Basketball team

Evan is signed up for a basketball team! We had to advocate a little to get him on since its really for kindergarteners and up, but Coach decided to take a chance and let him try. Tonight was their first practice, and Evan did amazing. They stretched, ran, jumped, dribbled, talked strategy, and of course shot the ball. The hoop is a little lower and the ball a little smaller than standard, but its perfect for the 5&6 year olds. Games start in January-- Go Panthers!

Orioles Win!

Okay, so technically everyone wins in 4yo t-ball, since the rules are pretty lax and they don't keep score, but today was a huge victory anyway.  Evan's team had a doubleheader bright and early this morning, and made it through without any major meltdowns or injuries, and felt a great sense of pride after both games were done.


It was as gorgeous Fall morning - 65 and sunny.  The grass was littered with parents and grandparents in folding chairs, all clutching coffee and cameras.  We played the Red Sox at 9am and the Braves at 10, and everyone did great.  There are three innings per game, and everyone in the lineup bats each inning.  The kids get three swings on their own and if they still haven't hit the ball well, Coach can give a little assist.  Each child runs one base after a hit, and the last kiddo in the lineup hits a grand slam.  The kids hit in a different order each inning, and get to try new spots on the field each inning as well.  Today Evan got to hang at 1st, 2nd, and "right field."  Fielders all stay on the infield, since hits rarely go more than 20 feet, let alone into the grass, and they're slowly getting better at understanding when to chase the ball and when to let someone else across the field go after it.  Baseball doesn't have a super-fast pace though, so quite a few sand castles and dirt drawings were created, some dancing happened, and many a mom was cringing at her kid scuffing new shoes in the dirt while they waited for the ball to come their way.  Evan passed the time by chatting with the other team's players while on base... sometimes having too much fun telling his new friend a story and forgetting to run to the next base. After each game, naturally everyone lines up and "does high fives," then does a team cheer and gets snacks. I think Evan's sold on playing ball.

Before the game the kids received their official team shirts, and Evan couldn't show off his new #2 enough.  

 

"Hands in, everyone... Goooooooo, Orioles!"

Patiently waiting for our turns to bat.

 

  

Nice hit, Evan!  

Good running too.

Fielding... in the "ready" position, prepared to grab
the ball with our "alligator hands."

 Good game, good game, good game... 

 Drew waited pretty patiently through both games; 

he was definitely proud of his brother.

Swimming Graduation

Evan graduated another level of swimming! He's been working hard at being a Purple Minnow for the last 8 weeks, and, with the help of Miss Blair, accomplished all his skills. (The shallower and warmer pool was closed for cleaning today, so they were in the big pool, hence the lifejackets.)  Like most 3 year olds, Evan has a very enthusiastic and high kick, especially when on his back.  We're going to practice our floating and kicking and scooping all summer, and be really ready for the Red Snapper class next!

Nap with the Guys

After a small backslide, Evan is back to being a fine weekend napper.  His favorite way to nap is backwards on the bed, surrounded by all his "guys."  Every one.  And some of Drew's if they're available.

UVA Spring Game

Note: March is now filled with posts too, so check them out!  


It's time for the Orange vs. Blue game already, so we headed down to the stadium to play some games, have lunch, and watch a little football.  It was a gorgeous day, with weather near 80 and a perfect breeze.

Evan was beside himself with excitement when he found out that there were activities on the "real field" that he could do.  Mike took us through the inside of the stadium so that we came out the tunnel where CavMan and Sabre ride, and Evan's feet barely hit the turf he was running so fast to be one of the "big boys."  We got the midfield and got our bearings, and Evan seemed to have a radar sense to find a football.  After playing catch with Mike for a minute or two, the kids running at the tackling dummy caught his eye.  He figured out quickly that all you had to do was run full speed at the big blue bag and smash into it as hard as you can... Perfect!

