Guys and Gals

Memorial Day weekend, Cort took Charlie and Joseph to Oklahoma for a stay with Gramma. At the last minute when he was booking the plane tickets, he decided to bring Will along for the ride. A boys' weekend.

That left just me and Helen at home. A girls' weekend. (It was also the very first time, in the 6+ years since I have become a parent, that I have had only one child.)

Everyone had a lot of fun. The boys started their weekend off right with lunch at Robert's in El Reno on their way from the airport to Gramma's house. (I have been to Robert's. Yum!) They also had a lot of fun playing at Gramma's, Charlie and Joseph got to hang out on the farm with Cort and his good friend Justin and family, and they all got to see a lot of Oklahoma relatives. And can you believe it, the Big XII baseball championship, which just happened to be between A&M and Baylor, was in Oklahoma City. Of course, Dad got tickets for his boys, and everyone had a great time. (Gig 'Em!)

Burgers at Roberts


One of many fun toys at Gramma's house - some sort of magnetic mosaic thing that they loved


Some of the fun at the farm

Meanwhile, I asked Helen what she wanted to do for our girls' weekend, and she said, "Go to Target!" That's my girl! So we did - twice. We also had a little girls' lunch. And, of course, we painted our nails. Pinkalicious toes and sparkly fingers. For both of us. We also played LOTS of games - Candyland, Memory, Bingo, and Dominoes. She's started to get games, and it looks like she's going to love them as much as her big brothers!

We had a really nice time together, but she was very glad to see Daddy and Will come home on Monday.

Helping at Target


Lunch with Mom at Pie in the Sky


Pretty toes!


Playing Candyland

Charlie and Joseph stayed in Oklahoma with Gramma for another week and had a WONDERFUL time. They were busy, busy, busy. Swimming, miniature golf, and a trip to a really cool place called Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse, to name just a few things they did.

The next weekend, Gramma flew home with Charlie and Joseph and everyone was finally back home together. Cort and I sat in our house on that Sunday with four kids running around crazy and screaming at the top of their lungs. It was complete chaos. And we were so glad to have that back.

The boy loves his sports

Here's something else I found while cleaning out stuff the other day. This one is Charlie's. Most of Charlie's "artwork" consists of pictures of baseball diamonds, football fields, or basketball courts. This is none of those, so it took me a little while to figure it out. Then I remembered. This is a picture from February. During the Olympics. Can you guess what it is?

Curling.

The boy does love his sports.

Countrys

I found this while cleaning out a bunch of stuff the other day. This is Joe's handwriting. I had to count the number of countries he named.

1. Austaia [Australia]
2. United States of America
3. New Z [New Zealand]
4. Brisil [Brazil]
5. Canada
6. Finland
7. Norway
8. Avganaskanastan [Afghanistan]
9. Beros [Belarus, I think]
10. Netherlands
11. Astuia [Austria]
12. Corea [Korea]
13. Italy
14. Rusa [Russia]
15. Franse [France]
16. China
17. Jappan [Japan]
18. Greenland
19. Spane [Spain]
20. Porcible [Portugal, I think]
21. Belgum [Belgium]
22. Swedden [Sweden]
23. Switerland [Switzerland]
24. Irand [Iran]
25. Chek Rebalik [Czech Republic]
26. Bosnahereyervia [Bosnia-Herzegovina]
27. Sevia [Serbia, I think]
28. Iceland
29. Libra [Libya]
30. Great Briten [Great Britain]
31. Veniswaly [Venezuela]
32. Colambia [Colombia]
33. Coet [never did figure this one out - any guesses?]
34. Argentina
35. Cile [Chile]
36. Mexi [obviously Mexico, guess he was getting lazy]
37. Camenen Ilends [Cayman Islands]
38. Satia Radia [Saudi Arabia]
39. Indea [India]
40. Tyland [Thailand]
41. Irek [Iraq]

I'm pretty sure he didn't just copy these down from somewhere. If he had, he would have spelled more of them correctly. He just knows these. Notice how many of them are also grouped geographically. Wow.

All Stars!

T-ball season has ended, but goodness we had soooo much fun!

Both of the boys did GREAT! Their team, the Timber Rattlers, finished just ahead of the middle of the pack. That turned out well, because they were good enough to win several games (and, of course, winning is always more fun), but not so good that everything got too competitive. The boys were two of the better players on the team and loved every minute of it. They were even selected for the All Star team and played in two All Star games on the last day of the season. We were so proud of our All Stars!! (In fact, Charlie had a catch in the first All Star game that was the best catch I saw all season!)

The baseball bug has hit hard in the Maddux family. The boys are attending a baseball camp this summer, and they've ganged up with their dad to convince me that they should play baseball again in the fall, too. (Along with soccer, whew!) I have to admit, though, that I love baseball, too. And I love seeing my boys play it. Helen and Will can't wait to be next. Although they've got a couple of years, they attended every game, sometimes wearing their baseball gloves, and loved to run the bases after the game was over.

Here are some pictures from the season:

Charlie warming up


Joe warming up


Joe's got interesting form


Charlie in the field


Joe ready


Our lefty at bat


A big hit!


Ready to run


One run in!


A hit for Joe!


Eyeing home plate


Score!


Rattlers' team meeting after the game (Will and Helen always insisted on being a part of this)


Joseph, with his coach and assistant coach Dad, getting his trophy


Charlie with coaches getting his trophy



The 2010 Timbergrove Timber Rattlers!

Guess what?

Joseph has a way of telling stories these days that is cute, but also a little exhausting. It requires a little too much participation. It goes something like this.

Hey Mom. Guess what.
What?
When we were at Gramma's, guess what.
What?
She took us to play putt putt. And guess what.
What?
There was something really cool on hole 9. Guess what it was.
What?
There was this thing, and you had to hit the ball over it, and guess
what.
What?
When you hit the ball over it, there was a hole on the other side.
And guess what.
What?
I the ball three times trying to get the ball over the thing. And
then I finally got it over the thing. And then, guess what.
What?
Then it went into the hole. And it was a par 2.

Barbell guy

Thought I should feature one of Joseph's school projects too. This is . . .

Barbell guy. Made with recycled materials. He loved doing this, and was quite proud.

Aerodynamics

This afternoon the boys played a football game with Claire, their babysitter. During halftime they went into the "locker room" and told her they were working on their strategy so she couldn't come in. Whereupon they cut off a bunch of their hair so they could run faster.

Past, Present, and Future

This is a project that Charlie brought home from school. There are three sections: Past, Present, and Future.

Past:
I am a baby.
I crawl.
I drink.
I cry.
I am a baby.


Present:
I am six.
I read
I play t-ball.
I walk.
I lern.
I am 6.


Future:
I am therty.
I play B-ball.
I drink bere.
I am a dad.
I am therty.

One less

We're finally one less tooth here in the Maddux family. It took awhile, but Joseph was the first to lose a tooth, at 6 years and (almost) 3 months. We knew it was loose, but didn't realize it was about to come out. Neither did he, apparently. I noticed something looked a little funny as I was talking to him this afternoon, and when I went over to investigate we were both surprised to find that the tooth was already gone! He didn't even know it had come out! Luckily, we were able to find the tooth and salvage a tooth fairy visit. Rumor is that she may even pay a premium for the first tooth.

Down. Set. Hut.

At the silent auction for the boys' school, we bought attendance at a flag football party. It was held this weekend. They played on a real football field at the high school, had real coaches, did football drills, and played an actual game. The boys were two of three kindergarteners in a group of older kids. They got right in there, and had a great time.

One of the hosts got the event on video, which can be seen here.