Trouble

Today, my sweet and very patient son tried to teach his little brother how to play the game Trouble.  It was completely adorable and hilarious.  Since it is a +5 yr old game, there was a lot of frustration, but bless his heart, my older son hung in there and patiently kept trying to teach his younger brother the rules.  So cute.  They wound up playing very well together in the end. :)

Just sitting in the tupperware...

Today, it rained almost all day.  Since we were house-bound, we decided to build a big Geo-Trax train layout on the living room floor.  After it was built, the kids wanted an ice pop and a show.   I went into my room to fold clothes, and when I came back a few minutes later, this is the scene I found.  They had both climbed into the empty train tupperware containers and pushed them together to eat their ice pops and watch their show.  How cute is this?  Later, I caught them holding hands and had to snap another picture.  UGH....isn't their bond heartwarming?  

Nani and Papi's visit

My amazing and wonderful parents, aka "Nani" and "Papi" to the kids, drove down from Jupiter - 4 hours - this morning (woke up at 3am!!!!) to watch our son's last two baseball games of the season.  They arrived at the field at 7:20am!  They couldn't drive down yesterday or stay overnight tonight due to a very busy schedule (isn't it supposed to get easier when you retire??).  They left again right after the games at 2pm today.  I wish they could have stayed longer...  I feel guilty that I barely got to spend any quality time with them.  What a whirlwind day! But, I am so lucky and thankful they were able to "squeeze a visit in", and I'm grateful to have such loving parents in my and my children's lives.  They didn't bat an eye over the long car trip.  They had fun watching my son play and couldn't believe how much he's improved since last year. :)  They also enjoyed hanging out with both children on the bleachers afterward.  Good memories here.

Lincoln Log Fun

My boys built a lincoln log garage today for their matchbox cars to park in.  My older son was so proud of his creation.  I snuck in his room to quickly catch this moment and remember how cute they were playing together, lying on their tummies... but my older son saw me at the last minute and wanted to show it off. :)  

In the tree

There is a mahogany tree at the baseball field that all the boys just LOVE to climb.  My son climbs it every chance he gets.  Tonight, after practice, I loved the way he looked just relaxing there with the sun sinking in the sky behind him.  AND check out his handsome haircut.  :) He melts me.

Playing with cars

Today I set up an aluminum foil race track filled with puddles of water for my younger son to play with on the porch.  Wow....he LOVED it!  He actually squealed with happiness.  :) It was hilarious! He just laid there on the porch floor and drove his matchbox cars (prized possessions) through the puddles down the ramp over and over.  It was so cute.  :)

Mismatched shoes

Confessions of a harried Mommy...


Do you see anything wrong with this pair of shoes?  Hmmm... I'll give you a moment.  Ah yes - they don't go together...they don't match.  I wore these ALL morning - ALL MORNING!.... while dropping my son off at school, while food shopping at Publix, at Kindermusik class with my younger son, and while driving home.  Wonderful.  Perhaps I need more light in my house or glasses. Maybe I need a bit more sleep?  Time for myself?  If it wasn't so embarrassing, it would be hysterical! :)

Mmmm ice cream!

We gave the kids a scoop of ice cream each tonight after dinner.  When they get this sort of treat, well.....they go beserk!  Just look at how my younger son is slurping it off the spoon!  We almost didn't have to wash and clean his bowl!  :)

Snow Cones

After dinner and mini-golf tonight, the boys got a treat: SNOW CONES.  They were in seventh heaven.  Who knew that it was this easy to make them quiet and happy?  :)

Brothers at the grill

My brother-in-law and his girlfriend are visiting us for the weekend. We've had a great time considering it has been raining/lightning/thundering constantly ALL day since we all woke up this morning.  What HORRIBLE weather!  We had such grand plans for today: baseball game, volunteering at school, going out on the boat....all cancelled....oh well.  We played lots of Wii, darts, the kids wrestled with Uncle Chris, Uncle Chris helped me organize my files on my computer, and the men did a little grilling tonight (STEAKS!).  I have not gotten out of my pajamas ALL day! STILL in them now.  SO nice for a change. :)  I'm going to go play some more darts and have a glass of wine.  Here is a picture of the brothers cooking us up some yummy dinner. 

Waiting for Daddy

This is what the boys do some nights when they're waiting for their Daddy to get home for dinner.  They lean on the couch and look out the window....sometimes for up to a half hour, talking to each other and just watching cars drive by the house.  Then, when Daddy pulls in the driveway, they cheer and run to the door.  How cute are they?

Running, running, running

Here is my son running the bases today at baseball practice.  I love the look of concentration on his little sweet face. :)

Fingerpaint artist

This is my munchkin doing a little fingerpainting this morning.  He made one small picture and one BIG mess.  But, I'll happily clean up after him - would you just look at that cute face?

