T-Ball Skills Test

Today was the big day - the first day of T-Ball for Harrison.  Skills Test Day.  The baseball league has all of the kids come out to the fields, with one field/age bracket, to do a skills test and all of the coaches watch.  Harrison was so excited!

I didn't know what to expect, so we got there about 15 minutes before our assigned time.  I didn't want him to get nervous, so I told him that all the coaches were so excited that he was going to play baseball, that they all wanted to watch him.  After we left, he kept saying, "Mom, how did all of these people know who I am??".
They were finishing up the 4 year olds when we got there so he was able to watch them to see what he needed to do.  We also saw one of his friends from school in line, so he was really happy about that.
They had the kids line up in the batting cage to wait for their turn.  I was worried that he might get a little nervous, but he marched on in without thinking twice.
First, they had the kids practice hitting the ball off the T a few times...

After they hit the ball, they got to run to first base...Harrison tried to keep running to the other bases.  He told me later that he was a little upset that he didn't get to run to all the bases.

Then they had to practice catching the ball at the pitcher's mound...

...and throw the ball to first base.

You can't really tell from the picture above, but he was funny because he had his glove on his right hand, but he kept trying to grab the ball with his left.  I'm sure its a little tricky trying to learn how to catch with your least dominate hand, but its also a little confusing b/c since he is left handed, sometimes he  likes to try to hit the ball with his left hand and sometimes with his right.  He threw the ball today with his left, so I guess we will see over the next few months, which he favors. 

He did such a great job listening to the coaches and their instructions...

It was a little tricky because Davis wanted nothing to do with standing in line or holding still, despite all of the snacks/treats I brought for him.  He wanted to go play baseball with some kids on a different field so I was trying to take pictures but also trying not to lose my 2 year old in a sea of kids!
I was so proud of Harrison and I can't wait for t-ball to start!

After we left, he called his daddy who was helping his aunt move today, and said, "Daddy!  I had so much fun!  I went onto the field all by myself with the coaches and I didn't even need mommy to help me!"  It made me tear up to hear him say that, but I was so proud of him!

After we left, we celebrated with Menchies...what can be better than that...baseball and ice cream all in one day!

Time for T-Ball

A few days ago, Lance emailed me from work stating that we had missed t-ball registration...I didn't know we were even thinking about t-ball!  I assumed that we would just have Harrison play soccer again, since he had been asking about it.  Lance emailed the director and he said that he had just a few spots left, so Lance filled out the registration form quickly and sent it in.  He then wanted to get Harrison excited about it, so we took the boys to Dick's Sporting Goods last night to pick out everything he needed.  I didn't realize this included baseball gloves (we had to buy 2 b/c Harrison has mostly been left handed, but on occasion, uses his right hand...I think Lance was pumped at the possible chance of having a left handed pitcher :)), cleats, baseball bat, and a helmet.  Yikes!  Harrison had a great time and Davis had fun trying to pull everything off the shelves. :)
It has been fun to see Lance get so excited about this - I think it will be a fun bonding experience for the two of them!
We have a "skills test" this weekend and then there is a "draft".  I think it sounds a little crazy for an almost 5 year old, but hopefully we will find a coach that makes it fun for the kids.
Lance's dad got pumped about this too because he coached all of Lance's baseball teams when he was younger, so he picked Harrison up today during Davis' nap time and took him to the baseball fields.  To say that Harrison was excited was an understatement!

"Mom, take my picture with my daddy's glove!"

"Wait, mom, take my picture with my glove, my ball, AND my bat!!"

I took Davis to Costco this morning because I needed to pick up a new ski helmet, and Davis decided that this would be his new baseball helmet.

I'm hoping the newness of this doesn't ware off too quickly because they are both so very excited about learning to play this new sport!  I mean, who doesn't watch tv with their baseball helmets on??

 

My neighbors used to spend all summer up at the ball fields with their two daughters...I have a suspicious feeling, this might be my future!

Funny Harrisonism

While driving to church tonight for a committee meeting, Harrison was chatting up a storm and I just wanted to write it down so that I can remember it.  It went something like this:
H:  Mom, I have sooooo many girlfriends
Me:  Why, yes, you lucky little guy, yes, you do Harrison!
H:  But they can be soooo annoying!!
Me:  What?  Why would you say they are annoying, you love seeing all of your friends!!
H:  Because I have lots of sleepovers with girls and they always wake me up!
...(sleepovers??? This is news to me!)
Me:  Oh really?
H:  Yes, and I was in (pause...pause...)  light bulb sleep and they kept waking me up!
Me:  What exactly is light bulb sleep?
H:  Its when you sleep so hard that you sleep like a light bulb
....it took me a minute and then I just couldn't help but laugh when I realized that he was trying to use the phrase "out like a light".  It always makes me laugh when they try to learn new phrases to use.  I'm sure he was sitting there trying to think about how sleeping was like a light bulb, and it somehow made sense to himself.

