Birthday bowling bash

The lanes were filled with Jason and his friends last weekend for a birthday bash at the bowling alley.



What a great bunch of kids!



Even Michael, who was having a tough time because the focus was Jason, Jason, and more Jason on this day, managed to enjoy himself.



Jason had a blast with his friends. The highlight, he told me later, was the STRIKE he bowled during one of his games.



Of course, there was much more to be thankful for--the cake, the pizza, the fruit juice, the friends, and the presents...



Thanks to all who came out to enjoy Jason's special day!!!

Six months old

AAAH!

The last six months have passed in a flash.

Half a year old, and Baby Joshua is already following in his big brothers' footsteps. Looks like Jason, doesn't he?



I have never been successful in encouraging the boys to use pacifiers. They have always preferred their fingers.



We've noticed that instead of bothering with the baby, the two older boys prefer to be by themselves. Jason and Michael have really gotten close recently. There's a fair amount of fighting between them, but, thankfully, a fair amount of fun.



And that leaves me time to be with this little guy.



Lucky me.

Family photo op

It's very difficult to get us all in a picture together. But, when we all manage to squeeze in, the first thing that comes to mind: "Boy, do we have a lot of kids."

Happy Birthday, Jason!

Our #1 baby is now SIX years old. Break out the Kleenex.

And the milestones keep on coming. He lost his SECOND tooth yesterday, which he was concerned about because it is right next to the one he lost a couple of weeks ago. He was afraid his friends would make fun of him. At dinner last night, we asked him if that happened. He said, "No, no one noticed." I suppose all his friends are sporting the same big gap as well.

Of course, the tooth fairy had to pay a visit overnight. Jason woke up, astounded that she dropped off another three bucks for tooth #2. Doug told him that sometimes the tooth fairy doesn't give that much for succeeding teeth. Jason said, "Well, maybe she did because she knows it's my birthday today."

Plenty of birthday festivities this weekend, and we're looking forward to a visit by Grandma and Grandpa. More pictures and stories to come.

My baby is growing up too fast!

My home run hitter

Jason is a home run hitter. In his last game against the Yankees, in his second time at bat, he hit the ball so hard, the coaches say he would have successfully circled the bases (had the girl in front of him not stopped in her tracks and planted herself on third base).

Unfortunately, I missed it all.

I was on the playground with Michael and Joshua. At the time, I was trying to convince Michael that he didn't need to do a #2 in a porta-potty. I won that battle of wills, by the way. And, it WAS a battle of wills since he didn't actually "go" until the next day.

But, back to the game. On Jason's last time at bat, he "broke" the tee. Which is apparently a good thing. The coaches seemed impressed, and they said they'd not seen that kind of hitting out of a t-baller, ever. The tee was a new one, they say. So impressed they were, they actually GAVE us the broken tee at the team's end of season party last night. If Jason could sleep with it, he probably would. However, it is resting nicely in a wagon in the garage.



It's kind of bittersweet, as I knew it would be. The t-ball parents and I spent the last two months complaining about how much time we spend at the ball field, and I know we'll be sad when we're not out there three times a week. Crazy, huh? Rest assured, we'll be back in the spring, complaints and all.

And, you can be sure, Jason will be practicing for the next time he's up against the Yankees.

Seeing the sights

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and presents in the last week. We celebrated together with Tim, which was a real treat.

And, it gave us a chance to explore a bit, introducing the kids to the sights and sounds of Northern Virginia.

First, we went to a petting zoo--and, the kids weren't all that interested in the animals--not once they saw the playground! And, for Jason, an open field is all he needs.



We were very glad to have Tim on hand for some much-needed help for a tired baby.



I was thrilled to be able to catch up with old friends. Cathy, Lisa, Amy, Erin and ALL of our children. And I mean ALL of them. We filled up the playground.




You know it's a good time when all the kids are unwilling to leave.



We got to celebrate cousin Danica's 3rd birthday, and as always, the boys are parked near the cake, usually closer than the birthday child, ready to pounce when the sweets are cut.



We thought we were going to miss a t-ball game by going away. Turns out there was no game scheduled, so one day, we went to my old elementary school, so Jason didn't have to miss a thing.



Michael didn't seem to mind the surroundings at all.



I know these pictures all look the same, but Jason is truly amazing us with his strength. He can go across the monkey bars; at this playground, there were three different kinds of bars, and he went across them all. Then he did some pull-ups.

Do they award scholarships for this kind of thing?




It's a good thing the boys built up some stamina early in the trip.
We ended with a metro ride to the National Zoo, and a visit to see the world famous pandas.




The boys may have interested in the pandas for about a minute. Maybe two.
But the variety of animals and the beautiful day made it a wonderful experience for us all. Just one Michael meltdown. We felt very lucky for that.




We expected, wrongly, of course, that the pandas would be their favorite stop on our trip to the zoo. Nope. Not even close.

Toward the end of our journey, down a hill after a Michael meltdown, we had the opportunity to watch a tiger in action. That was cool. It was moving all around, seemingly looking around for something, giving a sullen Michael a reason to focus. Then we realized what the tiger was looking for, when she stopped, just over the water that separates her world from ours.

She was looking for a bathroom.
And, the kids couldn't get enough.

Just ask them about it sometime.

"What was your favorite part about the zoo, boys?" we'd ask.
Almost in unison, they'll say, "When the tiger pooped in the water."

Nothing else compared.




We even did the touristy thing and took pictures by any "animal" we saw.



And every time I turned around, Jason, who turns SIX next week, kept doing this. Obviously, he's trying to measure himself against anything that is tall. Funny how all little kids do that. He is growing so fast.



And, we are growing older as well. We finished off our trip with a birthday treat with the family. Thanks, Mom and Dad. And, Happy Birthday, Tim!
We love you all very much!!!

Diamonds are a girl's best friend

In this case, we're talking about baseball diamonds.

I used to read about those overscheduled kids and couldn't figure out how a parent could let that happen.

I get it now!

T-ball is taking up many nights during the week, and we wouldn't give it up for the world. Well, we couldn't even if we wanted to.



Jason has found his five-year-old passion. He talks constantly about hitting home runs; he is focused on catching pop flies. In this game, you can see the concentration on his face. He hit two doubles during it. While I was snapping this picture, two older boys, like 10 or 11, walked by as Jason was swinging. They stopped to watch and said, "Dang, he hit that far." High praise indeed.



It's too bad that our other boys don't necessarily enjoy their time as much on the ball field.



The baby tolerates it. Barely.

Michael has learned hanging out at the playground is a fine way to pass the time.



And, as I was reading Michael's school schedule, I learned the kids in his class do yoga every day. YOGA for three-year-olds. Sometimes I hear him talking about bear breaths, then I see breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. I love this school!

Here's to a calm weekend!

Finally, food with color

Unfortunately for Baby Joshua, that color was pea green. The texture was a little rough, the smell was pretty unbearable.

But, the baby attacked the new food with gusto--the first night. After that, he started to rebel a bit.




From his perch across the table, Jason sat quietly and enjoyed a cup of ice cream. He told Joshua that one day he would be able to have such a treat. But not yet.

The sweet potatoes we tried the next night worked a bit better.



We're closing the books on another busy weekend. A t-ball game, a parade, the christening of Baby Elizabeth. We had a great time hanging out with friends for two days.

But now, it's back to work!

Hello from our brood! Look at Joshua's face. You can tell he's not too thrilled about being squished in between two brothers. We tell him he's going to have to get used to it.



Have a great week!