Snips and Snails and Puppydog Tails

All week, Sam has been excited about “Happy Bir-day, Lily.” Even after Bear’s baseball game, as he decimated his post-game cupcake, he talked about “Sun-ay” and “Sing. Happy Bir-day, Lily.” And of course, “Have cupcakes, Sun-ay.” Imagine my disappointment Saturday morning when he woke up running fever. He was pretty pitiful all day. He wanted cuddles and snuggles, which I was happy to oblige. I was ready to call Lily’s mom this morning to say we couldn’t make it today, but after a final round of tylenol at 2 am, he woke up happy and cool as a cucumber this morning. After careful watching all day, and with Sara’s okay, we went to Lily’s party today. It was a wonderful time!

Lots of play time with Lily's new toys and outside in the sandbox and on the new playset!

And some video of the playset:

One of the biggest hits of the party was the pink Neiman Marcus piano from Lily’s GrandSharon. All the kids loved it (though it took a time or two for Sam to get the hang of the bench).

He did a little better the second time:

And eventually provided lovely music for Lily to read her new books to:

After the presents and playtime and yummy burgers and hotdogs, it was time for singing Happy Birthday and eating cake! And, of course, after practicing ALL WEEK singing “Happy Bir-day, Lily” (and Sammy and Austin, depending on his mood), Sam sang not a single note. . . until after we were all done, when he wanted me to sing “Happy Bir-day.”

Singing Happy Birthday and Blowing Out Candles

Yummy cupcake! Thank you, LilySara!

And after cake, there was more playtime. Sam found his inner cowboy:

It was a wonderful birthday party. Thank you for including us in the festivities. And, of course, Happy Birthday Lily-girl! We love you!

A Baseball Monster. (Well, all sports, really, but this post will focus on baseball.)

Most toddlers ask for Elmo or Blue’s Clue’s or the like on TV. Sam does like those shows, but 9 times out of 10, he first asks for baseball, basketball, or football on tv. (Here is where you laugh at me for thanking goodness for all those sports channels we pay for – we can usually oblige his request.)

He LOVES watching his brothers play ball.

shots from early season games

He makes every game into baseball. Anything long enough to swing becomes a baseball bat, any ball becomes a baseball, and any hat becomes a baseball “hehmet.” Most mornings he wakes up asking about baseball games, and most nights he goes to sleep telling me about baseball games.

backyard baseball (and a couple more of him watching Bubba play)

But the crowning gem? The other night as I was putting him to bed, I sang our usual night-night songs (the Sh’ma and La La Lu) and as I tucked him in, he looked up at me and very sweetly said, “Mommy, out ballpark.”

“What, baby?” I asked.

“Mommy. Sing, Out Ballpark.”

“You want me to sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’?”

“Yes.”

So, I sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Twice. And he went to sleep a happy boy.

. . . And a shameless plug for a blog I contribute to and a great Interfaith family resource.

But in all seriousness, we had a fantastic time at Mike and Susan’s yet again this year, and we’re always grateful for their gracious hosting of all us crazies!

I’m sorry I don’t have any cute pictures from Passover like I had from Easter. It’s not from lack of adorable moments…it’s from lack of presence of mind to pull out the camera. I guess I was just enjoying the moments (or corralling the littlest monster) too much!

A couple favorite moments from the night:

• The amazing job the younger kids did on their Seder reading portions.
• The stifled giggles as Sam added his own commentary to the Seder readings.
• Sam sharing his “hehmet” (kippah) with Mommy, Daddy, and even Zayde (I think).
• Caleb’s excitement at finding the Afikomen (I think it’s the first year he’s found it).
• Sam trying to “help” search for the Afikomen even after it was found.
• The men trying to discreetly (or not-so-discreetly) keep an eye on the Rangers score throughout the night.

I always admire how easy Mike and Susan make it look to pull off these large family-plus gatherings. I know it’s not an easy undertaking, but you’d never know it as an attendee. 🙂 So, thanks again, y’all, and Happy Passover!

Yep, folks, it’s baseball season (well, MLB, anyway, little league has been going for a few weeks now). The Rangers had Opening Day on Good Friday, April 6, 2012. And for the 11th year in a row, I got to attend with my department. It’s one of the many perks I get at my job-plus, we get to buy extra tickets (at the group rate) for family. It’s become a tradition for the boys to come with us, and Zayde (Bryan’s Dad), too. Since the Rangers were defending their second American League Championship, AND this year is the 40th anniversary of the team, it was PACKED at opening day.

We had a LOOONG walk to and from the stadium.

40th Anniversary Banner (Caleb took this pic)

It was a tad warm, but we were all sunscreened up so nobody got too burned.

Sam wasn't exactly thrilled about getting sunscreened up.

Lots of fun! And the Rangers won, so that’s even better! Hope you enjoy some of our pics.

Various Opening Ceremony Shots (courtesy of Bryan)

A few shots from the stands.

We had a wonderful and relaxing Easter Sunday. The Easter Bunny brought a big basket to our house (of which, of course, I did not get a picture) that included two movies, bubbles, water guns, airplanes, confetti-filled eggs, and some board books (for Sam, of course). I’m not sure who enjoyed the bubbles more, Sam or the big boys.

We got some rain, so we took the opportunity to watch a movie the Easter Bunny brought us, “We Bought A Zoo.” (Great movie, by the way.)  We also had some chocolate:

I've created a chocolate monster, I think.

