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!

Austin Dances! --Powerhouse of Dance recital, June 2014

Austin has been taking dance class at PowerHouse of Dance for the last year. It's a Creative Movement class for 2 and 3 year olds that focuses on tumbling and being able to focus on moving certain parts of their bodies, etc. It's jumping and hopping around for toddlers, basically. He's been the only boy all year and has had a good time. Miss Laura, his teacher, is like Disney princess! She's so sweet and kind and smiley and has this long blonde hair. He loves Miss Laura. We decided to put him in the recital and it was a pretty successful situation!

The MC, playing the role of a professor. "PhD" is their big thing.

Here are some pictures of him performing. He's the only boy, center, in all black with a pink bow tie.

You'll see the video stop a few times as I'm also taking a few pictures. You'll also see him stop and point to the back, he spotted Gramps just off stage.

Recital 2014 from Sena Spofford on Vimeo.

When we walked out after he was done, we found lots of family (Seth's cousin's daughter performed that day too) so it was great to see that they all stayed for him!

Our two All Black Outfit Guys.

I wanted to get him something for the recital, but not a bouquet of flowers like little girls typically get. So, a wrapped Rescue Bot, it was! You can see how thrilled he was from his smile!!!

We then went to find some friends from class and pose them together. They wouldn't pose together, so this non-looking shot is the best we got.

Nonnie and Gramps got him a gift too, and he loves his Buzz Lightyear hat!

Clowning around a la Spofford Man Tradition

Here's his picture from the professional picture session they did. LOVE! I almost didn't get a copy of his individual picture. I was super sick with a stomach bug that day and it was all I could do to be upright. I decided I deserved a copy of this picture since I got out of the house and took him to dance that day. And now I'm SO glad I have it. It's awesome!

Next year, the plan is that Austin will move up to the Hip Hop Tots class and Graham will take Creative Movement. The classes are at the same time, so that will be a great hour for me! ;-) The recital, however, will probably be more than I bargained for. It was enough having Austin in costume, gift brought, getting pictures, etc. After the recital, we went to Liberty Burger with Nonnie and celebrated. Overall, it was a great day.