The Bee has left the building....

Our family had a momentous occasion last week. C lost his binky. We absolutely tore apart the house looking for it last Tuesday, when suddenly D and I paused. Did we really want to find it that badly? C is two and he definitely doesn't need it. When he turned one, we only let him have it at night. It was not allowed to leave his bed. He was very cool with this, but insisted on having it to go to bed. I even remember driving 40 minutes into town when we were camping last summer, after loosing the bee, to replace it in order to ensure we all got a decent night's sleep. However, this time we decided that it was time to carpe diem. It was obviously a sign from the fates that it was time to move on.
When he asked for it, I used the usual parental response. "Oh, you don't need a bee. Those are for babies. You are a big boy." He informed me that no, in fact, he was not a big boy, he really was a baby. I also had a few tricks in my bag, so I quietly started to put away the toy cars he was playing with. "Well," I told him, "Babies don't get to play with cars. They also don't get to eat cookies or fruit snacks. And they don't get to..." and the list went on. Well, I had him.
Now, it has been an entire week and he hasn't even asked for it. We are praying that we are the first ones to find it. No matter. I'm pretty confident that it has found a home in the vortex of lost children's items. I firmly believe that each home with small children has one.

Batter Up!!

I can't say "batter up" without thinking of the movie, A League of Their Own. It is one of my favorite movies of all time. OK, sing it with me: Batter Up! Hear the call! The time has come, for one and all, to play ball! That one and "There's no crying in baseball!!" It's all great and we are so excited to watch J play every week.

The change in him has been dramatic. He is confident, outgoing and he is actually out-eating his brother. Who would have guessed?

J has a great coach, Coach Chip. He is so patient, encouraging and loving with all of the kids. Best of all, he does it while teaching the kids teamwork and respect for each other and their elders. J is learning awesome life skills as well as the game of baseball. Well worth the $65.

J had the honor of being the very first one of the season at bat as well as the first one to score! Way to go Big J!

OK, be honest. Is this not the cutest catcher you've ever seen?

"We are the Broncos! The mighty mighty Broncos! And everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are! So we tell them! We are the Broncos that you heard so much about! Coaches lock their players up whenever we come out! Hey!!"

I had enough!

Well, as you all may have read on my previous post, I have been less than delighted with the weather that we have been having. Someone forgot to tell whomever is in charge that all of us stay out home moms wait with baited breath for sunshine, warmer weather, and the ability to send our children outside when they are driving us to the brink of insanity. So, I packed up the children, bought 3 plane tickets and took us all to California to visit Grandpa George and Grandma Elizabeth.

Brave, you say, to fly alone with two small children. Nay, I say! They were brilliant travelers. Even the flight attendants all commented on what great little guys I had with me. I was so proud of them. Never have you seen two children so excited to have a small bag of trail mix and a half of a can of soda. When we left Boise on the morning of April 1st, it was 32 degrees. When we touched down in California, it was almost 70. I almost kissed the sidewalk when we got outside. Below are some fun things that we did during our week with my grandparents. Enjoy, and remember, it is always summer somewhere in the world.

The boys were very conscientious and, when instructed, read in great detail the safety instructions that provided directions in the event of a water landing. I think they were the only ones on the plane that did so.

Tuesday night we were able to watch Grandpa sing with is barbershop group. They were awesome! They even sang the most beautiful version of Love at Home. I've only heard it at church, so to hear these men sing it in a completely different setting was a real treat. They are going to sing it in a competition next month and I really hope they win!!

Grandma has two little parakeets that the boys just loved. I almost had a heart attack when she took the cage off of its stand and let the boys play with them on the floor. I think the birds were sweating it too.

Of course we had to have story time every night with Grandma. She is a very good reader; Jonah was impressed.

It was also Grandma's birthday while we were visting. We picked out some fun new jammies for her and then went out to dinner to celebrate. Happy Birthday, Grandma!!

Our last night in California, we stayed in a hotel close to the airport. Boppo got us a really nice room at the Holiday Inn Express so Grandpa and Grandma wouldn't have to get up early in the morning to get us to our flight on time. The kids were thrilled to have a new place to destroy. Of course, we had to have some jumping on the bed time.

Thanks for the fun visit Grandpa and Grandma! We love and miss you so much!!