Fieldtrip to the Insectarium

Okay, I despise spiders. However, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to chaperone Luke's preschool field trip. The boys loved it! The more poisonous and scary looking - the more they liked it! 

Luke was brave enough to touch a live scorpion!

(But not to eat a cheese covered mealworm. I was soooo glad about that! :)

Luke turned 5 !!! ( 2 months ago . . . )

Since Luke was one, he has been OBSESSED - an I mean seriously obsessed - with ALL sports. 

Since he was about 18 months old he has been a self-proclaimed "All Star!"

AND - because he takes his athleticism SO seriously, he practices at least one sport (but usually more) every single day at home! He's been doing this for years. 

For about a year now he will say to me, "Mom! I haven't practiced basketball yet today! I need to do that to get better!" Then he proceeds to take his mini ball to the mini hoop in our house and pound out several baskets. He makes most of them. 

Before we had a real hoop, he would make ME "be the hoop!" What does this mean? Well, it simply means that my circled arms in front of me were the basket and he (and Miles) would proceed to shoot baskets into my arms. This meant my face was in the place of the back board and I got a LOT of balls in my face. Ouch. The pains of motherhood. :)

In baseball, he has finally come to grips with being a "Lefty." We keep telling him it 's a good thing. Thanks to some awesome Tee-Ball coaches, he is happy about his special mitt now. Oh, and by the way, when Luke throws the ball - it is dead on almost every time. His aim is "ridiculous" (as my brother would say) and is often complemented on his amazing arm for such a little kid.

All that being said, a sports theme for his birthday was an obvious choice. What wasn't so obvious was how we would make that happen in our little house - since the yard has no grass yet. Hmmmm....

(It is also obvious that Luke didn't get a MUCH needed haircut before his party. Oops.) 

As guests arrived, they made their own sports pennants with stickers, glitter and all sorts of messy craft supplies! :)

Then I announced our "Starting Line Up" for the days sporting events.

We began with indoor basketball.

Next was porch soccer.

Last was football.

Kids being kids, they spontaneously decided that our football stand (made at the very last minute) was too boring and needed to be colored. So, we colored it.

Life is always better in color!

Then we had food and cupcakes! Yum!

Opened gifts.

(Luke's favorite was a Hot Wheels loop-de-loop from his buddy Evan!)

Jacob had been promising to MAKE a car for each of the boys - and was able to pull off the basic frame by Luke's birthday. He loves it and can't wait to finish it! (Miles is anxious for his too!!!)

Happy 5th Birthday, Luke! I can't believe you're getting so big!!!

The "Tee Ball Bells!"

I'm going to be playing BIG TIME catch up - and maybe I'll get tired of it and skip it, but for now - this was from about 6 weeks ago . . .

The very first day of Luke's T-Ball practice, we heard the Jenkintown church bells as we walked to practice. They ring every evening at 6pm. I told the boys that the ringing meant that it was time for T-Ball to start. Miles grabbed on to that tiny piece of info. EVERY SINGLE DAY he tells me, "Time for T-Ball!!!" when he hears the bells. When I explained that we don't go EVERY day, he started posing the statement more as a question: "Time for T-Ball?!?!" Since we only go once - maybe twice - a week, the answer is usually no. 

Yesterday the boys were exhausted and Miles hadn't even had a nap, so I bathed them EARLY (5:30) and got them in jammies. I wanted to be doing story time by 6:30. I was just about to put dinner on the table when the bells started ringing. This time, it was me who screamed: 

"Ahhh! It's the T-Ball bells! We HAVE T-Ball tonight and mommy forgot! Run upstairs, take off your jammies, get your baseball clothes on! Run!"

Oh, I'm thankful for those bells.

(Even though it meant Luke really ended up needing another bath!)