Cubs Win the WORLD SERIES!!!!

The Chicago Cubs are the Oak Ridge Woodlands Area Little League 2014 World Series T-Ball Champions!!!!

We had a wonderful spring season!

As the season began, with a new team, new coach, and new mascot, we were all a bit skeptical of how the season would turn out.  Will was one of the tiniest and youngest guys on the field (a reoccurring theme for us in sports I fear)...but he showed his strength and skills earning a game ball about half way through season!  He also earned a base running skill for being super fast!

Will improved his batting with each game, hitting several doubles throughout the season and got to try out some new positions in the infield!  In the beginning of the season Will played mostly second base but by the end of the season, with the confidence of his coach and his improved fielding/throwing skills he got to play pitcher, third base, and shortstop too!  Even better, Billy signed up to be an Assistant Coach!

After finishing the regular season undefeated and getting a bye in the first round of the tourney, the Cubbies lost their first game of the tournament, putting them into the "loser's bracket" ie, it was win or go home for the rest of the tournament!  It was double elimination and they rallied back to win the National League pennant and went on to play the Houston Astros in the World Series Championship Game!

It was STRESSFUL to say the least.  The Cubbies were shut out in the first inning, scoring zero runs, but they fought their way back with some great defense (including a double play) and great batting (including a double from Will).  They defeated the Astros in seven innings with a score of 23-22!

After the game, (while I was at the office) Will, John, and Billy headed for a congratulatory dinner.  Even though he had already changed into some comfy clothes after getting home from the game, Will requested to put his uniform BACK on to wear to dinner (guess someone was proud!!!) 

Below is a short clip of some great photos from the season...way to go CUBS!

Turn up the volume and enjoy!!

Special audio thanks to the one and only Harry Carey - Cubbies greatest entertainer!

Mother's Day :)

Simply put, I had a fantastic Mother's Day!  Billy made me the most amazing dinner, I got to take the kiddos to the neighborhood park, and I got some fabulous presents!  

So here we go...We kicked off Mother's Day Saturday night with dinner...

First - dinner.  Billy made me my FAVORITE.  Alaskan King Crab Legs (oh, and beer).  You might be wondering why I have kitchen scissors?  Simple.  Once upon a time, my sister put on a crab leg opening clinic using scissors when we visited her in Alaska while I suffered with the traditional crackers - scissors rock.  There is no substitute.

And here's a good photo to give you guys a sense of scale.  These babies were HUGE!  

Next - Dessert.  If you know me, you know I love desert.  So the boys picked us up some gourmet cupcakes...Yum!

 Sunday - I slept in until SEVEN O'CLOCK!  Shocking!!!  Absolutely unheard of!!!!  Then the boys and I biked/walked/strollered to the park for some baseball and playtime.

 These guys are my angels...I am the luckiest person in the world to call them mine.  

 And lastly - Presents!  Will presented me with a tear-jerker of a card he made at school complete with several pages of poems, artwork, and a letter.

 Check out the note from my sweetie!  

Sidebar 1: they don't help the kiddos with spelling in his class, rather allow them to independently work on their grammar...he did really well! 

Sidebar 2: Will won the award for best penmanship in his class this year :) my little neat freak...

 And then there was little Johnny Boomtastick's fingerprint art.  I LOVE his photo with his silly hat...I can only imagine his antics during this art project at school!

My boys are incredible...this was the best Mother's Day I could have ever asked for.

Johnny's School Photos

A few weeks ago, John's daycare invited some photographers to take some spring photos of all the kids.  Because the younger kids tend to get cranky towards the afternoon, they tried to take most of the pictures in the morning.

Well...John simply refused to cooperate!  Apparently he was kicking and screaming and fussing the whole time so they gave up and moved on to the next, more cooperative kiddo.

Before packing up their gear, they decided to give John one more shot, in the afternoon, after his typical 3+ hour nap.  And apparently, he still hesitated, until they started calling him "Superman" (at his request), at which point he began to love the camera (and the camera loved him)...smiling, carrying on, and channeling his inner super hero.

Check them out!  They totally captured our little guys personality.

Happy Easter!!

I (I mean, the Easter Bunny) had very little planning time for Easter this year as I was out of town the week prior...but somehow it all worked out and it was absolutely awesome!  

Saturday night we dyed the eggs.  This year we opted to dye them outside because, well, little Johnny B can get quite excited with crafting projects and we didn't want any spills inside the house :)

We prepped our dye with stinky vinegar and then prepared to begin!

