Fourth Child Jet Lag

So when it is opening day for your big brothers and your sister has pre-school, you just try to fit in - even if you are jet lagged and asleep. Sweet Sweet Eliot.

Not many people can say....

So when we were getting ready to leave England (more posts to come, I promise!) there was a nice piano sitting there that said 'play me'. I looked at Jack and said, 'Not many people can say they played the piano in the middle of Heathrow airport.' That was all it took - he was sold. And here is his little solo -

Theo's Opening Day - Coach Pitch

So Theo is on theTexas Rangers this years. They aren't the greatest team in baseball but they do have a nice blue shirt which he looks really cute in.

Theo's first game was last night. He had a blast. Charles is out of town so I wrote him an email telling him the details of the game so I am going to cut and paste some of it here:

Hey - tonight went as well as I could have hoped for. 

I had a fully loaded coffee at 4 and that helped. I took sandwiches out to the park and we were on field 4 which is the nice big one - kind of funny but really helpful because it has the little playground area right there. The kids did well. Our group of parents seemed really friendly and nice so that was encouraging. Matt (the coach) is a good pitcher which is also encouraging because so much rides on that. Theo did GREAT. He looked so super cute. The blue shirt is great on him and he was the only one with a red belt so he looked very professional. He played right field the entire time. It looks like that is how Matt is going to do it - just play the same position the whole time. He came with a big wipe board and vecro names and velcro at all the positions. He then had the boys names moved to where they should go. He also had the line up in velcro - very elementary school teacher but VERY helpful. 

Theo batted second. He was three for three with hits all down the first base line so a little slow on the ball. The third was a great in the air hit that made it to the outfield. He rounded first like he wanted to go to second but Matt held him back. His second time he hit solidly but right to the first base man so he got out and he handled it very well. He also had a good ball hit to him (they had him playing in almost like a short stop position between first and second) that he fielded perfectly and then made a dynamite throw to first but the first baseman didn't catch it. It was clear though that he knew what he was doing. So a great start. He prayed at Bible time - thank you for making baseball and thank you for letting us play it. 

Amen to that. A great opening day.

Jack & Theo go to Bonkers

So we had a friend who was visiting from Chicago and then they went back to Chicago and left their six-year-old with his Grandma in Columbia for a few days. The Grandma called and asked if Jack and Theo would like to go to Bonkers (an indoor playhouse) with her grandson. They were thrilled with the idea.

She made it very clear that it was going to be her treat so I prompted the boys before they left to make sure they used excellent manners and to thank her for being so generous in asking and taking them. Both boys took this advice to heart, here's how (you see their personality in full view here):

Theo walked straight out to the car and very quickly and boldly said, 'Hello Mrs. Miedema. My name is Theo. Thanks for taking me to Bonkers."

Jack instead wanted to be prepared. Preparation is key to Jack. So he took it upon himself while he was at his rest time to write out this note to keep in his pocket. He just wanted to make sure he remembered her name in case he needed to address her while they were there. He is too funny. Here is the notecard he carried in his pocket the whole time they were at Bonkers:

Baseball - Opening Day

Our family was overly excited today for the Royal's first baseball game of the season. We watched the game (which was a smashing success of a start), played some of our own, and even had a friend who left these donuts on our doorstep (Carly is the best!).

Here's to hoping our luck didn't get used all up last year - Go Royals!  We have some little boys who have high hopes - don't let us down!