Fun with the boys

Ever since the whirlwind that was Christmas was over, we have been laying low and just hanging around the house, enjoying all of the new presents and trying to catch up on laundry (our new washer was FINALLY delivered!).  I just wanted to put a few pictures up of some of the fun that has been going on around here. 
I can't rememeber if I mentioned this on here or not, but my family came in town the week before Christmas, mostly for dropping off/picking up people from the Atlanta airport.  The Thursday of that week, my washer decided to break.  Not good when you have a million sheets, towels and clothes to wash before a trip.  We got back on Dec. 30th and still had 10 days to survive until our washer could be delivered.  Thankfully, I have the most amazing in-laws who let me take over their washer anytime I needed it, so I spent several days washing the essentials that we needed.  One day, I was out running errands and needed to stop by to wash a few loads.  Mr Randolph was home and said that he wouldn't mind watching the boys so I could get a few more errands finished up while my clothes were washing.  I was gone about an hour and when I came back, this is what I found:

On New Years Day, Lance's dad built a spaceship out of a huge box for the boys to play in.  It has been a big hit, so granddaddy got creative and turned Harrison into an astronaut out of grocery bags and duct tape. 
This was our training facility where we learned how to fly an a space ship

Space Commander, Harrison Randolph preparing to take off:

Harrison said that since he had to take so many pictures, that the engineer and the "space maid" needed a picture too.  (I asked if I could be an astronaut too but he told me I was the space maid because I stay in the kitchen and cook him whatever he wants...not too far from the truth - ha ha)...Harrison is becoming quite the photographer!

One last lesson on how/where to put gas into the space ship

Davis woke up from his nap, and of course, was more interested in playing golf...

Around Thanksgiving, I re-instituted rest time for Harrison.  I felt like we both needed some downtime in the day and I think he is starting to like it.  Last week after he played in his room for a while, he asked if he could play outside on the playset.  I was folding laundry, so I opened the window so I could keep an eye on him.  Few things make me happier than seeing the kids use their imaginations to play...

While playing outside, Harrison heard our neighbor, Patrick, playing with a friend.  He is always talking about his "best friend Patrick".  Patrick is a sweet kid, but just not interested in the least in playing with a 4 year old.  I think he is in 3rd or 4th grade.  Harrison talks about his all the time, which makes me sad.  When we were at my parents' house for Christmas, he said he really needed to get home because he missed his best friend Patrick.  After a while, I looked out and didn't see Harrison.  I walked outside and saw him here:

He literally spent over an hour hanging out on the fence, talking to Patrick and his friend.  I hate that there aren't any boys his age around our house.  There seem to be a ton of boys in our neighborhood, but I don't know of any that are around his age. 
My mom came back in town last week for a few days to take my Aunt Mary back to the airport.  We mostly just hung around the house with her, but also decided to take a morning to go to a local farm to let the boys play and pick up some farm fresh eggs.  My mom has always wanted to see the farm, ever since I told her that they use Shaklee's non-toxic cleaners to clean the cows and their house.  Rise and shine grandmommy!  Time to go to the farm!

The boys love the cats on the farm!

They also had fun watching this guy...

 ...trying to get the pigs to play with him!

 

Hello moo-moos!

The owners of the farm are so sweet and always remember us when we stop by.  They have such a beautiful, clean farm and I love to support their efforts to provide local, organic food to their community.  Their prices keep going up, but mostly because of the government that continues to make it harder and harder for them to run their farm.  So sad!  The boys always have so much fun running around and seeing all of the animals.  I am going to make a concerted effort to go there more often this year.

A few months ago, Lance borrowed a chain saw from one of his managers at work, so that he could cut down a dead tree that was in our back yard.  It has been sitting in our yard in pieces for quite a while now and last weekend, Lance finally decided to have a little bonfire to try to burn up some of the wood.  It had been raining for a few days at that point, so the wood was pretty damp.  He had a hard time trying to get the fire to start, so I mentioned that we should get a few limbs from the Christmas tree that was out on the curb.  The boys helped me carry a few branches down and let me just say, after seeing the flame that came from the dry branches, it now makes me a little more nervous to have a live tree in my house!  I couldn't believe how quickly they caught fire and how high the flames got from just a few branches!  Thankfully, he was smart enough to bring the hose down in case it got out of control!

This quickly turned into a marshmallow roasting party (pure torture for me since I'm doing 21 days of no sugar!!)

Davis was pretty scared of the fire, but his big brother was so sweet to roast a few for him

We have been talking for a while now about possibly putting in a fire pit somewhere.  I would love to put one on our patio, but Lance doesn't think it would be a good idea with the wood trellis that is above the patio.  After this bonfire, I really think he found a great spot at the bottom of the hill in the backyard.  He said he doesn't think he would want to use it in the summers because of all of the trees down there, but it sure was fun to sit around the fire!

