Brady's First T-Ball Game!

Yesterday I learned that nothing...NOTHING...is funnier than a 3 and 4-year-old t-ball game. After standing back to learn the social mores and taboos if this new Saturday morning ritual, I have gathered that the rules seem to go as follows:

1. When a batter hits the ball, every player from the field shall descend upon it, elbowing and wrestling to be the winner of this coveted prize.

2. The batter is not always left out of the afore-mentioned ritual. A batter may, in fact, go after his or her own ball for any reason, especially if they desire to hit again, or even if they just want a firm hold on the ball while they are getting to first base.

3. The bases may be run in whichever direction a batter chooses.

4. Batters can and will have a chat with their coach during an at bat.

5. Mommies or Daddies are expected to run the bases with their companion batter.

6. Batters and outfielders never, I repeat NEVER, listed to what is being yelled at them, so don't even bother. It better to just grab an arm and guide them in the correct direction.

7. Lots of hugs and snuggles are expected in between, and sometimes during, each play in order to reassure a player's ego. (While this would be annoying in an adult, I find myself dreading its ending for my little boys.)

Hmm, that about wraps it up. I can't remember a sporting event where I laughed more. I truly wish I taped the whole thing. By the way, if you, dear reader, didn't notice, Brady's team happens to be the PHILLIES! I think it's a sign...I'm raising the next Chase Utley.

Santa Was Here

I know, I know...Santa was here in December and it is now February. Where has the time gone? Well, yesterday the groundhog (which Brady called a beaver...Justin Beaver, to be exact. What is he learning at school?!) saw his shadow, so we have another few weeks of winter. If it's still winter, I'm off the hook for lateness. Did you follow my logic?

Anyway, here are a few picture of the boys enjoying some of the same rituals and traditions that we enjoyed as children. Well, I think they enjoyed the cookies, but waiting on the steps while I took all of the pictures I wanted to take might not have been as much fun. Consider it a lesson in patience!

A Carson story: As soon as the boys came downstairs on Christmas morning, they ran to see if Santa had eaten the cookies they left. Santa ate everything except one piece of cookie, which Carson happily grabbed and shoved into his mouth. We all laughed so hard that he got startled and it scared him. He ran and jumped in my lap, hiding his face. It took a while to coax him into opening presents. Poor little guy, he just didn't want to waste a perfectly good piece of cookie!

Stay tuned for more.

Christmas in Pennsylvania, 2010

As usual, we packed a million fun things into our trip home for the holidays. Brady guilted the family into going to cut down a real Christmas tree, Aunt Boo and Poppy took the boys on the Polar Express where they met Santa, we visited Aunt Jenny's 3rd-grade classroom, made homemade cinnamon rolls, went to Great-Grandma Sara's nursing home, fed the horses on Grammy and Pap's farm, ate dinner at a ski slope, built a snowman, decorated cookies for Santa, went to the Please Touch Museum, opened tons of presents, and stayed up to greet the New Year (well, Brady did). We were sad to leave Nonni and Poppy's house. Now that we are back in Humble, the boys are very disgruntled by the lack of attention they receive!

More pictures to come.

Christmas Card Rejects

These pictures did not make our Christmas card cut, even though they were taken with my sparkly new camera. No matter who sees these pictures, however, I would argue that I have 2 of the cutest elves EVER.

Carson's Second Birthday!

OK, before you say anything about what a terrible mother I am for not posting these sooner, I will give you a perfect excuse...as soon as I think of one. I guess life just got in the way. We just returned from our Christmas in PA, and our house looks like Santa's workshop exploded. The boys don't know it yet, but we are getting rid of some stuff to make room for the new toys. Without fail, they always fall in love all over again with whatever toys they see us trying put away! I'll have to be sneaky.

Anyway, the birthday party is pretty self-explanatory. My friend Karen, whose daughter shared the birthday party with Carson, made another rock-star cake. At the end of the night, I found the number 2 which Carson had taken a bite out of. He must not like fondant because it was a tiny bite!

A Very Celebrated Halloween

We have been to no fewer that 5 events leading up to this Halloween. Trick-or-treating was almost anti-climactic after the celebrations that took place this week...almost. The highlight of the evening had to be when we were home handing out candy, and Carson decided to hand out all of the candy from his own basket. Very cute. I must admit that I'm exhausted. Here are a few pictures to give you a taste of our fun. I will do my best to get some more pictures out this week!

Bathtime and Name Practice...huh?

Here's the set-up: Nonni and Poppy are visiting, Carson and Brady are in the bathtub "shaving" with shaving cream soap, and we all decided it was a good time to practice life skills with Carson. For some reason, the kid always answers "me" when you ask him what his name is. So, we decided to use the attraction of the shaving soap to bribe Carson into saying his name. He started off pronouncing it with a french accent, vaguely leaving off the "n" at the end. By the end of our "practice", he was calling himself "Carsie". We're getting there!

PS: Good times were had by all.