goodbye may

we spent the day
'enjoying' each other ...



enjoying the weather ...

and hoping that june takes over in the WONDERFUL place ...

that may is leaving off!

we're LOVIN' it.

JUST maybe

i'm thinking that chewy is maybe ...



JUST maybe ...



a TEENY bit spoiled ;)

a BIG request from the littlest guy

the fact that alex has 2 older brothers that play sports
AND
that he wants to be just like them
is showing in MANY different ways lately.

today for example,
drew and ben were going for a bike ride with stacey
and i was taking alex to run an errand.
he wasn't too thrilled
so i offered to stop and get him a special treat.

the ONLY thing he wanted
and totally INSISTED upon before we had even left our house ...



his VERY OWN
BIG
bottle of gatorade.

sometimes letting your brothers go have their fun
and hangin out with me has it's benefits, alex -
and if all it takes to make you happy is a bottle of gatorade ...
you can hang with me anytime ;)

the waiting is OVER!

for the past year our neighborhood has been ANXIOUSLY waiting.

there has a been a new beach area/splash pad under construction
in our development -
only blocks from our house -
and
TODAY
we
FINALLY
got to use it!!!

how FUN is this summer going to be!!



pretty safe to say
i am going to get NOTHING done this summer.

BUT...
also safe to say that i have the other 9 months
when we can't play at the beach
to make it up.

why do i live here again?!

i know i know ...

we're only a month in ...
and baseball has consumed my blog.



well...
baseball has consumed our lives

and that's what this blog is about

so i guess that'll just have to be the way it is.

nice game, ben!!

FINALLY!!!

A WIN!!!!



this is drew's first year of kid pitch little league -
for the record
let me start by saying that these kid pitch baseball games
are the SLOWEST games E..V....E....R...

well FINALLY
after having several of these
very slow games
where the boys tried very hard
but just came up a little short

THE BLUECLAWS HAVE A WIN!!!

and MAN were they excited!!!

this year drew's on a team with his friend gordy again ...

3 years makes quite a difference!!!

workin' the crowd

just another night of alex and blake



stopping at nothing

to make sure the crowd gets the show they came for ...
and then some ;)

my kind of field trip

you might remember that
back in the fall we took a field trip to the arboretum

WELL ...
today we got the chance to go back -
AND it was much more up my alley!!
we got NO snow OR rain
AND
it was HOT!



it was PERFECT!!
that place is BEAUTIFUL this time of year!!
there were flowers blooming EVERYWHERE.
we walked around as a class -
planted a few treasures to bring home -
and spent a really good chunk of time running them tired in the garden maze -
i believe ben said he went through 4 times
all the while baking in the sun.



it was GREAT!
THIS is the field trip i was made for!

i had the same 6 kids in my group as last time -
ava, cassie, ben, rachel, michael, and carter



because of spending time with me throughout the year
they have caught on to the fact that i always have my camera -
so now THEY posed and asked me to take the pictures throughout the day ;)

* definitely a fun day *



i got to be with ben
AND be in the sun
stacey got to spend the day with alex
AND have lunch with drew

and we ended it all with 1 more night of all 3 boys having some form of baseball commitment
all within a 1.5 hour timespan.

should be a house full of good sleepers tonight!!

if at first you don't succeed ... try another day

a few times lately alex has told us that he wants to learn to ride a bike
WITHOUT training wheels.
thinking that he wasn't quite ready i've put him off each time.

well ...
with drew getting his new bike
alex got a renewed passion ...
and drew and ben immediately jumped on board.
they made it their mission.

in truest barnett fashion ...
they were out by 8 a.m.
giving it a try.



not quite sure why the TEACHERS needed the helmets ;)
to protect them from alex possibly?!

drew REALLY wanted to help ...
he tried and tried to convince alex to do certain things that he thought would help.

but alex just wasn't having it.
he told drew that 'he pushes too fast'
and the lesson ended just as quickly as it started.
as alex put it 'it's just no use'
he's decided that he likes his training wheels
and that he'll try again when drew learns to teach
'more like franklin's mom'

until then ...
i know alex is MUCH safer.
the neighbors will be spared MUCH screaming.
and
i have MUCH time to sit down and watch some franklin
so that i know what to expect when it becomes my turn

worth the wait

drew has been waiting VERY patiently for today.

he saved up some money to contribute
and then waited patiently
VERY patiently
for
a. the weather to FINALLY get consistently nice
and
b. for us to find time that we didn't have baseball.

today ended up being that perfect day for drew to FINALLY get his new bike



and i know he would say



that it was well ...



well worth the wait!

ben the builder

in ben's class this year
his teacher set up a 'design and engineering station'.
it is one of the stations they can choose during their center time.
he brought in different tools
and has taught them all about things such as
hammering, c-clamps, a vice, and drilling

earlier in the year they made
Christmas ornaments
and
a derby car

BUT ...
for the past month or so they've been working on their greatest creations yet.
ben has been SO excited about his
and FINALLY just got to bring it home.



nice job, ben!
your bird house ROCKS!!!

AND ...
it's worth saying that i'm fairly certain
that you officially now know more about tools than i do ;)

DOUBLE the fun!

tonight ...
DREW HIT HIS FIRST DOUBLE ...

EVER!!!



and he was SO pumped!!!

how pumped?!?!?!
well ... don't ask ben and alex
they were a little too ...
um ...
busy???



we're only 4 games into drew's season
and the idea of sitting and watching
has apparently already gotten old.

a family feud

this morning ben and i were playing family feud on facebook
he and drew both love trying to come up with the #1 answer

so the topic comes up
'name an imaginary character
that you once thought was real'

i immediately type 'santa'.

ben shoots back with an instant 'you're a moron' look
and then says 'MOM! he IS real!'

oh ya!!
um, you're right, ben.
that WAS a REALLY dumb answer.
my bad.

stinkin' facebook.
way to cause trouble!

track n field day 2

today brought another BEAUTIFUL day
AND
another day of track and field

i took alex
and his newest style statement

and we spent our afternoon cheering on drew.



just like ben,
he did a lot of running ...

ROCKED at tug-o-war ...



and leaped his way through the long jump
crazy 3rd graders thought that by leaping with one foot
instead of jumping they'd get farther?!

------------

he also competed in some events ben didn't get to
apparently once you hit 3rd grade you are more advanced -
so you move beyond silly events like the shoe kick ;)

they got to high jump
AND do the shot put ..
which drew was quite good at ;)

it was another fun day to be outside
and
to enjoy being with our friends

his and ours ;)

way to go drew!!
i am so proud of you!!

i know that it's frustrating sometimes when you don't get all blues ;)
but you give it everything you have and have fun with it regardless
and THAT is what i love.