Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Joshua turned 4 on Sunday. We went to Red Robin for dinner Saturday night. He ordered his favorite thing MAC N CHEESE! Red Robin is the boys favorite place to eat. This is the first year that the boys have wanted the servers to sing to them. It started with Christopher in December. Then Matthew had them sing to him. Joshua wanted to be just like his big brothers, so of course they sang to him. He was beaming as they sang to him grinning from ear to ear. My favorite was watching him eat his big ice cream sunday as his two older brothers begged for a bite. Joshua stood firm, there was no way he was going to share his ice cream.

As a tradition I make the birthday boy's favorite breakfast meal. Joshua insisted that for breakfast he wanted MAC N CHEESE! I tried to persuade him to crepes, waffles, pancakes, muffins, etc but he wouldn't budge. So MAC N CHEESE it was.

For his birthday, he was delighted to get a razor scooter and legos. He is very excited to now be like his big brothers.

Matthew "Lookouts"

Matthew is playing baseball again for his 5th season. He is on the AA Lookouts team. Ryan is helping coach the team again this season. Baseball has become a big part of our lives with 2 or 3 practices / games during the week and a game on Saturday. Matthew loves to play baseball! He is very excited to start pitching this season. Although, he doesn't like hitting as much because he has to be ready to jump out of the way of a wild pitch. He loves playing any position in the infield where all the action is. In his last game, his team scored 4 runs without gettting a single hit. Since this is the 1st time kids start pitching, there are a lot of walks and the games go rather slow.

Ryan has enjoyed working with the boys on his team and spending time with Matthew. Sometimes I'm not sure who is having more fun, Ryan or Matthew. It's a great bonding experience for them.

Thomas the Climber - "I think I can, I think I can"

Thomas has turned into quite a little climber. If you take your eyes off of him for a few seconds you will find him on top of something. He is smart enough to move the kitchen step stool or bathroom step stool around in order to meet his climbing needs. Here are just a few pictures of where I have found him.

Joshua Soccer

Joshua last fall wanted so badly to play a sport and be like his big brothers. Ryan and I were unsure of having three boys in sports at once, so we decided to hold off. With Joshy turning four this week, we decided he couldn't wait any longer. So we signed him up for spring soccer. Ryan and I love the beginning soccer program through LYSA. The professional instructors get the kids use to the ball and the fundamentals of the game through playing various games like bumper balls, race cars, red light, etc. Joshy was so excited for his practice to start on Saturday. Christopher has been playing coach and teaching Joshy how to play soccer in the basement with his two soccer goal nets.

When we got to the field on Saturday, we were running just a tad late. So, after getting his new soccer shirt on he didn't want to leave my side. I ended up running around the muddy field with him as they ran to different colors in the corners of the field. Remember it is 75 plus degrees, so I was in sandals. My toes were covered in mud. The head soccer lady offered her shoes to me, which I declined. (YUCK! I thought!) After running to two corners, I pulled Matthew aside and asked him to go be with his brother until he warmed up. Matthew didn't want to do it so I had to use bribery. It was cute watching Matthew guide his brother around the field. After ten minutes Joshy let his brother go ride his scooter. Joshua's favorite thing of soccer was scoring a couple of goals and getting his drink and teddy grahams at the end of practice.

(You might be asking yourself, where was Ryan? He was home on a ladder getting birds out of our vents. That is right, they were in our powder room vent. The neighbor says, they have been there for years. It took Ryan most of the day to clean the vent out and replace the vent cover. Sunday the birds moved into two other vents. Monday morning Ryan quickly put a stop to their building a nest in those two vents. Tuesday morning we awoke to have the birds building a nest in our dryer vent. So once again, Ryan spent this morning, removing the start of a bird's nest and closing off the vent. Will see what tomorrow brings, although there are no more vents for them to move into. I think there is a war going on between us and the birds! I wonder who will win!)

