Sports Day

Matt's school had their annual Sports Day two days before Spring Break.  It's a fun-packed day filled with field games, races, gym events, and revelry that the  kids look forward to all year.  It brings out the competitive side of our son.

The three-legged race is always a hoot to watch.  Matt & Chris fared pretty well.

The parachute is always a favorite.  I remember it when I was a kid---that was the best day at PE.

Matt had a good cheering section for awhile---I stayed for a bit until it was time to go to Bible Study, and Steven & Tim stayed long enough to watch the baton relay before lunch time.

Here's Matt getting ready to receive the baton.

And here's a sample of the race.  You may remember the crazy dance he did last year, but this time around he was much more composed.  As if he was trying to suppress his excitement and play it cool.

Ms. Sanderson's class!  Yes, Matt's the only one not wearing a smile on his face.  And no, there were no winners or losers---everyone won.  This lasts until the the 3rd grade, and then there are ribbons awarded and actual 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners!!  Yay.  Matt can't wait for that.

10 months!

Another month has flown by, and my baby is now in the double digits!  He is growing and changing by leaps and bounds, it is astounding.  He's sleeping for nearly a full 12 hours at night now----I believe due to the fact that his brain is growing and he's processing all these new tricks he has.  But, he's still handsome as you can see.  :)

Johnny really enjoys playing in his room, and he's got 7 years' worth of toys to explore everywhere he turns in there.  His favorite though is probably the ball popper.  It plays music and sends balls popping up everywhere, and he squeals and kicks with delight.

Last month he was beginning to crawl, well now he's officially mobile.  He is all over the place.  I knew once it started that there was no looking back.  Hold on to your hat everyone, because this kid is all up in it.  He can get to pretty much whatever he wants now.  He's pulling up too, but isn't exactly steady on his feet.  He mostly comes tumbling back down because he'll stand on his tippy toes.  He's getting better though, and no doubt by next month he'll be cruising all over the furniture.

He's learned that food is really tasty, and he's anxious to try it all.  He'll eat pretty much whatever I throw at him which is a blessing, and I hope it stays that way.  His favorites are pears, bananas, hummus, and guacamole.  He's super happy to be with us at mealtimes and enjoys his spot at the head of the table.

This boy loves to be wherever his brothers are, and he is hot on their trail.  He's figured out that he can get to Will's precious cars and interrupt whatever race Matt has started.  He's already frustrating them.  It's only just begun.  He's losing more interest in me, which is fine, it's about that time anyway.  Most mornings when I go in to nurse him, if he hears his brothers he will sit up and start squealing and kicking, anxious to go play with them.  He's a blessed boy to have such fun playmates around.  Will & Matt do a great job entertaining him, and are doing their best to divert his attention when they don't want him all up in their business.

This is a good video of him crawling.  It's fitting because you can hear him panting as he crawls, and then he reaches for the camera and then for Steven's magazine.  And Steven gets a little choked up.  Good stuff.

He's babbling like crazy and continues to experiment with his voice.  He says "Mamamamama" now, and it's the sweetest.  He doesn't know what he's saying, but it's still nice to hear.  He cut one tooth on top this month, and I feel the other will shortly follow.  He's already up to the naughty business too---he's found that he can turn the Blu-ray player on and off and eject the discs.  So, we've realized that he knows his name and the meaning of the word no.  He likes to lock the wheels on his highchair too.  And knock down all the magnets he can reach on the fridge.  And throw the cars out of the bucket one by one.  And spread the Legos far and wide.  And chew on the couch when he pulls up.  So the fun has begun!

Let's go racing!

Last Saturday Steven took Matt & Will to Circuit of the Americas to see a race and watch all the cool cars.  Johnny & I stayed behind.  I didn't think a loud race track was a great place for an infant.  So we had our own fun!  It was a beautiful, but chilly day.

Before the race they got to explore pit lane.  Matt found some treasures.

They got to take turns holding the checkered flag.

They got to look inside the race cars and see all the complicated buttons and steering wheels and such.

They both said they had a good time.  Does Will look like a future race car driver?

I'm not sure how interested they were in the actual race.

In fact, Steven said a lot of what they did was fuss over the bag of snacks I had packed for them.  And then Will did some crazy martial art-like poses for a good 30 minutes.

It was an adventure, and I'm thankful to have a husband who loves his boys enough to take them to such events even if it means he has to carry them, mediate fights over snacks, listen to whining about not getting ice cream, and dealing with their underappreciation of the scene they are observing.  They'll look back one day and realize how really cool it was and what an awesome dad they have.  I think they already know that.  :)

Know what's weird?

What's weird is that Matt is losing his teeth just as Johnny is getting his.  Sunrise, sunset....as Steven would say.  So, both of Matt's funky grey teeth up top that have been that way since he was 3 both fell out within two weeks of each other.  He looks super funny now.

What's weird is that my brother of all people won our Fantasy Football championship.  So not cool.  And then he wasn't even there at the Super Bowl party to accept his trophy!  The atrocity!  Sarah got him on speakerphone to give his acceptance speech.

The kids were super cute as always; excited to all be together eating waffles, playing and having movie marathons while we watched the game.

What's weird is that Henry is 3!  And Will & Henry's friendship grows stronger and stronger.  They are the perfect pair and a hoot to watch.  Henry requested that Will wear his Superman suit to his birthday party and he in return wore his Luke Skywalker costume.  And then they fought each other with guns and lightsabers.  They are hilarious.

What's weird is this crazy inflatable hamster ball thing and Ava's wild static electricity hair.

The Rener kids came over one afternoon and they all had a blast rolling around in that thing.  Only a few tears but even those didn't last long.  Whoever got injured would suck it up and then jump back in for more.

It was a sweaty, stinky, grass filled ball by the end of the day.

What's weird is that all the first grade classes at Matt's school had a music performance in Feb. entitled "Lullabies".  And they wore their pajamas for the performance.  So did the music teacher.  Yes, that's a night cap.  Matt did great singing and doing all the hand motions.

What's weird is watching your son up on stage speak into a microphone clearly, loudly, and with confidence as he recites a few tongue twisting excerpts from the book Fox in Socks by Dr. Suess.  His class recited the entire book at a morning assembly to honor the great Dr. Suess on his birthday.  Matt did so great; he didn't stumble over any of those funny words at all.  I thought to myself that he sounded just like I did all those many, many times that I read it to him when he was younger.  Makes a momma proud.