Iain brag alert

I don't really like to brag but...okay yes I do, (hee hee) and I sure have some happening today!

First and foremost, report cards went out last week. Iain received straight A's! We are so proud of him and the hard work he has put into this school year. Way to go Iain! (Sean doesn't get his until this week so I'll be back with that bragging!!)

Second, Iain hit a homerun yesterday at his game! He is doing so well this year. He loves it so much, as do we. The best part, he is having so much fun, he may want to play winter baseball instead of football. Please cross your fingers and toes for us that he goes the baseball route. We are going to let him choose but I think we're really hoping he goes with baseball.

Grass and dirt stains, signs of baseball!

Third and lastly, for now anyway, Iain got his retainers this week. I can't believe we are even at that stage already. (Mom, Dad, are you having flashbacks??) His speech is a bit slurred since his tongue is still trying to figure out where to go but he has really adjusted well.

Before

After

Finally out

Hooray for lidocaine! After what felt like an eternity, we were finally able to get the bee stinger out of Sara's foot. I guess this deserves a little background info, huh? Last night Sara stepped on a dead bee. She didn't seem bothered but she obviously felt it. She sat down to look at the bottom of her foot. As she did, Iain noticed a bee stuck to her! He flicked it off but the stinger was well embedded. All the moms came together (LOVE moms) and we were able to get a pair of tweezers, some disinfecting ointment and a bandaid (none of which were mine). Iain and I tried to get (read:dig) it out but to no avail. We covered it up with the bandaid and willed the little thing to work it's way out. When we got home, she soaked in the bath for awhile, again hoping it would come out, nope! After another bandaid, she was off to bed. Next I did the worst motherly thing one can do, hopped on the internet to research how to get a stinger out. Funny enough there wasn't much info for that topic! They had lots of info on once you get it out and the basic, scrap it out theory. Nothing for the people who couldn't get the thing dislodged! We were laughing that most people don't have that issue, and we were just a bit challenged. O'well! We decided to call the Dr. and make sure it was okay to send a 30lb peanut to bed with a bee stinger in her foot! Sounds silly, I know! The Dr. was very polite, didn't laugh at me, and said it was no problem. She advised me to try again in the morning but if we still couldn't get it, to call her back, she'd do it. One thing I know about Sara, is if someone is going to dig in her foot, she'd rather it be me. (This story is getting long huh??) Anyway, this morning the little bugger was still way under the skin. I called in my mommy reinforcements, my neighbor Christee. Sara adores her, so I figured she was the best person to hold her down while I oh' so gently dug. Armed with Lidocane gel, tweezers and a lollipop to ease the blow, we went for it. Guess what, after the gel sat on for a minute one little scratch of the tweezers and out popped the stinger! Yay! The bottom of her foot is still red and a bit puffy from the sting itself but she seems fine! Glad that's over!

Her cute little dirty foot, minus the stinger!

Up here

Last Saturday at Iain's baseball game, Sara was having a hard time. She was whiney, not playing nicely and was all around a big grump. I took her on a walk for a change of scenery. As we were walking hand in hand I asked what was bothering her. She sighed and said, "My happy is down here today Mommy", pointing to her tummy. Ooooo', have I mentioned how much I love this little girl? I could just eat her she's so cute! We continued our talk and a few minutes later she announced her happy had moved 'up here', pointing to her chest this time. As if that wasn't cute enough, yesterday morning when she woke up she charged down the stairs to me. She threw herself in my arms and said "I love you so, so much Mommy and my happy is up here again"! (pointing to her chest again) EDIBLE!!!

(Sara insisted on having her picture taken like this. She saw Iain doing it and didn't want to be left out.)

Imagine

Today has been, and still is, quite relaxing. We did some stuff at the school for the Teachers Luncheon then came home to play. Sara's new favorite past time is her rock collection. If anyone is interested in making her day, give her a rock or two! She organizes them, washes and puts them in the plants on a daily basis. She has also had quite an imagination lately. She has been into creative playing for sometime but it always involved one of us being a character in the playing. I was the sister or at times I would be the family dog (what is she trying to say here??). Now she plays with imaginary characters. Today it was her pet dog that she was walking around the house. Last night we had this...

Iain - "Sara it looks like someone dug in the new plants out front. Do you know who?"

Sara - Not skipping a beat, "It was my friend over there. (Pointing to the empty couch) She's jumping on the couch now."

((Let me add that she was out front in the dirt playing with her rocks right before dinner))

Way to blame the imaginary friend huh? :-)

Enjoying a shower, bath style. She loves when the water hits her head.

