cuticles...

Cuticle.

and even more cuticle with two more missing teeth! Did you catch that? Two MORE missing teeth - lost within about 20 minutes of each other tonight!

The story goes that Dennis and I were downstairs when we heard the pitter pat of not so itty bitty feet (did I mention he wears a size 2 now?) and around the corner comes a big grin with a missing tooth in hand (and lots of blood but I will skip that part).

About 15 or 20 minutes later, the same pitter pat of the not so itty bitty feet, and shocked we discover ANOTHER tooth in hand and an even more toothless grin along with an adorable lisp as he excitedly says "I thost another thooth!"

The tooth fairy couldn't be more delighted to find two teeth. And Mommy? Mommy is going to have a hard time not calling him cuticle.

where my scotch tape goes...

... PIRATES! Yep, you read that right. Pirates loot my scotch tape - all of it.

This pirate was caught ... Aaaargh

However at the time, I didn't know what was being looted and then I discovered this...

Notice the piece of paper fully surrounded by and scotch taped to the wall?

A ransom note or a love note?

I think it's a love note from a lovey pirate who creates these drawings all over the house, who leaves them in sweet places for Mommy to find, who spends time in her journal drawing these sweet people, who is absorbing so much these days - these little love notes I want to remember even if it means a pirate takes all of my scotch tape to tape one love note to the wall.

grandparent duty...

Tutu and Bumbum (one set of grandparents) flew in to visit while I scoot off to a short weekend photography workshop (insert squeal!), and they started with grandparent duty tonight even though I was still here and quite capable. Instead, I enjoyed a glass of wine on the porch swing (insert another squeal!)...

Tutu climbed into bed and read with Alyssa... I am not sure how many stories they read but it was a lot!

While Bumbum and Jaiden tried to hide from the camera ... only to be caught being silly!

And then I noticed it was awfully quiet in Alyssa's room so I took a sneak peek and sure enough Tutu fell asleep on the job... good thing Alyssa did too, or Tutu might have had a new hairdo or lovely drawings on her face!



yummy in our tummies...

Today was one of those days I love... and the kind I was looking forward to when school got out but haven't had yet. The kind of day where we relax, play and just be together with nothing in particular planned...

... and a day for total imagination and of course, dress up. Except I should make it very clear, despite the yellow and black stripes, she is NOT a bumblebee, she's a butterfly! (And everywhere we went, we had to correct people too! She even told the lady at Whole Foods and the bookstore that she was going to change her name when she got bigger... it would be "butterfly")

Jaiden joined in the fun too, which I thoroughly enjoy because he plays so sweetly with her and really gets into it himself.

"Would you like a cake mommy?"

And the mess afterwards... because it just wouldn't be a good day without a real mess!

game day...

For Father's Day yesterday, we joined our entire (or at least a good amount of us) baseball league for a baseball game with a pre-game parade! We had to get there really early but it was so worth it. Jaiden and Alyssa both wore their uniforms and walked with their teammates around the warning track!

Jaiden and his team came out first. Only 3 teammates total but his coach was there and we were really grateful for that! Going from left to right, Jaiden is the 3rd boy!

Another photo of Jaiden and his teammates. I was lucky to borrow a REALLY big lens from my neighbor and got several great shots, but I also got my fair share of slightly blurred images. The lens is a pig at 3lbs and was definitely a challenge to hold! 

Here comes Alyssa and her team. I love this photo because it is of her full team, beginning ending with her coaches. She is second in line in full stride and grinning ear to ear! 

This photo is compliments of Alyssa's coach with his phone! I really love the smile on her face and the perspective he got - you can see just how big the field is and the stands full of people!

I love these moments with the kids. They really enjoyed themselves and it was a delight to be able to watch them. We stayed for the full game - all 9 innings which was a first for them. Jaiden is already planning on the next game we need to go to since he is a "Brewer's", we have to come watch them play... or so we have been told.

On the way home from the game, Jaiden declared this was "the best day of summer vacation!"

go go's abound

The latest rage in our house is gogo's... at least I think that is what they are called!

Anyway, Jaiden wanted to created his own version so Daddy took them to Michael's to buy the clay that you can bake and here is their creations...

