Go Yankees!!

It's opening day for Major League Baseball (except for the one game played last night), so I thought I'd give a shout out to our family favorite team- the New York Yankees! My family grew up Yankee fans, thanks to our Dad, a die-hard fan all of his life. He grew up idolizing Mickey Mantle and could name all of his stats and anything about him. Dad can name all the past Yankee greats, current Yankee greats, and never misses a year watching them on TV! My older sister was born during the World Series of '81, when the Yankees played the Los Angeles Dodgers. Dad (and the doctor) were so engrossed in the game playing on the TV in the hospital that he almost missed my sister being born! In 2002, our family vacation was to New York where we, of course, went to a Yankee game at historic Yankee Stadium. This is the Yanks last year at that stadium (the House that Ruth built), as they are building a new stadium right across the road to be done for the 2009 season. Dad has passed his love of baseball and the Yanks on to all of his kids, and now I am to mine (much to Ben's dismay...). It's a fun family tradition that I will never forget, or ever give up. Here's a post dedicated to my Dad and our family tradition of Yankee Baseball!

Proud (and happy!) to be a Yankee Fan!

Should I bunt, or swing away??

Last year, Chloe and I had the opportunity to go to Tampa, Florida with my parents and little sister- home of Yankee Spring Training! Here is Legends Field, the Yanks spring training stadium.

A tradition of excellence!

Our original plan was to attend a spring training game at Legends Field, but by the time we got around to buying tickets, they were all sold out. Lucky for us, the Yanks played the Cincinnati Reds in a nearby town, not far from Tampa, so we got to watch them play there. Here is Chloe and I in front of the day's starting lineups.

There's our favorite player- Derek Jeter (#2).

Chloe thoroughly enjoyed the game.....

She was awake for a few minutes of the game, at least long enough for us to point out Derek Jeter to her and teach her, "What does Jeter do?" And she would always reply, "Hit the ball!" Ever since that trip, she can now easily identify the Yankee logo, recognizes and asks about Jeter, and has taken a liking to baseball! That's my girl....

With a new head coach this year and the last year in their historic stadium, it will prove to be an exciting season! Mitch was born during the playoffs last year, and sadly, the Yanks got out in the first round. We hope they turn things around this year and make it to the World Series. October, being baseball playoff month, is an exciting month for us, filled with baseball and pomegranates (another tradition started by Dad). If we do not answer our phone or come to the door during that month, please know that it is because we are watching baseball (because the Yanks always make the playoffs!) We will happily return your calls and begin accepting visitors again in November...

The All-Star game this year, in July, is even at Yankee Stadium and Dad and I were talking last night that it would be a dream come true to go to that. The price to get into that All-Star game is currently $1500 for 2 tickets, so we are now accepting donations for the "Get Me to the All-Star Game" fund.

And what more can Mitch say than, "Go Yankees!"

All Things Easter

We had a very eventful Easter weekend! We have been so excited that Chloe is old enough now to participate in and enjoy holiday traditions and games. She loved the Easter Egg hunt that Ben and I did for her last year, and this year, not to be out done, she had 5 of them! The first one was Saturday morning, put on by our community. There was tons of kids participating and she was very timid for that one. She only got a few eggs, and that was only accomplished by lots and lots of coaxing by us to be aggressive and pick up the eggs! The second hunt was on accident- we were at Wal-Mart running some errands later that afternoon and we entered the store through the Garden Section right as they were about to start an egg hunt there. With only a handful of kids, Chloe had a lot more fun and found lots of eggs. We loved this hunt because not only was there candy in the eggs, but money too! Chloe had $2.50 worth of quarters after that hunt- way to go Wal-Mart! (She was excited about the money and equally as excited to get to choose what to spend it on- a Little Critter book!) Later that evening, Ben hid eggs around our backyard and Chloe had a wonderful time finding the eggs there. Saturday night, after she was in bed, Ben and I hid eggs in our living room for her to find when she woke up Sunday morning. The last egg hunt happened when we went to our friends Josh and Erin's house for dinner Sunday afternoon. They had hidden eggs around their family room and Chloe, not at all tired of Easter egg hunts, excitedly ran around the room to find the eggs. Of course, the best part about these hunts was opening the eggs and discovering the candy!!

Here she is out our community Easter Egg Hunt. If you can see behind her, it's not really a hunt- all of the eggs are just laid out on the grass and when the lady says go, it's a mad rush of kids (and parents), thus why Chloe was timid. It was kind of over-whelming.

But she did get a few eggs....

She loved dying Easter eggs and wanted to do everything herself.

Her own, personalized egg!

Not to be outdone by his sister.....

Here she is, Easter morning, wasting no time after the morning Easter Egg Hunt to devour her candy. 8:00 a.m. and time for chocolate.

Chloe has been telling me for months that she wants an umbrella. Finally, a few weeks ago, I told her she should wait and maybe the Easter Bunny would bring her one. Lucky for us, he did! :) She was so excited and wanted to try it out right away. And what do you know- it was raining Easter morning and she was able to put it to the test immediately! The umbrella, of course, is Disney Princesses.

Our Mitchell Man got just what he wanted for Easter too- a high chair! Here he is, sitting on his throne, enjoying his Easter basket and eggs. We told him next year that his eggs will have candy in them too.

Here he is with what I call his "Engineer Face." He does it fairly often. He can't help but want to be like his dad. These sports eggs are clearly perplexing and he's working hard at whatever problem there seems to be with them.....