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Today Iain is getting an award at school. He's very excited. Last night I asked him what he was planning on wearing. I was teasing him that he should dress up "fancy" for the event. He responded "Yea, maybe I'll wear a taquito." As he said it he started cracking up, he realized he used the wrong word but wasn't sure what the right word was! We told him we thought the taquito would be great!

Guess who was taking pictures of himself? I was laughing when I saw these! Not sure when he took them. Love those freckles!

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Seany has two new loose teeth. He is of course very excited, but not sure who is more thrilled! I love when those two front teeth come out. It is such a great kid look to have missing front teeth. We've been wiggling them every day but we still have awhile, they're only slightly loose.

Showing me the loose teethGetting embarrassed at the jillions of pictures I'm taking

Silly kiddos

Tonight we packed a picnic and had dinner at the park. It was a special reward Sara earned for filling her sticker chart. She was very proud, so proud in fact she wore her Supergirl costume!! The kids brought scooters, skateboards and ran around like crazy people! We had a great time! I took over 100 pictures. Yes, I know, a bit much! I better start weeding some out before my computer fills up!

Have I mentioned this crazy, spinning thing Iain and the kids do? The belly laughs that were coming out of the kids was hysterical! Click to see larger!

Dodger Blue

As promised I have some pictures from Seany's first game. I'm disappointed that they didn't turn out very good. I'm having a hard time figuring out the how to get good shots in different lighting. Some pictures were focused on the grass and Sean turned out blurry! Hmmmm!!!

Silly boy! Posing for the camera!

His own personal cheerleader

Pinewood Derby

This past weekend was the annual Pinewood Derby for Indian Guides. Each night after dinner the boys have been working in the garage sanding and painting, getting their cars ready. This year was Sean's first time participating so he was extra excited! I know I say this every time but it is such a thrill for him to be doing the things that he's watched Iain do for the past few years!

Just like last year, the boys tried for most original themed cars. Iain's was...

a cellphone

Sean's was...

(Need I say more?)

I want to add that the boys really did do most of the work themselves. Iain drew the face of SpongeBob but Sean painted the entire car as well as glued and painted the hands and feet. Iain did his car himself also.

**Sean's car won 2nd place for most original**

First Game

Yesterday was Iain's first game of the season. He is in a higher division this year so it is a bit more complex and LONG! We had no idea the games were 6 innings or 2 hours 20 minutes! Last year the games were an hour and a half! What a jump! He was a bit nervous in the morning but as the day wore on he was excited and ready to go. He is usually short stop but yesterday he also pitched and played catcher.

This is the first division where the kids pitch. It's great fun to watch but many of the pitches are wild. Completely understandable but I have to admit I gasped when Iain was hit by a pitch. He was hit on the lower back (did I mention wild pitches??) but was able to walk to first and shake it off. I did get razzed a bit by the other parents for gasping so loud but as they said it was nice to get the first 'hit by pitch' out of the way early. Sounds crazy and I'm not into watching my child get hit, but it is part of the kids learning to pitch.

Here are a few pictures of the game.

Isn't he a cute catcher?

Sean's first game is Wednesday. I'll try to have his Dodger Blue pictures up soon after!

A few of many

Already taken over 200 pictures. I just love my new camera. Of course I haven't even come close to figuring it out though. These were all taken on day 1.

hello

Apparently I'm not so good at keeping up the blog these days. Could be the fact that baseball has started or that I've been helping around school more lately or could be because American Idol is back on!!! Who knows! :-)

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I did finally get my camera yesterday! It's fun to mess around with it but I'm far from figuring it out. Right after it was delivered we walked out the door to baseball practice. I followed Sara around for 2 hours taking pictures of her every move. She was a good sport. I tried to take pictures of Iain pitching but I had the wrong lens for the far away stuff. I'll make sure to have the proper lens at his game on Saturday, not that I know how to use it though!! (When I figure out how to get the pictures off the camera, I'll get them on here!)

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Last night I got a phone call from a mom in Sean's class. Her daughter was having a few friends over after school and she wanted to invite Sean. He was a bit hesitant since the kids were all girls. After a little talk with us, and some very sweet advice from his big brother, he decided to go. It was so cute how excited he was this morning! He was looking forward to it but nervous that the boys would make fun of him. When I went to pick him up this afternoon, he said the other boys heard about it and wanted to go too! Funny how that works! I'm so pleased that he went even though he was a bit afraid of the reactions. He is confident in himself and I love it!

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Since I don't have any pictures, I'm leaving a few old ones. These were taken 4 years ago this month!