After the rain, and a lovely nap for Sam and Mommy (can I just say how wonderful rainy Sunday afternoon naps with my little man are???), we did a confetti egg hunt and smash war.

(Sorry the egg smashing video is so short; my memory card was full. And, it got a little ugly, so it might be good that you don’t get to see it all. We’re really not brutes, I promise.)

I hope everyone had as wonderful a day as we did. And for my Jewish friends and family, Happy Pesach!

For those of you (Sigmas) who hear that phrase and want to run screaming from the room, I apologize. Allow me to attempt to replace those horrific images with these adorable ones.

Sam’s school had an Easter egg hunt and Easter parade today. I’ll leave you with some cute videos.

Heading out to hunt Easter eggs:

Easter egg hunting 1:

Easter egg hunting 2:

Easter egg hunting 3:

Easter egg hunting 4:

Easter Parade:

You know the saying, “April showers bring May flowers?” Well, in Texas, we like to be a little ahead of everyone else. But now that we’ve officially passed the first day of Spring on the calendar, I can officially say:

Now, those of you who know me well (or even not that well) know that I am NO gardener. So, forgive (or at least shake your head dismissively but tolerantly at) my excitement of some blooms around my house.

The peace plant my company sent when my Nana passed away, and that I've somehow kept alive for more than two years, BLOOMED!

My bulbs are so pretty this year!

And, because you all know me to be a constant-novice gardener, please feel free to comment here, on FB, or at my most recent THR Momblog post with tips on planting and keeping plants alive!

In case you live under a rock (or are maybe still hiding under one from yesterday), the DFW metroplex was rocked by crazy storms yesterday. I heard one DJ say something about it being the worst tornado outbreak in this area since…well, before I was born (and that was a long time ago). I can’t verify that information, but there were 18 reported sightings and officials are in the process of verifying just how many there really were.

Thankfully, so far no deaths have been attributed to these storms, and only a handful of injuries, so it could have been far worse than it was. [Note: this is not intended to downplay the injuries that did occur (at least one of which I know was quite serious, but that person is expected to make a full recovery) but only to state that we’re grateful because it could have been much, much worse.]

Because I’m no photographer (and I’m the type to be cowering in shelter, not out taking pictures), I’ll leave you with some links to pics/footage of the storms and damage, and some links for information to volunteer or help, if you feel so inclined.

Links to pictures of damages:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/incredible-pictures-of-the-tornadoes-near-dallas

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/photo-galleries/2012/04/03/severe-weather-photos-april-3-2012/

How/where to help:

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.94aae335470e233f6cf911df43181aa0/?vgnextoid=d9bf40d569b76310VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2012/04/03/cbs-red-cross-teaming-up-for-disaster-relief/

Yes, yes, I know the boys’ basketball seasons have been over since the beginning of March, but I realized I never posted anything here about their seasons – Bad StepMommy. (I did write up this post about the end of J’s season for the Texas Health Resources Momblog – does that get me a little out of the doghouse?)

So, without going over all the stats – because let’s face it, we all know I don’t know that stuff – I’ll say that both Jacob and Caleb had incredible basketball seasons and their games were SO exciting to watch.  And for fun, here are just a few pics from the season.

Sadly, these are the only two pictures I have from Caleb's season (courtesy of Daddy), which was very exciting!

J's fancy action shot pictures are all courtesy of the coach's wife, who had a fancy-schmancy camera!

There’s also this exciting award that Jacob got at his team’s end of season party:

And, have I mentioned that both boys made their age group’s select basketball teams? Well, they did, and they are both REALLY excited about it.

Caleb even said there was only one bad thing about it – that they don’t start practice until later this month!

So, later this month, in addition to two baseball team schedules we’ll be juggling two basketball team schedules. It’ll be exhausting for Daddy and me (and Mommy and Ike), but the boys will love it.

Forgive me, I couldn't resist adding in this picture. It's from J's end of season basketball party, so it counts for this post, right? I say so.

Looking so cute in some of his new clothes!

It’s been a while since I wrote about all the words Sam is saying. And now we can add small sentences to the list! They’re not truly “complete” sentences or grammatically correct (hey, remember, I was an English major), but they usually have a subject – often “Sammy” – and a verb.

So, here’s a quick list of some of my recent faves (spelling and spacing are intentional – trying to convey how it sounds coming from him):

• Right dere!
• Da’s Mommy! (or Daddy, or Bubba, or Bear)
• Say-say doggie
• Say-say goodgirl
• Bubba/Bear/Sammy/Hunter pay baseball!
• Mommy/Daddy ATwork
• I love you!
• Bess you
• More singing
• No singing, Daddy
• See Bubba/Bear pay baseball/bas-eh-ball
• Go Pad-es! (that would be the Padres, Caleb’s baseball team)
• Sammy/Bubba/Bear/Daddy/Mommy chair
• Sit, Mommylap
• Daddy mowing
• Sammy/Mommy/Daddy wunning
• See. LilyDuffey.

There are lots more but I’ll spare you from having to read his ENTIRE vocabulary. 🙂 And, in case the list didn’t make it clear, he has also begun to refer to himself as Sammy, and this weekend even called himself Sammy Daneman (and yes, Daneman is a mouthful for him)!