While Evan tackled... and tackled... and tackled..., Drew was content to hang out at midfield and play with the football.  I strategically sat him in the middle of the V Sabre logo to get prime photos, and he obliged.

When we finally tore Evan away from the tackling dummies, he made straight for the throwing games, where we found his best buddy Connor.  They took a couple turns at tossing the ball into the holes, almost making it a couple times.  The coaches started to clear the field in preparation for the game to start, so we took the boys up the hill (straight up the hill) for more fun until the team was ready. Up there we found more throwing games and a big slide - perfect!

We took a little snack break on the low wall above the hill, which turned out to be the perfect seats to watch the game preparations.  We were in the shade of the scoreboard, and had plenty of room to run and play.  The boys played catch and tackle and other boy-games on the hill, nearly rolling down a few times, and Mike even raced them to the bottom.  I think they all realized their mistake when they got to the bottom though... they had to come back up!  They all made it, and just in time to find Connor's dad who took a great shot of the two big boys wearing real game-worn football helmets.  They were as happy as can be.

It was rough to get them to head home, but I don't think Evan will stop talking about being on the field for a long time.

baseball

At the UVA baseball and lacrosse games today, we sat with our friend Kate and her friend Sydney.  We had a fun time hanging out and eating ice cream, and playing catch too. 

Happy Easter!

Isn't this the cutest thing?  Evan made it in Sunday School
last week.  There's a paper plate cave, and a ball of brown
paper is the rock you can roll away to find an angel inside!

Yesterday, we started the day with an egg hunt at a local church.  The sign said "All Welcome," so we figured that meant us too, why not?  Evan thought it was great fun, and was rewarded with a basket full of candy and Boo, a new blue sock monkey friend.  Drew didn't come home empty handed; his basket contained a number of (empty) plastic eggs that brought him tons of entertainment.

 

After nap, we started to dye our real eggs.  The neighbor's grandaughter Kaia came over as we were starting and invited us to come dye eggs together, so we moved the process to their backyard.

 

I love that Evan has a friend his age who is the grandchild of our neighbors - I spent years as a kid with a good friend Carolyn who lived next door to my grandparents.  After the eggs (and our fingertips) were properly colored, we all played at the playground before heading in to dinner.  Evan periodically asked throughout the evening if the Easter Bunny would come, and he told us that if the Bunny couldn't make it to all the houses in one night, she'd probably come to our house the next night.  Agreed!

This morning Evan stumbled into our room at his usual time, and it only took a minute or two for him to switch to excitement mode.  He was wonderfully patient, waiting for us to get Drew up before running downstairs.  He was thrilled to discover that not only had the Bunny come and left awesome baskets of toys and treats, but miraculously, presents from his grandparents and aunt and uncle had appeared too.

After church and brunch, we paused for a few minutes to take advantage of us all being dressed up and (mostly) clean to take some photos.  We're not a bad looking crew!

 

 

Then it was time for the most fun of all - an egg hunt with Kaia!  The kids went into the neighbor's house for a few minutes while some of the adults hid eggs around our backyard, then we let them loose.  Evan and Kaia were great together, racing around yet sharing and helping each other find eggs.  It's so fun to watch the kids - they spy an egg and dash to it, not even noticing the 3 eggs they passed and practically (or sometimes actually) stepped on to get to the one they spied.

It didn't take long for all the eggs to be found (we think, the adults failed to count them before hiding them... Mike may find a surprise or two next time he cuts the lawn) and we all collapsed on the grass to check the loot.  Eggs were traded (princess erasers for jellybeans, baby yogurt drops for a few coins), fingers and faces quickly turned a chocolaty brown, and sun-and-sugar induced yawns began to appear.  After more than a couple protests ("I want MORE candy, mom!"), we headed back in to our houses.  Evan had swim lessons to round out the day and after a delicious dinner, Drew was asleep shortly after 7, with Evan not far behind.  Unfortunately, the kitchen fairies didn't appear to clean up dinner, but we took care of the leftovers and declared this one great Easter.