Back to baseball

Training for the Majors started last night for Brendan.  He's been counting down the days since learning that he made the cut (and on the Red Sox).  After watching the boys practice last night it looks like they are going to have a great team, and Brendan may very well have a shot at pitching in his first year in the Majors.  THAT is something! His coaches were very impressed with not only the speed of his pitching, but the accuracy.  When you combine that with the fact that he's a lefty (which throws off the typical righty hitter) it makes for a great combination.  There are two other boys that are pretty good pitchers, too, so the coaches are going to watch the three of them throughout the next few weeks of practice and see what they like.  

Just before the sun completely set last night as the boys started practice.

Beautiful

Look at these beauties!  I had a delivery today from the florist, and received these gorgeous flowers from my mom and step-dad.  I also got a wonderful card and cash!  Who doesn't like that kind of gift?  These flowers really brightened up my day, and I have been staring at them all afternoon here on my desk.  

Thank you both!  You extended my birthday, and I love that.

Happy birthday to me!

I had a fabulous day today.

We went to one of my favorite stores, Williams-Sonoma, where I got these

and these

I have been wanting these bowls for months, and I'm so excited to have them. With the amount of baking I do they are going to come in VERY handy.

One of the best gifts that I got today was a picture that Erin made for me of the two of us holding hands. Above each of us is our age: 36 and 6. She has the details down to her blonde hair and my brown hair. I also got a homemade card from her that I'll keep forever (just like every card that the boys have ever made for me).

36 is going to be a great year. With my children by my side anything is possible, and I'm the luckiest woman alive.

Reminder

Just a reminder that as of tomorrow morning (actually late tonight) this blog will be password protected.  Those of you who have emailed me will be emailed the password tonight.  If you want to be able to continue reading the blog just email me at michellelandrews@mac.com and I will email you the password tonight along with everyone else.  I'm just bumping this up to the top since I've made several posts since I made the announcement.

Ciao.

Just playing

Here are a few pictures I took of Erin this afternoon while she and some of the neighborhood kids were playing in our back yard.

I love you (double handed)

I can't tell you how many times each day I see this.  I'll never get tired of it.

He made it!

I got the call about five minutes ago.  Brendan made the cut, and is now a part of the Majors division!  In the words of his coach, "There was no doubt".  

Brendan's favorite Major League baseball team is the Boston Red Sox, and ironically enough he is going to be on the Red Sox this year.  He is ecstatic.  When I drove over to Brandon's house (he's spending the night there) to tell him he literally ran across the yard in excitement.  

I'm so proud of my baby boy.  I knew he would make it, and now I cannot wait to watch him again. His first practice is next Saturday, and we're ready!  Stay tuned for more baseball pictures...

I want the sunshine back

We had a major cold front come through this week, with high temperatures during the day in the 50's, and low's at night in the low 30's!  This is 20 degrees below normal for us this time of year, and I am freezing.  We got down to 30º F last night, and when the boys got up and left for school this morning there was ice on the car, and frost on the ground.  Sean took these pictures on his iPhone and emailed them to me (it was all melted by the time I got up).

Thankfully we are expected to be back up to the 70's by the weekend.  I do not want any more of this cold weather.  It's for the birds.

Password

I've been getting a lot of spam messages, and I just don't have the time to filter through them.  I'm going to leave this message up for a few days, and then put a password on my site so that only my friends and family can access it from now on.  If you visit this site, and would like to continue to visit it please email me and I'll send you the password. Starting on Sunday you will need to have the password to view the site.

michellelandrews@mac.com

Spring baseball

Bren had tryouts for the MAJORS today!  We had to be there at 9:30am (early for us since we usually aren't up until about 11:oo on the weekends), and he had about two hours of intensive hitting, fielding, running, and throwing. There were about 60 other kids trying out, and we'll know by the end of January who made it.  This is a picture of him just after he knocked one of his balls out into the outfield.

While we waited for Bren, Erin and I kept each other warm, and she even ran a couple of laps to heat herself up.

