Liam's Christmas Party

Yesterday was Liam's Christmas party.  One of the things I'm really enjoying in my first week of maternity leave is being able to participate in school functions during the day.  My job was always very permission-giving and let me attend, but I always had so much guilt attached to not being at work when I was at the schools.  So while I'm on leave, I'm going to attend as many parties as I can!

Before the kids came in for the party, I noticed that they had made a list of their Christmas wishes.  Note Liam's.  And then note that, after further discussion with him about it, he actually means a real Southwest plane, not a pretend one.  Where are we going to put it?  In our backyard, of course.

His gift for baby Jesus is a little more manageable.

Saying prayer before grace with his best friend.

A Christmas cupcake iced in green, his favorite color.  Virtually all of the other children had on Christmas themed apparel.  My boy goes with the Steelers. :)

A snowflake art project.

It turned out really cool!

Making silly faces before the book exchange.

Passing books at the book exchange proved to be almost as fun as watching the kids open the books!

Liam meticulously opened his gift - he was the last one to finish unwrapping it.  If he opens his presents on Christmas morning at that rate, I'll have to write the blog entry for it on December 27!

No matter, though, because he was THRILLED with the book he got.  You can tell from his crazy eyes.  We read it twice at bedtime.

So happy I could go to the party!!  We haven't done much decorating this year because of just returning from China, so it was nice to have this to help me get into the Christmas spirit.  Thank you, FPCB Preschool!

Thanksgiving Feast!

Friday was the annual Thanksgiving Feast at Preschool  My goodness, all the food.  So delicious and nice for us this year because Tim and I will be spending our Thanksgiving on an airplane.  We got a good taste of the holiday with our favorite 4-year-old and his school.

Here he is, our very own Running Fox (his Indian name).

 

We sat with his best friend and her family.  These two are inseparable at school! 

The feasting family minus Micah, who was feasting at his own school, and Vivi, who will have her own feast next year.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

The end of an era...or at least of baseball season

It was a rainy end to the eight week baseball season for the boys.  They had just as much fun on the last day as the first, even in the mist and the rain.

Everyone got a trophy and they were celebrated all season for their sportsmanship, which made this mom happy. Because at the end of the day, I don't really care if they make the majors, but I do care if they have good hearts.

Micah worked hard to improve this season, and he had two hits today!

This is the face of a boy who loves playing the game.  And maybe can't see second base from under the too-big helmet.

We loved watching you play.  Great season, guys!

Ordinary Moments

I only recently got a phone that actually takes good pictures, and I still rarely use it.  But I can still photo dump from my regular camera, and here are some ordinary moments from the last few months.

The boys built a fair and a parking lot.  True to form, they spent a lot more time on the parking lot than they did on the fair! And Liam enjoyed mixing his holiday pajamas.

Both boys finished their first season of swimming lessons and are getting much more competent in the pool.  

Both won the weekly sportsmanship award during their t-ball seasons.

Tim had lunch with Micah at school.  I was totally jealous.

We took a trip to the train museum for Micah's birthday when Aunt Heidi was here.  Micah on the train as it gets ready to go.

Liam and Aunt Heidi

These guys loved it.  Impossible to tell, I know.

Father and son, bonding over trains.

Everyone enjoyed the train ride, but no one more than my favorite 6-year-old.  He is nothing if not passionate about what he loves and what he thinks is right.  While that can manifest itself in challenging ways, I love that no one will ever be able to call him wishy-washy or uncertain.  Micah is smart and feisty, and we are grateful for him.

Halloween 2013

This year, we had an airline pilot and a fireman for Halloween.  When Halloween only costs a few dollars for an airline hat because you have all the other parts of your costumes, I figure it's a pretty big success!

This was the sky that greeted us as we set out to trick-or-treat.  Not creepy, but totally picturesque, and it almost made up for the enormous volume of mosquitos that attacked us while we were out.

This was the only picture I got of them ringing a bell, but trust me when I say they were totally into it this year and ran from house to house!

Children's Worship

This past weekend was Children's Worship, held on World Communion Sunday.  Micah and his fellow first graders have spent the last month learning all about the different parts of worship and the sacraments.  They baked the bread for communion, and they participated by reading different parts in the worship services.
Micah was a little nervous, but ready to go.

You'll want to turn the sound up on your computer before trying to listen to this video.  This was at the 11:00 service.  I took a better video at the 8:30 service, but I accidentally started it halfway through.  So here's the 11:00 service, but even if you can't hear it, please trust me when I say that he did a fantastic job. Our six-year-old is quite grown up.

America's Favorite Pasttime

Today was the first day of t-ball  baseball for our boys.  They were soooo excited.  Very different from a few years ago when we basically had to drag Micah out onto the field for soccer, t-ball, and flag football.  This time, they were ready to go.
Liam's team was first up, and Micah's played after his.  As I was looking at these pictures, which for once I thought I would just let speak for themselves instead of narrating each one, I was struck by one thing that shown through in almost all of the pictures: these boys look thrilled just to be out on the field playing baseball.
One day, if they keep playing, the game will be about RBIs and what position they're playing and practicing for hours and batting averages.  And that's okay.
But today was about throwing a ball, and hitting a ball, and running like crazy after a ball in the field, and being so excited about playing that they started dancing while waiting in line for their turn to practice batting.
Today was about boys having fun playing baseball.
And did they ever.