THE KIDS ARE BOARDED, THE DOG'S IN GOOD HANDS

Oh wait, I didn't get that quite right. :)

Anyhoo, everyone is where they're supposed to be, and Chris and I are Thunder Beach bound!!!!!!! Bring on the Harleys, pasties, boobies, and leather.

I. Cannot. Wait.

SOMETIMES YOU GOTTA LET 'EM MAKE A MESS...

TO CLEAN A MESS.

My little sidekick's mouth is still healing so I'm not quite ready to release him back into the wild send him back to preschool just yet. And while I'm very thankful I'm home and can keep him with me, I haven't been able to get a whole lot done. I mean, the IRS can wait but laundry and dishes CANNOT! :) So while looking at the piles of laundry that needed to be folded as well as a dishwasher that needed to be emptied wondering how I was going to do it all with Reid on my hip, I remembered something that Bethany used to LOVE to do:

Play in the sink. I don't know what it is about it that's so much fun, but she would stay in there until she looked like a prune and even then it was a fight to get her out. Reid was no different. And while I think as much water ended up on the floor as was in the sink along with bubbles from here to Kalamazoo, he had a blast and it was fun to watch him enjoy it so much- it brought back memories! And we now all have clean underwear.

We started off standing on a chair playing with bubbles:

Then we had to ditch the shirt:

Obviously sticking your tongue out makes playing with bubbles in the sink all the more fun because he's doing it in almost every picture.

Then we had to go all in:

Again, the tongue:

AND yet again:

Reid is sitting in my lap as I'm working on this post and just said, "Mommy, I miss me wike dat." Guess we're off for some more stick-your-tongue-out-good-time-fun in the sink!

ANOTHER LITTLE SLUGGER; PRECIOUS TIME WITH MY PRECIOUS ONES

ANOTHER LITTLE NORTON SLUGGER:

Mac has been practicing with Grant's team, and Chris mentioned a couple of weeks ago he thought he was ready to start playing. Someone suggested we go ahead and let him, so Chris talked to Grant's coach and he was all for it. He was over the moon and hasn't stopped talking about it yet (neither has Mac - HA HA!)! Mac and his daddy went to Academy last week to get all his gear. I couldn't have wiped the smile off sweet boy's face if I tried. :)

Last Thursday was Mackey's first "real" game. He went 2-2 with an RBI.

Grant did great too, as he usually does (1-2 with an RBI).

But most importantly, they had so much fun together. We didn't win, but they don't really even realize it. In fact, we've only won one game so far this year. We won it in overtime, and for the parents it was one of the most exciting games. But when it was all said and done as Grant was leaving the dugout, he looked at Chris and asked who won. So they don't even realize it yet. They just have fun playing, and that's all I want. (I mean, for me being competitive by nature I would like to see a win every now and then but I'll keep those thoughts to myself.) :)

It was a super-fun night! I'm one proud mama and Chris Norton is one proud papa! And my "cherry on top" was that Sissy was here for it all. She was our good luck charm.

The rest of the week was spent enjoying precious time with my precious ones. Last week was Umby's Spring Break, so I got to enjoy her for a few extra days which is always heavenly. We went to Grant's school to help his teacher get ready for their art show (sorry for the hot-glue gun burns, Baby Girl). :) We shopped a little, ate a lot, got a pedicure (only the third one in my life but oh. my. goodness.), watched a movie, ate some more, worked on our tans, laughed at ourselves and each other  A LOT, enjoyed time with her brothers, and enjoyed some beautiful weather. Even with rainy weather Saturday, it was a perfect weekend.

Some highlights:

A sight I love to see:

She's their biggest cheerleader! She got Reid to jump off the side by himself. :)

And got Mac to jump off the diving board:

She also got in touch with a friend she used to go to school with, and they decided to go to the ball field together. I look for any opportunity to break out Big Nas' (a/k/a my camera), and this was one of them.

After a couple (ok, maybe more than a couple) Bethany had had enough and declared, "Ok, mom, that's enough - GOODNESS. You're like the paparazzi." Boy was it on then! A few of my paparazzi frenzy photos:

I think here she was saying something like, I SOOOOOO could not be famous! (Somehow I don't really believe that).

MMMMMMOMMMMMMMMMMM:

That would be her calling me a WEIRDO! :)

Yes, honey, I am. Get used to it. :)

And I just had to snap this one which she stopped to do in the middle of the photog frenzy:

AND which she does approximately 6,397 times a month - no exaggeration. Thank goodness for unlimited text!


I read a story a while back in my devotional about a mom who was so consumed with the daily tasks of being a mom and wife that she had taken her eyes off the Lord and become overwhelmed with her circumstances. How we're taught that your children are gifts from God yet we forget to open those gifts and spend time with them. She spoke of being so consumed with getting to the bottom of the laundry pile that she wasn't spending any time at the feet of Jesus and wasn't teaching her children to either. I too struggle with this - A LOT. And I, like the author of this story, am so very thankful for the "Ah-ha" moments the Lord presents us when we get a bit lost in the hustle and bustle of every-day life, in whatever form those moments may be, which remind us that our children ARE gifts so that we can take time to open and enjoy them.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7

IN CELEBRATION OF ALL OUR APRIL BIRTHDAYS

Dawn wasn't able to come here this year for us to celebrate her birthday (and all our family's other April birthdays: mine, my mom's, my niece Mags', and my aunt Kay's), so we took the birthday to her.

