T Ball !!!!!

It was a no-brainer to sign Kyalo up for T Ball this spring.  The kid lives and breathes baseball.  I didn't expect that the hour or two of practice would be my favorite times of the week!  The first game was a couple of weeks ago and it was nothing short of awesome and hilarious.  Kyalo loved every minute of it.

 looks likes he's working on the hand signals

 look at that determination!

 On Deck!

 First at bat

can you see the joy?

 ready to run to 2nd

Without a doubt, though, Kyalo's favorite part of T Ball is the sliding.  I'm not really sure where the idea came from - perhaps he saw it at a SeaDogs game or watching the Sox on tv? - but whatever, he takes any opportunity to slide.  

I know it is hard to see him in the crowd, but look carefully, you'll see him sliding...

This is my absolute favorite video, though.  If you can see through the chaos, you'll see he just runs and sort of falls down (dramatically) while everyone else is trying to go after the ball.  

Cracks me up every time.

Go Blue Jays!

The 'games' are basically organized chaos - the kids have to be dragged back to their places, reminded where to go, and so on.  I think we spent the whole hour laughing.  Kyalo is just so happy about it all.  

We have had a few more practices under our belt now (two a week!) and I've been impressed by how much more the team is coming together.  Most of the kids are 4, of course, so we're not going to win any major league awards, but we're coming together.  Another game tomorrow.  It is a good Saturday!

Feel free to come watch!

Baking Fridays!

When I moved here last summer, I made sure to visit the library first thing, and get connected to Story Hour.  Judging from my experience in NJ, I knew I would find other mom friends there.  I had no idea, of course, just how much a weekly visit to the library would enrich our lives.

First, the women helped me get acquainted with the area - finding things, knowing what meets where & when, then, once we all became Facebook friends, started sharing recipes and talking all about food.

Obviously, these are my people.

And after talking all about food, it evolved into 'Baking Fridays!'  And the last few Fridays have included themes of delicious items - enchiladas, fondue (chocolate & cheese, which I missed so am hoping for a repeat), pasta, and, last Friday, peanut butter.  Which naturally includes chocolate.

The great thing is that the kids usually play so well together and the moms can TALK.  That is really a gift like no other.

While the older kids played on the cool climbing structure (Kyalo was probably playing in the dirt somewhere)...

 Malaikah and Trent (just a few weeks younger) were getting acquainted.

Which left the ladies to take care of things like:

peanut butter muffins

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

{one of my long-standing favorites}

To kind of off set all the sugar, we also had this colorful and flavorful

 Thai Peanut Crunch Salad

and veggies, of course.

Not pictured, PB & Fluff sandwiches (the state sandwich of Mass, thank you very much)  and another favorite cookie: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip.

But the real star of the show was this:

 Katrina weilding a big knife to cut this bad boy.

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake on a Brownie Crust

Did I mention we've all made a pact to gain a lot of weight together?  I could only handle a couple of bites of the cheesecake.  The salad was a lot of work but super yummy (and probably adaptable to what you like/have on hand) and we had it for dinner again tonight.  

Before the end of the day, I grabbed a few shots of all the kids:

 silly

serious

Moms and Kids!

these women have helped to make my life in Maine richer and much more interesting {and tastier}

me, Krystall, Katrina, Tiffanie

Looking forward to many more Fat Fridays, ladies!

Mother's Day

Last week was Mother's Day which meant I got a few pictures of me with the kids! And it meant that there was a little 'tea' at Kyalo's school.  There wasn't any real program, as I was expecting, but a good spread of snacks and a little gift from each of the kids to their moms.  It was fun to be in his environment and to see the things he's been up to this year.

 taking advantage of everyone dressed up

After the morning at the school, it was so nice we SAT OUTSIDE for a while.  Snow is {kind of, almost} a distant memory here, and we are really relishing being able to be outside.  I was sure to grab some more photos.

 Malaikah's little expression - and not so little rolls - I love!

After all this, it was nap time:

have I mentioned Malaikah sucks her thumb? Only when she's tired/falling asleep, and I think it is so cute!

On Mother's Day, I wanted to get a few pictures again since we were all dressed up.

Kyalo was in his baseball gear, of course.

needed to work on a few pitches before the real photos.

My first Mother's Day as a Mom of two was pretty great - no cooking or meal planning for me that day!  

Life is good.

eight months

Another month gone!  Closer to one year than a new born.  TWO teeth popping through. Making a lot of efforts to crawl (but not yet succeeding).  Rolling over a lot more (tummy to back).  {Dare I say it?} Sleeping through the night.

Needless to say, this has been a busy and exciting month for our girl.  She continues to be happy, easy going, content.  Even having two teeth coming through hasn't seem to affect her too much.

 that belly!

 teeth on display

 smiles

Lots of love for big brother still

I cannot believe two teeth already came through.  With Kyalo we thought he was getting a tooth around six months, but were so very wrong - first one didn't come through till 11 months!  So I never expected that she'd get a tooth already!  I miss the big gummy smile, but seeing the teeth come through is pretty exciting, too.

I read an article recently that said you shouldn't sit a baby up {Whoops} because then the baby can learn to get at things better from tummy time, and will learn to sit up on his/her own.  I LOVE that I can sit her down and scatter a few toys around and she stays put.  I think that's coming to an end. She's trying really hard to crawl/move around.  She kind of scoots around right now.  She'll lean over to reach for something and be in a big straddle position (you can kind of see that in the 3rd pic above). She just hasn't quite figured out how to get her legs under her.  It'll come, and the glory days will be behind us.

She is super ticklish, and find lots of things funny.  Sometimes, when I'm changing her diaper, she'll grab a sweater, or her pants, and hold it over her head and laugh hysterically.  I love it, and her precious laugh.

One of the great things about these days is that we can finally be outside more.  This is making everyone happier, dirtier, and better sleepers.

She loves being read to, and will light up the minute I start.  I'm sorry to admit, I don't do it nearly as much as I should.  Instead, I leave her to her own devices...

(see that little wooden horse there? It was a gift to my brother when he was a baby - 41 years ago!)

We met up with friends at the park (across the street from our house!) last week.  Malaikah wasn't feeling it...

 is there anything better than a sleeping baby?

and then she woke up and gave me the stare down!

We're venturing slowly into food. Mostly, I forget that I can give her food, and continue to find breastfeeding so much easier, and far less messy!  So far, she seems to like avocado, apples (but not applesauce) beans, edamame, strawberries, sweet potato.  I haven't done any meat yet, though I guess I should at some point.  

Sunday was also Mother's Day so I got a lot of pictures of her and Kyalo all dolled up.  I'll do a separate post on that, but need to share this picture right now.

And that's that!