We have much to look forward to, and much to be thankful for all around us.

And I get to put a check mark next to my shooting obsession.

Now if any of my other super cool friends out there happen to have access to getting me inside a shark cage... that's next on the list!

Haha.

No. For reals.

xo

March Forth

My friend Bethany pointed out to me recently that my birthday is a special day, because its a date AND a command:

March 4th.
March FORTH!

First of all, how adorable and creative is she?, and second of all... from now on, I'm going to try to think of it more that way instead of the emo-dysfunctional-manic-depressive-unbalanced sort of fashion I've been in the last several years.

Maybe not-so-coincidentally, I had a GREAT birthday (again) this year. Possibly my favorite ever.

Highlights included FOUR (yes, four) different birthday cakes... THIS tasty little treat was custom made by my brilliant neighbor and cake goddess extrordinare Alissa Bright, who is an artist and a cake humanitarian and always makes thoughtful things for any and everyone she knows. Isn't it pretty? And deliciously bite-sized... I swear it looks bigger in the picture... (PS- Dawson shared his Hershey kisses on top. How cute is that!?)

He also helped me eat it. I should be thankful for the calorie rescue, but sharing cake is never cute to me.... I KNEW he had an angle when he put that chocolate on top, how could I say no after that!?!? ;)

Speaking of calories, I have tasted heaven. Kari (who knows my love language is food) arranged for a mid-day feast on the divinely inspired decadence of ColbyJack Cafe (which I've heard amazing things about, but never actually tried).

We sat out back with the daycare pack and everyone feasted in the brilliant warm spring weather. How about that!? Rain and nastiness all week, and the sun came out on the day I was born. I feel so special! Almost as special as that slice of Snickers cake masterpiece we managed to polish off at the end of our lunch. Burp.

Lucinda and Aiden also spoiled me (without making my love handles any bigger!) with these little beauties:

I can't believe its almost garden time already, what a happy thought for this spoiled little birthday brat. ;)

The day ended with a collection of a few of my favorite people at a new ahhhhhhhmazing sushi joint here in town.

This place is going to be dangerous for me, particularly because its RIGHT down the street, and not all that expensive (listen to me rationalizing the addiction already).

How adorable are my two pregnant besties right now? And awe.... they still know how to party for the sake of little not-so-old me. ;)

If this last picture looks like the most painful part of the day, its probably because it was my fourth and last birthday cake, and I was stuffed to the brim with birthday joy and food and cards and kind thoughts galore.

And in just eleven days... the party continues in the great state of Washington (thanks, Obama!)

That's right! The McDermotts are going on their first EVER 'official' to visit our beloved Aunties in Seattle. Technically, just outside Seattle.

We are wayyyy excited, especially to be visiting the family we always miss! We.are.SO.outahere. I already can't wait to put that in my pipe and blog it.

So thats a birthday wrap... 2010 is ruling my world so far, even though I happen to be getting older in the process.

Thank you, friends and family, for always loving me, and encouraging me to "March Forth."

Even on March 4th.

xo

Sweet Child(ren) of Mine

My daughter is hilarious these days.

Here are a few of her latest crack ups:

Yesterday Tyson picked her up and was snuggling her and she perks up and squeals "DADDY! You smell JUST LIKE Mr.Jerad!" She giggles in her girlish fashion, and Tyson said "Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" And she said it was a good thing... phew. And aweeee, she loves her Mr. Jerad, how adorable is that?!?

This morning, she spotted a fly on the living room ceiling and shouted "Wha-oh, Mom. We got flies in the house... better go get the bug spanker!"


A coupe days ago, I heard her lecturing away in the living room, so I came out to see what was the matter. She was talking to the cat (of COURSE!) who she had strapped into the baby swing which was turned on the fastest setting, and who might or might not have been threatened with a spank if she tried to escape...


Recently she is very in to the whole wedding thing. She and her bff Addie talk on and on about who they will marry, and when they are grown up, and what they will wear, blah blah blah. One night at the dinner table she announces out of nowhere "When I get married I want grandpa to walk me down the aisle." I asked her which grandpa, and she said "Grandma's grandpa" (which means my dad). She was so cute and matter of fact about it I told her she should probably call him and ask him if he would be up for it, which of course he was. But then she kept talking about it, and I finally said "You know, Anabelle, you might hurt your Dad's feelings if you dont let him do that job... most daddys really like to be the ones to walk their little girls down the aisle to their new husband..." and she goes "but if Dad walks me down the aisle, how will I marry him?"


Today in the back seat of the car, her Addie was hacking her lungs out (recovering from pneumonia like the rest of the town). Anabelle goes "Oh, poor Addie, that doesnt sound good, but MYYY cough is all better! See?" and then she threw her head back and opened her mouth as wide as it would go to prove it. Yep, I see its definitely gone.

She was sitting at the breakfast table the other day with Dawson and they were eating cereal and I was encouraging them to eat quickly because we had somewhere to go. Anabelle looks over at Dawson and goes "Ok, Daws. I already know its NOT a contest, but Im just saying... MY breakfast is almost gone, and yours...ISNT!"

My recent most favorite is still the fact that she COMPETELY mortified me when she felt the need to taunt the two criminals in handcuffs on the curb outside the grocery store at the top of her lungs..."You're BAD GUYS, and YOURE GOIN TO JAIL!!" as I attempted to tiptoe past the crime scene as inconspicuously as possible. Luckily I don't think either of them spoke much English... but I know the cops watching us sure did!

And lets not forget the man who came to clean our carpets recently who was, shall we just say, not a people person. Especially not the little-kid-loving kind of people person. In his defense, he was there to clean my carpets not babysit... but Anabelle coudnt wrap her mind around the fact that he didnt exactly think it would be a fun idea to teach her what every detail of his day job is, or see the inside of her barbie dream house, or know what she had for breakfast yesterday morning. Finally, in a desperate attempt to get her out from under his feet without crushing her hopes of an invitation to be his apprentice for the day, I said "Why don't you go sit at the table and color while the worker man does his job?" She thought that was a fantastic idea... so she busied herself for all of 30 seconds at the table scribbling away furiously before taking off to present her new best friend the carpet man with a picture of her... holding hands with him... and shall we just say, this was quite the honest picture. He was not a small man... and she really made sure his girth was properly drawn to scale as she handed him her masterpiece... SO embarrassing.

Oh, Anabelle.

And now, on to my sweet son... Dawson.


He is changing right before my eyes. He is a completely different kid from the one I dropped off at his first day of kindergarten just a few short months ago. All he does is eat, eat, eat. He easily eats more than me at any given meal (and I really, really like to eat, I know I've never said that before).

Its not just the inches he is growing... The boy is writing... reading... spelling!... telling me interesting facts about things I have long forgotten learning about. (Did you know penguins only have one mommy and one daddy? Do you know what nocturnal means? Did you know there are 10 10's in 100?...) The kid is a sponge, and he LOVES to learn and be smarter than me, and every other single moment of school. We got a report card for him recently, it was GORGEOUS:


And here is another milestone on the near horizon: he is all signed up and anxiously awaiting the opening ceremonies of T-Ball.

My heart could not be happier with these 2 beautiful, smart, rotten, witty, hilarious kids I ended up with.

How'd I get so lucky?