Alyssa's mermaid... not bad!

Jaiden's gogo!

Daddy's gogo!

I went to a meeting at church tonight and returned to whole pan full of more gogo's fresh out of the oven but since I knew the lighting would be bad and I was starving, I decided to be lazy and photograph them later! Maybe I will remember tomorrow morning but in the meantime, I am enjoying these little creative baked clay figurines.

go team go!

Last night was Alyssa's first t-ball game. Her team is called the Rockies, whereas Jaiden's team is the Milwaukee Brewer's... catching a theme here? All of the teams in the recreational league are called various major league teams. Like Jaiden's team, Alyssa rotated from 2nd base girl to center field to 3rd base girl!

Here she is as 2nd base girl! She didn't quite understand that she was to cover the base so whenever the ball was hit, she ran to where the ball was... it didn't matter if it was all the way in left field! The other cute thing she did was at the end of the first inning when her team came in to bat, she walked over to me and said "okay, that's it!" She thought it was the end of the game! 

The next series of photos are compliments of Jaiden as I went in as 3rd base coach. This photo turned out pretty good... but what I really wanted was her batting...

Yes, this Alyssa is up to bat but what happened to her legs?

Oh, here is her legs! But where is her head?

Aah, much better! You should have seen the photos that followed this one! They were of the dirt and chalk line! It made me chuckle!

Dennis got to the game late and still in work clothes so he took over the photography. Her team only plays 3 innings and this was the last inning.

All in all, she had a great time!

having a little summer fun...

I am taking another online photography class called Picture Color. Today's prompt was technicolor vision. I have to be honest, I love these classes but I haven't been very inspired lately. I mean there is some serious talent on the forum and it can be rather intimidating at times. But today... well, today I captured this...

... freeze pops in the freezer! The colors just popped out when I opened the freezer to get some chicken out to thaw. It took a few shots to get the right angle and have the freezer light glow behind them, but here it is. The funny thing about this is I never buy these freezer pops because I feel like they are laden with sugary flavored syrup but the kids pleaded with me the other night and I caved!

And it's all good summer fun!

first game...

... was tonight and they did fabulous!

Jaiden got to play short stop (one of my favorite positions), pitcher and center field. As pitcher, they don't throw the ball yet, it is actually machine pitched by the coach.



You can see the other team's coach in front of Jaiden using the machine to pitch.

Jaiden up to bat! They get 8 pitches before they are out. On his first try he must have hit all 8 balls but they were foul balls so he didn't get to run to 1st. He looked upset about that but he shrugged it off pretty quickly. On his 2nd and 3rd times up to bat, later in the game, he hit well and ran to first!

Him on 1st base... right after I took this photo, I volunteered to be a 3rd base coach since it was apparent none of the dads were offering. We only had 1 dad go help the coach and he played behind the pitcher. I was kind of surprised by that because on Alyssa's team it's the complete opposite - all the dad's want to help and I am the only Mom out there, whereas on Jaiden's team, it's mostly the moms helping and 1 or 2 dad's out there?!

This was at the end of the game and what I love about this ... is that they are cheering each other on. They just finished high fiving the other team and then did a big "go Brewers" cheer.

The best part of this game was no one kept score and no one seemed to care. Both teams had lots of runs in. There were lots of good plays on both sides and I loved watching both coaches (ours and theirs) cheer on the boys regardless of the team. They called out and congratulated  when anyone made a good hit, good catch, good play... whatever it was. It was thrilling to see genuine enthusiasm on playing and having a good time.

Jaiden beamed at the end of the game... it was truly victorious!

hustler of the day...

Today ...

On the way out the door, I grabbed my camera. No particular thought to why but I did.

Today...

I arrived to pick Jaiden up from baseball camp but Alyssa and I got there early and sat on the grass.

And today...

I heard your name called for the Hustler of the Day!

and quick as a flash, I flicked my camera on, switched to Auto and got this lousy out of focus photo but a photo nonetheless of you getting called up to state your name and school and receive your award as Hustler of the Day!

And then I knew afterwards I could get this shot of you showing us your 3 baseball cards you had won!

I am so proud of you! Way to hustle, buddy!