Track and Field

My little Athena participated in her first ever sporting competition - a regional Lutheran School Track and Field event held at our local high school. It just happened to fall on the Saturday morning of the week that Chris (and Mimi) were out of town, otherwise it would have been an all day all family event. In fact, many of the more experienced families were camped out - full on tents and chairs and serious tailgating going on.

As it was, it was just me and three little ones trying to help me lug a blanket, two chairs, a cooler and my camera bag across the parking lot and a football field and to the nearest available clearing. As I was setting up, Jack took off towards the goal post. I caught him and brought him back to our blanket, that lasted about three minutes before he decided to run right onto the track minutes before the first race was suppose to start. Much to my chagrin, the announcer made a purposeful announcement over the loudspeaker reminding us to "keep the track clear, please!" Yea, trying, sorry!

I know of many families who have two year olds that will stay near them and not go tearing off in any direction, but, unfortunately that is not my two year old. It became quite clear that this wasn't going to work, I am only just one Mommy after all.

Luckily, Athena's first event didn't start for 45 minutes, so we hightailed it over to our local drop in play care center where Jack could run around like a madman for $8.50 an hour (he loves it there) and whisked back to the event just in time to line Athena up for the Kindergarten Girls 50 yard Dash.

The little girl with the rolled up sleeves won by a landslide.

Athena came in fifth place.

She didn't qualify for the relay race, but she still had two more events: the standing long jump and tee ball distance.

There were a couple of moments during the day where I felt my competitive spirit bubbling up in me, imagining a huge victory for my child. This day was not about that and I had to stiffle the urge to shout "Run! Baby! Run!" at the top of my voice when the starting gun went off.

Athena didn't care about winning. She just wanted to have fun and the purple "Participant" ribbon came in the best color anyway.

She was far more interested in capturing as many ladybugs as possible in the field.

This one she named Lala.

The ribbon ceremony -
where many a Kindergarten girl was
disappointed by the blue first place ribbon.

Zoe was bored to tears, and besides wearing down the battery on my phone playing puzzle games, she got some significant spinning time in.

This was dress yourself day, and she did, right down to the accessories and criss-cross of her Sketchers. My baby's got style.

We didn't stay for the awards ceremony or the relay races. Right after our picnic lunch I started feeling so guilty about not enjoying the beautiful day with the Dude. So we packed up, went to get our little guy and spent the rest of the day waiting to jump on Daddy when he finally came home - with presents!

Ahhhh Spring!

It's true we haven't been pummeled with ice storms and blizzards this winter, and we don't need to bundle up in three layers just to go outside like we used to, but we do get weather here and it isn't sunny all the time. In fact it has been quite rainy and overcast since November. Our backyard has been a bleak, wet puddle, and temperatures are low enough that its, you know, uncomfortable to be outside.

Just lately though there has been a dramatic change in the weather. Its' a bright and sunny land once again. The children go to school with sweaters on and come home sweaty. Spring's warm blanket is on us and we are drawn outside - loving every flower bud and sun spot and fragrant breeze.

Chris and I both had very stress-filled work weeks, so we used the weekend to cocoon at home and bump around our house. Except for that birthday party I forgot about, we had no plans, just watched some sports on t.v. - Giants beat the Dodgers and then (sigh) Kentucky lost the Final Four.

I could not stop taking pictures of my minis this weekend, perhaps it was the dappled sunlight, the green green grass, or just their pure beauty. I don't know but sometimes I'm obsessed.

Athena declared it "the best day ever" but we didn't do anything, just played outside, and oh yea, got Tangled delivered in the mail as part of our Disney DVD membership.

And speaking of mail deliveries...Chris' early Father's Day present arrived (I know, three months early - but there was a 20% off sale) and he spent the better part of the day putting it together. He painstakingly documented every step so that I could blog about it, but I can't find the chord to his camera, so I'm not putting the pictures here (sorry, my love!).

Beer, barbeque and baseball - what else does a Chris need?

Chris is raising his son to appreciate the three B's of summer. The little Dude insisted on wearing his SF Giants hat today to, seeing his Daddy wear one and the guys on t.v. At just two, and with very little prompting on our part, he can recognize the differences between Bee Ball (bastketball), Bay Ball (baseball) and Foo Ball (football). He's such a Dude.