After all the hunts and endless candy, the kids sure did clean up nice. We bought Chloe's Easter dress weeks ago and she's been so excited to wear her "beautiful dress" as she calls it.

I made Mitchell stand up for his picture, and his face shows the effort he is putting in to balance himself. Our handsome little man does a sweater vest proud.

I couldn't get a decent picture of the kids together on Easter morning, so here is the picture I took earlier in the month that we sent to family. Sadly, we didn't get an Easter family picture either- we had so much going on before church, and then Mitchell was asleep after church and I couldn't bear to wake him (he's a little behind on sleep). But the kids are much cuter than Ben and I anyway. Hope everyone had a great Easter filled with fun, family, love and, of course, Chocolate!

And thanks to Nana and Papa and Grandma and Papa for the wonderful Easter gifts you sent for the kids. Chloe loved everything and Mitchell was fascinated with the noise making animals you both sent! :)

A fun drill...

99 words

Speedtest

Bag Tag

I've been tagged with the "Bag Tag" to show the contents of my purse. Let me warn- I have a million things, but it is only because my purse doubles as my diaper bag right now (I cannot haul around a purse and a diaper bag), plus, I have to shove in little odds and ends for Chloe as well. My bag is kind of like Mary Poppins' bag- all sorts of things are in there and you'd be amazed and surprised as to what they are and how it all fits in there! Here goes:

1. Diapers
2. Wet Wipes
3. Kleenex
4. Notebook
5. Coupon/Receipt booklet
6. Extra outfit for Mitchell
7. Onesie
8. Burp cloth
9. Water bottle
10. Piece of Chocolate (for sanity reasons)
11. Fruit snacks
12. Antibacterial Hand sanitizer
13. Infant gas drops
14. Baby toy
15. Baby book
16. Checkbook
17. Wallet
18. Chapstick
19. Pen
20. Gum
21. Cell Phone
22. ABC flash cards
23. Reader's Digest magazine
24. Ipod earphones (and usually my Ipod)

I must admit I didn't list quite everything- this was a good excuse to clean out my bag- things I didn't picture or put on my list was lots of garbage and wrappers, and a few papers and hair bows of Chloe. I haul around a lot of stuff, thanks to my kids! In high school, college and when I was first married, I didn't even have a purse- I just had "a wallet on a string" which was literally what it was- a thin, thin, little bag (not even big enough to be called a bag), a wallet in all reality, that only held credit/debit cards, my checkbook, drivers license and maybe a pen. I loved it. Oh how things have changed.....

I now tag: Megan, Meredith, Camille & Tara.

St. Patrick's Day Funny

My mom sent a cute St. Patrick's Day card for Chloe yesterday, but we didn't get the mail until after she was in bed for the night, so she didn't get to open the card until today. Inside the card was 2, crisp $1 bills. Chloe was so excited and, upon opening the card and finding the money, said, "Oh wow, 200 bucks!!" She has been really into money lately and is just starting to understand the concept of it, although I think the main reason she likes it is because Mom and Dad have it and if we have it, it must be pretty neat. She also knows that "cash" is a fantastic thing in our house because Ben and I rarely have it (we just don't carry it very often), so when either of us have some, we are so excited about it. Lately, she has been on "cash hunts" and has been getting into my and Ben's wallets when we aren't around to find any bills that we might have. Anyway, seeing that Grandma and Papa had sent money, she said this morning, "Now I have 2 cashes!" She then turned to me and happily pronounced, "Now I won't have to get into yours, Mom!" Who knew that $2 would make a 3 year-old's day? Thanks Grandma and Papa- Chloe loved it, and Ben and I loved it too- now we don't have to worry about our cash getting stolen! :)

One Pup, Two Pups, Three Pups, Twelve Pups

Daisy had her pups! We knew it was coming any day, and Sunday was the BIG day. And when I saw big, I mean big..... Ben knew Saturday night that she was getting close, so he checked on her early Sunday morning around 4:00 a.m. and no pups yet. The next time he went down to check on her at 8:00 a.m. she had already had 3 pups! To make a long story short, we had 10 pups by the end of the afternoon. We thought for sure that she was done and went inside to eat dinner. We went back out a few hours later and one of our friends' kids, who was over, said, "Hey, look, another one is coming!" Sure enough, she had another pup, which we thought was #11. Ben did a quick head count only to discover that there were 12 pups in the box! We had entirely missed one of the pups being born! So, all in all, she had 12 pups, all healthy and all very, very cute. 7 of them are black, the other 5 chocolate. 4 males and 8 females. For those of you who live close enough to visit, feel free to stop by anytime! We have pups for your (and your kids') enjoyment! :)

Here is Daisy with her 12 new babies- what a trooper! (I'm so glad I don't have 12 kids at a time. Then again, it may be worth it if I were only pregnant for 60 days, like dogs, instead of 9 months).

Chloe was Ben's big helper- she was there for the whole labor and delivery! Here she is, in the birthing box, with the first 3 pups that were born. She loved every minute of it!

She loves holding the pups too and wanted to hold a new one every few minutes. Good thing she has 12 to choose from!

Chloe is very sweet with the pups and tries to be a good second mom to them. She thinks she knows just what they need and when they need it!

I was pregnant with Mitchell last time we had pups, so this was his first experience with them. As you can see, he is very at ease with them and shows no hostility or envy towards them!

Here he is, imitating a puppy face....

I know what he's thinking here...."Mom, can I keep him?"

And to that I say, "Yes, for 8 weeks."