Fall Ball

One of the perks to Phoenix living is year round baseball (although we do NOT play summer ball. No thank you. Spring is borderline too hot, so summer you can forget about it). Fall on the other hand...especially night games are perfect! We put Brendan in Little League this season instead of the league we used last year because it wasn't quite up to Daddy-coach standards (and I have to admit it was a tad frustrating). Little League is proving to be a bit more up to par, although Daddy-coach is still finding himself a little frustrated watching from the sidelines. :)
Brendan is so cute out there! He is one of the smallest dudes on the team, but one of the better players and he just loves it. They started him at short-stop last night (Daddy's boy). He got walked his first at-bat and then proceeded to steal his way all the way home. He claims to love stealing which boggles my mind because just the thought of it gives me anxiety. Like I said, Daddy's boy!
Wyatt, a baseball player at heart, is having second thoughts about his career in karate and I think will be back in cleats for the spring. I really love watching these little guys play baseball.

Halloween Decorations

Who in the world knows where my box of fallish decor has gone. It is only just now October 1st, so I haven't been all that concerned that I can't find it. Brendan has been. He is really into doing all sorts of traditional types of things this year and he is pretty much going to do it with or with out me. We dropped Wyatt off at Karate last week and then went to Sprouts for some groceries. In the check out line he begged me to buy him the Martha Stewart Halloween magazine that he spotted. How could I say no???
So he flipped through it for a couple days and then yesterday he and Wyatt weren't going to wait for me to initiate any craftiness (I've been slacking off in that department for quite some time) and they just went to town themselves. They made and put up Halloween decorations for most of the day yesterday. What can I say, something I taught them long ago obviously stuck.

Crazy Boys

Well the rope swing that Wyatt asked for and got for his birthday has literally been a dream come true for him. I love that, at least for now, the boys are extremely easy to please on a budget. You want some rope? You got it! And they do all kinds of crazy things with that rope, tied to a branch that is just barely strong enough. There have been injuries and blisters and blood and lots of new callouses on their hands. It's pretty much awesome. The other day I looked out the window and saw them tip toeing on the top of the ladder climbing onto a tree branch and then launching off from the tree itself. Looked like a blast so I took some pictures before it did in fact end in an injury. It was minor, but there was blood involved. :) They are boys. What are ya gonna do?

(see my little chickens? i love them)

Special Delivery

Look what I got in my inbox this morning.

Awwww. There's a baby girl in my belly!

Robin Hood Wyatt

We get the Vision Forum catalog every once in a while. They have boyhood adventure "things" that Brendan and Wyatt parooze through frequently. Cool stuff like spy gear, swords, zip lines and the like. Wyatt has had his eye on a bow and arrow that he spotted months ago. Well, he got it for his birthday. It is a little freaky because technically it is "not a toy". It is a real bow and arrow. As in, it could cause death to whatever it strikes. Yikes! They (the big boys) have been out practicing being Robin Hood and have a bale of hay and a target to shoot at. So far they obey all the saftey rules and are actually getting better at hitting that target. Only one arrow went wild and landed on the roof! :)

watch out little chicken!

#4 is....

A GIRL! I know. It's old news thanks to the big wide world of facebook and holy moly I practically feel like I've had a party, I've talked to so many people and read so many messages from many, many friends. It's been real fun.

The ultrasound tech came to our house for the appointment. He was great! He set everything up and I lounged on my couch. I only had to drink water before he came. We watched the picture on the big screen with all the kids (Easton left for a nap in the middle b/c he was crabby) and my 2 sisters were also there via video chat. They couldn't see much but heard it all and it was really fun!

It was by far the most informative ultrasound I have ever had. He talked through the whole thing telling us exactly what we were looking at, what he was measuring and what he was looking for. He said everything looked absolutely PERFECT! He said she had chubby cheeks and looked like she was smiling and she was kicking like a champ (that led me to believe she must be a boy). It was really fun! He recorded everything on DVD including our voices during the whole thing. So we have a video of the ultrasound picture, but you can hear him and us and our responses. It is so great! Makes since now why he talked so much through it....so you can watch the DVD and actually know exactly what you are watching. He didn't tell us he was recording until he was done so that we wouldn't censor anything...and believe me I would have. :)

So there ya have it. He guaranteed his "findings" as far as the sex goes and said he would pay us $200 and 7 weeks worth of diapers if he was wrong. He says he's never been wrong! Everyone is super-duper excited. Oh how a girl will change things around here!

