Baseball Season

We just made it through baseball season! Usually the busy-ness of baseball season overwhelms me, but after last season getting cancelled after just one game and a year of absolutely nothing on the calendar, it was refreshing to have the comradery and schedule of sporting events. 

Eli had a great team this year. He made some cute friends, and he got to try out some new positions on the field...like catcher!

My parents made a special weekend trip out to see Eli play one of his games. After realizing the only reason they chose that weekend to come out was to see him play, Eli's nerves got to him and he said, "That's a lot of pressure." :)

You could say they also came out to catch up on reading stories to their grandboys.

To enjoy the beauty of Nevada in the spring. 

And to spoil us with tasty meals. They took us to a hibachi grill that my boys LOVED. They now routinely grab knives with their lunches to play "Ohjah" (the name of the restaurant). They slice up their food and spin the butter knives around, reliving the experience again and again. 

This is a restaurant we drive by every day to pick up the older boys from school and every time we pass it Jonah says, "When can we see the smiley face lighted on fire again?" So this was a highlight for all. 

Then we loaded up to head to the main event. 

Being trapped in a wind tunnel...err...going to Eli's game! 

Every time someone comes to Vegas they ask if it's always windy in Vegas. I hadn't particularly noticed that it's always windy, but after noticing all the Vegas visitors noticing the wind with each visit, I began to think, you know what, Vegas seems to be a windy place. That was extra confirmed at the game where the wind refused to stop. 

We bought popsicles "for my dad" but these little guys quickly claimed them as their own. 

Jonah went through a time of sneaking into all of Eli's baseball gear as soon as Eli went to school in the morning. He's still a baseball fanatic!

With more things opening up, we decided to try out a new sport -- Taekwondo!

We're on the hunt to figure out what activities spark an interest in the boys and I've been wanting to see how they would like martial arts. I was just going to sign up Eli and Carson, but if you sign two kids up you automatically get a family pass, so now we are all enrolled in karate, including me and Jeff! I've been to two classes and quite enjoyed them. 

We spent many hours at the baseball fields covered in dirt.

And scootering about. 

This season was so funny because the Brewers didn't win very many games until they got to the playoffs and then they couldn't be beat! They were one game shy of making it to the championship and that game was super close. It was a fun season!

We've been soaking up the perfect evenings outside before it gets too hot.

We love riding bikes, throwing around a baseball, and sword fighting with whatever long objects we can dig out of the garage. 

And we've had some lovely evenings at the park practicing our baseball skills. Jonah is always right in the baseball action. It might be time to officially enroll this boy into the sport because it's an obvious passion and he seems to be a natural!

Carson's Big Day!

And then there was he-who-has-been-writing-a-detailed-birthday-planning-list-since-last-May. Talk about birthday expectations, this boy has a lot and I'm always nervous I won't measure up to what he's built up in his head. He had a paper that he had written all of his birthday plans on, even down to each meal he wanted on his big day. First up: Chocolate chip pancakes. 

He wasn't too thrilled he had school on his birthday, but I kicked him out the door so I could get his scavenger hunt in place. After all, he wanted a HARD scavenger hunt. He repeatedly reminded me. He was so worried his would be as easy as Jonah's, so he wanted to make it clear to me that wouldn't do. 

I can proudly say the clues were tricky and a couple of the clues left them confused but they managed to find all the loot. 

Carson got some big gifts this year! We spent a lot of time in the spring at the baseball fields watching Eli and there is a skate park right next to the fields. I thought it would be fun for the boys to have scooters so they could ride them around in the skate park. So this is the year of the scooter over here!

For lunch, Carson's favorite: Crepes!

Then he took his new hoverboard attachment out for a joy ride. 

Then we went to Uptown Jungle for a couple hours of play.

And then it was back home for video games (obvs.) and spaghetti with BREADSTICKS. Emphasis on the BREADSTICKS. 

By evening Carson had had such a busy day he had barely even had time to play with any of his toys. He was excited to settle in with all his new stuff and just take it easy after Oreo Cream Pie.

(They made us do the confetti again in the background.)

Carson's birthday was so fun. I love that Carson always has a plan for his birthday. It was fun to bring his plan to life and give him a special day all about him! 

All Four Jonah

Spring in Vegas means many evenings at the park (especially due to baseball season but we'll get to that next post). In the meantime, enjoy these goofballs enjoying the skate park. 

Spring also means we're halfway through birthday season at our house. Next up: Jonah! This little dude turned four! 

He spent the entire morning piling all of these balloons up and then running through them as fast as he could. 

Then we spent the afternoon hanging out at a park while we waited for Carson to get out of school. 