I hope everyone is having a nice start to the new year!  I can't wait to see what else this year has in store for us!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I knew it!  I found my camera cord this week in my diaper bag!  Soooo, I can finally post about our unusual Christmas and New Year!
We ended up driving to Tuscaloosa on Christmas Eve (2 days later than we planned) in an attempt to keep from passing on the virus that struck Harrison and I.  We were feeling on the mend, so we headed to town that morning.  Lance, Davis and I skipped Christmas Eve church service because I just felt drained, but Harrison wanted to go to see his cousins, so he went with my parents.  When we met at my sisters' house afterward, I was shocked to find out that Harrison sat (quietly!) with the adults for the entire hour!  He has never done that before, but its nice to know that he can.  I felt terrible missing it, but it was nice to just rest at my mom's house for a little bit of quiet.  The boys were also excited to see their cousin Isabela again and I think she was excited to see them!

I didn't get any pictures at my sister's house, but we had jumbalaya and leftovers from their holiday parties throughout the week.  It was low key and the boys ran around and had fun, so it was a nice evening.
The next morning, the boys woke up bright and early.  We got up with them and the boys went crazy when they saw all of the presents.  Harrison had fun looking through them, trying to find some with his name.  Growing up, we were always allowed to open stockings before our parents woke up, so we let the boys dig into their stockings before my parents woke up.

 I made Lightning McQueen snuggies for the boys because they love the Alabama one that we have and I was surprised at what a hit they were!  They still sleep with them every night.

Davis loved his new trains

And Harrison was beyond excited when he opened his "racetrack with 150 loops"

Dream Lights were on both boys' lists and so they were pumped when they opened them.  What's funny is that Davis likes to keep his in his bed, but he doesn't want the lights on anymore.  I'm not sure if it scared him somehow or what.

The other big gift that they opened was the marble track.  Lance, very patiently, spent all morning assembling it with 2 anxious boys hanging on him trying to help, so he got big points for that!

My sister and her family came over for breakfast after they opened their presents and the boys had a fun day playing with all their new toys (and watching a few of their new movies).

Isabela had a wonderful Christmas morning as well and was my little buddy!

 About halfway through opening presents, I started to feel a little on the nauceaous side so I took a zophran which seemed to help.  I thought I was several days past the virus I had, so I was a little surprised.  After we ate breakfast, my dad got right to work on cooking a Christmas dinner.  About midway through the day, I walked into the kitchen and noticed that my dad wasn't looking so good.  He said he felt pretty sick, but he wanted to make sure we all had a Christmas dinner.  I felt so bad for him, and made Lance come in and finish the gravy.  I figured he was a southern boy and knows how good gravy is supposed to taste.  My poor dad, just went down hill from there.
After dinner, my sister and I pulled my mom aside to let her know that she needed to pack a bag for the next day because we were kidnapping her for a girls day to celebrate her 60th birthday.  She was so caught off-guard and didn't know what to expect.  We got up early the next morning, made sure the guys were all set with the kids and we headed up to Birmingham to Ross Bridge for massages and a relaxing morning in the spa.  We felt bad leaving the guys with the kids since my dad was so sick, but we couldn't cancel the reservation, and he insisted that we go.  The husbands and my Aunt Mary came up to meet us for dinner and then they headed back to Tuscaloosa and we spent the night at the resort.  It was a nice evening, but my sister woke up the next morning and caught the stomach virus.  We called home to let them know we would be there a little late and found out that my nephew Jack and my brother in law got sick all night too.  It was not quite the Christmas week that we expected, and I still feel terrible that we were the ones who brought this virus to everyone, but overall, we had a nice time spending time together.  Amidst everyone not feeling great, we somehow forgot to get a picture with my mom on her birthday celebration!
It was pretty chilly all week, but we were able to get out a little bit for some fresh air!

We also got out of the house to grab lunch one day...

And I think one of the highlights of the week was getting to sit at the counter at Waffle House!

Grandmommy in heaven with all of her grandbabies around...

After a fun week, we headed back to Atlanta for New Years Eve.  Its always hard saying goodbye, but I have to admit, that it is much easier now knowing that my parents are just a short drive away!  Lance was excited that Alabama sells fireworks, so we stopped on our way home to pick some up. 
We had a low key New Years and just stayed at home and invited Lance's parents to come over.  They had just flown in from CO, so they came straight to our house from the airport.   We grilled some steaks, then shot off some fireworks and ended with an early champagne toast.  Harrison had a lot of fun with the fireworks, but Davis was not a fan.  Davis has done sparklers before and liked them in the past, but he was not wanting anything to do with it this time.  Lance bought quite a variety and we had a fun little fireworks show (with quite a few remaining!).  We ended up letting Davis watch the show from the window by our staircase and he was happy getting to watch them without being so close. 
Cheers to a happy new year!!