Second Fiddle

It's tough being second fiddle, isn't it? Rand and I were both the oldest children in our family, so honestly we don't know how it feels to not be first. My second born is such a sweet soul. He is just naturally softer than Brendan. More sensitive, less sure (read "less confident"), very sweet and always second. He had a tough end to summer being in Brendan's shadow as Brendan got a lot of special attention. First Bren's birthday and party and then his manhood initiation and special retreat with Dad. Wyatt is a patient boy and he kept a lot to himself as Brendan got gifts and lots of attention. Wyatt is really good at articulating how he is feeling...better than any little boy I have ever heard. He will tell me he feels insecure, or lonely. It's heartbreaking actually, but I'm glad he does it. Once he was getting out of the car and said, "Mom, I just don't think my face fits in very well. Brendan's seems to fit in better than mine." How sad is that? Or, "Mom, I'm feeling a little lonely. I think I need to have a date with Dad."
He appreciates words of affirmation A LOT and gives them to others often. He will easily and frequently say encouraging things to others. "Mom, you are so beautiful. I like when you wear your hair like that." "Brendan, you are so good at that." He throws out lots of "I love you's" to lots of people, all the time (I just got one! :) ). And I can't even tell you how good he is with Easton.

So anyway, after a summer of Brendan, Wyatt decided he didn't like baseball anymore. I wasn't surprised and we so didn't make a big deal about it. All of sudden he just didn't want to go play catch out in the yard. He was done. So as we were talking about fall sign ups, he really didn't want to play (he was going to be on the same team as Brendan). So it turned out, instead, he really wanted to do karate. We found a place close to home and went and checked it out and he said, "yes! that's what I want to do". He's been going for a couple weeks. It has been TORTURE for Brendan to not participate. Brendan's baseball practices don't start until this week so he has just been watching Wyatt learn karate and can hardly handle not doing it too. But it has been so good for Wyatt to be doing his own thing. And I have to say it has been good for Brendan, in my opinion, to sit back and let Wyatt shine for a moment.

Since, Wyatt has come around and pitched a few perfect innings with Dad in the backyard and he got lots of praise for that too. For now though, we are really proud of our little karate kid!

Wyatt::6 (The Party)

We had a birthday over the weekend. Wyatt is finally 6 years old. Seems like it takes forever to get to his birthday after Brendan's. Probably because we talk about it every. single. day.

He had a few requests. One being Chuck E. Cheese. We opted for a few friends at Chuck E. Cheese and a sleep over. I can't say it was any "easier" than the big party we had for Brendan, but it was different, and I think that was the point.

His big "want" for his birthday was a rope. I know, weird. He had a total idea of what he wanted and what he wanted to do with it. So we obliged. We gave him a birthday bag with 20 feet of black nylon rope in it. It was kind of funny to us, but he was pumped. Rand went outside with it in the morning, set it up just so in one of our olive trees, and the kids did not stop playing on it. Oh, the simple pleasures of being a 6 year old boy! It is still getting a lot of use!

A Jojee Visit

This last week my sister, Joanna, came for a visit. She is in massage therapy school right now and last week was their week break in the middle of their program. Considering the lousy summer they've had in the northwest (until recently) she came for heat and sun. It was interesting to be around someone who just wanted to go outside all day. I'm determined to NOT go outside until it is below 85 (it's getting there at night!!!)

Mostly we stuck around home. She studied while we did our own school (we studied inside, and she studied out by the pool). She ran all around with me on Wednesday which is our busy day and on Thursday we had a birthday party. She and Wyatt have birthdays just one week apart so of course we had to celebrate together. We had pizza (Wyatt's choice) and cake (Wyatt's choice) and a couple of presents.

Best of all, while she was here, everyone got massages. There is NOTHING like a *free* massage by someone who knows what they are doing! AHHHHHHH. If only I could pay her to stay here for the rest of my pregnancy!

Happy Hour!

everyone waiting for Dad to get home

someone else obviously taking the pictures

some pitching practice

and an after pitching massage

Happy birthday!

I know. I know. My camera is terrible.

I Guess It's September

 We are breaking records left and right with our weather around here. I'm so over summer I could spit. We are about to break the record for most days over 110 degrees in a summer. The record was set in the summer of 2007....our first summer here. I remember it clearly. It was miserable. This is too. I may in fact have a psychotic break just so they lock me up in a really cold air conditioned psych ward. The holiday weekend is coming up and while in the Northwest we celebrate Memorial Day (the mark of the beginning of summer...at least we hope) AND Labor Day (the last big summer hurrah) with fervour, here I just try to get through them. Both holidays, in May and September, are always too hot to enjoy outside. People still participate in outdoor activities, but you are literally risking death when you do so.

I have been quiet on here lately about my disdain for Phoenix weather this time of year, but I can remain silent no more. 6 months out of the year, this is the most miserable place to live (obviously, just my opinion). Hot, hot, hot, hot. Everywhere. Outside, in the pool, in the car, in the house, in your clothes. Yuck! I do not mark the beginning of September in the same way I used to. No fog. No chilly mornings. No major shift in wind and sunlight. No first turning leaves or end of summer harvests. No fall for that matter.

BUT, I am so, so, so glad it is September. That means only 2 more months of weather that is too hot to enjoy. Only 2 more months until a chill will indeed set in (brrrrr, it might get in the 60's!!!!). Only 2 more months before hitting up parks and setting up our tent in the yard and laying in grass and getting outside without turning purple from over heating. Slight exaggeration? Maybe. But I do remember some Halloweens that have been too hot to wear a costume!

Just 2 more months to go.