Three Year-Old in the House!

We can hardly believe it, but this sweet tiny girl...

...has suddenly morphed into a brand-new three year-old!

She might be destined to spend many birthdays at the ball field. She took it in stride this year, and loved being the center of attention after her baseball boys won their first playoff game, and then serenaded her with "Happy Birthday" and shared in some baseball cupcakes.  Something tells me that this might be a fun tradition to carry on through her teen years ;)

Thanks to Grandma Cecchin for joining us for the game and the birthday fun. Molly can't wait for the real party this weekend with all her friends and family!

Splash Ball

Do we need yet another sport in this house? Definitely not, but we couldn't say no to the opportunity for Joey to get his first taste of water polo, coached by the father of one of his baseball teammates. The ultimate "aquajock," Coach Jeff talked us into letting Joey combine his baseball arm and his swim skills in the pool every Sunday evening. We haven't seen Joey this excited about a sport since Tim first put a bat in his hands!

Joey fired a ball into the net from halfway across the pool at his second practice, and Coach Jeff couldn't help telling us, "I told you so!"

Now if only I could stop referring to that headgear as a cute little bonnet...

Moraga Wall of Fame

You know you're big time in Moraga when you make it on The Wall of Photos next to the Slurpee machine at 7-Eleven! Congrats, Joey and Rylen!

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny

She's pretty cute, both in a hand-me-down bikini, and all wrapped up in a warm towel!

Spring Break Without the 'Rents

 

What's a group of kids to do while their parents are off cavorting in Hawaii without them? Luckily, they had spring break plans of their own, and they were pretty awesome. Their seven-day stay in Arnold with Hop and Mop included a jam-packed itinerary. 

The highlights:

Round-trip shuttle service to and from their woodsy location. Driven by Hop with supplemental kid-tending help by Mop, both of whom are experienced in road trips of all kinds. Bonus passenger: a very excited chocolate Lab who got to share a very packed back seat with three carseats, three kids, and lots of toys.

Epic bunk bed accommodations. Without a doubt, the very best part about Hop and Mop's new cabin is the "bunk bed room," which doubles as a play room and sleeps six grandkids, which comes in handy when five cousins join in on the craziness mid-week.

Woodsy location with nearby access to state parks. A forestry major, Hop spent untold weekends educating his own children about trees and national forests, all while putting up with griping about long hikes, bugs and smelly sweatshirts. He now has a captive audience once again, and let his grandchildren loose on Big Trees State Park.

Ladybug adventures. The tour guides promised that a ladybug could be procured for a certain ladybug-obsessed little girl, and they delivered! 

Western fun. True to Raley tradition, in which no trip is really complete without learning more about California, the Old West, or nature, this week included a day trip to nearby Columbia, where they panned for gold and explored the old town.

The itinerary didn't include a lot of down time for missing parents. With five cousins to play with, a new backyard in which to locate bugs (in Clara's case), a new fridge and pantry to raid (in Joey's case) and a dog to pal around with and sleep beside (in Molly's case), we were lucky they made time for a couple of Skype calls.

But they definitely filled us in on the action afterwards, bursting with details about fallen tree trunks that were tunnels, a tree stump that was so big it could be a dance floor, the secret to getting ladybugs to stay in captivity (a dab of coke on their wings), and elaborate plans for a playhouse in the trees behind the new cabin.

For fledgling Spring Breakers, it sounds like they had a pretty perfect time! Thanks again to Hop and Mop for being their cruise directors!

Kauai Without the Keikis

After a whirlwind Easter that involved hosting Easter brunch, packing up three kids for a week with Hop and Mop, and packing for a week away ourselves, Tim and I stepped on an airplane bound for Kauai, without kids, and couldn't keep the giddy smiles off our faces for the entire kid-free, six-hour flight.

To be honest, we really didn't stop smiling the entire week, thanks to a novel regimen of sleeping in, reading, drinking tropical drinks, and working on our tans either at the beach or the pool. 

Yes, our kids have the best grandparents ever! 

 
We had a blast exploring an island that we'd never visited before, from Waimea Canyon to Poipu Beach in the south and Hanalei Bay to the north. I'll let the pictures do the talking, since they speak volumes about the sunshine, relaxation and generally awesome tropical-ness (that's a word, right?) of Hawaii.

Girl Days

This spring has been exceptionally busy with baseball, T-Ball, gymnastics, dance, swimming and Tae Kwon Do. Luckily, the girls usually have their activities on one of our "girl days" -- either a Monday or a Friday, when they don't have school, and we can leisurely head to the gymnastics class, the dance studio, or the baseball field, without a school schedule to work around.

Here's what those days usually look like...

We trek out to gymnastics on Mondays, where Clara's little tummy is usually on full display in a star-spangled leotard while she tackles cartwheels, beams, and trampolines. Molly and I can usually be found in the cafe next door foraging for "fruity snacks," cheese sticks or popcorn for Molly's post-nap afternoon snack.

On Fridays, we head to Molly's dance class with Miss Renee - a favorite teacher who also happens to be the little sister of one of our good friends from college. Molly harbors an active resentment against Miss Renee's 1 year-old son, and pretty much is in heaven when she's wearing a tutu and has Miss Renee all to herself, sans baby.

 

Clara goes to the same studio for "big girl ballet" -- and real leotards and tights! -- on Saturdays. She feels right at home with this motley crew of Theta Xi girls!

Having ample time to do fun activities like these, as well as lounge around the house, play with dolls, create artwork, build forts, hunt for bugs and ride bikes is the best thing about having a very light preschool schedule for Clara. She's headed off to kindergarten all too soon, and I love moments like these all too much!