You'll never guess what I've got!

Never before seen in our family, this is what a 4th grader looks like:















And this is certainly the cutest 1st grader that I've seen in awhile (never mind the tattoo on his forehead, it was a weak mothering moment and he's due a shower):

And finally, a little brotherly love (let's take bets on how long this lasts):

P.S. Don't my roses look fabulous? =)

I know it's still early

but I was just on the baseball organization's website and happened to notice that they rank the teams in the minor league. I'm so not used to there being winners and losers and everything, so that surprised me. Apparently they even have playoffs. Which I suppose is cool, except that means we could be playing baseball into July. Ugh.

Anywho, I haven't yet updated about our most recent games. I mentioned the first game here, the second game we had to miss due to an Orchestra concert (our team won), the third game was rained out and is rescheduled, and the fourth game was this past weekend. Saturday's game was a great one. Malcolm's team ended up winning 18 to 9. That's phenomenal. Malcolm's first time at bat, he had a great, really solid hit which would have been a double, except that the second baseman on the other team happened to make a terrific catch. As disappointing as that was, it is hard to begrudge this other kid such a nice catch. His second at bat was a single and one runner scored, plus he stole 2nd and 3rd during subsequent batters. His last at bat was a strikeout. Bummer, but still, he had 1 rbi, 1 run scored and 2 steals. Not a bad game. The next game is this Thursday.

So back to my story. I was on the organization's website tonight and saw that they have rankings. Guess who's team is currently ranked #1??? I know! Pretty cool, right? We're the only team that is 3-0 so far. Of course the season is still young, but it's still pretty exciting!
Go Pirates.

How does your garden grow?

Lincoln and the two girls from across the street are planting for me. They've taken seeds that we saved from a melon and planted them, then theys tarted planting the grapes that were their snack. Very clever children, they're splitting the grapes open figuring that the "seed" inside it will grow better if it's open. I don't have the heart to tell them that I only buy seedless grapes.

At least the peach pits that have been buried in the yard in years past will have company.

Who's looking out for me?

Lincoln is upstairs watching TV for a little bit, I'm down in the kitchen puttering. He calls down to me: "Hey mom! You have to get Lasik. Cuz then you won't need any more glasses. Hold on. I'll give you the number." Then he proceeded to call the number down to me that was displayed on the TV.

Funny little dude.

Opening day for minor league baseball

was yesterday. It was Malcolm's first game in the minors. We were a little apprehensive since nearly half of their practices have been rained out this month. We were even a little afraid that the game would be rained out, but the storms passed quickly and we had enough dry hours to squeeze in the game. Lincoln and I had to leave halfway through the 3rd inning to go to his soccer game, but when we left, the Pirates were doing pretty well. Malcolm was on third base and had sucessfully stolen two bases in his 2 times at bat. We learned later that the Pirates won, 7-5. Best of all, get this....Malcolm was the one who put them over the top. In his last at bat, he hit a double and had 2 RBIs which counted as runs 6 and 7 (aka the winning runs!). Nice way to start the season.

No no no, thank YOU.

Today was the school's "Volunteer Appreciation Day" which I've never attended before. Maybe I'm modest (pshaw!) but it seemed weird to walk into the school with the intention of being thanked for what I do. But last year I talked to people who thought the same thing and went anyway and were glad they did.

Now count me in with that group. I went and boy was it worth it. First of all, when you walk in the door, they have 5th graders ready to escort the volunteers to the teacher's lounge where coffee and breakfast was waiting. We sat and chatted amongst ourselves for a bit until we were led down to the community room. On our way into the room, each volunteer was handed a long stem rose (thorns clipped, water tube attached). In the community room, all of the kids were seated on the floor and they were clapping and cheering as we walked in. Some members of the band and orchestra were playing music, though it was hard to hear over the clapping.

We were seated and the principal said a few words. Then a group of 5th graders sang part of "What a wonderful world" and several subsets of the band and orchestra played a variety of songs. Then we were escorted out to more clapping and cheering. What a cool way to spend the morning.

The crazy is catching

When I asked Lincoln what he wanted for snack today, he requested the same thing he had yesterday. When Malcolm heard that Lincoln wanted lettuce for snack he declared "That sounds good. I want lettuce mixed with carrots. And maybe some ranch!" I had already made his snack (bananas and strawberries mixed thankyouverymuch) so I said he could have it tomorrow. Shall we take bets on if he still wants it come tomorrow morning?