Playing outside with Sean and Erin

Just a few cute pictures that I took a couple of days ago while I was outside playing with Sean and Erin (and Anah) in the front yard. As you can see Erin is still enjoying her scooter (and still learning new tricks!).

A card from Sean

Sean brought this home from school one day last week.  It's a card that he made for me (front and inside), for no reason whatsoever (except that he loves me).  This is so indicative of the sort of thing that he has done his whole life.  He is such a treasure of a child (young man at 6' 2"!).

Oh, and notice the "mommy"?  I LOVE it!  Almost 14 years old, and I still get "mommy"!  

Choices

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending." -Maria Robinson

Sprinkles anyone?

Erin had a gift card from Target, so she wanted to buy her own icing and sprinkles to decorate sugar cookies.  She did them all herself (and she ended up eating most of them herself, too).  This is a picture of her in the middle of making her creations.

Two more

Here's another of the three kiddos, and one of Bren alone so that everyone can see his cute new hair cut!  Can you believe it?  Everyone around here freaked out when he actually got it cut.  I LOVE it!

Beautiful children

And I'm their lucky mother.

Rock stars

This is a usual sight in my house now.  We have always had a lot of the neighborhood kids over at our house, but now they are over even more often to play Guitar Hero World Tour.  This picture is Sean, Bren, Erin, and two of their friends Amanda and Jordan playing a couple of nights ago. They were all taking turns with singing, playing the guitars and drums.  It's so much fun to watch them get into it.  Even though this isn't a clear picture it's still so indicative of what goes on so often here.

Enjoying her new scooter

Just a few pictures of Erin enjoying her new scooter that she got for her birthday.  These were taken yesterday evening.

A glimpse

"Change is the essence of life.  Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become." -author unknown

Erin's birthday

It's been a busy day. It's still hard to believe that Erin is already six.

Right after she got up this morning (and took her shower) she got to open a couple of her presents. She was so excited, and when she found that she received the scooter that she wanted she was even more excited. She also got a pair of shoes (flats) that she picked out a few days ago.

Afterwards she went to a birthday party for a good friend of hers (Jade). They share the same birthday, and the party was at a roller skating rink. Erin had a blast, and after just a few minutes she was skating all over the place. The guest of honor even had a birthday gift for Erin (they have been friends for several years, and knew that it was Erin's birthday as well).

From there it was off to Macaroni Grill to have a birthday dinner, more presents, and a birthday cake (surprise). After we ate our server and the Macaroni Grill singer came over with her cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to her in Italian. Erin has picked Macaroni Grill for her birthday dinner for the past few years, and she loves to hear them sing to her in Italian.

We are having her birthday party with her friends in two weeks. They have been out of school for 2.5 weeks for winter break, and because of that we weren't able to get invitations to her classmates and friends from school. So next week when they return she will be able to pass them out, and then she'll have her party. After going to Jade's party at the roller skating rink she really wants to have hers there, so I guess we may be doing that.

She is walking around right now singing, "Six years old I am, six years old. Six years old I am, six years old." We were talking last night about how she has to use two hands to show her age now, and she quickly reminded me that this isn't true. Why? Because using ASL you only use one hand for all of the numbers! She promptly showed me how to sign six, and then once again reminded me that she will never have to use two hands to show me how old she is. I've taught her well, but sometimes I forget that she knows ASL like the back of her hands. My girl is not only smart and witty, but she is the most kind-hearted child I have ever known in my life. I am so thankful that she is my daughter, and I'm enjoying every second of watching her grow.

She's SIX

This picture was taken just after midnight.  At exactly midnight we walked into the den where Erin and Brian were playing "cash register" with a cake, and we all started singing "Happy Birthday" to her.  She isn't actually six until 8:48am, but we know that we won't be up that early so we sang to her before we went to bed.  We always go to bed late on Friday nights, and we've been up late playing tonight.

So my sweet baby girl is six years old, and I cannot believe it.  We have a lot planned for the day, and I'll post more about it with pictures at the end of the day.  I'm off to snuggle with my baby. My six year old baby.