Christopher's 1st Game of the Season

Saturday was Christopher's 1st soccer game of the season! He was in his glory! He loves to play soccer! He has had a few practices over the past couple of weeks, but all of his games have been rained out. It had rained Friday night, so we were expecting Saturdays game to be canceled. However, we woke up Saturday morning and the sun was shining bright. The forecast for the day was highs in the 70's. Perfect for playing soccer. As the game began, Christopher jumped right in and was very aggressive at getting the ball. As you can see from the pictures above, he dove to block a goal and landed smack in the muddy grass. He was very proud of his arm, side and leg which was covered in a think mud! He had the biggest smile on his face. All of the parents cheered for him. He loved it!

No School

No School today! HOORAY! The boys and I went swimming at the indoor pool with some friends. The boys love cannon balling into the water. They especially love to cannon ball right on top of me and Thomas. Thomas always giggles when the wave of water hits his face. The boys enjoyed going down the slide and jumping off the diving board for the first time. After swimming we enjoyed a picnic lunch at a park.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Matthew turned 9 years old this week. Where has the past nine years gone? It seems like just yesterday he was born. So many things have happened in his nine years of life. I can't help but think of the song, "Seasons of Love" from the movie Rent.

five hundred twenty-five thousand

six hundred minutes

five hundred twenty-five thousand

moments so dear

five hundred twenty-five thousand

six hundred minutes

how do you measure- measure a year?

in daylights, in sunsets, in midnights,

in miles, in laughter, in strife

in- five hundred twenty-five thousand

six hundred minutes

how do you measure a year in the life?

Or nine years? It's in "Seasons of Love!"

Pump It Up Party

Matthew's birthday is the 9th and Joshua's is the 20th. This year we decided to have a combine Birthday Party for them at Pump it Up. Pump It Up is a new party place in Leesburg. It has two rooms of inflatables for the kids to slide, jump and race through mazes. The boys had a blast and of course Mom and Dad, too!

Science Experiment

Last night I was helping Matthew with his homework in the dining room. Ryan and Christopher were fixing his star wars Lego plane. After Ryan was finished he went in to the kitchen to find Joshua at the table with 6 cups, full of water and Ziploc baggies on his hands. When asked by his dad what he was doing he responded, "a science experiment! Look my hands don't get wet as he put his hands in each cup!" Ryan then called me into the kitchen to see it. Josh was very proud of himself! What a clever little boy!

Say "CHEESE"

Whenever I pull out the camera Thomas giggles and then puts on the biggest smile!

HAPPY BOY!

Joshua continues to be are HAPPY boy! He always has a smile on his face. He loves to walk around the house, swaying and turning in circles and sing "I am a Child of God." I can't believe he will be 4 in a couple of weeks!

Matthew Cub Scout Award

Last month, Matthew received his Wolf award for cub scouts. With his birthday in a week, he will be moving up to Bears. He has worked very hard this year passing things off in order to earn his wolf badge. His highlights from the year are: Getting to spend a week at cub scout camp during the summer. His favorite things at camp were learning to shoot a BB gun and bow and arrow. Once the swim test was over and he was relieved to have passed the test, he enjoyed swimming in the pool especially the last day when they opened the slides up. Matthew enjoys building things, he was able to build a bird house, a wooden train, a truck and of course the pine wood derby car. He also was able to earn a ton a belt loops which now fill his belt up. WAY TO GO MATTHEW!

Star Wars Legos

Christopher's new found love, STAR WARS Legos!

New House

In November, we were finally able to sell our townhome. We had it on the market three days before we had a contract on it. The only catch was they wanted to be in by Christmas, which gave us less than a month to find a home and move. We knew we would need to find a house that was vacant, since most people would not want to move with not much notice and not to mention the Christmas season. After looking at what was available we were finally able to put a contract on a home in Lansdowne. We feel very blessed to have found this home. The neighbors are extremely nice and friendly. All of the neighbors have mentioned how excited they are to have us in the neighborhood. The home had actually sat empty for some time. We have been here 3 1/2 months and are enjoying the extra space. It is fun to have a backyard where the boys can run and play and just be boys. Yesterday, the boys came home from school and begged me to go down to the woods behind our house. Yes, we do have some woods and a stream with lots of "magic" rocks behind our house. We packed up a snack and headed down to the woods. The boys played in the stream and ate their snack while Matthew did his homework. It is fun to live in this fast pace neck of the world, yet to have such a peaceful place within walking distance.