While the scent of grilling steaks filled our backyard, the girls played hopscotch and the setting sun cast long shadows everywhere.

The only thing funnier than watching my awkward baby giraffe play hopscotch is watching her hula hoop - seriously needs to be captured on video.

Athena's jumps were quite graceful and accurate.

Welcome warm and lovely Spring!
We'll enjoy you until the heat drives us back inside again.

Boy Trifecta

Spiderman
driving a bulldozer
dozin' some balls...

...trifecta of awesomeness!

Toothless

Guess who's a member of the lost tooth club?

A Playdate of Her Own

Zoe has been the tag along little sister at many a play date, which she thoroughly enjoys, but until today she hadn't been to one just for her and her friends. Zoe is four, and that is just the right age to have your first best friend. Lucky for her, she has two. And lucky for us, her BFF Kendall's Mom likes to have lots of little girls running around her house. We arrived at noon and she shooed me out of the house and told me to come back for Zoe at two. Imagine that!

I hear the girls played princess dress up, had a picnic outside, although it was a little damp, and got milk with chocolate chip dunkers. Kendall's Mom texted me the picture above. When two o'clock rolled around, Zoe did not want to come home with me, no matter that I tried to bribe her with going to the car wash (didn't work). Luckily, Kendall's Mom said she can come back again anytime.

Today, I was very proud of my sweet, shy little Zoe and simply adore her sweet, shy little friends who are so like her!

You Don't Know Jack

"What? You think you know me?

There is not nearly enough stories about Jack on here lately
and we need to fix that! Here's an update on our growing boy.

At just two, Jack is the strong silent type. Unlike sister Zoe who was speaking in paragraphs by 18 months, Jack is still a boy of few words. But the words are steadily increasing so there isn't any worry. Some of his latest words include "wow" and "sticky" and "kitty" and "meow" - he even says "I love you" and "thank you" however it is all in Jackanese and those unfamiliar with the language might not get it all. Of all of us, Mimi is the most fluent in Jackanese and often translates.

He is a truly darling boy, easy going and charming. He eats everything we give him, sleeps from eight to eight and takes a three hour nap. But he does not like being told "No!" and often has a fit when he is. It is unfortunate that our cat is named "Dash" which can often sound like "Jack." And sometimes when the cat is scratching the couch and we yell "Dash! NO!" Jack will stop whatever he is doing and burst into tears.


He is a total daredevil and loves to run on the couch or throw himself down a playground slide meant for much bigger kids - the girls were so much more tentative at this age. He is also really attracted to helmets, and likes to wear them around the backyard for no particular reason. I suppose an affinity for safety paired with no fear is a good combination for his future pursuits.

God help me if he chooses football as his sport of choice - I'm not sure I could survive that. Even at two he loves his football. If he's holding it in his hand and catches your eye, look out. He will soon yell "football!" and run at you, fully expecting you to grab him and tackle him and throw him to the carpet. He doesn't quite get the concept yet and thinks that tackling is the fun part.

He is all boy, almost as if he read the manual on how to be a boy. He loves dinosaurs, and playing with his fire engine with a fireman's hat on (cutest thing ever), he loves Batman and Elmo and Buzz Lightyear and zooming cars and anything that has a ball. When college basketball is on t.v. he will stop in his tracks, transfixed as if it were Batman singing with Elmo on Dinosaur Train.

In true boy fashion, he likes to figure things out, take toys apart and put them back together again, or at least have me put them back together again. There are some toys that are soon either going to "disappear" or be hot glue gunned together.


He is slowly but surely destroying all our stuff. There is marker on my couch, my walls, highlighter on my carpet, crayon under all the tables. Yes, I know, we need to lock up our art supplies, and we do, for the most part, but I have two forgetful little artists who are forever leaving their pens, uncapped and within reach. Perhaps we should have considered renting.


So far his sisters are "meh" - sure he likes them, he appreciates their dance parties and messing with their stuff, and it's certainly much more fun here with them around.
But it's his Daddy that hangs the moon, and he loves him above all others.

So, there you go, now you know a few things about our sweet Jack!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick's Day Pictorial
A Story told in reverse...

Earlier...while the girls were at school...

Happy John Patrick's Day!!!!