The next Tim Lincecum?

So for those of you who don't know (which was me, 3 min ago before I asked Chris) Tim Lincecum plays for the SF Giants and is "on his way to being one of the best ever" pitchers.

Anyways, Alec could be the next him, if he wanted. Here is proof.

Not one to let Alec have all the fun, Charlie's pitching skills are just as impressive. Can there be two next Tim Lincecums? Or maybe since there already is one there would then be three, which just might destroy the universe. Maybe Charlie can be the next Greg Maddux

I'm back!

I'm standing on the escalator as it descends to the baggage claim area, not expecting to see Chris and the boys because my plane came in 30 min early. Half way down, I see Chris standing by the stroller. He quickly points me out to Alec, who runs at FULL SPEED towards me. I have to hurry off the last few steps as he crosses over the security line to give me a huge hug. Meanwhile, Chris unstrapped Charlie who comes running at his full speed for a hug, barely missing Alec and he runs back to Chris to help hold up this sign:

Oh, my boys have never looked so cute before. Side hugs around my belly and kisses for Chris complete the scene. It feels great to be back as a family.

Well, now its back to reality - meal making, crying kids, happy kids, playschool, bed peeing and house cleaning etc... Although, I do have to say that Chris did a wonderful job keeping the house clean! I was so impressed. The carpet was vacuumed, the floor swept and rooms picked up and dishes not spilling out of the sink. He did such a great job having the boys to himself for 5 days. I'll encourage him to write a post about it. Even I'd love to hear the details again (Church was pretty... exciting to say the least)

I had such fun with my sisters, Tiff, Sarah, & Radene and my mom in PA, NJ, and NYC. Highlights include: hours and hours of talk time, yummy gourmet food, pool and hot tub (don't tell my doctor... it was less than 5 min, I promise), sandy ATLANTIC beach, more gourmet food, sleeping in, recent Masterpiece theater Emma, a bit of marzipan, apple chips (!!), Driving through NYC, learning the subways in NYC, street shopping, Broadway show WICKED, even more gourmet food at the Russian Tea Room, carriage ride through central park, blizzard treat, more Emma, more sleep, sacrament meeting, more hours and hours of talk time, getting lost because we were talking so much, fun family/birthday time with my almost 30-year-old brother Justin and his cute kids Dylan, Carter and Lynae, facial, games, and back massages. Sheesh, thats just the condensed version. All the pictures I have are from our day at the beach, in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ. I'll have to get more from my sisters.

Isn't my mom beautiful and young looking?? She has 7 children and 12.5 grandchildren

Tiffany

Radene

Sarah

29 weeks - 11 more to go!

The water was pretty cold and totally surprised me in this picture, but at least I can say I've touched the Atlantic Ocean now.

Sunday Monster

Well, we have a monster problem in our house on Sundays. You don't have to listen close or watch us for long to hear screams of the most guttural kind or see flying limbs tangle with others. Its not so bad in the morning. Pre-church seems to be the safe time. Even during church its not noticeable. But something happens after we get home that starts the metamorphosis... by bedtime, it's just down right scary. Mom has turned into a monster. I don't know what it is. I'm always sorry moments after I break out but I just have a really hard time Sunday afternoons. I could offer you a lot of possible causes that will make my monstering (thanks A&P for the word) seem less like my fault, but the fact of the matter is this: I make poor reaction choices. Thanks go to temper-less, patient husbands like Chris who offer to finish putting the kids to bed by himself so our kids will live to see another day.

Tomorrow is Monday... then comes Tuesday... which is followed by Wednesday. Wednesday is the day I leave for my first trip away sans-kids. Is it too soon to count hours?

Overdue

Its been a long week. We've all been battling yet another (or two?!) bug of some kind. Hopefully, we're on the mend.

Alec has been diaper-less at night for almost a month now! We made a sticker chart and after doing 10 straight days of dryness we would to do something fun that Alec picked: Minature golfing. Alec will still go through a few spurts of waking up wet, but generally he's dry! So last friday we finally took the family miniature golfing. The boys LOVED it.

Whats for dinner tonight?

I just asked Alec what we should have for dinner and he said,

"maybe rice... and chicken... and tortillas ... with frosting on the top"

Well, maybe.

Alec and his playschool friends being astronauts about to blast off in their rocket to the far away planet of Esconderon. Charlie is in there too, Where's Waldo style.

Easter

On Saturday we had a little community egg hunt in between conference sessions. It was pretty crowded so I didn't feel too guilty about giving the kids their third egg hunt on Easter Morning with just our family at home. The best thing about the hunt on Saturday was the face painters. This year, Alec wasn't too scared to get a dragon painted on his face (probably thanks to his seeing his friend, James with one) and that meant Charlie needed one too. The face painter said both boys were out-of-the-ordinary still.


Checkin' out their dragons while we waited to get shuttled home and then again with a mirror at once we got home. They loved their dragons.

Also, we dyed eggs on Saturday and then Sunday we ate a yummy dinner with a few families and the missionaries and we also held our traditional Egg Roll. Chris placed 1st and 2nd as he had the last two un-cracked eggs. He let Alec roll one for him to find the true winning egg. I think all my eggs cracked on their very first rolls, but that is probably good since it mean Alec and Charlie each got to win at least once. Charlie was VERY careful to not crack his eggs while rolling them. He just tried to stand up a few times, while still holding the egg, completely smashing it between his hand and the floor.

We tried to give Charlie a slightly cracked egg to hold once all his eggs got cracked, but he turned the egg around, inspecting for a crack and complained once he found it. He's getting pretty sharp.

As for our Holy Week, We talked about the crucifixion (it actually got pretty detailed with all of Alec's questions) and colored the picture/cutout of Jesus and the tomb from the new nursery manual on Friday. Saturday we talked about how Jesus was still inside the tomb, dead. Sunday we shows more GAP pictures of the resurrected Lord and opened our picture of the tomb to find His body gone and then taped Jesus standing up next to the empty tomb. I think Alec sort of got it. We watched the last 5 min of Finding Faith in Christ movie and tried to talk about how the plastic Easter Eggs can represent the empty tomb and real eggs represent new life and watched a short youtube clip of chicks hatching. Its possible this will cause questions later as Alec puts those eggs together with the eggs we eat. Anyways, that is how I tried to teach and celebrate Easter this year. Now I can use these posts next year for reference.

Passover

Well life got busy and I got tired so we skipped a day or two, but it doesn't matter because already I'm focused on Christ more this Easter than last year so as my dad so often says when I ask about business, "We're making progress!"

Today is passover and the last supper. I think maybe we'll tell the story to the kids before we put them to bed and maybe eat some crackers and juice/water to go with it. I had wanted to do something more formal with the Passover, but I bet that will be more appreciated as my kids get a little bit older.

Tomorrow is the early morning betrayal (and over night suffering) in the garden of Gethsemane, as well as the crucifixion. What a sad conversation that will be with my kids. Any one have thoughts on how to talk about such cruelty and pain to children? I might chicken out and just watch the first 5 min of the last 10 min from the Finding Faith in Christ film. Or maybe that would be worse for little kids. I'll have to ask, Chris. He's got a good head for these things.

And just in case you missed it the last time (HA! ok, I just want to show my cute boys off again), here are the most adorable boys you'll ever see.