GRAND SLAM DAY

My son had another baseball game tonight.  He just keeps improving and amazing us! The highlight of the game (at least for us) was when he hit a grand slam home run!!  I practically fell over on the field with excitement! :)  GOOD STUFF! Is it possible to be any prouder?
Behind that sweet, handsome exterior is a baseball maniac.  ;)

Monkey at baseball

My younger son is itching to get out on the field to play baseball like his big brother.  But, until he's old enough, he's keeping happy by just climbing the fence. :)

Family

I spent the last 24 hrs up in Jupiter for my nephew's baptism.. I did a lot of driving... Phew.  What a whirlwind trip!  However, it was well worth it!  It was so wonderful to spend time with my wonderful family!  I just love them all! :)
I took this photo with my self timer today.  

Proud

I caught this moment of my husband running over to the dugout to praise our son for playing well today.  I love the look of pride and happiness on my son's face.  When he was catcher during the game, there was a play where he ripped off his helmet, ran up to home plate, and almost caught the ball to get the runner out!  It was SO close.  My son had a welt on his wrist from where the ball hit when he was trying to catch it.  Even though he missed, we were so proud of his readiness and how he was so "in the game" - totally paying attention and ready for that out.   He makes us so proud. :)

Reading

My son LOVES to read!  This afternoon, I looked up from the kitchen and couldn't find him... he was not playing on the floor of the living room with his brother anymore.  I went searching and found him lying in bed reading a library book.  He was covered up with his blankets and surrounded by stuffed animals.  It was so cute I could hardly stand it.  He just left the chaos in the living room/kitchen and went to have quiet time to read in his room.  That's awesome.  :) 

Ground bee

This bee would not leave my son and me alone today when we were playing baseball in the yard.  It kept buzzing around our feet.  It looked like a ground bee, and sure enough, it landed on the ground, dug a hole in the grass, and disappeared several times!  I tried for awhile to get a picture of it - NOT an easy task - it NEVER stopped moving.  This was the best I could do with limited light and an impatient son who wanted my attention. :)  Granted, the photo is a bit blurry and noisy, but it was still too cool to not share.

Brotherly Love

Nothing melts me more than seeing my two children's love for each other. Today, my younger son climbed up on the bench by the table and hugged my older son while he was doing his homework.  I ran and got my camera and caught them as they sort of fell over.  It was so heartwarming to see my older son's face light up.  I love these boys.  

Beautiful hawk

I saw this beautiful hawk today while I was walking with my son in the morning.  It caught sight of me stalking it with my camera and gave me the stink eye.  :)  

Life is rough when you're a kid

This is my son lounging on the ottoman while watching his favorite show, Sesame Street, today.  Isn't life ROUGH?

My gorgeous boy

We went to a delicious brunch this morning with some great friends, and then the kids all had an Easter Egg Hunt.  They had a blast!  I snuck this picture of my baby boy when he wasn't paying attention to me but was happily watching all the kids running amok.  I just think he is the sweetest, most gorgeous little morsel. :) 

Dinner with great friends

We went out for an early Easter celebration with great friends tonight to play mini-golf and have a nice dinner. What a fun night!  :)  The kids had a BLAST and so did the grown ups.  

Matching jammies

I came home from the baseball field tonight after another great photoshoot to find this scene:

Two adorable little boys, all bathed (thanks to my wonderful husband!), wearing matching firetruck jammies, brushing their teeth.  Really - it doesn't get much cuter or better than this, does it? :)

Easter party

Today, I helped out at my son's class Easter party.  The kids dyed eggs, had egg races, did some jelly bean "math' with estimates and graphs, did crafts, read books, and had ice cream cake, fruit, and cookies. Everyone had a lot of fun!  Their eggs came out GREAT - really pretty and each one was so unique (just like the kids)! 

I just LOVE being the room Mom and being a part of all the special days at school.  The best part was when my son ran up to me and took my hands and said "I love when you volunteer!"  Wow...that made my day.  Here is a picture of my son and one of his buddies dyeing eggs.  :)  

Crafts with my little man

I love this precious time with my younger son.  We worked on a craft together today.  He loves making a mess. :)  It makes me stop, shake my head, and block the welling tears when I realize that he will be going to school in the fall and my baby, who spends every moment with me now, will be growing up and gone for part of every day... I swear I just gave birth to him....  It is easy to take your children's youth for granted, but I need to stop and treasure this time before it's gone.   

My boy's baseball photo

I took the Cubs' team and individual photos tonight after practice.  I love that group of kids and their families.  :)  I am so grateful to have been hired as the league's photographer this year.  What an honor!


I just love that I captured my son's sweet personality in this picture.  He is everything to me...no surprise there, right?  He has improved in leaps and bounds in baseball this year.  He makes me so proud, but not just because of how he's doing in baseball.  He is an extraordinary young boy: smart, goofy, fun-loving, caring, kind, sensitive, and strong.  I hope I showed some of those qualities in this photo.

Quiet beauty after the sunset

After I did a photo job tonight for one of the baseball teams, I noticed the sun setting as I was driving home.  I took a detour and drove to the marsh/mangrove area in my neighborhood.  The sun had already gone down, the sky was beautiful, and it was so peaceful.  It was very still - no wind.  I could only hear crickets and herons squawking as they flew to their roosts.  What a great way to end the day in paradise.  

Hangin' with some lovies

My son set up all his stuffed animal lovies on the couch this morning when he woke up.  He sat there cuddling them all and watched my older son play Wii before breakfast.  He just melts me...