Fun & Learning

So today Evan and Eliana were over, and Evan saw me getting ready to make something in the Crock Pot and wanted to help. I said, "Evan, it's a lot of work cleaning and cutting the vegetable, you sure you want to help?" He did, so I put him right to work. He poured in the chicken broth, and even help cut some of the vegetables. (Supervised of course.)

We had different stations; The cleaning station, the cutting station, and Dumping in the Crock Pot station. I explained to Evan that if we saved the seeds from the Peppers, we could plant new ones out in the backyard. So he went right to work saving the seeds in a container to be planted later. He even stuck around to help me with the onions. Such a great helper.

Then we all went outside to learn do some urban gardening. I bought some watering cans awhile back, when we thought Spring was going to arrive. (46 degrees tonight.) Anyway, I got them some kid gardening tools, watering cans, and we picked out some seeds. Eliana has a "Hello Kitty" watering can, Evan picked out a green one. Today, we picked a little strip of garden out in the backyard to plant some seeds, and quite honestly, my expectations aren't high, so I'm hoping for the best. Eliana planted Watermelon seeds, Evan planted some Carrots and Sunflowers, and the both planted some Corn, so we'll see how that goes. I'll either have nothing or a massive overgrown urban garden. Either way, it's a win-win, because the kids learned about gardening and had fun doing it.

Evan raking out little garden patch after planting some sunflower seeds. Later in the summer we hope to grow Watermelons and Giant Pumpkins.

The one and only Elvis.

Eliana working on the last of her M&Ms in my car. The kids wanted to play in the car for a little bit today. They were supposed to be driving to Chuck E. Cheese. So if they ever take off in one of our cars, I'll know where to look for them first.

Evan driving on our pretend trip to Chuck E. Cheese.

Elvis thinking we're going on a road trip for real. Lucy was in "Time Out" for biting Eliana on the nose. 

Evan and Eliana were so wild in the apartment, that I had to take them to the local park to blow off some steam. They both look so big here. Later at night after Eliana fell asleep, I told Evan how cute he looked. "I look COOL dad, not CUTE!" 

Happy Endings and New Beginnings

Hard to believe, but the school year is over, and Evan has graduated Pre School. He'll be heading to Kindergarten in September, and Eliana will be going to Evan's Pre School. Evan's class did a little recital for all the parents where they sand a few songs they learned about the alphabet and such.

Some of the girls pose with their favorite boy in class.

Evan poses with his two GREAT teachers.

Evan and his buddy Sylar.

Here's Evan with his super cute girlfriend Jolie. Yes folks, love blossoms in pre school nowadays.

Evan and his friend Nicholas.

Schools out, but the kids will get to see each other one last time at Evan's birthday party in a few weeks.

Sorry it's been so long!

Yes, I was away for awhile. Work got really busy, which is a good thing, believe me. In between, I've been helping coach Evan's Tee Ball Team on the weekends. Here's some pics from this past Sunday.

Evan checks on his friend Conner after he got hit in the forehead with a ball. He was okay.

Look at the face of sheer determination!

Evan's teammates await their turn at bat.

Evan puts a little emphasis on arriving at home plate!

Eliana and Mommy cheering Evan on.

Baseball Cards!

I wanted to make baseball cards for Evan's photos, but didn't know how. Doing some research online,  I came across this app called "Starr Cards Retro 75" where you can just insert a photo and input all of the information, and it comes out great! I can print them out and make realistic looking baseball cards for Evan to remember his first Tee Ball Season! Check them out!

This was a photo I took this morning!

In action shot!

Posing at 2nd base.

Running to 3rd.

Another action shot.

I'm really happy with these!

Little Slugger

Great game today! Boy, coaching 4 year old tee ball is not easy. You only have their attention for about 10% of the time. But most of them respond well to coaching, and they really seem to like when you're pleased with something they did well. Today, I was in the outfield helping kids catch grounder and throw it back to me. Not as easy as it sounds. I had kids hitting each other, trying to climb the fence, looking the opposite way, it was hard to keep them focused! But they did well. I saw a couple of kids start to get better right before my eyes. Evan did great today. He got a hit that went right into the outfield, and was really good and fielding and throwing.

Evan about to get a big hit!

Evan on First Base.

Waiting on 3rd to come home!

The runner goes!

He scores!

Coach Pete and Evan leaving the field after the game.

All hands in the middle, ready? 1...2...3! Phillies!

Feels Like Summer!

It was 88 degrees today. Evan and Eliana were over at Daddy's and we worked on some Tee Ball hitting, and Eliana joined in! She did great! She was very determined as you will see in the photos below. Evan was really drilling some line drives. I adjusted his batting stance slightly and had him line up the fat part of his bat, similar to the way a golfer would line up the golf club to the ball on the tee. He really started clobbering the ball.

Look at how handsome this boy is. I don't know if you can see the shirt, but I got it at Target today, it's a Tiger with his mouth open. Evan told me he was 'posing' for photos now.

Eliana was busy picking 'flowers.' They were weeds really, with tiny little purple flowers on top.

Magnolia Tree in full bloom.

Eliana offering me some tiny flowers.

Evan hitting the ball of the tee.

Eliana and the face of sheer determination. She did great!

Eliana wanted to climb this tree!

Evan's turn!

My big girl.

Great day with the kids today. HOT! Hopefully the warm weather is here to stay.

Home Base

So tonight, it was really warm out. I told Evan I had a surprise for him out in my car, his own tee ball tee and home plate. He already had his pajamas on and not shoes, but he wanted to go outside with me to my car, so his Mommy said "carry him." As I'm carrying a noticeably heavier and taller Evan to my car on a warm starlit Spring night, I said "Evan, I'm going to be really sad when you get even bigger and you don't want me to carry you anymore." He said, "It's okay Daddy, we'll still be best friends," and he laid his cheek against mine.