Let's play ball!

Mark is having a lot of fun in Little League baseball. Today I took a few pictures during practice - I wasn't allowed to have  the other kids in the picture (unless they were very far in the background), for permission reasons... but I promise, there are 11 other boys on his team. :)

Focused, and ready to swing!

Mark has good focus, and he has a good swing, too. Since I myself am horrible at this kind of thing, I'm always a little surprised that he can hit that ball with such ease!

Running to 1st base

In the background you can see Mark's coach and the pitching machine.

...made it!

Mark's 'real' games start April 8th, so I'll hopefully have some pictures of him in uniform then.

Good job, Mark!

Snips and snails...

We have been blessed with a few GORGEOUS days this week... which meant we got to spend lots of time outside! Sean loves searching for worms and snails... and this afternoon Mark joined us for the fun.

Little boy profile

Snail, Momma! Me found snail friend!

Me touch feelers!

Too serious about his snail to smile for the camera...

Mark then also found himself a snail friend.

...while Sean moved on to digging up giant worms.
("Me found Dada-worm!")

...Mark getting slime trails on his hand...

Mark asked for this picture

Snail races on our picnic table? Fantastic!

Product Review - Puj Big Hug

Sean gets to be a product tester for the Puj Big Hug towel! One of the requirements is that I write about it on my blog... so here we go!

Sean being BIG, drying himself off with the Big Hug.

We were so excited to receive our brand-new Puj Big Hug towel in the mail!

This is a wonderful, premium quality fitted big-kid towel. It is made of thick, ultra-soft cotton (none of that thin baby towel nonsense!). The seams are all reinforced well, with extra seams in the 'heavy wear' areas.

The Big Hug has a nice large hood, little pockets for the hands, and it is so easy to use that Sean dried himself off with it after his bath this evening. Once he was dry, he decided to 'lounge' in the towel for another half hour... he obviously loved the soft feeling on his skin, and it kept him warm.

I was surprised that the towel didn't feel wet after he was done - it is SUPER absorbent. The tab on the top of the hood made it easy for my son to hang the towel up himself when he was all done.

I love that this towel is easy enough to use that my 2-year-old could independently dry himself after his bath, but it's also big enough that my 6-year-old can use it.

I would definitely recommend it to other families - if you are interested, you can purchase one directly from Puj, or on Amazon.

Our garden is coming alive!

This year my garden took a little while to come to life, in spite of our mild winter. However, now it is finally showing off some beautiful colors! Although these aren't as cute as our boys, I thought some of you might enjoy seeing what is growing right now...

A tiny, wild-type tulip. It's the size of a crocus.

Alpine snowdrops - each came back this year with a friend.

The ever spreading crocuses

Pink Lenten roses (hellebore)

Purple prim roses - they come back every year, with more flowers!

Red prim roses

This hellebore is some fancy variety -
more flowers, multicolored flowers, red stems and leaf veins... 

I have tiny violets everywhere...

This is SW Washington - we have moss on all the surfaces!

My favorite, "freckled" Lenten roses (hellebore)

Miniature daffodil, anemone, and johnny-jump-ups

More crocuses

A bee collecting nectar from one of the pink-speckled hellebores

A drift of ever-spreading johnny-jumpups

My philosophy in gardening is to remove unwanted weeds as they come up, but to plant only plants that care for themselves after planing. I really only spend about an hour or so per month, if that, in the garden "gardening"...

Laundry Day Capers

On Saturday we had a big laundry day - Ben and the boys stripped the sheets and covers off of all the beds, and I washed them. Now, when I asked Ben if he and the boys could take care of this on my way out the door, I didn't realize this would result in a giant pile of bedding in our entryway... with boys inside pillow cases, under blanket piles, and sometimes both. Oh well, they had fun. 

Sean grinning mischievously 

The part you don't see is the 5974 times we got to help Sean back into this pillow case...

The results of my attempt at getting them to smile for the camera together...

Sean watching Mark finish a special project.
Yes, Sean is ON the table.
Yes, Mark is wearing a swim vest (aka bulletproof vest). 

Trying to get a good picture of the boys... *sigh*

I have been trying very hard to get some good pictures of both boys together... but they either were staring into the sun, were goofing, or were generally un-cooperative. Although none of them are frame-worthy, I thought you might enjoy these anyway.

Look Momma, I caught a bug!

Ok, we don't really feel like smiling...

Yay! Mark is smiling... but Sean isn't...

Great. Mark is cracking up, and Sean is making duck lips...

Sean is looking at a bug that landed on Mark's ear

Sean loudly exclaiming about the bug on Mark's ear.

That's all for now, folks! I hope this at least made you smile...

Ready for a walk!

Sean has discovered that he LOVES to run. Given the opportunity, he will run, and run, and run. He also loves going on walks - preferably in costume.
On Sunday Ben took Mark to the LEGO convention in Portland. While the big guys were out, Sean and I took a walk... for 2 hours! Sean happily chit-chatted, walked along curbs, yelled: "Not you bark at me, dog!" when appropriate, and was a generally pleasant little companion.

Ready for a walk!

I enjoyed the chuckles Sean's outfit brought forth in the neighbors who were also out and about.