My Little Artist

Lately, Will has taken a big interest in coloring, drawing, and writing. Because I am a proud mommy (and this is my scrapbook), I want to share his artwork. This is the first rocket ship he drew:

He has drawn about 463 variations of it since. Family members, you will be getting your own personal copy for your fridge soon.

And Will is so excited that he can now write his name! He's been working hard on learning how to write his ABC's and it is so fun to see the sheer joy when he accomplishes each letter on his own.

Cous-Aunt Kelli!

Our sweet cousin Kelli came to visit last weekend. She's Matt's first cousin, but feels more like an aunt to Will and Andrew, so we're calling her a "cous-aunt". We think that word should be in the dictionary.
She brought goodies for all of us! She brought Will a Memory game and he "smoked her" in it (his words).
She brought Matt her business card from the Apple store and Matt is considering having it gold-plated.
We had a BLAST while she was here. She hadn't been to this area before, so we showed her the campuses of UNC and Duke (too bad she's almost finished with college or we would try to convince her to transfer...).

We tried to eat some yummy NC BBQ at Allen and Sons, but it was closed. So we went to our favorite ice cream spot, Maple View Farms. If you're a regular reader, you've seen enough pictures of that place to feel like you've been there yourself!

She went to Will's t-ball game and I gave up the camera long enough for her to take a family pic of us.

Will was a BIG fan of his cous-aunt Kelli! I was too, because she was SO helpful with the boys and they loved spending time with her.


Unfortunately, she's become a Florida girl so she doesn't think she can handle visiting us in the grey skies of Cleveland. Hopefully she had enough fun with us that we can change her mind and convince her to come see us!

She has a super cool blog that you should check out for more details of her trip:
Kelli's Blog

Pops' and Mimi's Visit

We were lucky to have Pops and Mimi come visit a few weeks ago. I count myself very lucky that I can truly say I am excited when my in-laws come to town. We always have fun and they are always such helpful hands.

Pops took Will to get a haircut...the first since "The Great Massacre of '08". We all went to a Bulls' game while they were here and we enjoyed hot dogs, baseball, and fireworks. (cue Lee Greenwood's "I'm Proud to Be an American").

Andrew had a blast playing the bongo drums/Pops' head. (Aw, come on...I say that with love and Pops knows it!)


And he gots lots of love and attention from Mimi!

Vacation

Soon we will be heading to the lake and beach for a family vacation. I can't wait! I'm looking forward to spending time with both sides of our family; and I'm looking forward to grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins entertaining my boys. I have a lot of reading to catch up on...perhaps I'm being a little too ambitious?


As a side note: to any family member who has given me a magazine subscription in the past...As much as I love ALL the magazines I get, it might be a good idea to reevaluate any future gifts. I'm getting a little behind...

11 Months Old

He's knocking on the door of the big UNO! Andrew is growing like crazy and really bulking up. He pulls up on everything and lately he's gotten cocky and lets go of one hand. Crazy guy...

T-Ball 2008

The Blue Bombers wrapped up their season Saturday with a record of 7-0 or 0-7. (There was no score kept, so it depends on if you are a "glass half empty" or "glass half full" kind of person.)
The main thing Will learned was "the gator". The coach taught them to catch grounders by using their other hand to "chomp" the ball into their glove...like a gator.
You can see his obvious enthusiasm for this move.


OK, that's better.



Will was a big fan of batting. Batting seemed to be the highlight for most of the team...well, batting, and snacktime.

Around game 6, Will decided to work on his sliding technique.

This is where Will hung out a good bit of the time.


Will had lots of family and friends come and see him play including Pop Pop and Nanni, Pops and Mimi, our church friends, Kendra and Candace,

and cous-aunt Kelli.  

Overall, I think the season was a success. With each game, Will became more comfortable. He even says he wants to play again next year. But now he's ready to play soccer!

What's Going On with Andrew?

I need to document all of Andrew's new tricks. He crawls everywhere...pretty fast. He pulls up on everything, but is not ready to let go yet. He says "Mama", "Uh-oh" a lot and has repeated "Da-Da" and "Pops" after us.
He can play peek-a-boo and loves to clap (for himself or others). And I think he weighs close to 20 pounds!
But most importantly, he's sleeping thru the night consistently which makes everybody happy!!

Pop Pop and Nanni Came to Visit!

Pop Pop and Nanni recently made a visit to see Will and Andrew (not me and Matt, of course!). We had a great time while they were here. They got to see Will play T-ball (not one of his finer games, more on that later).
We went to our local kids museum where we rode the train, sailed some boats, played some music, built some towers, and lots more.


At the museum, we saw lots of animals (including an intense hunt for butterflies by Nanni and Will).

And of course, we wrapped up the weekend with ice cream from our local favorite!

Working Round the Clock

A day in the life of Matt...Last Sunday.

9:30 AM church services
Noon lunch with family passing thru
2-6 Work in a clinic
8 PM Back to work...all night
8 AM (Monday) come home from work, read newspaper and have breakfast with Will

9 AM-Noon his "lucky" day; he can actually squeeze in a rare nap before reporting to afternoon clinic
6 PM come home, play baseball with Will, eat supper, crash for the night! UGH! I can't believe he forgot to take the garbage to the street! :)


I thought the blurred picture was quite appropriate as sometimes he passes thru like a blur! I have to give him credit because he somehow manages to work everything and everybody in. Amazing!

1st Haircut

We decided it was time for Andrew to have a little trim. I'm not ready to cut off all the curls, so Matt decided just to trim the sides. Perhaps if this whole medicine thing doesn't work out, he could look in to barber school. Or at least make a little side cash.
Andrew's hair looks good and no one cried. I call that success.

A Visit to our Nation's Capital

A few weekends ago, we made a trip to D.C. and Virginia. This trip is part of what I'd like to call the "farewell tour". There are so many fun things within driving distance of us right now. So we're trying to enjoy as much of it as we can before we move to the Heartland of America. You know, the place that RANKED #2 IN THE LIST OF MAJOR U.S. CITIES WITH HIGHEST AVERAGE AMOUNT OF SNOWFALL. Second only to Denver, I might add. And sometimes it can snow in May.
I'm getting a wee bit nervous...

Anyway, we met up with Mary Raines and Brooks for some of our trip. We toured Mt. Vernon which ended up being more fun than I thought it would be. Probably would have been even more fun if the temp had dropped below 95.


Will grew a little weary of all the photo ops. At least Mary Raines was willing to cheese it up with me.
(At Mt. Vernon with Potomac in the background.)


Brooks and Andrew were such little troopers as they were carted all over the place in their strollers.


We met Matt's parents and sister in D.C., and visited the Smithsonian Air and Space and Natural History Museums, the Lincoln, Vietnam, WWII, and Korean War Memorials, and toured the West Wing of the White House!

Will at Union Station


Andrew always enjoys catching up on his zzzzz's while vacationing. NOT!


Will's favorite part of the city was "riding the subway". I think he and Andrew were a lot happier when we reached Mary Raines' house in VA and they could be free of strollers and hand-holding and could play to their little hearts' content!

They "Blend"

I'm so excited about Will and Andrew's new outfits. My mom and I made them...(well, I only smocked the part on Andrew's and my mom did everything else!). Thanks Mom! They turned out great!

As I've mentioned before, Matt is NOT into matching outfits (and he calls himself a Southerner?!), so I told him that they "blend".