Trampoline and Tulips

If you haven't heard, the Chamberlain's finally bought their children a trampoline...yes, it's for the kids, guys. Martin made me promise I would not jump and/or stand on the trampoline. I have so far resisted the call of my youth, I'm proud to say, but nothing lasts forever. It's a cool trampoline without any springs!! It's supposedly safer. No bones against metal bars at any time. The kids are having so much fun and are spending mucho time getting exercise and being outside. I love that aspect. They are excited to host sleepovers this summer upon our new acquisition. "And, see, the coyotes won't be able to get (them) through the net," said Olivia.

Olivia loves the trampoline the most, I think of the kids.

Martin took a day off of work to take me to Skagit Valley to see the tulips there. Ain't he sweet? We were going to go earlier in the month but with Alex's games we couldn't get away. Unfortunately, the tulips were topped off the weekend before so we got to see ZERO fields of bright, beautiful flowers. There was a few at a nice little park there so we stopped and took pictures. Isn't my hubby cute?

I saw these adorable dogs at Alex's game last night and so I took some pictures of them. They remind me of our old dog Max. She was a stray that moved into our yard and hearts when I was growing up. They sounded like her too. It brought back so many memories.

Mr. Baseball and a New Season

Well, friends, the 2010 baseball season has begun. Did you know it? I am always so nerdy and excited when baseball season starts and I can go see my own Mr. Baseball play. I love sitting at the games (yes, at times they are a bit long) but I have found it's super fun to take pictures of the kid and his co-players so that keeps me busy when it's been 2 hours and we're barely at the bottom of the third inning. Did I say some of the games are long?

I have to say I don't mind most of the time that the games are long unless it's raining. And let's face it, it rains a lot here in the spring. I love it when the summer weather starts in earnest and we have lots of dry games to sit through in the cool evening dusk. I LOVE IT.

Here's a few of my favorite shots from last week's game. It's interesting that each picture I took of Alex on the field, and I took over 200, he was smiling. That should tell you something about how much this kid lives for baseball. One year his nick-name (which he HATED) was "Smiley."

Here he is sliding into home. And, yes, he was safe.
Michael pitching. Sorry, not sure of his last name. I love taking pictures of pitchers (does that make sense?). These kids are seriously athletic. Check out that stance!

Beautiful girl.

This is what the siblings of a ball player do. How many hours these two must have spent at the ball park in the last 6 or 7 years, I can't even imagine. But we gave them a choice whether to come or not and they opted to come. They love the atmosphere and hanging out as much as we do.

My favorite shot of the night. It was the first photo of the night oddly enough. I love the light on the boys faces.

Catching Up and Easter

I've got so much to catch up on. March was a quiet month for us. We've put infertility treatments on hold for now as my body adjusts to some semblance of normality. We may or may not move on to IVF in a few months. I'll keep you posted.

Isaac is officially reading at grade level!!! Woo-hoo! Mrs. Miller, his teacher, took me aside the other day to let me know the good news. She says she sees a light has turned on in his little brain just in the last couple of months and he's making great strides. I'm so happy! All that reading with him and worrying has paid off. She is amazed that he has come as far as he has. He was so far behind at the beginning of the year, I was really nervous. Now we are working on his speed in doing things. Let's just say Isaac does everything really, really slow. I don't know why, other than he reminds me of my dad, which is not a bad thing! I love my dad.

Isaac has also been turned on to the gospel. Mrs. Miller asked him what his favorite book was to which he replied he didn't want to tell her. He said he was embarrased. But then she told him that all books are good to practice reading. Then he gave in and told her that his favorite book to read was the Book of Mormon. She thought that was pretty cute. Of course, it's the children's reader, not actually the real book, that he loves so much but if we don't read at least one chapter in the book at night he is really depressed. Sometimes he gets so excited about the stories in there that he jumps up and down and grins from ear to ear. A few days ago he was talking to Martin about the Holy Ghost and how he can know something is true and good by the "burning" feeling he gets in his chest. He LOVED that and told Martin he has felt that before and that he wished he could have his "heart burn" all the time. So sweet. This boy has such a sweet and kind personality. I want to just squish him sometimes.

We had a great Easter here together. We watched conference and spent the day eating some good food and relaxing. We colored eggs as we usually do and I got a few pictures of that.

Isaac's "dragon egg"

I've started drawing again and I'm having so much fun getting back into my art. I'm not good, by any stretch of the imagination but it is fun and I enjoy it a ton. I'm also going to take some art classes to help my progress. At this point, it's just fun and relaxes me and makes me feel good about myself.

This is Perdi on Easter day. "They're mine, they're all mine..."