{SEVEN}

Our "little thing" turned the big SEVEN on Saturday!!  No amount of denial on my part was going to change the fact that she is actually seven.  Her big day was slated to be filled with tons of things that had nothing to do with her at all.  Baseball games, soccer games, a service project.  But the rain gods had her back.  It was stormy on Friday night and so baseball was cancelled, the service project got moved up.  The only thing that stayed the same was soccer.  But the rain really cleared up the day so we could really focus on Lauryn.  She wanted to open her presents in the early afternoon, so that is what she did.  She got some art supplies, which is basically a given for her.  She got a bed for her American Girl doll, super excited about that and she got a gift card to the American Girl Doll store, to help towards saving up for her doll.  Later that night, per her request, we ordered Papa John's Pizza, watched Jamanji on Netflix and had an ice cream sandwich cake.  It turned out to be a great day to celebrate this precious girl!!

I really don't know what I would do without my Lauryn.  She is spunky, full of energy, creative, determined and oh so special!  She has a mind of her own, which she knows how to use and is not afraid to say and stand up for what she thinks is right.  I tell ya kids these days!!  Heavenly Father sure knew what these kids were going to need in order to combat the world in which they would live in!!  I'd bet on Lauryn any day of the week, and twice on Sunday in the battle of her vs. the world!!

We feel so lucky to have her in our family, we are truly blessed to call her ours!!  Happy Birthday Lauryn, we love you baby girl!

 

Her wild hair is truly an indicator of her spunky personality.  It doesn't stay tamed for longer than five seconds!!

{Wildlife}

We are always intrigued by how much wildlife we see in our little part of suburbia.  We get a plethora of deer, squirrel, rabbits, foxes, even pesky raccoons.  The other day though, we saw a  new friend in our neighborhood.  A poor little bunny rabbit wasn't fast enough crossing the street and got smooshed by a car.  Within a few hours we had a buzzard hanging out on our roof and the roof across the street.  He would swoop in and nibble and then dodge cars and wait again until the road was quiet.  The kids were fascinated watching this bird from our big window.  They insisted that I get a picture of it.  I was hoping to get it on the road while it was feasting but no such luck.  There were cars continually passing by and they he gave up and moved onto another road kill victim.  See we may live in the city, but we still get a few sightings of wildlife!!

   

{Sisters}

There are days that Wyatt and Ayden get along really well and they play great together.  There are also days that they don't like to even be in the same room with each other.  On those days Wyatt is lucky to have his sisters to play with.  On this particular day the girls were honing their mothering skills with baby dolls, purses and lots of "errands" to run int he backyard!  So Wyatt got his "baby" which was not human-like in natural but more of the bird-like variety.  The girls helped him change a diaper, feed his penguin, and put his baby down for a nap.  He is gonna be one good Daddy!!  Once they were done playing babies, Wyatt got to be something like a shephard, maybe.  Whatever he was, he was happy about it.  Hopefully he will look back on these days of playing with his sister as a grand time.  I sure do!!

{Monkey on the Bars}

There is a playground right by the baseball field that Ayden plays his games at.  My kiddos love it and so do I.  They are content during the two hour game and I don't have to listen to whiny kids.  A win-win in my book.  At Ayden's last game Lauryn discovered a new talent.  She can do the monkey bars and skip a rung. Now for a little thing like her that is a big deal.  I mean her arms are only so long right!!  She was pretty tickled that I got pictures to prove that she could really do it!!  What a monkey!!

{Baseball 2013}

We are in full swing with Spring baseball.  Ayden is playing this year after taking last year off because we hadn't found a good league that didn't have games and practices on Sundays.  This year though Ayden brought a flier home from school for this league and we are actually really happy with it.  You wouldn't think Ayden sat out a year though, he has jumped in with both feet and has been having a great time.  He is the smallest and probably one of the youngest.  He is getting to pitch this season, which I think is his favorite position (like father like son hey?).  The coach does a really great job of moving players around and trying them at different positions to see where they fit the best.  Ayden has been at catcher, pitcher, outfield and shortstop.  He likes to be in the action, so catcher and pitcher are his favorite positions.

Ryan is enjoying this baseball season right along with Ayden.  He is usually the one that takes him to his practices and talks shop with Ayden in the evenings while watching MLB games.  Apparently the other coaches could see a  gold mine of information sitting untapped in Ryan.  Last night they officially made him the pitching coach for the team and gave him a hat and made him start right before the game.  Ryan was in heaven, but trying to refrain from channeling his inner Ed Cheff (Ryan's college coach that could be well, a bit of a fanatic you could say).  I had to remind him that these were just boys and to take it easy on them!! :)

Lauryn has declared that she wants to try softball next season and Wyatt will be old enough to do T-Ball next Spring too.  We might as well sign Meysa up too so she isn't left out.  Heaven help me.  I am glad though that my kids are out being active and having fun along the way.

This one is blurry but Ryan liked Ayden's form!!