Memorial Day Weekend

The kids and I have a very nice Memorial Day Weekend.  We went to Wilmington to visit my parents.  With our crazy sports' schedule, this was the first time we'd left town since Easter, so we were glad to get away. Thankfully, the weather was great, and we were able to enjoy the beach too.

 

 Missing Daddy

 My crew

 Worn out!!!

Dad's birthday was Tuesday, so we decided to celebrate all weekend with a Texas Sheet Cake. 

The kids believe if your last name is the same as the restaurant, you should get a free meal.  We had a great meal, and when they messed up the order and brought us extra seafood and fries, we were worried the food would go to waste...the kids ate everything!

 We took a walk in downtown Wilmington on Sunday afternoon.

My crew with the USS North Carolina behind us.  It would have been really cool if the Coast Guard cutter had been in (where we were standing was its docking area).  Sadly, it was not docked.

Thanks for the great weekend, Mom and Dad!

The Little Gym

Alex has enjoyed going to the Little Gym this season. They run their classes along the school calendar, so his year is ending.  He's loved the Sports' Skills class he has taken and is signed up for it again in the Fall. Last week, they had a "Showcase" to show off some of the sports they have played this season.  They focused on baseball and basketball.

 

 

 

 Here's Alex with Mr. Brandon, his beloved teacher. Mr. Brandon is so great with the kids, and ironically, it is a class full of boys.

The Medal Ceremony-I have had to pry the medal from Alex at night, as he wants to sleep with it.

Garden Update-Week 5

 The garden is really coming along and finally starting to look like it may grow the veggies.  I hope that things start to come along. 

 Bed 1, I had to replant the okra today because it just wasn't coming up. Last year, it was our best crop.  I staked the peas so they don't intertwine with everything else. 

 Bed 2-Tomatoes and Peppers-They seem to be doing well. I just hope they start to actually grow.

Bed 3-Cucumbers and various squash-This bed is looking green, but time will tell if things grow.

Bed 4-Acorn Squash Broccoli, and Cucumbers-Looking good, but we'll see.  The acorn squash usually does well, but last year, it didn't.  This is a new spot for it, so hopefully it will come along.

Mother's Day

Well, I'd like to say I had an awesome Mother's Day like no other, but I cannot tell a lie.  First, it wasn't the same because Edward wasn't here.  That's never any fun, and Sundays are always hard when he's away.  It's never fun sitting in church alone watching other families, all the while, battling it out with the kids to, "Whisper.  Be quiet. Don't touch anything. Get your feet off the pew.  There's no yelling out the hymns."  Anyways, the start of our Sunday started WAY, WAY too early at 4:45 when Luke decided to get up.  After talking to him and putting him back in bed, he proceeded to wake up Madison and Alex.  Awesome.  So, things didn't go well from the start.  By 9:00, as we were leaving for church, I had broken up two fights (one with Madison and Luke rolling around, fighting over the toothpaste-seriously), fixed and cleaned up breakfast, and we were out the door. Mind you, I didn't get breakfast.  Somehow, in ALL that time this morning, there wasn't time for me to eat.  So, after church, we headed to a somewhat stress-free lunch.  I chose Joe's Crab Shack partly because I knew everywhere else in town would be covered over with families, but also because it has its own playground.  We've only eaten there one other time, but we'll definitely be going back, specifically during the deployment.

 

 After I was asked if I wanted patio seating by the playground (duh!!), we had a pretty nice lunch.  It was somewhat stress-free, as the kids had fun playing. During the meal, Luke discovered he liked my shrimp and my fish (I had gotten a platter), so I had about half of my meal. Luke, enjoyed all of his fish kids' meal and about half of my meal.  Oh, Alex ate my French fries, so that took care of that too, not that I was hungry  :)  We normally don't get dessert out, but the kids had been really good and really wanted to try this "Campfire S'mores" dessert.  It looked interesting, and the three bites I had were delicious.  It was devoured in under two minutes.

 Next, we headed off to putt-putt. I knew going home would only result in more work for me (cleaning up messes), and I had gotten an email that moms could golf free. Madison and Luke both had free passes from school (I knew I was saving those for a good reason!!), so I only had to pay for Alex-score!!  The girl asked us if we wanted a score sheet, and after telling her that we were doing well just to hit it in the hole and not off the green, we started our game.

 They did pretty well. Luke had three hits off the green, but Madison and Alex managed to stay on it. 

 So, Alex writes left, catches left, throws left, bats right, and apparently golfs right.  We're figuring things out with him  :)

 The true lefty

 Luke, after one of his "off the green" rescued balls

This crew had a good time without too many tears. Our day wasn't perfect, but it wasn't all bad either.  We miss you very much, Edward.  Today wasn't the same without you. The kids' homemade cards were super cute, but I know we all would have enjoyed just having you here.

Many thanks to my friend, Elizabeth, for dropping off a yummy "single serving" of a dessert.  Yeah, that's ALL mine  :)  I can't wait to try it tonight, if only the kids don't discover it.
 

Guarantee tomorrow that I have to get the kids up for school.  I'm sure they'll tell me they are tired. 

T-Ball

The boys had their t-ball pictures the other night. They are not on the same team because they play in different leagues, but they are both on the "Yankees," and both have friends/siblings of friends on their teams.  So, we spend a lot of time with the same sets of parents.

Luke is looking so big!  This should be his last season in t-ball.

I missed getting a picture of Luke's team because I was off chasing Alex and his pals for their pictures.  I didn't get a picture of Alex, and you'll see why below.

Here's Alex's team-Yankees, Little Hitters, Ages 3-4

 

 The other night, during our game, we had some ominous weather move in.  It did create a rainbow...

 then, a double rainbow.

 This is why I didn't take a picture of Alex by himself. This is his current pose.  Here, he's with his two best buddies from preschool, Adeline and Micah.  This crew loves being together, and they've known each other now for two years.  Luckily, they will all move onto the four-year-old class together; no one is PCSing, yea!!

I guess he might be saying, "Go Yankees"  ????

Little Hitters

This is Alex's first year playing t-ball.  The three and four-year-old league is called, "Little Hitters."  It is so much fun to watch this age play.  The really have no clue what is going on.  At practice, they spend a lot of time running the bases, IN THE CORRECT ORDER, because the kids don't even know where to go.  Some just wander off to pick flowers; others yell out about needing to use the bathroom, and some just run around carrying the bat.  The first practice, many didn't even know how to put the glove on their hand.  So sweet.  Alex likes to call the bases, "1st, 2nd, 3rd, and Last Base."  He had his first game Saturday. I use the term "game" loosely because they don't keep score; everyone hits, and everyone runs all the bases.  Still, it is cute for this age to figure things out.

 

 As you can see, Alex is in the weird picture phase.  I think he's making a "Safe" signal as an umpire would do  :)

He has been playing first some, partly because he's a lefty.  His coach is a friend of mine, and she's done a great job rotating all the kids through all the positions.  If you're ever in a bad mood, watching these little kids play will certainly change that.