Trying to catch up on all my personal pictures, too! The boys started baseball like ummm……two weeks ago, and I’m just getting to post them now. Yikes!

They are having a great time this year and I think they are really enjoying being the older kids on the team this year. John is a coach again (which the boys told him they are really happy about and that they really like that he’s at every game) and I think he actually enjoys it. Except for his back hurting. And the juggling to get them to the games is interesting. They have soccer and baseball games on the same day, plus with me working every weekend, we’ve required a lot of grandma’s and uncle nelson’s help with coordinating schedules and Timmy’s naps. But, luckily they can help out or else we would be in big trouble.

The boys told me their favorite positions this year are: Jack= catcher, 2nd base & pitcher and Patrick= 1st base, 3rd base & center field. Their hitting and fielding skills have improved a lot since last year. They’ve only played in one game so far this season (out of two- they missed one cause they went to a Mets game that night) but have spent a lot of time practicing in the backyard. I now have a nice dirt pitchers mound as well as a nice dirt batting box right here in my backyard. Just from all the wear in those spots– and no grass will grow there ever again. Someone once told me the expression "I’m raising boys, not grass". So true- gotta love that!

Nope, not for me. But the big boys were invited to a bowling party last weekend for a friend in their grade. They had a GREAT time…especially since Jack broke 100 with a final score of 117. He was pretty pleased with himself about that. The boys have very interesting "form" while bowling. No one can tell them that the body english dosen’t help the ball go the way they want.  Here are some from that party:

And since they had so much fun, they have been asking to go bowling again. So I took them and Timmy this afternoon after the 2 communions I shot. Exhausted much? But they had a great time- although Jack was pretty disapointed that he didn’t break 100 again. Timmy did, though! He had a 107. (okay, so I bowled a few frames for him at the end, but he honestly did better than I did with two spares!) That ramp thingy is a great invention. Patrick was bowling so hard, that once his ball flew into the lane next to ours and once he knocked down the bumpers! But he did well, almost beating his top ever score (in the 70’s).  

Instead of the usual HUGE party (we are talking a minimum of 60 kids invited every year) that we do at the Rec Ctr. for the boys birthday, this year we went a different route. John got 10 tickets to the Mets game on the boys birthday and they invited 6 friends to go to the game. John and Graeme chaperoned and drove and the kids were divided up into two teams (red and blue, surprisingly!). Everyone arrived here at our house at 10:30am, gave me their food order for the game, played a little backyard baseball, and left for the game at 11am. They arrived just in time for the start.

Let me break here and go back to the night before where I stayed up until 2am finishing the favors, making the food chart, and decorating. John and the boys previously picked out Mets hats as favors for the party, we picked up wiffle balls, baseball cards, and fan pulls with baseballs on them to use as a link for all the stuff. I also made a "thank you" card to attach to the group of stuff. Then I wrote each guest’s name on the table including either a baseball or a baseball diamond in each of their names. So I was coloring at 1:45am. And then hanging the favors from the chandellier in the dining room at 2am. But I got it done and it looked really cute!

I didn’t go to the game (thankfully. I don’t like baseball). But I pleaded with Graeme to take a lot of pictures, and being the good boy he is, he did. A lot. Got some really cute ones of all the kids at the game and even the special birthday surprise of getting the boys name up on the jumbo screen. I was so happy he got that one! Unfortunately, the Mets lost, but it was apparently a very exciting game.

After they all got home (around 4pm), they continued with the baseball game in the backyard, stopped for some goofy pictures in the banner I got, and had some cake. I had run out in the afternoon with Timmy to pick up a few little gifts for the boys (backpacks, webkinz, and books) and the Carvel cake. Yum. I think everyone left around 6pm. It was a long, great day. We picked up sushi for dinner- boys’ choice and following with our b’day tradition in this house, we put a candle in the sushi (a candle goes in every meal you have at home on your birthday).

Grandma and Grandpa got the boys a Wii which they were so super excited about. We set that up today (thanks Uncle Joe for your help with that!) and they must have been playing in the basement for a good 4hrs. I tried it out and it is a lot of fun. Could be dangerous.

Happy Birthday Jack & Patrick!!! I just cannot believe they are 8. When did that happen, exactly??