Baseball

America's favorite pass time...but was it Connor's?

When Connor chose baseball as his first sport ever to try, I was a little worried. I mean, it's an awfully slow game. There's a lot of waiting so I wasn't sure how well he'd do.  

~Judging from most of the pictures, you'd think he was always on task...

Ready for his pitch.

Getting a hit at practice.

Tagging his base.

But look here- I caught him! He's striking a flamingo pose, turned sideways without his hat on.  This kind of thing was definitely the norm-- moments of complete spacing out, sitting rather than standing, putting his mitt on his head, drawing in the dirt, distracting the other boys and so on (but who takes pictures of that)? He did pay attention a lot too because he went from not knowing anything about baseball when he started to knowing how to play the game! So, all in all, I think he learned what he needed to learn and had a great season.

Amelia, hamming it up in the dugout.

In the practice ring before his turn at bat.

Ready for his pitch.

Swing, and a hit!

Rounding the bases.

 

Waiting on third to head for home.

Playing third base.

End of game cheer.

Victory tunnel!

Here comes Mr. Happy, against the flow of traffic, hot and tired after a double-header (a bit much for the little guy- he was worn out).

Victory- Connor had a great season! Good job Connor!

Enjoying his after-game snack. Yum.

The team receiving their trophies at the end-of-season pizza party.

Baseball trophy- Connor checked that his name was spelled correctly, phew, it was!

Goofy smile...

"Dragons" team picture. They look sharp in their cute orange and white uniforms- coincidentally, Connor's favorite colors right. "Dragons" was a popular team name by others in the league so because of our orange, we were often identified as the "fire-breathing dragons"- pretty cool.

Poor kid- he looks like he's going to hit someone! Unfortunately, the little guy was sick the day of pictures but I told him he had to go for his team so he toughed it out- brave kiddo.

Mother's Day

I love being a mom to these 2 adorable children :)

Mother's Day was a lot easier this year than last. I did tear up a little during the talks on Sunday because I was remembering my little Abigail. I miss her.  I am so grateful for the kiddos I do have. Connor and Amelia bring me so much happiness. I love being a MOM!

My mother's Day started last Friday at Connor's school. They had a cute Mother's Spa where the kids painted their moms' nails. Connor had a great time painting mine all different colors. My toes were purple and orange- some with polka dots and other stripes. My fingers were lavender with cool splotches of red. Very artistic. They also had strawberry shortcake that the kids served the moms. So very cute.

The lovely finished product

Artsy-fartsy

This was the card Connor made for me at the Mother's Day Spa. It is more deep than I think he even realizes.

Inside of the card. I love it.

 

This was a funny sign we saw on our Mother's Day Sunday drive: watch out for parachuting cows! We hadn't seen any cows to this point. Then, right past this sign we did see one stray bull along the side of the road- a little too close to our car for my taste- but we didn't see any others.

We drove just 15 minutes to the North of where we live and came across this lovely reminder that we live really close to the border. We stopped and talked to a Border Patrol officer who was parked right next to this sign to ask if it really is an active site. He said "yeah, it's active but very slow today".

Baby shower

My friend Joi, the Queen of Baby Showers herself, is having a baby. Yes, a little intimidating to throw a shower for the expert but I wasn't alone-- there were so many willing to be up for the challenge!

Joi is having her first baby boy so the theme "All Things Boy"  seemed to fit perfectly. 

 The party was at my house but thankfully, lots of other hands joined in making the food, decorations and managing other details so I didn't have to do much. All the work that went into that night really paid off-- it turned out to be such a fun evening!! 

  

 

 

Ammon's birthday

Connor was more excited about daddy's birthday than Ammon was himself. To illustrate, before I went garage sale-ing, I had left out everything to make the cake so I could make it when I returned. When I walked in, Connor said he had already made the cake. My heart stopped- I'm sad to say my first reaction was to wonder what mess awaited me and if the cake was salvageable. It flashed in my mind that I only had one cake mix of the kind Ammon likes (spice). Thankfully "making" the cake didn't mean he had attempted to bake it, just mix it. Phew! I reviewed with him all the ingredients he put in. Connor had baked with me several times before so he pretty much knew how to measure. He's also very good at cracking eggs and he did great then too (no shells). The only thing he did was to put just as much oil in as the water (1 1/4 cups rather than just 1/4 c). Yes, it was super oily but still yummy.

Then I made homemade caramel frosting (Ammon's favorite- he greatly prefers it to the store bought). Spice cake with caramel frosting is a Larsen family favorite that reminds Ammon of the cakes his grandmother made when he was a child. Connor insisted the cake be a 3-tiered cake. I priced buying a set of the pans when I bought the cake but it wasn't worth $20 just for the pans so I attempted to cut them myself. It definitely wasn't perfect but Connor and Ammon were pleased so I was satisfied.

Ammon and I had to laugh that he received yet another watch. His watches seem to break yearly now. Also clothes, socks (I know, I'm super sentimental), a mini-suction cup basketball hoop Connor wanted to give and an electric pencil sharpener- a gift for both he and Connor. They enjoyed shooting hoops and sharpening pencils later. And a card- there's the sentimental part- always Ammon's favorite part. Words are definitely his "Love Language".

Lighting the candles on the 3-layer cake.

Connor thought Ammon looked like Lady Liberty with this stance ;)    

"Hmmm, what shall I wish for, oh flaming torch?"

Cute smoochy

Blowing out the candles "together"

Happy birthday honey!