And then it was time for the now-famous birthday scavenger hunt. As always, I hid the first clue in one of the balloons. 

Like a gunshot at the start of a race, the pop of the balloon signalled the hunt was on! I drew pictures for Jonah so he would know where to look for each gift. 

And, of course, Carson was there eager to give hints and assistance. Carson also on repeat was sure to tell me he wanted a HARD scavenger hunt for his birthday. NO PICTURES. 

Before long everything was discovered and opened. I always joke with the boys that I'm going to get them a Barbie Dream Castle whenever their birthday rolls around. When Jonah opened up a legitimate Barbie, the boys all gasped in disbelief and accused me of being so mean. 

HOWEVER! We had just spent the weekend in St. George where there was a little Dora the Explorer doll that Jonah was loving changing the clothes of and he carried that thing around with him the whole time we were there. I'm always on the hunt for different kinds of toys since we have every boy toy there ever was to exist. Dora made me realize we didn't have any toys you could change their clothes and I thought ALL the boys could have fun dressing up a doll.

As the boys started tearing into all the new toys, the Barbies were instantly rejected and cast to the side. After lunch Eli only brought the Barbies out when he needed a target for his bow and arrow. After a few minutes of that, he grabbed the doll, grabbed a shirt, and did a little costume change. And then a little more. And then a little more. And before long all four boys were designing wardrobe changes for their Ken friend for a LITERAL HOUR!

I gave myself a knowing smile and a pat on the back for the successful integration of Barbies into this bunch of boys. 

Jonah didn't just want a garbage truck cake, he wanted to HELP make his garbage truck cake. I enjoy doing most tasks quietly alone, so it took a lot of patience to have the tiny fingers of Lincoln and Jonah poking around all of the cake decorating supplies while we got the job done, but we did it together. Lincoln did prove to be incredibly useful as the resident garbage truck expert. He served as my quality control assistant, making sure I had the correct proportions and accurate anatomy of a garbage truck. 

The word confetti came up while we were cutting the cake. Jeff and I discovered NONE of the kids knew what confetti is. (You might have a clean freak mom if...) We put a confetti loop on the TV to introduce our kids to confetti without the cleanup. And we may have started another tradition. 

Jonah bought himself a "Link sword and shield" with his birthday money from Grandma and I think that was his favorite gift of all. 

For a solid week he had the sword tucked in the back of his shirt wherever he went. 

Jonah was so cute all day on his birthday. Ever since Christmas he's spent every day asking when it would be his birthday, and with it finally here, he genuinely loved and enjoyed every minute of it. After I put him to bed for the night, I walked out and soon heard him crying. His crying quickly turned to sobbing, a cry different than what I've ever heard him cry before. I went in to see what was going on. 

The wailing and sobbing continued as I tried to work out of him what was making him so sad. He finally was able to put into words, "This was my goodest birthday. And now it's OVER!"

And with that we finished the night off with a solid birthday crash and a long night's sleep. 

When Jonah woke up the morning after his birthday, he excitedly said, "What number am I now?" We had made a big deal about him suddenly being FOUR on his birthday that he seemed to be under the impression he would now wake up each new day with a new number assigned to him.

I think he's finally re-stabilized his emotions and daily expectations for his post-birthday life. And I'm left with a year of planning to see if we can make FIVE his goodest-est birthday ever.

Easter Weekend and More Eli Lessons

We got a new couch! Just in time for General Conference viewing.

Yet somehow none of the kids ended up on the couch during our spiritual upliftment. 

Eli got busy on a paint-by-number.

Jeff hosted an Easter Egg Hunt between sessions. (He was horrified to learn I hadn't bought a lick of Easter candy when he asked the night before Easter, so he rushed to the store to bring some Easter excitement into our lives.)

I HAD planned to at least dye Easter eggs. Is that not enough?!?

Eli finished his artwork! 

At school, Eli had been having a paper airplane throwing competition. Eli had been loving the competition and had spent the entire week perfecting his plane proportions for an optimal flight path. 

Eli harnessed some of that airplane energy into a night light lesson. He printed out pictures of people and laid them on the ground as different markers for their testimonies (airplanes). Their airplanes gauged how many people their testimony reached. If their testimony wasn't quite strong enough, Eli showed them how to work on it to make it stronger and more effective to reach more people.

Another night he taught us about the wise man and the foolish man with a Lego house on a rock and on sand. 

I'm forever impressed by the clever and relatable ways Eli teaches our family the gospel. 

And I'm forever impressed by Carson's artwork. I love the details, the whimsy, and the glimpse into his busy brain. His pictures always make me smile.