Reid w/the birthday girl:

RaRa with Snaggle Fraggle:

Us girls with Snaggle Fraggle:

Me & the birthday girl:

As best of a group shot as we could get with us and the kiddos 

(GaGa, Grant and Mac were too busy to stop):

Us with Aunt Kay:

Four Generations:

We always have a great time when we're all together. It was so nice to have all afternoon to do nothing but enjoy each other's company. There are usually a few tears (from all those softies - HA HA!) and there are always A LOT of laughs. And THAT is good for the soul.

So, a big Happy Happy Birthday to all us April babies! :)

WE'RE STILL ALIVE HERE

Missing a couple of front teeth (one fell out on its own and one had to be pulled - post on all the mouth drama coming up), but nonetheless still kickin'. :)

Oh that smile pains me. But it's still sweet.

And that baby is one tough cookie! Thankfully they do make baby false teeth. I didn't even know they existed but am sure glad they do.  Once his mouth heals we go back so they can make a mold and get the teeth made. In the meantime, just call him grandpaw. :)

I still can't believe I just used the words "baby false teeth" as pertaining to one of my children. It is what it is I guess. 

For now I'm trying to keep things as low-key as possible to save the other teeth left in his mouth. So thanks to daddy we've been doing a lot of this

while enjoying some of these:

Be back soon...

EYE & MOUTH UPDATE and LOVIN' THIS WEATHER!

Yesterday was Grant's follow-up appointment with this eye doctor. The next phase of treatment is patching the good eye to force the bad eye to work. We'll patch after school and on weekends for now. During the summer, we'll patch all day. Please pray for my little G-Man as this will be a major obstacle to overcome. Not only will the patch itself take some getting used to, but he'll only be seeing out of one eye and that eye only has 20/60 vision. The big plus in all this is that Grant's vision was 20/80 with his glasses on one month ago. It has improved in four short weeks to 20/60 with his glasses on which makes us all very optimistic about the outcome of patching. Dr. Murphy feels that by the time he's old enough to wear contacts, he'll need only one contact in that eye, and will hopefully be seeing 20/30. PTL!

On to Reid's mouth. His mouth was healing nicely, and it looked as though the top teeth that were loose were going to tighten back up. I say WAS because after a couple of bumps to his mouth (courtesy of his brothers) since being hit with the bat as well as a run-in with a little boy's foot at preschool who came down the slide before Reid could get out of the way, well let's just say that was the final straw. His little teeth and gums just couldn't take any additional trauma. His two front teeth were very loose, especially one which was basically just hanging on by a thread. The gum was pushed way back, and almost the entire tooth was exposed. I took him back to the dentist yesterday, and through x-rays and an exam determined he would almost certainly loose those teeth if nothing was done. So we decided on a procedure to reset those teeth which was basically having them pushed back up in the gums in the right place. They also placed a wire across his front teeth to hold everything securely in place while he heals. It was not a pleasant procedure. Dr. Cumbus was upfront about it. But it was necessary to save his teeth, and he was a trooper! Me, well, not so much! They told me I could stay back with him for the procedure but I kindly declined. Plus I thought he would do better without me right there. They work like a well-oiled machine there, so it was over pretty fast. The wire makes him look like he has braces, so we told him he was cool like his Sissy now! That made him smile. :)

NOW ON TO A HAPPIER TOPIC:  THIS WEATHER!!!!!!

We may have been down for a bit, but we we're not out! And of course with warmer temps, we wanted some type of water play. With the pool still at brrrrrr°, I thought I would introduce them to Slip-n-Slide. They loved it. We always had one growing up. It brought back memories. I wanted to slip-n-slide myself but I was afraid I would crack my back and any other part of my body that tried to slip or slide in a direction it no longer does. :) And with Reid's mouth situation, I decided it would be beneficial for us both to be spectators.

Grant had to try it out first because, you know, as the big brother he is entitled. And of course, being Mr. Follow-The-Rules (which I love), he had seen the pictures on the directions of how to slide so that's how he did it:

Ok, well he's usually Mr. Follow-The-Rules, except the rule about not shooting me with a water gun:

Then it was Mackey's turn who is much like his daddy in that he does nothing in a conventional manner, and Mac's all about bending the rules:

But after a little vinyl burn on the knees and top of his feet, he opted for the belly:

If you ever had a slip-n-slide, you probably added a little of this:

If you didn't, you really were missing out. Actually we used to add Dawn dishwashing soap which was really slippery, but Grant's skin probably wouldn't have liked it. This did the trick!

Don't worry. Reid still had his fun:

Of course with Reid, the day wouldn't have been complete without some type of boo boo.

That boy is gonna do his mommy in!

For now Reid's hanging with me - no preschool for a while. He loves to help me clean, so this may very well work to my advantage - HA! And look at that face - he's on the mend! Please just pray for a hedge of protection around that sweet mouth which seems to have a big bullseye on it!

PLAY BALL

Last night was Grant's first game and the first time I've heard those words to begin a ball game my son was playing in. I was giddy, excited, nervous - all of it. :) I hope it's the first of many, many more to come. We didn't win but we sure had fun, and Grant did really well!

His jersey is a bit big (it was tucked in down to his knees - HA) but it's as small as they come - he's still such a little thing :)

He had as big of a smile on his face when the game was over as he did when it started. I don't even think he realized they lost until we talked about the game on the way home. 

Chris didn't want to coach this year. He wanted to sit back and watch since it's Grant's first year. But after Grant's coach got to know him a little, he asked for his help so of course he couldn't say no. It's turned out to be a good way for Chris to get his feet wet a bit. 

I wanted C to coach all along. Because I knew seeing this would be indescribable - that's Grant on first with Chris giving him a few pointers:

And it was.

Next year Grant and Mac will play in the same age group. I can only imagine what fun it will bring watching Chris coach the team Grant and Mac both play on.