 

(I feel the need to mention that the boys are toasting with sparkling grape juice!)

merry Christmas and happy new year!

In the chaos that was this holiday season, I somehow misplaced my cord to connect my camera to my computer!  Soooo...my to do list today is to clean up my house until the cord magically appears so I can updated all of the fun moments we have had around here over the holidays!  Of course, it would be my luck to FINALLY get a camera and then lose the only essential piece!  I WILL find it though, but until then, I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, and a happy new year!

Christmas Play & The Randolph Family Christmas

On Monday and Tuesday of this week, our preschool had their annual Christmas play.  Harrison is in the 4's class and they sing in the play on both days and Davis' 2 year old class sang on Tuesday.  They did a fantastic job and I have to agree with a friend of mine, that this was the cutest play they have done so far!  They have a new music teacher this year who seems very sweet and full of energy.  (She came back to run the play even though she delivered an almost 10 lb baby 2 weeks ago!)  My parents, Davis and I, went up to watch Harrison on Monday morning and he sang his little heart out!  It is so fun to watch him ham it up on stage...

He was really cute because he was over-enunciating every word and he would sing the songs that his group wasn't supposed to sing. 
Davis and grandmommy enjoying the music..

After the play, Harrison's class had their class party, full of snacks and treats.

Harrison with his teacher, Danette

 

...and his assistant teacher, Valerie

 Here is a video of one of the songs...he cracks me up with how much he was annunciating his words.  He clearly was too focused on that to do the hand motions too...

On Tuesday, both Harrison and Davis were performing.  It was so cute, because Davis came walking into the sanctuary, holding hands with his buddy Sam.

He was very somber throughout the performance with the exception of the song where they shook their jingle bells.

I thought he was just tired because I had to wake him up out of a deep sleep that morning, but we ended up taking him to the doctor that afternoon b/c he had a cough for over a month.  We found out that he actually had pneumonia!  Poor little guy!  He is such a trooper and is generally happy go lucky during the day, but was having a hard time sleeping at night.  He has been on antibiotics and an inhaler and seems to be doing much better now.  

 

Seeing his granddaddys at his class party cheered him right up!

My parents, little sister Elizabeth and her baby, Isabela and my aunt Mary came in town throughout the week so we had a nice time catching up and visiting.  Here is Harrison playing with his new Christmas present from Aunt Liz. (He is a pirate, by the way, if you couldn't tell)

The boys also had fun playing with their cousin, Isabela.  They were very sweet although we had to play defense with Davis b/c I don't think he understands that she can't catch yet!

That Saturday, everyone left and we headed over to Lance's parents' house to celebrate Christmas with the Randolphs.  I think everyone felt a little rushed b/c it has been such a busy month, but we had a great time getting to see everyone.

Harrison was Santa Claus and helped us pass out all the presents.

Brothers being sweet and playing with their new slinkie

Davis helped out as Santa as well for a little bit.  Unfortunately he would put presents in the right pile and then try to put them back under the tree.

Cousin James was in town for a few days to do a few stand up shows, so we were lucky to have him join us!  He was so sweet, and gave a big pirate ship to the boys and he even helped them assemble it (which was a nice gift in itself, for me!)

Davis also got a pirate ship from Aunt Jennifer, which was perfect, so they didn't fight over the big one!

We all chipped in and bought an iPad for Melodie, so she was in shock when she opened it!

Penny loved her tailgating supplies...

The boys got some funny new mustache toys to play with...

And some adorable new clothes!

And we somehow forgot to get a picture of their cool new racetrack from grandma and granddaddy that attaches to the top of a door and has an elevator to get the cars to the top to go down the huge ramp.

After we opened gifts, we sat down for a delicious meal.  Harrison didn't feel like eating and was just laying under the table.  He said he was hot so I had him sit on my lap, when all of a sudden I saw "the face".  I hopped up out of  my seat as quickly as I could and rushed him to the bathroom...unfortunately, we didn't make it all the way when a stomach virus surfaced.  Poor guy, was sick all afternoon and all night until about 2 am.  And when he stopped, I started.  Bleh.  I am hoping and praying that Lance and Davis do not catch it! Not quite the Christmas week that we expected.  Its putting a hamper on our plans for the week, but we are truly counting all of our blessings and are so fortunate in so many ways, so that is the focus! 

After everyone left, I got one last picture of Harrison with Granddaddy...this is his "I'm too sick to smile" look

And Grandma got out her Twas the Night Before Christmas book and CD and we got to listen to that sweet story. 

We hope that everyone has a very merry Christmas, full of health and happiness!