Sprinkler Fun!

We got out the water toys and had fun one hot evening, so I decided to put my photography class learnings to good use. Here's the some of my favorites from that night:

Graham trying to turn the water back on.
He has no idea what he's doing, but he sees Daddy turn it on by going over here
and putting his hand to the ground, so he figured he'd do the same!

And if we're going to need baths anyways, might as well have popsicles! 

(dislike Seth's foot shown here)

Austin's First T-Ball Season, 2014

Austin is having a busy, full, well-rounded spring/summer! He's been in dance class all year at PowerHouse (the Creative Movement class for 2 and 3 year olds) and recently had his recital. He was also recently in soccer at The Y. And now he's in T-Ball. Signing him up for T-Ball was a pretty easy decision because it's with the same team (and hence same uniform) he played soccer with. That's a lot of savings for us, so we went for it. We also felt like the less-confrontation-ness of T-Ball would be good for his sweet disposition. And, well, it's been a journey so far!

The first game was just Austin, Graham, and I (635 was a traffic mess that night and Seth was over an hour late getting home). I was parenting both while trying to explain to Austin how to play and needed to run bases with him while holding Graham. I think I shaved at least a year off my life during that game. (never-doing-that-again) But Austin was SO excited to play. He got the ball several times, he hit well, etc. Since that first game, he's not been excited to play and actually says he doesn't want to. (I think it might be a combination of one of the dads is a little scary/intimidating and he's always chosen last in the batting order, etc. Definitely not all-things-equal on this team of people who all know each other except us.) There's been a lot of bribing and encouraging going on which I wish wasn't necessary. But, we have resolved to stick it out since we paid for it.

Austin's first game; he was so excited!

Here are some pictures from one of his games after he was not-so-thrilled to play anymore.

Seth's teaching him how to stand while playing the field.

He loves to just stomp/plop down on the base as hard as he can.

Our last game and award ceremony:

The opening code recital...

Seth was trying to teach him how to stand.

But this is how he looked most of the time. 

Always a good hitter, though!

Look at him hustle! 

They started moving them around and Austin got a chance to actually field the ball!

Two Grahams

He is so proud of that thing!

I guess Graham wanted another popsicle! 

my sweet baby...

yum!

Next year, he'll be older and can choose between Soccer OR T-Ball. Or neither if he doesn't want to play either of them. But I don't think we'll let him play both. We just felt that he wouldn't know if he was interested until we signed him up; we didn't want to wait for him to request participation. (Here's a blog post that explains pretty much exactly how I feel.) And with two fall birthdays and my love of all things fall-namely, sitting around watching college football on tv and generally being relaxed, our falls are too busy to add sports of any kind, so the spring will be the only season we will pursue sports during. At least until they request otherwise and are old enough that it matters.

Cars and Cuts

My friend Nicole, who has been cutting my hair for like four years, recently told me she was more flexible because she was no longer at a salon and mentioned doing cuts in homes. I came up with this idea of her coming to my house to cut the boys' hair. (That's one drawback of having boys... they require haircuts so much more frequently!) They could watch a movie, I'd get cheap, good haircuts for them and she'd get some easy money. And then, since she was coming over anyways, I invited friends to come over too and the response was amazing! We had more interest than we could possibly fit into her time at my house. And it was really successful so we're already planning on having one in August, right before school starts!!

We set up in the kitchen with the highchair base (so there wasn't a back in the way) which has a straight-line view to our tv. Kids watched Cars and got their hair cut! And once the cut was done, most hung around and watched more of the movie and ate some snacks.

Austin went first.

Followed by Graham...

Our friends who came...

Thanks Nicole! See you in a few weeks!!!

Father's Day 2014

Seth's dad decided that he didn't want to be celebrated on Father's Day anymore (wants his sons, who are dads, to be the celebrated ones), so instead of spending the day with the whole family at Kim and David's eating burgers and the like, we had the whole day to spend just the four of us! It was nice and mirrored Mother's Day quite a bit. We went to church, got groceries and ate lunch at home. Afterwards, we got dressed to go spend the day at Randol Mill--Seth's request!

We found out about this place because Seth had taken Austin to a birthday party there several years ago when it was hot and I was pregnant with Graham. The boy was from swim class and I can't remember his name, now! Anyways, it was good that Seth went to that party because he's talked about it ever since and how much fun he had (Seth has been talking about it, not Austin). After swimming all day (Seth was free because it was Father's Day!), we got ice cream before heading home. The boys totally conked out on the ride home and it was time for dinner, baths, and bed when we got home. A perfectly lovely day! (except for that sunburn I got due to poor reapplication!) I don't have any pictures of the water time, because we have our hands full enough keeping them from drowning, there's no chance of getting pictures. (The link I posted has some good ones, though!)

Here are some pictures from our Father's Day.

Yellow are from this year; will keep adding on behind to show growth.

Daddy's helper.

"This one's Graham's."

The boys "got" Seth a book. Seth is always reading a book before bed and I liked the retro-ness of this one. Although none of the daddies in the book are "improving processes and making sure pants ship on time and under budget." ;-)

We gave him a bunch of his 'fancy' shaving stuff and a gift certificate to get a professional shave, which is something he's been wanting for a while.

Enjoying ice cream after a day of swimming...

Note for next time: don't splurge on Dilly bars. Too much hassle and not worth the cost.

The boys were totally passed out within minutes and stayed that way the whole ride home.

I love how his arm is curled up behind!