 The boys were super excited...they each picked the first color they wanted to dunk their eggs in...

 Will picked red (of course) and John picked pink...

 Once we were done dying our dozen of (real) eggs, we moved on to some fake eggs that Nana Rosie brought over and the boys used mini paint rollers to make their best designs...

John's of course turned out black-ish because he mixed ALL the colors (but that's ok he said it was a Batman Egg)...

 And Will made some fancy stripes on his...

 We completed our egg prep without any spills or messes...yay!

Sunday morning we all rolled out of bed and me and my three cuties headed off to church while Nana Julie (I mean the Easter Bunny) stayed back and hid all THIRTY SIX eggs.

 When we came home we snapped a few family photos and then headed to see if Peter Cottontail made a visit!

The first thing the boys saw were their enormous bouncy balls (one of which has already perished after being tossed into that darn sago palm .... I hate that thing!)...

 Then we quickly headed inside to find out what the boys got in their ninja baskets...

candy, bubbles, books, and dodgeballs!  

Once they emptied their baskets and John ate about 3,456 pieces of chocolate candy, we were off to begin the hunt!

And they are off!  Running this way and that way...giggling and laughing!

 When they were all done and their baskets were full...

 We paused to count them to make sure we had them all...

John had the most...only because he has the BEST big brother in the world, who is super generous, and gave nearly half of the eggs he found to John at his request...seriously, Will was SO sweet Easter Sunday!

When we were done counting we were still missing one egg...and I think even the Easter Bunny forgot where it was hidden, but finally we found it tucked up in a tree...

 With the egg hunt over it was time for a quick lunch and nap to prepare for our next event!

 And I was so excited Nana Julie could be there for it all!  I swear I relived some of my Easter Sundays that day with her there...made me super happy!

 Post nap and snacks, we were off to have our annual confetti egg hunt...

This is what THIRTY SIX confetti eggs looks like!

(BTW, they were gone in about 5 minutes!)

 The plan was to have the three boys abuse each other, leaving myself and Nana Julie out of it, but in the end we all got a few smashed on us...but any who, here is how it began...

 And then the smashing started!

 Here is a pic of John (lefty!) racing up to crush on on me! 

 At one point Will ended up on the ground...

 When it was all over, John was a total mess...with his crazy long curly hair...

 And Will wasn't too bad...his hair seemed to repel confetti just like it does water (no, seriously, he is like a labrador retriever, his hair is basically water proof!)

 After recovering from our confetti fight, we had a few minutes of fun with bubbles and then that was the end of Easter 2014!  

It was so much fun!  Can't wait until next year!

Noteworthy Napkins

It has been a while...so here are the last FOUR weeks worth of Will's napkins...

And if I am calculating correctly, we only have four weeks left :)

FOUR weeks ago, Billy was given the assignment "Frozen"...he did a marvelous job.

Will was inspired by watching the movie on the plane ride to Colorado...although he later stated he thought it was a "girly" movie, I guess it still left an impression :)

 The next week I was in charge of lizards....how come I always get the hard things!?!  

So here we have Will's choices...a Komodo Dragon, a flying lizard, a blue lizard, a chameleon, and a Basilisk Lizard.  And I am telling you, the chameleon was his fave - and it suffered the same fate that Billy's Olympic hockey team napkin suffered...someone spilled water on it during lunch.  Will was devastated...I was devastated...but so it goes!

 The week before Easter I was out of town so Billy had the awesome job of creating four Easter napkins (Will's school takes off on Good Friday!)...I love these!

 Last week I delegated my duties to Billy once I heard Will's wish for LEGO Chima...I am good, but not that good...and check out how awesome Billy did!  His artistic skills never cease to amaze me!

Tooth Fairy!

Will FINALLY lost a tooth, or teeth to be exact!

Here's the story!

Will's two bottom middle teeth have been loose for WEEKS.

Last week I was out of town (booooo!) and I just KNEW he was going to lose them!

Thursday, Will was enjoying a Chick Fil A sandwich when all of a sudden he bit down and his tooth came out!  

Then he casually just pulled the next tooth out!

Hearing this occurrence on the phone a thousand miles away was not fun...so I informed him he would have to wait for my return to put them under his pillow for the tooth fairy as I have a special relationship with the tooth fairy and needed to be there!

So Friday night, we set them out and Will woke up the next morning $10 richer!

Now I know this seems like a lot of $$...after all, I think I got about 25 cents for each of mine, but according to the news - the going rate for a tooth is nearly $5 each!