A Day of Baseball

So after a breakfast of waffles the whole family headed to the Opening Day Little League events. This would turn into an all day event of parades, and games. First all the kiddos lined up with their teams and got to be part of a parade.

This is Katie's team, the Lugnuts.

This is Ashley and Austin's team, the Ironbirds. This is the team that Lewis coaches.

As soon as the opening ceremonies Katie's team had their first game.

Hit that ball!!

Katie rounding home plate.

Katie hurt her finger earlier in the week and it hurt her hand to put her glove on so the coach let her play without it. I guess it works because she assisted in one of only two outs of the game.

Natalie was a trooper! She hung out in the stroller almost all day.

Ashley hit the ball and got on base both times she came up to bat.

Katie had a lot of fun holding Natalie during the game. I thought that it was a truly heavenly view.

Austin as catcher.

Austin up at bat. He totally hit it!!

Each team had a banner. Somehow I ended up in charge of Lewis' team banner (I think it was because he did not ask anyone else). I am going to add an airplane that is on their hats to the space in the middle.

Ashley as catcher.

Run home Austin!!

All in all it was a fun, and long, day. We all survived and both teams won their games!

Natalie Update

Natalie had her two week appointment yesterday and she is doing great! She is no longer in the danger zone with her jaundice and can continue nursing (my only girl that will nurse!). She weighs 7 pounds and 13 ounces and is now 20 inches long.
On a more personal note she is only waking up 2-3 times in the night and I count myself a very lucky Mommy.

What did Natalie get for Easter?

A BELLY BUTTON!
Her little cord stump fell off this morning, so I guess that she is all official now.

Easter Morning

I had to keep reminding myself that I loved my kiddos this morning. They wanted to get up and see what the Easter bunny left them at 6:30 this morning, which is right when Natalie finished nursing and I was hoping to get an hour or so of sleep. But oh well they really had a fun time and then I got to fall asleep to a Doris Day movie :)

The kids decided that the Easter Bunny really knows them well!

New Family Picture

We tried to get some family pictures done this afternoon after church but I think that we will have to try again next week too. The light wasn't great and Natalie was hungry. I thought that I would share my favorites though.

The kiddos always like to end with a goofy face contest. Ashley is saying "Peace out home skillet". Weird kids, they must get it from their Dad :)

At the Park with Papa and Nana

Yesterday was so nice outside that we ventured out to the park across from the house. It is the kids favorite park. Papa just got a new lens for his camera and took some pics of the kiddos. I thought that I would share a couple of my favorites. I hope that you enjoy.

Announcing....

Natalie Anne...
joined our family April 2nd at 223pm. She weighed 7lbs 9ozs and was 19 3/4 inches long. It was a short labor (I was admitted at about 1030am) and everything went fine. I am sorry for the lack of great pics (but don't you think that Lewis did a good job picking up my slack) since I was the one having the baby it made it a little hard to take pics too :)

Here she is being weighed.

The older kids are so in love with her that she hardly ever gets to actually lay down, someone is always holding her.

The shutter on our nice camera scares her still so I tried to get a few shots without a flash with my little camera.

They put an anklet on her to make sure that no one would steal her.

In VA you have to stay for 36-48 hours so we did not get to come home until Saturday but we were home by lunch; which was really nice since that meant we were home to watch Conference. Nothing against hospitals but it is nice to be home.

Sweet dreams little one!

Kermit

Tonight we got home from dinner (Lewis took me to Moe's) it was raining and there was a little frog jumping all over and lucky not to get run over. The kids really wanted to keep him but after looking online about caring for a frog we decided that it was better to let him go.

So this is Kermit, our pet frog that now lives out in the backyard. We took pics so that there was some sort of record for the kids; Katie was the sadest to see him go.

After a lot of hand washing and washing of the table we wiped the tears and everyone was off to bed.

Update

Since it has been awhile I thought that I would add a generic update so that you could see what we have been up to. Two weeks ago Katie and Austin "helped" Lewis do some yard work. They raked some leaves and then fertilized the yard.

They did the yard work right after the snow melted from the second snow storm within a month. Katie had a blast eating the snow off the table.

The kids are usually agreeable for a group shot.

Lewis went with the kids and a friend of ours, Scott and Lance, to the Dulles Air and Space Museum. I stayed home since walking a museum isn't really something that I have been up to. But they all had a lot of fun and then got a burger on the way home.

Last Night...

A wonderful man left this earth to be with the one thing that he loved most, a wonderful woman. I received a call last night telling me that my Grandfather had passed away. As hard as I have tried to be happy that he is now with Grandma and no longer suffering, I still sit here selfishly sad to lose him. (also that I can not be there with my family since I have been grounded from traveling from my mid-wife).
So in an attempt to think positive and remember that he is in a better place I would like to propose a toast...
"To flat cat pancakes, Twinkies, IBC root beer. To a man that always knew how to make the girls and women in his life feel special. To dancing girls and John Philips Sousa playing at the loudest volume the poor speakers would allow. To yellow roses marking the birth of each of my children and to the wonderful legacy of a family that this great man has left here on Earth.
Give Grandma a big kiss for me."

My first TAG!!!

6
Picture tag.
Here are the directions:

Open up the 6Th picture folder on your computer.Post the 6Th picture in the folder and tell the story of it.Then tag 6 of your friends.

So here is Katie on the boat on our trip to Solomon's Island last summer (my files are in alphabetical order so Aug 08 was the 6th folder). Our friends have family there and invited us to go with them for the weekend. It was so much fun, and we are already to planning to go back this summer with Sweet Pea!

So TAG you're IT: Michelle, Anna, Audrey, Jessica, and Jennifer