Garrett 5y 10mo

Garrett finished up his Classical Conversation courses this month and is looking forward to next year. He had another meeting with his Education Specialist (Mr. B) and it is great to gain a perspective on how much progress he has made this year. We are starting to see him click on things like addition and subtraction. His interest in baseball has grown as he gets to be big brother on his baseball team this year. He has a knowledge of the game that is growing as he enters his second season of t-ball. He also started to collect baseball cards and is excited to talk about his Giants and A's cards. Maybe he will memorize all the names and stats just like his father before him... I'm excited to see baseball again.

I'm a captive on a runaway train!

Who'd a thunk I could add tree climbing to my activities at the A's spring training home.

My big lego base creation, complete with rotating cannons and secret control panels.

I'm a secret agent man...with a big gun.

St. Patrick's Day: green and NCAA basketball tournament. Oh yeah, I picked San Diego St. to go all the way this year, better luck next year.

It's all green today, and I'm styling in my leprechon hat.

The only kid friendly aspect of the Hall of Flame was this fire engine and the clothes to try on, otherwise it was hands off and don't touch.

Five hot dogs in five days...well maybe that's a little inaccurate, but it makes a good story.

We really weren't going for the Mary and Joseph look, but I understand if that is where you are going with this one.

Now this is flying or maybe I should call it piloting since I'm not really off the ground.

An apple a day, or two or three (from the hotel)...one of the mainstays of our spring training diet.

I'm ready to rip this ball, are you ready to catch it?

I get a little taller each year I see this sign.

Bryce 3y 8mo

Bryce continues to be full of expressions that tell a million stories. He is the master entertainer, sometimes to his detriment and sometimes to the benefit of all of us. He can bring one his brothers out of a bad mood or put them in one. He is full of love, but sometimes expresses it in ways that are hard to interpret. Bryce began t-ball practice this month as a part of his first organized team event. He was excited to put his uniform on for the first time when we picked it up. He walked around saying "I look good" and he was anticipating playing in his first game in April. He began drawing and picking up pens and pencils and crayons with more purpose. This year I can get on the ball by myself.

I'm in my element: building legos at the table.

My brother and me. Yup we're buddies.

Putting the ball in the basket...this is how you do it Griff.

My latest facial abrasion, self-inflicted from using my nose as my front wheel as a motorcycle. It is my form of makeup, just a little more permanent. I heard a banana might help me heal faster.

Daddy, can you build a life-size X-Wing with these legos...please!

Takin' over the couch is sorta one of our specialties.

So do we eat this or make a beard out of it?

Are you gonna catch me when I jump, or are we going to the ER later?

Can you smell the trouble on my breath?

I started out with a few off the tee, but by the end of the day, I was hitting pitched balls. I think I should graduate right into coach-pitch, don't you think?

My very own autographed ball: thank you Brandon Crawford!

Wow, that foul ball is coming my way, I better climb over the seats and then make a dive for it!

Griffin 1y 11mo

Somedays Griffin looks and acts his age (almost 2). At times he looks and acts much older than his age. Just looking at the wide variety of expressions and outfits seems to make him appear anywhere from 1 to 4 years of age, well that's where he is in his mind as well. Griffin became a big boy this month in a few ways. For the first time he got to ride in his very own seat on a plane flight. We had some extra room on one of our flights and figured we would give it a try, well he kind of liked the idea and next time we fly he needs his own ticket anyways. He really has taken off in his enjoyment of Thomas and building train tracks. He finds his golden moments in his brothers' room when nobody is bothering him and he can put as many trains on the tracks as he wants. He's even begun to put together some lego creations of his own. His favorite lines of the month were "Look at me, Mommy" and "Watch this, Mommy" and "Daddy, where are you?" I'm pretty sure if I got carded, I could at least pass for 3!

I'm gonna sit right here and soak in the sun. Don't worry I do have sunscreen on.

Now I'm gonna show you my backside in protest.

In case you were wondering I'm gonna be a lefty hitter, but I haven't decided which hand to throw with yet, so for now it is both.

Daddy doesn't know what he is getting himself into, watch this...

I fielded the grounder, now I'm gonna chase down the baserunner.

Well, here I am trying out my righty swing, who knows maybe I'll be a switch hitter.

Come on hit us the ball...I'll let Daddy field it and I'll throw it.

My feet don't quite reach the pedals, but Bryce was willing to give me a push around.

My opportunity to drive the fire engine at the Hall of Flame.

Workin' on my artistic side and my youthful look. Here I think I could pass for half my age.

With a little bit of focus I can compose a masterpiece.

Gotta bust out my happy smile every now and then.

Running Man and Woman

We ran our third half marathon together this month. Joy had trained very well for this one, while Brett found it hard to put in the time and preparation that he thought it would require. So when we experienced a major glitch in our plan to run the race together...read our babysitter didn't show up at 6:15am as planned. Well, I can tell you it is really hard to find a replacement babysitter at that early an hour in the morning on a Sunday. So, Brett made the executive decision that the better trained runner should be the one to run the race, and so he volunteered to stay home with the kids. Some of our friends found Joy 15 minutes before the race and wondered where Brett was, and so the whole the story came out. A new plan was formed, and a babysitter was delivered to our house at 7:15am. The only problem with that was that the race started at 7am. But Joy waited for Brett and we were off from the starting point, some 33 minutes after the beginning of the race. They had already turned off the sensors for the start, so we were officially logged as having departed at 7am. But we figured we were in this to best our time from last year and to run the race together. First we passed the 5K folks who had left 15 minutes before us. Then we began to pass the walkers for the half marathon. Finally we began to pass fellow runners and we even caught up to some of our friends who had started at the beginning of the race on time. But the last part of the race was the toughest on the one of us who had not trained as well. It didn't help that the 20 mile per hour wind in our face over the last 6 miles made every stride doubly hard. And that doesn't mention the sub-40 degree weather and misty rain that was intermittent. Truth be told, when we crossed the finish line together at our unofficial recording of 1:57:25, we were both excited to have bested our previous time and to get under two hours. Brett was identified by the medical staff as someone who didn't look very good, and they were right, he didn't feel very good either, but he had run the whole race with his doctor, and she wasn't about to leave his side now. Brett took advantage of free massage in the medical tent. Then a quick shower at home and we were at church for second service. Praise God, we did it. We weren't there for that. Brett kicks it into high gear. Joy checks our pace.

Here we are passing a lot of people on the bridge section.

Staying in stride together.

Finishing together as we planned.

School March

This month was full of field trips and science experiments with a little art thrown in there too. Garrett had two major science experiments at school: bridge building and egg drop. At home, he learned about magnetism. Jack and I built our egg drop device...

And up it goes for the test...

...there it goes...crash...well at least we learned something from our design flaw.

Magnetize this!

All of these things stuck together, if I could find a way to pick up my toys this way...

My lego baseball field: the starting pitcher today is C3-PO. I used this in my presentation about different positions on a baseball field.

Here is my straw and rubber band bridge.

Here is my ode to the death of my bridge drown in a pile of playdoh.

My Jasper John flag artwork, made with newspaper.

I was feeling like a true artist with a purpose.

Now I'm feeling like a true fireman, wow this jacket is pretty heavy.

We obeyed the signs not to touch and the chains to stay behind...for the most part.