A City Life For Me

This year we gave each of the kids a choice of sport.  Even just limiting it to one each is a financial stretch!  Liberty has always been a water baby so it was no surprise that she chose swimming lessons.  She completed an eight week course course starting in February.  She is now quite adventurous without her water wings on and will be swimming completely on her own very soon! Elaine and Nehemiah chose baseball.  Nehemiah has been dying to play baseball for quite a while, and he couldn’t wait to get his T-Ball uniform!  Ben was the assistant coach for his team, the Falcons.  He had very good attention and always wanted to be first on the ball.  He is also a strong hitter, and seemed to stick with the game longer than many of the young kids on his team.  During three weeks of rainout games, Saturdays were miserable around our house because Nehemiah would walk around asking when he could play baseball again. Elaine registered for baseball, bu...

Ben has always wanted to play baseball with his kids.  We’ve had a few opportunities, but not as many as he would like since we were on deputation.  This year we enrolled the kids in T-Ball.  It’s a great way to meet friends in our new neighborhood, and its also very exciting for Ben to see his kids playing in Little League!  Yesterday we had our “season opener” – aka, first practice.  The kids were all so cute in their new uniforms and tiny gloves.  Nolan is on the Cubs, and he is #1.  He is the only kid with his shirt untucked.  He made a  new friend with “V” – the only girl on his team.  Working on grounders throwing overhand…very challenging for some of these kids! Base running.  They had to learn which one was first base! Elaine is on the Mariners with other 6-7 year olds.  She is #5, and is the only girl on her team.  She’s a little disappointed about that, but managed to make a new friend anyway.  Jayde...

Bronx Zoo  (He’s such a good dad!) Love this! He was causing trouble.  Getting into school.  So Elaine made him a play station.  Lasted five minutes.  First and last play station ever. First one awake gets to watch Blues Clues!  Wait…it was Henry?!?! Elaine’s Cursive   Rib Fingers!  (They want to know when I’m going to make Grandpa’s ribs.  Um…never).    Little Leaguers!

Since we were home for a couple of weeks to do some house hunting, Mom & Dad Hamilton, a.k.a. Grandma  & Grandpa came down for a day visit.  We enjoyed just being with them – puzzles, baseball, dinner, and everything in between! We managed to end in a tie so no one threw a fit about losing! Elaine, Nehemiah, Mom, Nolan, Henry, Dad, Libs The inevitable silliness that comes when we say “Lets take a picture!” Not bad for one taken by a kiddo…Elaine helped with this one!

Today is Nolan’s fifth birthday!  He seems to have grown up a lot over the last couple of months.  He enjoys being helpful and holding doors open.  He is the first one to offer to share or give up something of his to make someone else happy.  He follows right in Elaine’s footsteps and wants to be just like her and do what she does (right down to what she has to drink at each meal and what cereal she picks for breakfast!).  His chores include taking out the trash and locking the bikes on the van each night.  Here are some pictures from his birthday dinner on Monday. This birthday cereal he picked was actually VERY good! Party time!  We had Mac N Cheese (homemade) and Grilled Cheese for dinner at Nolan’s request.   Legos from Grandma (and two new outfits!)  Elaine was the designated card reader.    Nolan is a self-proclaimed Mets fan, so we found him a jersey!  He was delighted! We gave him his starter baseball card c...