Spring Fever for Spring Training

What to parents of 5 boys do for a cure from a boring, rainy spring break in Oregon? Fly across the country to Florida to visit family and watch as much Spring Training baseball as possible.

Our starting lineup - at the Portland airport all geared up for a fun trip ahead

Our veteran and our rookie

We arrived in Tampa late at night to hugs, kisses and this amazing welcome basket full of clubhouse collectables.

The boys found piles of toys to open the next morning - it was like Christmas in March!

Tampa Bay Rays lose to the Philadelphia Phillys
Spring Training Game #1

Cade and Ty talk to Colina as he autographys their baseball

Showing off their autographs and enjoying the Florida sunshine

Grandma Debbie and her first-round draft pick

Trying out the zoom on Evan Longoria - Bart accuses me of checking him out! Three days later, he was a triple short of hitting for the cycle and made a diving catch in foul territory right in front of us!

Eat your heart out Phillies...actually they did eat their hearts out of these ballcap-ice cream bowls

NY Yankees beat the Washington Nationals

Spring Training Game #2

A future Yankee looks on at his new favorite team

Grandpa John chills with the boys before opening pitch

When grandparents are around, the spoiling never stops and neither do the ballpark snacks. They ate their weight in hotdogs, cotton candy, and peanuts.

It was an all-star studded lineup for the Yankee team - Jeter and A-Rod, but no Kate Hudson or Madonna sightings.

We even got to see closer Mariano Rivera finish the game.

Not sure about the peace signs, but VERY sure he had a good time!

Luke made sure to get in his sleep - even in the folded position - and managed to pull down Grandmas nearby china collection.

Busch Gardens

Spring break isn't complete without a trip to the amusement park - and this amazing park is full of amusement!

Bart and Cade ascend up the steep climb of the Gwazi roller-coaster

The first pink thing you'll find our boys admiring - flamingos

Cade and Ty and Cole (a rookie to rides) join Bart on the log plume ride
Down they go!

Cole's shrieking is still ringing in our ears. Bo was glad at this point that he'd chosen to stay out of the fun and just watch.

The favorite part of the day - the tree top trials in Jungala.

I zoomed in on this bunch of monkeys way up there

Luke enjoyed watching all the animals and excitement as well as the back of his eyelids - He was a real trooper throughout the day and we were able to stay longer than we ever imagined we would.

Cade takes Cole for a flight that's more this 2yr old's style of ride

But then it's on to another roller-coaster.

This time the little boys watch while Cade and Mandy experience the sting of the Scorpion.

Cole catches a nap inbetween animals and attractions

Luke soaking his tired feet

While Bart and Grandpa took the 3 oldest boys to a third Tampa Bay game I stayed back to help my amazingly talented mother and sister-in-laws prepare wedding flowers for a job the next day. Well, I "helped" watch kids at least and did a lot of watching and learning

The week flew by and it was time to get geared up the to fly home.

Luke plays on the flight toys at the Tampa airport before take-off...if only this cute smile could last for a cross-country flight.

A bunch of baseball, a little relaxing and whole lot of fun add up to one excellent spring break for this team!

Un-Caging the Animals

On a rare un-scheduled, sunny Saturday in February between basketball and baseball seasons we took our animals to see the animals. It was Bart's first time to the Oregon Zoo - it was hard for him to control his excitment.

Ty and Bo in the Eagle's nest - we told them to get practiced up for when they are in their Eagle Scout nest! Always a teaching moment around here!

A little rat escaped his cage!

The glare off of this bald dad's head is obsuring the photo of the bald eagle behind him

At the elephant look-out. Bart especially loved the smells

Our littlest animal is pooped after a fun day.

Great Grandma

My Grandmother (dad's mom) turned 90 on March 4th. Many of our family and those closest to her were able to celebrate this milestone year with a party in her honor. We are so blessed to have her still with us and be touched by her example and strength. We are especially blessed that she moved from Washington State to Portland last month and we can have her close by and enjoy many more special moments with her as often as possible. We hope the night was as special to her as she is to us.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner and then gathered in the great-room to visit and watch a video my sister had prepared with pictures from Grandma's life. It was a wonderful night to honor such a great lady who has touched our lives in many ways.

Grandma with all of her grown-up grandkids. My cousins made the trip from out-of-town to honor her for her special event.

After dinner, it was time to pile on the couch for pictures. Here's Grandma with all her Great-Grandkids! What a lucky Grandma, and even luckier Great-Grandkids!

Grammy (my mom) had typed out questions for us to ask Grandma after dinner about her life and memories. Grandma is a fairly private lady, so it was fascinating and heartwarming to hear her tell about younger days, favorite times and family secrets. It was precious how the older grandkids sat so politely and eagerly listened to her tales.

