Ham and cheese

We love our friends with pools.



And we recently made friends with a family who lives on a lake. We may have to start hanging out with them more often. Look at the view. If you look closely, you can see Michael in the inflatable on the left. Doug and some friends are sitting in the one on the right. Michael SWAM all the way to the raft. Jason ferried adult beverages to the grownups. Good times.



Joshua was passed around from mom to mom. He loved it.



At some point, the adults and the kids decided to battle it out on the makeshift baseball diamond. Glad to see the dads were putting all their effort into it.



Ahh, the freedom to not have a care in the world. By our third hour at this party, it seemed just easier to leave Joshua in just a diaper. And he just couldn't stand not being in the middle of the action.



It may seem that all we are doing these days is hanging out with friends. We are definitely trying to spend as much time with Claire and her family as we can. They are moving in just a few weeks.

Joshua will definitely miss Lizzie. Unlike our other two boys, who, at this age, played "next" to other children, Joshua and Lizzie are really pals who play together.




On another day we took the crew to the zoo. My favorite animal was the giraffe. All the boys agreed, they loved peeking in on the reptiles. Yuck!

Diamond disappointment

I have never been so proud of Jason as I was tonight.

Of course, he's 7. I do hope to share more proud moments in the years to come.

First of all, the last two months have been a whirlwind of baseball, baseball and more baseball.

Over breakfast this morning, the boys learned that Jason did not make the 7-year-old All-Star Team.

He didn't really understand. And we don't, either.

But the boy took it all in stride.

And tonight, at his first playoff game, Jason won the game ball. He hit at least two doubles, threw out seven people and generally rocked it!




One more thing. Michael chimed in on the day's events. Before the game, as we were discussing the situation, Michael told Jason he thought this could be an opportunity for Jason to get better. What 5-year-old says that??? We certainly don't think, at the age of 7, his baseball career is over!!!

Jason still doesn't understand why he isn't on the other team, but, in the meantime, we're so excited he's giving it his all right now.

If this is what happens at the age of 7, I'm not sure I can handle what happens when 8 rolls around.

Sleeping beauty

So peaceful, so quiet, so sweet.
Hope you get a chance to rest today.

Home run!

It looked like it was going to rain all yesterday afternoon. Good thing it didn't. We would have missed Jason hitting his first real home run!!!

Where was my camera?

At home.

No matter, I likely would not have been able to capture it anyway, I was so focused on the game, screaming so much for him.

He brought home two of his teammates with that hit and we were so proud of the entire team.



The boys need a haircut, badly. Hopefully we'll get that taken care of tomorrow.
Right now, they look like they should be part of The Monkees. Hey, Hey...

Have a great night!

Game ball

We are so proud of our Little Slugger. He's growing to be a good little ball player and today was a big one on the diamond. The team lost the game, but Jason gave it his all. He's holding up the game ball he received for doing such a good job today! Great hits, great in the field--he's so excited, isn't he?



His brothers are, too!



Who can blame Joshua for thinking about nobody but himself--he's the baby, after all!



The "baby" weighs 24 pounds 10 ounces and stands 34 inches tall. This kid eats like a horse, and I was a little worried the doctor would tell me we needed to put him on some kind of diet. But she told me he was only in the 20th percentile for weight. Long and lean, she said. I supposed that means, for now, his habit of eating just the ranch dressing can continue.