Hoops

Joey wrapped up his second season of basketball this weekend, loving every minute of playing with his best buddies -- Isaiah, Andy, Sebastien, and Rylen -- and fine-tuning his skills.Lots of baskets were made, and lots of kids on opposing teams were knocked down. Is this a theme for Joey?

There might be nothing cuter than a group of six and seven year-old boys sporting baby blue and showing off their "guns" in mesh tank tops. Apparently, one of the centers for St. Mary's thinks so, too. Seven foot tall Kyle Rowley came out for the last game to cheer on all the boys he helped coach during spring and summer camps last year, dwarfing their regular coaches and thrilling the boys. Here's to living in a small town that boasts an amazing collegiate basketball program filled with inspiring, larger-than-life players!

Scavenger

GuacaMolly

Our littlest eater has the biggest and most sophisticated palette of all our kids, and long ago earned a very appropriate nickname: GuacaMolly. We take it for granted most of the time, but it takes someone else being astonished for us to truly take note.

The other night, when out to dinner with another baseball family, Molly reached into my water glass, retrieved the lemon inside, and began eating it like an apple, rind and all. The other mom across the table became absolutely riveted, and with mouth hanging open, exclaimed, "I have NEVER seen anyone do that before!!"

GuacaMolly has been making our eyes pop for a long time, and it's no wonder with the long list of spicy foods she absolutely adores:

Guacamole
Salsa -- the spicier, the better
hot wasabi peas
horseradish
mustard
chili
spicy meats, especially peppered salami
"bubbly water," aka Pelegrino
And, of course, lemons, mostly from the Molly-sized lemon bush/tree right outside our kitchen window

Miss Molly May at School, Part 2

Despite being the smallest and the youngest in her preschool class, Molly May is developing quite the mid-year rep for many things.

If there was a yearbook for Miss Janet and Miss Sandra's class, Molly would totally sweep the Best Potty-er Award, as well as the Chatterbox prize. Together, she and her BFF Michael would have every vote for Cutest (and Only) Couple. Finally, Miss Sandra would personally crown her the Biggest Snuggler.

Without further ado, it's time for another installment of pictures of Molly May at school!

 

Wild Animals at the Zoo

With wild animals who eat like this, sometimes it feels like we're living in a zoo. But we still took the kids to see the real deal over the weekend... a spur-of-the-moment trip that included six Theta Xi families and an untold (okay, 14) number of kids.


We managed to make our way around the zoo with this unwieldy, crazy-hyper group, without losing anyone... although we did come close. Both of the families with three kids lost track of their middle for a brief moment... oops. Luckily Clara is used to this by now.

We saw the tigers, elephants, monkeys, snakes, lizards, zebras and lions like regular folk, but then texted Aunt Meredith's friend Amy to see if she was at work that day and could fit in a behind-the-scenes giraffe feeding. I don't know if she knew quite what she was getting into, but she was an awesome sport, and the kids loved getting up close and personal with her gorgeous animals!

 

Little Valentines

The Team With the Golden Pants Is the Best

Our Super Bowl viewing party this year once again had lots of little people on the guest list. Although small compared to years past, we still had 14 kids in attendance. Unfortunately for Joey, the female to male ratio was abysmal: 13 girls to 1 lonely boy who just wanted to watch a little bit of the game.

At one point, the horde of girls designed a game of hide and seek, with Joey hiding while the girls went shrieking through the house calling his name and threatening to put a tutu on him when they found him. He managed to find the best spot in the entire house and stayed undetected for at least a half hour inside a bathroom cabinet.

Maybe someday he'll appreciate this group of girls!

While the Team With the Golden Pants (Clara's name for the Niners) didn't win, it was still a magical moment for San Francisco fans, and one that Joey won't soon forget!

Joey at 7

Batter Up!

 
In January, just days after Christmas, baseball season officially got underway in Moraga. Unbelievably, in a town of 16,000 people, 100 7 and 8 year-old boys signed up for a six-month baseball season, with 4 practices or games each week. Of course, Joey was one of them. And Tim is along for the ride, too, as head coach of Joey's new team, the Pirates.

Both of our boys have a long season ahead of them... this is just the beginning!

 

 

I feel very fortunate that with Tim coaching, my presence at practice or games with two little girls in tow is purely optional. But at least or now, we're enjoying some crisp, cold, sunny afternoons outside!

 

Little Mommy

On Mondays and Fridays, Joey heads off to school and the girls stay behind for a full day of coloring, Play-Doh, pretend kitchen, forts, princess play, and, above all, role-playing Mommy and Kids. I'm almost guaranteed to be treated to some kind of imitation "mothering" that sometimes warms my heart, but more often leaves me mortified.

Today, for example:

Clara (pretending to be Mommy): "Okay, baby, let's go get in the car. I'm tired of this house. We're going to the gym."

Molly (taking a turn as Big Sister): "Okay Mommy, we'll be good. Can we have lunch at the cafe today?"

Mommy/ Clara (grunting audibly as she hefts a baby doll into the car): "Ugh, you're getting heavy. Okay, there you go, baby. Click. Click. You're all set. I don't want to hear any whining in this car, okay?"

Molly: "But can we have pasta in the cafe?"

Mommy/ Clara: "I said no whining! Okay, here we are! Ahhh! Okay, bye kids! I'll be upstairs exercising!"

Molly: "Bye, Mommy!"

Mommy/ Clara (doing push-ups in another corner of the living room): "Ah, it's so quiet here. I can't hear any noisy kids at all!"