Grandmas sweet hands

I just had to snap these shots of her as she told the stories of her life - these images just show those details about her that we will never want to forget - priceless.

Happy 90th birthday Grandma - you are an inspiration to all of us!

New Things

Where did January and February go? At my house it seems like these months got lost in: tissue that wiped all the snotty noses of kids with colds, late nights soothing tummy aches, baby tylenol bottles to dull teeth-cutting pain, fieldtrips for school, putting together a ward talent show, hectic sports/piano/cubscouts schedules, canning food at the home storage center, cleaning, cooking, helping with homework/book reports/speeches and more cleaning. We fit some new things in too, and even managed to get some of life on camera...

I've Got A New Bugg
Speaking of viruses and bugs...I've got one - a different kind of bugg. This little gadget is helping me shed those extra baby pounds (times 5 babies)! I love this thing! It measures your calorie burn in a day so that you know just how many (or little- if you're like me and don't love or have time to exercise) calories to burn and how many calories you can eat and still lose weight. I think I might actually be addicted to something good for me! I'm posting about it here, so that if I ever get back to where I was, I can look back at my enthusiasm about the bodybugg and rekindle some motivation.

Newest Mural

I got to pull out my dusty paints and help liven up this cute nursery. No, it's not mine...no purple and flowers in any room at my house! My sister's friend had the idea of adding a full sized tree to the corner of her baby's room.

I sketched it roughly until we had the scale and general idea right, tested some paint colors until we found just the one, and...up it grew!

She now plans on hanging small frames with pictures from the branches. I can't wait to see it all complete.

A close up of the hightlights and shading that add those perfect finishing touches. It was fun to be an artist for a day.

He's Mobile!

It seems strange that a face this cute could be the cause of so much distruction. Lukers is now officially speed-crawling and in to EVERYTHING! Nothing is safe anymore. But I love this stage when babies are so curious and full of life. If only I could keep up with him.

He Sang!

Bo actally joined his class on stage for his preschool Valentine's Party and sang! Well, moved his mouth anyways, but hey, we'll take it! For a kid who is the celebrity at home, he sure doesn't want to be in front of a crowd. He's still the cutest Valentine there is.

Bo helped me make chocolate lollipops for his classmates and heart-shaped sandwiches filled with strawberry jam and cream cheese for preschool snack. Sometimes creative-craftiness is lost on little boys, and I'm no Martha (or Ashley Rawe) but we try. It brought smiles anyways - at least to my face.

The Final Buzzer Blows on Another Sports Season

Caden's life is sports - he eats, drinks and breaths it - all types and forms. But after this first season of getting to play real city-league basketball, I think he has found a favorite. He tore up the court this season and had a blast. One of the highlights to cap off a great season was getting to play a scrimage during the half-time of the high school game. Our little Lightning Bolts got to line up with the varsity players at the start of the game.

Caden was in 7th heaven playing in front of crowded gym. They announced his name over the speaker (Bart's fantasy that he has lived for since we first found out we were having a boy and in fact the way that we chose all our boy names - by how they would sound over a loud speaker at a sporting event) as he put on his point-guard show that included behind-the-back dribbling. I thought Bart and I would have to buy new shirts since our buttons were bursting so badly! We had to tone down our pride a bit when he came back to sit with us - his head doesn't need to get any bigger! The cutest part of it for me was how excited Tyler was for his older bro. Lots of fun. Then home to bed for an early morning Sat game.

The next weekend (after baseball tryouts were over - whew! On to the next sport!) was the end-of-the-season basketball party. Caden had 2 wonderful coaches (the kind that put all other coaches to shame) who truly loved the boys and shared great memories and words of praise for each boy. The players recieved a framed collage of pictures from the season and a dvd slide show. Little brother Lukers just liked the pizza bones!

Caden watches the slide show of the season complete with Rocky music. He looks like he is in serious reflection - I think just a bit tired from a long day.

Training-time?
Coley has been independently showing interest in the toilet lately- telling me (usually at the most inconvenient times) when he wants to go, and complaining often of a yucky diaper. So, this reluctant mom is wondering...is it training time?

Reluctance is an understatement. There are not many things I like worse than potty-training. So if there are any pros out there who would like to adopt this 2-yr old and return him in a few weeks "trained", I'm all in. Actually, I'm very proud of my little guy and I'm getting geared up to help him be diaper free...just AFTER our spring break trip to Florida (we only take one thing on at a time in this household)! Keep your fingers crossed for me that perhaps after all the pain and suffering I endured potty-training older brothers, these youngest ones will be a breeze!